APT Travelmarvel Pt 2: Pre and Post Christening in Porto

May 1, 2025 - 18:02

On arrival in Porto, the group boarded the MS Estrela at the marina area of the city, which is close to the beach and approximately 5 minutes by taxi to downtown Porto (€6 in an UBER). I personally love this location as it gives you the option of both a beach and a river holiday.

After some welcome drinks onboard with Michelle Ryan, Country Manager APT Travelmarvel and a quick tour of the ship it was time to attend a pre dinner drink and a VIP dinner at The Lince Santa Clara hosted by Visit Portugal, Visit Porto and North Portugal and the Vila do Conde Municipality. This was a wow dinner in an incredible location, and it was great to spend time with our old friend Celina Tavares from Visit Portugal UK (those will remember her from her time here as Product Manager for the Portuguese Tourism Office in Dublin) and Ricardo Dinis of TAP Air Portugal along with the 60 strong trade and media onboard.

The next morning we attended the glitz and glamour of the Christening Marvel-ous! APT Travelmarvel Christens Two Ships – ittn.ie.

After the Christening, it was on to sample what this ship and the Douro could offer guests. Waking up to a little bit of a sore head, it was straight down to breakfast to sample the buffet and grab some strong coffee! I took an omelette which was freshly made by the onboard chef, it was perfect for the day ahead. Breakfast onboard river-ships is normally served from 7:30am – 9:30am. With some offering earlier and later smaller options in the lounge. After breakfast we all transferred to Regua for a Port Tasting Tour and a tour of the famous Sandeman Port house where we sampled 4 different types of Port under the guidance of our in-house leader.

Afterwards, it was time to head back to the ship as we sailed our way back to Porto through some magnificent scenery and locks including the tallest lock in continental Europe, The Carrapatelo Lock on the Douro River, with a lift of 115 feet – which had the whole ship enthralled.

Later the group met in the lounge for pre-dinner drinks before heading to a celebratory gala dinner in the Main Restaurant, which was incredibly curated. After dinner we took to the front deck for Illumination Cruise of Porto followed by a live band sponsored by VOX Guiding Solutions, where everyone danced until they couldn’t anymore!
On the final day, everyone got to check out what Porto has to offer for sightseeing and shopping, with many of the group contributing healthily to the local economy – shoes, shoes and more shoes was the order of the day! The group then joined together to enjoy lunch in the Sandeman Restaurant, along the river before saying a warm goodbye to all the team at APT Travelmarvel and flying home to Ireland.

Check out our video interview of APT Travelmarvel CEO David Cox here to hear what makes Travelmarvel unique in the market.

APT Travelmarvel has just released a brand-new lead-in fare for June-August 2025 for the Travelmarvel Douro Discovery itinerary – now with a bonus €300pp savings at just €2195pp including a flight allowance with direct options from both Shannon and Dublin.