We have done the Rhone, Rhine and Danube with Uniworld. At the time, I was told that the Douro river cruise with the same line was not up to the same standard as the others. What is your experience? Other option would be to do a coach tour of Portugal for ten days and then spend a few days in Porto at the end. Your advice?
Posted by
Atlanta, GA
1137 posts
https://www.amawaterways.com/destination/europe-river-cruises/2019/enticing-douro
I’d look into a luxury cruise line like AMA or Tauck.
Posted by
8322 posts
We did a wonderful 7 day Douro River cruise with Vantage World Travel. They had the best price and it included a tour of Lisbon, etc.
It beat Viking by having one more day on the tour and was cheaper.
Many of the cruise lines lease the boats from the local Portuguese Authority, so many of the cruises are on the same ships.
There are a few lines with their own ships.
We have also done a river cruse with AMA, but their prices tend to be higher.
Also, Avalon and Uniworld tend to be higher.
Still, I suggest you research and compare Viking, AMA, Uniworld, Avalon and Vantage World Travel.
Some like Gate 1, that is a budget line and will beat all the others prices, but you pay extra for some things others included.
The river cruise was wonderful. Also, you will have a day trip to Salamanca, Spain as well.
Posted by
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
355 posts
We’ve done the Douro cruise with Viking. It’s a lot of scenic cruising and some interesting sights sprinkled in. Be aware that all the ports along the river require a bus ride to the tourist sight because they aren’t in the river valley proper. Viking includes a day’s visit in Lisbon, a stop in Coimbra en route to Porto and a day’s visit in Porto. We did our own touring in Lisbon and Porto, so I can’t comment on that quality. I would recommend arriving in Lisbon early to have more time to see the city. I also felt we had barely enough time in Porto and wish we could have lingered there.