Princesse Royal boat/barge tour reviews — 1 to 30 of 117

Visiting the Dome and biking along the river. The food was excellent and the boat was beautiful.

Barge staff were excellent--great chef and friendly hostess. Dinners were great but breakfast and lunch were very repetitive. The staff needs better training in safety. We had 20 guests in our group with 2 bike guides. We were divided into 2 groups and rode with our group each day. Our guide was not friendly. Other than that, the bikes were new 7-speed bikes which were adequate for the mostly flat rides. The scenery was beautiful and the museums and city stops were interesting. I didn't enjoy having to ride with the group at a pace set by the bike guide and the slowest riders, and I don't trust Ride with GPS enough to ride on my own.

This is a beautiful region and accessing it from the river trails is wonderful . The boat was very comfortable and the wonderful staff met our every need with a smile . We had rainy days , and closures due to local holidays which impacted our visits to small town restaurants and shops . I would avoid national holiday weeks in future .
My suggestions to improve this already wonderful trip :
- have bike storage racks that allow a little more deck space for sitting out .
-eliminate the hot tub , it’s only used by a few and takes up too much deck space .
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Biking down the Rhine and Mosel. Watching the ship pass by and taking in all the scenic views. Fantastic.

It could be beneficial to avoid starting boat bike tours the day after a large celebration in the country/city from which we are departing. Our tour started the day after a massive celebration in Amsterdam called Kings Day. This required that we enter the city on the day of celebration which was not only more expensive but also precluded the possibility of visiting any of the sights as they were closed. Perhaps scheduling these trips several days after or before might be beneficial.

Food prepared for dinners and beautiful scenery on the rides

Our trip was another trip of a lifetime. Number 5 with trip site. This company is the best. There is no other that will give you this type of service for the money. We have used them five times over the last 10 years and will continue to. Each trip has surpassed the last one in regards to being another trip of a lifetime that out does the one previous. Our group has gone on two trips to Croatia want to Greece/Turkey, one to Brussels and one to Germany. I will be planning the next one soon. You are missing out if you did not take advantage of this opportunity to book with trip site for any of their biking boating trips. Germany gear grinders, Croatia crazy crew, Greece gear grinders, Belgium bike bashers, more to come.

Our chef was outstanding! Our stop at a winery along the way was outstanding. Wish there were more fun stops along the way.

The Crew, The CHEF*****, The Views, The Guides, The people we met along the way!!

We were amazed at all the vineyards! We knew the area was famous for Riesling but we had no idea how immense the area was. We also loved the small villages. So much history there.

The itinerary, crew and food were very good. Also, the fellow bikers were all very nice and sociable. Lack of storage space in the room was a minor problem, but we adapted.
The bikes were somewhat of an issue as about 50% of the bikes were e-bikes, which when mixed with the hybrids created problems on hills (most hills were leading up to bridges),
E-bikes do not have to build up speed, so stayed constant, but if the hybrids were behind, we could not always build up speed to get them up the minor hills as quick, causing delays. Only having 8 total gears, without another smaller one in the front compounded the issue for some. The e-bikes should be at the rear of the group. Speed is not an issue for the rest of the biking on level ground.

The guides and boat employees were very good. The food was excellent. The boat’s air conditioning was okay to poor in the rooms and nonexistent on the main deck. Many people had daily issues with their bikes (brakes, gears, e-bikes not always working, etc.). The guides were excellent but had limited bike mechanic skills. These trips need a full time bike mechanic and extra bikes available to trade out when some bikes are not working well.

This is the 2nd time our family of 4 (age 19 to 63) joined a bike and boat tour. Last time it was a much bigger boat on the Danube whereas this time is a much smaller but very comfortable and cozy boat Princess Royale on the Mosel. We are very glad we picked this tour!
To start with, the itinerary was carefully designed to cover enough quaint small towns to impress us, allowing enough break/rest in between for those (like me) who are physically less fit! The scenery along the Mosel needs no elaboration! We were lucky that the weather has been superb: not too hot nor too cold, no rain, nice breezy every now and then!

But what makes this trip especially memorable has to be the crew:
(1) Our guide Ilsa (not sure is I am spelling it right) is just amazing! Knowledgeable, professional, well organized, friendly....we saw her riding out to double check next day's route even after the day's long ride! At each stop point, be it architecture or scenery, she had enough history or stories to amuse us! Our other guide Arindena seems newer to her job but we are seeing lots of energy and potential in her too!
(2) The chef Astrid - what a charm! Not only did her cuisine exceeded our expectation on a trip of this price range (to be fair, we are not paying the price of a Viking cruise ship!), more importantly, her enthusiasm in sharing with us her food preparation details before every dinner was a true delight! In our culture (Chinese) we have a saying: those who respect their job will be happiest with their job. We most definitely see the respect, love and care in her work and how all these transpire into excellent meals in our tummies!
(3) The rest of the crew - Anita the host, Theresa the waitress, Ronnier the sailer, Nico the captain (and his wife) - all are always so friendly and helpful. We found them more like a family then a crew. Our 2 young daughters have befriended with them (especially with young Theresa) and were sad to leave!

We will most definitely recommend this tour, and especially this boat!!! We hope to one day join their other tours! Thank you again and have a wonderful summer!

Mosel river valley is beautiful. Dinners on the ship each night were delicious.

Way too many memories to pin it down to one part. Amazing journey, what a great way to see and experience Europe!! Purchase trip health insurance!!! Woman on our trip fell and broke her femur. Had surgery in German hospital and had to be flown back on a special plan with a nurse! Big money!!!

Fantastic trip in every way!

Our guides were amazing. They provided variety, information and enough stops to inform, rest and recharge.
Our cook must have come from the most prestigious restaurant. Her variety, presentation and enthusiasm made every meal a treat.
The crew could not have been better. They attended to everything and worked as a fine tuned team to make our trip memorable.

I highly recommend this trip experience.

Had 2 awsome tour guides

Fabulous food-very fresh and expertly prepared. Beautiful rides through the countryside- and many historic sites!

I loved this trip! The food was wonderful, our guides Hetty and Corri were amazing, and the boat was very nice. Unfortunately the air conditioning in our room did not work very well, but other than that everything was perfect. The staff was excellent.

There were so many memorable parts of the trip. The places we biked to were amazing. Astrid's meals were exceptional and beyond 5 stars. The staff was so friendly and helpful with any concerns we had.
However, the bikes we had were awful. The majority of the group had problems with both the ebikes and the regular bikes. My wife's ebike did not work properly for the first 2 days and she had an accident because of it. The power kept going off and the guide set it permanently on turbo, however, when she was going up a hill and turning onto a bridge the power cut out again and she was not able to pedal and fell into the cement barrier. Fortunately, nothing was broken but she was very bruised. Each day there were a number of bikes needing repair with problems with brakes and gears. We had friends who biked the same tour in the fall and he said the bikes were terrible then and was told it was the end of the season and that all the bikes would be refurbished and repaired before the tour began in May. I guess this wasn't done as only 2 or 3 actually had no problems.
Also, the guides were not that familiar with the routes and we went off track a few times. There seemed to be a personality clash between them and at one point they actually argued in front of the group, which was not very professional. Both guides, however, were personable and helpful when needed.

Cycling along the Mosel was magical! Vertical Vineyards! Who knew? Fabulous rides!

The wonderful paved cycle paths

Everything about this trip was enjoyable. Excellent barge and crew. Friendly group of riders. Beautiful biking routes each day.

The boat was comfy and well appointed, the beds were very comfortable, the biking along the river was fabulous with knowledgeable and friendly guides. I also enjoyed the sumptuous dinners each night. One of the best parts of this trip was getting to know our fellow travelers and make new friends.

This was my fourth bike/barge tour with Tripsite, and it was just as amazing as the other trips. Loved every moment. The ship and crew were simply outstanding. The only disappointment is that the itinerary said we would be in Metz for the evening, to even include a walking tour. We were greatly looking forward to it. However, we left Metz within an hour of boarding. It was a great topic of conversation among many passengers, who were also disappointed. So I’m not sure why we even started in Metz, to only leave right away and travel quite a distance to our first port. Other than that, it was as wonderful as each of my other Trip Site vacations.

The itinerary was terrific. We had fabulous guides who gave us lots of information about the sites we were visiting. The boat was very comfortable and the food was great. We had just 20 participants and everyone was very interesting and friendly. Can't wait for our next trip!

The bikes were a problem everyday- not well maintained or just end of season but not good
The barge was very warm- esp with comforters- suggest availability of a sheet for these conditions. A soap dish is needed in the shower, the hair dryer was very inadequate. Need to have some sort of wax paper or plastic bag for the sandwiches- wrapping in napkins does not work. The barge should offer/highlight local wines!!! The whole point of this trip is particular.
Our guides Heddy and intern Micah were fabulous.

Great scenery, great chef on the barge, nice boat, and great guides! Overall a great experience. However if I must find something that needs a bit of upgrading, it’s the bikes. They were getting pretty tired and needing tune ups. Some had bald tires and most lacked correct air pressure in the tires, on previous Boat Bike trips the bikes were much better maintained. It was the end of the season and the bikes had gone through a lot over the year was the reasoning, but I paid so I expect good bikes regardless of the time of year.

We’ve traveled widely over the years, and this trip was among our favorite vacations. Most memorable was just the intimate sense the trip provided of the various cities, towns and villages along our route. That sense was amplified by the after-ride walking tours led by our guides. Good stuff, all.

The two tour guides were great, food and accommodations were wonderful.