April 2022 - My wife and I have been on numerous cruises (24+) throughout the world on various cruise lines over the years. This was our fifth river cruise on Viking. Our Douro River Cruise started in Lisbon, Portugal on April 4, 2022. We took the pre-cruise option. This was our first trip out of the USA since 2019.
Our flight from Florida arrived a few days early so we could enjoy Lisbon ...
My husband and I enjoyed our latest Viking trip on the Douro River in Portugal. The Tivoli hotel in Lisbon was first class and set the tone for the trip. The crew of the Hemming was attentive, the food delicious and the excursions were interesting and fun. Unfortunately for me, I tested positive for COVID and missed the last excursion due to quarantine rules. My husband and I spent the day in ...
The crew, as always, were very attentive & helpful. My husband uses a wheelchair, & we know before starting, that he won’t be able to partake in all the excursions, but he likes being on the ship! The meals & wine were outstanding. We also did the pre-cruise extension in Madrid & the post-cruise extension Road to Santiago, which were very interesting. We’d been to Madrid before, so we wanted ...
Portugal and Spain have been on the punch list for a while since a colleague and his spouses did the trip in 2019. Despite the year long delay, the cruise, including both land extensions in Lisbon and Santiago de Compostela were marked by great service, excellent food, wonderful tours and a well managed but ubquitous approach to the issues around COVID.
Despite those challenges the trip was ...
My husband and I enjoyed this cruise so much! The fall leaves were beautiful, and the vineyards were in harvest. The hotel we stayed in was very nice, and we had fun touring in Lisbon. The cruise began and ended in Porto. The ship was very clean, the service was beyond expectations, and the food was good. There was a good selection of wines, and we explored the port wines. We enjoyed all our ...
This cruise was chosen as friends recommended it as a scenic Viking River Tour of the River Douro midst wine country. We also chose it at the particular time we travelled as Portugal had, along with Cuba, the highest vaccination rate in the world (98%). We'd not visited Portugal before and thoroughly enjoyed our 14 days there. There is already talk of a return to this charming and diverse ...
Before I start, I’m sorry this is a long review!
My sister and I have travelled extensively on European rivers but for various reasons not with Viking until this year. We had planned this trip for several years but illness and a pandemic got in the way. We were looking forward to our river Douro experience on Viking Helgrim. The cruise had been cancelled and rearranged several times, but ...
This is one of the prettiest River cruises I’ve been on. It is a smaller ship, but so much fun. The crew could not have been more accommodating, and personable. This was in the middle of the pandemic but felt extremely safe. Portugal is a lovely country and I want to go back!!!! This is a wonderful river cruise don’t miss it. The arrival city is Lisbon, and I was introduced to green wine! I ...
The breakfast choices were not as expansive as other river cruises and coffee was poor. Lunch choices as well were limited. Dinner choices were limited and some menus were good but small portions with protein. Deserts were average in taste. If you don’t upgrade to silver spirits your wine will be poor. The ship service was good with the exception of dinner. The staff was slim for this ...
This was a wonderful small-boat cruise on the Duoro river. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We were expecting some walking tours of the ports where we docked each day, but were almost always met by Viking buses that took us to other interesting sites in Portugal. It was a combination riverboat and bus tour. The buses were nice, but it seemed we spent a lot of time on them.
One of the highlights was ...