Should you had requested me 10 years in the past if I loved a river cruise, my resolution would were a troublesome no. However a decade later, river cruises have come far, child! We just lately boarded the Avalon Alegria in Porto, Portugal, for a cruise into the Douro Valley. This Eu River cruise felt extra just like the small send expeditions we’ve taken prior to now than the outdated same old river cruises that stopped at packed ports and spent extra time at the bus than exploring the vacation spot.
What’s it Like on a Douro Valley River Cruise
We boarded our all-suites send in Porto, the place we started our adventure into the lovely hills of the Douro Valley. The Avalon Alegria was once designed to make use of probably the most house whilst developing without equal stress-free and opulent enjoy.
The Send – Avalon Alegria
The Avalon Alegria is the most recent of Avalon’s ships. It’s an all-suites send with 14 deluxe staterooms or 37 Landscape Suites. We toured the entire rooms, and regardless of which room you select, you are going to be at liberty. All rooms function floor-to-ceiling home windows that open to show your room into one massive balcony, and all beds face the water.
Onboard facilities come with a bar and dance surface, nightly leisure, a eating room, a membership living room, and a health club. The Sky Deck has a swimming pool, outside grill and bar, and quite a lot of living room chairs and tables. If the elements is just right, that is where to be to absorb the pretty vistas of the Douro Valley.
Avalon Alegria Suites
Let’s start with the suites. With a most capability of 102 folks, each and every room is spacious and opulent. We stayed in one of the crucial fourteen 200-square-foot landscape suites, which was once very best for our shuttle.
Whilst different cruise strains we’ve taken line their beds up towards a wall with a view of the opposite wall, the Avalon Alegria send units each and every mattress going through the floor-to-ceiling home windows for perspectives of the river. We loved afternoon siestas in our room whilst looking at the Douro River perspectives cross via.
However that’s no longer all. Most of the people need a balcony when river cruising, but it surely’s tough to provide everybody one because of the dimensions obstacles of the river and the locks. Avalon has mounted this downside via developing floor-to-ceiling home windows that open large, reworking your suite into an open-air balcony. Through casting off the outside balcony, they have got created 30% extra dwelling house.
We loved breakfast in our room each and every morning with our home windows open to peer the hills of the Douro River. With plush gowns, slippers, and surprising perspectives, we by no means sought after to depart our room! Oh and did I inform you that they no longer simplest have a pillow menu, but additionally a mattress menu? There are 4 other settings for the mattress. Simply let the group know the way you favor your mattress, and so they’ll set it up for you.
Membership Living room
Subsequent to our room, the Membership Living room was once our 2d favourite house at the Avalon Alegria. Prior to breakfast, we walked to the living room in our gowns and slippers to take hold of a cappuccino, freshly baked cookies, and diet water.
I liked filling my refillable water bottle with my collection of water for the day. Wouldn’t it be Nutrition B water? Glowing grapefruit or ginger. The selections have been superior.
Usually, cruise ships reserve this house for upgraded suites, however Avalon makes this coveted house on the stern of the boat open for everybody. You’ll take a seat again and chill out, have tea, or ship an electronic mail at the speedy Famous person Hyperlink Wi-Fi this is incorporated within the shuttle.
Avalon, the Greenest Send at the Douro
We all know the rap cruise ships get, however Avalon works laborious to shuttle sustainably. Avalon has partnered with locations to generate sustainable electrical energy whilst docked. They use shore energy every time they are able to and feature put in LED lighting fixtures all the way through their ships.
You’ll understand that I discussed a water station above and Avalon has 0 plastic onboard. There are glasses that you’ll fill up, however we advise packing your individual water bottle to tackle tours. We weren’t presented bottled water on our excursions (which I used to be thankful for), so we crammed up our bottles earlier than leaving the send.
They’ve decreased paper via 80%. Not like different cruise ships, you received’t see your day-to-day agenda and lots of paper in your beds. Avalon has an app for visitors to make use of with schedules at the TVs.
They’ve additionally partnered with The Ocean Cleanup to help of their challenge of putting off 90% of ocean plastic. It is a daunting process, and I do not know how it’s going to occur, however with firms making an investment and partnering, just right issues can occur.
Truthfully, in these days’s international, we’re all contributing to the destruction of the planet, so the one factor firms can do is give again. Avalon vegetation two timber for each and every passenger on a cruise, has state of the art oil filters to stay oil adjustments to a minimal, and is taking a look to change to electrical ships within the close to long term.
What’s Incorporated – Avalon is About Selection
Since we discussed top rate coffees and unfastened web, I believed we’d contact on what’s incorporated on your Douro River Cruise with Avalon Waterways. The word we saved listening to was once the Avalon is ready selection. Passengers have flexibility referring to eating, tours, and issues to do onboard.
Foods
All foods, together with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, are incorporated. Breakfast can also be loved on your stateroom or within the eating room. Lunch is a buffet within the eating room or mild snacks within the bar. You’ll additionally at all times order sure meals, like burgers and sandwiches, off the menu.
Dinner is a scrumptious multicourse meal of native and global dishes paired with nice native wine. Portugal has improbable wines, and I like that Avalon serves simplest native wines. When I’m in Portugal, I don’t need to be ingesting a California Chardonnay; I need a wealthy Douro Valley purple, and that’s precisely what they delivered.
Not like different cruises, passengers are presented flex eating and will devour anytime inside the eating window. Seating is versatile, with tables for 2, or you’ll sign up for massive teams.
Beverages
Talking of wine, beer and wine are incorporated at lunch and dinner. All area of expertise coffees, cushy beverages, and water also are incorporated. And, not like different cruises, the Douro Valley River cruise gives unfastened cocktail hour beverages. And let me inform you, they make scrumptious cocktails.
Excursions
Avalon Waterways in reality sticks out with its excursions and shore tours. They’ve damaged down excursions to fit other wishes. You’ll make a choice from Vintage, Discovery, or Lively Tour choices. Every day you’ll do one thing other from lively adventures that come with kayaking and mountain climbing to cultural reviews that take you to ancient districts and meals and wine tours to benefit from the Douro Valley Wines and Ports of Porto.
There’s something for everybody, relying in your mobility and task degree. Plus, there’s an onboard journey host that leads yoga within the mornings.
Leisure
Every night after dinner, there’s native leisure. We loved a Fado Display of gifted native guitarists sharing their tradition, tales and tune.
The following evening was once an excellent quartet of strings hanging their very own spin on fashionable rock and pa tune.
We additionally loved being serenaded via a finalist from The Voice and had nightly dancing. That is a kind of journeys that brings the native tradition to you.
The Workforce
One thing that in reality sticks out at the Avalon Alegria cruise during the Douro Valley is the team of workers. Your hosts could make or spoil a shuttle and the Alegria team of workers is going above and past. Throughout the second we stepped onboard, they felt like outdated pals.
At cocktail hour, they knew precisely what form of cocktail I’d be within the temper for or even created specialties no longer at the menu.
Dave has a Gluten hypersensitivity, and the waitstaff paid cautious consideration to providing him choices and informing him of what shall we devour and will have to keep away from.
They have been at all times smiling, and you’ll want to inform that they in reality loved their jobs. It wasn’t an act; the group liked what they have been doing. From the fellows grinning from ear to ear as they tied the strains to the entrance table, answering our each and every want.
Ports of Name
Don’t concern, you’re inspired to get off the send and benefit from the native ports of name. Avalon docks downtown or with regards to the city facilities the place a brief (and inexpensive) Uber trip can take you to the place you wish to have to be.
8-Day Itinerary – Vineyards & Villages Alongside the Douro
The cruise begins within the UNESCO Global Heritage Town of Porto. We propose arriving early to in reality soak on this stunning vacation spot. Avalon gives a guided excursion of Braga and Guimaraes, which we extremely suggest seeing. However you must additionally spend a minimum of two days in Porto to benefit from the Historic Heart, the Gaia District, and the lovely waterfront.
The cruise then leaves within the night to forestall at other places alongside the Douro Valley. The 8-day itinerary contains those stops after which returns to Porto for every other day of traveling. We selected the choice of wine tasting in Gaia with a excursion of the Cork Museum, which was once attention-grabbing and scrumptious!
- Caldas – Day excursion of Amarante
- Peso da Regua – Maria
- oldest farms within the Douro Valley
- Pinhao – Douro Valley Vineyards
- Poncinho
- Barca d’Alva – Salamanca, Spain – That is the place you’ll upload every other nation in your itinerary.
Can Solo Vacationers Sign up for Avalon?
We at all times shuttle as a pair, however I do know many of us marvel about solo shuttle on cruises. Avalon waives the solo complement. On Avalon, you by no means really feel by myself. From my observations, a river cruise is a smart possibility for solo vacationers.
Avalon is About Selection
Most of the people make a choice the Danube or Rhine Rivers for his or her first river cruise. We did 10 years in the past, and it became us off river cruising for a decade. When Avalon invited us to pattern their Douro Valley direction, we have been intrigued to provide it every other check out. I’m satisfied we did. This river cruise was once precisely the kind of shuttle we like—small ships with fewer passengers and quite a lot of choices for shore tours.
Fewer ships are at the river, and the stops really feel intimate and untouched. With simplest 102 passengers at the Avalon opting for from other tours, we had small crew excursions that felt adapted to our wishes.
The Douro Valley is without doubt one of the most pretty puts to cruise in Europe, with rolling hills and terraced vineyards. It’s actually a bucket checklist cruise the place immersing in tradition and experiencing the native delicacies is on the middle of the itinerary.
Those are the preferred routes full of different river cruises and crowds at ports of name. I’m no longer pronouncing to by no means do one, however I believe the Douro Valley is the very best advent to river cruising.
So there you will have it—our Douror Valley River Cruise—the primary Eu River Cruise we’ve taken in 10 years. Can we do every other one? You guess! As we age, we like the theory of unpacking as soon as and crusing via Europe’s most pretty nation-state.
Whilst you get to ports, you don’t need to practice the guides; everyone seems to be unfastened to do as they please. Take into account, Avalon is ready selection, and our selection is to go back quickly.
