MS Miguel Torga: built in 2017, designed around port wine and the Eiffel bridge
The MS Miguel Torga was delivered in 2017. Of the 5 ships CroisiEurope operates on the Douro, hers is the newest hull. She is 80 metres long and 11.40 metres wide, carries 132 passengers across 3 decks and has 25 crew, one crew member for a little over 5 passengers.
An interior that speaks of the city you board in
Burgundy dominates, the wood is pale, and black steel hoops run through the fit-out. Those are port wine barrels, transposed into a ship. The riveted steel structures and the photographs at reception refer to the Eiffel bridge, the metal architecture spanning the Douro that gives Porto its unmistakable silhouette. Large windows open the restaurant onto the valley.
It works because it is not trying to look luxurious. It is trying to look Portuguese, and it gets there with two or three ideas applied throughout rather than a catalogue of materials. A passenger who steps ashore in Porto and walks the riverbank finds in the city what they saw on board. Few river ships attempt that link.
A writer rather than a navigator
Miguel Torga is the exception in this fleet. The other 4 ships carry explorers' names; hers belongs to a country doctor who became one of the most widely read Portuguese writers of the 20th century, born in the north of the country a few dozen kilometres from the valley the ship climbs. He wrote about earth, stone and the people who stay. On an itinerary built around vineyards cut by hand into schist, the name fits better than a navigator's would.
Three decks, one lift, and the cabin question
The 3 decks come with the lift CroisiEurope reserves for this class. CroisiEurope does not publish cabin surface areas for this ship, and we will not invent them: we obtain the deck plan from the cruise line before you choose your category. As on the MS Gil Eanes, the gap between decks comes down to the type of window, and that detail is what separates two fares.
The figures to compare, across the 5 Douro ships: 80 metres long, 11.40 metres wide, 132 passengers, 25 crew, 3 decks, built in 2017. Capacities on this river run from 132 to 138 passengers, 6 people between the smallest and the largest. Build years run from 2002 to 2017, and refits from 2015 to 2026. That is where the real difference between 2 neighbouring fares sits.
Getting to Porto from Montreal
No non-stop flight links Montreal-Trudeau with Porto. The connection is made through Lisbon, Paris or Frankfurt. Allow a full day outbound, arrive the day before embarkation, and add 2 nights on site if your calendar allows: the bridge you will see at the ship's reception deserves to be crossed on foot.
What is included and what is not
Full board, drinks with meals and at the bar, onboard entertainment. Excursions depend on the departure, as a package or individually. Gratuities are not included, and neither is travel insurance. We give you the line-by-line detail and explain the scope of Quebec's FICAV fund before anything is signed.
Who she suits
Travellers who care about the condition and character of the ship as much as the itinerary. Those who want the most recent refit should look at the MS Infante Don Henrique, whose fit-out dates from 2026. Like the other 4 Douro ships, the Miguel Torga has a pool on her sun deck. Anyone comparing fares on this river should know that the MS Fernão de Magalhães was refurbished in 2015, eleven years ago. The full fleet is on our CroisiEurope cruises page.
