You start in the Tivoli in Lisbon: Astheticlly a nice hotel. It is missing many high level hotel details. What drove many in our group crazy was that there is no shelf or place to put the soap/shampoo in the shower, leading to a more difficult shower. After a long day of touring, I like to tune into TV, but there were only 2 English speaking channels and they left little to be desired. What was most troubling is that the headboards are not fixed properly, so we heard several different hotel rooms “quickly slamming their headboards to the wall” (if you get what I mean). The soundproofing in this hotel is horrific and if you are not listening to screaming people on the street, you are listening to your neighbors getting busy in their rooms or doors slamming out in the hallways. Viking provided breakfast included at their restaurant and it was a great spread and the service was good. From a service perspective, the hotel staff rarely answers the phone, so you are forced to go downstairs and wait in line for even the most minor of things.

We went one day ahead of the cruise and book a private tour of Sinstra, which was our very best day on this vacation! Pena Palace and the Moore Castle was amazing and we paid about $140/pp and had a private car and driver on our own (same price as the ship charges to go on a bus with 30 people and do the cattle call).

Day in Lisbon: Read more