Portugal, Spain & the Douro River Valley Reviews

Had an amazing time. Beautiful scenery along the Douro River. Global Journeys our travel agent Hannah Campbell did an amazing job organising our tour. Thank you Hannah. Uniworld who we travelled with were fabulous, staff were so obliging and friendly. Accommodation at hotel and on board were 1st class. Met some very friendly people. Overall a wonderful ...read more experience.

This was a lovely trip and weather was perfect. It was well organised and as a single person travelling alone some great friendships soon developed. The hotel in Lisbon was central and comfortable and the sightseeing gave one a good insight into this vibrant city. Highlights for me were the famous pastry shop of the original absolutely delicious Portuguese ...read more Tart in Belem and the magnificent 18th century library at the university of Coimbra which we visited going up to Porto to board the ship.

The Queen Isabel was a very comfortable ship and the meals fabulous. After sightseeing around the historic and lovey city of Porto we cruised through beautiful terraced vineyards, visiting wineries and given a good insight into this important industry. Other favorites were the museums, the UNESCO World Heritage city of Salamanca and the 12 Century walled village of Castelo Rodrigo.

This trip certainly lived up to my expectations and I highly recommend Uniworld. Thank you Georgie for your excellent care in organizing my whole trip.

I was a little worried about embarking on this trip gathered several negative reviews written about it. All I can say about those, is that some people need to get a life. Yes it was not a Uniworld boat, it was leased from a Portuguese company, but so what? The service was first rate, the included tours were all excellent, the food was excellent and ...read more even the wi-fi worked which is more than can be said for some of the other European river cruises. The Douro river and its valley are truly magnificent. The scenery far exceeds what you experience on the Rhine and the beauty is that the boat only sails during the day and stops at night meaning you can actually see it all. It is truly a world heritage area that should be visited. The Queen Isabella is a great way to go. The only slight negative is that the QI is a little smaller than the other European boats and thereby cabins are also smaller but they are adequate. The dining room, particularly at dinner, needs some sort of acoustic dampening as it was difficult to have conversations due to the noise from the many discussions being had. Overall an excellent trip. Thanks to Hannah for pulling it all together, it all went very smoothly.

Overall a very enjoyable tour. Excellent meals. The small al fresco dinning areas at the front of the boat were especially pleasant. Enjoyed not moving at night. Some large groups on the boat were inclined to take over dinning tables as their exclusive 'reservation' especially the window view! An unfortunate experience with the laundry when white ...read more clothes came back mauve because dark pants were washed with light coloured slacks and t-shirts. The hotel manager was very helpful and recompensed us for the loss. Would recommend the tour to anyone.

The tour was excellent and the pace was good. The local guides were knowledgeable, friendly and provided many insights into Portuguese life that we would have missed if we travelled independently. The Lisbon director was especially good with providing information on dining options and shopping and she also stressed the need to watch and prepare for ...read more pick pockets as did the local Porto guide. The cruise ship's accommodation, food and the program offered was excellent. The only concern was that the noise level in the dining room made conversation very difficult for normal hearing people and impossible for those with hearing aids. The ship did provide an al fresco area for dining which thankfully took us out of the dining room noise. Perhaps they need to look at some form of noise baffles for this area. The Douro valley is indeed very beautiful and the fact that we did a lot of daylight cruise allowed us to really enjoy this beautiful part of Portugal. We highly reccommend this tour.