Back when the National Geographic Adventure magazine was rating outfitters a few years ago, the Amazon cruises on the Tucano were the highest rated cruises in Brazil or Peru. Since that time, the owners have continued to improve the experience, knowing that they are competing with the new luxury ships in Peru.
After operating only their expedition cruise for many years, a few years ago they decided to add a shorter, 5 day cruise. Though it doesn't get into the remote areas that the longer cruise gets too, it still offers more than the other cruises in the area do - working hard to cover as much territory as possible.
After operating only their expedition cruise for many years, a few years ago they decided to add a shorter, 5 day cruise. Though it doesn't get into the remote areas that the longer cruise gets too, it still offers more than the other cruises in the area do - working hard to cover as much territory as possible.
Then they bought some kayaks to add that active element to their itinerary. This has proved to be a popular addition. They have also tried to make the cruise operate with as much solar power as possible and have adjusted their itineraries to eliminate the chance of passengers getting the Zika virus
The expedition cruise had always included a visit to the town or Novo Airao, which was a quaint boat-building village in the Anavilhanas Archipelago. But recently the owner told me that the village is not so small and quaint anymore - there is a paved road from Manaus to it now and it has grown quite a bit. So, he decided that it was taking a long time to go out of the way to visit a place that is not so interesting anymore and decided to gradually phase out that visit. This will allow them to make the cruise one day shorter (without eliminating any of the exciting nature elements) and keep the price down.
The expedition cruise had always included a visit to the town or Novo Airao, which was a quaint boat-building village in the Anavilhanas Archipelago. But recently the owner told me that the village is not so small and quaint anymore - there is a paved road from Manaus to it now and it has grown quite a bit. So, he decided that it was taking a long time to go out of the way to visit a place that is not so interesting anymore and decided to gradually phase out that visit. This will allow them to make the cruise one day shorter (without eliminating any of the exciting nature elements) and keep the price down.
Though the cabins and ship amenities are elegant and are routinely refurbished, they can't compete, as far as luxury, with some of the new Peruvian ships. But from a geographical/nature point of view, the expedition cruise has a distinct advantage over the Peruvian cruises because people on it are able to explore four very distinct environments, each of them with a different collection of wildlife. These are the Igapó black water flooded forest, the varzea white water flooded forest, the chevascal (a strange low grassland), and the terra firme, the high forest. So people are able to walk every day in the high forest of the terra firme where the greatest diversity of flora and fauna can be found and go on 4-5 excursions a day.
In contrast, the Peruvian cruises are mostly confined to the varzea flooded forest. While this is a rich environment, for much of the year it is almost totally flooded, so travelers are not able to find many places to actually go into the forest - and those few places are very heavily visited because there are at least 9 ships that sail into that area regularly now. That brings up another important point about the expedition cruises on the Tucano - they don't do the exact same itinerary every time so people and animals don't get habituated to seeing the boat every week.
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