Delfin Amazon Cruises

River Cruises

Expedition Cruises

Iquitos

Lima

South America

Amazon River

Excellent

Very Good

Delfin III

Delfin II

Fabulous Cruise on Peru Amazon

Our party of 6 had a wonderful time cruising the Amazon on the Delfin III in July 2023. We attempted this trip 4 times before and were so happy to finally get to take it. The experiences were once in a lifetime and the crew and staff aboard the Delfin were top notch.

We did jungle walks, canopy walks, adventures on the skiff boats, visited a village and played with the children, and saw lots and lots of wildlife. We saw river dolphins and pink dolphins from the boat. We saw anaconda, tarantulas, lots of monkeys, sloth, leaf cutter ants, caiman, so many beautiful birds and more. We also fished for piranha. Our young adult children kayaked and swam in the river. 

The staterooms were very nice with air conditioning and top amenities. With a small number of people on board, we were able to get to know some of our shipmates.

Wonderful experience

Quebec City

Everything- food,, naturalists, room (corner suite ) -. was excellent except for our cabin steward. Yes we were in the middle of nowhere but my wife and I shouldn’t have to share a bath towel after a day of exploring from eight in the morning until nine in the evening. Rooms are supposedly serviced 3 times a day so there were ample opportunities to replenish our towels.  I shouldn’t had to ask twice for towels.  Even when we got two bath towels we didn’t get any face towels or wash cloths. Incidentally, we weren’t surprised the cabin steward didn’t leave us a comment card. 

Enough of the downside.

Corner suite is worth the additional cost because of the panoramic view and additional space. Food and service in the dining room are what you expect in a five star restaurant. Naturalists. Are knowledgeable,  have excellent communication skills and work hard to find the wild life you are taking the cruise to experience.

5 Stars but for cabin steward

Wife and I spent 3 nights on Delfin III in Feb 2022 as part of an Avalon tour to Peru. We are in our 60s and cruise alot but this was our first river cruise. We had a great time and highly recommend this cruise!

Delfin holds 44 pax but there were only 20 on this cruise due to covid restrictions. We were with another US couple on Avalon tour and rest of passengers were from Peru or Argentina. Most of staff spoke good English so we never had a problem communicating even tho our Spanish was minimal. Most of passengers spoke English so we got along great with them. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. 

We upgraded to a corner suite on first floor and highly recommend it. Have 6 large windows giving you view in front and side of river. Large comfortable king bed. Plenty of room and storage space to unpack. 

Bathroom was a little small but workable. Nice size shower, larger than most ocean ships.  Good air conditioning in room. 

 You don’t drink tap water in Peru so they provided a carafe of fresh filtered water daily. You also get a reusable bottle for excursions which you fill from the water coolers on each deck. 

Top deck has large bar and sitting area indoors and air conditioned. Bartender on duty pretty much always ready to make drinks. We had no bar bill as we were in a suite, also mini bar in room was free. 

In back of top deck is an outdoor plunge pool and recliners which were never busy. 

Jungle excursions are the reason for this cruise. We went out many times - early morning sunrise, morning, late afternoon, and after dark. No trips in heat of day, that was siesta time. Most trips were in a skiff with no landing so you could sightsee on pink freshwater dolphins, caymans, piranhas. Also many colorful birds and alot of monkeys. We had one jungle hike each day which was fairly short, 2-3 miles maybe. They provided rubber boots as the ground was very muddy. Also kayaked and swam in river one afternoon. Water was very warm in Feb.  Our guide spoke very good English so we had great insights into what we were seeing. 

It only rained once, which was unusual for normally rainy Jan-May here. They had ponchos on boat so no problem. We carried our rain coats and pants on our hikes but did not need them. 

Food was fantastic. Buffet breakfast and sit down lunch and dinners. Each sit down was fixed three course meal. Chicken, beef, and fish dishes. I don’t like seafood myself so they swapped chicken or beef. No room service but there were bar snacks between meals.  Food was extremely good and very filling. 

Crew and guides were wonderful. Very friendly, definitely glad we were there and always wanting to make the experience enjoyable. 

Recommended tipping for 3 nights was $120 each for the tip pool and we felt they deserved it. You can pay in dollars or credit card at end of cruise. 

Hint - bring lightweight clothing. Long pants and shirts best for hiking. Don’t need boots as they provide rubber boots. Lots of sunscreen and bug spray. Wide brimmed hat.

The Delfin III had good sized cabins and bathrooms that had all the amenities one could expect of a river cruise.  There are only 20 cabins on board and the crew to guest ratio is almost 1:1.  Staff on board was exceptional and extremely attentive.   

On our sailing we had only 4 English speaking guests and the rest were from Lima.  In particular we had one large family celebrating the life of a lost loved one.  I loved watching the family of play in the pool or playing chess in the lounge.  The patriarch had loved the jungle and thus was the perfect place to celebrate his life.  

The lounge area is where we would meet at night to discuss the next days activities.  During the day we had a little pool and sun deck.  There were also various classes or activates offered in the afternoon,  The lounge was also where we were treated to unlimited pisco sours.  

While I speak no Spanish our fellow guests wanted to learn more about us, so she invited us for a drink at the bar.  The bartender translated back and forth for us over pisco sours questions of what does your family eat at home, to how many children do you have.  The same questions we had as we were just beginning to learn about Peru.  The one thing about river cruises, regardless if they are in Europe, South East Asia, Africa or South America is that those on board crave making connections with other like minded travelers.  

The food on board the Delfin was wonderful and represented foods readily available in the Amazon.  We had fish, beef tenderloin, chicken and even pork.  Food was exceptional as the Delfin is affiliated with Relais and Chateaux.   Each time we sat down for lunch or dinner there was another delicious dish.  Our maitre d eager explained each of the dishes we ate at meals.  He was also an excellent singer and guitar player as we learned on our last full day on board.   

Visiting the Amazon in Peru is  a bit like an African safari, except much of the wildlife you will see will be in the form of birds.  I am not a birder, but by day two I was actively searching for the Macaws, hawks and king fishers.  You hear the Macaws before you see them, so you have to use your ears as well as your eyes.  Ah but to see those beautiful birds in the wild is a sight most won’t see.  By day 2 we had also started to spot monkeys (there are over 13 different varieties in the Peruvian Amazon) sloths, bats, rats and Caiman (medium size crocodiles).  We went fishing for piranha and had breakfast in the jungle.

Reconnect with nature, while you disconnect from our busy world. 

The Delfin III was better than I expected - accommodations, food, service. 

- Cabin. Our cabin was quite large (unlike other small ship cruises I have been on), with a huge well supplied bathroom, king bed & enough room for us to store our clothes & luggage. The floor to ceiling window was great. The A/C worked very well & we needed it.

- Service. The guides were very knowledgeable, helpful & friendly. The dining room was excellent. I was glad that there was a medic on board because I had intestinal issues that he helped me with.

- Food. We enjoyed our meals - lots of variety & good quality. I like that they used locally sourced food.

- Programs. The on-ship programs were not very interesting to me.

- Excursions. Most of the excursions were on a skiff. I enjoyed the early morning one with breakfast served on the skiff. My favorite was the jungle hike - I wish we had more of these. The guides were particularly helpful on the hike. We also went to a local village which was somewhat interesting.

First class 

I gave this a 5 star rating based upon the experience that we had in the middle of nowhere, in the Amazon.  Not a 5 star experience for a mainline cruise nor standard river cruise but this was nothing like that.

Prior to the cruise we spent 6 nights in a jungle lodge.  I strongly suggest doing both as we did.  The Defin 3 is a very pretty boat and the staff are spectacular.  Rooms are large with huge windows overlooking the river.  The air conditioning quite strong and it was a relief after our time in the jungle.  Unlike at the lodge the Delfin trip is almost exclusively on the rivers.  While we did do one 3 hour jungle walk/hike, everything else in a skiff exploring along the waterways.  

The guides were extremely knowledgeable and willing to assist with any questions that we could ask.  Food on board, for most, was great.  Breakfast buffet was perfect.  Lunch and dinner were served at the table and there really was not any option.  They did ask if you had any specific requests but they were not great in following up.  I personally don't eat most vegetables and it was tough to get pasta, potatoes or anything else to go with the main dish.  If you did not like the main dish you were pretty much out of luck.  It would be better if they posted the menu in the morning so that there would be an opportunity to ask for something different.

The other strange thing is that they seem to try and be a 5 start ship.  At meals the waiters wear white gloves, hold their hand behind their back as they serve, etc.  They are trying to mimic a very upscale restaurant.  In most cases they do accomplish this but it would be far better if they embraced the "rustic" adventure travel area that they are in and skip trying to impress.  Food presentations were fantastic and photo worthy.

There are few enrichment/entertainment activities.  One couple on board were PhD in two various marine science disciplines. They did a great talk on river dolphins but some other talks, like this one, would have been great.

Very happy we did this cruise and would recommend it highly.  If you are expecting a jungle experience you really need to combine the cruise with a real jungle lodge.

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