Emerald Cruises UK
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Douro River Cruise
Douro River Cruise Emerald Radiance on the Douro is a lovely vessel maintained and kept to a good standard throughout. The crew are excellent in their professionalism and approach to customer satisfaction. This was our third river cruise (first time with Emerald) and on this occasion opted for a lower deck stateroom having previously being middle and top decks. The lower deck stateroom did not disappoint and except for French window openers had all the features of the upper cabins. Did we miss the French windows? Not really as we didn’t linger in the cabin during the day and really only went there to change and sleep. The cabin, as with all others no doubt, was kept spotless by the maid and the creative towel folding was always pleasant to see. The restaurant really was top notch and with so much choice for breakfast, lunch and dinner you could not say anything wrong about it. The wine served with the meals was really good with different labels every time, and because it was the Douro all Portuguese varieties (you don’t very often get much in the way of Portuguese wines on other cruises/holidays so it was a very pleasant and enlightening experience). I must apologise for not remembering any of the crew members names (except Denis the waiter because he and I have the same “one N” name) but from El Capitan to Deckhands, from Chef to restaurant staff, from Purser to reception staff - they all made the cruise very, very enjoyable. Oh and not forgetting the Cruise Director, she was very good with seamless organisation onboard and on excursions. Some enjoyable events onboard, the cocktail making was fun (and tasty), the ceramic tile making was interesting and creative which gave, along with others, an enjoyable onboard time. Ports of call were good, the scenic tour of Porto, the excursion to Salamanca, the Port winery visit, and the evening meal at a bodega were very good. Personally not too struck on Barca de Alva, Pochino and Pinhao - maybe just the wrong time of the year but not a lot to see or do ashore. Yet Regua where we docked for the evening meal out looked quite vibrant and attractive but we didn’t get free time in the town. The Douro river was always a big “tick in the box” for me and Emerald made it special. However, compared to Danube and Rhine/Main not as good form a ports of call and places to visit point of view.