5 Star Vivienne boat/barge tour reviews — 1 to 30 of 61

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.

Absolutely loved this trip. Excellent crew, food, cabin quarters. Scenery was among the prettiest I’ve ever seen and optional excursions helped immerse me into new cultures. Thank you!!

Experiencing the sights while riding a bike is magical. Forest, farms, charming small towns, stunning cities, and castles galore. Loved meeting new people. Loved being on the water and enjoying the scenery gliding by. And the food, wow!

The crew was extremely helpful and always available to help.

Fantastic active vacation with beautiful rides. Incredible delicious and healthy food. Fun activities on board and options for additional tours were good. Highly recommended.

The ride along the Danube was spectacular! Especially the last day from Krems to Pöchlarn. Some of us opted to go for city bike tours in Budapest and Vienna. I found Vienna to be especially crowded and wouldn't do that ride again. Nevertheless, our guide was very knowledgeable and interesting.

The beautiful scenes while biking along the Danube. We would of liked to have a longer trip in order to spend more time in the cities.

The beauty of the old towns, villages and cities we rode and cruised through was breathtaking. The fact that two weeks prior to our arrival the Danube flooded most of our routes and was already cleared was inspiring. The accommodations on the Vivienne were excellent and we were very well fed! The crew were excellent and very accommodating to our needs. The bikes met our needs and beyond (they survived riding through mud and flood waters).

We did a bike/barge tour several years ago in the Netherlands on a small 20 guest boat so we weren’t sure what to expect on a larger ship. We loved the ship and the larger group wasn’t a problem. We had some special dietary needs which the crew handled seamlessly. Our room was pleasant and comfortable. The crew had our bikes ready to go in the morning and reloaded on the ship after we completed out ride. The rides were beautiful. We enjoying cycling through villages, natural areas and the wine region. A lovely special trip!

Great trip! Despite flooding on the Danube that did not allow us to dock at some locations, we got to all advertised locations. The bike ride through the Austrian vineyards was absolutely stunning!

The Vivienne is a superb boat with comfortable rooms, excellent meals, amazing staff - from Captain Igor to hotel manager Margot to program director Leslie to restaurant manager Najeh to our wonderful server Nidhal and all the crew who carried bikes, took care of rooms, reception, bar and the like. Everything ran so smoothly. Party events were memorable and fun. The Danube cycling beautiful, as were the cities and towns we visited with so many historic sites. We would recommend this trip and this boat to everyone!

Rating this tour is challenging in a way due the the fact we were there during the worst weather condition's in that part of Europe in years. The Danube rising at unprecedented levels along with flooding. I'm sure you are well aware of all of this. The Vivienne crew and Leslie the tour director did an amazing job of keeping all of us on board safe and making every attempt to help us to continue to have the best possible experience we could given the horrendous conditions.
While we missed out on a lot of cycling and seeing and experiencing this part of Europe, we were very fortunate to be able to do what we could, given the conditions.
Again, Chapeau to Leslie and the crew of the Vivienne!

Loved it! We went as a couple and met wonderful people. Two things to suggest
1. Better app navigation
2. Lighter e-bikes ( other companies like VBT and backroads have lighter, safer bikes

Staff couldn’t be nicer and we had a flood emergency which was handled professionally and compassionately

The bikes, the ship, the crew and the food! All were fantastic! We definitely feel that our experience aboard the Vivienne was a value commensurate with the cost. The upgrade to a Superior room was worth that little extra cost as the views were beautiful. The bikes were in great repair, the e-bike controls were easy. None stop scenery as we rolled through woods, urban roads, country trails and picturesque towns. Even the weather did not disrupt our enjoyment as Captain Igor and all crew worked to keep us safe and entertained during three days of nonstop rain and 30-year record flooding on the river. We have great stories to share!

Leslie our Cruise Director was Great! We were lucky to meet a lot of new people. All the people working on the boat were wonderful and did a phenomenal job! From the Food to the cleanliness of the boat! Loved Disco night!

The whole experience was wonderful ! The boat, service , food and rides. The
Programming was so fun and the rides were incredible. Rented and ebike which I
Was happy with. I was able to enjoy it all stess free

The only recommendation I would
Have is to have mirrors on bike

Having dinner at Fisherman’s Bastion overlooking Budapest at night was just magical. Also, our first day ride at Danube Bend was a fantasic experience with the bike road along the Danube and the little bike ferries we used (and the Schapps wasn’t bad either!). All in all, great ship, great bikes, great time!

The beauty of the cycling route and the relaxed yet active daily schedule

The best part of the trip was the cycle portion through Austria’s Wachau Valley winery district. Truly picturesque!
Advice: Bring a Tupperware type container to pack your lunch. The boat provides a small sandwich and fruit but if you prefer to eat something else or just more than the sandwich, you need to have a container for it. We started packing the hard boiled eggs, and fruit in our bike bags but a container would have made it much easier. There are not very many opportunities to eat lunch at a restaurant while you are cycling, but plenty of gorgeous places to have a picnic. A travel picnic set with a cutting board, an a knife and fork would come in very handy.
We signed up for all the bus/walking tours to give our saddles a break. They were all great but the bus tour in Budapest we could have passed on because the boat docks right in the center of all the tourist spots so it was just as easy to navigate touring there on your own. Friends we met on the boat did the bike tour there and said it was great but I couldn’t face getting on the bike again that day:). Vienna is harder to get around so unless you feel pretty adventurous, I recommend the tour. We also did the trip to the concert and it was gorgeous- well worth it!
The e-bikes were awesome, and very comfortable. We bought gel seat covers and brought them with us which I think helped a lot. Unless you are a seasoned cyclist, it’s a lot of time on the bike and the tush gets tired.
Overall an amazing trip, the staff was fun and helpful. Our tour director was a substitute for the regular person and he was good but cranky. The regular tour director had awesome reviews so I think we just happened to get an off week!
I highly recommend this tour and now am ready to do another bike and boat in a different location!

Leslie, the cruise director made this trip the best one I’ve ever experienced!!!!

The most memorable part of our trip was the ability of the cruise director and crew to adapt to the high waters of the Danube. It was a wonderful trip; the bike rides we did were all enjoyable, even when many of them were ended by flooded back paths or required unexpected detours. The food was great!

The director and crew were very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the ride through the scenic landscape and quaint towns. The tours were very good too!

The Vivienne and its crew were all exceptional! I would not change anything. Our guide, Leslie went above and beyond.

This is the perfect way to see the Danube for anybody who enjoys easy cycling with beautiful scenery. The MS Vivienne is a great boat, very recently refurbished with small but comfortable cabins, extremely friendly staff, and very good food. Everything was very well organized and the tour director provided plenty (sometimes too much) information regarding the next day’s ride or city visit. Take advantage of tours offered in Bratislava, Vienna and Budapest as the time in each (especially Vienna) is brief. The biking is mostly on paved trails with just a few places where we had to ride with traffic. We booked e-bikes, but could have easily done this with regular bikes. Our cruise was about half German speakers and half English speakers (with largest group being from US, followed by Canada, Australia, NZ, the Netherlands and the UK). The staff on board all speak English and the tour director is fluent in both German and English, so language is not an issue.

If using the GUIBO app for route navigation, be sure to have an extra battery pack. The app uses up your phone battery.

If this review can be applied to the GUIBO app then, I'd give it (GUIBO) a poor rating. It sucks the phone battery. It does NOT guide you to (or back to) the route. It randomly talks to you (sometimes it tells you to turn, sometimes not). Fortunately, the routes are very simple, but it could certainly be improved. Providing a gpx file for my own device would be great. Even using google to navigate might be better.

The route was a great mix of countryside, nature and village. The cruise director, Leslie, provided invaluable information for route and highlights.

I love that it was an active holiday where you are biking throughout the countries. There was a good mix of seeing the countryside and having a day in cities like Budapest and Vienna.