Aqua Expeditions - Amazon

Is anyone on this forum familiar with the company Aqua Expeditions, the ship MV Aqua, which does the Peruvian Amazon trips?

We are booked for a 3 night cruise in September and looking for anyone who has been on that ship, any advice.

Thanks,

PatC

Lucky you! I did a 4-nite cruise on the Aqua's sister ship, the Aria, this past May (which is highwater season) and it was fabulous! The ships are basically the same - they are both very intimate but beautifully laid out & elegantly decorated. There's a feeling of openness and spaciousness that is very luxurious & relaxing. The guides were extremely well-versed in flora & fauna (including the care & feeding of tourists) the food was delicious, and of course cruising the Amazonian headwaters itself is an experience never-to-be-forgotten. If you have specific questions, fire away. Happy to give you my impressions.

I would love to exchange some information regarding what to pack. We are taking this cruise in January

You'll be in the skiffs out on the water or on nature trails during the day so I would recommend long, khaki (or light colored) trousers & tops. Mosquitoes are drawn to black or dark colored garments, so choose your wardrobe accordingly. To avoid sunburn, bugs and contact with plants that can cause pain or injury, I would suggest wearing long sleeves (the sort that can be rolled up or down as needed) and long pants, both in light-weight fabrics. Out on the water after sundown it can get cool and you'll be glad for long sleeves and trousers. After your last outing of the day, you'll want a shower and then you can dress up a bit for dinner, if you like. A pretty top & a long skirt or slacks is fine with sandals. Pack bug repellent (individually packaged wipes are very handy), some sort of packable sun-shading hat and DON'T FORGET your camera and a good pair of binoculars. You'll probably have a chance to swim in the river (we did), so bring your swimsuit. Is that helpful? Let me know if you have other questions.

Very helpful! Thanks so much!

We were on the Aqua 9/13 - 9/16. This is the Amazon low-water season, so our experience/opinion is based on that and we can't speak to the differences encountered during high-water season.

First a warning (not specific to Aqua Expeditions) - be very careful at the airport in Iquitos. There are very aggressive men who will grab your luggage, throw them on a cart and then demand to be paid, not only for themselves but demand you pay their "helpers". I had checked in with the Aqua rep while waiting for our luggage and thankfully he noticed and was able to intercede when a guy grabbed our suitcases from us and started off with them, intending to hold them for ransom I guess!

Being low-water, we were not able to board the Aqua in Iquitos so there were two passenger vans with a trailer for luggage (and a police guard) ready to take us to Nauta, 90 minutes from Iquitos, after a nice lunch at a restaurant out on the river and a very short Iquitos city tour.

The Aqua is very nice and the cabins are outstanding! Be advised and do not accept an aft cabin on deck 1 unless you are not bothered by engine noise (there is a reason you are given earplugs in the gift package). The cabins are made up/attended to 3 times a day, you will be showering more than once! Cabin air conditioning is kept quite cold to combat the high humidity.

Food is very good, breakfasts have many choices including cooked to order eggs etc. We found the dinners, fixed menu unless you have special needs, quite small, some desserts served in tiny shot size glasses and no seconds, lol!

Service is excellent, everyone is helpful and pleasant. The naturalist guides are outstanding and rotate on the skiffs so you experience each one.

The activities are 85% geared towards birdwatchers, which can get a bit tedious for non-birders, though being out on the rivers is amazing and they do spot sloths, monkeys, etc. as well. Rubber boots are provided for the jungle walk, mosquito repellent is always available to apply before boarding the skiffs, large ponchos are provided in case of sudden downpours. If your shoes get dirty/muddy, you must take them off and leave them on the boarding deck and they will be cleaned.

Wakeup calls vary between 5:30am - 6:30 am, no sleeping in!

Highlights for me were the night excursion to spot/catch cayman and other night creatures and the visit to the village and school.

Happy to answer any other questions if I can!

Chaching- thanks for that helpful advice- I believe January is high water season so there will be some differences for us. Good to know well on advance about the issues with the Iquitos airport! We shall be very careful, you can be sure. Regarding the small portions- at least we won't gain weight on the trip!

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We were on the Aria in July. One of my questions in advance was whether we should take one of the shorter trips or stay on board for a week. We did the short itinerary are are very happy that we hadn't extended the trip. It is a wonderful experience but was starting to get repetitive at the end. As well, the bird and animal sightings were not that up close and personal - for some reason, I was expecting to come face to face with a toucan! Not so - for us, the birds, sloths, etc. required binoculars in order to be seen easily.

I know that the conditions vary tremendously throughout the year, so I'd ask questions about what to expect when. For us, we loved just being on the Amazon and enjoyed our visit to a village school very much.

The crew is excellent. One of the things that can happen on a small boat is that a few people can kind of take over the dynamics. That is not the ship's fault, but we did have one loud, energy sapping small group on our boat.

I will be sailing Aqua in March -- which is on the cusp of the dry/wet season. Not sure what to expect there! I have a couple of questions.

-Did you take malaria medication?

-Any other recommended shots?

-What did gentlemen wear at night? Polo shirts or something else?

-Will jeans be too warm in the climate?

-What alcoholic beverages are included in the cost?

-What else is available at a surcharge on board, laundry, souvenirs, etc.?

-Was there any language barrier on board. We are English speakers with about a 15 word Spanish vocabulary!

Thanks in advance for your help!

I will be sailing Aqua in March -- which is on the cusp of the dry/wet season. Not sure what to expect there! I have a couple of questions.

 

-Did you take malaria medication?

-Any other recommended shots?

-What did gentlemen wear at night? Polo shirts or something else?

-Will jeans be too warm in the climate?

-What alcoholic beverages are included in the cost?

-What else is available at a surcharge on board, laundry, souvenirs, etc.?

-Was there any language barrier on board. We are English speakers with about a 15 word Spanish vocabulary!

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

We sail on Aria next week(one week cruise)and will be able to report back after the trip. I can tell you that the guides all speak English. We are bringing Malarone (for Malaria) on the recommendation of the travel department at our HMO . We also got yellow fever and typhoid shots and you should be up to date on the Hepatitis shots. (not sure if it is A and B or A and C). Wine and maybe beer is included with meals and other alcoholic beverages are paid for as you go. There is NO laundry service available on the ship so be prepared to hand wash any items you might want to wear again. There is supposedly a clothesline in the shower. There is a gift shop on board-this is on their website. Also be aware of the Pack for a purpose program: http://www.packforapurpose.org/destinations/south-america/peru/aqua-expeditions

you will want to look at the list and save room in your luggage to bring some items for the kids and/or the clinic. I have also heard that you will want soft sided luggage so that you can empty your bag and put the duffels under the bed. If you bring large, hard-shelled suitcases they will clutter up your cabin. Unlike some larger cruise lines, your bags will have to be stored in your cabin. Hope this helps.

cant wait to hear about your trip when you get back

We were on the Aqua Amazon cruise in September. If you would like to see photos specific to this segment of our trip to Peru you can go to my album at

PS: The naturalist/guide, Ricardo, was one of the best guides ever!

mostly birds??? or did you see other wild life?

how were the bugs?

The Aqua cruise as we experienced it in September during low water season was heavily slanted towards riding in the skiffs and spotting birds, sloths and small monkeys in the trees, though most were at quite a distance. We did do a jungle walk one afternoon where we were "introduced" to a tarantula, small boa constrictor, various lizards, etc. My favorite excursion was the one after dark where we searched for caiman and other night creatures.

Bugs were not an issue at all during the trip, though we were reminded before every excursion to apply repellent which was provided in the area where the life jackets are put on before boarding the skiffs.

The cruise was very enjoyable, however, not being a "birder", the 4 day expedition was quite enough for me.

Hi Chaching316,

We are new to this website but trying to get more info. re Aqua Cruises as we are traveling with them in March on the 4 night itinerary in one of their master suites...also staying at Inkaterra MP. (Loved your pics by the way).

Not sure how to ask questions directly to you...please let us know if you receive this message.

Thanks ExplorerH

To ExplorerH - please feel free to contact me at

Psc316 at yahoo dot com ( spelled out to counter email spammers)

Happy to answer questions about our trip with Aqua Expeditions.

Pat

I will be sailing Aqua in March -- which is on the cusp of the dry/wet season. Not sure what to expect there! I have a couple of questions.

 

-Did you take malaria medication?

-Any other recommended shots?

-What did gentlemen wear at night? Polo shirts or something else?

-Will jeans be too warm in the climate?

-What alcoholic beverages are included in the cost?

-What else is available at a surcharge on board, laundry, souvenirs, etc.?

-Was there any language barrier on board. We are English speakers with about a 15 word Spanish vocabulary!

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

We had a wonderful one week cruise on the Aria 1/2-1/9/2015. We spent most of our time with two other couples and a single gentleman as we were all "one weekers." We ate together at meals and shared a skiff for all of the excursions. As some events are repeated later in the week for the 4 night cruisers our requests to do other excursions instead of a second village visit and extra boat rides instead of touring Nauta and finally a longer jungle walk were all accommodated. The lunches and dinners are gourmet Peruvian-this type of food may not appeal to everyone but I am sure that individual requests for say, a basic burger or sandwich would be accommodated. Personally I thought the food was wonderful. We changed our supposedly noisy cabin on deck one to 203 on deck two. We had been told the ship was full but there were actually around 24 passengers for the entire week. Both my husband and I stopped the malaria medication as it made us sick(I did after the second dose, he waited another day). The guides assured us that the malaria is only found in the southern part of the Amazon. Also-presence of night monkeys who are the only type of monkey vulnerable to malaria, is proof there is no malaria(see photo attached). We did take the yellow fever and the typhoid shots and hep a and c.

Evening attire is whatever you want it to be. An Aussie couple we met on the cruise actually went shoeless into the dining room and were not ever chastised. Tommy Bahama shirts and slacks for guys(even shorts are fine and jeans ok as it is air-conditioned))and pants, skirts, dresses and sandals for women are de rigeur. The blow dryers in the cabins work pretty well. Showers are roomy and there is plenty of hot water although the robes are quite short for men! There is a massage therapist on board and it was very affordable. The house reds were a pinot noir(not so great) and a decent malbec from Argentina I believe. The whites were a chardonnay and a sauv.blanc. Be sure to have Robinson the wonderful bartender make you a pisco sour!

I thought the gift shop was very nice. They have a number of lovely little items that would make great gifts. I loved the handmade alpaca animal rag dolls. Many guests bought the expedition hats worn by the guides on the skiffs-they looked great. Personally we purchased insect repelling clothing from Ex-Officio. Pants, long-sleeved shirts, socks, bandanas, light jackets and hats with mosquito netting(only used that a few times). We ordered deet wipes and used them on our hands and wrists and I dabbed a bit on my ears but it bothered my face. The only time I was ever bitten was the last day when we sailed into Iquitos. I went out onto the deck in my black workout pants(guides said they were attracted to black). I ended up with around 5 bites under the back of my waistband. Most people sprayed themselves with off or similar deet sprays just before boarding the skiffs. You must do this outside so as not to stink up your cabin. Remember that with high water comes more mosquitos but honestly they do not bother you much out on the boats unless you are stopped in a very highly vegetated area for long periods of time.

We saw nearly 100 species of birds in a week, probably 6 or 7 types of monkeys, boas, tarantulas, caimans, caught piranhas and swam in the Amazon twice! It was a wonderful trip, especially for those travelers who have already done the Galapagos and are looking for another unique opportunity to view nature at its best.

Thanks for the trip report Yogaga147. It sounds like you had a wonderful time. If I may ask a few more questions:

1. Did the bar have a decent selection of alcohol?

2. What do you recommend for footwear? It appears they provide boots for the jungle walks.

3. I see they provide ponchos in the skiffs. Do you think we'll need an additional rain jacket?

4. Is the electrical current the same as in the USA or will we need a converter?

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!