Amazon River

[george/patricia]

Hello CC People: My Wife and I are thinking of taking the Caribbean- Eastern cruise that sails from Miami on Nov. 25/07 for 26 days on the Regatta. We are very new to cruising having done our first (repositioning from Italy) cruise last year. We would welcome any comments on this cruise from people that have done it before. Thanks, Big J.

[hondorner]

Betsy and I were also not the most experienced cruisers when we took this cruise this past November/December, and it was our first cruise on Oceania.

 

We had been to enough Caribbean islands to know that many of them are similar. We can't get too excited about a 4x4 tour, rainforest tour or snorkeling on every island. So, we generally wander around the primary town and possibly take a tour if it seems exceptional, as one tour in St. Lucia did.

 

Things changed when we got to Brazil. This was new territory for us, and we were warned that many taxi drivers don't speak English. So, we took ship's tours are almost every location, and enjoyed them.

 

You should do plenty of research about the lower Amazon. It is very wide, the scenery changes very little, and you are not going to witness throngs of Piranhas or much wildlife beyond an occasional bird. The wildlife generally stays in the deep woods under the canopy; it's too hot otherwise. We stopped at Santerem, which is a rather uninspiring, mid-size city.. The tour took us to a village where there was a demonstration of how to make Manioc flour, and other native foodstuffs. Our next stop was the Indian village of Boca da Valeria, which was very interesting and a worthwhile stop.

 

The city of Manaus is a city of 2 Million people, which is kind of mind-blowing, considering the isolation. We took the Meeting of the Waters tour and enjoyed the riverboat and the journey in the tiny, motorize canoes. We walked to the famed Opera House and were fortunate that a rehearsal for a ballet was taking place while we toured the building. We were fascinated by the shopping kiosks. I understand the city has a WalMart somewhere...

 

On the way back dowstream, the stop in Parintins was fantastic -- the town is prosperous and clean. Be certain not to miss the folkloric show that is a representation of the annual festival. The energy, costumes, music, singling, dancing and props were beyond anything you might expect.

 

We were pleasantly surprised by Devils Island (really Isle Royale; Devils Island is a few yards away but not accessible). I call it "well maintained ruins". There is enough of the old cell buildings still standing to give a good sense of what it must have been like, and everything is clean, manicured and well-kept as if it was ready to open for business tomorrow, except that many of the cell roofs, etc., have crumbled. It was fascinating.

 

Back through a different set of southern Caribbean Islands, we settled into the same routine as on the way down. If you have never visited Caribbean Islands, you will be an expert by the time your return.

 

This cruise is a perfect blend of ports and sea days. There were never more than 4 days of ports strung together without a break of one or more sea days to recuperate from the touring. We were leery of how we would handle the length of 26 days, because our longest previous cruise was 12 days. It turned out to be almost the perfect length; I was ready, but not anxious, to leave, and Betsy could easily have stayed another day or two. We've gained enough confidence to book a 35 day cruise for April '08.

 

I've concentrated on the itinerary rather than the ship itself because there are plenty of rave reviews of the ship on this forum, and they are all true. We're completely hooked on Oceania.

[Druke I]

We found the Amazon very interesting.

 

We did it on the old Pacific Princess, way back in Dec '91. Nice ship, but certainly not as nice as the R class Oceania ships.

[IheartHAL]

Mr. Horner has posted a very good review! I took a 26 day Ft. Lauderdale-Manaus-Ft. Lauderdale on the Prinsendam in Nov/Dec 2005. Seeing life on and around the river was quite an experience. It was very hot and very humid, with the occasional tropical downpour. You see a good variety of places, from tiny Boca da Valeria to the city of Manaus. I agree the Boi Bumba show in Parintins is not to be missed. We had a very good lecturer on board for the "Amazon experience" portion of the cruise, as I'm sure most ships do.

 

The round-trip from Florida itineraries have it all -- relaxing Caribbean ports, not too many days at sea, and incredible learning experiences in the Amazon region. I was so impressed, I'm doing it again next year!

[hondorner]

Hot & humid, yes, but amazingly, we had virtually no rain in the entire trip -- maybe 10 minutes of drizzle at most.

 

I also forgot to mention that you will cross the equator a few miles into the Amazon River, and can participate in the initiation that turns "Polywogs" into "Shellbacks" by order of King Neptune. Traditionally involving some hazing, on our trip we had to "kiss the fish" -- place our lips on a frozen fish held by Cruise Director David Peterson, who acted as King Neptune for the ceremony. We were then to hurl ourselves into the water :eek:, but he graciously allowed us to dip our toes in the swimming pool. We got a nice certificate.

 

When we cross the equator again next November, we'll be able to laugh at all the new polywogs. :cool:

[Aussie Gal]

We did the Amazon cruise in September/October last year on the Veendam. We left from Vancouver and went through the Panama Canal and visited Aruba and Grenada before commencing our journey up the Amazon. We also had the wonderful "Crossing the Equator" ceremony which was great fun.

 

We found it to be a most fascinating cruise. It was certainly very hot and humid but we expected that. Our first stop was Santarem and we did a ship's excursion which took us up a tributory of the Amazon where we went Pirahna fishing. Both my husband and self managed to catch 4 each. It was so much fun and the fish were cooked on the boat for us to all to taste.

 

We also visited Boca da Valeria for a morning and visited the village. Our next stop was Manaus where we stayed overnight. On the first day we had a private guide who showed us the sights of the city including the market and the Opera House. In the afternoon we took the free shuttle provided by Stern's jewellers out to a lovely resort hotel. This trip gave us an idea of the suburbs of Manaus as well as spending time away from the city.

 

That night we were very lucky as a concert was being held in the Opera House and we were able to go and hear Vivaldi's Four Seasons played by the Manaus Symphony Orchestra. It was just so amazing to think that we were 1500 miles up this huge river in the jungle and were in a beautiful Opera House listening to wonderful music.

 

Next day we took another private tour which took us to the Meeting of the Waters, as well going on jungle walk and seeing a lake with waterlillies. A lunch was included. It was a great day.

 

We also stopped in Paratins on the way back down the Amazon. We went for a tricycle ride in the morning around the town and in the afternoon we went to watch the Boi Bumba Show. I think most of the ship's passengers went and it was fantastic. Don't miss it if you are given the opportunity to see this magnificent show.

 

On our return back to the Atlantic we visited Barbados and the Dominican Republic before finishing in Tampa. It was a 34 day cruise and I could have stayed on for longer.

 

By the way on the Veendam we had to conserve water once we were in the Amazon and the laundries on the ship were closed for the time we were up there. We were also asked to try and use our towels in our cabin twice before putting them out. The ship could not make any water whilst up there and fresh water was put on in Manaus.

 

Jennie

[Decebal]

Hot & humid, yes, :cool:

 

These were some great reviews of the itinerary, I've had my eye on it as well, and wondered how one will handle close to 10 days on the Amazon. The hot and humidity part is my only concern, were you soaking wet? How about on the ship, once inside did you cool down, did it feel dry or was just as humid inside the ship as outside?

 

Thanks.

[Liat]

I assume you are thinking of ther Island Edens and the Amazon Cruise starting November 25. I have an extensive review of our Manaus to Barbados cruise on Insignia posted on this http://www.cruisecritic site; which you might want to read.

Your prospective cruise visits some spots in the Carbbean which are not part of the usual Carbbean trip, and should be worthwhile. While one poster did not find much of interest in Santarem, our excursion there was quite nice, as our review notes. We also liked Devil's Island; amd Manaus is not to be missed. It is a fascinating city. Be sure to stop at the pierside large market for a true flavor of the Amazon, as well as taking the H. Stern trip and visiting the opera house.

I would not worry about humidity. You may be required by Brazil to get yellow fever vaccinations, although they did not check us for this at the Manaus airport, and they may not check cruise passengers at all. The CDC recommends anti malarial pills. Brazil also requires a visa. Get it yourself through a service recommended by your TA, and NOT through Oceania.

Ask the HAL posters if they were checked for yellow fever vaccinations.

[george/patricia]

WOW - thanks for the great info, I'm booking this cruise tomorrow. What also appeals to me is that the cruise/company is informal and has open dining. We cruised the Costa Magica last year and the dining tended to be more formal than I wanted and did not have open seating.

[spindrift]

I did this trip a few years back as a back-to-back RT from Ft. Lauderdale on the wonderful Vistafjord with my Mother, who I lost last year. My husband has not been up the Amazon, so we are waiting to see the Oceania trip in November, 2008. The Prinsendam is doing this in November, 2008, but Oceania has not yet announced that trip. I'm going to wait a bit to see what Oceania has, but I don't want to miss it then, so if I don't find out soon, I'll go ahead and book the Prinsendam. The trip is wonderful.

 

Mother and I took the Stern trip and it was marvelous. We went to the Opera House as well and took a canoe trip back through one of the tributaries. Our guide said we could tell how many children the families had according to whether or not they had a TV antenna. We saw some magnificent, huge water lilies.

 

Our Captain stopped the ship in the Amazon where we were able to witness the blending of the waters--black and brown. What a wonderful sight. (The Nego river and the Amazon).

 

For those of you haven't done it, you must. Can't wait for Oceania to announce their itinerary and prices.

[Aussie Gal]

These were some great reviews of the itinerary, I've had my eye on it as well, and wondered how one will handle close to 10 days on the Amazon. The hot and humidity part is my only concern, were you soaking wet? How about on the ship, once inside did you cool down, did it feel dry or was just as humid inside the ship as outside?

 

Thanks.

 

As I mentioned in my post it was hot and humid but once inside the ship you did cool down very quickly. In fact whilst we were going both up and down the amazon, my DH and self spent quite a lot of time on our verandah, reading and looking at the scenery.

 

The heat really didn't become apparent until we stopped at a port, as the ship does make its own breeze. Manaus was by far the hottest of the four ports, the other three were not too bad at all. I wore long linen pants and shirts with short sleeves plus a hat all the time we were off the ship.

 

I was worried that we may see mosquitoes but there weren't any around at all. We were there in October and the rains hadn't started so everything was very dry. We started to take our anti malaria tablets but stopped after we left Boca da Valeria as we hadn't seen any mosquitoes in the two ports we had visited and we heard that the crew were not taking precautions either.

 

We did have to have our yellow fever injections and they were checked before we boarded our ship in Vancouver.

 

We saw so many unusual sights including seeing the Gas Stations out in the middle of the Amazon. These started appearing just out of Manaus when we went on our trip to see the "Meeting of the Waters."

 

It is an incredible trip and one we are so lucky to have been able to do it. We were fortunate to have perfect weather with sunshine every day and calm seas for 34 days, we were truly blessed. :o

 

Jennie

[hondorner]

We did notice that few people -- actually, almost zero -- used the deck chairs in the center of the pool deck, around the pool, while near the equator. The deck chairs in the shade under the fitness track were very popular. We spent most of our time on our veranda with binoculars -- this is one cruise where the balcony is worth every penny, and don't forget your binoculars. A camera with a more than 3x zoom is also recommended.

 

The neat thing is that you are going both upstream and downstream, so regardless of which side your balcony is on, you will not miss anything on either bank of the river during the daylight hours.

[chivasbythebay]

Hi Don and Betsy, We are heading up the Amazon in Nov.07 and then on the 35 day HK to Athens in Apr. 08. We are interested in local land tours and in particular a journey to the Taj Mahal. Any thoughts? Cheers,Page

[hondorner]

Hi, Page -- we certainly enjoyed every moment of our 2006 Amazon Cruise and are looking forward to the 2008 HK to Athens cruise, as well. We haven't made any firm plans about tours on that trip, but we have kicked around some ideas.

 

On the Amazon cruise, we only took one tour in the various Caribbean Islands, the cross-island tour to Soufriere on St. Lucia. It was nearly 8 hours, included lunch and had several great stops including the nicest botanical gardens we have seen and a trip into a volcano -- worth every penny. On the other islands, the tours quickly seemed to have a sameness -- swim, snorkel, 4-wheel, rain forest, etc. So, we were very happy to walk into town, prowl around, go into markets, etc. We found a lot of churches and such on our own.

 

In Brazil, however, we were concerned about language barriers and reliability, so we took ship's tours at every stop. We found them decent and generally worth the cost, however none of them were really expensive in the grand scheme of things.

 

The HK to Athens trip will be a little different, I think. There are several fairly expensive options. We would love to do the pre-cruise Beijing/Xian tour, the Taj Mahal, and the overnight in Luxor (all assuming they are offered again in 2008; I got those off the 2007 itinerary). We are timid travelers, however, and tend to go with ship's tours because of reliability. I don't even want to think about what it would be like to book my own tour, have a breakdown of some kind, and miss the ship. We have also been on cruises where the itinerary was changed while en route, and we prefer to have the ship's destination folks work out the kinks and new offerings.

 

Have you visited the roll call for the HK/Athens trip? http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=410529

[serendipity1499]

We also did the Amazon on the "Prinsendam" in April 06 and are booked on the Regatta to the Amazon this November, again with our Dear Friends....We're all looking forward to different Caribbean ports, as most of them are ones we've never been to before..

 

We all had Yellow fever shots, as HAL would not board us without them... It's only because we were stopping in some Caribbean countries, which required them if we were coming from an endemic area (the Amazon) ..Go to the CDC WEB site..& put in each country you will be going to to see if they require the shot..

 

http://www2.ncid.cdc.gov/travel/yb/utils/ybGet.asp?section=dis&obj=yellowfever.htm

 

We got our shots from the Local Health Dept....

 

We also took the Daily Malaria Pills, as did not want to take any chances, even though we knew the crew never took them & we also never saw any mosquitoes..

 

We too enjoyed Devils Island & had fun watching the little monkeys & the wildlife...

 

We had the city tour of Santarem which we found interesting..This time probably will just take a short walk..

 

My friend & I are looking forward to Boca de Valeria (the Indian Village) again...Never got into the town to see their little school house but plan to do that this trip..She & I went to the "Dollar Store" & purchased crayons, colored pencils, post it notes, stickers & Hair clips for the children on Boca de Valeria...We were told by someone who lives in Brazil not to give them $$, but to bring instead a bunch of little trinkets....The children loved them & we plan on doing the same thing again...We purchased some very interesting carvings done by the Indian people there..One little boy & girl adopted me & held my hand the entire time..the little Boy spoke a little English & told us that when the ships come in, their school is closed for the day..

 

One very interesting sight is seeing the local ferry boats which go up & down the Amazon..It takes many days for them to do this & the locals board down river & go to Manaus to shop..So many of them bring hammocks to sleep in..It's really very interesting just to to sit out on deck & watch the goings on in Manaus..

 

The first day in Manaus, did the boat ride through the forest & the Meeting of the Waters..The next day we also took the Stern's shuttle out to the Hotel..Be sure not to miss the small Zoo at the hotel...I purchased a parrot statue at Amsterdam Sauer & their shuttle Driver took the four of us back to the Opera House where we took a tour...The Amsterdam Sauer, Driver waited a whole hour for us at the Opera House & took us back to the ship, which was a complete surprise to us..

 

DH is looking forward to going to the Boi Bumba festival in Parintins again....Don't miss it.. The Girl's & Boy's (Dancers) are so beautiful..;) We sat in the front row & took lots of pictures..We all also hired 2 tricycles & they gave us about an hour's ride through town..If I'm not mistaken we were only charged about $20.00 for each bike, which was much less than the ships tour for the same thing..We walked about a block or two into town to hire them, but it was well worth it..Just be sure to check out the condition of the tricycle & the canopy top..Make sure it has side bars to hang on to as they careen around town..After that we wandered through the market place near the dock..

 

Our ship also closed down the laundry service while in the Amazon, but that was no problem as we had done laundry prior to that..

 

Enjoy your cruise..:) Betty

[serendipity1499]

Hi Don and Betsy, We are heading up the Amazon in Nov.07 and then on the 35 day HK to Athens in Apr. 08. We are interested in local land tours and in particular a journey to the Taj Mahal. Any thoughts? Cheers,Page

 

Hi Page...Are you going to be on the Regatta this coming November?

 

If so, would like to invite you to join the Roll Call thread for this cruise..It was started by, jorogers, who is away at the moment, but there are a few of us already signed in..

 

Have a good weekend..:) Betty

[chivasbythebay]

Dear Don and Betsy, Thanks for the reply. We're off to the Galapagos this week but will start checking in when we return in April. The roll call concept is new to me . Obvously another learning curve is coming. Cheers, Page

[hondorner]

Obvously another learning curve is coming. Cheers, Page

I wish I knew as much about travel as I do about computers and the Internet. Fortunately, it seems we are both learning...;)

[JonconOH]

Hello CC People: My Wife and I are thinking of taking the Caribbean- Eastern cruise that sails from Miami on Nov. 25/07 for 26 days on the Regatta. We are very new to cruising having done our first (repositioning from Italy) cruise last year. We would welcome any comments on this cruise from people that have done it before. Thanks, Big J.

We cruised on the Regatta to the Amazon Nov. 2005. We found taxis available at most ports. In Castries I set up a private tour for 12 of us with a father/son tour group. Very reasonable. Free rum drinks enroute from Castries to Soufriere where we reboarded the ship. For the stop in Boca Da Valeria, we brought pencils, crayons, tablets, baseball caps for the children's school. Also, we had collected a lot of "hotel" soaps, shampoos, lotion, etc over the years and placed them in zip lock baggies to toss overboard for the families in canoes who met the ship. In Manaus I booked a riverboat tour for the 14 in our group. Although the ship arrived late, the concierge was helpful in contacting them to advise of the delay. Wonderful trip on our own "African Queen"!

[serendipity1499]

We cruised on the Regatta to the Amazon Nov. 2005. We found taxis available at most ports. In Castries I set up a private tour for 12 of us with a father/son tour group. Very reasonable. Free rum drinks enroute from Castries to Soufriere where we reboarded the ship. For the stop in Boca Da Valeria, we brought pencils, crayons, tablets, baseball caps for the children's school. Also, we had collected a lot of "hotel" soaps, shampoos, lotion, etc over the years and placed them in zip lock baggies to toss overboard for the families in canoes who met the ship.

 

On the "Prinsendam" the Captain was on the loud speaker & was very adament that we were not to throw anything overboard to the people meeting the ship..He specifically stated it could cause injury to the natives..But that's a great idea & perhaps could be given it to someone on shore to be distributed to the families.. :) Betty

[The.Mayor]

We found the Amazon very interesting.

 

We did it on the old Pacific Princess, way back in Dec '91. Nice ship, but certainly not as nice as the R class Oceania ships.

 

 

What part of Amazon did you travel,east or west Manaus or both. I was hoping to go west of Manaus but looks like the eastern part ohhh well, going with Vantage on IBERIASTAR, 140 +/- passengers, Extension to I... falls, and another week of land air tour of Brazil. Not sure about Y Fever shots and malaria? CDC has mixed recommendations.:(

 

Any experiences from any travelers from Brazilian Authorities. I heat odds of gettting Y fever w/o Y fever shot ranges from 20000:1 to 100000:1 for travelers, higher risk for foreign workers in Amazon region. Malaria, I have seen no recommendations at all.

 

Anyone with recent nfo?:confused:

[hondorner]

Oceania requires the Yellow Fever shots; won't let you board without them. I didn't bother to get into the reasons, but there are countries outside of Brazil who won't let you enter without a Y F shot if you have been to certain regions of Brazil, first. Our Health Department travel nurse emphasized the importance, but she may be showing an excess of caution. She also recommended Hepatitus shots, something for typhoid, and malaria pills, as well. We ignored her on the other shots, but got the Malaron pills. If we go back, we will not bother with the Malaron, again -- we saw no mosquitoes or any other bugs, for that matter.

 

We will be back in Recife, Salvador and Rio this coming November, but don't have to worry about whether Y F shots are required because ours are good for at least 5 years. We suffered no ill effects from the shots except to our wallets. ;)

[Druke I]

Our Amazon trip, on the (old) Pacific Princess, was East from Manaus, to the ocean, and North to Florida (one way).

 

We flew into Manaus on a Princess charter from Miami, disembarking passengers took same plane back to Miami.

 

We had yellow fever shots, and anti-malarial pills. I don't believe they were suggesting or requiring innoculations for Hep A or B back then (Dec 1991), but my memory might be in error. I had Hep innoculations in Mar 92, when CA required public safety/first responders to have them.

[Aussie Gal]

We had yellow fever, hepatitis A, typhoid and a polio booster before we went to Brazil. We could have even had a cholorea injection as well. Our local Overseas Medical Clinic advised us on all these injections. I know I had about 4 or 5 in my arm.

 

We also took anti malarial tablets with us but like Don, we did not see any mosquitoes and stopped taking the tablets after a few days. Mind you, we were there in October, before the wet season began. It would be a completely different scenario if we were there during or after the rains. eg. March, April.

 

Jennie

[JonconOH]

On the "Prinsendam" the Captain was on the loud speaker & was very adament that we were not to throw anything overboard to the people meeting the ship..He specifically stated it could cause injury to the natives..But that's a great idea & perhaps could be given it to someone on shore to be distributed to the families.. :) Betty

Betty,

There were only about 5 canoes starboard side of the ship. The people were courteous to the others around them and did not crowd each other. The kids enjoyed gathering them out of the water. We had inflated the zip-lock bags so they would not sink. Got a lot of smiles from the ladies and kids.