The escorting touring and river cruise specialist will offer three new itineraries onboard the 84-guest Andorinha from spring 2020.
The vessel will have a crew of 36 and measure 263ft in length with a beam of 38ft.
Guests will be accommodated in 42 cabins, including 12 300-sq ft suites on the upper Diamond Deck, and 20 225-sq ft staterooms primarily on the vessel’s Ruby or mid-level deck.
The remaining accommodations – six 200-sq ft cabins and four 150-sq ft cabins – will be on the lower or Emerald Deck.
The Andorinha will also feature a Panorama Lounge, Compass Rose restaurant for fine dining, and a second dining venue, Arthur’s (named for Tauck chairman Arthur Tauck Jr), serving more casual fare.
Dan Mahar, Tauck chief executive, said: “At Tauck, we measure success by the quality of the experience we provide for our guests, and one of the best ways to ensure a warm, relaxing and engaging atmosphere onboard is to avoid crowding too many guests into a limited space.
“Riverboats sailing the Douro average 260ft in length and accommodate as many as 130 passengers. That’s 55% more guests in the same space, and you just can’t deliver the same level of experience or ambiance with those kinds of numbers.”
Mahar hinted the Andorinha would boast a number of design features to make it “perfectly suited” to cruising the Douro.
“The Douro is a very different river, and so we’ve been consciously deliberate with the ship’s design. We won’t be the first company to operate on the Douro when we launch next year, but in terms of infrastructure, we’re excited to have some surprises in store that will truly differentiate us.”
Tauck will offer three new Douro River itineraries onboard the Andorinha.
A 12-day journey that bookends a seven-night Douro cruise with two-night hotel stays in Lisbon and Madrid; an eight-day cruise-only itinerary along the river; and an eight-day Tauck Bridges cruise designed specifically for families, with four departures slated for late June/early July 2020.
Itinerary details and pricing will be announced later this year.
