Rhythm of the Amazon Nov 26-Dec 19, 2018

[mj_holiday]

It was a fantastic cruise on the Amazon River plus many interesting ports before and after the Amazon and fun sea days.

I will not do this review by date, but instead it will be by topics to try to keep some continuity.

Miami – we arrived in Miami the day before and stayed at the Holiday Inn on Biscayne Blvd. This is a older hotel, but clean, comfortable and safe. We could walk to several dining places along the bay. And the morning of our cruise we could see the SS Navigator docked waiting for us. It was a quick taxi ride and short wait before we were up in La Veranda having lunch and a couple beers.

Ship – After many comments regarding things that happened to the Navigator during dry dock I was not sure what to expect. The ship and our cabin were very nice (just like I remember). I was glad to see that the mapping system on the TV did not change (I did not like the one on the Explorer). Removing some of the shelving in the sitting area made the cabin feel larger and adding drawers in the closest gave us plenty of storage room. The table in the sitting area is bigger than before and was a nice size for dining in. We were very comfortable in our cabin except that there was not a reading light for the couch so one person could read while the other one slept.. After unpacking, our suitcases fit right under the bed (which was not the case on our cruise on the Explorer). I was surprised that the cabin door locks had not been upgraded to proximity locks and that no “mailboxes” had been put outside the doors.

The Navigator Lounge and coffee connection were very popular. The area with food (danish, cereal, snacks etc) was rather tight, sometimes one person in the area was all there was room for. But it seemed when I would wait outside the area for someone to finish, other people didn't seen to notice it was crowded and just barged through to get something for themselves.

Galileo's was very nice, but I did not like that curtains behind the performers were put up cutting off the view. It felt like they were trying for an area where you didn't notice you were out to sea. Most of the seating for me was uncomfortable and hard to get out of. The couches and the chairs along the windows were easier to get in an out of.

La Veranda was very nice for breakfast and lunch and when it got crowded Prime 7 Tables were opened. Several times one of us would want something from the La Veranda selection and the other wanted a hamburger and fries. No problem, you just ordered your hamburger at the pool grill giving them your table number inside and by the time you got back to your table and got your drink your hamburger would be delivered. .The pool grill had a nice selection and was also opened for dinner except the nights we were on the Amazon – I am sure so that the lights wouldn't attract bugs. We did eat here one evening and it was nice with a self service buffet with great selections. It made for a nice relaxed and quick dinner.

We found the Compass Rose (CR) to be very nice and dinners there were very good and comfortable. We didn't attempt to go to the same area every evening and always had great service. I have heard complaints in the past about food that was not as hot as it should be when served. All of our meals were the appropriate temperature. We enjoyed all the meals we had there and all the servers.

Prime 7 – we had reservations here one evening and it was a nice change of pace and our service and steaks were very good. The entrance to Prime 7 is decorated with glass sculptures by Dale Chiluly. We really did prefer CR for our dinners.

Room Service – On days when we had an “early excursion” we placed the order card on our door and our order was served at the beginning of the time selected. On the days when were would go to la Veranda for breakfast, I still ordered coffee for our room when I got up. It arrived within 5 minutes of when I called. We also had dinner in our cabin a couple of evenings when we just wanted to sit back, enjoy the scenery and watch a movie. The service was timely and food was very good.
 

Coffee – a ot has been said on cruise critic about the coffee. The best I can say is that it was inconsistent. The coffee delivered to our cabin was fairly good. The coffee in La Veranda was not too my liking at all.

Lunch BBQs at the pool grill. We are not the type to really enjoy this, and it seems that we are in the minority. But even though a lot of effort went to the buffets, there was still a nice selection in La Veranda for lunch. The Evening BBQ that was held one evening was very large and had a huge selection of grilled/BBQ meats which was very good

To be continued

[Travelcat2]

So glad that you are writing about your recent Amazon cruise as I was disappointed that no one posted "live" from the ship.  We did the Amazon on the Mariner last year and was/are very interested in how passengers enjoyed the ports.

 

We haven't sailed on Navigator for about 6 years (intentionally) and am interested in what you call the "Coffee Connection".  The last time that we were on Navigator, they had an amazing coffee/espresso machine in the Navigator lounge that costs over $40K (a lot of money in those days).  Is the Navigator Lounge being used as the Coffee Connection or is there a separate area?  

 

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your cruise.

 

 

[mj_holiday]

There is an area, Navigator Lounge that does coffee and drinks and across from it is a snack area with the computers and this area seems to be called the coffee connection.

[mj_holiday]

The crew – All of the ship's crew were extremely attentive. If I needed something, before I got the thought to my brain it seemed a staff member would be asking me what I wanted/needed. They added a great dimension to our cruise.

And this was throughout the entire ship. Their smiles just made you smile.

Sea Days – we never had to look far for something to do during the 10 sea days we had. The Enrichment Lectures were some of the best I have ever attended on any ship. Terry Breen ( the on board naturalist) had some great lectures on the Amazon and Greg Wheeler (a geologist) discussed many aspects of geology for the areas we were going to be in.. It was also great that you could heard the lecture again in your cabin.

Miscellaneous about the ship

When we first checked in for the cruise we gave our passports and Brazilian visas to the Regents personnel handling the check in. We got our passports back a couple days before the end of the cruise. Ours had an entry stamp and exit stamp for Brazil.

While the ship was in Brazil there was a health inspection audit and we were told the ship passed with no write ups. Based on what I had seen of the attitude of the crew and their work together I was not surprised with the ship passing an audit.

Plastic straws were not being issued except for something like a slushy.

We were eligible for a morning paper to be delivered to our cabin. It was hanging on the door by 6:30 every morning. That was very nice to read it while having our coffee and getting ready.

Our neighbors would put shoes out in the evening and they would be shined and placed back by the door that morning. I did not know this service was available.

Internet – We had not problems with the internet but we were not online much except to check email. I did down load a book from my public library with no issue. The tech help was in the coffee connection area, He showed the hours he was available and was very helpful with the couple of questions we had. When it came time get airline boarding passes, I just went to the area and used my IPhone to check in and sent the boarding passes to the printer in the area.

Boutiques – the shops were nice as normal but the boutique with clothes had very little in regards to Regents shirts, sweaters etc. I added this complaint on our end of cruise survey.

There were two nights we had to move our clocks ahead and then after heading back to Miami we had two nights where we got the hours back.

Destination Services – the process they used to get us from the theater to our group/bus on shore was very good and different than what I had seen on any of our past Regents cruises. When you came to the theater at the time (usually came early) in Passages you were directed to enter on the right side and your were asked to sit and wait until you were called. When your bus was ready they called your excursion and then you went up to the Destination people down the right far aisle where you exchanged your ticket for your bus number and you walked out the opposite side of the theater and straight to the ramp and off the ship. It seemed much smother than what I had seen on past cruises.

Trivia – I never thought I would be devoting attention to this part of the cruise. It was a lot of fun. On sea days scores from your team would be accumulated so there were Grand totals for the entire cruise with extra points awarded for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place. It added another dimension to the games.

The Cruise Critic Meet and Great was a nice start to the cruise and this is were we got the Trivia team started. The Captain, cruise director and cruise consultant also stopped by. I will do this again on future cruises.

[mj_holiday]

The Amazon – Now this was what we came for. The lectures added to our anticipation. To get into the Amazon the ship had to cross a sandbar about 60 miles out to sea from the river. The sandbar is formed by deposits of sand/sediment brought down the Amazon. So – the fresh water of the Amazon flows out to sea for a 60 mile arc.. I woke up early the morning we were heading into the Amazon and looked outside and saw we were still in the ocean (as I could see waves etc) but the water was milky white – Amazon water. We have arrived. Our first stop was a technical stop at Macapa to clear immigration and take on two pilots for the river. We would head up the river all day to make our first port the next morning.

The lectures also explained that while we may be able to see shore on both sides of the ship, we need to realize that there are many, many islands on the river and we are seeing an island on one side. This was made very clear while looking across the water in Satarem. We saw another cruise ship sailing on the other side of an island. One lecture also explained that 80% of pharma products comes from the Amazon area.

Several days in the CR the menu had local fish as an entree. Different each night and the ones I tried were very good.

“Meeting of the Waters” is a phenomenon that we got to see at two different places. The Amazon and its tributaries will have different temperatures, different ph and different flow rates. There is “white “ water of the Amazon itself which is really chocolate milk color and carries sediment which makes it look this color. And when the sediment settles it will be clear. There is black water like the Rio Negro where the water is stained like tea from organic matter like tree bark. And there is clear water like the Tapajos River where the tributary comes from it picks ups no color or sediment. When two of these different types of water meet – they will flow along side each other for sometime 5-6 miles before they mix together. This is very visible.

[mj_holiday]

Alter do Chao – Was a tender port. This village is like a vacation area for people with what is considered one of the prettiest beaches in Brazil. It was a very pretty beach. We walked through the warm sand up into the village and there were some vendors out selling various local crafts. I bought a beer (liter size) to share with DH and people watch. I had Rials from a previous trip and paid with them and the vendors were not able to give change – in other words they were only prepared to handle Dollars/Euros. So I am glad I brought plenty of small bills. There really wasn't much here except the pretty beach and water. This is on the Tapajos River. So that afternoon as we sailed back to the main Amazon we got to see for the first time a “meeting of the waters” clear water of the Tapajos and white water of the Amazon.

 

Boca da Valeria was our next port and it was a tender port also. During the lecture on these ports we were advised that villagers meeting us at the dock would carry local animals and often dress like Indians because that is what they think we want to see. The animals they are carrying probably aren't pets and taking pictures and paying for that just encourages this. So as we got on a tender to go ashore there was a canoe right along side the tender with a girl holding a sloth. People who must not have been to the lecture took pictures and passed dollars to the girl. I was distressed because the sloth looked very skinny and was more active than I have ever seen one in the wild, not normal behavior. As we got off of the tender we had to go through something like a gauntlet of kids, many holding animals like sloths, exotic birds, monkeys, caimans etc. And also many children came up to hold hands with you wanting to take you to see their homes. A fellow passenger had candy to give the children and that distracted them while we finished our way to the village. This made some passengers uncomfortable (personal space issue) but I am sure no one meant any harm etc. We walked through their village, there were people out selling crafts. I bought some necklaces that really did look locally made since I did not see anyone else selling them. We took some pictures. There were several vendors offering to take people for a canoe ride and those that went had a nice ride up some of the small tributaries. I could just see me not being able to get out of the canoe when the ride was over. So we declined.

Manaus – It seems strange to see such a large city at least 900 miles inland on the Amazon River. But here we are. When we woke up I could tell that we were on the Rio Nigro which means black river, not because it is dirty but because it is stained from vegetation. It is raining and we transferred to a river boat, DH and I stayed on the main level rather than going up a ladder to the top level (that would also mean we had to come down the ladder). We went to a small meeting of the Rio Nigro and Amazon Rivers and it is very plain to see even far away which water belongs to which river. A person with the boat got clear pitchers and scoped some Rio Nigro water and some Amazon water and you could both see and feel the difference in temperature. We then went through a grass plain to a lake that had floating homes, restaurant and souvenir shop. DH and I elected to stay at the restaurant instead of getting into a smaller canoe to go further up a stream. It was raining off and on very hard. When the other passengers came back they said they didn't see much, maybe a couple birds. I was worried we had missed the large lily pads that I have seen so many pictures of, but no one saw any. We bought some souvenirs and got back on the river boat . Before we went back to the ship we went down stream quite a while and saw a larger meeting of the waters of the Amazon and Rio Nigro. While we were anxious to get out of the rain and back to the ship, I am glad we got to see this. The ship had plans to go through this area slowly with commentary but due to delay getting out of port because of supply loading it was dark when we went through this area.

Manaus was as far as we went up the Amazon, it was time to turn around and head east.

 

Our next stop was an island in the Amazon – Parintins. The main excursion to attend (as I heard on this forum) was the Boi Bamba. This was also a tender port and it took quite awhile to get us all ashore. We were greeted at every turn between the tender and the show Cub and Boy scouts making sure to point out any step or uneven surface for us. This show is held in a large room with seats for about 400 (I estimate). While it was crowded and those of us who got there first had to wait quite awhile (they handed out rum punch) we quit fidgeting as soon as the show started. I really don't know how long the show was because from the first drum beat until it was over I don't think anyone looked at a watch. The dancing, drum beating and singing did not stop The show is basically an overview of the winning entry in the festival they have in June. The winner performs until the next June and festival.

 

Santarem was our next port (which we passed by on our way up the Amazon). Our excursion was to take a river boat and go to see meeting of the waters again (Amazon with Tapajos) and then went to a small stream onto a lake to see some sloths and then we stopped and got to go piranha fishing. I just fed the fish and someone would bait my line, but some people did catch a fish. It was a pretty day and a nice relaxing excursion. Saw a sloth up in a tree watching us and some dolphins at the meeting of the waters. It was explained that the area where they meet will have more fish and thus more dolphins. Saw many different farms/houses along the way. And that was all the ports that we visited on the Amazon. While standing on our balcony waiting to depart I looked across the water seeing many river craft and large commercial shipping vessels. I looked at an island and through the tree tops I can see a cruise ship coming down the river which shows there definitely was plenty of width of the Amazon, because I was sure that ship was in a main stream.

 

Pink Dolphins – I looked and looked. I successfully saw many gray dolphins. I think I only saw one or two pink dolphins. These creatures just barely surfaced for air and back down, no chance of getting any pictures, but it was neat when I did get to see one.

 

Equator – We crossed the equator probably 3 times while on the Amazon. There is a Neptune ceremony for crew members who have crossed the equator by sea for the first time. The ship had one scheduled which had to be rescheduled two times because of rain, but we finally had it on one of our last sea days. There were 7 crew members who got the initiation and with lots of goo poured over their heads, a fish to kiss and then pushed into the pool. Needless to say, the pool was drained to get cleaned and refilled.

Pictures from  Boca da Valeria

[mj_holiday]

Pictures from Boi Bumba and the city of Manuas

[mj_holiday]

Meeting of Waters outside Manaus and a school boat on the lake

[mj_holiday]

Pictures of River Boat and fishing for Piranha and seeing another cruise ship on the other side of an island

[ronrick1943]

What a great, enjoyable report, thanks for taking the time to write it. We'll be on the Navigator soon and it was interesting hearing about the ship.  Rick

[Ep010835]

Thank You, MJ!! Extremely nice of you to take the time and to make the effort to share all of this with us. Wife and I have this trip booked next year and just cannot wait! 

 

Curious, were you required to get yellow fever shots before leaving on your trip?

[flossie009]

Thanks for the detailed report and photos.

It brings back happy memories of our cruise up the Amazon, on Mariner, 3 years ago. The Boi Bumba Show was fabulous.

 

Also good to hear about life on board Navigator as we take our first cruise on her in March.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to review your cruise 🙂

Edited December 31, 2018 by flossie009

[RJ2002]

We were on Regent's Mariner Amazon cruise last year, and it certainly looks and sounds as though you had a similar *amazing* experience as we did.  So many interesting and unusual sites when sailing the Amazon River.  Glad you had Terry Breen onboard with you.  She is truly a treasure. She actually accompanied us on the tour in Antigua.

 

Sorry you didn't spot the pink dolphins.  We had our only brief glimpse when waiting for the tender to return to the ship after the Boi Bumba show at Parintins.  They were playing in the water right near the jetty.

 

Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts.  

[mj_holiday]

7 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

Thank You, MJ!! Extremely nice of you to take the time and to make the effort to share all of this with us. Wife and I have this trip booked next year and just cannot wait! 

 

Curious, were you required to get yellow fever shots before leaving on your trip?

Regarding Yellow Fever shots.  Much was discussed on our Roll Call about them and it seems everyone made their own decision.  Some members stated it was required by their contract "but didn't show it" others said they called Regent in Florida and were told they didn't need one.  At one time I read on Barbados tourist web page that you would be denied entry if you had been to a YF region (couldn't find that back 2 weeks later).  Our Regent Ts&Cs said this was our responsibility.  We bit the bullet and visited a Travel Doctor and got the YF shot.  We were not asked by anyone about the vaccine either on the ship or going into any country.  And as I will explain later on in my review I did not see one Mosquito, but that was this year.   You will need a Brazilian visa.

[mj_holiday]

A sloth we saw during our "fishing" and the crossing the Equator ceremony

[mj_holiday]

The other ports visited before and after the Amazon.

 

Phillipsburg - St Maarten - Our excursion was a drive around the island and shopping. The island was still recovering from the last hurricane There was still a lot of boarded up buildings and wrecked boats. Went to a couple of great view points and then to the French side to go shopping. There was a shopping center and also a bunch of outdoor tent stands that sold crafts, jewelry, tshirts etc. We bought some souvenirs and had a local beer at a small restaurant. We wanted to go to Maho beach to see the Princess Juliana airport and beach. Our guide told us how to do it after we got back to the ship, but we were afraid we didn't have enough time and decided not to go reminding ourselves that there were not many planes landing and taking off due to the drop in tourism since the hurricane.

 

Point-a-pitre, Guadeloupe. We did a snorkeling and beach break – it rained and was chilly. The water was really pretty. The beach break was not really a beach break. After snorkeling, we went to another area where the water was about 3-4 feet deep and got off the boat and we could go ashore if we wanted to (about 30 feet) and shore was a small island with no services. So not what I would call a beach break. All of these ports were new to us and we didn't want to spend all our time on the beach (no matter how tempting it was) because we wanted to see other things, so we only selected this one beach. From talking with people there were better places to have done a beach break. It was still fun.

 

St George's , Grenada – we did a spice tour. Our guide was very good at explaining the island and culture. Traffic at the port was extremely hectic. We visited a nutmeg factory and a herb and spice garden where many of the various plants were explained including the current pharma uses. We also went to an old distillery not in operation, but with an interesting museum.

 

Trinidad was our next stop. We visited the Angostura rum and bitters distillery. Got a very nice tour of the factory and museum and tasting room. We also got a nice city and tour garden. There are several Victorian houses still in the city. The botanical garden we visited was very interesting. There were some shops on the pier and we decided to head to the ship for lunch and then visit the shops, but when we left the ship again most of the shops had closed.

 

After the Amazon we visited Devil's Island. We were warned that many times the water is too rough for tendering. We were very pleased that our morning there we had calm tendering water. We actually visited an island next to Devil's Island but all are frequently called Devil's Island. We had a map of the island with a couple different paths to take. While most paths headed right we headed left and soon arrived at a set of steps. After going up those we walked a little while and came to a slope than had moss and looked slippery. So while deciding where to go next we had several monkeys come by to check us out. I headed up a set of steps while DH waited with the monkeys. The steps are not to be taken lightly. Several places there was nothing to use as a hand rail. After up one set of stairs, I soon found the only way to go was up more steps. I finally made it to the top where there was the hotel (how do people get their luggage up there??) It was very pretty up there – in fact the whole island was beautiful. I found a souvenir shop where, in addition to gifts you could buy postcards and pay for a stamp and leave the post card with the store and they would mail it for you. After looking around for awhile I went back down. That was not easy either. To help with one set of stairs I went down backwards so I could hold on to the steps above to keep me stable. This really was a beautiful island but I also thought about all the stairs and walls and buildings that must have been built by prisoners. These are all built with beautiful rock which added to the setting.

 

Our next stop was Bridgetown Barbados – We did a tour with a professional photographer going around the island. He explained some techniques on taking pictures and took us to some interesting and beautiful places to take pictures. We stopped in a small neighborhood and he explained the architecture of the houses that recently freed slaves used throughout the island, they only owned the building so the buildings could be disassembled and moved to a new location. We also made a stop at a small hotel for a sample of rum punch. It was a great tour. Our guide, Ronnie Carrington, also explained at the beach rest stop t he had raised money to get a handrail on the steps and to have an attendant at the restroom. The port had many shops that had a great variety of things to buy if souvenirs were needed.

 

Some pixs from Devil's Island

[mj_holiday]

From Barbados

[mj_holiday]

St John's Antigua was our next stop. We took a city waking tour. It was a Saturday and the streets were very crowded. While our walk was interesting, we had difficulty side stepping all the other pedestrians and car traffic. We saw some older architecture with explanation on how rain water was collected. We saw both the formal fish market and the informal markets on the sidewalks outside the formal markets. We went to the craft mall where people sell things that they had made, not much was open but I would have liked to have had time to do some shopping here. We then went to some churches and DH and I soon decided we needed to leave. While the tour was interesting, our legs were giving out and I was worried we would end up very far from the pier. We went back to the pier and shops and found a place for a couple of local beers, rum and a snack and it started to rain just as we got under the roof. We knew how far we were from the ship and relaxed and got our second wind.

 

Our next port of call was to be St. Bart's. Just as we were getting ready to go to the theater for our tours the Captain gave an announcement that the waves were too rough to tender. The Captain found a

slip in St Maarten where we had already been, but would still be a good port of call. DH and I realized we now had our chance to visit airport “Princess Juliana”, and watch planes. As soon as we docked and were able to get off we headed for a taxi stand. We found a driver who would take us to the airport for $25. We did not bargain and got in the cab. (We later learned this is the standard rate for across the island.) It took at least 35 minutes driving over hills and around hills (and I hadn't taken any motion sick med) We got to the beach, runway and bars. I asked our driver where to find a taxi to return and he asked how long we would be – I said about 45 minutes – and he said he would wait. We are so glad we made this side trip. Walking around the fence etc and the beach which was beautiful, we got several pictures. Then we saw a sign with the schedule of incoming flights and we realized there was a flight coming in right then and got good pictures of it going right over the beach.. We then went into the bar for a beer and of course buy a T-shirt. Our driver was waiting for us and back to the pier we headed. The driver explained to us that he was in his house during the Hurricane and after the roof of his house flew off, he went to his garage which had a lower roof and hid in his taxi cab.

 

One final word about bugs and mosquitoes, etc. When in the Amazon, the lights of the ship were minimized at night as much as possible to keep from attracting bugs, many beetles showed up but they were harmless. I saw no mosquitoes the entire trip. On the Amazon we were in the middle of moving water. On our excursions the areas had no standing water and we also back on the ship before dusk (which is when you would normally see mosquitoes). I used bug repellent once and carried it with me in case I needed it. There were flies and wasps that were around but when we quit wearing cologne they didn't come near us any more.

 

This was a great cruise.

[mj_holiday]

If you have any other questions about the cruise or ports, ask away.

 

One note on photos.  Halfway to the airport I realized I forgot my camera, so quickly decided (in addition to DH's suitcase full of photography equipment) that I would use my IPhone.  It worked just great except for areas with blacklights (Boi Bumba and CR) where it put a purple tint over everything.  Need to figure out how to adjust that for the future.

[Travelcat2]

Great photos and commentary!  It also brings us back to being on the Mariner in the Amazon last year.  Quite amazing!

 

For those of you that plan on going to the Amazon, I recommend taking a semi-private excursion.  We saw plenty of pink dolphins and you could swim with them if you wanted to (the five of us from the ship did not go into the water but locals did and we got some great photos).  Our full day tour, including a delicious lunch was $60/person which I feel is quite reasonable.

 

Did you go to Devil's Island?

[forevertravel]

Thank you for a wonderful report. We are booked on the Mariner December, 2019 to do Amazon cruise. We are looking forward to it. I love reading your blog. We have cruised with Terry Breen in Alaska and think she's great. She'll be our lecturer next month on South America cruise. Happy New Year and thank you again.

 

Forevertravel

[Ep010835]

6 hours ago, mj_holiday said:

Regarding Yellow Fever shots.  Much was discussed on our Roll Call about them and it seems everyone made their own decision.  Some members stated it was required by their contract "but didn't show it" others said they called Regent in Florida and were told they didn't need one.  At one time I read on Barbados tourist web page that you would be denied entry if you had been to a YF region (couldn't find that back 2 weeks later).  Our Regent Ts&Cs said this was our responsibility.  We bit the bullet and visited a Travel Doctor and got the YF shot.  We were not asked by anyone about the vaccine either on the ship or going into any country.  And as I will explain later on in my review I did not see one Mosquito, but that was this year.   You will need a Brazilian visa.

We still have some time before sailing but I'm thinking we want to follow your lead and get not only the YF shot but Typhoid as well. 

Thank you again for an absolutely spectacular blog. Wife and I have read and re-read every word of it. 

[mj_holiday]

A lesson I learned when getting the vaccines.  Need a schedule to keep it all straight.  We first visited a travel doctor (met with a nurse) to see what they recommended and of course they had a long list.  We took the list to our PCP for DH and  he could handle the typhoid but not  YF.  While he had us corralled he started pneumonia shots also and with our age reminded us of flu shots.  For Typhoid he gave us a script for an oral vaccine.  This is good for 5 years and I believe the injection is good for 2 years.  The typhoid script comes from a pharmacy and needs to be refrigerated and you take it for 4 days (I think)  The oral typhoid and the YF are both live vaccines and need to double check any meds you are taking because of interaction and you may have to stop taking one a couple days before each vaccine.  There should also be at least 2-3 weeks between these vaccines, and a couple weeks between them and any flu shot. so the schedule starts getting bigger (flu, pneumonia, typhoid, YF, make appt with Travel doc, stop taking some meds)  Insurance covered the typhoid but probably not the YF vaccine.  The travel doctor didn't fill out insurance and I have sent it in but haven't heard anything.  I started this in August and with medical apt and flu shots etc, we got the last vaccine the beginning of November.  So build a schedule.

 

Any other questions you, just ask and I will try to answer.

[Ep010835]

This is the very first I've heard about the existence of a specialized travel doctor. We've traveled internationally quite extensively for the last couple of decades and beyond a cursory pre-trip check of the CDC website have just gone our merry way. 

It's interesting to know such specialists are out there. Learn something every day!

Thanks. 

[Travelcat2]

It is important to keep in mind that anyone that has an immune issue cannot take live vaccines but can get a letter from your physician stating that you cannot have the vaccine.  

 

My DH and I had physician letters but were never asked to show them (and I do not know of anyone on any Amazon cruise that were asked for proof of vaccination or the letter.  As the TS indicated, we did not see one mosquito.  

 

Based on this experience, if you have any doubt that you can have the vaccine (YF), get the letter instead.  Why take a chance with your health?????  Definitely not worth it.

 

P.S.  There has apparently been a shortage of Yellow Fever vaccine in the U.S. so it may be difficult to find a place that has it.  and, if they do, it will be costly.