New to Princess-Manaus to Ft. Lauderdale

[Parrot Mom]

Looking for hints from people who have done this itinerary as to MUST SEE, tour guides, and hotels for pre-cruise in Manaus. HELP!!

[Essiesmom]

Here is a thread from the HAL board on a cruise that did the Amazon:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=891338

In Manaus, you have to do a general tour with the opera house, local market...A lot of it is walkable from the pier. When I was there in 1996, we visited a local museum run by nuns, and an aquarium run by the Japanese...if you want to see how REALLY BIG the fish in the Amazon are! The Meeting of the Waters, where the black water of the Rio Negro and 'white' (muddy) water of the Rio Solimoes meet and run side by side for miles below Manaus, before finally mixing, becoming the Amazon...will be visible from your ship. You should also look at it on Google Earth...it's quite visible. The same phenomena occurs other places along the Amazon, at Boca da Valeria and Santarem...I suggest visiting your local bookstore and getting a guidebook on Brazil, or at least reading it. You might be able to buy a download of a chapter on Manaus from LonelyPlanet.com. You might find some suggestions on the ports of call section for South America. EM

[mycruz]

Hi Mom, when are you sailing? we are sailing in April 2010. I really haven't done alot of research yet so hopefully there will be some replies to your post. I have had some suggestions made regarding tours and some of the stops.

 

I have been advised not to travel independently in Brazil. This is from people I know that are from Brazil. I have also learned that the small towns that our ship (Royal) will be overnighting in, the people are very poor and many ship passengers bring items for the children such as school supplies and back packs to give out when they arrive.

 

There seems to be so much more to learn about this trip, however I've got one more planned in the mean time and haven't got a whole lot more than this right now.

[kathe]

We were on the Royal Princess last year and it was a Great cruise but the extra 5 days we spent in Manaus were fabulous.We stayed at the Hotel Tropical and had tour guides for 3 days who were great.It was really a trip of a lifetime and we have 34 cruises so far.We did not use Princess Air and it was great.Business as it used to be and not much more than economy.Kathe

[Parrot Mom]

Hi Mom, when are you sailing? we are sailing in April 2010. I really haven't done alot of research yet so hopefully there will be some replies to your post. I have had some suggestions made regarding tours and some of the stops.

 

I have been advised not to travel independently in Brazil. This is from people I know that are from Brazil. I have also learned that the small towns that our ship (Royal) will be overnighting in, the people are very poor and many ship passengers bring items for the children such as school supplies and back packs to give out when they arrive.

 

There seems to be so much more to learn about this trip, however I've got one more planned in the mean time and haven't got a whole lot more than this right now.

 

We just booked yesterday for 4/10/09...got an incredible deal as a newcomer to Princess. Just heard from somebody on that board (very, quite board) that she has some excursions planned..Try to switch over. they had as of yesterday 92 cabins left.. Merman is going on this cruise and perhaps somebody else that we met on the Constellation. The only problem with this cruise is getting having to get a Brazilian Visa and a yellow fever shot.. plus I notice Princess nickels and dimes you to death even before getting on the plane..

[thyme]

Be careful with your Brazilian Visa being stamped... took cruise in April and visa never stamped....going on another cruise next month and need to get another visa. cruise line took passports/visa shortly after boarding and didn't get them back til about 5 days after leaving Brazil...and just found out that if it had been stamped it would have been good for 5 years...