Douro Azul, SGPS Review

Cruise on the Douro River. It's worth it - I recommend it

My comment: it is a company "Leader" in the trips through the Douro, especially the route from Porto to Barca de Alva ..... !!!!!!!!!!!!!! We need aggressive and determined entrepreneurs in the commitment to the towns of the Duero and the Arribes of it! My congratulations to the Director D.Mario Ferreira and all his collaborators.In the name of the Association that we represent "Las Arribes del Duero", our recognition of this work and that, business, success prevails .... from Salamanca and Valladolid.

Cruise company in the Douro, has four of its vessels in the dock of Viana do Castelo for maintenance, thus complying with the navigation and maintenance standards. Vessels rare in Viana, call attention to those who pass by the dock. These vessels are moored next to the Gil Eannes, ship Museum.
#gileannes
#douroazul
#viking

Our first cruise experience was with Riviera and Douro Azul and the staff were amazing, knowledgeable and very professional - thank you

Travel A-ROSA ALVA Premium Douro
at a price of more than 3,000

This trip had nothing to do with the advertisement 100% A-ROSA - 100% holiday experience!

The ship A-ROSA ALVA is owned and operated by DOURO AZUL
operated and greedily managed. A-ROSA seems to have little influence.
A-ROSA only provides the name, concept, guests and cruise director who are responsible for organization
Arrivals / departures, excursions, announcements, etc. and in this case very dedicated.

On my 1st night, the air conditioning was so cold that I constantly woke up and wrapped myself in blankets and jackets. In the morning I reported this to reception. The hotel manager changed my attitude and promised me a warmer role. The same procedure the following day, the problem not resolved. My request to change to another cabin gave no reaction and many excuses from the hotel manager. I turned on the cruise director. I received another cabin in direct relation to the engine room: if cast off early, it is extremely noisy there.

Life on board: A-ROSA ALVA - a new, modern ship ...

- Unfortunately no refrigerator in the expensive cabins for over 3,000.00 self-service at the machine ???
- the suites on deck 3 above / next to the engine room at the rear no noise protection, extremely loud
- Hygiene observed
- Lock passages perfect

HOTEL / DIRECTOR

in elegant twine he walks idly, not guest-oriented, only looking for savings, hence:

Providing a drink on arrival would be a measure.
Local staff tried very hard.
only senior staff speaks German and English
Drinks with alcohol sparingly

FOOD

- Fruit salad only melons
- Soups watery and tasteless
- wrong translations: bacalhau made from cod (taste salty and like rubber) is on the menu as cod

GUEST LEVEL:

- with bathing trunks through the lounge ... when our group in the lounge talked and laughed, another guest stood in front of us and literally: You can't even be quiet
and shut up !!! ???

The guests on deck 1 received an upgrade to deck 2.

Otherwise, the guests were advised of the high losses with which the AROSA drives.

Other companies give discounts / extras to motivate and retain customers and
are grateful if the first few guests are on board at all in order to secure the future.
AROSA can apparently afford this in the opposite direction!

I assume that a great deal of society and the hotel manager of Douro Azul
is owed. An anonymous inspector would be appropriate.

- since other guests got an upgrade,
- as other fellow travelers traveled at the special offer price
- since I was not honestly informed before booking the trip,
that all ships on the Douro must sail under Portuguese law
- I had a lot of trouble with my cabin, never slept well, this concept was not a 4-star trip AROSA, I expect adequate compensation.

The package offered in the flyer "boat tour and bus ticket" could not sell the lady on the boat dock.
We were led through a nice boat and were allowed to take a seat on a small boat that had its best days. Unfortunately, very few of the headphone connections worked, so that the audio guide was not heard.

Unfriendly staff

Not recommendable.

Good facilities and an excellent company
I am loving the experience.
I strongly recommend

I have had the pleasure of knowing the facilities at OpenDay and it is lovely, super recommend!

Wonderful cruise on the Douro, worth doing in fact we have a view of the city of Porto, Gaia totally different I liked immensely

We took the 1 hour mini-cruise. This cruise goes a short way down the river, turns around, goes a short way the other way and comes back. There was not very much to see but worse than that it was impossible to follow what the auto narration was talking about. You get a set of headphones and you can listen in many languages. The problem is that there is no person pointing to what the narration is talking about. As a result it was nearly impossible to know what was being described. I would definitely not recommend the short cruise. The longer cruises may be a different story but this one is not worth wasting your money on.

On a positive note, the person taking tickets was very friendly and helpful.

Douro Azul, one of the best, perhaps the best, tour operator in this industry, a shame that it has ended up with the most accessible routes, now only for mid-range tourism anyway having the best fleet of boats to sail the Douro .

No audio explanation of 6 bridges. Explanation was that their system was broken. No refund provided. The whole reason I wanted to take the tour was to learn more about the different bridges. Waste of time.

Nice trip, relaxing, pity the absence of an audio guide that explains something of what we saw, I advise a windbreaker!

It is worth taking a trip, very good itinerary well planned tours, food is very good, presentable dishes, internal rooms of the boats very clean luxury cruises.

We were well received and the person at the counter was very pleasant and gave us information on other activities. This tour is, I think, one of the cheapest (12 in July 2018). And they all do the same circuit (5-6 bridges). There was no audio guide. A simple tour but to do because the banks of the river are to be seen to have another image of Porto. See photos.

Horrible experience today with my family, we paid 12 each to have to listen to the visit in Russian or even want to hear. The audioguide of many places are astragados and the company does nothing, some officials even recommend moving to remedy. I loved this answer! And just charge and the customer who screws up
Take the cruise in another company, the visit is beautiful but not with them.

Interesting boat trip up the Douro River, with breakfast and lunch on board, the crew was friendly throughout the tour. On the chosen route, there were three locks that we had to pass. The return was made by bus, because the train was too full. Since we did not make the return journey by train, it is not possible for me to make a comparison between both options, however I can say that the perspective of the view is quite different, perhaps not falling short of that of the train.

The largest Portuguese cruise boat operator. I recommend

The boat broke down and they had to take the boat back to shore. They didn't give us the money back barely offered to take us another day, but we ha to elave Porto. Bad company, bad customer service.

DON'T

Very weak the tour the audio of the boat did not work, no guide to explain anything and in the purchase of the tickets said that it was the return of the 6 bridges that after all were only 5 because the last of the top were not

There website says first boat 9:30, there pamphlet says 9:30. Actually 10:30 today. I got up early to do this before my flight. Waste of time and energy.

NOT SO GUIDED TOURS. The audio guide didn't work at all during the tour so we felt completely disappointed. it was not only ours but the whole boat had the same problem. No body gave any explanation or appologized. Will never recommend this company to anyone visiting Oporto as I am sure there are many others that will give you much more for your money

The Best Local Tourism Company dedicated entirely to the City of Porto is Very Special the Demarcated Region of the Douro.

Good reception, quality service, a very pleasant cruise.

6 bridges cruise which turns out to be a 5 bridges cruise, listening to the audio guides on certain seats is incorrect and the comments lack more precise information, in particular on the location of the monuments, but the experience is still correct with a different view

We did the 6 bridges tour last weekend and we were fully disappointed. It took less than 35 minutes (was suppose to be 50 minutes). You couldn't hear the guide (it was recorded, there was no human-guide on board) at all so in the end we just took some pictures and didn't find out anything new. I wouldn't recommend and I wouldn't do it again.