Riviera Travel
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Riviera Durou River Cruise on MS Porto Mirante
We were originally supposed to be sailing on the New ship, MS Riviera Rose but due to construction delays we were transferred to the MS Porto Mirante which entered service in October 2024 and was sister ship of the Riviera Rose. We have had a number of Riviera holidays both river cruises and land tour, and had been advised by fellow travellers that the Durou was the best river cruise in Europe.With which we have to disagree, the scenery although beautiful is repetitive with vineyard on the hills both side of the river. On other river cruises we have got off in the centre of most towns we have visited, but on the Durou we were coached to every excursion destination with most trips taking around a hour in each direction. After a few days we felt we were on a coach holiday with a floating hotel as our base. The tour guides on the coaches especially Phillapa were excellent as were the coaches and thier drivers. We could not fault the MS Porto Mirante, which had wonderful accommodation, food drinks and staff and all public areas were kept immaculate by Sandra and her team. Due to high water levels on the Durou restricting navigation we did not manage to get to all planned destination along the river but did have all planned excursions including the trip to Salamanca. However instead of this being a day trip with a 2 hour coach trip in each direction, it changed to a 4 hour coach trip with an overnight in a Hotel in Salamanca with Dinner bed and breakfast at Riviera's expense. But only 1/3 of the passengers opted for this option and they missed a treat. Diago Pereira the Riviera Cruise Director was kept busy dealing with the problems cause by the river navigation difficulties. Also due to them Riviera Travel gave all guests a 3 day river assurance refund based upon the grade of cabin originally booked, which was appreciated. Would we do this cruise again, definitely not as we felt every excursion destination with the exception of the Quinta ( vineyard ) were rushed and we lacked adequate time to really appreciate them. This particularly related to Porto, as we were not docked in the city but at a rural pier a 40 minutes coach ride away. But we do plan to return to Porto and have a extended city break here and visit Guimaraes again.