AmaDouro

This is a wonderful trip for anyone looking for small ship atmosphere. Every aspect of this cruise promoted a relaxing adventure. AmaWaterway ensured that we had a total cultural experience thru taste (Portuguese meals), sound (music and dance of the nation), sight (historical sites and scenery of Portugal), smell (aroma of the wines and food) and touch.

The tours outside Lisbon, Sintra Palace, and the day in Salamanca were all excellent. Entertainment in Salamanca was excellent.

Warm welcoming staff and well planned tours, relaxed atmosphere, Most of the passengers were real, regular people,,, no usual cruise plastic baloney, probably because there's no casino.

This was our fifth Ama cruise and the first since Covid; I'm glad we went, but there were some issues that made me drop my rating to four stars. // Let me start with the things that went right: the ship was comfortable; our room was big enough and had storage in the right places (and bedside power, for which we were grateful). Most of the crew was great to interact with, especially our room steward and our waiter. Laundry was fast and fairly priced. The itinerary was great, the excursions were interesting, and the scenery was terrific. The food was good, if not quite up to the standards of our previous Ama cruises, and our food issues were handled properly. And the Internet service was the best I've ever had on a ship - fast enough to let me ship all my photos home every night. // But there were things that could have gone better. // Most of the excursions didn't give us much time on our own at the destination - sometimes not even long enough to do any shopping at all. The excursion to Mateus Palace and Quinta de Avessada was very long with limited content - the tour of Mateus Palace was not very informative (not Ama's fault; the guide was from the Palace), and the meal at Quinta de Avessada was slow and followed by far too many songs by the Qunita's band, so we didn't get back to the ship until 10:30pm (we'd been told we'd be back at 9:30). // We were on a package with "free drinks" but it was very hard to find out what was actually included (on a trip on the Douro, I wanted to try more than the bottom level of Port), and if we were in the bar during "Sip and Sail", they only wanted to provide what was on that menu, even if we were willing to pay for premium drinks, and one barman was rude. // My biggest complaint, though, was the mishandling of our anniversary, which was the second night of the cruise. I'd given the information to our travel agent AND made sure to tell the cruise director, but there was no acknowledgement on that day - nothing at the table and nothing in the room. I complained and they gave us champagne and decorated the room on the NEXT day. // I enjoyed the cruise, but it could have been a lot better.