Riviera Travel has completed its first river cruises since the outbreak of the pandemic halted operations 18 months ago.
The operator hosted 120 passengers on two eight-day Douro river cruises which featured excursions to a Porto vineyard and the historic Spanish city of Salamanca, as well as guided tours of Portuguese landmarks including Castelo Rodrigo and Mateus Palace gardens.
Riviera is now operating a series of cruises across Europe until early November, featuring rivers such as the Seine, Rhone and Danube.
Katja Hildebrandt, head of river and ocean cruise product at Riviera Travel, said: “Our Douro cruises were the perfect first sailings back, as our guests really did feel they were away from it all as they visited some of Iberia’s most beautiful towns, gardens and vineyards.”
Passenger Sally Harper said: “The organisation that Riviera have put into this has been absolutely second to none; I can’t fault it.
“Everybody told us to expect a beautiful river and this has just blown me away. The food is great and the staff are so friendly, everywhere is so immaculately clean. We’ve felt really safe and secure at all times.”