We´ve previously enjoyed 2 8 day long Boat Bike tours in Southern and Northern Holland. So when the opportunity arose on BB´s website to spend 2 weeks cycling through key cities and along various town and country routes along the Danube we jumped at it. I noticed in the fine print at BB that the tour was operated by Rad & Reisen so I booked directly with you. Cycling in the Netherlands was great as each day the bikes were usually ready to ride by 8 am and you didn´t have to return to the repositioned boat until 5 pm or later. So much to see and do during the day.

My expectation of the RR trip was to cycle full days every day, starting early in the day, other than days when we booked excursions. What I failed to consider was the boat needs to travel 2400 kms back and forth to the Iron Gates and travel through numerous locks in the process. Because of distance, water levels and other factors outside of RR´s control it was impossible to start each ride first thing most mornings. And what I thought were ?optional´ rest days was more a ?mandatory´ rest day because the boat was moving during part or most of the day. Given all this boat travel some of our rides started at 10, 11, 11:30 and as late as 3:30, and many required being back on board in the early afternoon. The Tour Director´s did all they could to juggle the schedules to coincide with boating conditions.

With 150 guests on board offloading the bikes could take 1 hour or more. On our Boat Bike tours riders (roughly 100) often offloaded their own bikes which greatly speeds up the process. Efficiently juggling 150 cyclists and cycles on a luxury boat is a tall order.

Where this RR tour excelled was the overall boat quality of the Lisabelle. Rooms were super comfortable, efficient, clean, and well appointed. We really enjoyed our superior room and not once begrudged the higher charge. The food services were unquestionably superb. All the staff were great. And so many interesting and friendly guests on board.

Our previous Boat Bike experiences were instrumental in attracting 4 friends to join us on this trip. I doubt they would do this again. The Day 14 ride from Krems to Melk came closest to our daily BB experiences in the Netherlands. But there wasn´t enough of these days, plus tight timing conditions often prevented fully experiencing the many attractions along the way. As good of a day the Krems Melk ride was we had no time to tour the Abbey as we needed to be back on board by 3:30.

For the above reasons I rate this tour as ?meeting my expectations´ for all matters of the boat and trip organization, and ?not meeting my expectations´ for the riding component.

And lastly there was a vicious cold bug rampaging the boat. This never makes for a pleasant holiday. The staff were great about pushing hand sanitation but there´s only so much they can do.

I hope this helps.