Manaus Question

[Blackrobe]

We are taking Regal Princess from San Juan to Manaus, Brazil in January. The charter flight does not leave Manaus until 6:00 p.m. I have a question concerning the luggage. Does Princess transport it to the airport or do we have to make our own arrangements? Similarly, if you have Princess transfers what are the arrangements when the ship overnights in Manaus but the flight does not leave until 6:00 p.m.? Princess does not really take you to the airport at 10:00 a.m. for a 6:00 p.m. flight do they?

 

Many thanks for any assistance someone my provide who has had this experience.

[Pam in CA]

I've taken two cruises leaving from Manaus so I can't answer your question exactly.

 

However, in my experience, Princess charters two very large planes to transport passengers from FLL to Manaus. One flight leaves FLL at about 7:30AM, arriving in Manaus at about 1:30PM. The second flight leaves FLL at about 1PM, arriving in Manaus at about 7:00PM. These flight times are subject to change. Generally-speaking, passengers from the East coast are booked on the early flight; passengers from the West coast are booked on the later flight.

 

These planes are used to transport disembarking passengers from Manaus to FLL. I don't know why there would be a delay in the turnaround except possibly if it's the same crew, they need a rest period. (That's just a guess.)

 

When I've arrived on the early flight, by the time I've gone through Customs and Immigration, etc., I've boarded the ship by about 4PM. Passengers waiting to go to the airport are throughout the ship, hanging out in lounges with their carry-ons. I've seen them as late as 10PM -- or later.

 

I don't know about your luggage question. My guess is that your luggage has been disembarked to the pier and when you're called to leave the ship (they use the standard color-coded disembarkation), you would go to the pier, identify your luggage, it'll be put on the bus with you to the airport.

 

Perhaps someone who has disembarked in Manaus has better information for you. I know you've booked your cruise already but I would really recommend anyone considering this cruise to embark in Manaus rather than disembark. It's a very long day and night. My guess is that those leaving on the "early" flight don't get into FLL until the wee hours of the morning and those on the late flight wouldn't arrive until the next day.

 

Regardless of the flights, this is a fantastic cruise and I love the Regal. Manaus is fascinating... there are many things to see and do so if they offer a pre-flight tour, you should consider it.

[Zace]

We did the Amazon River on the Royal Princess in 2005 Ft. Lauderdale to Manaus. Our experience was Princess transported us and our luggage to the airport about 6 PM. Plane left at 9 PM , arrived in Ft Lauderdale about 2 AM, went to customs and were transported to hotel, got a couple hours sleep. Left hotel 8 AM, transported to airport for flight to California. This made for a long day.

[FredS]

My wife and I were on the late flight out of FLL for Manaus. We did get into Manaus about 7 or 8 PM and we noticed the people getting ready to board the planes for flights back to FLL. We commented about what a long day it must make for them and getting back to FLL so early in the AM. I was wondering about flights back to the West Coast. We were thankful that we were leaving from Manaus. When embarking in Manaus and the ship is there overnight, so we thought we would have enough time to do some tours. Turns out that we only were able to do tours on the one day before the ship sailed. We flew from CA and had a mandatory operational overnight in FLL then the charter flight to Manaus left, for us, early afternoon. So the morning was lost that we spent in FLL since we had been told we would leave about 10 AM, but that did not happen.

[shellbeachjim]

We were with Fred and Pam on the Royal Princess in 2005 and I agree that it's better to start the cruise in Manaus rather than end. Of course, that doesn't help the OP. I was tempted to wave at all of the folks at the airport waiting to catch their flight home, but that would have been mean. We had all of the anticipation of our cruise and they were simply going home. It sure is a different perspective of a cruise, isn't it?

 

We came on the late flight too and were able to take the night alligator excursion on the night of our arrival. It was a challenge to make it. My wife had open toed shoes for the flight and we had to beg our room steward to locate our luggage so she could put on something more appropriate. We made it to the excursion, but just barely. This excursion was wonderful. Being on the river at night with all of the sounds was a highlight for us.

[Pam in CA]

Fred and Jim... after the mention above of the very long day and night, I realized that's exactly what Nancy, Jim and I are doing after our Golden cruise in February. We disembark in Santiago and our flight isn't until 10PM, arriving in MIA at 5:30AM. Then, flights to CA. That's going to be one very long day. Hope I don't bother the others on the plane with my snoring.

[shellbeachjim]

Pam,

Welcome to west-coast flying! Our last flights were the longest we've ever done. Cape Town -> Heathrow -> SFO. We left Cape Town at 7:30pm, arrived in Heathrow at 6:30am. We then got caught up with the Heathrow security. We had too many carry ons and had to rearrange them, go out of security, walk to a different terminal, check one more bag, go back through security, then catch our 10:05am flight. With the time zone changes we arrived home around 3pm. It was 2 11 or 12 hour flights back-to-back. We had it easier than one couple on our flights - they were flying on to Hawaii, so they had another 5 hour flight to deal with.

 

Jim

[Pam in CA]

Thanks, Jim. :P I've eased the pain by upgrading to Business Class so we'll see if that helps.

[goofer]

Four of us are on the same cruise. I spoke to Princess last week about some of the concerns that you raised. Luggage will be picked up at your cabin the last day, (Sunday) and be held until we go to the airport. You will claim luggage at the airport and go through normal check in procedures. Your transfers will be used in the afternoon for group departure to the airport. Also, tours will be offered by the ship for that final day which will be announced later in the cruise. For those that said they would prefer to begin in Manaus, we too had that option. We will have a full week of cruising in anticipation of the Amazon. While the ones beginning in Manaus, will have the thrill of the Amazon over after the first three days.

[Blackrobe]

Thanks to all the posters and to goofer for the relevant information. Does anyone else have any other information.