Excursions in Amazon ports

[vakamalua]

Looking at the cruise that includes small ports on the Amazon River.  Has anyone does this cruise?  How do these ports accommodate 900 people?  In one , there is only one (included) excursion listed--presumably if that fills up, everyone else is left to their own devices...

[Jim Avery]

On the first half of the Ultimate World Cruise we traveled up the Amazon to Manaus.  One tour we loved was at Parintins and it was the Boi Bumba show.  Stunning, especially in the locale.  In Manaus we recommend the pink dolphin excursion.  Don't recall anyone not getting what they wanted.   As to your own devices, we were warned at every port  in South America, especially up the Amazon, to be very careful with possessions.  Crime is a real problem.  Both fellow pax as well as crew had some robberies ashore.  Still, glad we got to do it.

[The Other Tom]

4 hours ago, vakamalua said:

In one , there is only one (included) excursion listed--presumably if that fills up, everyone else is left to their own devices...

My guess is Viking will add more than the normal tour busses for this one and only excursion since, well, there's only one and they anticipate many if not all will take it.

[Australia08]

2 hours ago, The Other Tom said:

My guess is Viking will add more than the normal tour busses for this one and only excursion since, well, there's only one and they anticipate many if not all will take it.

If you are speaking of the Parintins included excursion (the only excursion that day) -  Everyone who wanted to go could. The show was spectacular and no buses were needed since the venue was a short distance from the tender dock. We walked around the small town when the show was over. There was a colonial church and the arena where the larger Boi Bumba shows were staged during the yearly festival. We felt safe since it really was a small town. I agree with Jim that in the larger cities you did need to be very away of those around you. 

[TayanaLorna]

Well i wouldnt say the ports are small.  Santarem is over 306,000 people, Parintins over 115,000 and Manaus is at 2.2 million people.  No city or village we visited in Iceland even had the population of Santarem and some were less then the 800 or so we had aboard our Viking ship.  We had an ample amount of excursions from which to choose.

 

My understanding is the Boi Bumba performance in Parintins is THE thing to do and see, that Viking gets everyone there and you still have time for a bit of a walkabout in the town if you wish.

 

We are doing this cruise February, 2023 and because the ports where Viking stops are so big, we decided it was a shame to go so far and not go further upstream to experience the tiny flooded streams and the small native villages.  So we will disembark Viking in Manaus and go further up river on a smaller boat.  Part of the reason we are doing this rather then stay at a Manaus hotel and doing day excursions is we feel we will be safer on another boat having all excursions included and not having to deal with security issues.

Edited July 2, 2022 by TayanaLorna