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Senior Captain
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Last Login: 17 November 2009 18:27
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| We are on P001 in January 2010 and has everyone any knowledge of the tours in the Amazon especially with the amount of walking on any on them.
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Commodore
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Any one in particular? We did a few.
Arcadia, Eclipse, Aurora 2010
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Senior Captain
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Last Login: 17 November 2009 18:27
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| The river ones in Manaus.
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Commodore
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We did a half day tour that took us in small motorised canoes seating about 8 on the tributaries - which were not anywhere as narrow as I was expecting. We also saw the lake with the giant lily pads and the meeting of the waters with the pink river dolphins - really not to be missed.
There was some walking to see the lake - 200 yards maybe - along a raised wooden walkway rather like a pier. I found that very uncomfortable as I didn't like seeing through the planks. Other than that, very little walking.
We thought it a very good tour and value for money back in 2003.
Arcadia, Eclipse, Aurora 2010
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Commodore
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I was on the cruise up the Amazon this year' I only took one tour, that was a full day on the river, we went to a native village, had lunch in a restaurant on the river, then about an hour in the canoe, and lastly the giant lilly pads. There wasn't much walking and I found it an interesting day out. On the second day in Mannus I walked up to the opera house. At the other stops I went out and looked around on foot.
Ian
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Cadet
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Last Login: 12 November 2009 15:51
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| We'll be on the same trip - thanks for getting the responses! Friends who have done this recently all said an evening at the opera house was a must. Sounds like a trip up the smaller waterways would be interesting. Hope to see you on board - you'll find us hopefully on the dance floor most evenings.
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Staff Captain
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A trip up the Amazon is quite a bore. Once you have been round one bend in the river you have been round them all. Either side are trees, green trees, that is all. If a parrot flies over it is too high to see.
The meeting of the waters near Manaus is worth seeing. One of the wonders of the world.
Manaus is a crumbling, decaying city. Pretty Opera House, very large church AOG 50,000 plus, but no beauty in the city architecture.
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Senior Captain
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| A cruise up the Amazon is one of the most amazing things you can do. We took my mum then aged 76 who couldn't do much walking. One excursion we did was all on a fairly large boat.The seating was in the shade and plenty of complimentary soft drinks. Several young guides aboard who gave us an informative and amusing commentary. We saw native villages,Meeting of the Waters and river dolphins and even fished for piranha which the crew cooked too many bones for my taste!
- Dizzydog
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Captain
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| Hi I'm on this cruise too (P001), with my friend Liz. Have been looking at the tours online - can't decide whether to do the half day Rio Negro trip from Manaus and something else for the other half of the day, or the full day Amazon experience one. Any advice anyone, especially if you have been before? Will look our for Ann and Derek on the dance floor - will be there too, if I can find any ENTs officers or anyone else willing to partner me. Otherwise it will be a spectator sport, apart from the lessons. I wonder who the dance teachers will be? Does anyone know who the Cruise Director will be yet? Really looking forward to it...
Michele
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Staff Captain
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| We were in the Amazon in Nov 2006 on Swan hellenic's Minerva 2, now royal princess. We did the back to back so spent 2 weeks in the Amazon and the trips were included, so we did 2 trips a day when in port for a full day. The trips are essential to get the full enjoyment from the cruise, but your shorter times in port will bring limitations. I have looked at the trips offered by P&O. We did two village stops which are not on your itinery and they were extremely good, so the full day Amazon experience from Manaus may be worthwhile but we only did the Rio Negro cruise part of that, which was good. I would also suggest the city tour as we went inside the opera house on that (I have heard that can be difficult independently) and the museum was good. You are also given the lowdown on life as it was in the Amazon. We were 3 days in Manaus and did a couple of other trips, but left a half day free to go into the town by ourselves by skipping the rainforest walk (we did the Lucia Woods walk in Santarem) but other passengers preferred the Manaus walk as various survival techniques were demonstrated then. We did not gain much by going into the town alone which just has an air of faded grandeur which can be seen in many places, but we enjoyed the freedom. On overnight stays you could always go into the town at night or as a trip finishes. You must do Boi Bumba at Parintins - great fun and helped along by the supply of caparinas. Many people ended up dancing with the performers at the end and I reckon a number of them were in their 80's - passengers that is, not dancers! The river journey in Santarem was were we saw most wildlife which is nothing like as plentiful as you would think and we caught some piranhas. I note your itinery refers to demonstration of fishing techniques - if that is what they do it is a shame - poss. health and safety. As mentioned previously we did the Nature tour (St Lucia woods) in Santarem and had very knowledgeable guides, which was good. Scenes of Santarem sounds good as well - our trip itinery was in a different format on this one. We also did the town on our own, but again there was nothing much to miss about that apart from independence as it is just a town, but we like our independence. None of the trips involved any strenuous walking. Unless you have a health problem or are very elderly and fear you may trip on tree roots, they should be fine. Of course you are on your feet for a good while on the woodland walks, but there are regular stops for the guide to speak - and all the guides we came across were very good. Overall I would suggest spending all your trip money in The Amazon and pottering about in the Caribbean. Hope you all have a good cruise
The crow(cruise history in member's interests)
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