4 Star Anna Maria IV boat/barge tour reviews — 1 to 2 of 2

The crew on this barge and bike trip were outstanding. The weather was unseasonably hot and adjustments were made to the schedule to accommodate everyone's comfort. The route and attractions were well planned and interesting. We had some difficulty with the bikes provided by HAT tours - several (5 in total) punctures and one unfixable issue with a bike. This meant delays whilst the tiress were being repaired - approximately 1 hour per puncture. This meant that we missed out on seeing some of the attractions and had to cut short our time at others. The unfixable problem meant that one volunteer had to return to the boat via taxi and forego the rest of that day's itinerary. I would like to congratulate the crew on this tour as they did their utmost to ensure that these issues kept the disruption to a minimum. The group of travelers were also a very friendly and tolerant group of people who got on well. This also assisted in managing the issues with the bikes.
My recommendation to HAT tours is to provide maintenance support for the tour if they are going to continue to use these bikes. I have been on another company's bike and barge tour through Provence in 2014 and they had maintenance support which could be contacted promptly to fix and/or transport bikes/people when required.

There seemed to be tension between the owners of the barge and guy doing the cooking, cleaning and maintenance. The guy was trying to do the job of more than 2 people by himself. One day when he needed help with a cranky generator the captain was in a bar. We did not get clean towels half way through as promised. I have been on 2 bike and barge trips and this had the worst staff. The guide was good but left slower riders at several critical junctures. It did not happen often. Seems the system works best when the owner is captain. Means he is present and accountable.