3 Star Olympia boat/barge tour reviews — 1 to 2 of 2

The Sept 2025 tour on the Moselle was my third trip using Tripsite.com. The first two were on the Danube and the Po (Italy).

Love the enduring beauty and grandeur of Europe (especially its architecture and art), and, in that regard, the Moselle experience was first-rate. That said, a few minor concerns tempered my overall assessment of this latest trip.

The boat experience (aboard the MS Olympia) was generally comfortable, the staff very accommodating and the food excellent; however, a significant build-up of mould in my cabin's shower stall was a concern, as was a pervasive "machine oil" smell coming from the cabin's A/C-Heating vent. And I was disappointed that, while my experience aboard the "Vivienne" (on the Danube) and aboard the "Vita Pugna" (on the Po) featured complimentary coffee dispensing machines available to guests on a 24-hour basis, no such machine was available on the "Olympia". Save for the breakfast meal and the late-afternoon "coffee and cake" serving, any coffee requested was charged to my cabin. I'm not a big coffee drinker, but the generally cool and rainy conditions experienced on the Moselle cried out for the occasional supplementary cup of coffee . . . which I didn't welcome having to pay for! A small problem, to be sure, but irritating nonetheless.

Lastly, I was impressed with the evident knowledge and politeness of the on-board Cycling Tour Guide; however, his "minimalist" briefings (ahead of the day's cycling) were of limited value. Whereas previous trips had featured detailed and informative briefings of considerable value and interest to cyclists with no familiarity with the routes, the morning briefings on "Olympia" were bare-bones affairs that would have benefitted from a more fulsome explanation of the cycling routes, what to look out for, what sectors could be confusing and might lead one astray, etc. To be clear, there was never any danger of getting "lost" whilst cycling; however, with some parts of the route(s) being poorly signed, some additional cautionary comments and advisories would likely have helped some of the guests with their navigation of the route.

The above comments are acknowledged to be relatively inconsequential; however, I thought I'd take the time to pass them along. Overall, a good trip and one that was worth the time and expense.

Thank you!

The boat was wonderful as was the staff. Food too was excellent. There were two central problems with the trip. The first is the route. We had anticipated that the trip down the Rhine would be in beautiful sections building t instead we spent a week in heavily industrial areas where there was little along the river that was beautiful at all.
The second problem was that it appeared that no one from the company had checked out the route of the biking since it was first established since roads had closed and there were continuous diversions. As a consequence we (and when I say we i mean many of the bikers) were lost within 15 minutes of departing every day. While the trip was billed as "self guiding" clear and accurate maps are needed