How does pricing on the Amazon River boats work?

Question

Last week I went from Manaus to Santarém by boat. I bought my ticket in the Manaus port, from a guy standing around the entrance (he looked shady but the Tourist Police told me he's an authorized seller). I paid R$90, I travelled sleeping in a hammock, without a cabin. A girl sleeping next to me paid R$80. On the boat I saw this list, saying the price of Manaus-Santarém is R$180:

Then I'm planning to go further to Belém, someone told me before the price is R$150, but the only agency I found says it's R $200 and that it's a promotion. There's no price neither in the agency nor on the ticket I had from Manaus.

Is there some official pricing list for these boats that I can reference when buying the next ticket? I'd treat the one on the boat as the official one, but I'm confused why I paid half the price.

Answer 1

As a rule of thumb, any board, if not written with chalk or easily editable, is outdated.

I have found this site with prices (in Portuguese): Porto de Manaus Agency

Also there's this trip's tips site describing the travel (in Portuguese): Viaje na viajem

You can compare those prices with a regular airliners prices (in Portuguese): Decolar.com

Note getting back by the river is not (necessarily) the same price because the river flows from Manaus to Santarém so Manaus-Santarém is a 30h trip while Santarém-Manaus is a 42h trip.

The Belém leg is longer, so you should expect prices not to be the same. Google maps Manaus-Santarém-Belém by road

I was not able to find an updated site with prices, but I did find some blogs about the Santarém-Belém leg.

(all in Portuguese)

http://www.verdejava.com.br/lugares/rio-amazonas-de-santarem-a-belem/ http://meusegundolar.blogspot.com.br/2012/04/viagem-santarem-belem-de-barco.html http://guiaviajarmelhor.com.br/rota-dos-rios-viagem-de-barco-belem-x-santarem-x-manaus/

If you seek adventure and to blend with the locals it will be a nice trip. Personaly I cannot do that unless by a regular airline because of the (lack of) comfort and time.

And finally, please remember "Couples no allowed in the same hammock" =)