2025 01 12 – 19 April Emerald Radiance – Douro River Cruise Portugal

As part of our Bucket List  of sailing on all the European Rivers, we booked a Douro River Cruise. Emerald is the “cheaper” sister of Scenic Cruises which we used on the Danube. However Scenic only offered a 10 day Douro cruise and we wanted a 7 day as we had no idea what the river would bring us. One can always go back for a second time.

Both companies are Australian which accounts for the high number of Aussies on board but they also market in the USA, UK and Canada, hence these countries made up the numbers on board. As usual I was the only Dutchman on board.

Emerald gave the option to organise our flights from Norwich in England and thus avoiding Heathrow. This must be a marketing plus for Emerald (as not all companies are doing this) as we found that people from Birmingham, Aberdeen and Inverness had also booked Emerald so they could fly from a local airport as well.

We booked cabin 211 which is a C-grade – on the 2^nd deck just after the midships (Cabins on Deck 1 only have 1/3 size windows) Cabins on Deck 3 are similar to Deck 2 but there are some larger versions there as well. Including the large suites at the stern. C-grade is called an Emerald Panorama Balcony Suit, with the balcony part of the cabin and the glass wall on the outside.

The cabin comes with a double bed and ambient lighting in the head rest. A small but adequate bathroom with rain shower or normal nozzle. Amenities include wall dispensers for soap, body lotion and shampoo, conditioner, tissues, shoe shine kit, shower cap etc.  Two chairs and a small table in the balcony section. The window has a black out curtain and, together with the opening and closing of the window, can be operated from buttons next to the bed. There is a large Emerald green umbrella in the wardrobe (standard size wardrobe for hanging only) and Nordic sticks for support when walking. Drawers for storage are under the TV stand, which also houses the mini bar. See listing below. compared to deep-sea, I found the prices quite reasonable.

Access to the cabin is with an electronic key and there is a little red light near the plinth in the corridor, that you can switch on for “Do not disturb”.

 

Total cost: £ 6,564  for two gives a per diem of (divided by 2, divided by 7) = £ 469,– This included flights (Norwich – Amsterdam – Porto) all tours, all gratuities, but not the drinks, except for lunch and dinner. (The per diem for a Scenic cruise is about £ 150 a day dearer, but for that you get all drinks included and some of the tours you have to pay for with Emerald are included)

For the drinks package, we decided to wait until we were on board as we did not know the cost of drinks on board. We then bought the package  as an experiment, and we found that with our drinking we just broke even. With having  wine/ beer during cocktail hour and the same for after dinner drinks. The wine package and on board prices prices were very reasonable compared with deep sea.

There is free coffee & tea all day  (and cookies but they are only refreshed when the jar is completely empty) and a water machine for still and sparking water. The first day they had Chocolate Chip so they went fast, the 2nd day there were cookies nobody liked, so the jar stayed half full for 2 more days and were not refreshed.

Emerald does not issue any hard copy paperwork, everything is on line, so you can download what you think is needed. Information is quite comprehensive and hidden in the 8 pages of information is the fact that ALL tips are included, for all crew and for all tour guides ashore.

Dress code is casual with the request to spruce yourself up for the Captains Welcome and Farewell. Some Gents did wear Jacket and Tie for the occasion but not many. I always wear a jacket in the evening so it is not much of an extra, if you have several in the suitcase.

There is a daily newspaper, same as on the deep sea cruise ships, with Australia Today, Britain Today, Canada Today, and USA Today

Note: Less ambulant people might have a challenge doing a cruise like this. The cities in Portugal are in general not very wheel chair friendly (I did not see many ramps) and there is an abundance of un-even paths and cobble stones. The boat has a lift between Deck 1,2 and 3 but not to the top deck, and on occasion, that is where you disembark/embark the ship if the pier is too high or if there is another river boat next you that is not compatible for walking through. We had it only twice when in port and both times we were next to a scenic cruiser and they are the same in lay out, so you can just walk / roll through.

There is an on board laundry service ( Euro 7.50 for a Trouser or skirt) but complimentary  if you have booked the Owner Suite at the back.

Ships are not allowed to sail overnight on the Douro (too narrow and too much current). The cruise stops at the border of Spain as the boat cannot go any further. Spain had decided in the past not to put any locks in when they also started to put hydro electric dams into control the water level and generate electricity. The river has a total length of 897 km but to the Spanish border it is only 213 km and that is the part you sail on. Portugal has put five dams with locks in the river, to generate electricity but also it make the river safer for navigation.

In the old days with the wooden wine barges, one never knew if one arrived. So by increasing the water level between the locks, the rapids disappeared and deeper draft ships could safely navigate the river. It came to late for cargo barges as by then most of the movement of wine, port, almonds, cork and berries had moved to trucks and road tankers. Thus the river is now mainly used by commercial river cruisers (plenty of them) and day- sight-seeing boats, often in the form of preserved old river boats.

The cruise itinerary:  Porto to the Spanish Border and back.

 

12 April – Boarding in Porto

13 April – Full River Day. From Porto to Pinhao

14 April – Pinhao – Vega Terron/ Barco D’Alva (dock name) , afternoon sailing

15 April – Vega Terron –   Pocinho  day tour Salamanca / overnight

16 April – Pocinho – Regua, afternoon sailing

17 April – Regua – Porto, afternoon sailing

18 April – Porto – One hour Evening sightseeing under the bridge, just before dusk

19 April – Disembarking in Porto

The Cruise day by day.

12 April – Boarding in Porto

So we flew with KLM from Norwich to Amsterdam to Porto without any problems. Porto has a reasonable size airport and has many regular international flights, apart from holiday charter flights. There was a Lady waiting with a sign to Meet & Greet us and we were asked to wait as she had to find another couple; and then she promptly forgot about us. Luckily we saw her just on time disappearing out of the terminal so we could find her back outside when she was handing everybody over to the driver. She was not a happy camper by the time I was finished with her. Emerald was duly informed at the end of the cruise as, on top of that, I then found out that the other Meet & Greet Ladies accompanied the new groups to the ship and she did not do that either.

13 April – Full River Day. From Porto to Pinhao.

The first day was a full day on the river with nice weather and the option to see some of the Locks in the river.  The most impressive one is the 2nd one (counted from down river), the Carrrapatelo which lifts / lowers the boat up/down  115 feet to get to the next level. In comparison the Gatun Locks in the Panama Canal only do 85 feet. This lock is  announced as the  “highest lock” in Europe, so I wonder if there is a higher lock somewhere else in the world.

Sailing into these locks is very impressive for an outsider but as a “seaman’s feat” it only means sailing straight and not bumping. The Radiance has a bow thruster and 2 props so for a skilled boat handler not so special. I was very much more in awe when the captain sailed through the rapids during the approach. The “electric turbine gates” from the electric plant were constantly overflowing due to the rain fall and created a very strong current.

This caused the need to “crab” though the very small channel. e.g. hold the bow (by using the thruster) on the high side against the buoys and sail through with the props under a slight twist so the stern was not pushed out of the fairway. The navigational challenge here was to predict the current. The water is pushing through but get diverted by obstacles under water. So the captain needs to know more about the rocks under the water than about the river above.

Once through the narrow passage, the area becomes much wider, but the strong current of the overflow remains. However when approaching on the “high” side, the current will help push the boat into the lock chamber approach,

When the locks were built, there was not the immediate idea that max. size cruise boats would go through, hence the designers had not taken into account that the road across the lock might cause a challenge for height of the modern boats. So as soon as the boat was going up, the sailors ran around flattening railings and lowering the wheel house. One of the shore-excursion ladies was send around to ensure we were all sitting down.

For those who found the excitement of the top deck too much, the Radiance has a small covered bow view , which gives quite a good view as well.

Once past the 2nd lock, we did a 3rd one and then docked at Pinhao for the night. This evening was “Captains Welcome”, with a Portuguese captain who spoke excellent english and who introduced most of the crew. The rest, all 37 of them would be introduced during fare well night.

We now had to get used to the fact that, with such a small lounge and everybody sitting on chairs all around the bar, the Captain (and also the Cruise Director during her Daily Updates) had to make circles around the bar so everybody could see them. It took the Captain 8 rounds to complete his speech. But he was the best river captain I have ever heard doing a Captains welcome. I hope that Emerald manages to hold onto him.

As soon as the captain was finished, the Cruise Director gave her daily update of the included tours for the next day and the option to sign up for EXTRA tours that you had to pay for. She had two of them,  a kayaking tour on a quiet side arm of the Douro and a biking tour in Porto. (The latter was cancelled on arrival Porto as the weather as too bad).

This was followed by the Captains dinner, which was good. Food during the whole cruise was good in general and there was no skimping on the free wine. The Food & Beverage manager (or Restaurant and Wine manager) announced the wines during the Cruise Directors speech each evening.

We only had one night that there were complaints and that was when the Lambshank was undercooked. The “experts” on board said that lambshank needs to stew/ smolder overnight and that had not been done. You can not cook  a lamb as if it as a chicken…………..

14 April – Pinhao – Vega Terron / Barco D’Alva, afternoon sailing.

They only problem for me with river cruises is, that you have to get up so early in the mornings, as all the tours leave between 08.45 and 09.00 hrs.  So My Lord and Master decreed that we should get up at 07.00 to be ready on time. We never went to the Breakfast (except on the last day) as we had more than enough to eat during dinnner the night before. I normally “raided” the lunch display for apples, madarines and bananas for a healthy start of the next day.

This morning we were going to a vineyard / port & wine maker called Quinta do Tedo, for a tour and tasting (and buying port wine of course). There was a small side tour if you want to climb through the vine yard to see  the grapes growing. About 15 people did so, and they rejoined before it got really interesting: tasting port wine.

For the tasting, two port wines were proffered, a light and a dark ruby. To avoid getting too happy, it was served with Portuguese bread of which the bottom layer was dough, cheese and ham. And that worked very well to keep everybody sober and focused on the shop.

This was a high quality vineyard, so the wine was at least kept in the barrel to age for 7 years. If during those years it was not found good enough to age further, it was sold as a LBV port wine. Still very good but only 4 to 6 years in the barrel.  The oldest Port wine for sale was a Tawny of 30 years in the barrel and that went for Euro 173,– a bottle. But if you bought 12, you got one bottle free. Shipping worldwide.

Once back on board at 11.30 it was time for the afternoon sailing to the next port Barco d’Alva. 12.30 was lunch time, with the option for a light lunch in the bar (soup, light snacks and salads) or to go down to the Restaurant for a full lunch, buffet style.

As her Ladyship and I had really enjoyed the Portuguese bread/cheese/ham  specialty, and had eaten a lot of it  we decided on the light  bar lunch while looking outside at the same time. As you can see, with the front deck being empty, the rest decided on a full lunch.

15 April – Vega Terron / Barco D’Alva / Pocinho overnight

We had our full day tour today to Salamanca, a very historic place in the interior of Portugal. The only problem was it would rain nearly all day and it turned out to be very cold. It even showered hail stones for a moment in the early afternoon. The locals were even taking photos of the hail stones accumulating on the ground, as this was very unusual.

Because the distances overland were small we had coaches owned by Emerald following us from port to port. We saw that the other big operators on the river, such as Viking Cruises, did the same thing.

Apart from the nice scenery, it was interesting to see that the villages were all emptying out, with the younger generations moving towards to larger cities. The Spanish Government is trying to do a lot to keep the families in the villages, with free schooling and much more, but if there is no work…………… then there is only so much you can do.

Salamanca is world famous for its double cathedral. They had one built in the 11th. century and then found out in the 15th. century that it was too small, so they built a 2nd one  and called it the “new cathedral”. That one is now also over 500 years old but it is still considered” new”.

The most interesting part was the preparation for Easter Sunday when they have large processions with big floats carried on the shoulders of 10 to 20 persons. Men and Women alike.  If you see it on TV, you think ok, nice, but close up you realize that the frame work is all solid wood or metal and the Statue on top made of marble or something else very heavy.  During the week before Easter these floats are parked in the chatedral in the respective chapels of the groups that sponsor the floats. To be a float bearer is a great honor and seems to go down the centuries from father to son and nowadays also from mother to daughter.

If you look at the picture you can see the poles (in white covers) sticking out. Outside the float each pole is handled by two bearers, and the same at the other side. But under the float there are another 10 or 12 bearers who help carrying the weight.  (According to our guide, the bearers rotate, so they all get a moment in the sun) What I had never seen before was the candle stand in front of the red float. These are electric candles. You put 50 cents in the slot and a candle lights up. Maybe not so romantic but a lot safer than having a few hundred real candles causing a safety hazard with all those visitors milling around. We would see these stands in all the churches in Portugal.

By the time we were back in Barca D’Alva it was 1700 hrs. and too late to sail, so the boat stayed overnight,

16 April – Pocinho – Regua for Lamego, afternoon sailing.

The plan for today was, a half day tour and then sail the afternoon down the river to Lamego for the next day.  Castelo Rodrigo turned out to be a ruined castle with a walled village around it; that was mainly made up of a few souvernir shops and a some houses, quite a few 2nd homes. When walking around, one could see that not much had happened in the last 300 years. This walled town with the ruined castle on the top (burned out in 1640) was reached after a 45 minute drive through very nice country side.

People have been living here since 500 BC, which makes sense as from this hill you could see your enemies approaching from afar.  Then in the 12th. century came the church as this place is on the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela. Nowadays about 50 regular inhabitants are living in the village all year around.

The church was founded in 1192 and is a mixture  of styles due to several rebuilding’s and gifts of statues and other votive items. Most of the streets have been restored so that locals and tourists can safely navigate the steep streets.

On the way back, it seemed that a lot of white “watch towers” dominated the scenery. However it turned out that this were old “Dovecotes” from the days that the locals liked to eat pidegeon. Tastes  change and those who still like pidegeon now buy them in the supermarket. But a lot of these towers are still there and most of them have been re-purposed.

The river Douro had carved itself through the millennia through the mountain reach, so each time we returned to the ship we were treated to views of deep ravines and steep mountains full of vineyards.

Back by lunch time, we sailed for the afternoon down river to get before sunset to our next port  Regua. This would be the starting point for the next day tour. The places where we docked were not much more than very small villages (200 people) or so, who had settled there as the port had once held the docks from where the wine barrel boats departed. As a result night life was not very comprehensive, to say the least, and nobody went ashore in the evening.

17 April – Regua – Porto afternoon sailing

Today our cultural enrichment program called for a visit to the town of Lamego with no alcohol involved. The tour basically comprised out of two parts: to visit the town of Lamego with the world famous staircase and to go for lunch. Originally it was meant to go to some sort of museum but there were tour issues so a wine tasting with lunch was substituted. Nobody was disappointed by the change.

This was all port wine country around us but mixed in with olive tree sections depending on the quality of the land. The tour first went to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Remedies, which is a fairly new church completed in the late 19th. century.

Lamegos has this shrine, but there is also one in the Philippines and one in Angola, all dedicated to Maria for coming to help in days of oppression. In this case the main attraction is not the church but the ornate staircase of 686 steps going down to the town. Everybody on the tour was asked, if they did the walk, if they would count the number of steps to see if it as really 686. We took the coach back down the hill and then waited for the “counters” to arrive.

Nobody who had made the descend came to 686 steps, most guests had quite a few less and some even more.  It was advertised that there was a “Flea market” here, but it turned out that is more of a large general market with all sorts of daily goods. I still connect the word “flea market” with antique and junk markets but maybe it is different in Portugal.

From there is was time to go to our luncheon vineyard. Which doubled up as hotel, wine / port tasting place, restaurant and vine yard.  The place was called Hotel Rural in English and once  was the home of the Viscondes (viscounts) de Varzea. The owner was Maria  Cyrne, whose parents had once owned place. Lost it during the days of the dictators but then she had been able to buy it back after her “clothes design line” took off in Portugal.

Maria turned out to be a small Lady but with a personality larger than life; who made everybody feel welcome, was very free with the wines and nibbles and also provided quite an exuberant lunch. Peculiar thing was that most of the waiters were from the  Far East as also Maria had problems with attracting home born labor as they are leaving for the cities. But the Philippinos were very happy here they said. Most of them could speak the language, the pay was good and the boss was crazy……. and a crazy boss keeps you smiling and happy.

I am always in favor of any sort of tastings and as  there were several barrels to enjoy (and not many guests drinking) I could really enjoy Maria”s vineyard. The staff came around again with this Portuguese bread with those layers of cheese and ham in it and that absorbed the alcohol quite nicely. So I was able to really partake in Maria’s wines.  This was followed by a lunch based on fish with again amply supported by wine from Maria’s vineyard.

By 14.00 hrs. we were back on board, with an impatient captain waiting as he had to make it on time to the next lock.

During the afternoon sailings, the “Event Director” tried to keep everybody happy with one thing or the other. On the first sailing afternoon we had pastry chef creating a local delicacy called “Pastel de Nata”  which was a sort of custard tart.  During the next afternoon, the chef bartender was giving a “make your own cocktail” with port wines. This afternoon there was a Lady on board who gave a  classes about making Portuguese  tiles. What you had created, she took home, baked them and they came back on board during the last evening of the cruise. Cost Euro15,– for a glazed and finished tile of your own creation.

This evening we also had the Farewell Gala Dinner during which the Captain introduced all the 37 crew members by name and function. That took a while but as the wine glasses were kept full, it was not a challenge. Once this was over, there was a piano player in the lounge with a Lady singer, who was very good, just a bit loud for people like us, who still have excellent hearing.

18 April – Porto – Evening sightseeing under the bridges, just before dusk.

Today we stayed all day in Porto, with a tour in the morning, followed by free time and then an optional Vinho Verde tour or a bike tour in the afternoon. The bike tour was cancelled due to the rainy weather and we opted to walk around the town after the short Panoramic Coach tour of the City and a visit to the Train station. Porto is not that big, at least not the centre, and from there was was not more than 10 minutes down the hill to get back to the boat.

Porto is very proud of their train station which is covered on all walls with tile tableaus’ from Portuguese history. This was the time that we really could not do without our  communication device, called the Bla-bla box. With the ear piece in, the tour guide could speak through the microphone and we could all follow her. Due to the tiled walls, the echo was enormous and apart from travelers going in and out it was full of tours and other visitors.  Apart from the bla-bla box we also received a map in each town, to avoid getting lost. Apart from Salamanca, all the towns were soo small that it would have taken a real effort to even try to get lost; but it helped to find the public toilets which are not present in an over-abundance in the Portuguese towns.

We packed during the afternoon and then made sure that with a drink in hand we were ready to sail under the seven bridges of Porto. This seems to be standard practise on all the river boats as it looked like some sort of convoy going up the river to bridge 1, then turn around like ducks in turn, sail down to the last bridge (closest to the sea) and then all turn around again in sequence.  Officially the captain should have been docked by sunset but here the river is so wide that it does not matter that much, and the “authorities” went home at 6 pm. anyway…

Portuguese live their lives outside and as the rain abated in the late morning, they came out in droves to enjoy an nice spring evening.  This little river cruise was a very nice touch to see the town on both sides of the river both during the day and now also during the evening.

19 April – Disembarking in Porto.

The evening before we had received our luggage tags to get to the airport and the TV gave the order of disembarkation.

Because the guests were going off in  times of about 2 hours before their flight from Porto airport, we had an overlap with the new guests coming on board, if and when they arrived from the airport. But as the ship had laid out a light lunch in the bar, with wine and beer included, it all worked very smoothly.  We were off by  13.30. hrs., arrived  at the airport at 14.00 hrs. We were on time at Schiphol / Amsterdam and back in England at 22.00 hrs. All the KLM flights were on time and our taxi driver (who is also part of the local fire brigade, runs a copy shop and acts as Deliveroo for the local Thai restaurant) was waiting and 35 minutes later we were home.

So what is the Final Verdict of two people who have been in the industry for 40 years and have travelled everywhere and have seen it all :

This was a very nice cruise with good tours and a good crew. We were very satisfied; and that is something we do not say quickly (see some of the other reviews on this website) as we know the routines and the way boats and ships operate. But this was VERY GOOD.

Honestly we did not see much of a difference between the dearer Scenic and Emerald,  Scenic is slightly more spacious, offers breakfast in your cabin, has choice of different cabins on other rivers  and all drinks included. (And they have that extra Bar tender that we really missed this cruise). So whether we will select Scenic or Emerald for our next river cruise, will mainly depend on where we are going and the per diem charged.  (as…. there are always offers……) But to return to the Douro for the 10 day Scenic cruise will be tempting.

It is worthwhile to buy a drinks package ?  You need to drink 3 beers and 3 wines a day to make a profit, or about 10 soft drinks. We broke each day about even with 2 drinks before dinner an a cola in the afternoon and then another one after dinner.

We will keep any eye on if they do different tours on the Douro and then we might do it again. But that will be 2027 or later as we are fully booked until that time.

Minor points of irritation:

Meet & Greet Representative on arrival, losing us and not taking us to the ship.

Due to the ship size, the bar dominates the lounge. During the daily presentation, it was nearly impossible to see the screen with the tour slides at the bow side and the two small monitors near the back. Why do not do the same as Rivera River Cruises. and have TV screens coming down in various sections of the lounge, so everybody can see what the Cruise Director is presenting ?

During cocktail hour (with a lot of guests ordering REAL cocktails) the one barman could not cope and service was sometimes slow. We went back to our regular routine by ordering the same drink every night, so it appeared without asking. It helped that we were sitting at the bar and not in the lounge chairs.

The guide stopper of our sliding toilet door came off each day. And each time I brought it to the front desk; who promptly put it back. Then the next day we had the same routine again when it came off again. It was never repaired, while the chief engineer, or other handyman must have had time for it, as the ship spent most mornings and all overnights in port.