Katarina Line Joins Active Cruise Trend, Adds Cycle Programs

Croatia-based river cruise company Katarina Line has a fresh focus on fitness with its new “Cycle & Cruise” programs for 2017.

The line will offer two different cycle itineraries this year.

First, there’s a seven-night cycle itinerary out of Opatija Kvarner Bay, with guided cycling tours on a lot of the Bay’s islands including Krk Island and Cres. This itinerary includes cycle-only tours through vineyard valleys in Dobrinj and the village of Lun.

Then there’s also a less physically demanding sailing called the “Light Bike & Hike.” This itinerary leaves out of Opatija and includes stops on Krk, Rab, Mandre, Mali Lošinj and Cres islands. The “Light Bike & Hike” itinerary features more level terrain where participants have the option to cycle, hike or walk with a Katarina Line guide.

The line’s “land and cruise programs are carefully prepared to suit a wide range of customers from different backgrounds and with different interests,” marketing director Daniel Hauptfeld told TMR.

Each sailing is all inclusive, including breakfast, lunch or dinner; private baths; daily bottled water and a professional bike guide. Travel agents make commissions on all bookings.

“We can help agents’ clients experience Croatia in the best possible way,” Hauptfeld added. “Katarina Line is your local one stop shop.”

Tours can be combined with some three-night pre-cruise tours that offer visits to Croatian landmarks not seen on cruises, such as the Plitvice Lakes National Park.

“Our commitment is to provide quality and service you can count on and we have been successfully doing so for the past 25 years with many returning clients and word-of-mouth referrals,” Hauptfeld said.

With the announcement, Katarina Line joins a number of other river cruise operators who are marketing cycle tours to more active travelers.

Scenic has new river cruise cycling itineraries focusing on the bucolic region of the Danube and in Bordeaux. Those sailings feature cycling guides and a bike mechanic plus a support vehicle that will follow each group.

Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection introduced a Danube River biking itinerary back in 2015, with more added in 2016. It is again expanding the product with new biking-themed cruises on the Danube in this year.

And AmaWaterways, a line that always carries bicycles onboard, is expanding its growing is its partnership with Backroads Tours, whose 22 bicycle tours in Europe “sold out the minute they were announced.”