We woke up early this morning so that we could have breakfast and then view Rio de Janeiro as we arrived this morning. The ship arrived in port at approximately 9:30 AM. While it was fairly windy on the open deck, the view of Rio was quite spectacular as we started our approach to this port of call. This is the first time that Anne Marie has been to this port of call and the second time that Keith has visited here as he was here several years ago on business.
When we docked a the cruise ship terminal there were several other cruise ships in port. This included The World which is the cruise ship where which is essentially has condominium ownership, The Seabourn Pride, The Celebrity Summit, The Holland Princendam (sp), a Costa ship and one other ship whose cruise line we were not familiar with.
Unfortunately, our tour excursion was canceled due to the fact that the tour could not meet all of Crystal Cruises security standards. We believe this is because the tour involved a visit to Favelas where there were concerns about providing sufficient security in this area. There were no other tours that we were interested in replacing this one with.
After arriving in port, we went to the Fitness Center to work out and then took care of some errands on the ship. We then had lunch in the main dining room. After lunch, we departed the ship and we took a complimentary shuttle provided by Crystal Cruises, which dropped us off downtown at the Sofitel Copacabana Hotel. The Hotel is directly across the street from a very nice beach area and there is quite a bit of shopping right nearby. We were warned several times to be very careful given the high crime rate in Rio.
On our way to the Hotel we drove by the stadium and grandstands, which will be utilized for Carnaval and we also passed by several floats. The streets are busy. The Carnaval related activities began last evening and this evening and tomorrow evening are the major events.
When we arrived back to the cruise ship terminal we walked over to the Seabourn Pride. We have sailed on this ship twice; most recently this past Fall from Copenhagen, Denmark over to London, England. We saw a person outside from the Seabourn Crew who we recognized and who also remember us. This ship is one of the smallest cruise ships and only carries 200 passengers. We were glad that we were able to stop by to see the ship since it was getting ready to leave shortly after we stopped by.
This evening several passengers will be attending Carnaval. We decided to pass on this and we look forward to hearing all about it from them sometime tomorrow. As we understand they will arrive to the Carnaval at around 8:00 PM and can stay anywhere’s from around three-to-seven hours. We decided to pass on this for several reasons including the cost (almost $700.00 per person), the large crowds and other factors related to the crowds. However, if we had decided to go we would have done this through Crystal as they provide transportation both ways and added security. While there can be problems in any city around the world, there are some added security issues in this city due to its history of crime and the fact that there is heightened crime given all of the tourists that are in town for the Carnaval.
In addition to the seven cruise ships; all Hotels in Rio have been fully booked for over six months.
This evening we went to the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant by ourselves to enjoy a quiet dinner and to celebrate Valentine’s Day since on the actual holiday we went to the Tango Show instead of enjoying a quiet dinner by ourselves. We had a wonderful time as we always do with wonderful food, great ambiance along with the wonderful service which is provided throughout the meal.
Tomorrow we will be in Rio until late tomorrow afternoon when it is time for the ship to leave port.
Keith & Anne Marie
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