Reviews

Well planned rides, food and presentation was amazing, and the bikes and crew were great. Our riding guide was enthusiastic, fun and informative. It was challenging to coordinate such different riding skill levels but she managed it well. The tour turned out to be better than I expected.

Great boat, good guides, great food, interesting rides.

The boat staff and guides were exceptional.

The trip was great. The food was very good, the ship staff were wonderful and the routes were pretty.
The downside was a bad experience with a guide and after a crash.

One guide did not want to use radios to communicate with the sweep. This caused issues when some people near the end of our group missed a turn in the chaos coming out of Ghent. Fortunately the sweep noticed it and chased them down but had no way to notify the guide and it took some time for everyone to get back together.
One of our traveling group had a bad crash and the sweep had no way to let the guide know who was a ways out front. After several minutes he finally came back and called an ambulance. The person in the crash and her husband left in the ambulance with no support from Boat Bike Tours. I had to work with the ship captain to figure out where they could try to get an Uber and meet up with the ship after the injuries were addressed. They still had trouble getting to the meet point with the ship a couple of hours later and thankfully a Dutch citizen bailed them out and drove them to the meet point the captain had given me. VERY DISAPPOINTING THAT BOAT BIKE TOURS LEFT THEM ON THEIR OWN IN A RURAL AREA IN THE NETHERLANDS.

Be aware that if you have a crash you may be on your own.

UPDATE: Boat Bike Tours responded to my review and indicated they will meet with the guide involved and reinforce their requirements for guides. They indicated the guide may not necessarily go with a party in the ambulance but is supposed to stay in contact with them and help the injured passenger get back to the ship.
Hopefully their follow through and corrections will prevent these situations happening in the future.

I also forgot to mention in the initial review that this was our fourth trip with Boat Bike Tours and the first time we have had any issues. We will be back again.

I think the trip should be rated more realistic- there were some challenging hills and I think it might have been tough for younger riders
I ride and I trained but found it tough a few times especially with the wind and some of the terrain –
The staff were excellent- our group leader was excellent

I had an accident riding in the rain on the first day and was not able to bike.
The staff on board went over and above to assist me.

Day one: Those of us who paid for a guide were terribly disappointed. She was unorganized and appeared to be unfamiliar with the GPS system provided to her by your company. She therefore was lost, along with those she was guiding, for a better part of the day resulting in us having to cycle 90 km over 7.5 hours, with limited rest breaks and stops at points of interest. Of the 10 ebikes, 8 ran out of battery power. I gave up my ebike to another rider because she was exhausted and said she could no longer cycle unassisted. Early in the day a rider fell off her bike and scraped herself pretty good. The guide was so far out in front of our group she had to be found by another rider and told about the incident. She did not appear to have a first aid kit. Kind bystanders provided the disinfectant and cleaning material for the wound. Our guide continued to cycle too far out in front of the group. I was the sweep for the day and assisted and made sure the riders were okay to continue seven times. There was no assistance from the guide crossing major roadways. The second tour guide was no where to be seen throughout our ride.
Day 2: our guided group disembarked the boat and we’re ready to go when it was discovered that one of the ebikes had not been charged overnight. The guide admitted this was an oversight and should not have happened. He went back to the boat for another battery but the boat had left the dock. The client who needed the battery was quite short and because of this she had a bike that a battery could not be swapped out and she could not safely ride any of the other bikes that other riders had ordered her. She agreed to try to cycle manually so the second guide stayed with her for the day. I was the sweep again. Because of the extended delay sorting out this matter, three riders left the group to go on their own. We were delayed by almost an hour which meant shorter stops with only one stop at a point of interest in order to get back to the boat in time.
Day 3: At last night’s briefing we we informed that some of the locks were closed for repairs and that the boat was going to be navigating a different route. This would result in increasing today’s ride to 70 km. High winds and thunderstorms were forecast. Many clients with ebikes were concerned that we would run out of battery power again. Those without ebikes were reluctant to bike that far. It was strongly suggested by our guides that we should stay on the boat for the day. Only 5 clients of 38 biked today.
Day4,5,6 were okay but limited stops at points of interest. The last day the second guide cycled on his own for the day.

Food, crew, guests, beautiful country!

Staff were wonderful. Breakfasts were great and lots of food to take for lunch. Nice dinners in the dining room after a day of cycling and sightseeing.

I went to Croatia for the National Parks tour. I was fun and I’m glad I did it. Cycling however is a small part of the trip and swimming time is often on 30-40 minutes a day. The food was excellent, the mattresses were comfortable, very quiet room in lower cabins. Liked that we got to tour the towns we visited. 6 nights was too long for my husband and me but many guests liked the length. There is a lot of down time and the dinners go on for 90 minutes.