Douro Valley Boat Tour with Meals

A very relaxing day cruising from Porto to Regua. Interesting going thru 2 locks. Beatiful scenery along the river. Taking the bus back was comfortable and gave us an opportunity to see the vineyard covered hills and mountains beyond the river. The crew was great; friendly and helpful. The breakfast was good as stated; juice, coffee, bread/pastry. I would have liked a second cup of tea but could not get one. Lunch was very good and plentiful (soup, roast pork with rice, potatoes and vegetables, desert). We do not drink but a full bottle of wine was included. We were surprised with a glass of port to celebrate going thru the locks. It is a long cruise (6 hours), so expect to just relax. We expected to have an hour or two to explore Regua but only had about 30 minutes. The three opportunities for improvement: The check in process took 45 minutes and we did not depart until 45 minutes after stated departure. We had an electronic ticket but these were not scanned. Rather the crew checked a paper list of guests. At the end, it was not clear how much time we had and where to meet; better communication would have been helpful. The loudspeaker system is very hard to understand and each language should be read by a native speaker which would help understanding announcements.

The boat part of the tour was exceptional. The sites were good nd the commentary good as well. The meals were abundant and delicious. Unfortunately the bus back took away from an otherwise positive day. We had to wait an hour for the bus ( which was planned that way ) which was not required nor appreciated since it was 34 degrees out and a walk into town in one hour useless. As well the one and one half hour journey took two and a half hours for whatever reason.

The boat trip up the Duoro was fine. Breakfast was one roll and one sweet roll. The ‘orange juice’ tasted like watered-down Tang. Lunch was good, but with more Tang served. The huge issue was with the return from Régua to Porto. We were told to be back at the dock by 16:30 to get on a bus. Got there at 16:20 to find three buses. Two drove away without taking on any people. Heard from another tour participant that there was a problem with one of the buses and some people would be taking the train. No communication from anyone in the tour company. We ended up on the bus, which left at 16:50. The bus took a 40-minute detour to the south side of Porto in order to drop off a cruise company employee. Really??? We were dropped off at about 19:00 at the south end of the Pont Luís I bridge with no explanation. That was 1.2 kilometers (¾ mile) from where we were supposed to be dropped off. Passengers are obviously not important to this company. I would not recommend this company to anyone.

Awesome day. Beautiful day. Wonderful food and wine. Would do it again.

Do the trip from Porto/Régua by train and the return from Régua/Porto by boat, this way you get a complete view of the Douro.