I have toured a lot of vineyards during cruise sailing shore excursions. This one was different.
On a blue-sky, warm September day in Portugal’s Douro Valley, I could see plump, ripe grapes on hillside vines as I walked with a small group of fellow guests off Silversea Cruises’ 636-passenger Silver Spirit around the 300-year-old Quinta do Vallado vineyard, producer of red and white table wines and port. We headed behind an architecturally stunning high-tech production facility to watch vineyard workers, some in straw hats, carefully space out clusters of handpicked purple grapes on a conveyor.
The fruity smell perfumed the air. While the vineyard uses the time-honored process of workers linking arms while crushing grapes with their feet, at least for some of its wines, that wasn’t taking place the day of our visit. Still, we were able to see the results in a maceration trough, before enjoying a lunch of olives, ham, cheese, and grilled steak (or the vegetarian lasagna option) served with house wines under a grape-laden trellis.
There is a big difference between visiting a vineyard any time to look at steel fermentation tanks and oak aging barrels and visiting a vineyard during harvest season when the magic of creating wine begins with fruit coming off the vine.
Grape harvest cruising
Silversea’s new grape harvest cruises include stops in wine-rich destinations like Porto, Portugal.
Photo by Matt Roskovec/Unsplash
This year, luxury small-ship line Silversea Cruises debuted a series of late summer and early fall cruises focused on exploring Portugal, France, and Spain during harvest season. Our 10-night sailing, one of seven this year, was round trip from Lisbon.
Marketed as S.A.L.T Culinary Voyages, the itineraries are part of Silversea’s larger S.A.L.T. (Sea And Land Taste) program. The S.A.L.T. program offers interactive shipboard experiences and shore excursions that focus on regional food and wine traditions. The Culinary Voyages take that concept a step further by building itineraries around specific seasons and regional cuisine, such as wine and truffle sailings in Europe and market-focused explorations of Asia.
Our cruise, which I boarded along with my wine-loving daughter-in-law, afforded guests the opportunity to experience the wines of Portugal in the Douro Valley, the La Rioja region from ports in Bilbao and Santander, Spain, the Albariño wines of Spain’s Galicia (from the port city of Vigo), and Bordeaux’s famed wines in France, plus the famous cider of Gijón, Spain.
Unfortunately, our Bordeaux visit was a tad late for this year, with extreme heat forcing the need for early picking. But it was still exciting to get up early to observe our sail from the Atlantic’s Bay of Biscay onto the region’s Gironde estuary, past vineyards and châteaus dotting the banks of the Medoc region and wine towns such as Pauillac before the Garonne branches off to Bordeaux.
Later, we sipped and learned about the famous red wine and eponymous region Margaux, including a sunny 2019 and vintage 2015 pour—during an excursion to a historic Grand Cru estate, Château Prieuré-Lichine (priced at $199 per person). We also stopped at the venerable Château Margaux, which was completed in 1815 and represents a history of wine-trading that dates back to the 15th century. Thomas Jefferson famously raved about the wine after a visit in 1787. Here, we posed for photos with sun-ripened grapes approaching the end of their cycle.
Tasting and sipping through Portugal, France, and Spain
The storied Château Margaux in France’s Bordeaux region is an essential stop on any wine-focused sailing in the region.
Photo by D. Bond/Shutterstock
Thanks to late-night or overnight stays in most ports, there was ample time to sip, dine, and stroll on land.
If you wanted to fill your schedule with wine-related tours, such as our full-day tour from Porto (at $309 per person), you could. In Bilbao, we passed on a tour to the historic fishing town of Bermeo, which included a Txacoli winetasting ($139 each), in favor of taking ourselves to the Frank Gehry–designed Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, a contemporary art museum. From Vigo, Spain, we booked a shore excursion to Santiago de Compostela (priced at $119 per person) to hike past farms and into the forest for a tiny sample of the famous pilgrimage trail.
Some shore excursions were costlier than others—the most extravagant, from Bordeaux, a S.A.L.T. truffle experience at a château, cost $769 per person.
In Bordeaux, our ship docked in the city center. Michelle and I headed ashore on our own in search of oysters and fries at the Marché des Capucins. We skipped a for-a-fee French cheese and winetasting on the ship in favor of dinner with wine at a cheese cave in the city.
Culinary education onboard
The Silver Spirit recently underwent a complete overhaul and relaunched in May 2026 with brand-new S.A.L.T. features, including a new S.A.L.T. Kitchen, Lab, and Bar, with included culinary offerings. For my daughter-in-law and me, these were among our favorite areas and experiences on the ship.
At the S.A.L.T. Kitchen, we dined on Portuguese specialties, including roasted cod with pil-pil sauce (made of olive oil, dried chile, and garlic) and kale soup, while sipping complimentary Portuguese wines. The menus change every few days, inspired by the cuisine of the countries on the itinerary. Another day we enjoyed a Mariscada Gallega, a traditional seafood platter from the Galicia region of Spain, accompanied by Spanish wines.
Complimentary cooking classes at the S.A.L.T. Lab, equipped with five induction stovetops for 10 students, were hosted by the affable and knowledgeable S.A.L.T. host Lyroy Padiachy from Mauritius, who is fluent in French and worked at Alain Ducasse restaurants in France before beginning a career at sea. Inspired by the ingredients and cuisines of Bordeaux, Padiachy carefully led us through making duck fat potatoes and Entrecôte à la Bordelaise, steaks with a reduced red wine sauce, with both humor and insight. In another class, we focused on Galician preparations of octopus with paprika potatoes and mussels with chorizo.
Silversea Cruises’ culinary-focused S.A.L.T. program includes cooking classes in its S.A.L.T. Lab facility.
Courtesy of Silversea Cruises
We had an equally delightful experience doing pre-dinner drinks in the S.A.L.T. Bar, where the menu was focused on regional harvest ingredients. A truffle martini was odd at first, but tasty as I continued to sip. After chatting with bartender Agus Edi, we learned he had recently won the Bacardi Bartender of the Seas in Barcelona (an annual competition for cruise bartenders) for his winning drink, “the Dirty Elder,” an elderflower dirty martini with cucumber, inspired by his father, a farmer in Bali. So, I also ordered up. I could have stayed in the bar all night—but didn’t.
During the culinary history lectures hosted by Padiachy I learned about pastel de nata, sweet Portuguese egg tarts, which originated in convents, while watching the chef cook on the stage in the ship’s theater. The results were delicious.
Oddly, even though there were complimentary wine pours with meals (and a wine menu for those wanting to upgrade), there was only one complimentary sommelier-led winetasting session, which featured Atlantic wines. Attempts to get people to sign up for paid sessions—such as a premium champagne tasting (for $199 per person) and another with Bordeaux wines—did not seem to go well as they were canceled.
What it’s like sailing on Silver Spirit
On our ultra-luxury ship with 598 passengers and 408 crew members aboard there were treats throughout, including cold towels for cooling off, daily flavored waters such as orange rosemary or pineapple ginger offered every time we returned from being on shore, and so many wonderful fresh flowers throughout the ship, including an impressive orchid in our spacious classic veranda suite. Every passenger has a tuxedo-clad butler, and ours, a young woman from India with a B.A. in hospitality, delivered my request of caviar and potato chips late afternoon and made sure there was always sauvignon blanc cold in our fridge.
Overall, the crew was friendly, welcoming, and personable.
Guests, mostly American couples but also some solo travelers, spent their down time participating in trivia competitions, lounging on sunbeds while sipping the spritz of the day on the pool deck, and attending history lectures and dance classes.
Newly added amenities include outdoor fitness equipment (rowing machines and an exercise bike) at the enhanced Zagara Spa and fitness center, and a golf putting area, which I passed while doing laps on the jogging track.
Dress at night was suggested as casual yet elegant except for one formal night, when few dressed to the nines—and some didn’t dress up at all.
In addition to complimentary dining options, the ship’s specialty Japanese restaurant, Seishin ($40 extra per person), serves a delicious uni with truffle among the courses and, appropriate to the itinerary, La Dame ($60 per person) serves classic French fare. The sommelier at La Dame paired a dish of foie gras and pears with a sweet wine from Cadillac on the banks of the Garonne. Pricey, regional-focused options, included a special truffle dinner.
Our preferred destinations on the ship were outdoor venues. One night we dined at the Italian restaurant, La Terrezza, where we enjoyed excellent truffle gnocchi alfresco accompanied by the night’s complimentary house pour, a full-bodied red from Château Villa Bel-Air in Graves, as we viewed the Iberian Peninsula.
How to book a fall wine harvest cruise
During fall wine harvest sailings, the point is to go slow and sip and savor along the way.
Photo by Jennifer Yung/Unsplash
Several cruise lines have tapped into the joy and benefits of experiencing Europe’s wine harvest by creating itineraries that explore famed wine regions during the fall, when grapes are traditionally coming off the vine and winemakers are often hosting unique events to celebrate the season.
Silversea’s Grape Harvest cruises
Silversea has two grape harvest cruises scheduled in 2027, beginning with a 12-night sailing from Southampton, U.K., to Lisbon on Silver Spirit, embarking August 25, with fares from $7,300 per person. The 596-passenger Silver Dawn will do a 13-night Grape Harvest sailing on a similar route, embarking on September 15, with fares from $11,000 per person.
Amawaterways’ Celebration of Wine river cruises
River cruise line AmaWaterways hosts Celebrations of Wine sailings, including during harvest time on Europe’s Rhine River, such as a one-week sailing on the 156-passenger AmaLucia between Basel, Switzerland, and Amsterdam, embarking August 26, 2027, with fares starting at $4,329 per person. Included is a visit to the historic riesling winemaking town of Rüdesheim, Germany. Wine hosts onboard will lead tastings and discussions.
Windstar’s Culinary & Wine cruises
On September 8, 2027, Windstar Cruises will host a Culinary & Wine cruise featuring cuisine from James Beard finalist chef Cara Tobin from Vermont and two winetasting workshops with vintners. On an eight-day harvest time sailing from Athens to Istanbul through the Corinth Canal on the 312-passenger Star Legend, guests will sip Greek white wines from Assyrtiko and Athiri and enjoy Aidani grapes grown on the hillsides of Santorini. Fares start at $4,364 per person.
