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River Cruise for the Amazon River?

SPacificbound

By SPacificbound,
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SPacificbound

SPacificbound

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Does anyone have experience cruising the Amazon River? I see that HAL has a 20+ night South America cruise that shows the Amazon in the itinerary but

I am wondering if there is a better option that has a little more time on the Amazon. Anyone who has traveled the Amazon your experience and opinion are appreciated. :)

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Keith1010 "Live from...." Rare

Keith1010

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I came home recently from a South America cruise on Crystal which included several ports on the Amazon River from the small to the medium to the larger ones. At one point we were 1,000 miles form the ocean. It was fabulous. Try to find a cruise that includes a good number of ports.

 

Keith

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Mark_T

Mark_T

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I'd be inclined to use Manaus as your benchmark.

 

Ocean cruises go up the river as far as Manaus, if you want a 'river' cruise you should be heading further upstream from there or into Peru perhaps rather than Brazil.

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SPacificbound

SPacificbound

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Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) has a 10 day trip to Peru that includes 6 days on the Amazon River. The ship accommodates on 24 passengers. I did this trip 2 years ago and other than the heat and humidity is was great.

 

I will take a look at OAT. Thanks for the info. :)

 

Thanks to everyone who responded, I appreciate that. :)

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jpalbny "Live from...." Rare

jpalbny

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We've investigated this a bunch, but not yet booked or done an Amazon cruise. That said, we've found that there are two distinct types of cruises one can take:

 

One type is an ocean-based cruise on a regular-sized ship, often RT from Miami or one-way from Miami to South America, via the Caribbean. Several different mainstream lines offer variations of this trip, and there have been a number of reviews posted. Here's a link to one: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1755630&highlight=amazon

 

People have said that in many places the Amazon is so wide that it's more like taking an ocean cruise, not a river cruise. The big boats typically go upriver as far as Manaus, as previously mentioned. These cruises are just too long for us to take - some go for a full month!

 

The other major type is a small river-boat cruise that does half-week to full-week options in the Peruvian Amazon. They are based out of the city of Iquitos, which is a quick flight from Lima. Have come across two main "luxury" operators that look really nice... There's two Delfin ships that hold up to 28 passengers, and another company owns the Aqua / Aria that are similar in size. This seems much more like a "river cruise" per se, to us, than cruising the lower Amazon. Apparently you get out into the jungle for hikes, kayak trips, etc, and see lots of wildlife.

 

A friend of ours went on Aria and loved it. This is the type of Amazon River cruise that's on our list! These two companies both do 3-day and 4-day itineraries; they are different enough that you can combine them into a 7-day itinerary with almost no repetition. When we do this, we'll combine either the 4- or 7-day with a few more days at a land-based eco-lodge in the jungle. Can't wait to find the time!

 

Don't know if the Upper Amazon in Brazil is amenable to this type of cruise, or if they are even offered, but haven't seen any offerings there of this nature. Just the big ships on the big river...

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alexandra cruiser

alexandra cruiser

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on the small riverboat(24).The Longest Way home,by Andrew McCarthy has a chapter on this.May be a little TOO SMALL for me,esp.if you get a group of people that sort of clash.

Also, turned off by the malaria meds needed,and some of the "tours".Was thinking of this,now a little leary.;)

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jpalbny "Live from...." Rare

jpalbny

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It's so funny how the same scenario leads to such different responses... We would be all over this! Love small upscale boats; we had 24 or so on our A&K Nile trip last year and our group camaraderie was awesome. Perhaps the unlimited Egyptian wine had something to do with it...

 

To us, the excursions look amazing. If you clash with anyone you can just tip them overboard and let the piranhas take care of them! :D

 

As far as malaria prophylaxis, we've taken malarone without any issues. Won't vouch for either of the other choices; definite issues with them...

 

Now I'm going to have to book this. Need more time off!

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SPacificbound

SPacificbound

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We have booked B2B2B on Celebrity for six weeks South America. I believe we are going to check on a small boat cruise to do before Celebrity since Celebrity only goes as far as Manaus. :)

 

I'm not concerned about the malaria prophylaxis, DH has to take it every time he goes to India on business and it has never caused him any problem.

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Louise22

Louise22

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We did an Amazon cruise on one of the very small ships about 11 years ago with International Expeditions. It was in the fall and the water was low. In some places the banks were very high with villages overlooking the river. But, from what I understood, when the snow melts in the Andes and reaches that area, the river level becomes very high and there are no banks with the water going right into the forests. I would think that this would not be an optimal time to go. It was a wonderful trip and I would do it again to see the wonderful wildlife and the people doing their normal daily activities.

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Floridiana

Floridiana

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We saw two luxury river boats on the Napo in Ecuador. One is the RV Manatee. The Napo is one of the tributaries to the Amazon which - according to the Brazilians - starts a few kilometers downriver from Manaus when the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimoes meet. The Napo is an alternative to the Peruvian tours. Flight from Miami to Quito is 3 1/2 hours, from Quito to Coca is 30 minutes.

 

If you prefer the total jungle experience in comfort, book a lodge. Ours was the Napo Wildlife Center, a lodge run by the local tribe. Beautiful location, excellent bird and other wildlife viewing. Access by canoes. You don't paddle, the locals do. We booked this lodge because the local tribe owns land with a parrot clay lick.

 

There is also an 'ocean cruise' size ship going from Manaus up the Rio Negro and back.

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cruisingbarb

cruisingbarb

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We did the OAT Amazon River cruise in June/July and loved it. The boat isn't as fancy as the Delfin or others but then again, it cost a lot less. We loved our tour guide and naturalist. They were very informative. The food was good and we had a nice group of people. Although the boat can hold 24, there were only 19 of us. Let me know if you want any additional information.

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deec

deec

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Barb,

Thanks for the OAT information. Were there long bus rides to get to from boat? Did you do pre/post trips.

 

We dont need fancy but really need clean and good showers and good beds....how was the boat in those areas? Did you feel time on the boat was long enough or were you disappointed considering the travel involved?

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cruisingbarb

cruisingbarb

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We booked through OAT. We flew into Lima and spent two days there before we took the flight to Iquitos which is in the Peruvian Amazon and is only reachable by boat or air. We spent one night in Iquitos before boarding the La Aguamarina. We spent six nights on the boat and each day we took one or two skiff rides. We visited a school in a village and had lunch with a local family, we fished for piranha, took a canoe ride, we swam in the Amazon. We had a great time. The boat could use a little work and the rooms and bathrooms are pretty basic. We saw some of the other boats (Delfin for one)and they look a lot nicer (goggle them--some are downright luxurious) but you pay a lot more for the a similar experience. We had booked a post-trip through OAT to Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu but because they didn't have the numbers, they had to cancel it so I made our own arrangements through another company for the four of us and it was perfect. If you would like to see a couple of pictures or want some more information about our trip, you can email me at travelbug1948@hotmail.com and I would be happy to respond.

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