I am on my first river cruise and as I write this, our ship, Queen Isabel, has just crossed the deepest lock in Europe, the Carrapatelo Dam, at 35 metres: It’s quite an amazing experience, watching your boat rise to meet the other side of the river, and you marvel at the engineering feats that have made these crossings possible.

Our captain, who’s been sailing on the Duoro River for more than 20 years, tells me the ships that sail this main waterway of Portugal are custom-made to cross the locks. On this journey from Porto where we will eventually end up in Madrid, we will cross five locks.

Waiting our turn to cross the Carrapatelo lock. It’s a 35m lift and a fascinating operation to watch.

Beyond learning about the engineering feats, I’ve been amazed at this new world I’ve discovered, that of river cruising and a market segment I’ve written about but never lived it first-hand and now that I am myself nearing my silver years, will soon be a part of.

There are close to 100 passengers onboard this seven-day sailing. They are mainly retirees, mostly couples and groups of friends, ranging from 60s to 80s from the US and UK, with some from Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

I think, at first sighting of my god-daughter and I during the cruise briefing, they probably thought we’d join the wrong holiday. Not only were we the only customers from Asia â€" our waiter tells us that we’re the first Malaysians he’s ever served â€" my god-daughter, Kim, in her early 20s, is definitely not in their demographic and dare I say, myself included.

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