Amazon-Galapagas trip

[MoneyGuy]

I'm looking to do an Amazon cruise and visit the Galapagas in the same trip. Any advice? What about timing? How about October or November 2016 or the following March or April? I'm interested in an organized tour. Any ideas on operators or general ideas? G Adventures has been recon ended. We're in Canada.

[pbnjrockette]

We stayed in the Amazon (in a camp/tent lodge) not an actual cruise although we traveled on the Amazon daily for 5 days... then toured Peru/Ecuador (inc Macchu Picchu) and then went on the Galapagos cruise. We traveled in May and found the weather (and minimal mosquitoes!) great.

[Floridiana]

What kind of Amazon cruise are you thinking of? You could stay in one country: Ecuador. You could go to the Galapagos, then back to Quito and fly down to the jungle and do a cruise on the Napo river, a tributary of the Amazon.

 

We combined 2 packages, one with Celebrity and the other one with the Napo River Wildlife Center a lodge. Seamless and easy.

We went to the lodge by a motorized canoe and a paddled canoe. On the way there, we saw the two ships for cruises, both luxurious. The MV Manatee and the Anakonda.

http://www.exclusivegalapagoscruises.com/travel/anakonda_amazon_river_cruise.html

Edited August 10, 2015 by Floridiana

[pacmom]

We went on the Amazon with Gadventures---super trip. It included Machu Picchu and time in Lima. We did the Galalagos with Celebrity Expeditions another year. Bet you could manage to do all on one trip with some good coordination. Good luck. Pat

[Host Jazzbeau]

We enjoyed our Galapagos adventure on Celebrity Xpedition, and we were able to see many of the other ships in that area -- and it was clear to us that Xpedition is the way to go. The Xpedition cruises go from Sunday to Sunday. You can book a 10-day cruise tour that starts with pickup at the Quito airport on Friday, includes tours of Quito and area on Saturday, Celebrity charter flight from Quito to Galapagos (and returns you to Quito the next Sunday) -- or you can just book the Xpedition 7-day cruise and get yourself to and from the Baltra airport on Galapagos (which might be better if you don't need to be in Quito on both ends of your trip). But the cruise is always Sunday-Sunday, so that is the timing you would have to coordinate the Amazon portion around.

[jmbklj]

We went to Machu Picchu last year in May and we had good weather then. I have a friend who did an Amazon cruise on this line and said it was amazing…..pretty pricey however.

 

http://www.aquaexpeditions.com/cruise-ships/

 

The Galapagos is on my list to do too.

[MoneyGuy]

What kind of Amazon cruise are you thinking of? You could stay in one country: Ecuador. You could go to the Galapagos, then back to Quito and fly down to the jungle and do a cruise on the Napo river, a tributary of the Amazon.

 

We combined 2 packages, one with Celebrity and the other one with the Napo River Wildlife Center a lodge. Seamless and easy.

We went to the lodge by a motorized canoe and a paddled canoe. On the way there, we saw the two ships for cruises, both luxurious. The MV Manatee and the Anakonda.

http://www.exclusivegalapagoscruises.com/travel/anakonda_amazon_river_cruise.html

 

I really don't know what I want to do. I just said cruise because that was my first thought, but I've been enthralled by this fabulous river and want to see it and the surrounding areas. I'm looking for ideas - cruise or otherwise. Thanks to everyone for the responses so far.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I haven't done this, but I researched it a couple of years ago when we were trying to decide where to go the next year. Doing a river cruise from Peru seemed to be the thing, and there are lots of nice-looking boats, many fairly luxurious, but in a range of prices as I remember.

 

Going to the Galapagos is also on our list, and we would do it from Ecuador. Our friends from Canada who live there now (Ecuador), just picked up a trip while they were there--there are many local operators who run wonderful trips, they just booked a couple of weeks in advance I think.

 

You'd have to research both of these options yourself and see what suits you. Sounds like a wonderful combination--one we'd like to do someday--Macchu Picchu is not on our radar for health reasons.

[Floridiana]

Several versions:

 

1) Miami - Manaus in Brazil - Miami on Oceania's Regatta. Other lines with small ships (less than 700) do this trip as well. You get to see the mighty Amazon river where the shores are so far apart that you need binoculars to see details on shore. Shore excursions take you to side arms which look like you expected the Amazon to look like. (We did this cruise.)

 

2) Peru: Lima- Cusco - Machu Pichu - Cusco - Iquitos - Lima

The river here is still so wide that one of the ocean going German luxury expedition ships will take you 80 miles further upriver from Iquitos. You need shore excursions into narrower side arms. (On our Peru trip, we skipped the Amazon and went to Lake Titicaca instead.)

 

f) Ecuador: One of the two river boats on the Napo River. We saw them both. Although the Napo is a much smaller river than the Amazon - it is a tributary - they still need to take you into side arms. They have their own small boats for that.

 

Advantages of Ecuador: They use US dollars as their currency, the Napo is only a 40 minute flight away from Quito airport, it's easier to combine with the Galapagos because you stay in the same country, shorter flights, no extra currency exchange, no extra immigration, Quito has a better airport than Lima. The flight from Miami to Quito is much shorter than to Lima.

 

4) What we did to get the Amazon jungle experience:

 

We combined the Celebrity package with the Napo River Wildlife Center package. This lodge was recommended by a family member. It was worth it! They arranged flights from Quito and all local transportation. You can even bring your suitcases from the cruise. The cabins are on stilts at the shore of a lake, they have modern bathrooms with hot water on command.

 

The lodge has its own parrot lick not accessible to other people. It's one of the few places in South America with endangered giant otters outside of zoos.

 

Our guides were excellent, three for our canoe of 7 guests. One local paddler, one local spotter with eagle eyes, one English speaking naturalist. The lodge belongs to a local tribe and provides them with jobs.

[AlaskaGolden]

We did a terrific, and comparatively inexpensive, trip through Overseas Adventure Travel that included a few days in Quito, a few days in the Amazon Basin (Napo River) and a full week in Galapagos on a smaller ship. We had two very knowledgable guides: one for Quito/Napo and another for Galapagos.

 

It was a great way to introduce these unique areas of Ecuador! We plan to go back to Galapagos with more family members in the future. Maybe stay on land with boat day trips for a few days followed by another week crushing to areas we missed the first time (need to see those red footed boobies!) and more penguins.

[Fa-Li]

Adventures by Disney does a 12 night trip that is half Amazon River cruise, and the other half land-based in the Galapagos. We have done their other Ecuador highlands/Galapagos trip and had such a fantastic experience that we are currently wait listed for the Amazon/Galapagos Adventure this December. If it doesn't work out, we will book for 2017. They run a great trip and take care of every little thing.

[banditoo]

I think you need to decide which part of the Amazon you are talking about as it is actually many rivers and waterways and covers the width of South America and goes through multiple countries. We have been to both the Brazil Amazon and the Ecuador Amazon neither by cruise though getting to the lodges was by smallish motor boat up the river in both cases. The Ecuador Amazon may make more sense since you also want to do the Galapagos. We did the Galapagos Islands by cruise (Coral I owned and operated by Klein Tours) and also an Amazon lodge (Sani Lodge) stay for a few days this past February. Fabulous trip. I priced out a few different options of Galapagos cruise and Amazon stay before booking. I did not use a tour package or travel agent as I generally do all our own travel planning and booking. We live in Metro Vancouver so did this all from Vancouver. If you are interested in some of the details of our trip including photos, video, our itinerary and blog, they can be found on my travel sharepage, including my planning/research notes and some cost comparisons of the options that I obtained quotes on. https://sharemytraveladventures.shutterfly.com/galapagosamazonquitoecuador201 Happy to answer any other questions.

Edited August 13, 2015 by banditoo

[tvmovielover]

We went on a Gate 1 Ecuador trip that included a few days on the Napo which was very nice if not the heart of the Amazon. There was a four day add on Galapagos cruise. The weather is nice in September when we went and there were many nesting babies to view. The other popular time to go is I believe early in the year better for diving and some other things. It was warm enough to swim without a wet suit (available for a small fee on most cruises I think) in Sept. The only thing I would do differently is take a 7 or 10 day Galapagos cruise instead of only 4 days. It is costly but worth it and better to see more or the little islands while still unspoiled (Ecuador is doing its best to preserve things but who knows in the future). We did ask about land and day cruises while on the biggest inhabited island while we were there and there are many options so that should be considered too.

 

I liked our little Amazon visit but it just made us want to do the Amazon in Brazil and not a tributary sometime in the future. Ecuador is great.

[Floridiana]

I liked our little Amazon visit but it just made us want to do the Amazon in Brazil and not a tributary sometime in the future. Ecuador is great.

 

In Brazil, the Amazon is a very wide river. The Brazilians call it Amazon only after it has merged with the Rio Negro a few kilometers downriver from Manaus which is located on the Rio Negro. The meeting of the Rio Solimoes and the Rio Negro is interesting to see. The two rivers have different colors and acidity levels.