Testimonials

The food was first class, the towns were great and thank you for sharing your experience of Dutch history & it's people.

Also, since we forgot to give Boody (spelling?) our e-mail address would you pass it along. We would love to get the soup recipes and the Peach, Raisin and French Pastry Pudding with Brandy Sauce, and if he can let us know when his cook book comes out we will definitely buy it.

Best wishes from

Dear John and crew:

John: I can't begin to express how absolutely wonderful the fairytale trip on
your yacht was. Carol and I still have to pinch ourselves to make sure it was
real. Our every wish you made come true. The first night Carol asked for
Canadian Club and you didn't have it on board. The next day, there it was. You
were more than accommodating on everything, making this the most wonderful thing
we every thought possible. I also appreciate the Top Gear info you sent along
on the disk. I will send you some copies from the slides I took. Not all 10
rolls, just the better pictures.

I forgot to get your email address before I left the boat. I got Budhi's, but
didn't get yours, so I hope this reaches you okay. I will send you any
information that comes out in the Denver Post, etc. and will also try to put
something together with the Garden Writers Association.

Luke: Thank you for everything. You had answers for anything we wanted to know
and were always at the ready to lend a helping hand, lead a side trip, set up a
bicycle, etc. You helped to round out the most wonderful experience we have
ever had. Better than New Zealand, or any other place we have been. Our
daughter said that being able to get email from us and to send an answer made
her feel much more secure since she was taking care of our horses, greenhouse,
etc. You went the extra mile, (kilometer), to make that happen.

Penny: Carol and I really enjoyed visiting with you and Budhi. You keep the
yacht so clean that we were almost afraid to touch anything on board because we
would leave a smudge or a fingerprint. Thank you so much for the cake, we ate
on it the rest of the time we were in Amsterdam, and it was just what we needed.

Budhi: I think I gained a lot of weight on the trip. Sitting back and watching
the countryside go past was great, but your wonderful food made it very special.
Every time we turned around you had something else for us to eat and we just
couldn't pass it up. Carol bought several cookbooks in Amsterdam, but she will
never be able to give the food she fixes the same wonderful flavor that you do.

We will keep in touch with everyone as you feel like family rather than a boat
and crew we hired. If any of you get to Colorado, be sure and stop to see us.
We have plenty of room and would be happy to show you the sights.

Sincerely,

J and C P
May 4, 2006

I don't care what boat, barge, or yacht you compare it to, the Absoluut 2 has to be the best in the business. The next time we decide to do any cruising we will definitely go with the Absoluut 2 as we are sure any other cruise would not even come close to this cruise.

John and his staff are perfectionists and your wish is their command. If you mention something and they don't have it they will get it. If you mention something you want to do or where you would like to go it is granted. Keukenhauf was at the perfect time with more flowers than I have ever seen in one place at one time. John was willing to spend the entire day there if we wanted, but I was getting sensory overload with all of the wonderful flowers. I got the pictures I wanted for publication, and it was a great experience. At mid-morning here was Captain John with cake and drinks for a welcome break. At lunch here he was again with just what we wanted for lunch, and drinks.

Every night we docked at a beautiful location. During the day we cruised through beautiful country. The Dutch seem to have most of their beautiful gardens and flowers in their back yards between the house and the canal. So all I had to do was sit there and relax and watch the beautiful garden scenes go past.

The last evening we were suppose to dock in Amsterdam, but with Queen's Day the following day there were not many good places and John wasn't satisfied with where we were located. He put in a couple of extra hours and got us to a nice quiet place in a small town within about a hundred yards of a beautiful windmill.

My wife hasn't had a good nights sleep for months, but she said she slept better on this cruise than she can remember. The cabin was very quiet, and the crew seemed to go out of their way to keep from making any noise after people went to bed and until they got up in the morning.

John keeps the yacht in perfect shape. I have never seen a cleaner engine room on any boat I have ever been on. In addition, Penny keeps everything cleaned and polished and in it's place.

Luke is a real key part of the crew. When John is busy he takes care of anything the passengers need. He also leads great tours and goes the extra mile to make the passengers comfortable.

This yacht has everything you might want, from flat screen satellite TV to Internet service. But, the best part of the whole cruise was the wonderul scenery and great crew.

Well, we have just traveled from Amsterdam and have been traveling for the past 24 hours without sleep, so my note might not make sense as we are very tired, but I just had to tell you how great the cruise was.

Just recovered from pampering on the Absoluut2. The trip was wonderful, Captain John and the crew treated us Royalty. The barge, weather were terrific, I even got to use the hot tub on deck twice. We were lucky with our fellow passengers, a couple from Colorado, one of whom was a retired horticulturist from Colorado State who took amazing photos see attachments) could explain all the plant life. The hotels in Amsterdam turned out well, located in the middle of the major squares and walking distance to museums and flower markets etc, we even did well for the Queen's birthday for food and museums.

Thanks for all your help and we hope to join the Absoluut2 and its crew sometime when they are in France. Carol and i have some information about French history that we would like to send on to Captain John, could you send us his email address or forward our note when we get it finished???

The cabins were bigger than we expected and there was plenty of room to move around. The staff spoke English and were very friendly and helpful. The food was excellent.

Everyone loved the boat. The biggest complaint was that the beds were hard as rocks and didn’t fit anyone who was 6 feet tall or taller… but even those complaints were said on the sly because no one wanted to detract. The food was beyond incredible. It was the richest French food and we all ate until we couldn’t move. If we were to do it again, I would make the request that dinner be served in an hour and a half to two hours (at the longest) as the meals did last forever….but boy were they enjoyed!

Again, I can’t express how great the crew was. I think we have a whole “boat load” of converts

We got back last week and had a wonderful time. The barge/bike experience was great. I wasn't sure what to expect and everything exceeded my expectations.

The boat had recently been redone so the accommodations were great! It turned out that it was unusually hot so the fact that the boat was air-conditioned turned out to be important (spoiled Americans......). Some of the other companies' boats did not have air conditioning we learned. I didn't realize how many companies there are that do this type of trip.

The staff was great! The captain was very gracious (also part owner) and allowed my husband to spend some time with her in the pilot house which was something he wanted to do. He was a tow boat captain here on the Mississippi so he was very interested in the boat and the canals.

The chef and other crew were great! They were friendly and helpful. Their English was good which of course that made it easier for us. The food was good. Dinner every night was well prepared, well presented and well eaten.

The biking was also great! Nice bikes and an easy pace. After the first couple of days, they kind of changed the agenda so that people could bike the whole day, the morning, the afternoon or not at all. Because of the heat, a number of people chose to bike only in the morning when it was cooler, like my husband.

I enjoyed the route through Belgium and Holland. Both countries have a little something different to offer. I would recommend the trip to anyone. I would also recommend an 'international' group. It turned out that there were Norwegians, Danes, Germans, Dutch and Americans on the cruise and that may the trip more interesting for us. (Most everyone spoke English pretty well and of course, we don't speak any other language)

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The L'Impressioniste's crew was great! I'm quite sure that if any of us were to book another trip, we would request Jennifer MacStay as cook; the quality, creativity, and presentation of her meals were wonderful (as was her personality!) Our captain, Nicolas Guedet, had a challenging job dealing with the weather, but handled it as best he could, giving us as many options as he could.

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We had a great trip, except for the weather. The cook was great as was Nickolas, the skipper and all the other help. They did their best to provide alternative experiences when the weather caused problems. The barge was clean and comfortable.

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I just wanted to let you know that I had a nice time on the barge and wanted to thank you for what you had arranged.

The captain, Max, was a young enthusiastic, knowledgeable and likeable youthful 40ish person who greatly added to the ship’s ambience.

I have no idea when I will be able to repeat a trip such as this one but it was indeed memorable for all of the right reasons.

Just wanted you to know that the cruise was wonderful. Those Deilmann people really know what they are doing.

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Our trip on the Princess de Provence was wonderful. The food and the services were outstanding. The side trips were just enough and perfect. I would recommend this trip and your services anytime. Thanks for your help and you might be hearing from us again. the train and Normandy worked out well also.

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My clients thoroughly enjoyed the Shannon Princess. My cleints who have been on barge vacations before told me it was the best barge they had been on. Everything was great including the crew. Please pass this info on to the owner and crew.

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We're back safe & sound. The trip was wonderful. We highly recommend Viking River Cruises. The staff was
extremely accommodating, catering to your every need where possible. The food was out of this world. (I would
classify it as gourmet) The sight-seeing tours, all inclusive, were excellent & hi-lited the most important sights.
Entertainment on the ship is not like an ocean liner, but we knew this going in. Mainly a pianist in the lounge.
They did bring in some local entertainment on occasion. All in all, on a scale of 1 to 10, we have to give it a 10.
If you ever have an opportunity to do this cruise, do it. I'm not sure what our plans will be for next year, but
when we decide, I'll be in touch. Again, thanks for another wonderful vacation. You guys are great.

F
July 2004