AmaWaterways will launch a sister ship to AmaVida in 2019, the 102-passenger AmaDouro, with balconies in the majority of its staterooms, and suites that range up to 323 square feet.<\/p>\n
AmaWaterways’ AmaVida will be joined by a new ship, AmaDouro, in 2019. Courtesy of AmaWaterways<\/p><\/div>\n
CroisiEurope<\/strong> is one of the only companies that offers six-day cruises as well as eight-day cruises on the Douro. \u00a0In all, the company operates nine itineraries on five ships on the Douro: the MS Gil Eanes, which carries up to 132 passengers; the MS Infante don Henrique and the MS Fernao de Magalhaes, which can accommodate up to 142 passengers; the MS Miguel Torga and MS Vasco de Gama. Coming in 2019, CroisiEurope will have a sixth ship on the Douro, the Amalia Rodrigues.<\/p>\nCroisiEurope visits a few destinations that other river cruise companies do not visit, including Ferradosa, Folgosa, and Leverinho.<\/p>\n
MS Miguel Torga. Courtesy of CroisiEurope<\/p><\/div>\n
Scenic<\/strong> offers river cruises and cruisetours on the Douro ranging from 10-day journeys from Porto to a massive 31-day experience that whisks guests from France to Portugal.<\/p>\nAt the start of the 2017 sailings on the Douro, Scenic opened a new dock for exclusive use of Scenic and its sister company, Emerald Cruises. Unlike other river ship docks that tie up across the Douro in Gaia<\/em>, \u00a0Emerald and Scenic dock in Cais de Miragaia<\/em>, a historic area of the World Heritage city of Porto and only a five-minute walk to the Ribiera<\/em>, one of Porto\u2019s most popular riverfront promenades known for its distinctive small alleyways and pastel-hued buildings.<\/p>\nScenic launched the custom-built luxury Scenic Azure in April 2016 as one of the only owner-operated river cruise ships on the Douro with sailings that both begin and end in Porto.<\/p>\n
Scenic Azure on the Douro. Photo courtesy of Scenic.<\/p><\/div>\n
Emerald Cruises<\/strong> launched river cruises on the Douro River in 2017, aboard the purpose-built Emerald Radiance. The popular mid-level offshoot of luxury tour operator Scenic, Emerald Cruises offers six different river cruise packages on Portugal\u2019s Douro River, with variations in the length of overland journeys wrapped around a week aboard the Emerald Radiance. Emerald Cruises’ eight-day \u201cSecrets of the Douro\u201d voyage sails round trip from Porto.<\/p>\nOne of the newest ships on the Douro, Emerald Radiance in Pinhao, Portugal. \u00a9 2017 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n
Yet another newcomer to the Douro is U.K.-based\u00a0<\/span>Riviera River Cruises<\/strong>, which offers river cruises and cruisetours on the Douro ranging from 8-day journeys from Porto to an 11-day experience that includes an extended stay in Lisbon. Carrying 126 guests each, the MS Douro Elegance and the MS Douro Splendour were launched in 2017 and 2018, respectively.<\/p>\nRiviera’s eight-day sailings travel roundtrip Porto, with visits to the medieval village of Castelo Rodrigo, Lamego, home of Portugal\u2019s sparkling Raposeira wine, a visit to Mateus Palace, and a dinner at Quinta da Pacheca, a 18th-century manor house and home to the first wine in Portugal to carry the owner\u2019s name. The 11-day option extends your exploration of Portugal heading south by land, visiting the Roman aqueducts in ancient Coimbra, the olive groves of Fatima and the bustling capital of Lisbon, where your journey ends.<\/p>\n
The Douro Elegance operates cruises along Portugal’s Douro River. Photo courtesy Riviera River Cruises.<\/p><\/div>\n
Uniworld’s<\/strong> Douro packages on the Queen Isabel range between eight days and 13 days and may also include a visit to Lisbon, Madrid or to both cities. The 13-day Jewels of Spain and Portugal<\/strong> travels between Lisbon and Madrid. The other, Portugal, Spain and the Douro River Valley<\/strong>, is available as an 11-day journey from Lisbon to Porto, or as an eight-day cruise-only option departing roundtrip Porto.<\/p>\nThe Queen Isabel was launched in 2013 replacing the Douro Spirit. It is actually fully chartered from Douro Azul along with many other river cruise vessels that operate on the Douro River. Carrying up to 118 guests and 33 crew members, the Queen Isabel is similar in size to other vessels that cruise this waterway in Portugal and Spain. It is 260 feet long and 37 feet wide and features 39 standard and deluxe staterooms and 20 suite staterooms. Uniworld has plans for a new Douro River ship set to launch in 2020.<\/p>\n
Uniworld’s Queen Isabel docking in Porto (Emerald Radiance in background). \u00a9 2017 Ralph Grizzle<\/p><\/div>\n
Viking River Cruises<\/strong> operates one itinerary, the 10-night Portugal\u2019s Rivers of Gold.<\/strong> The itinerary has proven to be so popular, however, that the line has three ships plying Portugal\u2019s most famous waterway: Viking Hemming, Viking Torgil, and Viking Osfrid. A fourth ship, Viking Helgrim, sets sail in 2019.<\/p>\nViking’s Douro vessels feature a range of accommodations, including two-room suites. Pictured, the sitting room in an AA suite. Photo \u00a9 2015 Aaron Saunders<\/p><\/div>\n
Tauck\u00a0<\/strong>will launch a new Douro River ship, MS Andorinha, in 2020. Her inagural sailing will take place on April 3, 2020.<\/p>\nRendering courtesy of Tauck<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"River Cruise Advisor’s Douro River Primer for 2019 provides you with all that you need to plan your cruise on Portugal’s river of gold. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"full-width-content","footnotes":""},"categories":[110,308,171,127,216,177,571,179,232,306,29,501],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34238"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}