We traveled with another couple. Our second river cruise ever. The Douro River cruise is very different from other Viking River cruises. The Douro is very quiet. Ships can only sail at night. And there are no castles to view along the way. All your excursions take you up and away from the River. So your included and optional trips can be longer than most. And you’re not able to just get off the boat and wander around a town at most stops. The ship often moves while you are off the boat. However you will be onboard to enjoy many of the 10 locks you go through. Five up and five back.

That said, the small size of this ship makes this cruise very enjoyable. For all of our excursions, except for Salamanca, Spain and Porto, Portugal, we had the same tour guide and bus driver and bus and group of travelers. Our guide (who was Portuguese and from Porto) was a Viking employee and cruised with us. It made for nice continuity.

We did most of the included excursions. All we’re well done. The food onboard was fantastic. We had a couple of nights with onboard entertainment. Unfortunately we had a rainy week but we began to wear that as a badge of honor.