Gourmet Gal

Tauck and Uniworld are definitely in the same league at the top of the heap. Tauck is a tour company known for their excellent excursions and logistics and they’ve taken that expertise to the rivers. Service is excellent on both lines. In my experience food on Tauck is superior to Uniworld but neither is what I would call gourmet. They both serve wines of the region but Tauck does a slightly better job. Onboard entertainment is also superior on Tauck and I prefer their more modern decor to Uniworld’s British tea room or French parlour style. I just completed Tauck’s Douro cruise and their new ship Andorinha is the most beautiful river ship I’ve ever seen. You may also consider Scenic and Ama. They might be close to the same level of luxury as Uniworld and Tauck but others will have to chime in because I’ve never sailed with either.

Just read your very thorough review…do you take notes along the way?! Impressive detail. Agree with you on the croissants! When traveling to Europe I love a nice croissant with marmalade but those onboard were just not great. I neglected to mention that our cruise was nearly full which may have impacted service in some venues, mostly Atlantide, the crowding in the gym, full busses and Covid transmission. There was a surge of cases towards the end of the cruise, though numbers were still low. We appreciated the captain keeping us apprised of the daily numbers.

I debated on 3 or 4 stars. There are many positives to this beautiful ship, service onboard being highly important. But now that SS is bundling the excursions into the product, those excursions became more of a factor than those booked as add-ons. The score would have been 4/5 had the excursions been on par with the on-board experience.

My brief review: https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=691593

Just perused the Scenic 8 day itinerary and it has 2 full days of cruising vs 1 full day on Tauck. Several of the stops are similar with Salamanca being different on Scenic. We were not interested in such a long bus ride. So honestly - that itinerary doesn’t look any more interesting than Tauck’s but Tauck seems to at least have more choices each day.

Just disembarked and have to say the service onboard was so excellent from the crew which by law is mostly Portuguese. Just about everyone was so cheerful, friendly, efficient and professional. Our favorite waiters were Sergio and Francisco and the hotel manager Walter was outstanding. Food ended up being good to very good and everything was well prepared with lots of local cuisine on the menu. Wines were mostly good with just a few times when we asked for something else. Just a warning regarding WiFi, it was extremely spotty in the deep Douro valley and almost non-existent towards the end of the cruise. If you need to be in touch with business or family at home this cruise could be difficult. The Douro river is absolutely stunning. The natural terrain is is really beautiful and the terraced vineyards are a marvel. We took this cruise because we were looking for another river similar to the Moselle which we had really enjoyed. The Douro is even more gorgeous and much longer but it just doesn’t have many riverside towns of much interest. In the final analysis we felt that Tauck was sort of scraping the barrel to find interesting stops along the Douro. There really aren’t any interesting towns along the river with most wineries and medieval towns being bus rides away. Many fellow cruisers complained of excessive cruising time which was unavoidable because ships can only sail during the day. It was a very sleepy, relaxing cruise and we felt there was just too much down time to justify a full week to see a handful of worthy sites despite Tauck’s efforts to make it fun. There’s plenty to do in the major cities of Porto and Lisbon, Portugal is a beautiful country and the people are so welcoming and warm. The food culture is great and there are lovely wines to enjoy. But now that we’ve sailed this river despite being with such a nice cruise line we now think all this is better experienced on a land based trip.

I think some of the people who post on the SS forum are a subset of the general SS cruising population. Very few cruisers have even heard of Cruise Critic and based on my experience traveling with so-called luxury cruise and jet journey companies is that most people do not “put on airs” or try to make others feel inferior- unlike some posters here on CC. Let’s face it…real luxury is chartering or owning your own yacht or jet and those people are rarely if ever on a cruise ship! I agree that the dress suggestions on SS are a real negative but it’s only for 1 or 2 nights per cruise and if you have dinner in certain venues you do not have to comply. Also if cruising on their expedition cruises, in Alaska or on the 7-day Med. cruises then there are no formal nights. Gives me hope they will eventually give it up.

Forgot to mention what a gorgeous ship the Andorinha is. Because of all the daytime cruising and stunning views the windows in the public spaces are floor to ceiling including the main dining room. There is also a two-story atrium with large skylight in the center than spans the Panorama lounge and Compass Rose restaurant so there is a wonderful open-air spacious feeling. The secondary dining venue, Arthur’s is two level and includes a great outdoor eating space and outdoor grill area on the sun deck. It really is well-designed and the most beautiful river cruise ship I’ve seen. Hoping the cruise doesn’t continue to feel so sleepy.

Thanks. I noticed something happened when I edited and somehow double posted but one post is unedited. So far the ship seems to be serving only Portuguese wines and we’re finding them very interesting, especially the whites. They are definitely serving some local cuisine. I love bacalhao and have been eating it since landing in Lisbon last week. I like to cook with salt cod at home so it’s nice to see it on menus here. We had a dinner at a local Quinta last night that was all local cuisine and quite good.

Cruising with my husband and I may post a review later but a few observations: Service is generally great. The crew is so friendly and the cruise director and tour directors are great and are working hard to create a fun atmosphere. The food is a little underwhelming but everything is well-prepared. The wines are mostly good and it’s very interesting to drink Portuguese wines, especially the whites. We’re not port fans so cannot comment. The excursions are very short and not that interesting and so far we’ve been cruising the river more than touring. So this cruise is very low-energy and relaxing. The jury is still out on whether I would recommend this cruise or just exploring the area by land. My big concern is the non-existence of any mask requirement. There are already sick people onboard - in fact some had very congested sounding coughs and sniffles from day one, so they arrived sick. In the first day’s welcome briefing there was only a quick reminder that it is possible some venues may require masks so just be sure to carry one with you and otherwise masking is voluntary. Covid is on the rise in Europe but no one seems to care. Almost no one is masking on the bus. Today is a full day cruise day and the daily program actually says, quote: “no masks needed today, yeah”. Yet it is very hard to maintain social distancing on the ship especially in the Panorama lounge where most of the activities are taking place today. Disappointing.

Wine consultant? Do you mean sommelier?

Since disembarking I’ve been off the grid a bit as we’ve continued our travels. Happy to report the white wines on our Tauck Douro cruise have been mostly great. As for my opinion of the SS included wines, I will admit to a certain amount of laziness in my critique but of course I am free to express my opinion and I am not surprised at the vitriol directed my way when an opinion strays from that of the die-hards. Disappointing? Yes, but not discouraging enough to prevent me from critiquing here on Cruise Critic any way I wish as long as I am not insulting anyone else’s opinion.

So sorry to hear! But unfortunately I am not surprised after seeing people gleefully flout the rules. We did speak to several of the guides on our busses and asked that they please enforce the SS rules. That did help. Hope you have a speedy recovery.

I asked for alternative white wines in every venue and just neglected to ask for a Sancerre. I was just asking what they had and was never offered one. I’m on a Tauck Douro cruise right now and have only once had to ask for an alternative. All other whites have been superior to SS. They’re mostly Portuguese blends that I’ve never experienced because most of their exports are ports and they consume most of their whites domestically.

I was never offered a Sancerre….I do like a good one.

Your photos look better than what we experienced. We looked at the dinner menu and would have tried it had the lunch been better.

Did not like the Tiki. Seems like my taste in food and wine seems to offend the die-hards. Others think they know food and wine better and perhaps they do, but they do not know my tastes. I live near a per-eminent wine region, am a gourmet cook and have dined in some of the best restaurants on the planet so I also know a thing or two and along with my own personal taste feel very qualified to comment on the food and wine on SS.

What?

We tried Kaiseki for lunch and it was very mediocre so didn’t try dinner there. SALT Kitchen was very inconsistent. The fish choices were never great and the menu changed only very slightly with each port if the region was similar. The included wines were terrible and rarely from the region.

Embarkation was flawless for my group. Not sure what you are referring to. Few people wore masks onboard except in Venetian lounge and even then many tried to flout the rules. Enforcement on busses seemed dependent upon the guide. The daily Covid case count was down to only 2 pax 2 days before Lisbon but then there was a surge overnight to 9. On day of disembarkation while waiting in Dolce Vita it was obvious quite a lot of people were sick. Non-stop coughing, sniffles and more mask-wearing than I’d seen on the entire cruise. There was a large group of trial attorneys onboard and they were talking about their test results so perhaps the surge was related to their group. Anyway, everyone was going forth into the world of hotel stays and flights without any mask requirements… My group has been un-affected so far. We masked as much as possible not just for protection but also out of respect for the crew.

Pricing would be the only reason I would ever book SS Air again. The “perks” are otherwise not deal-makers for me. Transfers can easily be arranged, I like to choose hotels myself for usually better rates than SS and luggage tags aren’t necessary until you arrive at the dock. What other info are you referring to that makes the trip easier? There’s nothing difficult about using your TA or booking everything yourself.

In a couple of venues I tasted all their included white wines and they were just not even good. I made sure to mention on the cruise survey. Masking on busses seems to be better when the tour guide reminds the group. We’ve had to ask some guides to do that.

Definitely closer to departure date. Keep checking.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/four-seasons-yachts/?utm_source=TPG Daily Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=5204651&utm_usr=b0a6e03bae28cd96e655242e18bb9e25cb2b06d2fc43579548c3a8332b89829a&utm_msg=90815996f32e4a7b8620e080f6a4081c&utm_date=2022-09-30 Can. Not. Wait.