Ordinary Boat or Bike Tour
Elo Jacobsen
I was on a Tulip tour onboard MAGNIFIQUE 02 – 06 April 2017. It was a nice trip. There were good bikes, and we saw what we came for – tulips. But it was an ordinary tour, not Luxury. Onboard I made a suggestion to change the program one day, and the guide made laugh of me and said it would not be changed. The captain said that it not give any problems, but the guide would not change the program. Instead of going by bus to Amsterdam from Aalsmeer Flower Auction, I suggested we could return to Magnifique in Haarlem and sail to Amsterdam. Many of the other guests said it was a good idea, but the guide said NO, so we took the bus – in rush hour to Amsterdam – drive – stop – drive – stop, bad decision, we could have had it all – the auction, a cruise from Haarlem to Amsterdam and the days ride, not good. The Boat-Bike Tour don’t have an environmental policy; I saw the cook throwing banana skin, orange peel, and the top of a pineapple, into the canal. Later he threw bread in the water too, I suppose that the birds would eat it, but what the bird’s don´t eat – the rats will. Not good. In the brochures it says that it is a Luxury Cruise, but in my eyes luxury is more than a good bike and nice rooms. Even though I every evening said my room number, they didn’t know how much I had been drinking when I should pay – very unprofessional. Luxury – is also professional service. The crew was sweet and helpful, but it was not LUXURY they delivered, so I would say it was an ORDINARY CRUISE. The entire cruising was of 1½ hour, the first evening from Amsterdam to Zaandam; that was all; it is not BIKE and BOAT TOUR, but BIKE or BOAT TOUR. I have send these issues to the Boat-Bike Tours more than a month ago, but I have not heard anything from them, I would like to hear their meaning before sharing my experiences on TRUSPILOT, but they have not answered my mail, only with a short “thank you, we will answer you no sooner than Wednesday” – not professional. I had more issues, which I have send to Boat-Bike Tours, but I will stop for now.
Dear Mr Jacobsen, We are sorry to hear that you were not satisfied about the Tulip Cruise that you booked in April.The reason why we had to change plans was – as you wrote – a damaged bridge in the western part of Amsterdam, making it impossible for the ship to sail from Oude Wetering / Kudelstaart via Aalsmeer to Amsterdam. Our company (not: tour leader Tom) decided that – as the majority of guests travel to see the mentioned highlights and enjoy cycling – we had to set up an alternative which kept all mentioned highlights in the program and would offer similar cycling tours. The result was that the amount/time of cruising unfortunately would be diminished as a result of this. In April we had 3 ships on this tour, departing on subsequent days, so we had to find a solution that would fit to all tours. I would like to state the following as well: 1. it was our company that made the decision to do it this way, not tour leader Tom. 2. In retrospective, I would have wished that we would have made a written statement about the problem with the bridge, the blocked canal and about the solution that we have chosen, and that we would have distributed this statement during the Tulip tours. However: originally, when the bridge was damaged, it looked like a problem that would be solved within just a few days. In the end we were faced with a problem that lasted for more than 3 weeks… We can only apologize for this. We have sent your feedback in full to the captain of the barge and the tour leader: your remarks are highly appreciated. Thank you very much for sharing your experiences and opinion with us!
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