Amazon Cruise

[crusin'k]

Hi Everyone

We are looking at the 30 day South American Coastal (Amazon) cruise aboard the Volendam in November 2019.  Can anyone give us feedback on the cruise and/or ship?  It sounds like it would be a nice adventure.

Thanks

[Hawaiidan]

While  I have not done it  I have several friends who have.   For the most part they were disappointing  in that they just sailed up a big  muddy river, far from the banks.  Heat and humidity in abundance,     The ships last stop  is just where the river narrows and things get interesting.   

  Most expected to be sailing through a rain forest rather than a flat farming delta.     The ports were all pretty third world and ships tours had to have armed escorts.as the villages were, well sketchy and poverty   ridden.   

 

 The ship was nice, the food was nice, however, they all expressed disappointment  that they  were on the Amazon but as one put it," never got to see the  real Amazon of  natural beauty and abundant exotic wild life.     

 

   My take away was that it sounded good but the reality  it was  a  not great experience.... People would not do it again knowing what they know.

Do you homework.... look at You-tube, read reviews  and see if what the cruise really delivers is what you really wanted.

Something to consider  is that a lot of that region and its countries are in political and social turmoil.. and it spills out into the region  affecting everything

Edited March 16, 2019 by Hawaiidan

[crusin'k]

Thanks for the info.  Very eye-opening.  Will do some more research as you recommended.

[cruisinteach2]

We did this cruise on the Veendam Feb. 2017. Amazon was on our bucket list. Agree that we did just go down the middle of a wide river. However there were some excursions offered that could get you out into the jungle including one overnight. Although we would probably never do this cruise again it was an interesting experience. So as said by previous poster - do your research and decide if this is one of your dream trips.

[kazu]

There are 2 live threads on the go on the HAL board for the Grand South America as well as Kathi's blog.  The threads are by rafinmd (Roy) and Scrapnana (Kathi).

 

The Amazon was part of their cruise earlier on, so if you go to their Live threads you will be able to see and read about their Amazon experience.  (They are currently sailing on the Prinsendam). I think the timing  for the Amazon is around March 8th IIRC.

[The Other Tom]

45 minutes ago, kazu said:

There are 2 live threads on the go on the HAL board for the Grand South America as well as Kathi's blog.  The threads are by rafinmd (Roy) and Scrapnana (Kathi).

 

The Amazon was part of their cruise earlier on, so if you go to their Live threads you will be able to see and read about their Amazon experience.  (They are currently sailing on the Prinsendam). I think the timing  for the Amazon is around March 8th IIRC.

Kathi's blog:

https://2019halgv.blogspot.com/2019/03/march7-2019-cruisingthe-amazon-river.html

You can get different days by clicking on the tabs on the right side of her blog