Read the itinerary, see if it meets your expectations

First… crew and food rated good to excellent. Ship and stateroom average but we weren’t there for coddling. Second….our trip was a misnomer. Should have been described as Barge and cycle occasionally. In my opinion, many of the cyclists onboard felt cheated on the cycling as we appeared to be meeting the ship’s itinerary and schedule at the expense of cycling. Most days that we were not in the beautiful cities of Budapest or Vienna, we were on a strict timetable to get back to the ship so she could meet her schedule. The visualization that you would be cycling along the Danube in a leisurely fashion while spending time visiting villages and sampling wines and taking in sights along the way was only partially met. Some days you barely saw the river as you skirted farmers fields on busy roads. At best, the briefings were confusing at times in terms of various routes to be taken. I know I sound super negative, but I honestly feel I was not alone in my impression of the trip. I added up the actual time my wife and I spent cycling….19 hours. That included self guided cycling in Budapest and Vienna where most of the cyclists did not cycle, but chose to do excursions. Not what we envisioned! My advice to prospective cyclists…study the proposed trip carefully and see if it will meet cycling and/or sight seeing goals. We felt we sailed too much in order to see cities, and did not get the chance to see the country side along the Danube. Sounds like sour grapes, but I feel strongly about the misconception that we thought the trip might be. Cheers