Portugal River Cruise May 2022: Some Observations on the Trip

Some Observations:

• This was our first River Cruise – we loved it! There were 64 “old” people on the ship (50% capacity) The company us just recovering from Covid. We were constantly amazed at the travel experiences of our fellow travelers. We feel like "rookies".

• The food was awesome, except for the coffee! They had this coffee "machine" in the lounge that was terrible! Overall service was exceptional.

• This Mayflower tour was well planned; we saw lots of cool stuff but still had enough “free” time to relax and watch the world go by.

• Countryside is beautiful! But we didn't see a single castle! Mostly grapes, olives, and almonds.

• I counted seven of these cruise boats plying the river. They do an amazing job in coordinating their schedules so there are no delays at the locks, although we are often in the same ports at the same time. These ships looks pretty much all the same – same size and amenities. So I don't know why you would choose over another.

• The only day we had where the weather was not pleasant was the day we went to Salamanca; but it was OK. Just cold and windy.

• The iconic products of the area are port and table wines, olive oil, tiles and cork. Who knew that Portugal produces 50% of the world's cork?

• You never see an American car (I did see an electric Mustang once) and you will NEVER see a pickup truck!! There are many brands we wouldn't recognize, like Dacia Logey and Alhambra.

• Our cabin was OK! It was small, had a king bed, 2 chairs, large TV, table. The shower was AWESOME!! Big picture window; the top can be lowered for fresh air.

• We had three members of the crew who were our guides/babysitters/handlers. Our favorite was Natalia. She had some great phrases; we wish we could do the accent: Do you agree? Did you know this?

• Its a challenge to keep your devices charged! I had one converter; the cabin had only one outlet, so you can charge only one device at a time. There's the phone, camera batteries (carry an extra) and the netbook (for nightly blogging). Leave wireless devices home! Make sure you have something plugged in at all times!

• We used our netbook to watch US News; connecting to the ship's internet. The ship TV is pretty useless to us, although it seems to have a lot of options. CNN Europe/BBC/Sky News was not very helpful.

• Be Forewarned! I guess this is typical of Europe, but they don't believe in public restrooms. If you do find one, it will cost 50 cents. You can go into a cafe, but you are expected to buy something!

Gas prices at home are about $4.50 (incredibly high!) In Portugal it was 1.90e/litre. That's about $7.50/ gal US.

• Most places will take your credit card, which gives you the best exchange rate. Some of the small merchants want cash – it has to be euros. There are ATM's all over the place so its not an issue.

• We all had to be Covid tested the day before we left. Unfortunately, three of our group tested positive. So they had to stay in Porto for another week, until they could get at “Certificate to Travel”. They don't have to wait for a negative test. We understood that our travel insurance would reimburse them for expenses. What a nightmare!