We just returned from our Douro River cruise on the Quenn Isabel. This was the first river cruise we've taken and it definitely won't be the last.

We arrived in Lisbon a day before the package tour started. Since this was sold as all inclusive, I think our meals in Lisbon should have been included for the three nights included in the package. Only breakfast came with the package and was wonderful. We paid extra for the tour to Sintra but would not do that again. Had we known that we would just tour a palace, we would have taken a train on our own and toured the monestary and castle instead.I had some misgivings from reviews of th Queen Isabel and some of them were valid. The service in the dining room on the ship and the food definitely did not live up to a 5-star rating. However, the tours, our room, the room service, the bar, etc. were definitely 5-star. This was a very expensive cruise but overall, I felt the money was well spent.

There were less than 100 people on our ship and at times, we felt as if we were on a private yacth. This ship is not owned by Uniworld and the staff, all but the one cruise director, were not employed by Uniworld. I think if Uniworld had control over training the staff, the experience would definitely be 5-star. Read more