Reviews

This was our first boat and bike trip. My wife and I had an excellent time. We biked through the beautiful countryside, small towns, and took in the amazing history of the Netherlands & Belgium. The boat was beautiful and very comfortable. Our cabin was spacious and bright with two windows in the bedroom and one in the bath. The bathroom was very large with a full size shower and plenty of hot water for a relaxing shower after our ride. The boat had approximately 16 cabins, so there were about 31 guests on board and the boat had plenty of space for everyone. We had a great group of people from all over the world and it was a pleasure to get to know each of them. By the end of the week it felt as though we were amongst old friends. Our guides couldn’t have been better! Funny, informative, knowledgeable and engaged with the group so well. The crew of the boat was also fantastic! I just can’t say enough about how great this first experience was for us. We will definitely be back to explore Europe with Boat Bike Tours again.

We travelled with Boat & Bike this year, doing the Hansa route, beginning and ending in Amsterdam. Was our first time cycling in The Netherlands, and we thoroughly enjoyed the countryside. If you’re a fair-weather cyclist like us, don’t be fooled by the flat landscape. The winds can be really strong, and arrive from nowhere. If we did it again, we would definitely go e-bike! Our tour guide was BRILLIANT (thank you, Paulette), and the crew of the MS Nassau really hardworking, and friendly. The food was quite exceptional! So why an ‘average’ rating? The website shows the ship having been recently refurbished, but not all of the cabins have. Ours was not, and we were at the stern end of the ship, trying to sleep with the noise and fumes from a generator, as only two of the seven overnight stops had on-shore power hookups. I slept hardly at all in 207, until we were moved for the last three nights. I noticed that some members of the crew had better cabins, and I felt that this should not have been the case. We’ve come away with some good and happy memories, but feel VERY STRONGLY that, if you know you need to generate power overnight AT ALL, that paying guests, on holiday, should not be placed in adjacent cabins. We’d go back to The Netherlands in a hearbeat, though, and this tour is a brilliant way of seeing the beautiful Hansa towns.

We loved our Croatian bike and boat tour. It was the perfect blend of exercise, guided tours and boating. We didn’t have to plan a thing or make the arrangements. The guides gave us our plans for each segment at our meal times together. The staff was friendly, but you wouldn’t know they were living on board with you. The guides were so fun and made each day a most excellent adventure. If you are worried about biking the hills the e-bikes are a good option. We are already looking for our next bike and boat tour.

Eine wunderbare Woche auf dem ijsselmeer ….. Unser Schiff: Leafde fan Fryslân Perfekt geeignet für 2 Dutzend Passagiere mit Bikes und guter Laune , Internationale Zusammensetzung bringt Schwung in Deine Kommunikation…. Unser Captain : Floris , cool und kompetent Unser Bootsmann: Yorick , immer busy und engagiert Unser Koch : Ruben, zaubert in seiner kompakten Kombüse die Besten internationalen Leckerbissen….. dazu gibts passend Musik , Gesang und Pfeifsoli ….. Wenn Du Kaffee willst um 6 a.m. , kein Problem ….. Our housekeeping ( and much more ) : Anny , always on the run Serving every thing, if possible ….. Our tour guide: Paulette , best Tour Guide EVER , she showed us Ijsselmeer on – and offshore in a wonderful charming style….. Diese Woche werden wir nicht vergessen und planen jetzt schon Die nächste Reise mit boat and bike . Regula u. Reinhard / july 2019

The biking and food was excellent. No toilet facility for 3 days, no air conditioning on the first day, having to pay for extra water and old fittings in the cabins detracted from the trip. Wifi was only available in certain places on the ship and there were charges for wifi once we were out of Austria. The booking company gave the operators the wrong information about my bike request. They had a small e-bike for me and record of my height being 170cms. That was after i requested in writing a ‘normal’ bike and that my height was 183cm. Paying for tours etc was a lottery because the internet facility would drop out in many locations along the river. All said and done, if you are after a good bike tour but not expecting the world on the boat, go for it. Would I do it again? I would look for a more modern boat first.

Nicely refurbished boat with a few teething problems that need sorting out. The styling of the ship is fresh and contemporary and the staff are all very friendly and extremely helpful at all times. I thank them for making our stay so good. The cycling was so enjoyable. Good clear instructions and we used the GPS app which really made it relaxing. Lovely countryside and towns to visit along the way. We cycled 50+ km each day which was easy for us as we paid extra for the very nice electric bikes. You can vary the assistance to your peddling so you can get a decent amount of exercise without getting exhausted after 6 days cycling. The bikes were brand new and in great condition. The staff were helpful if there were any adjustments needed. Unfortunately the saddles were the basic hard ones and after 6 days, even with padded shorts and my own padded saddle cover it was very uncomfortable. I really wanted to give 5 stars on my review but there were a few things that really need to be sorted to allow me to do so: Our premium double cabin had a bed which was raised too high even for someone who is 5’8″. The front edge of the bed had a wooden edge which was extremely uncomfortable to climb over. Needs a step or the wooden edge to be removed. However the mattress was very comfy and we slept really well. The shower tray was very shallow and the curtain didn’t keep the water in. The whole bathroom was really flooded every time we washed. Very dangerous and slippery. In addition the proximity of the basin to the toilet meant that it was an uncomfortable squeeze to get to. The windows were difficult to shut due to the plastic part in the frame being loose and difficult to clip the window into. There was often a smell of sewage in the corridor on the lower deck. Thankfully the rooms did not smell! The electrics needed attention. Our ceiling lights failed and the cabin air conditioning was intermittent. In the main salon the wall lights randomly flickered bright and dim which drove me crazy! Finally the food was not of the best quality. The breakfast was almost the same every day. It was missing good coffee (you had to pay for proper coffee at the bar) and bacon and pastries – the sort of indulgences you enjoy on holiday but don’t have at home! Dinner three course meal was uninspiring. The daily soup was EXTREMELY salty as was a lot of the food. The soup seems to just taste of salty stock and only changed colour each day but not flavour. The salad course was very bland and insufficient. One table spoon per person at most. Some of the main courses were tasty but the desserts were like school food. The live entertainment provided one night was not needed or required. It just made the ship very noisy and only a couple of people stayed to listen. Jose who was our cycle guide obviously cared deeply that everyone was looked after and enjoyed their trip. A really lovely lady who briefed us each evening as to the route for the following day. The only thing that might have made the briefing better was to have a few more photos of the recommended places to stop along the way so you could get more of an idea of where you might like to have your lunch. One finally thing: Almost all the guest were at or over retirement age and there were only 6 English speakers, the rest were German. We were a family with two teen children and felt out of place. On arrival we were allocated a table for the dining room with two Spanish speakers and were expected to stay at the same table every meal time. As only one of the Spanish guest could speak English it make meal times awkward. Would have been better to be at a table of just 4 or to have been able to mingle with other guests each evening. In summary, the cycling trip is really enjoyable the boat and cycles are of a good quality but there are a number of things which could easily be addressed to make it really worth 5 stars.

Our family recently completed a Croatia Bike and Boat tour. The staff was amazing, the food good and the countryside, towns and cities were beautiful. We would do it again in a heartbeat.

The boat : Nice, but maybe too big. Cabins on the back are noisy : the engine / generator works 24/24, and is located in the back. The bike trips : From 35 to 60 km, Quite easy to follow. Beware : no guide with you for bike trips, you will have a map. But easy to follow. The ambiance : Anouncements, meetings, and preparation for trips are in deutch or in german. Not in english or in another langage. This is definitively not an international tour, it’s a deutch one. Average age of travelers : more than 60 / 65. For resume : come with your friends and have a cabin in the front of the boat, you will have nice vacations. But do not hope to make friends if you do not speak deutch.

I booked our our trip with 11 other friends, there was a total of 13 of us in our party. We stepped up on the Quo Vadis and were welcomed with open arms. The captain JR showed us to our room. It was just like the picture online, no surprises. The room was very clean along with the bathroom. We met the rest of the crew and started to meet the other passengers. The food was top notch! Gourmet meals, very delicious! The guides are what made this trip so magical. Ferry knew the history and facts behind everything we stopped to see. Really made the stops interesting! Loved our route, lots to see, vineyards and castles and Roman ruins. Even got to see how Brut Champagne is made bottled , corked and labeled. Fascinating! Back to the ship for another gourmet meal. The beds were very comfortable along with the air conditioning in every room. I would do this ride again in a heartbeat, it was that good! Now the negative, I had issues with booking the 13 of us. Invoices were sent out then cancelled and several people kept getting multiple invoices to pay. Made the booking and paying process very confusing on our end. Once we got on the barge and started our vacation I was relieved! Don’t know if I would book thru Boat Bike Tours again, maybe use another trip booking website.

The Magnifique III is nice and fresh and new. The food is excellent. The accommodations are fine. The guides, Tammy and Carla, were good. I only got lost once. One irritant: The E-bikes that passed me every time there was a gap. It made me feel like they were cheating. Overall it was a great time.