Amazon River Cruise

Anyone out there ever done Iberostar Amazon Cruise? Any info would be very helpful. DH and I would like to do an Amazon River cruise next year. Any recommendations as to what line? Because of work rules, cannot do more than 14 days. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Barb

Hi,

If you are looking for a wonderful trip on a 1920 style boat look at GAP Adventure out of Canada. We took this trip 2 years ago--one week on the Peruvian Amazon and one week beteen Lima and Macchu Pichu. There were only about 40 of us on board. It was spectucular. Rooms had A/C and private baths. Meals were open seating and buffet style. They even cooked the paranaha that we caught. There were canopy walks, jungle walksand skiff cruising. It was a more intimate journey than the larger Iberostar. On our Jan Antartica trip, there was a gentleman who had just taken that trip and had nothing but good to say about it. Pat

We did Vantage Deluxe Brazil & the Amazon a couple of years ago. The trip featured 7-days on the Iberostar. Ship was less that half-full. Food mediocre at best. AND it's a rainforest. Good trip, but NOT among our best. Highlight was Iguasu Falls.:confused:

We went with Natural Habitats and they were awesome. We did the Galapagos Island cruise 2nd and the Amazon in Ecuador 1st, actually the Amazon Jungle and a trubutary of the Amazon River. We cruised around in canoes all day and spent evenings in lovely well appointed huts with fantastic food and wonderful service. not your typical river cruise but may be worth exploring. This company does have the actual riverboat cruising in the Amazon and probably does a great job if our experience is typical of them. look up nathab.com

Hi Barbydaul

We don't know anything about Iberostar. We loved our small, exclusive Amazon cruise on the Delfin. Our review was posted on Cruise Critic at: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=779709

We understand that Lissy and Aldo now have a second and more luxurious ship. Here's all of the information I have for them:

http://delfinamazon.blogspot.com/

Operational Headquarters

Av. Abelardo Quiñones Km 5

Iquitos, Provincia de Maynas

Loreto, Perú

Tel: (51-65) 26-2721 (51-65) 26-2713

Sales & Marketing

Martin Olaya 169#604

Miraflores, Lima 27 – Perú

Tel: (51-1) 719-0999 (5-11) 719-0998

Fax: (51-1) 717-1682

E-mail: info@delfinamazoncruises.com

Aldo Macchiavello Lavaggi

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

aldom@delfinamazoncruises.com

tel: (51-1) 719-0998 (51-65) 26-2721

Lissy Urteaga

Co-Founder, Sales & Service Manager

lissy@delfinamazoncruises.com

tel: (51-1) 719-0998 (51-65) 26-2721

Have a wonderful time. aledm

Blog: http://travelingloveaffair.blogspot.com

photo website: http://aledm@fototime.com

There are a few threads about Iberostar on the Amazon in the South America section of Cruise Critic. I saw the ship when in Manaus for 3 days and it came and went. It looked really nice.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=547410

My Amazon River cruise turned into a "total disappointment". I'll never book another vacation with them.

Beware of potential problems booking and paying for a vacation with Vantage Deluxe World Travel. They will cancel your trip that was already paid in full, not notify you in a timely manner, and not reply to your concerns. Vantage cancelled my vacation (that was paid in full) in May 06 and didn't notify me until Sept 06. Over the past year and a half I have sent this letter (below) to them over a dozen times (by USPS, email, and over their website, etc.). They have never responded. They are great at booking a vacation and taking your maoney; however, I've seen absolutely no customer service from them. They do not "service what they sell".

15 Sep 06

Henry Lewis

Chief Executive Officer

Vantage Deluxe World Travel

90 Canal Street

Boston, MA 02114-2031

Dear Mr. Lewis,

Ref: Customer ID: XXXXXXX, Invoice # XXXXXXX, Brazil & the Amazon River Cruise, departure date of the trip 11 Mar 07 (actually 8 Mar 07 with pre-trip extension).

We booked the referenced trip on 25 April 2006!!! Yesterday morning (14 Sep 06) we received a call from Cory Cowen (Vantage employee on ext. 7506) indicating that our trip was cancelled since they changed the vacation to a “President’s Small Ship Cruise”, etc. He indicated we could use our money (that we paid for referenced trip) for another trip or get a refund. I asked him what additional compensation I would get due to fact that Vantage cancelled my trip and for my inconvenience, etc. Basically he said that he didn’t have the authority to offer anything. He did say that if I had a specific trip in mind he could ask his supervisor about compensation. He stated that compensation (if any) would not be very much, and definitely not what I would expect (around $300 or more per person), etc. At this late date, most of my March 2007 choices were already “closed out” and I already have other trips booked for most of the other months, etc. However, I did give him a European river cruise to check on. He said he would “run it by her (his supervisor)” and get back to me in a couple hours. Needless to say he never called back.

After some further research I found out that Vantage had actually cancelled my vacation 4 to 5 months ago. I located a couple old catalogs that list the President’s Brazil & the Amazon River Cruise for the date of my trip as being “sold out”. I called Cory back today and after some “useless discussion” I decided on a refund. He did admit that Vantage had cancelled my trip approximately 4 months ago. He thought it appeared to have been done in May, but had no real explanation as to why I wasn’t notified then.

I would like specific answers to the following questions:

1. When the determination was made to change my trip (actual date) to a “President’s Cruise” why wasn’t I called and given the opportunity to book it (and keep my vacation)?

2. Why did it take Vantage 4 to 5 months to notify me that my trip was cancelled? Wasn’t someone responsible for notifying me in a timely manner?

3. Since booking I had called/emailed Vantage several times asking about the status of my air. The last couple times was this month with Lauri and Susan. Susan never got back to me as she promised and Luari never really adequately answered my questions. Basically I got “sluffed off” and was told that “Your flights are being blocked with the airline on a Group Block and once we have the space all finalized it will be put into your record”. I have no idea what “blocked on a group block” means, etc. However, why didn’t they tell me the trip was already cancelled?

4. I’ll be 58 in November and I can remember when a company would actually value their customers, treat them right, be honest with them, and try to “do right by them when a mistake was made”. Does Vantage really not care about customer satisfaction, repeat business, and/or word of mouth recommendations? We’ve been on over 60 cruises and (since retiring 2 ½ years ago) have taken approximately 8 vacations (over 2 weeks each) per year. This would have been my 2nd vantage trip. I’ve been on 3 Grand Circle trips and will probably book more. In talking to other people on the various vacations, the topic of what other vacations do you like and/or have you taken always comes up. I can honestly say that due to the way I have been treated I would never recommend Vantage to anyone.

5. Why does it take up to 4 weeks (per Cory) to get my refund? Why can’t someone expedite the paperwork?

6. I mentioned to Corey that if I wanted to book another Vantage trip at a later date I would lose my “on board booking credit” and “past traveler discount”. I asked if he could extend these discounts. He said that he didn’t have the authority to do so. Can you give me any reason why would I ever want to book another Vantage vacation?

Note: When I was on my original Vantage trip last March 2006 (Norwegian Crown, South American Explorer) a Princess Cruise ship (Star Princess) caught on fire and they had to cancel several cruises. I was booked on that ship for a transatlantic cruise departing 30 April 2006 and my cruise was cancelled. Before I got home from the Vantage trip, they had already credited my charge card with a full refund. In addition, I had a voice mail message from my travel agent notifying me of such. Also, Princess Cruises offered to fully reimburse me for my nonrefundable air and a 25% (of what I paid) credit for a future Princess cruise. Consequently I’m booked on a Dawn Princess cruise this December. I didn’t expect Vantage to offer a 25% credit on another trip; but I did expect something of significance (i.e. a couple/few hundred dollars per person or maybe an additional 5% off) in lieu of the of the “take it or leave it” offer to rebook any other trip (that still happens to be available) at the full “book rate”.

I can understand Vantage making a management decision to change the Brazil & the Amazon River Cruise to a President’s Cruise. However I can’t understand why I wasn’t offered my cabin on that cruise, at least notified of the change in a timely manner (like last April/May) when the trip was actually cancelled, or told that it was cancelled when I called in (several times) to check on my air schedule. It is really disappointing to see such a “we really don’t care about the customer” attitude from Vantage Deluxe World Travel. I actually thought that they were a better company than that. I guess I was wrong.

Sincerely,

Anyone out there ever done Iberostar Amazon Cruise? Any info would be very helpful. DH and I would like to do an Amazon River cruise next year. Any recommendations as to what line? Because of work rules, cannot do more than 14 days. Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

Barb

I did a 7 day upper Amazon cruise round trip Izquitos with International Expeditions on La Amatista. It was such a superb operation I returned to them for my Gallapagos cruise.

Iberostar grand Amazon cruise - absolutely brill - 7 days was over in a flash! Exceeded our expectations - would have no hestiation in recommending it - the guides were terrific and so knowledgeable - food excellent. Manaus - not too impressed!