LIVE FROM THE VEENDAM - RIO and the AMAZON

[sansterre]

BocaDaValeria - population of about 125 - a village which needs and appreciates donations. The Veendam had several large boxes of things to tender in for the community. I donated the colored markers we used at the Meet and Greets to the school as soon as we arrived. DH dropped $20 into the donation box in the school. I also had in my bag, a pair of too-small Sperry boat shoes and three lite-up valentine pens.

Our group of seven got off on one of the first tenders and were greeted by every child in this village and other nearby villages. They want to show you around, but they also want a dollar for their efforts. We negotiated for one of the larger boats to take seven of us on a tour of the area. The published (written on signs held by several of the men) price for this is $5.00 per person for 30 minutes. We negotiated $10.00 per person for a 60 minute ride which took us past the giant water lilies and to another village which was up on a hill.

Not able to negotiate hills and steps, i waited at the water’s edge along with two ladies and two young girls dressed in feathery outfits. The younger lady had her two young girls posing for photos, one with a turtle and one with a small cayman on a leash with it’s mouth tied with fishing line. I gave the mother two pens that light up with a heart at the end for her daughters (other passengers gave her dollar bills for taking a photo of the girls and their animals). I told the older woman (we mainly communicated through gestures) I had a pair of new shoes that were too small for me. She smiled when I pulled the yellow slip-on boat shoes out of my bag, In just a minute, she squeezed her feet into them, and showed me how worn the thongs she had been wearing were. The smile on her face is the moment I treasure most from our visit to BocaDaValeria.

Back in the village, more people had arrived. Some took the small boat rides; others visited the school and the church. Children of all ages, many with pets or wearing feathers, gathered near the dock. They wanted whatever I had in my bag and I was glad to get away when the tender arrived. As the tender reached the Veendam, there were several village boats slowing the tender process. Children were on these boats, ready to pose with their sloths for photos for the people getting on the tender! I have some serious concerns about whether cruise ships stopping here is beneficial to the local community.

TIP: When you get off the tender, unless you want many children to hold your hands and pull you here and there, keep your hands elevated and out of reach. Plan ahead - bring something useful to the village people such as school supplies, band-aids, fishing line, etc. HAL chocolate candies and HAL pins from trivia are not so useful. In my opinion, it is better to pay money to people in return for the boat ride, or purchase a handicraft, or donate to the school, rather than paying a child to smile with their pet.

 

[sansterre]

Hi Lois, Tom, and Eric. We are playing trivia with Gary on our return from Rio to Ft. Lauderdale. Win some and lose some - winning about 50%, maybe a little more. Trivia, both pub and day, competition is tough.

[easyboy]

Enjoying your review.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Love your reports and tips on the various ports.

[sansterre]

Manaus - day one A shuttle took us to the terminal. There are some nice displays and a good gift shop here with some quality indian crafts as well as Amazonas t-shirts. Outside the terminal, we planned to get a cab but it was very hectic and that is when we met our guide for the next 4 hours, John. We asked him to drive by the Opera House, the market, the Olympic venue in Manaus, and stop to see the World of Science. Though the traffic was awful throughout the day, we managed to get photos of all the above and toured the World of Science where there were manatees and a surprise shopping opportunity for native indian crafts. The tribe visits occasionally and sells baskets, jewelry, and other hand crafted items. The prices were better than in stores and markets and we were happyt to purchase directly from them. The cost of the guide and his car was about $120 US for the 3 of us for 3 or 4 hours. Between the tour destinations we also stopped at a gas station for gas and a tire store for a tire repair.

At night, we attended a concert at the famous Manaus Opera House. The concert was a choir concert by the Amazonas Choir; the opera house was beautiful.

TIP: The market can be reached from the terminal on foot. The first market is the meat market. Further on are other shopping opportunities.

Manaus - day two All day tour with Eco-Adventures to see pink dolphins, Indian village, lunch, fishing for a big fighting fish, and meeting of the waters (Rio Negro and Amazon River. The weather co-operated until after lunch when heavy rains came. We returned to the ship around 2 which was fine for us as we had seen a lot that day and the Veendam sailed at 4.

 

TIP: While we signed up for this tour far in advance on Roll Call, some people joined our tour the day before (Manaus, day one). It leaves from the same dock, just across from the Veendam. However, it was very difficult for me (I have one bad knee and one replaced knee) to get on and off the smaller boat - at least a two footstep up/down. If you have similar problems with large steps then you may want to consider tours leaving from the terminal dock area.

[sansterre]

Parintins - This is a town of about 100,000 but seems smaller. It is a tender port. After tendering in, we boarded a ferry and walked through the ferry onto the dock. A short walk brings you to the visitor center and nearby is the convention center where the Boi-Bumba show takes place. I enjoyed this show more than Carnival in the Sambadrome because the music and singing is live. The action is also closer to you the observer. We also enjoyed the national Brazilian alcoholic drink, available at no charge, prior to the show.

TIP - Do not miss the Boi-Bumba show! Tickets can only be purchased through HAL shore excursions. As I recall they are about $59.00 US. Make sure to get to the Convention Center early for the best seats.

AlterDoChao - This tender port is the resort town for Santarem. We are not beach going people so we just tendered in to check out the crafts. Many of them were the same as in Santarem. However, we did purchase a few nice items with the rest of our Brazilian money as this was our last port in Brazil.

 

TIP - Just two blocks from the tender pier is a bar which offers good WIFI.

[snoopyud]

This is great information..and we enjoy all your descriptions of the ports...thanks again for taking the time to share your trip with us all.

[sansterre]

St. Lucia delayed everyone from leaving the ship until around 10 while negotiations took place. Finally, only those with proof of the yellow fever shots were permitted to disembark. Even those with a waiver had to stay on board. Apparently (according to our captain) this action by St. Lucia was in violation on the The World Health and will be reported. DH and I enjoyed a few hours at the Pink Parrot and picked up some Shalimar perfume near the terminal in Castries. Due to our delay in arrival, we stayed in port 30 minutes longer.

TIP: A water taxi will take you into town for $3.00 US each way. There are also nature trams and ziplines on the island. I did not see any tours to them available at the port so, if interested, best to arrange with HAL or ahead of time.

St. Maarten was very crowded with 5 other large and mega ships in port. We have been here before without the crowds so opted to just spend a few hours at the Chesterfield. It is a nice quiet place for food or drink on the water just outside the port to the left (5 to 10 minute walk or $6.00 taxi fare), towards town.

TIP: If you want to go into Philipsburg, a water taxi is available for $7.00. Sorry, I don’t remember if that is round trip, or one way. If there are more than two people, it is probably less expensive to take a taxi into town. Also, a friend of ours took a public bus to Marigot on the French side of the island for $2.00 US. It is also possible to get to Orient beach on the public bus for $2.00.

 

Now headed to Key West, Florida.

[sansterre]

About the Veendam

5 star cocktail parties with the officers - for some reason, during our 48 day cruise, there was only one! It was from 7 to 7:30 on Day 42. Is HAL in Seattle cutting back on these? HD said only 5 star and all passengers continuing on from Ft. Lauderdale to San Diego were invited. I don’t understand that thinking at all.

Mariner’s lunch - Conversing with the HD, William (spelling?)at the cocktail party, we learned that the crowded condition at the Mariner’s lunch was due to more people attending than were expected. I do not know how that could happen. Would people really crash a Mariner’s Event for a drink and champagne lunch?

 

Book club - on our return (Rio to Ft. Lauderdale) we read Ways to Disappear, by Idra Novey. This book is a complete waste of time. But it is still nice to get together with other readers to discuss the book and the setting for this book which is in Brazil and includes several ports we visited. Colette, who normally does childcare on board, capably led the discussion.

[snoopyud]

Thanks for the wonderful feedback on the ports. Can you give us some feedback on the cruise overall? How is the ship? would you recommend this cruise to SA on the Veendam?

Enjoy last few days..best travels..

[sansterre]

DH and I love the Veendam. In fact we will be back on board this fall for the Atlantic Adventure. We like the size of the Veendam; it has everything we want in a cruise without having to walk too far!

Great day in Key West - perfect weather - more to post when we get home late tomorrow!

[snoopyud]

Thank you for taking time and sharing your wonderful cruise with us. Have a safe trip home... see you on a cruise someday!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Just finished getting caught up.

Have loved all your reports.

Have a safe travel home.

[easyboy]

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

[HokiePoq]

DH and I love the Veendam. In fact we will be back on board this fall for the Atlantic Adventure. We like the size of the Veendam; it has everything we want in a cruise without having to walk too far!

Great day in Key West - perfect weather - more to post when we get home late tomorrow!

 

I love the Veendam, too! We've spent 90 days on it, 83 of them with CD Christina and Capt. van de Wahl. (Christina is moving to the Konigsdam.) It's a "Goldilocks" ship for me. We had no problems with our room but did hear complaints from others about various things. Having a laundry is a big help on a long cruise, especially for those of us who are not four stars..yet. I'm thinking the Mariner lunch was so crowded because there are so many of us on a long cruise like this. On our first Veendam cruise ten years ago, Capt. Duncan said that when he did Amazon Explorer he just invited everyone as all but six were Mariners.

Thanks so much for arranging the meet and greet and tours in Rio. Met more CC members this time than ever....very, very nice group of folks.

[sansterre]

Home now and trying to get back into some sort of a routine. No one is washing our clothes, making our bed, or serving us dinner. Nor are they unpacking our bags or dealing with our mail which piled up. Imagine that! We did have two nice Meet and Greets with Cruise Critics and a Happy Hour on the last crossing of the equator as we left the Amazon, for those Cruise Critics who kept in touch with each other some way. I am going to experiment now and see if I can figure out how to post some of my best photos.

Thanks for posting HokiePoq. It was nice to have you with us on some of the excursions. If anyone else knows how to post photos, please put your favorites on this thread!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad you are home safe.

Since I use a regular camera (not an iPad or smart phone), I have to download my pictures onto my laptop (or desk top) and then submit them to a host site like Photobucket and then I can post them onto CC.

Looking forward to your pictures.

[POA1]

Looking forward to your trip report!

[St Pete Cruiser]

The Veendam's 48 day Carnaval and Amazon Explorer cruise was overall a great experience for me. The Caribbean ports were all nice, but the meat of the cruise was all the ports in Brazil. Getting the Brazilian visa was a pain and costly and may have led to the ship not being full. The dining room service and meals were excellent....kinda like the HAL we knew in the past! Thankfully the AC worked well in our room as well as in most of the ship which was wonderful with the tropical humidity. The entertainment, both singers and dancers as well as guest entertainers were very good. In Rio and Manaus there were extra local show people brought on. Nearly every Brazilian port had a transfer bus from ship to town which was much appreciated. The Veendam with a little over 1000 guests generally had no queues unlike the bigger ships.

On the down side, there was no King Neptune crossing the equator ceremony nor was there a towel zoo. No welcome aboard 4 star cocktails or meet the officers party.

The Veendam, at 21 (entered service in 1996), is showing her age. The TV's need to be replaced and the rooms updated. The dining room ceiling is no longer lit. Others had the usual plumbing issues with the water shut off ship wide twice. The hot tubs at the rear were not heating the last part of the trip.

There were a few guests aboard who had done this same itinerary before and liked it enough to repeat it. When the Veendam and Maasdam are gone, will we have the opportunity to do it again? I hope so...I think a R class could do most of it.

[sansterre]

Glad you are home safe.

Since I use a regular camera (not an iPad or smart phone), I have to download my pictures onto my laptop (or desk top) and then submit them to a host site like Photobucket and then I can post them onto CC.

Looking forward to your pictures.

 

Thanks. I will check out Photobucket. The photos from my iPhone are now on my desktop.

[tommui987]

I am going to experiment now and see if I can figure out how to post some of my best photos.

 

Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

 

We are booking the 11/20 cruise to Havana on Azamara - looking for trivia partners!

 

Welcome home!

[Wehwalt]

Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

 

We are booking the 11/20 cruise to Havana on Azamara - looking for trivia partners!

 

Welcome home!

 

I wish I could, but I'll be on my way back from Australia. I was in Havana in Feb ... some nice areas, some not so nice. Needs a lot of money.

[COFL]

The Veendam's 48 day Carnaval and Amazon Explorer cruise was overall a great experience for me. The Caribbean ports were all nice, but the meat of the cruise was all the ports in Brazil. Getting the Brazilian visa was a pain and costly and may have led to the ship not being full. The dining room service and meals were excellent....kinda like the HAL we knew in the past! Thankfully the AC worked well in our room as well as in most of the ship which was wonderful with the tropical humidity. The entertainment, both singers and dancers as well as guest entertainers were very good. In Rio and Manaus there were extra local show people brought on. Nearly every Brazilian port had a transfer bus from ship to town which was much appreciated. The Veendam with a little over 1000 guests generally had no queues unlike the bigger ships.

On the down side, there was no King Neptune crossing the equator ceremony nor was there a towel zoo. No welcome aboard 4 star cocktails or meet the officers party.

The Veendam, at 21 (entered service in 1996), is showing her age. The TV's need to be replaced and the rooms updated. The dining room ceiling is no longer lit. Others had the usual plumbing issues with the water shut off ship wide twice. The hot tubs at the rear were not heating the last part of the trip.

There were a few guests aboard who had done this same itinerary before and liked it enough to repeat it. When the Veendam and Maasdam are gone, will we have the opportunity to do it again? I hope so...I think a R class could do most of it.

 

Have really enjoyed your posts! we are taking this cruise in 2018. We live in Belleair Beach. Would love to get together with you and pick your brain if you have the time.

[themerle]

Really enjoyed your reports and now I'm looking forward to your pictures!

[madera1]

Thanks for sharing your adventures.

 

 

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