In case you had requested me 10 years in the past if I loved a river cruise, my reply would have been a tough no. However a decade later, river cruises have come a great distance, child! We not too long ago boarded the Avalon Alegria in Porto, Portugal, for a cruise into the Douro Valley. This European River cruise felt extra just like the small ship expeditions we’ve taken up to now than the previous commonplace river cruises that stopped at packed ports and spent extra time on the bus than exploring the vacation spot.

What’s it Like on a Douro Valley River Cruise

We boarded our all-suites ship in Porto, the place we started our journey into the beautiful hills of the Douro Valley. The Avalon Alegria was designed to make the most of essentially the most area whereas creating the last word enjoyable and opulent expertise.

The Ship – Avalon Alegria

The Avalon Alegria is the latest of Avalon’s ships. It’s an all-suites ship with 14 deluxe staterooms or 37 Panorama Suites. We toured all the rooms, and irrespective of which room you select, you can be comfortable. All Panorama Suites function floor-to-ceiling home windows that open to show your room into one large balcony, and all beds face the water.

Onboard facilities embrace a bar and dance ground, nightly leisure, a eating room, a membership lounge, and a fitness center. The Sky Deck has a swimming pool, out of doors grill and bar, and loads of lounge chairs and tables. If the climate is sweet, that is the place to be to soak up the attractive vistas of the Douro Valley.

Avalon Alegria Suites

Let’s start with the suites. With a most capability of 102 folks, each room is spacious and opulent. We stayed in one of many fourteen 200-square-foot panorama suites, which was good for our journey.

Whereas different cruise traces we’ve taken line their beds up in opposition to a wall with a view of the opposite wall, the Avalon Alegria ship units every mattress dealing with the floor-to-ceiling home windows for views of the river. We loved afternoon siestas in our room whereas watching the Douro River views go by.

However that’s not all. Most individuals desire a balcony when river cruising, but it surely’s tough to provide everybody one as a result of dimension limitations of the river and the locks. Avalon has mounted this drawback by creating floor-to-ceiling home windows that open extensive, remodeling your suite into an open-air balcony. By taking away the out of doors balcony, they’ve created 30% extra dwelling area.

We loved breakfast in our room every morning with our home windows open to see the hills of the Douro River. With plush robes, slippers, and beautiful views, we by no means needed to depart our room! Oh and did I inform you that they not solely have a pillow menu, but additionally a mattress menu? There are 4 completely different settings for the mattress. Simply let the crew know the way you want your mattress, and so they’ll set it up for you.

Membership Lounge

Subsequent to our room, the Membership Lounge was our second favourite area on the Avalon Alegria. Earlier than breakfast, we walked to the lounge in our robes and slippers to seize a cappuccino, freshly baked cookies, and vitamin water.

I beloved filling my refillable water bottle with my alternative of water for the day. Wouldn’t it be Vitamin B water? Glowing grapefruit or ginger. The alternatives had been superior.

Usually, cruise ships reserve this area for upgraded suites, however Avalon makes this coveted area on the stern of the boat open for everybody. You possibly can sit again and chill out, have tea, or ship an e mail on the quick Star Hyperlink Wi-Fi that’s included within the journey.

Avalon, the Greenest Ship on the Douro

We all know the rap cruise ships get, however Avalon works arduous to journey sustainably. Avalon has partnered with locations to generate sustainable electrical energy whereas docked. They use shore energy every time they will and have put in LED lighting all through their ships.

You’ll discover that I discussed a water station above and Avalon has zero plastic onboard. There are glasses you could refill, however we advocate packing your individual water bottle to tackle excursions. We weren’t provided bottled water on our excursions (which I used to be grateful for), so we stuffed up our bottles earlier than leaving the ship.

They’ve lowered paper by 80%. Not like different cruise ships, you gained’t see your day by day schedule and a great deal of paper in your beds. Avalon has an app for friends to make use of with schedules on the TVs.

They’ve additionally partnered with The Ocean Cleanup to help of their mission of eradicating 90% of ocean plastic. It is a daunting process, and I don’t know the way it will occur, however with firms investing and partnering, good issues can occur.

Truthfully, in at this time’s world, we’re all contributing to the destruction of the planet, so the one factor firms can do is give again. Avalon vegetation two bushes for each passenger on a cruise, has state-of-the-art oil filters to maintain oil adjustments to a minimal, and is trying to swap to electrical ships within the close to future.

What’s Included – Avalon is About Selection

Since we talked about premium coffees and free web, I assumed we’d contact on what’s included in your Douro River Cruise with Avalon Waterways. The phrase we saved listening to was the Avalon is about alternative. Passengers have flexibility concerning eating, excursions, and issues to do onboard.

Meals

All meals, together with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, are included. Breakfast might be loved in your stateroom or within the eating room. Lunch is a buffet within the eating room or gentle snacks within the bar. You may also all the time order sure meals, like burgers and sandwiches, off the menu.

Dinner is a scrumptious multicourse meal of native and worldwide dishes paired with fantastic native wine. Portugal has implausible wines, and I like that Avalon serves solely native wines. When I’m in Portugal, I don’t need to be consuming a California Chardonnay; I desire a wealthy Douro Valley crimson, and that’s precisely what they delivered.

Not like different cruises, passengers are provided flex eating and might eat anytime throughout the eating window. Seating is versatile, with tables for 2, or you may be a part of giant teams.

Drinks

Talking of wine, beer and wine are included at lunch and dinner. All specialty coffees, delicate drinks, and water are additionally included. And, not like different cruises, the Douro Valley River cruise presents free cocktail hour drinks. And let me inform you, they make scrumptious cocktails.

Excursions

Avalon Waterways actually stands out with its excursions and shore excursions. They’ve damaged down excursions to swimsuit completely different wants. You possibly can select from Basic, Discovery, or Energetic Tour choices. Every day you are able to do one thing completely different from energetic adventures that embrace kayaking and climbing to cultural experiences that take you to historic districts and meals and wine excursions to benefit from the Douro Valley Wines and Ports of Porto.

There’s something for everybody, relying in your mobility and exercise degree. Plus, there may be an onboard journey host that leads yoga within the mornings.

Leisure

Every night after dinner, there may be native leisure. We loved a Fado Present of proficient native guitarists sharing their tradition, tales and music.

The subsequent evening was an impressive quartet of strings placing their very own spin on trendy rock and pop music.

We additionally loved being serenaded by a finalist from The Voice and had nightly dancing. That is a kind of journeys that brings the native tradition to you.

The Crew

One thing that actually stands out on the Avalon Alegria cruise by way of the Douro Valley is the employees. Your hosts could make or break a visit and the Alegria employees goes above and past. Inside the second we stepped onboard, they felt like previous mates.

At cocktail hour, they knew precisely what sort of cocktail I’d be within the temper for and even created specialties not on the menu.

Dave has a Gluten allergy, and the waitstaff paid cautious consideration to providing him options and informing him of what we might eat and should keep away from.

They had been all the time smiling, and you may inform that they actually loved their jobs. It wasn’t an act; the crew beloved what they had been doing. From the fellows grinning from ear to ear as they tied the traces to the entrance desk, answering our each want.

Ports of Name

Don’t fear, you might be inspired to get off the ship and benefit from the native ports of name. Avalon docks downtown or near the city facilities the place a brief (and low-cost) Uber trip can take you to the place you need to be.

8-Day Itinerary – Vineyards & Villages Alongside the Douro

The cruise begins within the UNESCO World Heritage Metropolis of Porto. We propose arriving early to essentially soak on this stunning vacation spot. Avalon presents a guided tour of Braga and Guimaraes, which we extremely advocate seeing. However you must also spend at the least two days in Porto to benefit from the Historic Heart, the Gaia District, and the beautiful waterfront.

The cruise then leaves within the night to cease at completely different areas alongside the Douro Valley. The 8-day itinerary consists of these stops after which returns to Porto for one more day of touring. We selected the choice of wine tasting in Gaia with a tour of the Cork Museum, which was fascinating and scrumptious!

• Porto Embarkation
• Porto day tour to Braga and Guimaraes.
• Peso da Regua – a go to to one of many oldest farms within the Douro Valley 
• Poncinho – Douro Valley Vineyards
• Barca d’Alva – Salamanca, Spain – That is the place you may add one other nation to your itinerary.
• Ferradosa-Leverhino – Day tour of Amarante

Can Solo Vacationers Be part of Avalon?

We all the time journey as a pair, however I do know many individuals surprise about solo journey on cruises. Avalon waives the solo complement. On Avalon, you by no means really feel alone. From my observations, a river cruise is a good possibility for solo vacationers.

Avalon is About Selection

Most individuals select the Danube or Rhine Rivers for his or her first river cruise. We did 10 years in the past, and it turned us off river cruising for a decade. When Avalon invited us to pattern their Douro Valley route, we had been intrigued to provide it one other attempt. I’m glad we did. This river cruise was precisely the kind of journey we love—small ships with fewer passengers and loads of choices for shore excursions.

Fewer ships are on the river, and the stops really feel intimate and untouched. With solely 102 passengers on the Avalon selecting from completely different excursions, we had small group excursions that felt tailor-made to our wants.

The Douro Valley is without doubt one of the most stunning locations 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 coronary heart of the itinerary.

These are the preferred routes stuffed with different river cruises and crowds at ports of name. I’m not saying to by no means do one, however I feel the Douro Valley is the right introduction to river cruising.

So there you have got it—our Douror Valley River Cruise—the primary European River Cruise we’ve taken in 10 years. Will we do one other one? You guess! As we age, we love the concept of unpacking as soon as and crusing by way of Europe’s most stunning countryside.

Whenever you get to ports, you don’t must comply with the guides; everyone seems to be free to do as they please. Bear in mind, Avalon is about alternative, and our alternative is to return quickly.