Emerald Waterways & Duoro

Hi. We're looking for experiences with Emerald Waterways and would love anything but especially related to the Duoro. We need to decide soon. Any comments re company or this cruise appreciated.

Emerald is a great cruise line with all new ships. Let me know if you have any specific questions. I have not done the Douro, however.

The Douro is narrow and shallow and consequently has different rules about navigation than other parts of Europe. All sailing must be during the day. All boats must be smaller than the new "standard" size elsewhere. And almost all the boats are built and owned by a Portuguese company -- this is not to say that each line doesn't customize them and establish the level of luxury and amenities, but it does mean those boats do not look their their sister-ships on other rivers. Also there is rarely anyplace to walk to from the area where the boat is docked -- except straight up the steep bank. This also is not to say that Douro cruises are less good -- they get great reviews, and my next river cruise will likely be on the Douro. But this is to let you know these things in advance, because some cruisers are surprised by these differences.

...there is rarely anyplace to walk to from the area where the boat is docked -- except straight up the steep bank...

Having done the Vantage Douro River trip this month, I will comment about their docking locations (some cruises may vary slightly in docking, but Vantage is typical of most). While inland from Porto the Douro River flows mostly in a valley with steep sides, there are small to medium size towns directly on the river.

 

Boat Night 1: In front of the Porto wine lodges (technically Vila Nova de Gaia)

Boat Night 2: in Pinhao

Boat Night 3: in Vega de Terron, Spain

Boat Night 4: in Barca d’Alva

Boat Night 5: in Regua

Boat Night 6: in Entre-os-Rios

Boat Night 7: in front of the Porto wine lodges (technically Vila Nova de Gaia)

 

 

At every docking location in Portugal (but not the one night we docked in Spain) it was possible to walk directly off the boat and without difficulty get to a local pub. The small towns had only a few places, but Regua had many places within walking distance, and Porto/Gaia had hundreds. Most people didn’t stray far, as the boat provided something to do every evening, but there was plenty of to do off the boat without having to scale steep banks. Perhaps the towns did not have as much character as say Bernkastel on the Mosel, but there were towns.

 

 

Thom

Thanks Thom for the clarification. My comment was based on some reviews here that must have been exaggerated in their disappointment with the docking locations.

Hi. We're looking for experiences with Emerald Waterways and would love anything but especially related to the Duoro. We need to decide soon. Any comments re company or this cruise appreciated.

 

While I cannot comment specifically on the Duoro River Cruise, I can provide feedback on Emerald Waterways.

 

We took our first river cruise with Emerald Waterways last June, 15 Day Splendours of Europe, and Emerald exceeded our expectations in all categories (tours, food, staff, ship). Despite Emerald having only been in operation 1 year when we booked and knowing our ship would have only been sailing 1 month when we boarded, I was confident Emerald would be fine because Emerald is associated with Scenic Tours and Scenic had a good reputation.

 

We had such a wonderful experience on our cruise last year that we are booked to go on another river boat cruise June 2016.

Thank you for all of your replies.

 

In our opinion, the Duoro is a fascinating and most enjoyable cruise. We have been before. We went with Viking (just before they had their own ship) and it's one of our two favorite cruises out of seven. It's much less commercial than most and full of interesting people. We especially liked the breadmaker (you can see her on many Viking commercials) and our stops in Coimbra (we loved the library and the male Fado performers at lunch - most are female outside Coimbra). Viking had two lunches and two dinners included off the boat which really enhanced the experience, too. We liked it so much that we have booked another cruise on the Duoro. And, we have found that we've enjoyed Lisbon so much that we have returned on our own and will do so again.

 

We'll be trying another company to vary the experience and because the Duoro fills up so fast it's hard to get cabins when we can go. Just remember that July-August can be very hot on the Duoro. We're happy to hear that you enjoyed an Emerald trip.