Reviews

This is our fourth trip with boat bike tours and we have a confirmed reservation with this company in October 2024. This is an exceptional tour company. Every trip has been wonderful. This trip, sailing and biking is the best yet. I cannot praise enough the team who took care of us on the boat. Max, the chef was truly amazing and presented delicious meals that were innovative and enjoyable. Sabina made sure that we were comfortable and helped us tremendously with whatever need we had. Ryan who helped the captain and did extra work we needed was a wonderful sailor and took care of everything on the boat. Alwin, the captain was truly a gifted captain who guided our boat beautifully and gave a briefing every day. The boat was well taken care of, the cabins were clean, towels were provided whenever needed and the living spaces were comfortable and always clean. Great bike riding too with excellent maps and GPS. We sailed invite with our grandsons and had the most wonderful time even with the wind and rain some days. The bikes were always in good order. A great trip that I highly recommend and a great tour company as well. The office staff is extremely helpful and it is easy to book.

On the Zwaantje Great crew & ride leaders. Having a leader on the ride took the anxiety out of the ride as we could trust them to provide great guidance, take us to interesting locations, cross the language barrier when needed, and get us back to the boat at the end of the day. The boat was great however there is room for improvement with the WiFi speed/ capacity, coffee (prefer real and not instant) and some extra hooks in the rooms for helmets and jackets. Meals were excellent. A good chef can easily accommodate gluten free meals so the extra €160 was too much so I took this off my tip. The instruction on tips, written on the back on the cabin door, did not go down well and was the subject of much discussion. Australians like the Dutch do not have a tipping culture and get paid appropriately to do their job well. I didn’t get the impression BBT staff were being underpaid. This is a thing in American where hospitality staff rely on tips to make up their pay so I couldn’t see why they would expect a tip. This was a big negative to me and others. Just raise the price if you need more money to run the cruise and we can decide up front whether to book, or not.

Viihtyisä laiva, ystävällinen henkilökunta, hyvät polkupyörät ja hyvin suunniteltu reitti. Sateinen sääkään ei saanut pilattua lomatunnelmaa.

Overall a very happy experience. In particular staff were excellent and very supportive of the program. The very small cabins are a challenge and particularly on a share basis… Food was consistently very good.

The whole combination of living on a barge and cycling thru the Heart of Holland was fun. Food was OK and bikes were high quality. Scenery most days was green and interesting as was learning about Dutch history.

Very pleased. We sailed with the Zwaantje on a 14 day tour from Bruges to Paris. Overall, great staff and good food. Ride variety through the trip was sufficient to keep it interesting. Be aware the rooms are functional but small. Tips for anyone thinking about it: there’s limited clothes storage and no washing service on board so pack as much quick dry clothing as you can. Don’t be afraid to take time off from riding. A day on the barge can be very pleasant One of our guides organised a day trip to the Somme on our rest day. Very interesting, particularly for we Australians. The bikes have small diameter handle bars so if you want to use a bike computer take a spacer. If we were to do it again we’d opt for a shorter journey, say 5 to 7 nights. Be nice to your guides, they’re gold.

Everything about this vacation was great. The biking, the route and stops, the guides, the accommodations, the food, the other guests, all spot on!

We didn’t know what to expect. What we had was a great trip to Friesland. Lena Maria had large cabins, where we were very comfortable all week. Up top, places where you can gather for meals, and meet passengers from around the world. The unusual weather (rain) had Captain Eelke adjust to our starting location, and ride maps, daily. The GPS app was accurate and easy. Food was great, and as a vegetarian, it was some of the best I’ve had! Ample snacks and desserts made sure we were ready to go riding, every day. If you’ve never seen a boat, sail through a cornfield, while riding a bike past a windmill, well…. here’s your chance. Thankyou Eelke, Monique, Reuben, and Glenn.

The bike guides were kind, energetic and knowledgeable. I felt safe in their hands. The boat staff were friendly and made my stay comfortable. Boating and biking is a fabulous and relaxing way to see Croatia. They made sure we had plenty of swim stops which I looked forward to. The only thing that upset me is the overuse and reliance on water bottles. Environmentally, shame on the company for not giving us a reusable bottle at the start. It could have their name on it and would be great for advertising, and a wonderful souvenir for passengers.They could fill up coolers to refill the bottles instead of plastic throwaways that will end up in the ocean that our boat sails in.

The boat/bike tour aboard the Magellan was a very special trip! The crew and staff work hard to make it safe and enjoyable. I gave it a 4 star rating due to two factors. 1) While the meals were adequate, I felt more effort could be given to giving options on the breakfast buffet and changing it up a bit. The same breakfast every morning was boring. Also, at other meals, there were no choices such as meat/fish/veggie unless you pre-selected a special menu for the week. I would have preferred choices as with the hot weather, some of the meals were very heavy. 2) The bike rides were on more major roads than I was comfortable with. A great deal of energy was devoted to just staying safe as opposed to relaxing and enjoying the scenery.