Is anyone Live on the Caribbean to the Amazon?

The ship hosted a great New Year Eve party last night, good music and plenty of champagne as midnight approached. Very enjoyable. Today they had a nice brunch.

We are doing this tour on the VSky in February and hoping for better tha you’ve received esp. MD and land tours. Are there any

Formal nights? How bad are the mesquitoes?

Thanks for your insights.

NO formal nights!

There were a couple optional tours with Viking on My Viking Journey -in Santarem and Manaus - tours that took place outside of these cities in the forests/jungle. There are also private official tour companies in Manaus that have well documented reviews on both CC and TripAdvisor as well as backing by the Brazil Tourism Board that I know did a good job on this trip for some passengers.....it would be great to hear feedback from those who took the Viking tours that I am referring to.

On the Viking Dec-Jan 2018 Amazon cruise we took the optional Santa Lucia Nature Walk in Santarem and were disappointed. It started out with about a 30-45 minute bus ride out of town. On the way there was little commentary as there is not much to see as the town appears quite depressed. (Saw on the sidewalk what looked like a dead dog with a flock of buzzards waiting around it). When we got to the site we were given an introduction to the property owner, a glass of local liquor, shown samples of wood in the area and directed to washrooms. Then the tour started.

For what seemed like two hours we wandered single file in a group of about 25 through a meandering trail. Our bus guide was at the front who spoke English and one at the back who would provide detail info (in Portuguese) to our bus guide who then explained to us. Most of the info pertained to the different types of trees that grew there. Some info dealt with the animals but we saw none. Highlight was when guide disturbed an ant nest and what looked like two inch long ants went scurrying about. Near the end of tour someone spotted a bat in a tree. There was the odd flying bug but no more than you see in a North American forest. (Some people came covered head to toe in bug mesh and looked a bit out of place. There was also one woman in shorts and flipflops - to each their own.)

Because you could hear the other tour groups it became apparent early on that our tour was just one of several in the area wandering adjacent trails so any wildlife would be long gone. The info on the different trees was interesting but because the trails were confining it had to be explained/shown to a few of us at a time.

We heard that the people who just went on the included tour of Santarem in the town saw more wildlife and also saw several interesting demonstrations of local culture.

Has anyone done any tours where you see wildlife, ie, specifically toucans or sloths?

Has anyone done any tours where you see wildlife, ie, specifically toucans or sloths?

We have seen toucans on a number of tours in Costa Rica. Always on the Pacific side, but I assume you may see them also on the Caribbean side.

After reading and following the reviews from the first two Amazon sailings, we decided to DIY. We are on the November sailing and are going Private tour in Manaus. Working on the same in Santarem. Hopefully that will afford us some opportunities to see some wildlife. If not it will afford us to see more of the area in a small group out away from the cities. In Parintins we will go to the Boi Bumba show with the ship. In Belem - that is the big question as only once did Viking stop here and it didn’t go so well. After private research, I think we will most likely DIY this port.

That all said, we are much more inclined to DIY regardless of where we travel and which Cruise Line we travel on. This isn’t necessarily a negative reflection of Viking.

Thank you both. Lots more research to do here.