Spirit of Chartwell barge

MV Spirit of Chartwell is a luxury hotel barge owned and operated by the Portuguese company Douro Azul. The former Queen's Jubilee barge was bought in September 2012 by Mario Ferreira - president of Mystic Invest Group and CEO of Douro Azul. The ship was revamped to a luxury riverboat for Douro River cruises in Portugal.

The vessel was initially a Rhine cruise ship (MS Vincent van Gogh). In 2010, MV Spirit of Chartwell was refitted and refurbished as luxury Thames River barge cruise ship by the Dutch Kooiman Group. The ship was back then owned and operated by "Magna Carta Steamship Company" for deluxe cruising on Thames River in England. In late 2011, Spirit of Chartwell was selected to be the "royal barge" as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of HM Queen Elizabeth II. On June 3, 2012, the vessel transported the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh along with a flotilla of over 1000 vessels during Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. In June 2012, the ship was sold to Douro Azul.

During its UK service, Spirit of Chartwell was designed in the style of Cote d'Azur Pullman Express deluxe train. The ship still carries artifacts from the authentic train and ocean liners, like SS France, RMS Windsor Castle, and RMS Kenya Castle.

This unique Douro River barge cruise ship has a total of 15 cabins (max capacity 30 passengers). Among the 4-star-hotel onboard amenities are 32-inch flat TVs, single beds, en-suite bathrooms in all staterooms, piano bar lounge, spacious sun deck with sunshade awnings.

Note: You can see the CruiseMapper's list of all river cruise ships and riverboats in the "itinerary" section of our River Cruises hub. All companies and their fleets are listed there.

In 2019, Douro Azul (Mystic Cruises) introduced a new 10-day Douro River itinerary roundtrip from homeport Oporto. Prices started from USD 2030 pp (double occupancy rates).