This was my third cruise with AMA and it was as disappointing as the other two were marvelous. First, the pros: large comfortable cabin with a balcony; SUPERB crew, service, food, onboard entertainment. Now the cons: there's no there there, nothing much to see along the banks of the Douro but vineyards, scrub bushes and more vineyards. Passengers spend as much time on a bus as on the ship (not counting sleep time). There's no docking in the center of a town to tour and explore. The visit to Salamanca takes a 4-hour rt on a bus and the tour guides (not from the ship) were obnoxious. Very little free time to see what one wanted to see. Some tours start very early and it's rush, rush, rush to see another wine cellar. The town of Porto is a jewel and there are several lovely hotels near the dock, I walked to the ship from The Lodge (highest recommendation) and found myself wishing I had just stayed in Porto instead of cruising a boring river.

It breaks my heart to criticize an AMA cruise because they have been so good to me. But I'll do others for sure; maybe some repeats. Just not this one.