My husband and I were part of Lindblad / National Geographic tour of the Upper Amazon on Delfin II for Oct. 29 - Nov. 5, 2017. We have been on 21 cruises, including three expedition cruises (Celebrity Xpedition to Galapagos twice and Silversea Explorer to Antarctica) but this was the smallest boat we've been on and our first river cruise.

We booked the 10-night package, which included two nights before and one night after the cruise at the Wyndham Costa del Sol airport hotel in Lima. We arrived in Lima late (almost midnight) on the Friday night before our cruise. The hotel is right across the street from the airport, so we could walk to it, which was nice because the taxi line was extremely long. Other than being convenient for the airport, the hotel was nothing special. The room was clean but worn-looking with basic amenities (shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion, body wash), two bottles of water, and Wi-Fi. The hotel has a spa with a small hot tub (seats about 4) and a tiny pool (15 ft X 7 ft).

For the first day, breakfast was included but no other meals, and there were no planned activities until evening. There is nothing within walking distance of the hotel so my husband and I took a taxi to Miraflores, which was about 40 minutes away. There was a Meet & Greet planned for that evening in the hotel bar, but we stayed longer than expected in Miraflores and missed it. Lima traffic is very heavy and "rush hour" lasts until late at night. Read more