MS Estrela

We had a very enjoyable 7 day cruise along the Douro with Travelmarvel. The scenery was beautiful and the excursions were all interesting and different although travelling by bus for over an hour to get to and from a location did become tiring as the weather was very hot. The ship itself is new and nicely decorated with wonderful, accommodating staff read more and very good food. The included wines varied between excellent and ordinary. Our main criticism is that Travelmarvel seems to be removing or downgrading some services.

I have been on 6 different river cruises with 4 different companies and must say that all except Travelmarvel have provided daily water in your cabin and also provided a refillable bottle to take on excursions. On this trip we were not provided with these essential services. There was no room service and although the tv offered movies to watch you were greeted with a message that the service was unavailable every time you tried. Overall the food was very good but the much anticipated bbq in the middle of the cruise was poorly organized (long wait in line to get access to the buffet) and the food very ordinary!

So, overall a wonderful trip in a beautiful part of the world but we will look to other river cruise companies for future holidays. This was the second trip organized by Hannah Perry and she did a wonderful job. Courteous, professional and efficient, she takes a genuine interest in your trip and does everything possible to ensure a trouble free and enjoyable holiday experience.

The Duoro Valley was spectacular but the actual cruise felt like a coach trip where we used the Travelmarvel Estrela more as a hotel. Of course there was cruising and we passed through some impressive locks, but often excursions would bus us to a winery while the ship continued along the river, returning us to meet it at a different location. Consequently read more I felt that I missed out on a lot of the relaxing river cruising I was looking forward to. The Estrela was quite a new ship, but not very well designed. The bathrooms were minute as was the pool on the sundeck. The dining room and lounge with their very low ceilings need much better sound damping. It was a pleasant trip but did not live up to my expectations. Hannah Perry at Global Journeys handled our booking very well and was always available to answer queries.

Our river cruise was incident-free, well organised, and attention to detail could not be faulted. For our age group, it was paced, and every request was attended to with professionalism. The ship was clean and comfortable, and the meals were well presented with a good choice. We did enjoy the friendly atmosphere created by the ship's crew.

I recommend this cruise. The service and food were excellent. The journey was beautiful and the tours inland through the mountains were well worth doing.

We were very impressed with both the food and the service given on the ship. There was a great range of food and it was always served with a smile. The cabin, though understandably small, was well maintained and there was plenty of room for storage with cases tucked away under the bed. The evening entertainments were enjoyable and well chosen. However, read more when we arrived on board and were directed to our cabin, we received no information regarding what happened next. All there was, was a piece of paper from the Travelmarvel CEO and a safety video being shown on the cabin TV. It was up to us to go out and ask to actually find out that the daily schedule was posted near the tour desk and that it could be accessed eventually through the TV. We understand that saving paper is important but a brief “How to” on the back of the CEO’s welcome would have easily solved our confusion.

The guided tours and accompanying guides were generally good and we enjoyed them, but often it was quite a lengthy trip away on a bus. We figured we could have simply done a bus tour! We usually found that, where the ship docked, there was little or nothing to do if you didn’t take the excursion. At times, as well, we felt the Tour Director on the boat was too verbose. Simple, straightforward explanations and directions would be been better, especially as over half of the passengers were of an age that complicated explanations meant important information was either not understood or was forgotten. So, if you just wanted a few calm days on a boat with great food and service, it was fine.

This cruise was excellent is many ways - boat was great, rooms good, staff were wonderful. They were extremely attentive and responded to all requests immediately, as well as being pleasant, sociable, and linking well with the group and individuals. The Douro is a wine and port region, so the views were spectacular over the terraced vineyards and Quintas. read more There was a variety of good entertainment in the evenings - Karaoke/Dancing/Singers/ Fado. Staff were active in encouraging all this and participated themselves. The meals were excellent and offered a lot of variety and choice. All wines with dinner were included. The tours were all quite interesting. However, there were no 'active' excursions. There were no hikes/bikes/kayaking, as there are on other advertised Douro cruises. Although you indicated we could get suggestions from the cruise director, there was only one day that he suggested a hike that was well worth doing. Otherwise, we were in ports without interesting hikes, or he had no suggestions. As we are active travelers, often walking/hiking 6-10km a day, or biking, this was very disappointing. Although the cathedrals/castles/wine and port excursions were interesting, they only involved minimal walking - often no more than 1 km. So, if you are not looking for an active tour, this was excellent in all other ways.

Fabulous 7 day cruise on the Douro River with Travelmarvel. Very beautiful Valley - endless terraced grape vines and winerys. Beautiful ship. Estrella and great staff.. included drinks with lunch and dinner plentiful- drinks at other times very reasonable.. Pool great to lounge in on the top deck.. plenty of lounges and shade available on the top deck read more too. Great addition to our trip organised by Tracey.