T+L’s Ship Evaluation of Pure Amazon, From Tour Operator Abercrombie & Kent

“Within the wild, something can occur,” says Robinson Rodriguez, a naturalist, to our group of 5. We’re on my first skiff (a small, flat-bottomed boat) trip from Pure Amazon, a riverboat by luxurious tour operator Abercrombie & Kent. And he’s not unsuitable.

As I discovered on the four-night journey on the backwaters of the Peruvian Amazon’s Pacaya-Samiria Nationwide Reserve, nature takes middle stage. That stated, it’s not as in-your-face as wildlife adventures comparable to recognizing Africa’s massive recreation. Whereas I caught sight of the majestic pink dolphins on that skiff tour, for the subsequent couple of days, most of what we noticed (or in some circumstances, simply heard) have been birds together with kingfishers, orioles, macaws, and black-collared hawks.

It doesn’t matter what the tour—fishing for red-bellied piranhas (I caught two!), swimming in a freshwater lagoon, or climbing via the dense jungle—I appeared ahead to returning to the consolation of the 158-foot-long Pure Amazon. With 10 suites and two single cabins, it accommodates a most of twenty-two visitors and has greater than a one-to-one staff-to-guest ratio. After my first morning espresso order, my cappuccino routinely arrived simply as I sat down, and a staffer was at all times prepared to ensure I used to be outfitted with the suitable gear to make excursions pleasing. 5-course dinners, produced from native elements and enhanced by skilled wine pairings, within the stylish eating room felt like the suitable solution to conclude every day.

Abercrombie & Kent’s dedication to spotlighting gifted ladies added an appreciated layer of studying. The vessel, clad in shihuahuaco, an Amazonian hardwood, was designed by Milan-based architect Adriana Granato, who serves as creative director of A&Ok Journey Group. She labored with Peru-born artist Silvana Pestana to create putting items of artwork displayed all through the ship. Operations supervisor Angela Rodriguez was accountable for a lot of the hiring and on-board service selections.

One other such professional is Helen Arevalo, the one feminine licensed naturalist working in Peru’s Amazon cruise trade. She grew up in a small close by village known as Nueva Esperanza (“New Hope”) and fell in love with the Amazon’s distinctive ecosystem. “As a result of I grew up within the jungle, it’s like somewhat paradise to me,” she says. After spending 4 days along with her and her colleagues, I couldn’t agree extra.

Lastly, throughout our final full day on the river, we noticed three sloths—together with a mom and her child—and a troop of greater than 100 squirrel monkeys. It was the cherry on high of a outstanding journey.

This extraordinary river boat set sail in September 2025, and I used to be among the many first to expertise it. Right here’s my detailed evaluate of Pure Amazon, together with the place it sails and what visitors ought to sit up for.

The Staterooms

Pure Amazon options 12 suites and two single cabins (a profit to solo vacationers, as they don’t must pay a single complement). At roughly 270 sq. toes, my second-floor suite was spacious and intuitively designed. The queen-size mattress, clad in 350-thread rely, domestically produced Peruvian Pima cotton, felt like sleeping on a cloud. The ceiling is roofed with woven reeds that develop within the Amazon, including to the design’s natural really feel. I discovered the sage-green chaise longue, positioned in entrance of the wall of home windows, a serene place to learn. There are two units of interconnecting cabins for households touring collectively.

My ensuite rest room, adorned with textured, inexperienced and white subway tiles, featured an ample bathe with a floor-to-ceiling window and rattan-fronted cupboards and drawers for a staggering quantity of storage. It was stocked with Pure Amazon-branded facilities, scented with eucalyptus, sacha inchi, and lemon verbena, made by Ecuador-based maker Amenigraf, in addition to plush towels, and a pleasantly highly effective JVD hair dryer. Friends ought to keep in mind how distant this journey is: whereas the toilet is provided with dental, shaving, stitching, and self-importance kits, extra specialised objects (comparable to female hygiene merchandise) could also be unavailable.

The minibar is refilled a number of occasions every day and comes with purified nonetheless and glowing water, sodas, and Peruvian beer, in addition to a Nespresso machine with Peruvian natural espresso pods and tea sachets from La Fidelia. Every stateroom additionally has a big pill loaded with details about the boat’s choices, in addition to a media reader with worldwide newspapers and magazines (together with Journey + Leisure), and a dozen movies. This was a pleasant contact in lieu of a tv.

When you’ve got a robust choice about your view whereas docked, know that portside cabins typically face the shore (and thus have extra privateness if you happen to choose to have your home windows open), whereas starboard cabins primarily face the river.

Like the remainder of the Pure Amazon expertise, the cabin service is top-notch, with room freshening 3 times a day. My favourite aspect: turndown service included a truffle by Peruvian chocolate artisan Fátima Carranza.

Meals and Drink

The meals aboard Pure Amazon actually provides to the expertise—not simply because it’s flawlessly ready however as a result of it provides to the sense of the place. At every meal within the eating room, the group units out a show of the native elements that characteristic within the dishes, inviting visitors to ask questions and even style them. I encountered yucca, charapita peppers, camu camu, and macambo beans; it was thrilling to enter the eating room and anticipate studying one thing new.

Breakfast and lunch are served buffet fashion, however typically with a prepared-before-your-eyes aspect. As an illustration, at breakfast, eggs and omelets are made to order, along with contemporary fruit, yogurt, house-made granola, and an array of dishes that run the gamut from Western to native (juane, an Amazonian tamale that makes use of rice as a substitute of corn, was a constant favourite). Lunches are diversified: At some point a chef was whipping up pastas with quite a lot of sauces and proteins, one other the providing was ceviche with ginger-infused leche de tigre and doncella, a South American catfish.

Each evening, dinner is a five-course affair. The primary three programs—an amuse-bouche and two appetizers—and the dessert are mounted (although allergy symptoms and preferences are deftly accommodated), and visitors select between two entrées. Every course is plated on crockery by Vista Alegre Portugal. Dishes comparable to garlic prawns with Peruvian inexperienced rice, creamy hearts of palm soup, and beef with creamy lima bean hummus are fantastically paired with South American wines.

The Jungle Lounge on the riverboat’s foremost degree and the third-floor Veranda Lounge each serve 16 wines and cocktails produced from greater than 40 spirits (together with six Piscos, excellent for specialty Pisco sours). I used to be a fan of the Jungle Negroni, produced from Amazonian gin, Campari, and house-infused cacao nib vermouth.

Facilities and Leisure

By design, nature is the star aboard Pure Amazon. One afternoon, whereas I used to be sipping an espresso by the Jungle Lounge’s expansive home windows, a pod of pink dolphins placed on a present by frolicking alongside the boat. To bolster that reference to the river and its surrounding land and villages, the group of onboard naturalists supply every day talks about conservation, the Amazon’s distinctive animal species, and the vegetation.

The higher deck map room is stocked with books concerning the Amazon’s wildlife and doubles as a comfy place to learn or work. For visitors trying to take in some solar, a big jacuzzi (sufficiently big to accommodate not less than six visitors) is flanked by plush lounge chairs. The highest deck additionally contains a small—however effectively appointed—exercise room outfitted with a Technogym Unica weightlifting machine that facilitates 25 workouts, free weights, yoga mats, and resistance bands, and a sensible treadmill and bike. Friends can ebook one among six kinds of massages, starting from a reflexology foot therapeutic massage ($75 for 40 minutes) to a deep tissue full-body therapeutic massage utilizing Amazonian important oils ($85 for 60 minutes), within the onboard spa room. The naturalists supply nightly stargazing periods, aided by a telescope. One evening, due to the absence of sunshine air pollution, I used to be capable of see the Milky Manner, no telescope wanted.

In case you contemplate procuring to be its personal type of leisure, you’ll benefit from the small however well-curated boutique. On supply: woven purses, colourful carved animal collectible figurines, jewellery, pottery, and intricately embroidered ladies’s clothes from Peruvian design collective BENAI.

The place Pure Amazon Sails

Pure Amazon is obtainable for three-, four-, and seven-night sailings via the rivers, lagoons, and streams of the Pacaya-Samiria Nationwide Reserve. Friends fly into Iquitos and are pushed almost two hours to Nauta to embark. Relying on the journey’s period, you’ll expertise elements of the Marañón, Ucayali, Yucuruchi, and Amazon rivers.

Shore Excursions

I beloved the truth that there was no one-size-fits-all strategy to excursions on Pure Amazon. The vessel has three out there skiff boats and three naturalists, so there’s loads of flexibility to tailor the outings to visitors’ curiosity. Usually, there are a minimal of two excursions per day, along with different off-boat actions. Mornings could contain cruising to identify colourful birds comparable to macaws and parakeets, monkeys, and sloths, whereas pre-sunset boat rides generally is a nice time to see pink and gray dolphins within the waves. Twilight skiff jaunts could yield a sighting of caimans, a crocodilian species.

Abercrombie & Kent has partnered with native villages to permit visitors to wander their streets and find out about their tradition. Different ribereños preserve swaths of jungle the place A&Ok naturalists take visitors in low water season (June to November) to see wildlife up shut. Excessive water season will imply that, aboard the skiffs, visitors are nearer to the tree cover to see wildlife.

Pure Amazon offers size-appropriate muck boots, sunscreen, bug spray, and rain ponchos, chopping down on the gear visitors must deliver. Plus, there are two filtered water bottle refilling stations.

Adventurous visitors can participate in kayaking or swimming in Clavero Lake and fishing for red-bellied piranhas. It was comforting to know that an onboard paramedic was at all times out there to help in case of emergency (happily, the one rescue wanted was my sun shades after they fell overboard).

On the best way again to Iquitos for the flight to Lima, we stopped at Formabiap, a faculty that trains indigenous language lecturers. Supported by A&Ok Philanthropy, the college helps help the subsequent era of bilingual educators, encouraging them to proceed instructing domestically.

Accessibility

Whereas Pure Amazon is constructed for the consolation of its visitors, there are some limitations for visitors with mobility points, as a result of dimension of the vessel and the character of the excursions. Visitor suites are on the second ground, and there’s no elevator. The 2 single cabins on the decrease deck could also be extra engaging to visitors with restricted mobility. Descending into one of many skiff boats additionally requires some stairs, although the employees is ready to present extra help throughout embarkation as wanted.

For individuals who can navigate a number of stairs at a time, an Amazon river cruise may show to be a super solution to discover, as most of the excursions—primarily within the skiff boats—don’t require strolling.

Pricing

Three-night cruises begin at $5,475 per individual, four-night cruises begin at $7,300, and seven-night cruises begin at $12,775. Most visitors go for a while in Lima, both earlier than or after the Pure Amazon journey, and A&Ok can prepare lodges, excursions, and restaurant reservations whereas in Peru’s capital. The corporate additionally provides excursions to see Machu Picchu and additional discover the Amazon.