Dear Partner,
The 2024 season has come to an end and we look back on it with great satisfaction. A very big “Dankjewel and Thank You!” to all our booking partners. Without your contributions, this season too would not have been such a great success!
Bookings for 2025 are already in full swing. Recently, for various reasons, we have made some changes to the original 2025 schedules for various ships and voyages. This Partner Update covers the most significant changes.
All program changes can be found in our Google Drive. Tip: look at the date of the file of the particular tour in Google Drive to see if there have been any recent changes to that voyage. If in doubt: also consult our website or send us a message by e-mail.
CHANGES SEASON 2025
Ship ZWAANTJE
The ship has a new owner since the beginning of the 2024 season. For this reason, the name of the ship, which operates most of her tours of the season in France, is being changed. Her new name is Clair d’Etoile. In our reservation system (BBT Partner Portal), the ship can be found from now on as “Clair d’Etoile (former Zwaantje)”.
On our Champagne tours between Paris and Epernay, four departures of the Clair d’Etoile (Zwaantje) have been cancelled: The tours on June 26, July 3, July 10 and July 17 will not take place.
Instead, four additional departures for this ship have been added to our tours through Northern Burgundy between Auxerre and Môret-sur-Loing, namely on June 24, July 1, July 8 and July 15.
Ship ARKONA
The June 22 departure on the Northern Tour of Holland is cancelled. The ship now leaves for Germany one week earlier.
For this reason an additional departure on June 29 has been added on the Rhine and Moselle tour. Season B prices apply for this new tour date.
In addition, for the Rhine & Moselle tour, pricewise the departure on October 12 has been added to season D and thus the price for this departure has been reduced.
Ship DE HOLLAND
Due to the success in 2024 and the great interest in 2025 for the tour The Best of Holland and Belgium between Amsterdam and Bruges (or vice versa), no less than six sailing dates in the summer have been added for De Holland . These are July 13, July 20, July 27, August 3, August 13 and August 17.
Furthermore, De Holland will sail the Hansa Highlights tour once in 2025 from July 6-13: this departure date is also new.
Ship FLUVIUS
Also for the Fluvius, two additional end-of-season sailing dates will be added to the trip The Best of Holland and Belgium between Amsterdam and Bruges (or vice versa). These are the departures on Sept. 28 (from Amsterdam) and Oct. 5 (from Bruges).
Ship LENA MARIA
For the small “boutique” ship Lena Maria on June 27 an additional sailing date was added to the trip Discover Friesland.
Sailing ship ELIZABETH
On the tour Sail & Bike IJsselmeer and National Parks with the Elizabeth, the departure on August 23 has been cancelled. Instead, the ship will sail this trip on the additional sailing date of August 9.
Sailing ship LEAFDE FAN FRYSLÂN
For the four-masted sailing ship Leafde fan Fryslân we have added a special premium version of our beloved tour Sail & Bike Wadden Sea in May, June and September. In this new version all bike tours are guided by two tour guides and some attractive visits are included. After her renewal and renovation in the winter of 2023-24, the ship has, among other things, air-conditioning in all cabins and four exclusive spacious suites on deck. With these additions to the program and the upgrade of the ship, we have now changed the title of this unique tour to “Islandhopping Netherlands Premium (a UNESCO World Heritage Experience).”
For the new premium version of this trip, a white-label video is now also available on our account on Flickr: Click HERE to download this beautiful video – we of course encourage you to use this video in your promotion!
All other Boat Bike Tours’ pictures and videos (for booking partners free to use) of ships and tours are HERE.
Sail & Bike Denmark and Sweden
Based on our experiences in 2024 and after thorough evaluation, we have made some adjustments and improvements to the tour program. The number of departures of the three-masted “tall ship” Atlantis on this very popular tour has almost doubled compared to 2024. And in May and June, the similarly sized sister ship Antigua is also taking five additional sailings on this tour with departures and arrivals on Tuesdays. Good to know: in addition to regular twin cabins with two ground-level beds, the Antigua also has some cheaper cabins for two persons with bunk beds.
SOME OF THE NEW TOURS IN 2025
Bavaria and the Main Valley
We would like to draw your attention to a new tour in Germany: The premium ship Princesse Royal will sail a few tours between Bamberg and Aschaffenburg in May and June. The beautiful valley of the Main is very popular with cyclists and our tour guides will show you the most beautiful places. Enjoy Bavarian culture, wine and the famous beer.
Adventure in Vietnam!
Very special in the package of Boat Bike Tours is the fourteen-day trip in Vietnam, which is organized and offered under the label of Islandhopping very successfully for many years. These trips, offered only in November, December and March, run from Hanoi to Hồ-Chí-Minh City. This is not a “pure” boat and bike vacation: during this trip you will stay four nights aboard a comfortable junk and ten nights in three- or four-star hotels.
The commission for partners for these trips (European winter season, destination outside Europe) differs from the regular commission for trips in the package of Boat Bike Tours and Islandhopping. A separate product category has been created for these trips. Are you interested in selling these tours? Please contact us. We will then share with you all the relevant details.
NOTE:
For all other updates related to Inselhüpfen/Islandhopping programs , you will be notified by the Inselhüpfen/Islandhopping team in separate Partner Updates for the time being. During 2025, we expect to combine these Partner Updates.
However, all of Inselhüpfen/Islandhopping’s tour programs for 2025 can also be found in our Google Drive.
For all trips offered under the Islandhopping label, Boat Bike Tours will be the organizing tour operator in a legal sense as of the 2025 season. All these tours can be booked via Boat Bike Tours.
We wish all our partners a happy run-up to the upcoming holiday season and hope for a wonderful 2025 season together with you!
Best regards from Amsterdam,
Team Boat Bike Tours
