Emerald Radiance Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We decided that since one of us had never traveled overseas and the other had not done so for over 30 years, this was a good jumping-off point to initiate international travel, since the planning would be done for us and we wouldn’t have to book separate excursions outside of the trip plan itself. We flew into Lisbon, where we spent two nights in a decent hotel, the Avani Avenida Liberdade. The first night there, we were provided a nice meal with all of the others who would be making the cruise with us. We met a couple of very nice ladies with whom we would spend much of our cruise time. Be aware that the adapters needed for Portugal and Spain are different than the rest of Europe, so make sure you bring the right ones. The hotel did try and find us a loaner that would work, to no avail, so we spent some of our off time in locating one that would work for our trip. Although the trip and cruise started off well, by the end of it, it was an entirely different story. We will address that further in our review.
On our way to embark on the cruise, we stopped at Our Lady of Fatima and Coimbra. Fatima was extremely busy and a bit of a tourist trap in that it seemed far more commercial than a religious site. Although we did spend time wandering the grounds to see the cathedral and the vision site, there seemed to be a great deal of trinket selling, which detracted from what we anticipated. In Coimbra, we visited the oldest university in Portugal. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to spend much extra time there, as what time we did have was allocated to finding a place for lunch. The place we did eat had great food and service and the young waiter was just the right amount of attentive.
We embarked on our cruise in Porto. We were concerned, as the ship failed to follow the protocol we had been advised of prior to boarding. We had been given Health Care Questionnaires to complete and submit upon boarding. To be able to travel at this time, we figured that this was a wise cautionary action on their part. No one ever asked us for these documents and they are still in our possession.
Cabin Review
As we had upgraded to their highest room level, we were not a bit disappointed in our choice. The room was very nice and had plenty of space for all our belongings. The mini bar was nicely stocked and part of the cost of the room and it was restocked daily. We cannot say enough nice things about our steward, Bruno, as he was a charming young man and maintained our room in tip-top shape, providing us with little extras throughout the day and nightly turn-down service. It was nice to have a seating area apart of the bedroom, where we could relax with a glass of wine before joining the rest of the passengers for activities. The one down-side was the luggage storage, which was under the bed; the panel kept falling over and the maintenance individual was unable to repair it.