Photo-review: A-Rosa Alva - Douro river 7/1/2020

[steamboats]

Thought it would be a better idea to start a new thread - our first post lockdown cruise got us on the Douro river in Portugal onboard A-Rosa Alva. A-Rosa is mainly German but caters to English speaking guests on the Douro too (and on select cruises on the Rhine and Danube rivers). This was really a special trip by all means. Besides all Covid-19 stuff (and yes they are pretty strict about it in Portugal and Spain) it was sort of surreal walking through almost empty streets and usually very touristy spots. A chance to get photos you usually can never take due to the amount of people walking by.

 

The review starts - as usually - with a deck by deck description of the ship. It´s photo extensive so no need to read the German text. If you want to, google translate usually works pretty well.

 

Enjoy!

 

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[terry&mike]

Following. Thank you.

 

[jpalbny]

Your pictures are beautiful!

 

We were in Portugal last November. Porto and Guimaraes are just how we remember them. I wish we could go back again. Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

[Daisi]

Thanks for the review.  It looked really interesting, and sounds as if you enjoyed it.  Glad to see that the strictures put in place for Covid really don't seem to interfere with the enjoyment of the cruise.  Loved the pics, you are a great photographer.

[terry&mike]

Very enjoyable read, thank you! I'm scheduled to sail with Emerald Waterways on the same itinerary in mid-October. Hopefully, the ship will sail, and I can get there from the U.S. We'll see.....

[steamboats]

Thanks! Tomorrows entry might not be as entertaining as it covers the side costs with A-Rosa. I just finished our first day in Porto and that will be a very long one!

 

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[steamboats]

So part 2 is online covering extra costs onboard with photos of the bar menu. As for the Douro river A-Rosa has Premium only which includes the flight and all basic beverages. So only where the menu lists a price you pay extra but prices are decent (a Cosmopolitan is 3 Euro). Bottled wine is extra - bottles are between 15 and 25 Euro.

 

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[AF-1]

Did you have a good time on your river cruise.  How was the weather?

[Babcia7]

Thank you for your posts and pictures!  Brings back lots of good memories of our Uniworld trip to Spain and Portugal two years ago.  Such a beautiful part of the world!

[steamboats]

6 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Did you have a good time on your river cruise.  How was the weather?

 

Of course we had a great time! Weather was perfect! Two days we hit the 100°F... so a little bit too hot for me.

 

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[gnome12]

25 minutes ago, steamboats said:

 

Of course we had a great time! Weather was perfect! Two days we hit the 100°F... so a little bit too hot for me.

 

steamboats

WAY too hot for me! As a tourist walking around, I'd much prefer a temperature in the low 20s Celsius (high 60s, low 70s)

[steamboats]

Today´s entry is showing our cabin onboard the A-Rosa Alva. Cabins on decks 2 and 3 have those panoramic windows which can be lowered so you have a balcony feeling. Only the two suites on deck 3 aft have small balconies on the side. Deck 1 has windows which can´t be opened.

 

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[steamboats]

So now the trip starts... We are flying to Porto and have the afternoon to explore the city - tracing Harry Potter.

 

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[AF-1]

steamboats;  that was a cool video where you opened the window in your room and made it look like balcony.  Nice!

[steamboats]

Day 2 onboard starts out with a tour of the Mateus palace and its beautiful gardens. Later we explore the train station of Pinhao. For dinner we go out to  Quinta da Avessada to meet the twin brother of "Mr. Bean".

 

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[Canal archive]

Thank you Steamboats superb photographs. CA
 

[rcaruso]

3 hours ago, steamboats said:

Day 2 onboard starts out with a tour of the Mateus palace and its beautiful gardens. Later we explore the train station of Pinhao. For dinner we go out to  Quinta da Avessada to meet the twin brother of "Mr. Bean".

 

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Deine Reise  brings back so many memories of our November Trip last year.  We had Mittag Essen at Quinta da Avessada and can never forget the Mr. Bean, one of the highlights of our trip.  We have a Danube trip scheduled in November, however, it is not looking good for us here in the US to travel to Europe this year.  I am enjoying your trip report.

[steamboats]

@rcaruso we were told that almost all ships do the dinner at Quinta da Avessada. It was really sad to see that we were the only ones there (31 passengers). But everyone was happy that at least the first boats are cruising again.

 

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[steamboats]

Day 3 gets us to Quinta da Roêda in the morning for a Pink Port degustation. The A-Rosa Alva moves on to Barca d´Alva. In the evening we go out on our own to explore a lost place - the train station of Barca d´Alva (you definitely need good shoes for that). Inbetween is the narrowest part of the Douro river, two locks and the Ferradosa train bridge - which is extremely low.

 

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[Canal archive]

Steamboats thank you I’m re-living our Douro cruise through your lens. CA

[steamboats]

Day 4 and we´re still in Barca d´Alva. But todays tour gets us to Spain and the beautiful city of Salamanca.

 

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[Canal archive]

We missed seeing the square at Salamanca as it was boarded up in preparation for a huge book festival but a wonderful place for a drink and people watching. Thank you CA

[steamboats]

9 hours ago, Canal archive said:

We missed seeing the square at Salamanca as it was boarded up in preparation for a huge book festival but a wonderful place for a drink and people watching. Thank you CA

 

I didn´t mention this in my text but our guide told us that they used some architectural tricks to let the square look larger. The stories are lower the higher they are, the balconies are getting smaller... There´s one photo (in the morning) where you can see this. The square was used for markets, for all kind of festivals (like corridas) and more. So a condo with balcony was very expensive. And the balconies were rented out for those occasions. Our guide told us a lot more stories about this square.

 

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[Lois R]

Thanks for sharing this with us🙂lovely photos for sure!!!!  Glad you had a good time. I was supposed to take a

cruise on the Douro earlier this year...............we all know what happened with that one.☹️

[steamboats]

Day 5 gets us to Castel Rodrigo and the Marofa mountain.

 

I also added a short video to day 3 showing the passage of the very low Ferradosa train bridge.

 

@Lois R sorry to hear that your cruise was cancelled. I hope you can do it next year! It´s really great.

 

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