Vivienne boat/barge tour reviews — 1 to 30 of 98

We had a wonderful time for a first bike and barge. Would highly recommend this trip.
The staff were incredible and of course the biking. For couple of days there was strong head winds so had the work really hard as we had regular bikes..well worth the effort and sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.

The friendships made on the trip were wonderful. The organising of the bikes was excellent. The waiters and waitresses were lovely and all so professional.

Budapest
Cycling through Wachau Valley
Service and food on Vivienne

This trip was excellent from its start to finish. The staff made everyone feel welcome and communicated each day’s plan very thoroughly. We enjoyed making new friends and our guide, Thomas, helped make our experience so positive. What a great way to explore the four countries and cities such as Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava. The final biking day through the UNESCO valley was outstanding.

This trip was excellent from its start to finish. The staff made everyone feel welcome and communicated each day’s plan very thoroughly. We enjoyed making new friends and our guide, Thomas, helped make our experience so positive. What a great way to explore the four countries and cities such as Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava. The final biking day through the UNESCO valley was outstanding.

i loved biking through the country side and small towns. We would stop for ice cream and even visited a winery. It was nice having the guide, didn't have to think about where we had to go each day. Visiting all of the towns along the way tasting their food and beer and shopping in the small shops was fun. The boat had a good vibe and relaxing atmosphere.

The service, food and the beautiful boat. It was a wonderful trip.

We had a wonderful time aboard the MS Vivienne for this tour. The cabin was quiet and comfortable, no movement from the water. The food and staff aboard were wonderful. The cycling was beautiful, we got to visit several historic cities and we met some very nice people. We would definitely sign up for another bike and boat tour like this!

This is an excellent bike and barge. The Vivienne was a beautiful boat with excellent staff. The schedule is well laid out, allowed time to enjoy the biking and scenery. The navigation app worked really well but take a phone holder for your bike so you can see the map. I have Bluetooth hearing aids so the directions were also provided by audio which was very helpful. That city bus tours were ok, if you are a city traveller you could have navigated both Budapest and Vienna on your own.
The cruise director has lots of information and will answer your questions…. If in doubt ask questions.
The food was amazing … you will not go hungry.

Liked the disco night. The fourth ride was beautiful.
Meals were also good and super service.
My e-bike was too heavy for me- suggest a more compact and less heavy bike for smaller women. Also, we had wanted to book a guide for the 9 of us and there were only 2 on this boat. We would have enjoyed having one to eliminate getting lost and also helping us find fun locations to stop enroute. We did this on our Italian trip and it made a large difference to our enjoyment.
Your staff are very helpful and pleasant. Well done overall.

The scenery on this tour was amazing. The Danube River valley is quite picturesque! The bike trails were awesome.

Staff was amazing, wanted to help and please you al the time. Food was good. Meat portions could have been a bit bigger since we need lot’s of protein to bike. We need non guided and I would not do that again, missed the knowledge of the area that a guide provides.

I would strongly recommend taking the guided tour as opposed to non guided. The app to use is very average and doesn’t give you any information along the ride.

Our group truly enjoyed the week on the Vivienne. The bike trails were well maintained and routes well marked which enabled us to enjoy the amazing scenery each day. The staff on Vivienne was incredible.
Two complaints were the e-bikes were very heavy
and there were no water bottle holders on the regular bikes.

Boat was nicely appointed and good clean cabins. A small gym room with some weights would be a nice addition Tomas was a superb guide. A great balance between local knowledge and keeping 18 riders moving at a comfortable pace. Leslie , the cruise director was always available and worked hard to keep us informed for the next day and volunteer ice packs when needed! Even a restocked bottle of our favourite gin was procured when the bar ran out! Crew were excellent; bikes were always on shore or back on the boat as needed. Service at meals and bar were first class. Bratislava was the most interesting city tour; being the place where the iron curtain came down. Budapest night walking tour was spectacular. We found the e-bikes to be very heavy and a 30 minute familiarisation on day one would have beeen good. 95% of the meals were good. Certainly the most scenic and interesting cycling that we have ever done. Total was about 205km in the week. Take care on the 2km long bridge on the second day. It’s a very narrow cycling track; best walked if comprised by height and traffic noise! Overall, we thoroughly recommend this tour.

This was truly the best trip I’ve had in a long time! Everything about it was fantastic from the incredible sites We visited to the breathtaking biking routes. Every day was amazing. The experience on the boat was unforgettable, with outstanding staff, delicious food, and excellent service. Leslie, our cruise Director was absolutely top-notch. He was informative, funny and always ready to answer questions. Honestly, it’s hard to pick just one highlight because the entire trip was so special. I’ll definitely be recommending this adventure to all of my biking friends!

Biking the Wachou valley, outside Vienna. It was an incredible ride, with great places to stop along the way. The trip was great, the crew handled all those bikes great. Would have liked more time in some of the cities, and more diet options.
But, that’s being kinda picky, it was a great trip and would recommend.

Wonderful biking throughout! App was helpful as was the route book. The arrow stickers Leslie put out were great. Bus/walking tour in Bratislava was good. Would have been nice if we stopped to taste some specialty foods. Not much time to explore. The bike tour in Budapest was fine while we were on the bike paths, but then the guide took us on some VERY busy streets with no bike lanes and mingling with cars, I was scared. then he lost three of us. Vienna concert was lovely. The Vivienne staff was very friendly and worked hard to get the bikes in and out, feed all of us and serve drinks. Great job by all of them. Leslie was always around and did a great job of managing all aspects of the trip.

The bike riding, the staff, the food and the new friends we met during the week were all amazing. The last ride from Krems to Melk was absolutely breathtaking! I literally cannot stop smiling!
Tip: expect to take some wrong turns, just enjoy the ride.

This tour exceeded my expectations. I loved the variety of biking along the Danube River and through vineyards and beautiful small towns, and free days to explore some larger cities by foot, bike or bus. Having one home base was perfect & our cabin was very comfortable.

I recommend that you view the trip as a sampling of the beautiful areas and not expect that you will be able to thoroughly tour many of the landmarks.

We opted for a guide, Tomas, who was wonderful, leading the way and giving us a great experience. Leslie, the cruise director, was good as well. He had lots of tips and his almost daily talks were full of humor and good advice. The ship staff was also terrific, making us feel at home and providing great service. The e-bikes were not the best, very heavy and a bit unwieldy ( I ride an ebike at home so I am quite familiar with them). Otherwise a fabulous trip and I would highly recommend!

Excellent organization and service.
Enjoyable cycling routes and good information.
The facilities on board the ship and the staff’s attitude are exemplary.
Very good guides on the city tours.

The room on the boat was lovely and the food was very good. We did a guided tour and I felt our guide was inexperienced She did not have many safety measures that I have had on previous bike trips. i.e a sweep and ensuring everyone is ready to go before taking off. Also would have been better to be able to visit some cultural places like the Abbey, museums or churches. We were not given anytime on our rides to do this. The highlights was the wine region and wine tasting.

Our guide for biking was not very good. We have taken 3 other bike trips and the guide on them were far superior.

The biking was the absolute best. It is a great way to see the countryside, the small villages and the cities. We had an excellent itinerary. The sites were beautiful, the tours interesting and the crew was great. We got a lot of exercise and didnt worry about overeating.

Meeting new friends

Tour Guide was not well trained and did not highlight the sights.

We love bike and barges! Unpack once, meals provided and spectacular scenery exploring new parts of the world on a bicycle. This was the largest boat we’ve been on with 150 bicyclists, but at no time did we feel that it was too many people. We met new friends and overall it was a great experience. Bicycling Austrian countryside and vineyards, Old world Bratislava and beautiful Budapest were highlights of the tour. And the strudel! The chefs on the boat made the effort to provide meals that were characteristic of the area. The Vivienne cruise Director, Leslie went above and beyond in his duties and was a delight! It was a wonderful bicycling vacation.

The last day of biking was the most beautiful! I would recommend to bring along a mirror for your bike.

Overall great trip. Shout out to Cruise Director Leslie who was wonderful.
Recommendation:
1. Food: Fish entrees & apps weren't very good. Try better please & consider serving more chicken (breast) or turkey (white meat).
2. Coffee served w meals was not good. Thank God for the free coffee from coffee machine!!! Also PLEASE offer CREAM w coffee, not milk.
3. At the very end of the cruise when you introduce the members of the crew. Please tell us a little bit about each one… Where they're from how long they've been with the company, anything else personally interesting. It would be very interesting to us customers & it will really validate the crew. They did a wonderful job and deserve better recognition!
4. Out on the wheels fell off yesterday the very first day, please offer a short tutorial on how to use an E bike. Some of us were new to E bikes and it was hard to learn it when we were trying to jump on our bikes and keep up with everyone. It was a bit of a madhouse!
5. Really loved the daily briefings of the routes we would be taking the next day. Maybe provide a daily handout to summarize the talking points. Some of the routes were a bit confusing, and a handout would really REALLY help.
6. Would have really loved a little more time and some of the smaller (& bigger) towns such as Krems & Bratislava. And was not impressed with Vienna, it was big kind of dirty, a bit overwhelming. Would've liked to overnight in one of the other cities instead. I did speak to other passengers and three other women said they didn't think much of Vienna.

I THINK THOSE ARE THE BIGGIES FOR ME. I LOVED THE DAILY COFFEE HOUR WITH THE DELICIOUS CAKES. I LOVED THE COFFEE MACHINE IN THE COMMON ROOM! I LOVE THE PARTIES.
ALSO, AT FIRST I WAS A LITTLE PUT OFF BY ASSIGNED TABLES AND SEATS… BUT AFTER WHILE I GOT USED TO IT. IF OTHER PASSENGERS DID NOT LIKE THAT, I WOULD TAKE A LOOK AT IT AND SEE IF YOU CAN GET WORTHWHILE INPUT FROM PASSENGERS ON WAYS TO IMPROVE ON THAT.

THAT'S IT GUYS, GREAT JOB OVERALL! BRAVO TO THE CREW!
Elisa Morrell

The tour was exceptional and gave us an opportunity to experience a taste of each country. We cycled through the countryside and stopped at all of the major points of interests in the cities. The guides shared both historical and current perspectives. Overall the trip was well organized and the food and service were amazing.