Sam's Army & American Outlaws - Your Experience With Their WC Packages

SA packages came out today. Ouch.

 

Got an e-mail from AO regarding the land-only package this evening. They say they're "hoping" to keep the price below $4000 for 12 nights (double occupancy) in a Natal hotel, plus transportation to the games in Natal and Recife. Having already booked 12 nights of the group stage for less than $500, all I can do is laugh incredulously.

 

HA!!! both you and I buddy! Such a joke they are! I really hope US Fans don't get suckered into this rip off!

13 nights booked so far in all 3 cities for $356!! I know it doesn't include transportation but if I can't score transportation for an additional $3644, then I'll stop by to apologize to those guys after the WC.

Please post here if you need help booking lodging, I'm sure there are a few of us that would gladly help other US fans without the rip off portion!

 

does it include game tickets? Seems strange that it's almost in the same price range as the full package but doesn't the Manaus portion, nor the flight from the US.

Oh well, neither here nor there.

 

$4000 for 12 nights in Natal and Recife? $333 a night including transport etc? That's pretty rough. I suppose if you want luxury accommodation this point that's what you would have to pay. It looks like the really nice hotels are going for 200 a night or so in Natal from the 15th to the 20th.


Still, I think with even a slight bit of planning you could clear that price hurdle.

 

That is pretty ridiculous. I just booked a hotel in Natal (Ponta Negra) for about $600 for 6 nights (June 14-June 20). Anyone have any luck with Manaus flights/lodging? I'm looking to head out there from June 20-24.

 

Need help on lodging!

Home base: Rio June 11-28
I'm a guy coming solo. Applying for tickets, but need help/tips on lodging.
* June 15-16 in Natal.
* June 25-26 in Recife
Also, any tips on flights? Any local airlines not on kayak? Also, is there any chance of flights lowering in price with these new demands? (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25770491)

 

My wife and I finished booking our trip a few days ago. We originally planned on the AO trip, but the price doesn't seem that great and we really wanted to check out the Amazon...not just the game. So with that said, we're just doing Manaus and going from the 18-25th

Lodging:
Seems like a lot US fans are staying at the Hotel Monaco. It was sold out when I tried, but managed to get the Go Inn which is right by the Monaco for around $200+ a night.

We’ll be on an Amazon tour for the first two nights which ran about $300 a person including all meals, a bed (not a hammock), pick up at the airport and drop off at the hotel. Found the company on TripAdvisor...definitely seems like a legitimate company.

Flights:
Probably won't do you much good since we're flying out from a different place, but...From SF to Manaus and back (one stop in Miami each way) came to $1700 round trip. 13 hour trip on the way there. I had issues with long layovers (around 12 hours) on the way back so instead of channeling my inner Tom-Hanks-Terminal-Guy I opted to extend my stay in Miami to a little over 24 hours and get a hotel downtown for the night.

Anyone have any tips from getting to the airport from the hotel (9 mile drive)? Or is the typical taxi cab the only way to go?

 

You mean in Miami? Metrorail runs directly from airport to downtown, where you can connect to Metromover (which may run near where you're staying).

 

My fault...I meant from Manaus. But this is good info...saves me the cost of a rental/parking for the day.

 

TAM or Gol are you best bet for flights. The Azul airline isn't on kayak but when I checked their site it was often more expensive than TAM or Gol.

$500 round trip Rio to Natal on Gol.
$527 to Recife on TAM

at this point if you want a hotel room in Recife it's probably $300 a night. There still seems to be a couple spots in Natal for 100-150 though.

 

If you don't mind me asking, what tour are you doing?

 

Nexxas: search airfares through airprojects.com, which pulls up all of the brazilian airlines

 

Awesome! Thanks RealCorona and sethuel1 -- those airlines seem the best.
As for lodging, since I'm a single guy, I think I'm going to look for hostels because I don't have anyone to split costs with.
Although which of the 3 USA games I attend all depend if I get tickets out of the current drawing. I bought 3 of the earlier-phase ticket sales and the teams came out Portugal, Colombia, Iran, Bosnia, etc, so no USA yet.

 

I lied. Avianca isn't on airprojects. It also appears to have by far the lowest fare on each of the two itineraries you're looking for.

It also has a notoriously finicky website for foreign bookings

 

For Recife, try expanding your search into Olinda. Pretty much at the edge of Recife but not far where transportation would be crazy to find. Also a lot of historical/colonial sites in Olinda, seems like it has a hint of Old San Juan in PR or Casco Viejo in Panamá.

If hostels/pousadas are your thing, check out this place. Maybe they still have some availability

http://www.alberguedeolinda.com.br/

 

Just booked olinda, middle of the town, for 2 nights. Pricey though but there is little options if you want to stay in the center of olinda. The town looks......dare i say....adorable.. Cant wait.

 

Just got my land only invite, said i was number 2000 on the list....ha. TBF, it only said the cost wont be more than 4,000$... Could be half of that for all we know. Still its pricey but i dont blame people for wanting to be part of the group and whatnot.... Unlike some of us, myself included, with anti-social tendencies....

Regardless, i will definitely be at their pregame meetups......some of the absolute best memories of '10 for me was the AO day of game fun...

 

Definitely. I remember that pregame meetup at the bar in Pretoria before the Algeria match (unfortunately the only pregame party I could make it to in SA) where we basically took over that one bar and a good chunk of the parking lot. That was a blast.

 

That's what AO does well. Hopefully they figure out this away package nonsense, because what they do well, they do very well.

 

Maybe you're getting a really nice room and I doubt they want to undershoot the estimate but $4000 is a lot. Like another poster said, the ceiling for the package with flights was around $5550 if IIRC.

Cannot imagine how fun the pregame party will though. Not sure anything's keeping me away from those.

 

A highlight of the pregame, was when hundreds, if not thousands, of Yanks were standing in the street, as the USA team bus crawled through our midst. The looks on the players faces! 8,000 to 10,000 miles from home, and there we were, singing them on!

 

For those of you who booked lodging for games (Natal, Recife, etc), do you already have game tickets? If not what is your plan to get them?
I submitted a request for USA tix but have to wait to see if I got them. If I don't get tickets, I'd stay and party the city I'm in. Not sure if that's a really bad plan for waiting to reserve a hostel. I mean, I don't care sleeping on the floor lol.