Things You Should Know Before Booking a River Cruise in Portugal –  Ports of Call

In our previous article, “Introduction to the Tours Along the Douro River in Portugal”, we have established that you should thoroughly examine all your options and have an idea, as clear as possible, on what exactly you are looking for before booking your trip with any particular agency.
We have mentioned ports of call as one of the first things you should seek to learn about before embarking on this, or any other for that matter, cruise trip. Ports of call are the stops along the way that the ship makes in order to refuel and during this time the passengers are provided with opportunity to leave the ship and engage in various activities in the town or the city in which the port is located.
If there is a specific port that you wish to visit you should ask your prospective agency whether or not it is included in the cruise program that the agency provides. If the answer to this question is yes, you should also consider asking the following:
– How long will the ship stay in the port?
– Will the passengers be permitted to leave the ship during this stop?
– What type of accommodation is available in the said port?

You should always keep in mind that when it comes to ports of call, there are three possible scenarios:
– On some, the passengers are permitted to leave or stay on the ship as they choose,
– On some others, the passengers are not permitted to leave the ship,
– While on some, the passengers are not permitted to stay on the ship, and are required to leave it for the time being.
Many people choose to stay on the ship when they are permitted to do so, but there may be some stops where you will be required to leave the ship. The scenarios in which the passengers are asked to leave the ship for the time being are usually due to the sheep needing to be cleaned, or other various maintenance checks needing to be run.
All these things are something you should keep in mind and ask your prospective tourist agency about before deciding on or committing to anything in particular.