4 Star Gandalf boat/barge tour reviews — 1 to 7 of 7

The staff on the barge, Gandalf, were friendly and accommodating, Meals were exceptional; kudos to Chef Hans!
I thoroughly enjoyed the Green Belt biking of Holland, the fields, forests and windmill areas!
Our tour leader, Patrick, did an excellent job of leading and managing the group.
However, I do feel the local partner fell short; by not having an extra staff member biking in back of the group, as the “Sweep”.
Patrick asked for someone to volunteer, each day, to be the Sweep and I don’t feel we paid for this tour to have this job and responsibility.

I actually crashed my bike at the end of the first day, tried riding an ebike the next day but found it too painful. Therefore I spent the remainder of the trip on the barge, totally loved it. My suggestion for others would be to make sure to train, most of the people on our trip felt that they were being pushed and that the distance biked each day was too far. Also, for myself I felt that the bike was just too big for me and that contributed to my accident. Our guide (Fred) was delightful as were the crew of the Gandalf and the meals were fabulous. So, overall a great experience in spite of the spill.

Having been on several of these bike/barge tours, this was a different area culturally than trips south of Amsterdam. Interesting history of the area. Our guide was excellent and made the trip.

I would recommend this trip but only if a group of friends were going or if there was some way to know the mix of language of fellow travellers. I was the only person who did not speak the German language. I felt very isolated. A number of German people did try to speak English but it was hard work for them and they were on holidays. One English sailor on board as staff was very kind and attentive. The cook made wonderful gluten free dishes for me!! The guide did an excellent job of switching back and forth from German to English. The cycling and countryside was very pleasant. Sometimes the stops were a bit long but perhaps that was because I couldn't chat around with other travellers.

This is a great route and the cycling areas are excellent in so many ways. Scenic paths through forests, parks, graphic small towns and with well defined directions given daily by the guide. The barge cabins were quite adequate in size and even though the bathroom was small it served the purpose for the week long trip. Having porthole windows that we were able to open was great in order to bring in fresh air. The disappointment was that the barge was not very clean overall (dust and cobwebs), there was very little deck space to enjoy the views during cruising and having two large dogs on board did not help matters.
The food quantity was good but hardly any quality in it. Four out of seven meals were rice oriented, little meat substance and overall not comparable to other similar meals on other barge and bike trips we have taken and the first time we have ever had "fish" lasagna!
Breakfasts were by far the best meals and there was always plenty to go around and to prepare for your take away lunch. The crew were friendly and welcoming. I would most definitely recommend this trip if done on a better ship. The trip gets 5 out of 5 stars, the ship hardly 3 out of five.

I had an amazing time. I loved everything about it and I would recommend it to anyone. In fact I have recommended it to many many people.

Was disappointed that there seemed to be less cycling per day that expected from the website description.