Douro River Cruise Thoughts

[trickylibrarian]

Looking for thoughts from those who have done a river cruise here (Uniworld).

What is the main draw to this area?  Geography, history, wine?  Wondering if

cruising this river is on the top of anyone's list.  We have done the Danube, Rhine,

Moselle and Po all on Uniworld and love them all.  Thanks.

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

This might be of interest:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/sunning-and-sipping-on-a-portugal-douro-river-cruise-just-back-from-uniworlds-ss-sao-gabriel

[Gourmet Gal]

We did the Douro last Fall with Tauck and we found it the sleepiest of all the river cruises we’ve taken.  Tauck is known for having the best excursions and guides and even with that it felt like a stretch in some of the ports to make the stop interesting.  I’ve done the same rivers as you and really loved the Moselle.  The Douro was recommended to us as being the most like the Moselle.  They are similar but the Moselle has much  more interesting towns.  Of course on the Douro there is history, cave paintings, ruins and of course wine but the big draw is the beautiful scenery.  It is a really picturesque area and because ships cannot sail at night you get to see a lot of it and there will be quite a bit of down time.  The crews are mostly, if not all, Portuguese and really friendly and kind.  It should be enjoyable but this was the first cruise we felt ready to end it by the 3rd day.  Having had the experience now I would recommend just DYI and drive the area and perhaps just take a day boat along the river as an excursion.  

[jpalbny]

19 minutes ago, Gourmet Gal said:

Having had the experience now I would recommend just DYI and drive the area and perhaps just take a day boat along the river as an excursion.

 

Have investigated a Douro cruise and decided against it, for the reasons you detailed above. We planned a DIY driving trip instead and it was one of the most fun trips we've had in years. Except for driving in Porto itself which is a nightmare, but I digress. 

 

There is so much more to do in Portugal than a Douro cruise can possibly offer.

[Canal archive]

I agree driving okay you may see more and I only live a hop skip and jump away and have driven several times through Portugal and Spain but don’t knock a Douro cruise we had a wonderful time. The Portuguese are really friendly and eager to show off their rather nice country. The food is interesting and different the Port is devine and the wine superb. Their architecture is different and woodwork and tiles magnificent. Enjoy its a country well worth visiting.

[Host Jazzbeau]

The daytime sailing rule also means that a Douro cruise is the only one that actually matches the advertising pictures.  Almost everywhere else they sail in the evening, to maximize sightseeing in port – and people complain that they didn't get to spend the day sitting on the sun deck drinking wine as shown in the brochure!  

 

[Full disclosure: our Douro cruise is coming up this September.  Maybe I will be bored, especially since we are doing the Scenic 11-day itinerary.  But it will be sandwiched between a hectic five days in Lisbon, Tomar and Coimbra and a hectic five days in Porto and Sintra – so I'm actually looking forward to some 'down time'!]

[Canal archive]

Jazz I’m pretty sure you won’t be bored you may decide to take a day out to catch yourself up which we did and even on board they brought in experts to give a taste of various crafts and a delve into Portuguese history etc now that was fascinating, well it was for me. One of our Port (as in drink not mooring up) tastings, they are very inventive with their national drink by the way, we were amongst the first to try Pink Port absolutely excellent straight from the fridge - you’ve guessed it - on the sun deck. They do have some very tasty interesting sweet cakes as well.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Canal archive

[bubbulz]

I have a Douro cruise coming up also and I am really looking forward to the change of pace. I will do 3 days on land on the front end and then an additional 4 days on land post-cruise. Plus, I love wine. 😉 We had this trip planned for 2020 and had to cancel, so I am happy to finally be doing it. Nowadays I travel solo, so I am definitely not interested in a road trip by myself, and I’m not a group travel kind of person.

[Canal archive]

You’ll love it maybe a slightly gentler pace than most river cruises and I’m pretty sure this is the Portuguese way of doing things. One Sunday we couldn’t work out why dinner service was a little off kilter it turned out one of our waiters had a raging tooth ache the only dentist open was in Porto and we were nearly as far away as we could be, so a taxi was called to take him there. Service was a tad slow but hey ho - it was slightly worrying (or was it) the number of glasses on our table. So we as a table said to the serving team don’t worry about just keep the wine flowing and sort everyone else out. Super crew so worried about the guy and his tooth who returned to work the next afternoon slightly the worse for wear.
 

 

[franski]

We are booked on the Douro next May...  Yes,  I am aware that this is a "sleepier" cruise - and we may have to bus more.  But - am looking forward to an enjoyable cruise to celebrate our anniversary - and lots of time to enjoy the local wines!!  We are doing 3 nights pre- and post-cruise so will still have some busier times I am sure. 

 

Fran

[Canal archive]

I didn’t notice any lengthier bus excursions don’t forget Portugal is a fairly small country. A lot smaller than the U.K. and about 4 times smaller than California.

[Host Jazzbeau]

39 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

I didn’t notice any lengthier bus excursions don’t forget Portugal is a fairly small country. A lot smaller than the U.K. and about 4 times smaller than California.

Yes, I was surprised when I looked on maps and found that the drive from Lisbon to Porto is under 3 hours!  [Of course it will be more enjoyable that we are taking 3 days!]

[ARetiredGuy]

We are cruising the Douro River in early October of this year.  Does anyone know of a site that posts the water level readings for various locations on the river?

[Canal archive]

I’ve never heard of one but then I’ve yet to hear of water level challenges with the Douro.

[bundtkate]

All of this talk of a sleepy river cruise, daytime sailing, and port tastings has me convinced the Douro should be my next river. We're on Viking's Cities of Light itinerary in just over a week and while I'm sure we'll still love it, there are a few more 8am excursions than this night owl would prefer. One of them is even a wine tasting which feels odd, but hey, we're on vacation, right? Anyway, the Douro sound perfect! I'll have to keep it in mind for our next trip to Europe.

[Got2Cruise]

Hi. We took the Uniworld Libson and Porto trip. The main draw is the culture and history of the area combined with the wine (vineyards). We opted for the additional excursions to Cascais and Sintra in Libson also. 
 

It’s a more relaxing vacation type of feel than other River Cruise Itineraries. We went in July, so sitting by the pool, sipping cocktails and cruising thru the locks admiring the vineyards is part of the experience. 
 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

39 minutes ago, Got2Cruise said:

Hi. We took the Uniworld Libson and Porto trip. The main draw is the culture and history of the area combined with the wine (vineyards). We opted for the additional excursions to Cascais and Sintra in Libson also. 
 

It’s a more relaxing vacation type of feel than other River Cruise Itineraries. We went in July, so sitting by the pool, sipping cocktails and cruising thru the locks admiring the vineyards is part of the experience. 

This sounds like what I was imagining!  We're going in mid-September (this year!) so hoping for the same experience (and cooler but still warm weather).  Too many trips lately we have needed a vacation after our "vacation"!!!  [I have been accused of planning shore excursions based on the Bataan Death March...]

[Canal archive]

On one of our cruises for the first at least four days we were up and out by just after 8am you can imagine the moaning and groaning although we all went along with it and in any case we’re all ‘ha ha’ in the same boat at the next port talk our next start wasn’t until 10.30 I’ve never heard a boatload of - paying quite a lot passengers - cheer quite so much. Evidently it just happened that the majority of us wanted to take part in all of the excursions that meant starting early, an absolute headache for our very competent Cruise Director.

 

Our only lengthier coach journey was to Salamanca- worth every mile, the most beautiful city, I’d go again just for this experience.

[ural guy]

I just want to add that the Douro river valley is not only gorgeous, but easily done on your own.  This is from 2 months back, we stayed at a Quinta, $110 usd a night.  Quinta da Guimaraes (about an hour from the city of Guimaraes) is part of a 4 vineyard group that bottles their wine together. gorgeous property and grounds.  The building is from 1722 and had it's own chapel.  Our room opened onto boxwood gardens, with this amazing view on the far side of the pool. The Douro is zig zagging below us.  We saw Viking and other ships during our drives along the river.

 

 

 

Pretty amazing, 4 visits to Portugal and I always want to see more.

 

Jazz-  I'm sure you know about the history of the Knights Templar and their Tomar connection.  So I'm guessing you'll visit the Convento de Cristo.  If you have the time/knees, and don't mind heights, the aqueduct outside of town provides good views of the valleys, and is pretty typical or Portuguese tourism.  They let you climb up and over/around everything.   

 

The history of Portugal, the influence of the Moors and their presence bringing about the Knights Templar, and all the castles they built along the 'frontier', that you can now visit (and be one of the few people there when we traveled), pretty sweet.  Listening to podcasts about the Knights history added to the vibe.  Then running into a site from the TV show 'Sharp', that follows the Peninsula campaign in Portugal...the history runs deep.

 

(btw, Sharp stars a young Sean Bean, and tons of British actors before they were big, Elizabeth Hurley, Mark Strong...a good historical fiction with Russian horesmen standing in for the French/Spanish).

 

Enjoy your trip.

 

[pontac]

The Douro cruise covers a short distance - from Porto to the Spanish border and back.

 

Once you leave Porto you are in a very rural region. The Douro is in  a gorge, so while you can see the river banks, you can't see the country beyond them from the ship. The gorge gets steadily narrower and close to the Spanish border there are occasions the boat can just squeeze through, with rock cliffs seemingly within touching distance either side.

 

Wine is the business here, and the steep sides of the gorge are terraced to grow vines, and you are sure to visit a winery. The Douro is home to the fortified wine Port (Porto in the USA), and there are also forests of the oak trees whose bark is stripped for cork..

 

Whether that's attractive is a matter of personal choice. As others have said, you don't travel at night, and we enjoyed sitting on the sun deck watching the scenery pass. It was a relaxing trip.

 

The river was not navigable until recently when rapids were dynamited an huge locks built. Thus I don't think one need worry about water levels. The Douro is a long river and the stretch sailed on is the closest to the outlet to the sea and controlled by locks.

 

I was going to book a second trip there, this year with Scenic who are advertising (in the UK) that the second person sails for free. But it wasn't the bargain it initially seemed as flight, port fees and taxes had to be added, but primarily the only vacant date was end of November,

 

Our cruising friends recently went on their second Douro cruise and said such was the increase in cruise companies on the river they were rafted most nights and had the other boat's exhaust blowing on their cabin.

 

All the same, I think it is one of the most scenic cruises, and relaxing.

 

However, I don't like long coach rides, so I won't be booking a holiday that commences in Lisbon, and although Salamanca is a historic and attractive city, I am not sure I'd spend another 3hrs in  a coach to visit again

 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by pontac

[4774Papa]

On 6/23/2023 at 2:40 PM, trickylibrarian said:

Looking for thoughts from those who have done a river cruise here (Uniworld).

What is the main draw to this area?  Geography, history, wine?  Wondering if

cruising this river is on the top of anyone's list.  We have done the Danube, Rhine,

Moselle and Po all on Uniworld and love them all.  Thanks.

 

We did a great Douro river cruise about 5 years ago.   The Douro Valley is one of the most scenic in Europe.   Porto is amazing and we spent a couple of days there after the cruise.  Yes, you visit wineries and those were great, but we also had an excursion to Salamanca, Spain that was great.

 

[lcand1923]

If you like good food, fine wine and beautiful scenery, you will enjoy a Duoro cruise.  (I also find going through locks fascinating, so that was an added bonus for me.)

 

Yes, it is not a cruise where you will be on an excursion at 8:00am every day, but what is wrong with sitting on deck and looking at beautiful scenery and then having a wonderful meal?

 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by lcand1923

[deec]

We will do a Viking Douro in October with both a pre/post so will enjoy the daytime cruising especially since we will be coming from Amsterdam after the European Sojourn ( Bucharest to Amsterdam).  We are anticipating an incredible fall on European Rivers! Trying to figure out how to pack will be the challenge....layers will be our friend!

[Got2Cruise]

28 minutes ago, deec said:

We will do a Viking Douro in October with both a pre/post so will enjoy the daytime cruising especially since we will be coming from Amsterdam after the European Sojourn ( Bucharest to Amsterdam).  We are anticipating an incredible fall on European Rivers! Trying to figure out how to pack will be the challenge....layers will be our friend!

Bring a Gortex waterproof windbreaker type jacket a little big. You can wear it by itself and keep dry in rain or wear a sweatshirt underneath and be warm in chill and windy. I have one I bought to take to Alaska and it has gone all around the world with me. 

[lynncarol]

The Duoro River in Portugal has five dams and you get to go through the locks at each one.  One of the locks is 35 meters high, one of the tallest in Europe. So no worries about water levels. We were just on a cruise there this past April. As others have said, the river is very scenic and I'm not sure how well you could see it driving along the road.  Yes, we missed being able to walk into the city from the ship (well except for Porto, and that involved a long walk across a big bridge) which we always enjoyed on other river cruises. My husband and I were glad we went, but for us, it was a 'one and done' experience.