Reviews

Great accommodation and food on board. The only criticism was that the rooms should have had tea/coffee making facilities

My husband & I took our 23- and 18-yr old sons on the Carissima for the Passau-Budapest-Passau bike-boat trip and it was FANTASTIC. 5 stars from each of us! Paula at Boat Bike Tours worked tirelessly with me to ensure we had the dates & cabins needed, & answered so many questions for me. Carissima cruise director Albert, dining manager Dragan, & hotel manager Danjiel were wonderful – very personable, knowledgeable, fun & funny, & helped us in so many ways especially with our younger son who is quite a character. The cabins were comfortable (even on the lowest deck), the food was beautiful & delicious, all of our equipment was in great condition, and the Budapest by bicycle local tourguide led us on a fascinating English-speaking tour that included insights into current life in Budapest as well as history. Bratislava local tour guide (English speaking) was excellent too. I have recommended this tour & tour company to everyone I know who’s interested in cycling.

The boat was very comfortable. Our room was bigger than I thought it would be. The bike rides went through beautiful countrysides. At times the routes were a little confusing, but that made it more of an adventure!

The Danube tour was very well organised and was like a standard river cruise in many ways. Personally I prefer not to be on a cruise style boat trip with so many people or with organised boat activities. I understand that, with such vast distances to cover there is a lot of boat time to fill in. This is a personal preference not a criticism of the trip. The staff were lovely, the food was good and, most importantly, the cycling was fabulous. I prefer trips where the guide rides as well and really knows the trails personally. There were a group from The Netherlands who somehow had a riding guide which I would have enjoyed. We visited many interesting places and for late September, the weather was kind to us.

Carissima was clean, welcoming staff, and adequate food and beverage. Would have enjoyed the espresso coffee “hours” machine available a bit longer so that more folks could have a chance to enjoy their coffee of choice! The Bike director Albert was not very easy to work with. He was uninterested in the bikers comments, especially the women, and made us feel as if we were a bother to him. Overall… would recommend this tour to friends! Thank you for a memorable time on the Danube!

We had a wonderful time. The crew was excellent! We especially enjoyed the gourmet food served throughout the trip. Exceeded our expectations.

We had a wonderful experience doing this trip. We highly recommend it. Great value, made new friends, staff are exceptional and we will definitely be back.

7 days total, 4 days biking through lovely European villages and cities. Castles on the hill, shops, beer, great weather, amazing crew on the Carrisima. A trip that we will not forget, maybe even do it again someday. Highly recommended over ocean cruising ( which we have done 3 times ) if you want to stay active, have an intimate setting and not eat yourself into oblivion.

One week trip on Carissima was a blast. Enjoyable cycling, great dinners and superb staff. There are newer and fancier boats but I doubt there are any better ones.

Wonderful cycling along the Danube, experience on board the ship surpassed our expectations – great service, fabulous food. The reason for only 3 stars is that communication left a lot to be desired. Having done other cruises, including along the Rhine, we are used to more information in advance. For this tour we didn’t even receive our embarkation dock information – and there is over 3 kms between locations in Passau. We had to call the night before to inquire and find out. Once on board, the information was also lacking. Directions for cycling needed more detail. The docking in Bratislava was not as instructed – the boat ended up being far away from where we had been told it would be. No one from the boat was on the boardwalk to direct us. Fortunately we came upon one of the other very confused and frustrated groups from our tour who had a phone and were able to call to find out where we needed to go. Excursions for the “rest” days were not up to par. Happy to provide more info if interested (don’t want to make the review too long!). Overall, we loved our experience on board and thoroughly enjoyed the cycling when we weren’t lost. Would probably try another company next time.