Dear Luciana
Many thanks for this and for all your help. I do appreciate everything you did to help us. We really enjoyed our time in Manaus and on the Clipper Premium.
Regarding Viverde services, these are all excellent, being helpful, friendly and efficient.
Regarding the Clipper Premium, this was also excellent. The ship, the cabin, the food, the excursions, the crew and the guides were all of the highest possible standard, and we just wished we had spent longer on the boat. The only comments I would make are as follows:
1 We found it hard to be sure where to report, because there seemed to be no Tropical Ecoresort Reception place in the Tropical Hotel. It might be easiest to say something like “we will collect passengers and their luggage from the entrance lobby of the Tropical Ecoresort at 1400 on the day of departure”.
2 We found the jungle walk of 2 hours a little long!
3 The air conditioning equipment seemed very noisy.
Regarding the Tropical Hotel, most of it was excellent, including the building, the reception, the bedroom, the breakfast, the shops and the grounds. However:
1 We found the background music in the lobby too loud, and several other guests said the same thing.
2 Using their internet service was very difficult. They could only sell 15 minute vouchers, and it took several minutes of each voucher to log into my email here. Also, they could not charge the vouchers to the room, they could not accept payment for the vouchers by credit card or debit card, and they could not take cash for the vouchers unless it was the exact amount. This would have been less of a problem if the cash desk in the hotel could give change but it couldn’t!
3 It would be very useful if the Hotel had a tourist office giving information on all activities available in and around Manaus, instead of simply having an office for a few daily excursions and an office for the helicopter. For example, we would never have found out about the Clipper if we had relied on the Hotel. And no-one at the Hotel could tell us about taking the ferry across the Negro which we had hoped to do.
4 As it is difficult to get anywhere else for meals, the menu in the hotels in the entrance bar, the upstairs bar and room service could perhaps have been a little more varied rather than all exactly the same.
But basically it was all great – and we are making our friends here very jealous by telling them how good it was!
Best wishes
David