WILTON, CT — Tauck has unveiled first-ever interior images of its new ms Andorinha riverboat, set to debut on the Douro in April 2020.

Featuring elements of Portuguese culture, the interior décor and design details include traditional painted ceramic tiles, or ‘azulejos’, which were brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors and gained widespread popularity in Portugal during the 1500s. Tiles adorn several areas of the Andorinha, including its main Compass Rose restaurant, and alternative dining venue on the Sun Deck.

Other notable design elements include a soaring atrium, a handpainted tile mosaic map in the reception area depicting the Iberian Peninsula, and decorative, in-cabin wall lamps that are suggestive of grapevines, a nod to Portugal’s viniculture.

Andorinha’s name is in itself reflective of Portuguese culture, as it refers to a species of small migratory swallow that travel to Africa each winter and return to Portugal every spring. The birds mate for life and return each year to the same nest, as such small porcelain figurines of andorinhas have become a national symbol of family, fidelity and home.

The Andorinha is set to sail on its first cruises along the Douro this April, following its christening in Porto on March 31. It will accommodate just 84 guests, versus up to 112 passengers (or 33% more people) on other cruise lines’ ships of the same size.

Tauck is offering three Douro River itineraries aboard the new ship this year, including 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 for families.