Amazon River cruise on the Royal Princess?

[BLTSAT]

We are debating on going on this cruise and would like any info or reviews. We're thinking about going in Feb 2010. Thanks!

 

Sandy

[keg1]

We have booked this as B2B from Rome Manus FLL departing Nov 28 - so will not be able to advise you until Jan. From what we've been told it is a wonderful experience. Go for it!!

[austintravelers]

We were on the Pacific Princess in April 2009 from FLL roundtrip for 28 days doing the Amazon River cruise. We have done several Princess cruises and we would not again go on Princess. We would find another line or we would not go. In our opinion Princess is at best a third rate cruise company. Good luck on whatever you decide to do.

 

EVERY DAY AT SEA IS A GREAT DAY

[Waynetor]

Sandy, there are some very good reviews for this itinerary under Pacific Princess which is a similar ship to Royal on this site under reviews. They would be worth checking out. Just remeber these ships are much smaller than most modern cruise ships so there will be less dining and entertainment options.

 

Austintravelers - not sure what you did not like - You just note you think Princess is a 3rd rate line at best - what lines are you copmparing it to? As far as this itinerary, what did you not like about what Princess offered?

 

We have been on Carnival, RCI, MSC and Princess. We enjopy Princess the most and are going on a 60 day Sydney to Rio this fall.

 

Wayne S.

[greatam]

I concur that Princess is getting to be a bottom of the barrel cruise line. Too many ships, so they have to heavily discount the cruises to stay in business. And the people who frequently get the heavily discounted cruises are not "cruisers". They think of a cruise as a chance to overindulge any way possible-too much booze (more than 1/2 of it smuggled), too much demanding, too many bad manners, too many in "anything goes" clothing, too much gluttony and waste. Have you ever seen the video of the "brownie riot" on Crown Princess? The mentality of this video has permeated Princess on the shorter cruises. We won't get on a Princess ship if the cruise was free (two very bad experiences) one Alaska, one an Asian cruise that Princess ripped us off to the tune of a couple thousand-we never did get the cruise and we never got our money back either-Princess caused a massive visa problem for us due to THEIR cancellation the previous year due to SARS. They told us everything was FINE, until it came time for final payment. They never did get our visa situation straightened out after final payment and we lost our deposit

 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6013796904912739346

[chees]

We are HAL cruisers but did take a Princess cruise this spring up to Alaska due to the phenomenal pricing. However, I don't think we'll do that again as we wished we were on a HAL ship the entire time. Nothing dramatic, but lots of little things that added up to that's not where we want to spend our money.

 

Thank you,

Tina

[piper28]

Wow, all I can say is keep in mind everyone has their own opinions. I certainly wouldn't call Princess a third rate company. And the R class ships on Princess seem to be quite nice. Personally, I've been quite happy with their cruises, and I'm not in any hurry to sail with another company right now.

 

As for this itninerary, can't comment on it specifically, but I am scheduled to do the MAO to FLL one way in December. Definitely looking forward to it.

[AWillie]

We were on Pacific Princess this past April 2009 Manaus to Fort Lauderdale. The ship, crew and Itinerary were were fine We are not hard people to please. We have cruised Carnival, RCL, Celebrity, HAL, and Crystal. Our favorite, as you would guess, was Crystal. Least favorite was HAL.

If you are doing a one-way cruise I would stay around Manaus in a jungle lodge for 3-4 days. This is well worth the expense and hassle.

[MTJtraveller]

I highly recommend the Royal Princess.

 

We took the Royal Princess from Barcelona to Athens in 2007 and it was an amazing cruise and a beautiful ship. The furnishings were stunningly classic, very old world. There were 2 dining rooms, and anytime dining was not offered on that ship, I would assume because of its smaller size.

 

I would not hesitate in booking a cruise on that ship again. In fact, it was our first time on Princess and I will be traveling again with them next year on my third Princess cruise. We have been very pleased with Princess but prefer our original ship with them...the Royal Princess.

[Meg]

I also would not hesitate to recommend this cruise. We took the Amazon cruise on the Royal Princess in March of 2008 and out of 40 some cruises under our belts, I would have to say that it was one of the best. Loved every minute of it.

[marbet]

We are considering the Amazon cruise for 2010. Are there any highlights or recommendations you would make? Excursions that you would recommend over others?

 

Thanks

[Thea123]

We are debating on going on this cruise and would like any info or reviews. We're thinking about going in Feb 2010. Thanks!

 

Sandy

What did you decide? We're going on the Royal leaving FLL on January 30. There is a board on this cruise, as well as other boards on Amazon cruises where you can get a lot of info. I'm excited about it...should be an adventure.

Cindy

[cathi]

Weird - I've been on HAL, Celebrity, Princess, RCCL, NCL, and Oceania. I would definitely not rate Princess as 3rd rate. We did a Christmas cruise on the Royal last year and are now booked on the Royal for this Christmas. After our Oceania cruise we fell in love with the smaller ships and the Royal, along with the Tahitian (soon to be Ocean) and the Pacific, are the same ships. We were not disappointed in the food, entertainment, or service on Royal. Yes the smaller ships don't have the room for the big productions so the entertainment is a little limited but we knew this before we booked thanks to all the knowledgeable people on this site! Neither of us are gourmands so the food was, in our estimation, the equivalent of any good restaurant. We never even ventured to the speciality restaurants last December 'cause the food in the MDR was wonderful and so were the waiters!!

 

Sandy - hope you made your decision based on your own feelings. Most times it's an itin rather than a specific ship that gets us going and this itin is a part of the world we haven't been to before. Would love to know if you booked this cruise.

 

Cathi

[foothilllady04]

Could you recommend a jungle lodge in Manaus?

[marbet]

We and 3 other couples are now booked on the 3-13-10 cruise originating in Manaus. It does look like our best bet will be the Princess Air connection since we have the couples coming from California, Virginia and Pennsylvania and want to stay together. So, I will look forward to hearing about that from those of you travelling earlier. Would also like to know if any of the past travellers arranged their own tours and if so, who they would recommend.

 

Thanks!!

[theraininspain]

I booked a round trip from BWI to Manaus for $712 on Delta and plan to toss the return portion of the tcket. A one way from FLL to DCA cost about $100 saving about $300 per person on the Princess air package.