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

Extra $400-$600 per person on top of the original quoted price because of some Brazilian aircraft law change - that fecking sucks

 

Cant believe i just watched that whole video, and im not even on their trip. Did think it was a good format to educate their guests. And to break the bad news about manaus. But looking at those flights myself will be 800$ RT at best.

Not all AO trip folks got all their ticket requests, was interested in hearing that.
The flight down there does sound like fun, quite jealous to be honest.
Same hotel for 14 nights would be lame, but logistics wise is hard to suggest otherwise.

Pregame events will be announced later but of course open to everyone... Heard something about a "tire store".. Ok.....i'm up for anything..

Overall probably a good thing they did this, cant imagine the types of questions people are sending. "Will curling irons be in the rooms"? Ha..

 

If I had a choice between my United Airlines flight from Chicago to Sao Paulo or the AO charter I'd pick the AO charter. However, the 14 nights in Natal pretty much washes out any fun quotient that has.

 

I agree. Meeting the AOs in Houston the night before, then the whole flight to Brazil is going to be one huge party, although it is a red eye. I can only imagine the atmosphere on the plane, doing the chants and songs. And hanging out with the AOs would be awesome too.

But I totally agree, spending the entire WC in only Natal would be a disappointment to me. My first time to Brazil and to just see this one small beach city and miss Rio and other cities. No matter how much fun the AO crew will be, if I did it I will have wished I could see other parts of Brazil.

The other factor was cost. At $5400 the numbers didn't add up for me. I was able to do it cheaper myself, even with all the internal flights, but of course I had to put a lot of time and effort into researching and booking everything. But that was fun for me. Last factor was sharing a room. I travel over 100 days a year and never have to share a room. Even if I was traveling with friends I wouldn't want to share my room, and in my case, I would be solo and rooming with someone I didn't know.

Add it all up....I had to pass on their trip. But as I said, I'm sure it's just perfect for other people.

 

As someone on the trip, I am excited but some of the above have been disappointments. After the draw, I knew it would be the high end of the range which I was cool with. I was bummed to hear we wouldn't be going to all three cities, but I can deal. The principle alone on the extra charge is what has gotten me jacked up. We signed up for this trip, knowing that there was a $$$ premium, to be shielded from price fluctuations. We went through a professional travel agency to see the unforeseen. 10% isn't going to break the bank for me personally, just is really annoying.

In the end, this trip is the perfect option for my 57 year old dad and I (both WC rookies). Neither of us speak portuguese and, though I will learn some basics, I know that he will not! It's going to be a great trip.

 

And to be fair, They aren't forced to stay in natal the entire time. I assume most will take side trips and see as much of the country as the next person. Regardless the AO group will be the foundation for all pregame events. There will be thousands of US fans there and marching to the game. It is the right step in formalizing/centralizing fan activity for these games.

The last 3-4 cups i've seen the Dutch fans in a very organized pregame, thousands of them in official pregame. Its powerful....and fun.

 

Damn I totally forgot that it's double occupancy. So basically the cost breakdown to me is:

$2000 (rough average of a ticket from the US to Brazil from the 13th-27th)
so roughly $400 per day after that including the bus to Recife and back. (I guess Manaus is an extra 4-600 charge, which is slightly lower than the 800 average for flights from Natal to Manaus and back)

I understand it's very difficult to get 500 rooms for two weeks in the busiest time possible, but roughly $400 a night is a really steep price to pay.

 

They aren't forced to stay in Natal, but they are fairly limited due to geography on where they can go for side trips other than buying a completely separate plane ticket and hotel room somewhere else.

 

They're not forced to, but they'd still be paying the room in Natal if they say went down to Rio for a day or 2. Then add the cost of the round trip flight somewhere. I'm sure some or maybe many of them will do this, maybe between the Ghana and Portugal games where there is a 5 days break.

Completely agree with you there, and that's why I'm really looking forward to being with the AOs for my 3 days in Natal. I think they're really important to our team and for US soccer.

But.....for me personally (not speaking for everyone, just me), I think the AO deal works better for the trip to a single game somewhere, like a qualifier. 2 full weeks just doing AO stuff all in 1 city is too much for me.

Another downside to this for me - it would be fun of course to hang out with my fellow AOs for the whole 2 weeks, hang out in bars AO has "adopted", eat with AOs, watch games with AOs, etc. But one thing I am really looking forward to is also meeting fans from all over the world. For the week I am in Rio, there are going to be fans from everywhere. I'm expecting I'll meet US fans too, but also I hope to mingle a lot with other fans. Sure you can do that in Natal also, but Natal won't have the mix that Rio, Sao Paulo and for me Salvador will have. I'm used to traveling alone and have no difficulty meeting people from other countries, and I'm looking forward to that part. I'm sure for many, just being with the AO group and meeting others here and there is what they want, and that's cool too.

 

Are you kidding me? I didn't know that was even possible to travel by land from the Northeast to Manaus...now that would be great comedy. "Busloads of Americans stranded after bus breaks down on dirt road in Para", with accompanying shots of AO members in flag bandanas crying by the side of the road.

Plane is the only way, unless you want to fly to Belem and spend five days on a boat.

 

I think somewhere Todd Hoffman says it can easily be done... (Gold rush joke)

 

Even if you plug in the route on Google maps it says it takes 70 hours to drive from Natal to Manaus. Ignoring the facts on the ground that the road doesn't always exist and ferry crossings are irregular, the trip would theoretically be spending six days on the bus. Including all three days available in between the game in Manaus and Recife.

 

They will be flying from Natal to Manaus, they were pretty clear on that and even imposing additional fee to pay for it. Didn't want us to get too far off on the bus trip from hell tangient, but i agree the imagery is fairly fun to play out.

 

We all knew they'd be flying, because there's no other option.

 

That sounds like the AO trip I was on to the Jamaica qualifier last year. We were heading back through the mountains from Kingston to MoBay and some of the locals put rocks and other crap in the road that blew out some of the tires on the bus (hoping to rob us , I guess)

The bus hobbled in to a town where we waited for hours in the middle of the night to change the tire. Here are some crappy pictures from the breakdown.

They were actually propping the bus up on driftwood to change the tire because there was no jack.

On the way to the match - all good



after sabotage - not so much

 

AO offering some 1 week, land-only package. http://www.theamericanoutlaws.com/uncategorized/land-only-package-world-cup

You guys know i'm a big AO fan, but this seems weird.
- 6 nights in Natal hotel....but Natal is relatively easy to find hotels in. If this was Recife/Manaus then maybe I understand.
- $1,700 - $283 per person per night. and you have to room with someone paying the same amount as well.
- Transport to Natal or Recife game....ok, some benefit there.

ok,... this one isn't for me but sending to others if they want.

 

$600 a night is a steal!

 

same as for the air and 2-week ground packages, the numbers don't work out for me, as much as I know it would be fun to hang out with my fellow Outlaws. I can get a room myself and still hang out, I'm just missing the bus ride to Recife. The shared room was a show stopper for me too.

 

Sounds like they didnt end up charging the people for the Manaus leg. Not sure the details. And not sure why i care....but i guess i do.

 

Probably because it makes them seem either more competent, less greedy or that it's one of the few things about the package that actually make you feel good about AO.

 

Does anyone know of any US fans chartering buses from Natal to Recife on 6/25?

 

Just from reading twitter sounds like the AO trip has been close to a complete disaster.

 

Not on twitter. What are the problems?
Heard the Hotel Monaco in Manaus was a dump.

 

some folks have been stranded for 40 hours according to some twitter reports.

https://twitter.com/search?q=American Outlaws trip&src=typd

 

Flight out of Houston failed, bumped 14 people into some weird odyssey sending then thru Trinidad and Guyana almost missing the Ghana game.

Then some plane in Manaus failed and half the group spent two days I the airport or whatever.



...and everyone's hotel in Manaus was a dump.