5 Star Ave Maria boat/barge tour reviews — 151 to 180 of 180

The Tour Leader Hein was amazing and showed us a wonderful experience. The cycling was spectacular and the food so exciting and very innovative. The bikes were heavier than I am used to but they were appropriate for the terrain. Everyone was helpful -- fabulous staff. I've already recommended it to my friends. I would do it again, but only if Hein were the Leader.

This was a fabulous trip all around! The group was friendly, and guides were helpful and knowledgeable! Dinners were delicious and varied, stronger than expected for this type of trip. We really enjoyed being able to purchase wine on board the ship, also. The riding was varied, and we really appreciated that our guides made sure to schedule a mid-morning break for coffee/water/toilet. What a great way to get a sense of this part of Italy - from small villages and farm fields to Venice - just spectacular!
One suggestion for improvement: for riding in really hot weather, it would be great if there could be a little more flexibility. We rode during a heat spell (40 degrees Centigrade one day). It was difficult to shift schedules or shorten our rides due to logistics, and this created some health issues.

It was a wonderful trip! I liked that we got to be on the barge when it moved (one time at the end of the day and another in the morning). The food was outstanding and I liked that the chefs described dinner and suggested wine pairings. The barge was very comfortable - even with 3 in a cabin.

Our son (22 years old) was outnumbered by the over 50 crowd but Hein made him feel welcome. Only suggestion - mirrors on the bikes (although I realize that makes them difficult to store and move) and a brief intro on riding in groups.

This trip gets a +10!! The staff (Tamy, Ilena, Luciano, Enrico, Guilio & Alberto) were amazing - fun, personable, knowledgable, friendly and engaging. They were truly a team and clearly enjoyed each other which ripples out to the experience of the guests. I loved that they gave a 'brief' the night before to let us know what to expect the next day. The food was creative, fresh and lovingly prepared. The accommodations on the AveMarie were great -- the cabins were well thought out with lots of storage so that the room felt spacious. The dining room was lovely with plenty of space to relax. The price of wine/beer was very reasonable and loved that we could keep a tab and pay it at the end, so easy.

Oh yea the bikes --- a good ride and comfy enough for the distances ridden. The routes were well planned, even the few times we had to ride in traffic. The trip leaders were excellent at managing the group and making it fun, no matter what we were doing.

For the whole week I felt well cared for :)
I am already dreaming of my next trip.
Kindly -- Victoria

P.S. The bad and the ugly -- honestly I don't have anything to contribute for improvement.

The crew were AMAZing! Every single one of them. Tami is an amazing guide - super friendly and helpful. All of the crew helpful and a delight. I would definitely go on this type of trip again because of my experience on this trip.

This was my first bike & barge. The bar has been set very high!

The entire bike-barge trip on the Ave Maria far exceeded our expectations. I would highly recommend this trip.

This Bike and Barge tour was amazing, best holiday ever!

Crew and guides were friendly and extremely helpful. Meals and snacks were great! Good sense of comradery due to the small number of passengers. Good bikes, rides were interesting and manageable.

The crew aboard the Ave Maria was cheerful and helpful, especially Michaela, who went above and beyond in helping with departure plans. The food was wonderful.
A group of 30 is a lot of work for the cycling guides, but I would have liked a few more rest breaks along the way, especially on the day to Ferrara.

We have decided that this is the only way we now want to see other countries, up close and personal! What a wonderful experience!
Loved getting exercise every day while viewing the beautiful countryside. Even better was ending our ride with wine, a delicious dinner and new friends!

Sometimes it would have been nice to stop for pictures of the scenery, but did not want to go to the back of the pack or be left behind. Helmut was an excellent guide and made sure everybody was safe. Food on board was the best I had in Italy. Staff very friendly and went the extra mile for our friends birthday.

This was our second Tripsite trip, last year Germany, this year Italy. I have highly recommended your trip to all my friends. We hope to have the opportunity to take another bike and barge.

We've experienced three Bike and Boat Tour in the past 15 months, and have already booked another for 2016. We absolutely love this mode of travel and the fact that it offers an active holiday, and the best of both site-seeing and exploring the countryside in a way that most other tours simply can not. We love sharing our experience with like-minded international travelers, and find we are extremely well treated by boat staff and guides.Together with the Tripsite staff, the website is a fabulous tool for selecting a holiday in that it allows us to compare boats, distances and routes. As a secondary benefit we find the Bike and Boat Tours offered by Tripsite to be excellent "value for money". We have recommended Tripsite to several friends and acquaintances, some of whom will be joining us on our next tour as "first-timers".

The trip was great but the route was less than expected. The route was too much bike trails away from villages. We will definitely recommend Tripsite but not this trip. We look forward to our next trip with you guys.

We have done 8 trips with Tripsite. All trips were great.

Ave Maria, as well as 3 previous trips on the Merljin, superb. Some guides on Merjijn were mediocre, but Hein is incredible guide/person. Friends have recently taken B/B Red Hat?, bad experience. The above 4 trips speak highly of your program. Looking forward to next trip, F2017.

We have been on seven or eight bike and barge trips in the past and this one was, by far, the best. From the greeting upon arriving, to the spacious and comfortable accommodations and exquisite food. The guide was pleasant and very informative ( great sense of humor, too ) Our hotel reservations in Venice were cancelled at the last minute, but he was able to get us a room. The Ave Maria is a beautiful boat with everything you need. We can't say enough about every crew member. Part of the scenery was not as nice as on other trips, but that couldn't be helped. People at Tripsite were always very helpful and quick to respond. We had a wonderful time. We will highly recommend this Tripsite adventure!

We were self-guided for 3 days. The road guides given us were written for bike riders using a GPS. No GPS was provided. Thus, the guides were a bit confusing. We didn't notice the odometers (and they were not pointed out to us during our orientation) on our bikes until it was too late. We should have attempted to track our mileage against the miles listed from point to point in the guide book. Instead, we followed the advice we were given during orientation, which was to just follow the green arrows. We got very lost one day. We followed the arrows in the wrong direction! We should have paid more attention to the road guide. It might be good to update the guides if GPS's are not going to be provided.

Personally I would have preferred another day of biking and a day less in Venice - If people wanted to see Venice they could stay an extra day or so after.

I'm filling this out as we booked with you twice--Burges to Amsterdam in 2012 and Venice to Mantova in 2014. both were bike and barge. We are about to book with you for the spring of this year--we are looking at 2 in Germany and the northern Netherlands We have yet to make up our minds on which one. We have had a great experience with your company and looking forward to another.

Our trip to Venice on the Ave Maria was our best cycling trip ever. Meals were fantastic, bikes excellent, Helmut a great guide. Loved the barge conversion to accommodation. Have recommended the trip to many Canadian friends. Hope to do another tour with you next year.

Depending on the potential participants: Even though we had read the pre-trip information several times, we were still surprised that the biking days were of pretty similar length ... we had thought there would be longer days mixed in with medium and shorter length days. Overall we were very happy with the trip and most impressed with the people who took care of us: guides and boat crew. The Ave Maria seems perfect for its job. We will be looking at other trips with you.

Scenery would have been a bit better if we'd gone two weeks earlier. Mid October was a bit late.

We enjoyed this trip very much. This was our first bike and barge trip and we would do it again. The entire staff was great and the guides were super. I did not hear one complaint about anything from any of the guests on board. That is testimony to a job well done in seeing to the comfort of the passengers and the enjoyability of the bike ride.

Aside from all the other wonderful parts of the experience, I cannot say enough about our guides and vessel staff. My good experience began with the Tripsite contacts well before the trip was ever made.

This was a fun, easy ride. Our 2 guides made the trip into a party, even when it was raining. This was the first time I had a really good bed to sleep in - just like at home. The rooms were a good size as were the showers. The crew was fun and we made pasta for our dinner one night. The food was fresh and excellent, and there was plenty of it. These are also the best bikes I have had on my trips. Super, easy and fun trip.

Best trip ever.

The whole experience was awesome! Mantova is a great little place to visit. Lots of history, architecture, fine people, good restaurants. The barge was comfortable, spacious, clean. Food excellent. Staff extremely courteous, helpful, upbeat. Bikes were adequate for the terrain, sturdy, in excellent condition. Some of the trails were uneven, even rocky, but I personally had no issues. Some of the less experienced riders felt a little uneasy on them. The city of Venice was a disappointment (crowded, polluted and dirty) but Venice is Venice... The whole bike 'barge adventure was, plain and simple, unforgettable. Highly recommended. Thanks to everyone for making it so special!!!

Barge part of it was excellent, riding for 2 of the days got to be long and monotonous, scenery always the same, but staff did great job. I'm probably critical a bit because I did a Holland bike ride that was so scenic.