Looking for a cruise that includes Amazon
 

We are in the process of considering one of several cruises (lines) to include a trip on the Amazon in early 2013. We would be interested in any comments or suggestions.

Over the decades, we have gone from inside cabin with hopes of an upgrade (all but once) to OV, and now to balcony or not at all! Wife and I are veteran cruisers, with >100 nights. But, we are also retired and no longer get all that first class air and days before and after our cruising. We also accept our ages, and get the insurance starting last year. We want to take a bit upscale cruise, IF it is not that much more that the alternative.

We are looking at Regency (22 nights), Seabourn (20 nights), Holland (26 nights), and Oceania (21 nights). I have not reviewed the P&O or MV Voyager yet. Most of our cruise night have been on Holland, so they are our fall back. We have eliminated Crystal, Silverseas and Princess for various reasons.

We will likely book this cruise before 12/30/11. Lots of work going on here, but thought some insight from others may be of help!

Regent includes everything in their price. We would use the tours (but only the easy ones...ie cheaper), we have wine every night (but at a modest scale), we normally approximate the suggested tipping, and we are taking their air and insurance. The only extra is the insurance with Regency (10%, a bit high). Seabourn includes the tips. The others charge for these items individually.

there is also seadream >
http://www.seadream.com/voyages/plain/voyage/21307
http://www.seadream.com/voyages/plain/voyage/21311

i can recommend original seabourn.

one thing about silversea is im pretty sure they still offer Personalized Voyages, where you can customize itin.

I've sailed both Regent and HAL (though neither to the Amazon) and think you can't go wrong with either one. The customer service is superb on both, and I think the food is actually equivalent too. The real difference is in the up-front fare vs. the extra charges along the way. If you're going to drink a lot of house wine and take a lot of entry-level shore excursions, then Regent is probably a better value. Otherwise, I think it's hard to beat HAL in terms of bang for the buck.

The best way to visit the Amazon is with Aqua Expeditions.... You will see a lot more than you ever could onboard Seabourn or Regent.

That being said Regent is a little less fussy than Seabourn. HAL is always a good standby, but the value lines like Regent, Seabourn and Oceania provide are often worth running the numbers on.

we are on seabourn now, were on rssc earlier this year....either should be great,,,

good point re aqua, which is on the "other side" in peru
there havent been robberies since those two in 2009?

Thank you all for you comments.

Just to close out this post and to provide information for anyone that follows with a search. We checked out those offered here and Princess Pacific, Oceania Regatta, Holland Masdam and Princendam, Seabourn Sojourn and Regent Mariner Silverseas-silver Cloud and Crystal.

We ended up on Regent. They were tied for most expensive, but all inclusive. Our deal included air, one precruise night hotel w/breakfast, all liquids aboard (you can pay more for extra quality), all tips, all tours (again you can pay more for premium tours), transportation between AP and hotel and ship and then from ship to AP at the end. We booked with Pam Tafoya at Palvus travel for a nice discount and some shipboard credit. They have a referral program if anyone is interested they can private message me, or just call her for a comparison quote. The cruise is in Feb of 2013, therefore it does not interfer with the holidays and lines up well with our anniversary (38th?). Regent seems first class in all respects. They also seem to have a bit more relaxed dress code than some of the other cruise lines considered.

Crystal matched the high end pricing and quality comments. We dropped them purely on the basis of the comments we read. They seem to be a more dressy and formal (caviar, tuxes, even daily attire) line that we are interested, and we felt we would not fit in.

Seabourn was in the analysis to the end. Only a little less inclusive. Even after we adjusted for tours, pre cruise hotel and 2 nights of cruise length, it was still a better buy than Regent...with my flaky analysis. Something about Lisa at Regent, what Pam felt about Regent and some itenery issues. You have to fly out of Manaus on Seabourn...seemed like a crazy and lengthy trip. We liked the termination of Regent trip in Miami.

Holland is a solid cruise line. We have over 75 nights with them. We were not picked up at the airport on one cruise, though booked with HAL. Took a bunch of levels and discussions to get reimbursed our costs. We we upgraded once to a cabin that had a huge balcony (stern) that had a deep depression. The furniture rocked and rolled. The "hole" filled with water daily. A few days in the crew varnished the railing using our cabin as base. They spelled a gallon of varnish outside our door which filled our room with fumes. It took 5 hours to get someone to do something about it, and two days breathing those fumes with equipment running before we got moved to another cabin. Naturally we could not use the balcony anymore either. So they do a good job when things go well, but are bad about handling problems. The iteneries were great for the Amazon, but both the cruises were longer..26 and 32 days. HAL also has a way of overpricing everything, and being cheap on inclusives. Tour handling is bad, and the drivers of the tenders have no training...unsafe (Med. cruise).

Princess is a down scale cruise line compared with this list and was only 14 days. It also started Jan 3rd, making travel over NY likely. They also included flying into Manaus.

Silverseas has mixed reviews, but would have been in the running except they include Thanksgiving in the time frame. Mom is 92, so I am not missing those special days with her. They also have a broadly divergent set of comments by passengers.

Oceania Regatta has small cabins and issues until you get to the consierge (sp) level (no refrig.). Their cruise dates went into April making tax time a bit of a balancing act. They we a bit more wallet friendly.

Note on these cruises (if US citizen) you will need a Brazilian Visa (plan ahead) and likely a yellow fever shot. Manaus is a huge city (pop). Many of the ports served a tiny, with modest tours, except for private car/van.

considering new seabourn, i presume you find seadream too small?

dates - im pretty sure they still let you customize itin with only 2 rules. 5 nt minimum and one way must be between 2 countries.

service - the problem with silversea is that training puts emphasis on wrong things. there might also be supervisory issues.

food preparation - for me, and i think many others, the comparison is between ships the size of original seabourn and below (and europa) and larger ships.

Just came back from a Regent cruise
 

We just got back from the Regent Navigator to the Amazon - it was a wonderful trip and I know you made the right decision. We were originally booked on Oceania but when we did some number crunching, we realized that Regent was a better deal. Although "free", many of the excursions were outstanding and very interesting. Have a wonderful time!