Reviews

1) it should be made clear that the shorter route option is unguided 2) Food and boat excellent 3)would have appreciated more history of Hanseatic towns in English. We were in German group 4)Dining seating flexibility would be better. 4)Boat crew excellent

Had a great time! The crew was excellent as were the route guides. I think we got lucky with our other boat guests too. Everyone got along and had a lot of fun.

We really enjoyed our week on Magnifique II. The guides were great, the biking was lovely, the food was good, the boat itself was very nice with good accommodations. We highly recommend!

We enjoyed the biking portion tremendously. However, here are suggestions for improvement: 1. Have a water station available at all times for filling bike bottles. We had to ask the bar tender every time we wanted our bike bottles filled. It was a waste of his time and our time. 2. Have buffet styled meals rather than formal service because the seating is too crowded for the waiters to serve the food and it makes for a very long and agonizing process. Dinners usually took around 2 hours to complete. It’s simply too cramped for formal dinners. 3. Ditch the entertainment. It’s a bike and barge, not a cruise ship. The staff was very friendly and helpful. Albert was very helpful and fun to be around. I loved his blue shoes. We were on the Carissima and had a wonderful trip. I will recommend it to my biking friends in Hawaii.

The boat bike tour itinerary done by the company was reviewed in our national press so from the onset there was no issue with trustworthiness. From the point of booking online to the end of the tour at the pier in Amsterdam, things were highly organised and efficiently run. All meals were adequate, and the daily dinner 3-course menu was well-thought out with variety (though for a sea facing country with lots of water, seafood and fish were not found more on the menu). Although the weather was cloudy & chilly at times with some rain, I must admit that gives the 6 day ride an added dimension of fun and adventure. Day 5 in the nature park & bison country (unfortunately they were a bit shy and no where to be seen) with the strong winds & hills to Bloemendahl aan see & Zoondvoort was the most interesting & challenging and became one of my favorite rides. Peter & Pauletta tried their best in the English briefings but guess no matter what, there will be some things lost in translation. It was ensuring to see them on some routes and rides also. Here are a few things which Bike Boat Tours may wish to look into to improve their services: 1. The information sent out upon full payment could be improved: a, the meeting place on Day 1 was not clear on the map, b.the daily 100 Mb internet provision is probably unlimited(?) c. do encourage people to check in as early at 2 pm for bike fitting etc as it was vague that there was some of these activities. 2. The daily briefing could include info’ sheets (rather than vaguely saying this is interesting) about the places en route, and suggested time that is required to explore the things in a particular area. 3. Quite a few times, there were some anxiety to come back not too late or worse making the wrong turns. Thus, the last 10 km should have more details on the route. 4. Some of the arranged visits e.g. to the chess farm was excellent. Could perhaps also include to some Dutch cattle, vegetable, flower farms and other Dutch cottage industry so that we can experience even more of the more rural, agricultural part of the Dutch life e.g. we saw a pig farm on the last day and we thought it would be useful to see a modern farm. 5. The Ride with GPS is the best and it’s use should be strongly encouraged Inevitably without the GPS we got into wrong turns. 6. Found it strange that the bath soap bottles were never replenished throughout the 7 days? 7. The ‘boat’ part of the tour was not particularly highlighted e.g. going through the locks were fascinating and perhaps some running commentary would be useful and educational. Also the history and developments of some canals, bridges and the important roles they are in the Netherlands.

The boat and bike experience was all that we could have expected. The staff was excellent. The meals were excellent.

good but could be better

We had an absolute blast! The 3 bike guides were very knowledgeable about the routes (you’d be surprised how many there are in the Netherlands and Belgium) and all the sites in the towns, plus comfortably friendly. It was beautiful, biking thru farmland with dairy cows, sheep and lots and lots of potatoes growing. Also thru neighborhoods that were a mix of the very old architecture (17th century) with the very contemporary. Also, these two countries are FLAT, which is important when you’re biking 20-30 miles each day. The barge was great–rooms nautically efficient and bathrooms clean and contemporary. We had a very good mix of people from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Germany. Note: bring raingear, with opening vents for biking. It only rained the first day, but it was a doozie. Would totally do it again!

Pros and Cons: Pros: Great crew–friendly, attentive, helpful; Ship in good condition and clean; bikes in good condition & my wife loved her E-bike. Cons: wine available for purchase on board was at best mediocre & fairly expensive. You can buy much better wine at chateaus or wine stores during trip for considerably less & at least partially offsetting the $12 corkage fee. also, the company could do a much better job at coordinating chateau visits with daily rides. I thought countryside was pretty, but not enchanting as are other vineyard bike tours (Sonoma for example)

I expected much better wine for $30 dollars a bottle. Outrageous, and no lower priced option was available. Buying wine off of the boat was not much better given the $12 corkage fee charged. One of the nightly featured wines was so dry as to almost catch fire. Undrinkable. We traveled with two other couples and all of us share the same opinion. The token system, in a way, disguised somewhat the REAL wine expense. On a positive note, all of the staff were wonderful and the biking tour information and equipment were top rate.