Cruise the Douro with Viking.

[pato]

Anyone done the trip? I'd like to know and help me make my mind up.

[bruce]

Dave see if this link opens

http://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/201 ... r-of-gold/

[dennisg]

We haven't cruised with Viking, but cruised the Douro in April for 7 days with Saga. It was all very enjoyable although we only had one sunny day, our first which was seeing the sights of Oporto. Every day we visited hillside villages and country houses and enjoyed wine tasting sessions - port wine, that is. Having cruised several other rivers I was surprised how short the Douro is, about 300km to the Spanish border, and on our 4th day we were bussed to Salamanca where we had a splendid lunch in a hotel and enjoyed a flamenco show. Several companies run these cruises and having read the itineraries of other companies, they all appear to do the same thing, so go for it!

[dennisg]

Should have opened the link in Bruce's posting first. Excellent description with good pictures, and almost identical to our own cruise.

[ceh]

The itinery for the Viking cruise looks great - my Mum gave me the brochure earlier today and I was impresssed with the itinery . I spent 5 days in Porto about a month ago and went to Regua by train and took a local boat trip etc (we'd thought we could get a boat back to Porto but no) and loved the scenery etc. there's a little train in Regua which takes you around the area (like to cvo 'train') finishing at a port lodge. Porto was brilliant.

[pato]

Thanks for the replies.

[heini]

I have no experience with Viking other than crossing their ship from ours to go to shore, but look into http://uniworldcruises.com/. They are a bit more upscale but it is worth every penny in my opinion. Their cruises are truly all inclusive with open bar all day. The Douro is on my bucket list. Heini

[SJ & RE]

Hi,
One of my U3A friends did this trip a couple of years ago and said it was fantastic. Friendly with quite a few Americans.
He said altho it was full, you were not on top of one another and space at all resturants etc.
He is going to do another Viking Cruise up the Mekong later this year as he found that Viking Cruises were superior to the Saga and others of the same ilk.
He had a day in Lisbon b4 getting going staying at the Tivoli hotel where Viking always puts one up. Here the hotel is super duper as we stayed there 2 years ago too.

[heini]

I did the Mekong Cruise last Christmas with Uniworld. The Trip is simply amazing.

[ceh]

Someone I know went on a Viking cruise on the Elbe recently and after a couple of days were told there wan't sufficient water in the river for them to continue!! They did a couple of trips out then got bussed upstream to another boat! however, there was plenty of water in the Douro when I was there but probably worth checking out other operators

Beautiful area so well worth visiting