5 Star Vivienne boat/barge tour reviews — 61 to 73 of 73

It’s very hard to pick the “most” memorable…but probably the day of cycling through the Wachau Wine valley would top the list. The scenery was just magnificent that day. But truly, every day was beautiful, whether we were directly along the river, or cycling through farmlands. We upgraded to e-bikes this time, and that was definitely the right choice for us. The terrain is mostly flat, and the daily distances are not far, but having e-bikes made it more relaxing for us. I felt like I could linger in the small towns without having to check my watch to be sure I could make it to the boat on time. About half of the 90 passengers on our tour had e-bikes. Seeing the big cities was another highlight, but of course we only got a small taste of them. The staff of the Vivienne went out of their way to make us comfortable, and I can’t say enough about the food! Five course dinners every night, and everything was delicious.

We will always remember the ride through the beautiful scenery of the Danube river, and the chance to meet so many people from different countries and learn the different cultures. We were also impressed with the crew members skill to get the barge thru multiple locks, the smooth ride on the boat. In addition, the tour director, Leslie's attention to details, Hans, the bike master to fix and adjust bikes for us. It was a wonderful experience for us. We loved the challenge to ride and comfort to be on a boat and relaxing afterwards. The only bad thing about the experience is to allow people smoking in the back of the sundeck and it would be best to make it nonsmoking tour.

Biking through small villages and seeing castles and gorgeous churches on the hillside.

The boat, staff and experience were exceptional, plus the food and 5 or 6 course meals were incredible. This was a memorable experience for my group of eight. We loved every moment of this amazing bicycle trip along the Danube River through small villages, into large cities and along the peaceful beautiful Danube River. Our rooms were very nice with a good sized bathroom. We had plenty of room for storing our clothes and gear, even hiding our suitcases in the provided storage cabinet under our beds. The crew has thought of everything, they even have a small store on board to buy all sorts of gear, clothing and other items. They even lent helmets to those that wanted them - we had lugged our from home.

Wow , what a well organized trip , our bikes were out every morning just waiting for us . The staff on the boat were fantastic, they are hard working people from different parts of the world . Very friendly and willing to help in anyway . I would recommend this trip and your company to everyone. The boat was very clean ,food was great and if you didn’t like a certain food they did a great job accommodating you . We will certainly be doing another trip with your company . Very please with or service . The scenery along the route was spectacular ! Beautiful countryside. I highly recommend this trip. Janet M

THIS TRIP IS AMAZNG! This was probably one of the most beautiful trips I have ever been on and I have travelled to over 40 countries! The boat director, "Leslie" and the crew of the Vivienne were bar none in their service. The food was high grade, the boat clean and elegant and the crew was OUTSTANDING. I highly recommend this trip to anyone who enjoys food, art and FUN! Even on the hot days, Leslie and crew made it memorable. Loved the 70's party! Leslie proved over 200 outfits for the guests to wear and he was attentive to every guest, even with a broken wrist. THANK YOU for a the trip of a lifetime. You can be darn certain that I will be back! Such a great time! Thank you Tripsite and Rad-Riessan Eurocyle (spelling?) for making this happen All of the venues were amazing but the last ride in the wine country of Austria was spectacular! LOVED EVERY MINUTE! THANK YOU to the professionals at Tripsite, the crew of the Vivienne and Leslie the amazing cruise director. WIth much gratitude and appreciation, Wendy.

Beautiful days of biking with great options for tours on the ‘rest’ days. Seeing a small part of Bratislava and Budapest was fascinating. Our cruise director Leslie offered great suggestions for unique restaurants, special tours for specific interests (historical, foodie, libraries, best photos of the area, etc. ). Onboard food was excellent with many tasty vegetarian choices.

The biking was fantastic. The boat and crew made the whole adventure simply a great time.

The trip was outstanding! My room which was a standard was roomy. The ship was elegant. The stops were awesome so much to see. Our cruise director Leslie told us where to stop and placed arrows everywhere, making it easy to follow.

The food was delicious. We had. Choice of food. Loved the ice cream social.

The farewell party and costumes were a lot of fun! It seemed as if the crew was trying to do everything in their power to make a fun memorable trip!(which they did)

Great way to tour the Danube River valley with a good mix of active bike riding and the opportunity to visit cities such as Brataslavia, Budapest and Vienna by having a boat that can cover long distances while you are sleeping.

This bucket list trip does not disappoint. One week of magic. Unpack once and you are good for the week which was a huge part of the magic. Every day was different. Cycling through villages and towns, or wineries and vineyards, or just along the river. The two 'rest days' were filled with walking around Vienna and Budapest and seeing all the sites we could. Food on board was exceptional and the service of the staff exemplary. We also liked that there was time in towns/cities to also eat local food during the day and a few days the boat was docked at dinner as well so although food was prepaid for all meals - we liked that we could also experience local cuisine. It was a mostly German speaking boat or week but we did have about 30 English speakers and the staff all spoke English so that was helpful to us. The routes were good (but we did have to crowd source a bit to not get lost). There is not really anything to do on the boat per se - but the scenery was continuously striking and you go through a variety of locks which is also interesting. We were on the Vivienne which is a newly remodeled boat (a few years back) so the rooms and common areas were decorated nicely. Overall - great trip for active people seeking ease and flow on a vacation where you could see 4 countries and not be stressed.

We were very fortunate that we had beautiful weather the entire trip, except for a brief hail storm as we returned to the barge in Bratislava. The alternate days of biking and city touring was excellent in that it allowed time to recover from saddle sores, and the e-bikes were very comfortable for the long distances we biked. The crew was fabulous and accommodating to every need, and the Cruise Director (Leslie) made sure we were prepared and had everything we needed to make our biking a pleasure and free of stress.

This was a fantastic trip! The boat was great and the crew was the best. Meal were great and nicely served - significantly past my expectation for a trip focused on biking. If you are doing this trip, here are some things I wish I had known....

- You will spend more time on the boat than you might think - pack clothes for that and excursion days as well as what you were for biking

- Speaking of clothes, it is hard to get things to dry if you wash them out by hand - there is a clothesline in the shower but bring your own clips

- You won't have much shore time on biking days or excursion days, so don't bother looking up 100 things to do in a city. Think in terms of a few hours not a whole day

- That being said, I would suggest setting something up on your own in Vienna in the evening - especially if you are into Classical Music - that is, after all, the town for it. We went to the ballet and it was wonderful. Our friends went to the Opera - you might want to take nicer clothes for either of those - they still dress up for concerts..

- Don't bother getting Florints (money) in Hungary - everyone we talked to took Euros, but do get train tickets from your tour guide if they are offered - they are hard to find and the machines are not in English and VERY hard to figure out (we finally found some young people who graciously helped us out)

- Don't count on Wifi. Period. We never managed to pull in any

- The app they use sounds really good but we found it completely useless - even our cruise director said not to use it. It doesn't help, and most of the time when we had a question on the route I couldn't pull in cell service

- Speaking of cell service....play around with what service your phone pulls up. Sometimes if I changed carriers I got a much better signal

- Try to find a group to ride with - it really helps with directions and is much more fun

- The Ebikes are VERY heavy - someone said 65lbs - I don't know if that is true, but they are very heavy and hard to manage. They might help when you are riding, but they are hard to handle - not for anyone who isn't pretty strong especially stop and go in small towns - it is a challenge.

- Every day you have to catch the boat before it leaves port. You don't have to be a professional biker, but you do have to ride along at a pretty good clip. That took us by surprise...it was no jaunt through the countryside - but I am older (60) so maybe that is a matter of perspective

- They set out salad stuff for you to take with a sandwich for lunches - I would suggest taking a small tupperware if you think you want salad on the road, but I would also suggest taking baggies just in case you don't want their prepared sandwiches (which were OK, but not real exciting). They put out cold cuts and breads/rolls and several days we made our own (helpful hint - don't put mayo on in the morning - take the packets and put them on when you eat - just to be sure it is fresh). I also made up some trail mix and took rolls (with Nutella packets) for snacks so the baggies were really helpful.  SHOW MORE