Princess Amazon River Cruise

[DaveB]

Does anyone have feedback on this cruise? This is the one that goes from Manaus, Brazil to Fort Lauderdale, and visa versa.

 

Any feedback would be appreciated!

[pacmom]

DaveB,

 

You will get more info if you post on the Princess board. It is really not a river cruise, but an ocean cruise that goes partway on the Amazon. The Princess boards are very active, so you should get a fairly prompt reply. Pat

[Dale]

DaveB,

My wife and I did this trip with Princess two years ago. We were on the Regal Princess. Don’t expect a typical river cruise. Pat, is correct, there is a world of difference in this cruise and a river cruise. As she says, try posting on the Princess board.

 

We flew to Manaus and sailed back to Ft. Lauderdale. I would recommend this rather than Ft. Lauderdale to Manaus. Also I would suggest booking your air through Princess. It was non-stop, approximately 5 hours out of Miami. When we flew down there were no commercial non-stop flights into Manaus. I talked to several people that booked their own air and they had to fly all over South America to get there, plus travel time up to 20 hours.

 

You will need a Brazilian visa, Yellow Fever shots and pills for Malaria.

 

The Amazon is hard to visualize, the length and width are mind boggling. We were told it dumps fresh water 100 miles out into the Atlantic.

You will visit large cities, small villages, take small boats back into the sunken forest along the Amazon. You may even get to fish for Piranhas while in the sunken forest. Maybe even see some Pink Porpoise. Witness the “meeting of the rivers“. This is where the Rio Negro and the Amazon meet and travel side by side for miles. You can tell where they meet by the colors of each river, the Rio Negro being black and the muddy brown of the Amazon.

 

I’m fairly sure that will have many stories to tell about the, Mighty Amazon, when you return home.

[DaveB]

DaveB,

My wife and I did this trip with Princess two years ago. We were on the Regal Princess.

 

Thanks for the info. We live in FLL and were planning to do as you suggest, SA to FLL. So, from what you described, was it worth it? Would you recommend it? It seems like the time actually spent on the Amazon was short. Was there enough time?

 

Also, I am getting visions in my head of some "B" movie where some Amazon natives swim up to the ship, take it over, shoot us with blow darts, and shrink our heads!! :> Seriously, was it safe? Am I over thinking it in that regard??

[Spikesgirl]

Dave - thanks for asking my question! We are looking at an Amazon cruise in a couple of years (hopefully aboard the Royal, but who knows). I don't thik that you have to worry about head hunters in Amazon - if memory serves me correctly the only ones left are in Borneo. The tourist trade is pretty welcomed in the Amazon, so the poisoned blow darts are also a low risk:D . Frankly, the thing that worries me the most are the mozzies. They're the ones carrying the diseases!

 

I would go and post this over on the Princess board if you haven't already done that. Also you might want to check out the various Princess cruise reviews, like the Regal to see what folks over there are saying.

 

Good luck!

 

Charlie

[Dale]

Thanks for the info. We live in FLL and were planning to do as you suggest, SA to FLL. So, from what you described, was it worth it? Would you recommend it? It seems like the time actually spent on the Amazon was short. Was there enough time?

 

Also, I am getting visions in my head of some "B" movie where some Amazon natives swim up to the ship, take it over, shoot us with blow darts, and shrink our heads!! :> Seriously, was it safe? Am I over thinking it in that regard??

Was it worth it? I wouldn’t dare tell anyone that it may be worth it. I don’t know your likes and dislikes. But, for myself it was worth it. I thought the time we spent on the river was about right. Your worries about a scene out of a “B” movie and not being safe, forget them. The closest we came to something like that was when the ship stopped at a small village. We weren’t surrounded by canoes. However, once getting ashore we discovered the reason for no canoes and not having to dodge darts from blow guns was, they had prepared for an assault on our wallets. Along the trail leading from the river to the village, the natives from miles around were waiting with items some of them had made themselves and many they had not. Does made in China ring a bell. There were several that brought their “pets”, alligators, birds, snakes, lizards and other creatures. You were welcome to have your picture made with them, for a fee of course.

 

The natives however are well acquainted with the wonders of the civilized world. Take notice of the satellite dish on the house on the river.

 

As for bugs, mosquitoes and other critters, we never saw any. Of course we weren’t out in the jungle at night.

[anth81]

I'm thinking about going on the cruise from Manaus to Fort Lauderdale on the Royal Princess. I was happy to discover some comments here. What concerns me is that many of the shore excursions around the Amazon that looked interesting to me weren't available on the Royal Princess. I'd like to know how the available shore excursions were (I'm interested in the slightly more adventurous). And, Dave, if you ever went on it and what you thought.

(I'm searching for the Princess Discussion Boards but am having trouble finding them.)

[paul929207]

Thanks for the info. We live in FLL and were planning to do as you suggest, SA to FLL. So, from what you described, was it worth it? Would you recommend it? It seems like the time actually spent on the Amazon was short. Was there enough time?

 

Also, I am getting visions in my head of some "B" movie where some Amazon natives swim up to the ship, take it over, shoot us with blow darts, and shrink our heads!! :> Seriously, was it safe? Am I over thinking it in that regard??

Dave,

We did this cruise in both directions (FLL to Manaus to FLL) on the Pacfic Princess this winter. First, we never had any natives swim up to the ship or shot poison darts at us. :)

 

We had a wonderful time. If you look back to late April on the Princess sectin of these boards, you will find a "Live from.. " thread for the March 27 to April 24th round trip. There you will see comments on many of the ships excursions as well as private tours that people took.

[hillslife]

I know you have to have the Yellow Fever Shot for Brazil - but I need an exemption from that due to medical problems. The exemptions and form are available on the CDC website - so my question is: Has anyone ever done this Manasus to FLL cruise with the YF shot exemption accepted? Not sure where Princess or Brazil stand on that issue. Will they allow you to take this cruise without it?

 

Thanks for any info you can give me from your experience. I know for the final answer I will need to call Princess - just looking for experiences!

[paul929207]

You may need to contact a Brazilian Embassy. As I recall we had to send our vaccination records with the visa application. It would be there that they would either accept or reject your waiver request.

[hillslife]

Thanks Paul - - I will check in with the embassy before I begin 'convincing' my husband we need to do this cruise. We have only been home about 5 weeks from our World Cruise and the 'cruising bug' is beginning to bite again. I just love having a vacation to look forward too:p

[DonahCBrown]

I know you have to have the Yellow Fever Shot for Brazil - but I need an exemption from that due to medical problems. The exemptions and form are available on the CDC website - so my question is: Has anyone ever done this Manasus to FLL cruise with the YF shot exemption accepted? Not sure where Princess or Brazil stand on that issue. Will they allow you to take this cruise without it?

 

Thanks for any info you can give me from your experience. I know for the final answer I will need to call Princess - just looking for experiences!

 

We just did the FLL-Manaus as a back to back. There was no issue with the yellow fever certificate in terms of getting the Brazilian visa (although that was complicated and expensive - if you are near a consulate, I'd do it in person - we couldn't, but our friends did and it was much less nerve wracking - other people on our roll call actually cancelled because their visa hadn't arrived.) The only time, as far as I know, that the yellow fever shot card was checked was by the Princess staff, when we boarded. I'm sure if you have a medical exemption, it will be fine. BTW - when we were there, which was March/April - no mosquitos at all, although it was hot and humid. French Guiana, which is where Devil's Island is, requires the Yellow Fever shots as well.