Vantage Douro Cruise Review--Finally

I should probably start by mentioning the reason that I’m just now (mid-September) getting around to reviewing a trip that began at the end of March! We almost made it through all of our Douro Cruise, but toward the end of the cruise (Wednesday, April 11), I noticed blood in my urine and decided to cut the trip short. We’d already done the cruise portion, so we only missed two final nights in Lisbon and an extension to Madeira.

We returned home the next day and after a doctor’s appointment and a CT scan I found that I had a softball-sized tumor on my right kidney. I had surgery on May 1, and the doctors feel like they got all of the tumor, and so far the cancer has not recurred.

Having said that, I’ll try to describe most of the cruise in several posts with photos to go along. It was a fun trip, and the Douro is beautiful. If you’ve read many Douro reviews, you know that almost all of the lines visit the same places and do the same things.

Vantage is somewhat unique in the fact that they do one-way cruises. Most lines begin and end in Porto. Our cruise began in Vega du Terron and ended in Porto with stays in Madrid and Lisbon on either end. Vantage also is unique in offering an extension to Madeira.

The Douro Serenity (owned by Douro Azul like most ships on the Douro) is only a year old and was very nice. More details later…

Trip to Spain & Arrival

The trip started well with an Uber ride to the Nashville Airport. The flight to Philadelphia was on time, and we walked a short way down the concourse to a Legal Seafood restaurant—one of our favorite places for seafood.

We got to Philly around noon, and our flight to Madrid doesn’t start boarding until 5:55, so we’ve got a long layover. We treated ourselves to day passes for the American Admirals Club so we were able to relax in relative comfort with free snacks in both Nashville and Philadelphia. When we got to the gate to board, we heard the dreaded announcement that “Maintenance is on board.” It turns out that one of the galley ovens wasn’t working, and it was replaced and we got away about an hour late. Nevertheless, we arrived in Madrid on time and made it through short lines at passport control, got or luggage, and were met by a Vantage representative as we exited customs.

We waited a few minutes for 4 other couples from the flight to appear, and then we were loaded onto a full-sized coach for a 30-minute ride to the Melia Madrid Princesa. When we arrived, we were briefed by Cruise Director Eleuterio. Our rooms weren’t ready, so we took a walk to the Plaza Mayor (about a mile south) and got an early lunch before returning to the hotel and getting into our room. The Princesa is a large business hotel (we’re on the top floor—12th). We were exhausted after a long flight. Also, the night before we left we were up 4 times during the night to deal with failing smoke alarms and didn’t sleep well at all. So we took a 1½ hour nap before spending some quiet time with the New York Times crossword to relax a little.

We met with all 111 passengers tonight at 6:00 p.m. for a briefing, followed by Vantage-hosted dinner at 7:00. The dinner was excellent with a shrimp and guacamole appetizer followed by a very nice steak (which was so large that we shared one). Dessert was a very nice chocolate mousse.

More in the next post...

Madrid and Toledo

After an excellent buffet breakfast, the buses departed at 15-minute intervals for the morning Madrid city tour. The tour was basically a drive around the city with a 30-minute stop at the bull ring, and a couple of photo before returning to the hotel around noon. We grabbed lunch at a tapas place a couple of blocks from the hotel.

In the afternoon we took the optional tour to Toledo, leaving the hotel around 2:00 p.m. and returning around 8:15. Toledo is an hour south of Madrid. Toledo is a beautiful old city, and I’m glad that we did this optional tour—well worth the money. After a photo stop from the south side of the city, we were dropped on the north side of Toledo where a series of escalators (I believe there were 5) took us to the old city.

Toledo City View

 

 

One of the Escalators to the Old City Center

The walking tour focused on the cathedral and also included a visit to Toledo’s old synagogue (no longer active) and a 30-minute break before the walk down to the buses waiting at St. Martin’s bridge. We were tired enough that we decided to forego a late dinner and just bought some bread and cheese at a grocery a block from the hotel and snack in our room.

Thank you - we are leaving the US October 13, so your review has come at the perfect time. Your suggestion of grabbing something locally rather than sitting down for a late night dinner after Toledo was a great one. Keep it coming!

Cole

PS: glad your surgery was a success!!!!

FuelScience, glad to see you back and looking forward to the rest of the review!

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Madrid and Toledo

 

 

After an excellent buffet breakfast, the buses departed at 15-minute intervals for the morning Madrid city tour. The tour was basically a drive around the city with a 30-minute stop at the bull ring, and a couple of photo before returning to the hotel around noon. We grabbed lunch at a tapas place a couple of blocks from the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bullring Statue: Matador Saluting Alexander Lister,

discover of Penicillin which saved the lives of many matadors

 

 

 

 

Another Bullring Statue

 

 

In the afternoon we took the optional tour to Toledo, leaving the hotel around 2:00 p.m. and returning around 8:15. Toledo is an hour south of Madrid. Toledo is a beautiful old city, and I’m glad that we did this optional tour—well worth the money. After a photo stop from the south side of the city, we were dropped on the north side of Toledo where a series of escalators (I believe there were 5) took us to the old city.

 

 

 

Toledo City View

 

 

One of the Escalators to the Old City Center

 

 

The walking tour focused on the cathedral and also included a visit to Toledo’s old synagogue (no longer active) and a 30-minute break before the walk down to the buses waiting at St. Martin’s bridge. We were tired enough that we decided to forego a late dinner and just bought some bread and cheese at a grocery a block from the hotel and snack in our room.

 

 

Cathedral

I have a question related to the late return to Madrid from Toledo. Will we have time to have an early dinner in Toledo before boarding the bus to return to the hotel? That might be an option rather than waiting until 8:30!

Cole

On Tuesday we hit the road for Salamanca at 9:00 (early bus left at 8:45 and the late bus at 9:15). We stopped at 10:30 in Avila for a rest stop and got a nice view of the old walled city before leaving around 11:00.

We made another rest stop on the outskirts of Salamanca before driving into the old city where we were dropped off around 13:00. We had 1½ hours for lunch before beginning our walking tour of the city. The early bus began their tour immediately upon arrival.

Salamanca Plaza

It’s probably good here to elaborate on the guide situation. Our city guides from Madrid accompanied us to Salamanca and described the countryside we were seeing. In Salamanca we were shown around the city by local guides before being handed over to the Portuguese guides who would be with us in Portugal. The Portuguese guides had come to Salamanca with Vantage passengers from the Lisbon-to-Barca de Alva cruise that had just ended. Our Spanish guides then rode back to Madrid with those passengers.

Salamanca was a lovely old city. After 1½ hours for lunch on our own, we began the walking tour which took us from Plaza Mayor past some of the old university buildings to the cathedral. After the cathedral tour we walked down to the river where the buses were parked and headed for the Douro.

We got away from Salamanca a little after 16:00 and arrived at the ship in Vega de Terron around 17:00 Portuguese time (one-hour time change).

We embarked at Vega du Terron, Spain rather than Barca de Alva. It turns out that it’s easier to load the luggage there. Shortly after everyone was on board we did a quick sail (5-10 minutes) to Barca de Alva and tied up there for the night.

Vantage welcomed us with champagne and got people situated in their staterooms promptly. We had a safety briefing and port talk before heading to the dining room for dinner.

The ship is one year old and very nice. It’s grey rather than the standard cruise ship white, and it looks very sleek. We had a junior suite which was very comfortable and roomy. The staff (except for the CD) were all Douro Azul employees, and they provided excellent service.

The ship had very good internet connectivity for almost all of the voyage. I was disappointed that we received no daily one-page news summaries. There was a nice river map in each stateroom. Only President’s Club members (3 previous cruises) get the nice L’Occitane toiletries and large bars of soap. On our previous Vantage cruise we noticed that the passengers are significantly older than on other lines we’ve cruised (Viking and Avalon), and the observation held true on this cruise as well. Most of the people we talked to were loyal Vantage customers who’ve done multiple land, ocean, and river cruises with Vantage (they get the good soap!). But we saw more canes than we normally do.

The food was been good, but not great. The format is pretty much the river cruise standard, breakfast and lunch buffets (including light lunch in the lounge) with a sit-down full-service dinner. As mentioned earlier, the ship—like almost all Douro ships—is operated by Douro Azul, with the Vantage cruise director being the only Vantage employee on board. All of the staff appear to be Portuguese. Wine, beer, and soft drinks are free with dinner ONLY; Vantage should move up to the industry norm of these beverages being free at lunch as well.

There was no slow walker group. This is probably due to the fact that with all the excursions being away from the docking location, it was just easier for Vantage to arrange things by buses.

So with the few exemptions mentioned above, the cruise experience was comparable to other river cruises we’ve taken with Vantage, and perhaps a step below our trips with Viking and Avalon.

FuelScience, glad to see you back and looking forward to the rest of the review!

 

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Thanks JP! It's nice to feel good again. Hope you've got some great trips planned.

Thank you - we are leaving the US October 13, so your review has come at the perfect time. Your suggestion of grabbing something locally rather than sitting down for a late night dinner after Toledo was a great one. Keep it coming!

Cole

PS: glad your surgery was a success!!!!

Hope it'll be a great trip. In October, you should get a chance to pick and stomp some grapes! I hope that the rest of the review will be helpful. Let me know if you have any questions.

I have a question related to the late return to Madrid from Toledo. Will we have time to have an early dinner in Toledo before boarding the bus to return to the hotel? That might be an option rather than waiting until 8:30!

 

Cole

There is no such thing as an early dinner in Spain! 8:30 is actually quite early. [emoji846]

That said, you might be able to get some tapas earlier if the schedule permits.

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Wednesday morning we took our first excursion to Castelo Rodrigo. The 45-minute drive (all uphill) had spectacular views of terraced olive and almond groves and vineyards. I only managed to get one picture, but this was some of the most spectacular scenery of the trip. If you have a polarizing filter for your camera to eliminate window glare, you might bring it so that you can get decent photos of these groves and the countryside.

When we got to the old town, the temperatures had dropped to around 45°F with strong gusting winds. We began with almond tasting with a dozen or so varieties of almonds along with almond liqueur and wine. The walk around the old town was interesting, but the cold wind and occasional rain made it something of an ordeal. The little town has a few inhabitants, but it's mostly a nice old town for tourists to visit. On our early April visit, it was almost abandoned. I suspect that the crowds grow larger in the summer.

When we returned to the ship around lunchtime we set sail for Pinhão. Again, there’s spectacular scenery along the river here.

There is no such thing as an early dinner in Spain! 8:30 is actually quite early. [emoji846]

That said, you might be able to get some tapas earlier if the schedule permits.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thanks, I was afraid of that - but I doubt that we will starve! Looking forward to the other parts of the review - but be assured that there will be no photos of me playing Lucy and stomping the grapes. :p

From Entre os Rios, we boarded busses and headed out for our tour of the Mateus manor—a standard stop on Douro

cruises. We had guided tours of the mansion with free time afterwards to walk around the gardens.

Manor House

After visiting the manor, we were bused to the Avessada winery. This is also a standard stop for Douro cruises. We were greeted with live music, hors d’oeuvres, and wine. The visit continued with a walk through the barn with a short talk about wine making and finished with a very generous lunch. The owner of the winery of the winery loves to entertain, and he kept everyone laughing during lunch. He went back and forth between our large room and another room with a smaller group. This is another excursion where you need to have your camera with polarizing filter attached. There’s a lot of spectacular scenery driving to and from the tour sites.

Friday began with a short (~2km) bus ride to Quinta da Roêda, another winery. We walked through the vineyards with a guide to tell us about their operations and ended with yet another port tasting. Here we were reassured that the grapes are indeed crushed by people doing two-hour shifts of stomping.

`

In the afternoon we were bused to Lamego for a visit to Santuário de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios. It was a rainy afternoon, but we decided to brave the showers and walk down the 686 steps to meet our group at the local museum for a tour. The museum was OK, but not great.

After the Lamego excursion the ship sailed to Regua.

FuelScience,

So glad you are fully recovered and back on the forum. Thank you for your great report and excellent photos.

I enjoyed your report. We did a Douro cruise on Uniworld 7 or 8 years ago and I enjoyed the memories brought back.

I've posted photos of the ports and excursions. I thought that it might be worthwhile to post a few photos of the rugged scenery along the Douro.

We sailed into Porto and went past our docking site so that we could see where the Douro empties into the Atlantic.After docking, the day began with a nice excursion to the Taylor port lodge where we walked through the area with all the aging barrels and ended with a sampling of two ports.This post will show a few photos of the riverfront and the Taylor port lodge, and the next weill show more of Porto.

Preparing to Dock in Porto

The bus tour of Porto began in the afternoon, and the skies opened up. We visited the train station first, with the highlight being all the beautiful tile work.

We then headed for the cathedral on foot, at which point the rain started in earnest. As is the case for most river cruises, another church at the end of the cruise isn't a highlight, but it was a lovely church. The temperature was around 50°F, so that made the rain more uncomfortable.

Porto Cathedral

 

 

After the cathedral we reboarded the buses and headed for the Laviria Lello—better known as the “Harry Potter bookstore,” because J.K. Rowling reportedly was inspired there while writing the books. Due to parking rules, the buses can’t get closer than 3-4 blocks from the store. So we parked and the guide decided to wait and see if the rain would let up. Some people wanted to go straight back to the ship, but others wanted to go to the bookshop. So we finally decided to go and as soon as we got out of the bus, the rain got worse. We managed to get to the shop and were given tickets to get in (€ 4 for admission). People were lined up at the door and once we got in we could barely move. We moved along with the flood and managed to ascend the stairs and come back down again. Efforts to leave were hampered by people who apparently decided to wait in the doorway to avoid the rain. We managed to get out and make it to the bus without getting totally soaked.

After returning, the weather cleared up , and I took a walk through Oporto for the afternoon. Photos from my walk will be in the next post.

Monday:

This morning we made an amazing discovery: the ship has umbrellas! They never bothered to tell anyone, and I only found out when I overheard a lady asking at the desk. So I picked one up before our outing to Guimaraes, one of the oldest cities in Portugal. It was about an hour drive due to morning rush hour traffic. The old city was nice, but nothing spectacular. The guide has really been talking a lot about Portuguese history and all the monarchs, and I knew that I’d never remember any of it, so I decided to tune here out for most of the time. Anyhow, there’s a lot of history in Guimaraes, but I couldn’t tell you what it was. The trip back to the ship was only about 40 minutes, and we got there in time to join in for lunch.

Tuesday:

We had a long ride to Lisbon with a lunch stop in Nazaré, a surfer's paradise. Again, bus departures from the ship were staggered. The first bus got to Nazaré well before the restaurants opened and left just as they were opening, so they missed out on lunch. We also made a stop in Obidos before arriving at our hotel in Lisbon. The Pestana Palace is an old mansion that’s been converted into a hotel, and it’s beautiful. Unfortunately, it’s too far from downtown.

The day started with a bus tour of Lisbon with stops at the Belém Tower and the Monastery of Jerónimos. Our CD, Eleuterio, met us at the Monastery with boxes of delicious pasteis de Belém pasteries. The bus tour continued to downtown where we were given the option of staying downtown and catching shuttle buses back to the hotel during the afternoon or returning to the hotel.

Belem Tower

Unfortunately, this was the day that I discovered blood in my urine and we made the decision to cut the trip short, missing the last day in Lisbon and our extension to Madeira. I called American Airlines to change our flights and had no problems getting the same flight out on Thursday instead of the following Monday. Our upgrades to 1st class were honored, and we had an uneventful trip home. Once I told Eleuterio about the situation, he worked hard to make sure that everything went smoothly including scheduling and paying for a cab to get us to the airport. He has followed up with several emails since the trip.

With the exception of my health issues, this was a good trip. Douro Azul provided good food and service. The fellow cruisers were mostly repeat Vantage cruisers. As we've seen before with Vantage, they're a little older than the cruisers on Viking and Avalon. The Douro is a different river cruise. All cruising is done in daylight hours, and most excursions involve significant bus rides (less than an hour). If you do the Douro, you'll taste lots of port and see some dramatic scenery along the river.

Vantage is somewhat unique in the fact that their cruises run in one direction--Barca d Alva to Porto or vice versa. I can't compare to the typical Porto to Porto cruise, but we did cruise at a relaxed pace and got to see all the countryside.

If you do this cruise, I would advise you to plan your free days in Madrid and Lisbon carefully to get the most out of the trip. And again, if you're a photographer, take your polarizing filter so you can shoot some of the spectacular scenery from the bus.

I'd be glad to answer any questions about the cruise, and you can see the dailies at:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wRPtiwL2HNHLnzZh95qs9Ro-PveBNLRK