Adonia Amazon Cruises

[silver wedding]

How quickly do they sell out? What sort of cabin is best, do you get full use of a balcony or is it to hot?

[sagaris]

We are booked on the cruise starting 21st Jan, this was booked up within approx 4 weeks after booking opened in July.

 

We have done a Caribbean cruise with a balcony, sometimes it gets a bit hot but not unbearable and you can always come in to cool down or go on deck for some shade:)

 

Molly

 

Molly

[tring]

When we were up the Amazon in 2006, people were advised not to open balcony doors at night because of insects and there were some pretty impressive moths about as well as flies etc. The self service restaurant was closed to the outside, when in the river, for the same reason, although we were able to walk onto the decks from inside the ship.

 

It was our first cruise apart from a 3 nighter we booked when we had the Amazon planned and booked, (as a sort of practice run).

 

It was a wonderful experience which we will never forget, you will love it.

Edited April 5, 2014 by tring

[sagaris]

It sounds wonderful and we are really looking forward to it. Did you do any trips whilst in the Amazon?

 

Molly

[tring]

We did just about everything by way of trips. We were on the current Adonia, but it was then Swan Hellenic's Minerva II, but Swan is a very different 'animal' to P&O. No photographers and constant Butlins style entertainments, but excellent academic speakers and trips were included. More our sort of thing even now, but the budget does not quite go as far as Swan all the time.

 

We were up the Amazon for a full 2 weeks, including 3 days in Manaus as we were on a back to back and that was the change over base. We were even given a 'change over day' trip to a rubber barron's house and an eco resort - brilliant.

 

Basically you need to sort out a mix of every experience. The forest walk in Manauas was well spoken of, but we skipped that as we wanted to spend some free time there, which we do not regret. That walk was done by the military and they were showing survival techniques, which was the difference. So you need a forest walk, river cruise and if poss a village visit - but beware the Amerindians are very succeptable to our germs so any Amerindian village is likely to be a museum rather than somewhere with inhabitants. The caboclas, (spelt wrong again, but basically mixed race natives), do have visitors to their villages, but not sure what your itinerary is. Do not on any account skip 'Boi Bumba' from Parintins - it was brilliant - it is a sort of smaller version of the Rio festival - but a shorter version for tourists - they were giving out free caperinas (think I spelt it wrong), which oiled things along nicely - not so sure the drinks will be free or as free flowing as they were then though!! Cruising the river on the ship is good, but you get much closer to the banks on the river boats and you do some pirhana fishing on some of them - good fun too. There was a sort of folk museum in Manaus which was good and we also went into the opera house, but not for a performance unfortunately. You do need the trips and it is well worth splashing out on a good number, since you have already paid the high cost of the cruise

 

We called at Belem at he mouth of the river, which was also interesting and we stayed there until about 8pm as our sailing was delayed. We stayed after our trip and had a meal at a good restaurant which we had seen during our trip, (I was sent there to use the toilet - so I rekoned that was the important thing to see). We sat outside at the edge of the river whilst the clouds and rumbling thunder was passing on the other side of the river - a brilliant farewell. The last shuttle boat to the ship was just a few staff and us - very much doubt any other passengers stayed anything like as long as we did ashore - but a brilliant experience. There was pick pocketing in Belem the previous year to us so beware though, possibly Manaus could be a problem as well, but we felt safe enough with the usual precautions - dress down, no jewellry watch your bag/wallet etc.

 

You can see from my prattle that the memories have not faded.

 

Enjoy

 

PS

We had an inside cabin and it was fine - much better to spend money on the trips IMO, but avoid the lauderette - our cabin was next door and we were woken up at 7.45am each morning and a sleep by day would not have been possible.

[tring]

Just looked at P&O's very meagre offerings of the Amazon. My advice would be forget P&O and search for a cruise that actually spends some worthwhile time in the river and definitely goes as far as Manaus.

 

We did 3 half day trips (and half a day independently) in Santarem, 3 half and one full day trip in Manaus, (as well as half a day independently), as well as Boi Bumba from Parintins and also a couple of villages. We have done a month in the Caribbean - forget it unless you really like incredibly touristy places or have a need to spend time in the sun - I can understand that though. Seriously the Caribbean has a certain attraction, but a totally different one to the Amazon.

 

Cruising the Amazon and Orinocco by ship is interesting, but P&O talk about seeing wildlife!!!! Well if you have a very good pair of binoculars and keep them in operation maybe......... I very much doubt it though, appart from the moths which are massive - you see them resting by day so no worries about them flying round. We saw moths on deck one morning and on woodland walks if you look carefully - they are well camoflaged. You will see villages along the side of the river and people in small boats hoping for handouts - the staff may well lower something down for them - old clothes etc.

 

If you do go skip any independent exploration - you will not see much in the towns and most people prefer to be tripped in less developed countries anyway - we are somewhat different in that respect.

 

The woodland walk from Santarem was very good for anyone with an interest in botany, but you may get more out of the trip which gives contact with the local people - they are woodland professionals in the woods - but you do get the gen on the illegal logging - then again you will see logging and logs being transported in the river. There is no primary rain forest around the Amazon so the woods are no denser than they are in Britain - totally different trees of course. Do the river cruise on a local boat.

 

If you are already booked or are very limited on holiday time - go, enjoy and save to return sometime on a much better itinerary, even if it does cost an arm and a leg. We spent much more then we ever had on the Amazon and have no regrets whatsoever - just brilliant memories. I thought the heat would be beyond me, but it is not that bad at all as the rain keeps the temps down.

 

I have never seen an itinerary as good as ours but you can do much better than P&O. Spend on the cruise, not the cabin - smaller ships that can do the Amazon have a better ratio of deck space to inside areas so a balcony cabin is not that important - unless you can afford that and a good itinerary as well.

 

Hope I have not put a downer on things, please don't take me badly I am just giving my opinion - then again some people have totally different requirements for their holidays.

 

Cheers

Edited April 6, 2014 by tring

[silver wedding]

Just looked at P&O's very meagre offerings of the Amazon. My advice would be forget P&O and search for a cruise that actually spends some worthwhile time in the river and definitely goes as far as Manaus.

 

We did 3 half day trips (and half a day independently) in Santarem, 3 half and one full day trip in Manaus, (as well as half a day independently), as well as Boi Bumba from Parintins and also a couple of villages. We have done a month in the Caribbean - forget it unless you really like incredibly touristy places or have a need to spend time in the sun - I can understand that though. Seriously the Caribbean has a certain attraction, but a totally different one to the Amazon.

 

Cruising the Amazon and Orinocco by ship is interesting, but P&O talk about seeing wildlife!!!! Well if you have a very good pair of binoculars and keep them in operation maybe......... I very much doubt it though, appart from the moths which are massive - you see them resting by day so no worries about them flying round. We saw moths on deck one morning and on woodland walks if you look carefully - they are well camoflaged. You will see villages along the side of the river and people in small boats hoping for handouts - the staff may well lower something down for them - old clothes etc.

 

If you do go skip any independent exploration - you will not see much in the towns and most people prefer to be tripped in less developed countries anyway - we are somewhat different in that respect.

 

The woodland walk from Santarem was very good for anyone with an interest in botany, but you may get more out of the trip which gives contact with the local people - they are woodland professionals in the woods - but you do get the gen on the illegal logging - then again you will see logging and logs being transported in the river. There is no primary rain forest around the Amazon so the woods are no denser than they are in Britain - totally different trees of course. Do the river cruise on a local boat.

 

If you are already booked or are very limited on holiday time - go, enjoy and save to return sometime on a much better itinerary, even if it does cost an arm and a leg. We spent much more then we ever had on the Amazon and have no regrets whatsoever - just brilliant memories. I thought the heat would be beyond me, but it is not that bad at all as the rain keeps the temps down.

 

I have never seen an itinerary as good as ours but you can do much better than P&O. Spend on the cruise, not the cabin - smaller ships that can do the Amazon have a better ratio of deck space to inside areas so a balcony cabin is not that important - unless you can afford that and a good itinerary as well.

 

Hope I have not put a downer on things, please don't take me badly I am just giving my opinion - then again some people have totally different requirements for their holidays.

 

Cheers

 

Does anyone know of any cruises that go deeper into the Amazon and overnight in Manus?

Edited April 7, 2014 by silver wedding
?

[sagaris]

Hi Tring,

 

Your post hasn't put a downer on things. I would love to do a more intensive Amazon cruise but at the moment time and money are in the way:).

 

The one we have booked will, hopefully, be a taster for the future.

 

Thanks

 

Molly

[tring]

I take what I said about P&O itineraries back. I have just seen a fairly good offering from them departing 11th Dec 2015 which is much better than I saw before. It is 29 days which may not be everyones cup of tea, but as it is over Christmas that length of holiday would not need 4 weeks hol from work (if applicable). The price is very good as well, but you would need to factor in the price of trips to get the most from the hol.

 

Other options are companies like Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery who do fly cruises in the winter and would probably do it in conjunction with South America. Swan have just been up the Amazon, but did a change over from Manaus and it is a very long, expensive flight from there. Those companies are only just about to release cruises for summer 2015 and will not publish winter 2015/16 for a few months and they may not be on the other side of the world that year and are going east next winter, (there is only one ship for each company). A couple of other companies, (Fred Olsen and Cruise and Maritime), do cruises round trip from the UK most years, but two trans Atlantics would not be my choice at all and they are about 35 days long. All those companies have older ships than P&O and a different 'flavour' of cruise. Swan has a more refined feel, in that it has academic speakers and non of the shows etc - just some musicians and other speakers and both trips and tips are included in the price, but the ship is older and quite small. Voyages of discovery include tips, but not trips. Fred and C&M have similar tip and trip prices to P&O. Cruise and Maritime are more downmarket - remember the man who was killed in Jan when a wave crashed through the restaurant window when Marco Polo was returning from the Amazon!! So homework would be needed about the companies/ships.

 

Princess have offered fly cruises via the Carribean on Adonia sister ships previously, but I do not know what is on offer at present. I suspect overall P&O would be better value for money as their tip levels and drinks are cheaper than Princess.

 

As I said if you need to keep to 2 weeks, then go, enjoy and you may (or may not), want to go back. It was good just cruising the river in the ship, but I did think P&O were trying to make out you would see wildlife from there, which is highly unlikely, but then wildlife was not that easy to see anywhere.

 

If a cruise just stops at Santarem and Manaus for one day each, I would definitley recommend the river cruise from Santarem and to couple it with one of the other trips. Again the river cruise from Manaus is good and, (I believe), the forest walk, but it would be a great shame to go to Manaus and mis the trip of Manaus, which was well worth doing, so choices have to be made. I would probably plump for woodland walk in Santarem and Manaus town tour with both river cruises, or mis one of the river cruises and do the Manaus town tour and a forest walk from Santarem. You may well want further advice on those trips as they are being run now though - it is a shame very few people would have been on all of them, so advice between trips will be difficult to get, which is why I have written so much to try and help. Hope I have helped and not just confused!!!

 

Whatever you do, I am sure you will enjoy The Amazon as it is just so different. I will respond to any specific questions, but I have probaly written it all down by now!!!

 

Sorry this is late, but I have been away for a few days.

 

Cheers,

 

Barbara

[sagaris]

Thank you for going to the trouble to post your ideas and thoughts. I will make a note of your suggestions, ready for when P&O confirm what trips are available - a few months yet.

 

I didn't think you would see much wildlife when cruising down the Amazon, but you never know:)

 

Thanka

 

Molly

[debjef123]

Today I booked the Adonia D523 on 13th November 2015. Anyone booked this?

[Leighites]

Hi. Booked a different P and O cruise today - the Christmas 2015 Amazon cruise very spontaneously. No idea about P and O or the cruise so hope it's a good un! Only been with 1 celebrity and 1 Fred Olsen to Alaska and Northern lights. So will be different again!

Edited April 17, 2014 by Leighites
Wrong cruise!

[salsalady]

Hi, we are booked on Amazon & Caribbean cruise departing 22nd Jan next year... Any others on this specific cruise?

 

Karen

 

 

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[sagaris]

Hi Karen,

 

We are booked on the same cruise, flying from Manchester. Really looking forward to it. It will be our first time on the Adonia.

 

I was thinking of setting up a roll call nearer the time:)

 

Molly

[sagaris]

Hi Karen,

 

We are booked on this cruise, flying from Manchester. It will be our first time on the Adonia and really looking forward to it.

 

I was thinking of setting up a roll call nearer the time.

 

Molly

[salsalady]

Hi Molly, nice to hear from someone else on this cruise...some friends of ours are also on it. We originally wanted to fly from Manchester, but there were no premium seats available, so went for Gatwick instead, now we have received an email from P&O telling us that the plane has changed and there will be no premium seats at all! We tried switching back to Manchester (as that is much closer to us), but if course it's full..😏😏..oh well we are still very much looking forward to the cruise! Have you had your yellow fever jab yet?

 

Karen

 

 

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[sagaris]

Hi Karen,

 

No we haven't had any jabs yet!!! I have got to speak to the doc to see what we need.

 

Pity about the flight, but I am sure it will be fine.

 

Molly

[salsalady]

We had the more common jabs 3 years ago for a cruise but never had the yellow fever one...we have spoken to our GP, they said they will cost us £60 each,,,but as we can't get on ship without it, I guess we have to pay up..☺️

 

This will be our first time on Adonia and such a small ship, so looking forward to it...let us know when you set up the roll call...

 

Karen

 

 

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[Flowerpower22]

We went to the Amazon on the old Arcadia and it was a fantastic experience which we'll never forget. The sense of anticipation as we crossed the 'bar' was palpable. There were indeed huge insects on the decks at night as well as fireflies which covered our balcony floor in the mornings.

 

We went piranha fishing in Santarem and couldn't believe the size of the dragonflies.

 

The rainforest walk was interesting and included a ride on a canoe. The meeting of the waters is definitely something to see too.

 

We went to the opera in Manaus and ate fresh brazil nuts in the interval - so light and lovely.

 

During the day we did our own thing in Manaus and wandered into the meat market, which was an experience to say the least.

 

I'm sure you will have a memorable holiday.

[salsalady]

I will be happy when they release the excursions.....:)

 

Karen

[sagaris]

I will be happy when they release the excursions.....:)

 

Karen

 

Me too:). I keep looking!

 

Molly

[salsalady]

Me too:). I keep looking!

 

Molly

 

Let me know when you set up a roll call Molly.....:)

 

Karen

[sagaris]

Let me know when you set up a roll call Molly.....:)

 

Karen

 

Will do:)

 

Molly

[jymmer]

We are also on this cruise flying from Gatwick, we would of liked premium seating but was told at the time of booking that they were all taken, so wonder why there isn't any on this flight at all?! We are also on 'stand by' for 2nd seating! I have been looking into the yellow fever jab and will be having it sooner rather than later as apparently there has been a shortage also looks like we will have to go up to Cardiff for it as none of the local surgeries do it by us.

 

First time for us on the Adonia.

 

Melissa

[salsalady]

We are also on this cruise flying from Gatwick, we would of liked premium seating but was told at the time of booking that they were all taken, so wonder why there isn't any on this flight at all?! We are also on 'stand by' for 2nd seating! I have been looking into the yellow fever jab and will be having it sooner rather than later as apparently there has been a shortage also looks like we will have to go up to Cardiff for it as none of the local surgeries do it by us.

 

First time for us on the Adonia.

 

Melissa

 

Hi Melissa

 

Welcome to this 'thread'... First time on Adonia for us as well....😄😄

 

We did manage to get 2nd dining, and premium seats on the flight, but as explained above, these have now been changed to economy due to size of plane...

 

Oh well, I'm sure it will all be worth it when we get there...

 

Karen