For the most part everything and everyone was great! I enjoyed Lisbon, and our guide Tiego, was superb. I enjoyed the venues, and our hotel was very nice. We had a few glitches on our boat, but nothing serious. The biggest disappointment was being tied up to another ship EVERY night and on 5 of the 7 nights we were looking straight into another stateroom on another boat instead of having the beautiful views we should have had. We had no privacy in our room when we were docked and therefore had to keep our curtains drawn all the time. I am visually stimulated and therefore crave windows where I can look out, but our windows and balconies were worthless whenever we were docked and that really detracts from our enjoyment. Ricardo was very good, but our AMA guide for the week, Maddie, was very nice, but extremely weak as a guide, especially after Tiego in Lisbon, and our Porto walking guide. Maddie was boring, read her material directly from her notebook, and was difficult to understand. Again, as a person, she was very nice, but she was a very mediocre guide because she didn’t know the material and therefore didn’t talk passionately about anything. She needs to spend a month or more with Tiego and learn how to be prep for where she’s taking us and she needs to sho enthusiasm for what she’s showing us. She just needs to be better trained. All in all, I LOVED the trip, I loved the people, I loved the Douro valley, and I hope to return to Portugal again one day. Some of my best times were up on the sundeck just enjoying the amazingly beautiful hillsides of vineyards and Quintas. It was breathtaking!! Thanks so much
