Amazon river cruise?

[highlands1234]

We are looking at doing a river cruise up the Amazon to Manaus. It sounds like such a unique and exciting cruise. I envision seeing monkeys in trees, and river dolphins, etc. But now, thinking about just how huge and wide the Amazon is, I am wondering if I would see much on the shore from the ship.

 

Would love to hear others experiences about this cruise and what they thought of it.

 

Thanks!

[cpayne]

We are considering this trip to. Can't decide between a river cruise or jungle lodge. Thought about doing both, but would they be too similar and a "waste" to do both? Also considering Manaus, but there are several other "points of entry". Anyone have input on either of these variables to consider when planning this type of cruise?

 

 

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[lattelady]

We are looking at doing a river cruise up the Amazon to Manaus. It sounds like such a unique and exciting cruise. I envision seeing monkeys in trees, and river dolphins, etc. But now, thinking about just how huge and wide the Amazon is, I am wondering if I would see much on the shore from the ship.

 

Would love to hear others experiences about this cruise and what they thought of it.

 

Thanks!

 

We did a wonderful river cruise up the Amazon to Manaus and back down (and then to the Lesser Antilles). It was 30 years ago though so my memories of it have dimmed a bit. I do recall that we saw much more on the little stops and excursions than we did from the ship (picture being on the Mississippi and trying to see what's on shore though it isn't always that wide).

 

We had a great trip. My MIL took us along with my hub's other siblings/spouses. We left behind a 1 yo for over two weeks and it was very hard for me as a mom, but I've never regretted taking the trip. It really was an incredible experience.

[jpalbny]

I haven't done either (yet) but have researched and read reviews of both.

 

Here are two reviews of the lower Amazon (Manuas to Atlantic) on Silversea:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696&highlight=amazon

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2282418&highlight=amazon

 

From what I have read, the river is very wide and you don't see much of the river banks on this type of cruise.

 

The upper Amazon (in Peru, based out of Iquitos) sounds like a very different cruise. My Aunt has taken that trip, and also one of my coworkers did the trip too. That's on a narrower river, with lots of wildlife. Both described the trip in glowing terms and highly recommend it.

 

Be aware that one of the ships was robbed last year, and there was a big thread on these boards about how safe it would be to go there now. I have not heard anything further about that incident.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2378726&highlight=amazon

 

My personal bias (without any experience to base it on) would be that the Upper Amazon cruise seems much more like something I'd like to do.

Edited November 21, 2016 by jpalbny

[DavidTheWonderer]

You may find this article from the Nov. 28 NY Times relevant to whether you want to do this or not:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/world/americas/brazil-amazon-pirates-riverboats-rain-forest.html

[2onboardagain]

We did a wonderful river cruise up the Amazon to Manaus and back down (and then to the Lesser Antilles). It was 30 years ago though so my memories of it have dimmed a bit. I do recall that we saw much more on the little stops and excursions than we did from the ship (picture being on the Mississippi and trying to see what's on shore though it isn't always that wide).

 

We had a great trip. My MIL took us along with my hub's other siblings/spouses. We left behind a 1 yo for over two weeks and it was very hard for me as a mom, but I've never regretted taking the trip. It really was an incredible experience.

 

We did our Amazon Cruise up to Manaus and back last year and I can attest that your memories are accurate. You really have to go ashore to see most things and wildlife but sailing through the "meeting of the waters" where other rivers of different colors join the Amazon is quite special and can be seen from the ship. The immensity of the Amazon is staggering!

[Mark_T]

You may find this article from the Nov. 28 NY Times relevant to whether you want to do this or not:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/world/americas/brazil-amazon-pirates-riverboats-rain-forest.html

 

This is not really relevant to cruising up as far as Manaus as long as you are doing in on an ocean cruise ship.

 

Certainly a worthy concern for the very small ships and especially when going further up river than Manaus.

 

We have cruised up as far as Manaus and to reaffirm earlier comments, you will see very little while on your large ocean-going ship, the banks are simply too far away.

 

Once you get off though and move to the little boats at each stop you will see plenty of wildlife.

[caradara]

We took the Iberostar Grand a few years ago from Manaus. It was a 4 day and/or 3 day trip in/out of Manaus. We stayed for the week. Every day you took pangas off of the boat and saw animals, etc. I wrote a review on cruise critic. The ship holds 100 people, I think. We were the only Americans on our sailing and the ship was empty (less than 30, I think). We did really enjoy ourselves and participated in every excursion from sunrise to night trips to capture a caiman.

[Mark_T]

... to night trips to capture a caiman.

 

Yes, we enjoyed that opportunity as well.

 

Had the added fun of discovering our canoe was slowly sinking just after our guide had grabbed a small caiman, seemed like we saw a lot more interest from the eye scattered across the water as the level in the canoe began to rise :)

 

All ended well and we were never really in any danger, but it all adds to the excitement at the time...

[rogerdawhip]

If you want a true Amazon River Cruise trip, check out Overseas Adventure Travel (http://www.oattravel.com). Their Amazon River Cruise and Rain Forest trip cruises the Amazon in Peru. You will have 5 nights land and 6 nights on a 24 passenger ship.

[highlands1234]

Thanks everyone for the input. It confirms my suspicions. I noticed when trying to research videos on youtube to get an idea that most were made from the Peru side, so that was the first indicator about what part of the amazon you want to sail on. We will have to try to do one of those cruises when we go to machu picchu.

Edited November 21, 2016 by highlands1234