Just returned-AmaWaterways Douro cruise

[texasstar]

I just returned from an AmaWaterways cruise of the Douro.  The whole trip was wonderful.  It started with 3 days in Lisbon for the pre-cruise trip.  There were 53 out of 90 that did this.  It was great to get to meet a lot of cruisers beforehand.  We were divided in to 2 groups so, the buses were not too crowded.  Our local guides were very good.

I arrived a day early, so that I could see places that were not included in their excursions.  I would encourage you to do this.  The AmaWaterways excursions focused on the Belem area.  The hotel was the Intercontinental which was very nice, but I would have preferred a hotel that was closer to restaurants.

On Friday, we had an excursion to Sinitra, and we visited the Convento de Cristo in Tomar on the way to Porto.

We arrived in Porto on Saturday evening and were treated to an illumination cruise.

We had 3 occasions to dine off- board during the trip.

A highlight of the cruise was a tour and lunch at Casa de Quinta with the intriguing Maria.

  I would encourage everyone to take the trip to Salamanca even though it is a long bus ride.  

I really enjoyed just relaxing on deck as we cruised the beautiful Douro, with the hillsides covered in vineyards.  

AmaWaterways excelled in all categories on this cruise.  The food was the best I have had on any river cruise, and this was my fifth.  Andre, our cruise director, was knowledgeable, and entertaining.  The crew was amazing, as they always are.  The fellow passengers were so friendly and welcoming.  This was my first cruise since my husband passed away, and even though I was traveling with a friend, I feel I would be comfortable traveling alone. The pre-dinner sip and sails make it very easy to make friends.  The only downside was the small cabin size, but it has to be because of the restrictions of the lock size. 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks for this review.  For comparisons, what were your other river cruises?

 

I am a big fan of AMA, and they have cabins on most of their ships that are larger than average – the issue on AmaDouro isn't that the cabins are smaller but that they only have the two smaller sizes (plus one suite); on most of their ships there is an intermediate type at 235sf which adds a nice bit of elbow room.  But if you really want a choice of larger cabin sizes, you should look at Scenic.  

[Worksheet]

@texasstar,

 

My wife and I also did the Douro with Amawaterways recently. We were on the Flavors of Portugal and Spain itinerary with pre-cruise in Madrid and post in Lisbon. What a delight!

 

Andre was also our tour director—the best we have had in the nearly dozen river cruises over the past decade.

 

We loved the daytime cruising on the Douro and plan to repeat it soon. In the meantime, we have booked another Amawaterways cruise on the Mossele and Main Danube for next year.

[Kristal Blade]

We had an AMA cruise earlier this year, our first river cruise. We sailed from Amsterdam to Budapest and enjoyed it so much we are going to do the follow on cruise, Budapest to Bucharest next month.
When I boarded I thought our cabin was a bit small, but it had everything we needed with lots of drawer and wardrobe space. 
We were on AmaStella and had a cabin with a balcony, it was gorgeous sitting out, watching the scenery.

The staff were all brilliant and the food was great.
I agree with texasstar, AMA excelled for us too.

Now I know the Douro cruise is good we will look at that too, even though we have visited Porto ourselves. 

[Got2Cruise]

I’m so happy for you that you had such a wonderful experience. I agree that Salamanca is worth the trip. 
 

[Got2Cruise]

12 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Thanks for this review.  For comparisons, what were your other river cruises?

 

I am a big fan of AMA, and they have cabins on most of their ships that are larger than average – the issue on AmaDouro isn't that the cabins are smaller but that they only have the two smaller sizes (plus one suite); on most of their ships there is an intermediate type at 235sf which adds a nice bit of elbow room.  But if you really want a choice of larger cabin sizes, you should look at Scenic.  

@Host Jazzbeau back in 2019 when I sailed the Douro, all the vessels were owned by the same company and leased to the various brands. This was due to the narrowness of Douro and the special regulations in Portugal. Are you saying that the Scenic ship is not leased from the Portuguese company? 

[Host Jazzbeau]

24 minutes ago, Got2Cruise said:

@Host Jazzbeau back in 2019 when I sailed the Douro, all the vessels were owned by the same company and leased to the various brands. This was due to the narrowness of Douro and the special regulations in Portugal. Are you saying that the Scenic ship is not leased from the Portuguese company? 

Apparently Douro Azul/Mystic still builds and owns all (or most) of the river cruise ships sailing the Douro, and they are all limited by the size of the locks on that river (80m).  But they are now built out to the specifications of the various companies rather than being cookie-cutter copies as they were originally.  Cruisemapper lists Scenic Azure as owned by Scenic and Douro Azul, but its deck plan is very different from AmaDouro.

[Got2Cruise]

9 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Apparently Douro Azul/Mystic still builds and owns all (or most) of the river cruise ships sailing the Douro, and they are all limited by the size of the locks on that river (80m).  But they are now built out to the specifications of the various companies rather than being cookie-cutter copies as they were originally.  Cruisemapper lists Scenic Azure as owned by Scenic and Douro Azul, but its deck plan is very different from AmaDouro.

Interesting to learn. Thanks. 

[CDNPolar]

For all considering a Douro river cruise...

 

This was one of our most memorable cruises ever.

 

Antarctica and The Nile beat Douro, but then we ALWAYS fall to the Douro as the favourite after those two.

[Canal archive]

 

We did the Douro on Scenic Azure in 2018 and would repeat the cruise just so special.

 

Above is the Douro through Porto. Enjoy, the food the views the art and architecture the people and do try all the different variations of Port.

[texasstar]

21 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Thanks for this review.  For comparisons, what were your other river cruises?

 

I am a big fan of AMA, and they have cabins on most of their ships that are larger than average – the issue on AmaDouro isn't that the cabins are smaller but that they only have the two smaller sizes (plus one suite); on most of their ships there is an intermediate type at 235sf which adds a nice bit of elbow room.  But if you really want a choice of larger cabin sizes, you should look at Scenic.  

Three were AmaWaterways and we were on Scenic on the Seine last year.  Maybe it was the "post covid" problems that all lines were experiencing last year, but our Scenic cruise had some issues with shore excursions.  I know that many rave about them.  I agree with your assessment that there are not many different cabin sizes on the AmaDouro.  I got used to it, but it was confining.

We had an amazing chef.  I can't remember his name, but everything was delicious.  I hope you enjoy your upcoming cruise .  It is truly a beautiful area.

 

[franski]

8 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

For all considering a Douro river cruise...

 

This was one of our most memorable cruises ever.

 

Antarctica and The Nile beat Douro, but then we ALWAYS fall to the Douro as the favourite after those two.

Good to know!!  

 

We are doing this next May (anniversary cruise) and it will be our 18th river cruise (our 2nd with AMA).

 

Haven't done Antarctica (and doubt we will - as I get seasick on big ships...) but I agree that the Nile was amazing.

 

Fran

[franski]

1 hour ago, texasstar said:

Three were AmaWaterways and we were on Scenic on the Seine last year.  Maybe it was the "post covid" problems that all lines were experiencing last year, but our Scenic cruise had some issues with shore excursions.  I know that many rave about them.  

We are not brand loyal... and have travelled most of the major lines.  I think that there is not enough credit given to the cruise directors - as they can make or break the experience.  

 

Our very best cruise director was on our 1st Scenic cruise... and our worst was also on a Scenic cruise.  We have had some issues with shore excursions with different lines, but the ones that could have been handled better by the staff (the crew has no control over things like lock closures so don't count those) have been on Scenic.  Not bad enough that I would not travel with them again, but our experiences has been mixed.

 

Fran

[Cyndilu2]

We are leaving in 2 days for Madrid before heading to Porto for Viking Helgrim. 
I have read that all of the shops on the Douro are built and owned by the same company in co-ownership with the cruise line who sponsors the trips. 
it sounds as though all are laid out and fitted to the specifications of the cruise sponsor, in our case Viking. 
I have a question about electrical outlets. What should we expect in terms of type and number of outlets per stateroom?

[Host Jazzbeau]

It's true that most [it was 'all,' but is now changing] of the ships on the Douro were built and owned by Douro Azul [who now also have their own ocean cruise line, Atlas Ocean Voyages].  But you may not be aware that many ships on the German rivers are built and owned by the Swiss company Scylla.  In neither case does this really affect the passenger experience.

 

Modern river ships are usually built to the maximum size limits of the locks on their intended rivers, which in the case of the Douro is 260 feet long and 37 feet wide [smaller than in France or Germany]  But even with the Douro Azul ships the layouts and décor are specific to each cruise line.  On board you would never suspect the common origin.

[Canal archive]

Also ships may be built in one yard and fitted out in another. On one Scenic cruise we ended up with four captains on board at on time, which I thought was just a little over the top. So two as is normal captains, one new to Scenic learning Scenic’s ways - we met him again on the Bordeaux cruise and as it was a new vessel the Dutch Captain from the shipyard. He at one stage decided to make changes to the raising and lowering system of the bridge he was a really lovely man and huge but ready to talk ships to anyone interested and held court on the front deck regularly.

[Punam]

Speaking of this cruise, I wanted to book it but can't walk steep hills and I'm told the journey is very hiily. Can you tell us what the walking was like? 

[Host Jazzbeau]

29 minutes ago, Punam said:

Speaking of this cruise, I wanted to book it but can't walk steep hills and I'm told the journey is very hiily. Can you tell us what the walking was like? 

We did this on Scenic, not AMA, but I think the experience would be the same.  There were no walking tours that started from the ship – there were always coaches that took us up the steep hills to the ridge, and from then any walking was no steeper than on other European river cruises.  The one exception would be Porto, but there are funiculars to get up the hills and AMA is very good about dividing up the excursions into active, regular and gentle walkers.

[Punam]

21 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

We did this on Scenic, not AMA, but I think the experience would be the same.  There were no walking tours that started from the ship – there were always coaches that took us up the steep hills to the ridge, and from then any walking was no steeper than on other European river cruises.  The one exception would be Porto, but there are funiculars to get up the hills and AMA is very good about dividing up the excursions into active, regular and gentle walkers.

Thanks 🙂 I was wondering about the 3 days in Lisbon, but you're right. Ama has differend levels of excursions. Forgot about that.

[Host Jazzbeau]

14 minutes ago, Punam said:

Thanks 🙂 I was wondering about the 3 days in Lisbon, but you're right. Ama has differend levels of excursions. Forgot about that.

Don't know how that works on the pre-/post- land extensions, where the group is smaller.  You should check with AMA about that.

[texasstar]

They really take care of their gentle walkers.  Just make sure that you get in the "pink" group when you arrive at your destination.  In Salamanca, they even arranged taxis back to the restaurant for those that needed them.  They are very accommodating in Lisbon and Porto also.  We were in Lisbon on our own before joining the pre-stay group.  We took a Tuk-Tuk tour which worked out well because he drove you as close as he could, so you were not climbing hills.  Once we were on the pre-tour, they also had different groups for those that had difficulty with hills and stairs.  It is a great trip.