Is anyone Live on the Caribbean to the Amazon?

We are traveling on this cruise next December and can not wait for any feedback! This is our first cruise.

What has the itinerary and the excursions been like. :)

What are the sea conditions?

We are going in November

check the Roll Call for this year there are some recent posts

Hi Deec, I had checked that but it is not showing now that the ship has departed! I did read a lot of great advice before they left, is there a way of finding it again. Cheers

I can get to the Roll Call same as before they left: Go the main Board Pages; then to Viking Roll Call ; then to the Sea; then to the Carribean to Amazon

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2368586

don't know if the link will get you there!

Thank you so much Deec.

We are on this trip now and it is our first Viking Ocean Cruise but not our first cruise. There have been issues with this trip and I think because it is the first trip to this part of the world for Viking. The shore excursions that we have been on have been pretty lame, including one paid excursion and all of the included excursions. On the paid excursion we were told to bring our vox headsets to hear the guide except that we were about 80 people on 10 individual boats, the only people who heard what was going on were in the first boat because the range of the headsets was about 150 feet.

There have been service issues in the dining room which the head waiter has attempted to correct. \We were told upon boarding that this is the first time that this Viking ship has been 100 percent sold out, which I find hard to believe.

To be fair the ship is great, very clean and the staff is doing an outstanding job.

I would hope that corrections would be made before any future trips to the Amazon take place.

We were going to book another Viking cruise while on this trip but have decided to wait to make that decision.

Do not be discouraged by my comments, but Viking needs to make some adjustments, there is still plenty to like about Viking Ocean Cruises.

sounds like they have to add some staff to the MDR to increase speed of service. Dining (vs eating) is great but 2 hour meals get tiresome!!!!

Aboard the Viking Sun into the Amazon as well. The evening main dining room issue seems to be a result of trying to spread out fewer wait staff over more tables, or at least that's what two waiters told me. I stated facts about slow service (one night dinner took 2.5 hrs.) to the ship on a comment card and they responded nicely. We have found that showing up at opening before a crowd results in a better experience, so can't say what happens say at 7 PM. The food however is very good and well prepared. Agree with the OP abut the included tours, but again, there is not really much ashore to see. The places we are stopping are relatively poor and not much in the way of historical things to see. It's not like a Danube river cruise for sure. The Amazonians are friendly and trying hard to show us their culture and what not, and are proud to do so, so we need to be sensitive IMHO. Manaus was once a lovely city. but nearly 50 years of poverty has resulted in most of the older 1900's colonial buildings being weathered and not maintained, with many vacant. If you look hard you can imagine how nice it once must have been, but not now. Our local guide warned against walking out of the port into town, not safe especially at night. One passenger on the included day tour had a necklace ripped off her neck by a young thief. This is not unusual for Brazil unfortunately. Don't wear jewelry ashore. The on board enrichment lecturers are superb, but the evening entertainment has been a disappointment. We are on day 17 of the trip and had only one guest entertainer (who was put on for 2 nights), 3 shows by ship staff, male and then female singers and our cruise director. There have been 2 evening game shows (Balderdash), a movie and nothing. This seems to be the main complaint or area for improvement expressed by several passengers we have talked with. As for waiting to book a cruise. the future cruise consultant gave a talk today and I was shocked at the number of 2018 VO trips either sold out or having only a few cabins remaining. She spent most of the time pushing 2019 reservations!

Schoalwater,

We are booked on the Amazon Cruise next November. Are you feeling like you are experiencing the AMAZON River itself or has it been more like Caribbean Island ports of call. I know it can not be like the small ship Peruvian Amazon experience but was hoping for flora/fauna/ rainforest. Comments?

Thank you both for your feedback, as it’s the first time hopefully things will be smooth out for the next 2 cruise next year. Enjoy the rest of your adventure.

Interesting and informative observations Shoalwater and Tiegs. Thank you for taking time to share with us.

80 people on an excursion with one tour guide is not what I call a recipe for success.....and I hate to say it, but the excursions department seems to truly still be lacking in different markets, and not just new markets. I really do wish that Viking would do something to address this throughout their itineraries, as disappointing excursions surface regularly on these boards.

Good to know that there are shuttle busses to go into Manaus, which sounds much safer that walking from the port. I have read that one really does need to be extremely careful with any electronics, cameras, and absolutely no jewelry (which is sound travel advice no matter where), but especially while in ports along the Amazon.....

I have realized that the economic status of Brazil has been dire, but it is really sad to hear that the ports are so reflecting of this.....and as Deec mentioned, hopefully there is an overall experience of the Amazon River itself that helps to make the trip one that all are happy to have embarked upon......��

Schoalwater,

We are booked on the Amazon Cruise next November. Are you feeling like you are experiencing the AMAZON River itself or has it been more like Caribbean Island ports of call. I know it can not be like the small ship Peruvian Amazon experience but was hoping for flora/fauna/ rainforest. Comments?

Cruising the river is okay, but much like cruising along any body of water near land. Its a muddy river, like some we have in Texas and the shoreline visually isn't much different from say approaching Costa Maya or Cozumel. Aside from the unique location this has been a low level cruise.

Unique Location is what we are hoping for....as long as it is providing the cultural and nature's offering of the Amazon. I am sure we will enjoy our free time on the ship and don't care about entertainment!

Unique Location is what we are hoping for....as long as it is providing the cultural and nature's offering of the Amazon. I am sure we will enjoy our free time on the ship and don't care about entertainment!

The "culture" of the Amazon is hard to experience unless you are able to score one of the appropriate extra tours, unless you want to experience the poverty of the cities. We did enjoy an excellent folkloric show in Parintins, but that is about it. We have "mixed" with the citizens during several price-included ship walking tours of cities, but unfortunately several of the tour persons had possessions forcibly removed (e.g., necklaces ripped from their person), or pockets "picked". Brazil is a poor place with many people living on the brink. We were unable to get any tours into the rain forest, and so had to rely on price-included tours. There we saw very little in the way of indigenous fauna and fawn. The sentiment of several people we talked with mirrors our disappointment.

I guess I had better look into some DIY tours!!

Shoalwater, I am curious - there were optional excursions into the rainforest in both Manaus and Santarem. Were you unable to secure space on these? It is my goal to get out of both of those cities - either With VO or private.....

Deec.....I did a lot of research re DIY and have some information - we should connect offline but I first want to hear offline from some who took tours I set up when initially on this cruise....

perfect Vineyard View...we are about to embark on the World Cruise so the Amazon has been on the back burner ( this WC was way more planning than I ever anticipated) but I will definitely be watching for your posts or you can email me deedavisclark at gmail dot com...i know from lots of shared posts we have many of the same goals for our travel journeys!

If you are looking for Amazon flora and fauna this may not be the cruise for you. There were some tours that might meet you needs but they seemed very limited.

The included shore excursion yesterday in Belem did not go well with many people once they got ashore deciding to turn around and go back to the ship. This caused another problem with a long wait for a tender to return to the ship and in the heat, people were passing out while standing in line. I know the shore excursion staff are very much aware of the dissatisfaction among many of the passengers and I am sure the next trip to this part of the world will see some changes .

I would say that in talking to other past Viking Ocean customers, that compared to other Viking cruises this trip will receive some very low ratings in several areas.

We have been on Holland America, Celebrity, Princess and several other cruise lines and feel that Viking tries to provide the best possible cruise experience, however this cruise has fallen below our expectations when it comes to shore excursions. We were going to sign up for another Viking Cruise while on board but have decided not to book another cruise until we return home and speak with our travel agent.

Sure sounds like Viking needs to pay attention to all the missteps on this itinerary - as well as ship staffing Levels in MDR, entertainment, hot water issues...... There are three Amazon trips scheduled in 2018. The next up is in February. They have all booked very well, but these reviews are concerning and need to be addressed by Viking.....

Please continue to keep us updated with your journey, as well as the responses from Viking.....thanks for taking the time.

Shoalwater, I am curious - there were optional excursions into the rainforest in both Manaus and Santarem. Were you unable to secure space on these? It is my goal to getout of both of those cities - either With VO or private.....

 

 

Sorry, I don't remember about other tours offered. However, there were no shipside instant tour offerings like inn the Caribbean, and even if there were I would strongly recommend against them. Crime is a problem here, and several passengers have been robbed, mugged, pick-pocketed at these stops. Taking any tour offered by someone not an official tour operator would IMHO be risky.

There were a couple optional tours with Viking on My Viking Journey -in Santarem and Manaus - tours that took place outside of these cities in the forests/jungle. There are also private official tour companies in Manaus that have well documented reviews on both CC and TripAdvisor as well as backing by the Brazil Tourism Board that I know did a good job on this trip for some passengers.....it would be great to hear feedback from those who took the Viking tours that I am referring to.

Holland America’s Princendam (as well as other Cruise lines) make the Amazon a successful destination with very positive reviews. Viking needs to get on board with whatever it takes to make that happen or change the itinerary. JMHO

Crime and poverty is a big problem in a lot of cruise ports in the world....the Amazon Ports for sure. It is really very sad that people on this cruise were targeted.

On a positive note - Happy New Year to all of you! Hoping everyone is enjoying this sailing day and that NYE was a blast on board!

There were a couple optional tours with Viking on My Viking Journey -in Santarem and Manaus - tours that took place outside of these cities in the forests/jungle. There are also private official tour companies in Manaus that have well documented reviews on both CC and TripAdvisor as well as backing by the Brazil Tourism Board that I know did a good job on this trip for some passengers.....it would be great to hear feedback from those who took the Viking tours that I am referring to.

 

 

 

Holland America’s Princendam (as well as other Cruise lines) make the Amazon a successful destination with very positive reviews. Viking needs to get on board with whatever it takes to make that happen or change the itinerary. JMHO

 

 

 

Crime and poverty is a big problem in a lot of cruise ports in the world....the Amazon Ports for sure. It is really very sad that people on this cruise were targeted.

 

 

 

On a positive note - Happy New Year to all of you! Hoping everyone is enjoying this sailing day and that NYE was a blast on board!

Problems in Brazil have been going on forever. Nothing new there except to remove all jewellery and be very aware when going out. We walked in all cities without problems.

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Don’t cancel your trip based on what happened on Viking’s first Amazon cruise. They will more than likely have learned from their experience...and sometimes stuff happens.

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The ship hosted a great New Year Eve party last night, good music and plenty of champagne as midnight approached. Very enjoyable. Today they had a nice brunch.

Problems in Brazil have been going on forever. Nothing new there except to remove all jewellery and be very aware when going out. We walked in all cities without problems.

 

 

Exactly. One cannot have anything stolen that one is not wearing (jewelry) or protecting (cell phones, etc) in Brazil or a myriad of other ports while traveling.

 

I think for those who have this trip booked in the future, they will probably need to understand from Viking what is going to change so as not to repeat the shortfalls of this trip. I remain hopeful that will happen because Viking is a quality company who obviously wants continued success. Thanks Canadian Sunset for your perspective. We were on The Star’s inaugural cruise and there were hiccups that have been corrected.... after reading these boards when Viking moderators return from the holiday, I believe it will be apparent that this needs to be elevated and addressed.