Amazon Port Currency Question

[geospyder]

We are doing a Viking Ocean cruise that includes the Amazon ports of Santarem, Printins, Manaus and Belem.  We have ships tours in each port we are not concerned with transportation or food.  After the tours we may visit some of the local tourist type shops for souvenirs.  Think we can get by with USD in the tourist shops?

[NoWhiners]

We just came back from an Amazon cruise, went to all these places except Belem. We had both Brazilian currency (real) and USD. Every place we went took USD. Paid for soda's, t-shirts, tips, and lunch with either currency. They will tell you the amount in either currency, right now it is 4 or 4.5  real to 1 USD.

[roaming_kiwi58]

We are currently on Viking Sea, having just left Belem yesterday, and been to Parintins, Santarem & Manaus in the last week as well. On board they have told us several times that we will need Brazilian Real, but I have not found this to be the case!

We are from New Zealand, so we don't usually have USD anyway; I got Brazilian Real before leaving home. We have not spent much money, but here are our specific experiences:

Santarem - bought 2 magnets at a stall on the pier - she gave me a price in USD, I asked for a price in Real and she happily took Real, but would have taken USD.

Parintins - bought 1 magnet at a stall outside the convention centre where we went to the show. He gave me a price in USD. I said I didn't have USD and so he gave me a price in Real. I didn't have the exact money and he didn't have the change in Real - he couldn't get it from a neighbouring stall either, so he ended up giving me change in a mixture of Real and USD!

Manaus - bought a couple of postcards at the Opera House. Prices were quoted in Real and I paid in Real. However there were other members of our group asking to pay in USD, and they were successful.

Manaus - bought a magnet at the Indian Museum. They gave me a price in USD, then in Real when I asked, However again I did not have the exact money and they had great difficulty finding change (in Real) - had to ask among the staff. But they may not have had change in USD either. 

Manaus - bought a Tshirt in the shop at the terminal building at the port. They quoted USD, but changed to Real on request and happily took Real, giving me change in Real with no problem.

Belem - bought a mug and a magnet in one of the shops at the Estacao das Docas centre (where the shuttle runs to/from) - prices were in Real and there were other Viking passengers there also paying in Real. Don't know whether USD would have been accepted. Neither of the women there spoke English. 

My conclusion is that if you are at the stalls on the piers or at venues where you are there as part of the tour group then you will get away with USD. However, if you venture out further afield on your own you could get some blank looks trying to use USD. Also note that apart from the people running the tours organised by Viking we have struck virtually no English, only Portuguese.

Hope this helps! Enjoy your cruise!