Lovely cruise but trips out were too long, spent hours in coaches
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Unexpected drop off in Porto for over 3 hours when very tired following an extremely early flight. Independent travellers were allowed on the boat around 1pm and we had to wait until after 4pm. Otherwise a very well planned trip with top class services. Very disappointing and legally questionable blanket ban on mobility aids caused unnecessary stress.
The river cruise was excellent. The staff and the boat were great and the food was very good. The excursions were well organised and made the cruise excellent value.
Lovely itinerary taking in beautiful scenery. All the staff were polite, helpful and friendly. Cabin was comfortable, though compact, excellent shower. The food, wine and service was excellent using local produce extensively. Better information should have been provided about the excursions which were too demanding physically for some passengers. The dining room was hot in the evening and sometimes there was insufficient seating in the lounge even though the ship wasn't at full capacity. The entertainment and talks were very enjoyable and interesting. Ricardo, the pianist, was brilliant after the Captain's dinner.
Fantastic holiday! All staff very friendly and helpful, cabin always clean and tidy, and the food was very, very good and the wine plentiful! On the negative side, we could not choose our seats on the plane (you could on the Manchester flights), and the flight was full. We had very early flight but wasted time in Porto as ship was not free until after 3pm. A coach tour would have been appreciated. We did not think it was worth the extra cost to have cabin on top deck, especially when quite often tied up against another ship. But all in all a great holiday, and the d’Ouro valley is beautiful.
Well organised. Interesting places to visit. Comfortable cabins.. Good food. Interesting wined. Excellent staff
this is the first time using Great rai journeys and will not be the last. fabulous from start to finish. The ship was beautiful, clean and well maintained. the staff were attentive nothing too much trouble. Cruise directors Jaqui and Ian were just great they looked after us day and night. our tour guide Diana was just amazing patient, very knowledgable and interesting to listen to, The air conditioning was intermittent during our cruise however the GRJ teams did everything they could to resolve it, keeping us informed at all times. engineers were on board at every port to resolve the issue. it did not spoil our holiday at all, I felt for the team trying to get it sorted. All in all a great trip. we will be back.
On the whole it was a lovely trip. The staff on the boat were fantastic. However it was spoilt by the fact that during this very hot summer the air conditioning did not work on 3 different days for the evenings and part of the nights - until early hours. No fans, not even handheld fans or standing fans were provided to those affected. Water was available but not placed in the rooms. The swimming pool should not be described as such as you cannot swim in it, decaffeinated coffee was not available except as a jar of powdered instant coffee, the barbecue night was not a barbecue at all, and it was poor. Water could be put in the fridges in the cabins - many passengers were not fit and it was hard for them to manage the heavy jugs provided
One of the best holidays we ever had.👍👍👍
The time on the boat was lovely. Crew excellent. Getting from the airport to the boat was dreadful. Were told we were being checked in as a group. That didn’t happen. Rude representative at Gatwick didn’t show herself, same thing at Porto after a very, very long journey representative didn’t holdup sign. Then unexpectedly unceremoniously dumped in Porto in the rain and told to sort ourselves out for3 hours instead of being taken to the boat. Our itinerary stated lunch on the boat on first day. We were all exhausted. No explanation nor apology! Last day supposed to be driven around Porto. Didn’t happen. No apology. All the stops on the cruise were in nowhere places. Long coach trips on every excursion. Apart from last stop nowhere to walk from the boat. Bbq evening in the restaurant instead of on the deck! Very disappointing.
Sadly it was the worst holiday we have with you. Cabin very small not enough space for storing clothes of empty cases. Food choose limited.
The ship was lovely. The tours were further away than we expected We were given the wrong instructions for Manchester airport. It was a very early flight then we were dropped off in porto for nearly four hours when we had been told we would not have to walk more than forty five minutes before we taken to the ship
Quite a few problems with the boat
Excellent trip
Lovely trip - a good mix of relaxation on board with interesting trips and of course port tastings!
The Douro is gorgeous, the nicest river I have cruised. Unfortunately the weather was not good. The downside, which cannot be helped, is that a long time is spent on buses to get anywhere. The ship is well appointed, the food good and the staff charming.
Immaculate ship, amazing food. Staff were all excellent. There could have been more entertainment at night time. There were only a couple of nights catered for. Not so happy with the excursions. There was quite a lot of travelling involved on coaches. We went on the Danube last year which spoilt us where each stop you were in a quaint town or city and you could wander off yourself to explore. On the Douro there was nowhere to really go apart from on the excursion on a coach
An amazing river wider than I have ever experienced. A lovely trip with great company and food. Perhaps a touch too many vineyards!
A very enjoyable cruise along the Douro with Great Rail. Cruise managers Iain and Jacqui did a great job in ensuring everything went according to plan and adapted where the weather intervened. The Ship is excellent. First class cabins with enough facilities. The food is of a very high standard and offered real variety. Due to the size of the river the ships are smaller than the norm which limits the extra facilities. The swimming pool is really a paddling pool. The excursions all required coach transportation which were sometimes a bit lengthy, and I am not sure all were worth it. Salamanca definitely is worth the trouble. The Douro is a very scenic river and we would recommend this cruise.
The excursions let this trip down. Long coach trips to places that were closed e.g. Salamanca. It was not what I was led to believe. Also travelled beside a railway but no trip on this facility was included.