Douro River cruise in Portugal

Planet

We are dedicated to making a positive impact on the world through our commitments to celebrating diversity, giving back to local communities and reducing our impact on the environment. Whether it’s learning about new cultures, supporting local economies or striving to reduce paper waste and eliminate single-use plastics on board and ashore, we believe that, together, we can make the world a more positive place – one river at a time.
The ships are compact and only carry a limited number of passengers per voyage, which allows for smaller engines and therefore lower carbon emissions.
From the design of our ships to the green measures we’ve taken on board and in our shoreside offices, we continue to innovate and explore new ways we can enhance our efforts in sustainable tourism. our river cruise fleet has been beautifully and thoughtfully designed with eco-friendly elements. These include energy-saving LED lights, special insulated windows that reduce energy needs for heating and cooling, power locks to plug into a port’s power supply instead of running generators, solar heating systems, water treatment plants that use a membrane technology to provide microfiltration and recycling of all water used on board.

People

While on shore, we developed culturally immersive, small group excursions; Special Interest Tours, focusing on the local flavours; and biking and hiking adventures.
We use the highest-quality, locally sourced food and wine, supporting many small producers to maintain their traditional farming methods. This also help to keep food miles to a minimum. Every passenger can do their bit to increase the environmental nature of their voyage. Simple things like recycling and not wasting food whilst aboard as well as reusing towels are great ways to help out.
By using river boats we can spread the financial benefit of tourism along the river.
After sampling the local cuisine use one of our fleet of complimentary bikes to explore the local areas of interest.
The slower pace of river cruising means you have more free time in port and can step right off into the heart of the city and explore, thus putting money back into the local economy.