3 Star Bike Tour Reviews — 181 to 210 of 327

Being in France on a bike with new friends and having a wonderful barge and crew to meet our needs.

The most memorable part was the quality of the bikes. Negatively memorable. They were very heavy. Definitely not of the same quality we had on the barge. I recommend a different supplier. Otherwise enjoyed the area and the hotel.

The trip provided an excellent introduction to the countries and cities visited - the bike tour guide, and some of the extra options, we’re very worthwhile. However communication between Tripsite and the contractor, Rad and Reissen, was poor and marked by numerous breakdowns. Most significant was that the Covid protocol we were told would be followed wasn’t, at all, and several people, including both of us, contracted Covid during the trip. Between us we missed seven days of activities while confined to our cabin.

Once we cleared historic Porto and hit the bike trail along the seaside, we enjoyed visiting the small coastal cafes and seeing the beautiful long beaches. Along the route, the size and quality of the beaches blew us away!

The crew and food and boat comfort were all great. The ebikes were good quality but such a flat topography and not much riding each day made them unnecessary, save your money! Another tip…this is ALWAYS a group tour, no self guiding so you only move as fast/well as the slowest mover in the group. There were several inexperienced cyclists on our tour so unfortunately, we moved like snails.

The Ave Maria entire crew and our bike tour leaders were fabulous. Food was awesome as well. Our only complaint is that we thought we would be on a self-guided tour and most of the trip that was not doable. Therefore we were in a group of 30 bikers at all different levels making stops for sites and commentary, often which we would have passed on. Riding in a group of 30 was not at all what we had in mind and very disappointing. Our tour leaders did a great job herding us and really did their best to meet everyone's needs and desires. The country side was flat, mostly farm land however and not terribly remarkable. We were told that Italy was not very advanced as far as bike paths went. Even though the countrysidewas not that great for us, we did get to see some beautiful and historic cities in the areas and of course ending in and around Venice was beautiful. So if you enjoy being part of a big group tour, then you will love this. If not, look for one of the bigger boats that give you maps and let you go your own way and pace.

I loved the Clam Castle we toured.
Amazing that a count and countess actually live there with their children!
One disappointment was that the cruise director spent most of his time giving cycling directions in German and very little time in English.
I found the route difficult to navigate but fortunately one of our friends was able to figure it out.

Riding in the countryside was wonderful, the ride in the urban parts was much more stressful. Our barge was divided into two groups which had significantly different experiences. Group one (which we were not in) had 2 guides while ours which was the same size had only one which meant that one of us had to take on the role of sweep. Our group leader did not stop or explain anywhere near as much as the other. Our group leader was unwilling to wait to make sure everyone was accounted for. For one example he took part of the group to a canal tour and said it should return on time. When I asked if he would wait for us if it was a few minutes late he said "I don't know, maybe" and when we were still getting our bikes out of the racks, he left with the rest of the group and was out of sight. luckily we were able to catch up but this incident seemed to characterize our whole experience with this guide.

Staff and food were wonderful. Caprice barge has nice upper deck and dining facility. But cabins are beyond tiny, which we could have been happy with (and given 5 stars) if not for the following: Each guest is issued one towel set to be changed only once during the 8 night stay. The problem is during a humid or hot athletic trip, there's no way to dry the towels or to wash or dry athletic clothing, no place to hang them in ventilated area. We packed light with intent to wash, and couldn't. Clothing was "toxic" by end of trip! On an active trip, there needs to be laundry available, even if guests do it themselves. We found out on last day of trip there was full size washer/dryer on boat, but not accessible to guests.

-Excellent itinerary and beautiful country
-great customer service from Anna
-excellent equipment

-poor navigation instruction compounded with misinformation when cross referencing map instruction versus navigation instructions
-poor (lack of detail) wording on some of the daily instructions on what and where to go. Anna helped tremendously with this.
-moving map wouldn't work on the entire trip causing many instances of confusion
-very poor briefing from company liaison handing off the bikes at the beginning of the trip. He seemed overwhelmed and inconvenienced.

Compared to our other trips, the Caprice felt very cramped i.e very limited on deck room for groups. Probably should add a Caprice clothes line to dry clothes, minor but very handy
breakfast was ok but repetitive, other trips had a buffet and especially cooked hot items
suppers were hit or miss, I thought ok but most of our group thought mediocre
guide was excellent as were bike stops, especially the Aqueduct-Pont du Gard, Palais des Papes, swimming in the med, light show. Probably should add a visit to a winery. Consider precharging for some events i.e. colosseum, light show kamisky and Cezanne) , museums,--Palais des Papes, Van Goughs asylum etc) rather than make them optional as some folks are tightwads and really miss out on a fuller experience.
Cycling guidebook is excellent

Good crew

The trip was much harder than I expected. The rating was easy to moderate but I felt it was moderate to difficult. Going through the sand and gravel paths was challenging even though I had an e-bike. My first trip was from Bruges to the Amsterdam and I had wonderful experiences on a regular bike. But if this Mazuria lakes district was my first trip, I would not have signed up for a second. The Magnifique 2 was much more comfortable and there was free coffee, tea, and even hot chocolate all day long. On the classic lady, there wasn't even free water. The state rooms were comparable on both trips. But the magnifique had a sitting area where we could gather and talk. On the classic lady, we had to sit at the dining room tables to socialize. The food was good

Not moving and sitting next to a mud bank and a muddy river made the first couple of days disappointing. The rest of the trip was very good with Bordeaux and St. Emilion being the highlight of the trip. The staff and food was exceptional!

The bike routes were good and some of the stops at vineyards were excellent but other vineyards were not really interested in providing tastings even when they had been pre-arranged by the boat company. The old bikes were in bad shape but the new bikes were of excellent quality. The e-bikes were a godsend to riders that struggled with the hills on the second day. Unless you are are a fairly strong rider the e-bikes were needed on 2 of the days. The bike mechanic was great and the GPS was helpful when it worked but it was not reliable. Paper maps were needed as a back-up. The rooms on the ship were cramped but OK overall. Our biggest concern was that the food was really BAD. We could not eat several dishes and they sometimes ran out of the main course.
Overall, given the steep price, we would not recommend this tour. Other barge and bike tours are much better value.

Great traveling companions and great boat and food!

I always love the Merlijn and the new owners were great! However, this is the least favorite of my Tripsite tours I didn't find the stops very interesting and when we did have an interesting place to visit, our time was very limited. Fun group, great food and pleasant weather but very short days of cycling. I will do another trip next year but do suggest some changes to this itinerary.

Overall the trip was good and we enjoyed our time. However, we did have some things that could be improved -
firstly the e-bikes that we rented had several problems with them and were unreliable
secondly I found the choice of food strange for being on a tour in Europe - we had Mexican food, followed by Asian food & sushi. What was wrong with french or belgium or even North American (seeing that we were all from NA). There was no flexibility or accommodation of other types of food.
The group leader should have allowed some of us to go ahead with maps rather than keep us in a long line of 20 people strung out with the slowest members behind the leader. We are all adults and professional people and do not wish to be treated like children.

I really enjoyed the staff, Sylvia and Barbara and the delicious dinners! They were so cute and fun. Loved the cheese factory, and Antonella was a wonderful tour guide.

The boat and staff were nice.
Food was plentiful and good
Our hotel the night before did not have our registration, very difficult to get anyone on a phone
The people we picked up the bikes from were surly and just plain painful
The bike was the same weight as a Sherman tank
The boat was poorly equipped for handling bikes although the crew worked hard to make it less painful
We never had enough time to ride and see the sights, we were always under the gun to get back to the boat
Really thought we were going to be able to sit and have lunches and drinks and see all the sights during our rides
As it turned out there was only one day where we weren’t in a deadly hurray and even that day we had 20 minutes to drink a beer at a local outside bar
Came back in the dark often, dangerous
Directions we revived sucked! Language interpretation was always an issue
The boat was often not where we expected it to be when we returned
Still enjoyed my vacation but it could have been so much better

We very much enjoyed this trip but it was a real adventure. At times I felt we were filming an episode for the Amazing Race! The maps we were provided with were very confusing. For example, we were not made aware that we had to make a detour as portions of the National Park were closed. Google Maps wasn't much help as they do not provide bicycle routes for Slovakia and Hungary. Fortunately, other cyclists told us to download the MAPS.ME app and this was a real life saver. I would advise anyone doing this trip to use this app or have some sort of GPS. We encountered other cyclists that were travelling with other companies that were provided with far more detailed maps, yet they too had difficulty. A GPS is a must.

We were dismayed that on a couple of occasions our luggage left unattended in the lobby area of hotels. I feel the luggage should always be stored in a secure area.

I was extremely disappointed in the quality of the bikes. I had assumed from what I read that the bikes were hybrid bikes similar to what I own: less than 30 pounds, gears, maneuverable, easy to ride. These bikes were very heavy, hard to pedal, hard to walk. No one got the bikes off the barge for us to ride or put them back on. That means I had to struggle with the bike up and down a steep and dangerous metal ramp. I was more tired from riding 30 miles on the flat on one of these bikes than I was after riding a metric century up some pretty big hills on a road bike. I do not believe that a bike and barge trip should emphasize the biking and provide such poor bikes. Electric bikes were an option, but I do not choose to ride one. I want to ride a good quality hybrid or road bike. Riding was so much work that it took away some of the pleasure of seeing the Dutch countryside. The rest of the trip was very nice, but the biking was a big part of why we went on the trip and it was a huge disappointment.

Krumlov, Telc and Znojmo are truly heritage towns, and worth more time than we had to explore them. Moravia in general is a great biking area, with more and prettier villages and squares.

Riding through the area that was hit by the storm of the century. We were not advised of all the route closures, only some of them. Therefore we did a lot of backtracking! The company Lazypedals that organized the tour did not personally investigate the travel route. As a result we were left on our own with insufficient maps and GPS. Overall we enjoyed the trip and the scenery and made it to our destinations, however, this trip should not be rated as an Easy to Moderate tour, take out the word easy!!

The castle tours were amazing. Sophie (coordinator on the Anna Marie IV) was adorable. Really enjoyed her and her nightly meals. The trip was not the Loire, because of water levels and sorry to say that it was just OK, but not much more. The main thing missing that I had expected was a trip to a vineyard. That would have made a big difference.

Lovely countryside, getting lost a lot. I would strongly recommend that the company heavily promotes the trip ap, as directions often were not clear and we got lost a lot. Due to type of hybrid bike and being lost there was not time to fully explore the region - so I would recommend the use of e bikes or shorter days.
Also reminding people that nothing is open on Sundays and most small towns did not have any shops for food/drink.

The scenery was absolutely beautiful and thankfully the weather was the same. If I had to make one suggestion it would be to improve the food on board. I don't think that can vegetables are a great reflection of the fresh vegetables that were all over the countryside. I also think that there should be more options for vegetarians.

The trip was well organized once we got there. The guides and staff on the boat were great. The booking agent for Tripsite was extremely poor. I had a gluten allergy (I'm a celiac) and I informed her of this allergy 8 months prior to the trip. The month before the trip it became a huge concern that the boat could not accommodate my allergy when your website claims differently. The agent told me that Croatia is not aware of gluten free food and it would be near impossible to help me. As a result I purchased a huge amount of food to bring with me and had to check extra baggage to accommodate this $75 each way. When I got there, I noticed that virtually every food store had a huge selection of GF food, even the smallest ports had GF items. The agent clearly did not know what she was talking about, I am very dissatisfied at the huge grievance she caused me, the extra baggage I had to bring and the hassle and cloud she put on me. I did not appreciate this at all. It is curious to me that on your rating form you do not provide me with any place to rate the booking experience. That's what needs the most attention.

The best memory of the trip was a spectacular meal at Auberge de la labourer in Chenonceaux. They were fully booked but set up a table in the bar and gave us the full restaurant menu. It’s a great restaurant and the extra work the staff put in added to the experience.

We had two complaints. First, neither of our odometers worked so we had no way of measuring distance. This meant constantly stopping and checking to make sure we were on the right way.

Second, the directions to get to Cour Chevigny had one massive error. When we came off the trail and onto Route 52 the directions said to turn right, go to the roundabout, and follow the sign to Route D102. There is no such sign. The only sign to Cour Chevigny is for Route 52, the road we were already on. So, thanks to some help, we turned around, followed route 52 for five kilometres and came right to our hotel. THIS SHOULD BE FIXED.

This is our 5th bike and boat trip, and all of the others have been 5 star experiences. This tour was very nice, but we had one major problem. We were absolutely unable to keep up with the tour guide. Another Canadian couple was in the same boat. Many of the German guests brought their own e-bikes along. Thankfully, the Dutch wayfinding system is excellent, but we really missed going with the group. Also, the tour guide did not stop at cafes, churches, wineries, breweries, etc. like we have had on other tours. He did make reservations for an interesting water works plant, but the entire group needed to pedal as fast as possible to get there by 2PM. I went to see the plant the next morning on my own. The boat was super fun, especially when the sails were hoisted. The food was great, the crew was great. I would urge anyone looking at this tour to rent an e-bike to keep up, or not pay extra for the tour guide, and just do the trip on your own.

We thoroughly enjoyed our cycling trip , the sceneries were absolutely beautiful.
We were disappointed to learn , three days prior to our departure from Canada, the MS Arlene 11 was in repairs and not be ready for our departure date.Trip Site offered alternatives,using the same route the group were accommodated in hotels along the way .The group did NOT have any representatives at any hotels from Trip Site except a very brief meeting on our very first night.We were basically left on our own , with somewhat mediocre instructions to and from city hotels.
Allowing for a scénario that was beyond their controls, we would have appreciated TripSite going further to assure the comfort and reliability in this unfortunate incident.