Amazon River Cruise with Oceania

[ronemil]

Thinking of taking the Oceania Miami to Miami 24 day through the Caribbean and Amazon River. Comments?

[Druke I]

The Amazon is an amazing cruise - although we did it with Princess on the original Pacific Princess way back in 1991.

[Jancruz]

One of my very favorite cruises on O...relaxing yet so interesting with completely different ports!!

Jancruz1

[HarryTravels]

I am also looking forward to that cruise. We signed up 3 months ago and it gives us the best of two worlds: An oportunity to spenfd time in the Amazon and as avid snorkeler's some pretty good ports where the reefs are healthy. The downside for me was it was a littler to long and the 7, I think, sea days but you cannot have everything. The excursions offerred by O are notoriously poor as far as I am concerned. So, I put together my own great excursions in Santerem and Manaus into tributaries to visit local smalll tribal villages off the Amazon. in the better snorkel stops Dominica, Tobago, Virgin Gorda and Grand Turk I chartered licensed boats to go snorkeling rather than the mass snorkels offered by the vendors that serve the cruise lines. So, i really plain on this to be a great trip. You can do the same. the excursions cost more this wat but if you share them with 1-2 oother couples it is not unreasonable.

[Floridiana]

ronemil,

 

We booked this cruise and are really looking forward to it. I trying to figure out which excursions to book in Manaus and Santarem.

 

If anyone did this trip before, please share your experience.

[nobog]

We did the same trip except of Princess earlier this year. Virtually the same ships as O. The highlight was Devils Island. There are no tours - you are on your own to look around so it actually costs nothing! Except if you want to sample some of the local "brew" at the one and only "hotel" on the island. The Amazon was different than what we imagined, its so wide, its like being on the ocean - forget the Tarzan vines and jungle image. The river looks like 2 parts water to one part brown mud - and throw in tons of logs to boot. Best port? St. Lucia. Enjoy, :), JK

[Floridiana]

nobog,

 

Did you book a tour in Santarem and in Manaus? If yes, which ones did you book?

 

I know St. Lucia from a vacation, it is a very beautiful island.

[nobog]

Floridiana; We had a red eye getting into Manaus so we arrived at the ship in less than chipper condition. So the first day was shot. The next day we took a free trip to one of the local hotels that had a small zoo and what else? shopping! I forget the name but many cruisers stay there. OK since it rained most of the day. You can also walk into town from the port. That all pailed compared to the taxi ride from the airport to the port, lets just say road rules are mostly a "suggestion".

 

Santarem; we did not take a tour. Took a cab into town - looked around - and walked back, its probably a 2 mile walk and can be stressful in the heat. The "hamock district" is of interest. If you are adventerous, take a Moto-Taxi - yep, motorcycle taxis! They are all over the place.

 

Boca Da Veleria; although controversial (another subject), we enjoyed this, well, place (town?). One of the only "real" events to see how one lives next to this magnifcant river. Fun.

 

Nevis the low point - except when our tender sank one of the locals small fishing boats with the tenders prop wash!

 

Again, Devils Island was our highlight.

 

Enjoy your cruise! Jim and Sharmon

[Floridiana]

Jim and Sharmon,

Thank you. Luckily, we'll be arriving and leaving by ship.

 

I did not even know that cruise ships stop in Nevis, I thought only 'next door' in Basseterre, St. Kitts. We had an excellent tour in St. Kitts, a visit to two former sugar estates, a snack of local fruit and rum, a drive up the mountain and down on the other side on dirt roads.

 

If anybody else can give me up close and personal information on the tours in Santarem and Manaus, please chime in.

[raffeer]

We did this back in '05. A very memorable trip.

One of the highlights was Santarem where we had arranged a tour with Gil of http://youramazon.org/. We spent a day with him. He picked us (5) up at the ship. We spent the day on his boat visiting the flood plains. Lunch (simple, fish fruit etc.) was served. We saw toucans, dolphins etc and the life (houses on stilts, kids playing, people fishing etc.) along the river.

I remember a quiet lovely day. In addition I should mention the kindness towards my husband who needed a great deal of assistance.

[hondorner]

...If anybody else can give me up close and personal information on the tours in Santarem and Manaus, please chime in.

This was our first Oceania cruise in 2006. It did a pretty good job of convincing us that Oceania would be "our" cruise line forevermore.

 

My pictures of the cruise are located at http://hornerfamily.com/gallery/v/travel/cruises/amazon/ . There are far more pictures than needed, and they are occasionally out of order -- the picures for the village of Boca de Valeria, for example, are in the middle of the Santerem pictures. Apparently the "slide show" software from Gallery is behind the times, Java warned that there may be security problems, but I can assure you there are no security issues with the photos. I just discovered it, having posted the pictures 4 years ago and not looking at them again until now.

 

Santarem -- on the south side of the river, so on the port side as one arrives heading upstream. It appeared to be the most typical of what I expected from a Brazilian city. Boca de Valeria is a tiny village, Parintins is barely more than a town but with it's exception amphitheater, and Manaus is a bustling city with well over a million residents.

 

Santarem appears to have both industrial, mineral and agricultural roots. The dock area bristles with conveyors and bustles with movement of both people and goods. It's a major waypoint for the ubiquitous river boats, laden with hammocks, that serve as the principle means of intercity transportation.

 

The tour we took was a motor coach tour of the city and a village outside the city with a demonstration of how manioc (a dietary staple) is prepared from a poisonous root. The city portion included a stop at a native market place, a cathedral, the cathedral museum and a historic government site. It was colorful, interesting to me, and very hot.

 

This was our first stop after entering the Amazon, and having absorbed all the myths, old wives tales and such about the insects, Betsy insisted on our tropical weight, but long-sleeved, "bug-off" clothing, and the effects of the heat are apparent. Because we have spent nearly 40 Summers in Florida, however, often working outdoors, the heat wasn't burdensome.

 

The village was full of charming children, small domestic animals, smiling natives, and offered native fruits, vegetables and drinks to sample. Betsy was in love with it; as a natural grump, I was less endeared with the chickens and monkeys running around, and I don't experiment with local food.

 

In other words, the tour offered something for both of us -- landscaping, architecture, furnishings, history and city culture for me; and rubber trees, children, small animals, and weird food for Betsy. We both enjoyed the manioc demonstration, which was thorough rather than a shallow overview.

 

If you've glanced at the pictures, you saw that in Boca de Valeria, our cruise director dressed as Santa Claus and passed out gifts for the children that had been purchased from crew donations. HE was really hot!

 

In Manaus, we spent day one in the city, walking to the opera house, enjoying the street vendors (can you imagine an entire block of a side street filled with carts selling brassieres?) and street performers and much more. There was really no need to take a tour if one wants the flavor of the city, unless one doesn't want to walk about 3 miles or so.

 

On day two, we took the tour "Meeting of the Waters". At Manaus, which is actually located on the Rio Negro (or "Black River"), the Muddy amazon is joined by the clear, black water of the Rio Negro, and the force of both rivers is so great that they flow side by side for some distance. There is a clear demarcation of the water from each river. It doesn't sound like much to see, but it is actually kind of exciting to witness, because there is not a gradual blending, but a line that extends very deep.

 

The tour starts and ends on a riverboat, with the sighting of the meeting of the water at the end. First, the riverboat passes up the Rio Negro and into a yet smaller tributary, stopping at a floating village. Entire villages in this area are built as floating "barges" constructed on light-weight logs similar to balsa wood. Schools, stores, houses, community centers, everything floats. The reason is that the river rises and falls as much as 40' in the various seasons.

 

Arriving at a native craft market (floating, of course), you are transported to motorized canoes that hold about 10 people each in 5 rows of two seats each. You travel further into the backwater, eventually coming to an area that is extremely rural, and where, if you are very lucky, some wildlife may be seen. Remember, even though you are 1,000 miles from the Atlantic, you are in the lower, wider, more civilized Amazon, not the overhanging jungles, teeming with wildlife (and bugs) that you imagine.

 

On the return to the river boat, you will pass and have a close up view of the giant lily pads -- as much as 6' in diameter. You will most likely be accompanied by numbers of children in paddled canoes, holding up all sorts of wildlife like small alligators, sloths, monkeys, parrots etc., laughingly trying to frighten you just a little, and hopeing to get a tip for a picture.

 

Rejoining the riverboat, you sail to the meeting of the waters, and then back to Manaus. The direction may be reversed if there are larger numbers of people, with two groups of people going in both directions.

 

I think it is the most comprehensive tour offered, lots of fun, although some folks will be tempted by tours that see more of one or two things than such a wide variety.

 

I hope that helps -- others will no doubt tell you about the different tours they took.

[Floridiana]

Don and raffeer,

 

Thank you very much for your comments. I enjoyed your pictures, Don. Tey make the aera really come alive.

 

In Santarem, I am looking at two excursions offered by Oceania:

Forest Nature Walk or Maica Lake Nature Cruise

 

In Manaus, we are planning to explore downtown on our own, but we would like to book an excursion to see the area:

 

Manaus Jungle Trek or

Meeting of the Waters (only if we did not go to the Maica Lake in Santarem) or

Caiman Spotting.

 

With the scant information I have, I would go with Maica Lake and Manaus Jungle Trek.

 

Did anyone do these excursions? Is Caiman Spotting worthwhile? Jungle noises, a feel for the area? So for me, it's not about the caimans, it's about the overall experience.

[MightyQuinn]

In Manaus, we are planning to explore downtown on our own...

I highly recommend a visit to the Manaus Opera House (Teatro Amazonas). You can see its stunning architecture from the outside - but do try to get an inside tour to soak up its decadence. The Opera House is a stunning legacy of wealthy rubber barons who attempted to bring culture to the jungle back in the day. Very impressive! If Oceania doesn't offer such a tour, you should be able to arrange it locally.

[hondorner]

Floridiana, I moved to Port St. Lucie, FL in 1972. We spent a lot of time on the North Fork of the St. Lucie River. Back in 1979, the James Bond movie Moonraker was filmed. Part of the plot involved the character Jaws, a mercenary assassin, chasing James Bond through the Amazon River rainforest in high speed boats -- lots of fast boats, shooting at each other, boat wrecks and boats blowing up., and lots of scenery shots of the wild jungle banks of the Amazon. At one point, Bond escapes by quietly passing through a dense and dreary section of shallow backwater, among the mango roots and tropical growth.

 

Where was that section of the film created? On the North Fork of the St. Lucie River, between the Marina at Prima Vista Boulevard and the bridges that carry Port St. Lucie Blvd over the river. We could hear the boats and the explosions and shooting from our back yards, usually less than a block from the river (that stretch of river is preserved as a Wild and Scenic River by the State, and waterfront lots are on canals).

 

If you've ever taken a small boat on the St. Lucie, or the Loxahatchee just outside Palm Beach, or the Peace River on the West coast of Florida, you've seen more of the overall experience of the Amazon that you expect, than you will on this cruise.

 

You will get a little closer to that expectation on a tour from Manaus, and they will do their best to give you what you expect -- which actually exists probably another thousand miles up river. But, when we took the motorized canoes into the back waters of the Rio Negro, the closest thing we saw -- or heard -- to wildlife was the small caimans or gators carried by the youth. The guide shut off his motor and drifted in a likely spot, but despite his best animal calls, he couldn't get so much as a bird to fly off.

 

Others may have had a different experience.

 

The REAL experience of the cruise is the awe of sailing up a six-mile-wide river, 600 feet deep, for a thousand miles, with low, green hills stretching endlessly along both banks, and only the occasional farm or village or town breaking the isolation.

 

But, whatever it is, I'm pretty sure of two things: It's an experience worth having (there has been virtually no one who said they regretted taking the cruise), and it will be a different experience than you expect.

[Floridiana]

Don,

 

As a Floridian myself, I know what you are talking about. :-) I may go out to our ponds with a flashlight to create my own 'nighttime alligator spotting' experience at home.

 

We looked into cruises much further up the river, but could only find a very expensive expedition ship. Before we go with a more reasonably priced 'native' experience, we'll have a look at the area and the Brazilian river ships.

 

MightyQuinn,

 

The opera house is definitely on.

[MightyQuinn]

We looked into cruises much further up the river, but could only find a very expensive expedition ship. Before we go with a more reasonably priced 'native' experience, we'll have a look at the area and the Brazilian river ships.

I would encourage you to investigate expedition ships for the Amazon. They may actually work out to be very competitive once you factor in their all inclusive excursions.

 

We traveled deep into the headwaters of the Amazon aboard World Discoverer (165 pax) operated by Society Expeditions. It was a 12-day journey on the river, going upstream from Manaus, Brazil to Iquitos, Peru. We did several zodiac landings each day & multiple excursions were offered - to visit isolated tribal villages, explore the dense jungle, bird-watch, canoe the tributaries or fish for piranha. On-board naturalists accompanied us on every outing & provided expert guiding. All excursions were included in our cruise cost & we participated in several each day. That had tremendous value. I think an expedition cruise is an educational & exciting way to explore the Amazon in-depth. And it may not be so expensive once you crunch the numbers.

[jiszw]

to harrytravels. my husband and i are signed up for the miami/miami amazon cruise, but are not snorkelers. this will be my 7th with oceania, and i also prefer private tours. i would be interested in knowing what you might be setting up. i'm not really sure how to pick up a reply off of this, but you can e-mail me at trax1@att.net.

 

jiszw

[Floridiana]

Friends of ours who vacationed on Dominica strongly recommended taking the arial tram through the tree canopy. It was the highlight of their vacation.

http://www.natureisland.com/AerialTram.html

 

I have contacted the tram as well as a recommended taxi service to get us from the ship to the base station near Titou Gorge and back to the ship. The driver waits for us.

 

The taxi costs US $ 25 per person if they have more than 2 passengers. I hope that a few people more are interested. The tram ride costs US $ 55.- per person.

[Cruisedreamer1]

We are taking the March cruise and would like to join up with others for private excursions. If you would like to communicate directly with us, email me at car bet at rocketmail dot com.

[Cruisedreamer1]

I loved the photos!

[2kiwis]

Don and raffeer,

 

 

In Santarem, I am looking at two excursions offered by Oceania:

Forest Nature Walk or Maica Lake Nature Cruise

 

In Manaus, we are planning to explore downtown on our own, but we would like to book an excursion to see the area:

 

Manaus Jungle Trek or

Meeting of the Waters (only if we did not go to the Maica Lake in Santarem) or

Caiman Spotting.

 

.

 

Hi

We did the Amazon trip and loved it. At most of the islands we had a group of 8 (we'd met up on the ship) and we hired a taxi van at each stop and took off for the day to see all the highlights - really cheap way of doing it, and fun as you can stop where and when you like. Loved Devil's Island.

 

The only two ships tours we did were the forest walk which was not worth it, and the show at Parintins which was fantastic and well worthwhile.

 

At Manaus we wandered around on our own for one day - went to the opera house which was great and then the other day we booked a local river cruise to the meeting of the waters and into the tributaries. That was one of the highlights, especially as we saw the pink dolphins.

Have fun

Cheers

[crowpro]

How soon before your cruise can you get a Visa?

[PaulMCO]

It is now at the discretion of the embassy -- the old rules said 90 days before entry. I would play it safe and not apply until the 90 day point.

[comcox]

I just checked with visa service last week and they said 90 days before. We are on Nov. 27th sailing and our first Brazil port is Dec. 6th but we actually enter Brazelian waters sometime on Dec. 4th.

[Floridiana]

Hi

The only two ships tours we did were the forest walk which was not worth it,

 

2kiwis,

 

What did you not like about this forest walk? I considered booking it.