Is anyone booked for the Douro River trip?
We have never been to either country and are very excited. We are on the first sail, April 8. Any recommendations?
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We have never been to either country and are very excited. We are on the first sail, April 8. Any recommendations?
Comments
It will be cool at that time of year, especially the evenings.
Kathy. Please post a review. We are booked on the May 6 trip and are very excited about this new itinerary.
We are booked on July 14th from Lisbon.
My husband and I are booked on the April 8th trip as well. We look forward to meeting you. My tip for you would be to arrive a day early.
Also traveling from Lisbon on 14 July.
Look forward to meeting you. . .
Yes, please write reviews, especially about which city would be the best to spend extra time, Lisbon or Madrid. Anyone comment who has visited both cities. Thanks
Both Lisbon and Madrid are vibrant cities with a lot to do. That said I would select Madrid for the extra night because it is easier to walk around Madrid. Lisbon is very hilly.
As with every comment there is a differing opinion. I've been to both Lisbon and Madrid. I enjoyed Lisbon more than Madrid. To me Madrid is just a large city while Lisbon is much smaller and has so much character. While Madrid is flat, the distances between what you'd like to see are much farther. If walking and hills are an issue, the transit system in Lisbon is very easy. There are some circular tram rides that give you a good view of the city. The tiled buildings are unique. There are great overlooks and the Alfama gives you a good perspective of life in the city. Also, I would always choose the day at the beginning of the tour to give you a chance to acclimate to the new time zone.
We are booked on the April 8 trip along with our friends. So add 4 more! We are from Virginia and California and are utterly spoiled by Tauck tours. We love Lisbon and will arrive a few days early. We had hoped the hotel chosen would be closer than a 20 minute walk to the Olde Town Center, but it'll help burn some of the nata tart calories that we will be over-consuming.
We [Sue & Ralph] are booked on the May 6 Lisbon - Douro - Madrid tour followed by the week in Spain tour departing from Barcelona on May 17. We are looking forward to visiting Portugal and Spain for the first time and hope to connect with some of our fellow travelers before we depart.
SBM. We are on the same trip as you. Ed and Vicki from Asheville, NC.
Hi Vicki & Ed: We live in Durham, NC and are excited about the trip . . . also watching anxiously the COVID-19 news and hoping Tauck does not find it necessary to cancel. Let's keep in touch. Sue & Ralph.
Sue & Ralph,
See private message left for you so we can email offline.
Ed and Vicki
Alley quit is a spammer. please flag this and their other posts.
Hi Ralph and Sue -- We're booked for Sicily 4/15 and Amalfi 4/30 and monitoring things. Like Asheville Ed, also left you a message, from a fellow TarHeel.
What is this, the NCTTA (North Carolina Tauck Travelers Association)?
(asks AlanS from little Washington, NC
)
This State Sept alert about Spain was released today. Our April 8 departure is looking dubious. We are hoping Tauck will pull the trigger and just cancel the trip as travel to the regions is being restricted by the US Govt, schools are closed, and gatherings are discouraged. I can't imagine Tauck running a quality tour with these restrictions.
Jo and Win
Health Alert – U.S. Embassy Madrid, U.S. Consulate General Barcelona (10 March 2020)
Location: Spain
Event: There is an ongoing outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) first identified in Wuhan, China. The global public health threat posed by COVID-19 is high, with more than 100,000 reported cases worldwide. On March 10, 2020, the Spanish Ministry of Health announced 1,622 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 35 related deaths throughout Spain.
As of March 11, appointments for consular services at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid and the U.S. Consulate General in Barcelona will be limited, and the five U.S. consular agencies throughout Spain (Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Malaga, Sevilla, Valencia) will provide only emergency services to U.S. citizens.
COVID-19 cases have been detected in all of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions and the number of identified infections is currently increasing. The regional government of Madrid has ordered the closure of schools and universities, restricted access to nursing homes to visits deemed strictly necessary and has closed senior citizen daycare centers from March 11-26, 2020.
The regional government of the Basque Country has ordered the closure of schools and universities in Vitoria until March 25, 2020.
La Rioja regional government has closed schools and universities until March 26, 2020.
U.S. military personnel stationed at Naval Station Rota in southern Spain are restricted from traveling to Madrid, La Rioja, and Basque Country until further notice.
All direct flights from Italy to Spain are cancelled from March 11-26, 2020.
We received the same alert from the Consulate and it looks like the cases in Spain have risen dramatically. It's wait and see for us.
We moved our April 8 trip to April 29, 2021. Tauck was very generous with $1,000 credit and $500 in airline change fees.
We are scheduled for the April 15 cruise on the Douro. We are traveling with 2 other couples and we really have decided we probably will not go but we are waiting in hopes that Tauck cancels our cruise. That way we can cancel our air through our insurance since we did not book Tauck air. From everything I am seeing and the recent spike of corona virus cases in Spain, particularly in Madrid where we will be for 3 days, I can not believe they will not cancel this cruise!
To AlanS
My husband is from The Original Washington NC! Not little Washington! I grew up in Belhaven but lived in Washington from 1972 to 1990. It is amazing how many on this thread are from NC. We live currently in the Raleigh area.
I guess you can tell, weyall aren't from around here.
For those not familiar with the "Original Washington," it was named after General George Washington, not President Washington.
This year's trip in early May was just cancelled. It's not surprising and we thank Tauck for doing the right thing with so much uncertainty.
Heard today that our second sail date has been canceled. One last shot at 4/29. If this doesn't work, we give up.