Amazon Cruise - Water shortages and other questions

[joanne1919]

We are considering a 25 night November 10, 2013 Regatta Fort Lauderdale to Manaus,Brazil roundtrip. We have never been on Oceania but mostly have questions about the Amazon portion of the trip. We have gone back through several years of reviews of this type of trip and it has been mentioned or alluded to several times that there were water shortages during the 8 days while on the Amazon River (no laundry, pools and hot tubs emptied prior to entering the river):confused:. Can anyone share their experience with pool usage,laundry, showers? After a humid day ashore it would be nice to go for a cool swim.

 

Also, on the Amazon what did you do in the ports that stand out in your mind? We are interested in birds, animals and some native life. We understand that the shoreline is deforested to a great extent but hope to go up some of the tributaries to see some of the forest and the bird life.

 

Thanks for any info you can pass along.

[Balloon Man]

My wife and I did the Amazon last year with Azamara and enjoyed the experience. Do it. However we sailed one way to Manaus. I wouldn't want to return downstream and see it all again.

 

It isn't particularly deforested by the river. In fact for days you see little but trees on either side. To save rewriting it you might like to read my cruise review on Azamara Journey.

 

It is true that once you get into the river ships will not take-on water. Their systems can't cope with the cleaning it needs. So when the swimming pool is emptied (which might be a day or two upstream) it will stay empty. Same for the hot tubs. Azamara carried enough fresh water for all other purposes and I'm certain Oceania would be the same.

 

Sadly can't say we saw much wildlife on our trips ashore, but the Boi Bumba and the native villages were interesting.

[Floridiana]

We did this cruise in November 2011 on Oceania's Regatta. There were no water restrictions and the pool was open. The river was low because we were still in the dry season. Luckily it had rained the week before which made all excursions into side arms possible.

 

The shores are NOT deforested. The deforested parts are in other areas of Amazonia. The only bugs I saw congregated around the outside lamps on deck. This may be different later in the wet season when the forests are submerged in water.

 

Although we enjoyed this cruise very much, we did not see many animals. We see more in our Florida backyard. I spent hours on our ship balcony watching the shore through binoculars where I saw the small villages of the local population and green parrots above the ship.

 

Manaus was my second South American city. Exciting and chaotic. We will return to South America in 2013. Unfortunately not on an Oceania ship. I got used to their level of service and excellent cuisine.

 

A few more things:

On the Amazon River, we crossed the equator and the ship held an initiation rite for newbies who wished to participate. The crew took great care to prevent those pink smeared passengers from jumping into the pool. If they had, the pool would have had to be closed for sanitary reasons. On the river, the pool cannot be refilled. Maybe this happened to the person who wrote about a closed pool on the Amazon. (different ship)

 

The Regatta does different ports on the way in and out.

 

Americans and Canadians need to apply for a Brazilian visa BEFORE the trip.

[Juhaha]

We did the Amazon last year, New York to Miami and although it was not our favorite cruise it was very interesting.

There was no water shortage on board the ship, we enjoyed the pool both up and down the river.

Our biggest dissappointment was that we did not see a lot of wildlife with the exception of the pink dolphins and a couple of parrots.

In Manous( ?spelling), we went to an ecolodge overnight but again didn't see any wildlife to speak of. The surprise was that we also didn't see any mosquitos!

On the way back down the river we stopped at Parintins and were treated to a wonderful display of local music and dance. I highly recommend this.

Devil's Island was also a lovely stop!