Recife, Brazil March 7

For a change we arrived on time at a port!  In fact we were a little early and were asked by the pilot to hold station as they were maneuvering a large Costa cruise ship into position in the port.  There were actually two large Costa ships with about 3000 passengers each already in the port when we arrived.  Later in the afternoon our tour guide told us that the local tv station had done a live broadcast from the area saying that with the three cruise ships in port it added about 9000 people to the area for the day.  The tour guide also informed us that our "little" ship had used 7 buses for morning tours and 5 buses for afternoon tours while just one of the Costa ships had used 37 buses for morning tours!

Sailing into the port of Recife 

Just after we docked we looked from our balcony and could see one of the huge Costa ships just behind us















Our afternoon tour was a cruise on a catamaran around the islands that make up the city and then a stop at a former prison that has been turned into a craft market with the shops inside the cells. We had an excellent tour guide who had lived in San Diego, California while his father was getting his PHD at UCSD.  His English was excellent and he was very enthusiastic.

Our group of passengers were in three of these catamarans

It was high tide and we could not believe our boat was going under this bridge! 

We had to duck, but we made it!


















It was a very vibrant city with a mix of modern buildings and preserved colonial buildings.

Some of the buildings still reflect the Dutch influence

Inside the old prison

At Sea March 5 & 6

We had two days at sea off the coast of Brazil.  The weather has been warm and sunny with fairly high humidity.  We have seen quite a few oil and gas platforms just a bit farther out from shore than where we are cruising.

Noel has managed to catch a cold again so at least she has two days to rest and try to recover.  Sea days always mean, lectures, games, reading and napping!

The second sea day we went back to code red level two with three passengers down with the GI issue. They have not told us but we assume that they probably were new passengers that boarded in Rio.  A lot of passengers do pre cruise stays in the cities where there are scheduled to board and seem to pick up the illness before they get on the ship. We hope that we do not go back to level two conditions.

Our next port is Recife, Brazil.  It is the fourth largest city in Brazil and will be a new port for us so we are really looking forward to this stop.

Rio De Janeiro March 4

This was a change over day for the start of a new segment and we exchanged about 400 passengers.  One thing I meant to mention in an earlier post was about the group of 41 Indonesian guests that were on the last segment.  They really like their alcohol.  They drank the ship out of Dom Perignon champagne, 48 bottles worth, plus at least 2 bottles of Johnny Walker Blue and a bottle of $4000 wine. There may have been more!

We decided to stay on board today and just shop in the terminal.  Tom did not have the patience to sit on a bus in traffic again today and the only tour that was offered was to Sugar Loaf and Copacobana Beach and we had already done both of these tours.

There were two other large cruise ships in port so the terminal was very chaotic. We were supposed to have a "Sail Away" party at 6 pm, but during the lifeboat drill it was announced that we were waiting for some parts and would not sail until 9 pm.  We could not remember having a sail away party since we left Miami.

The next two days will be sea days.

Every day in Rio there were huge flocks of Frigate Birds circling overhead

The city of Rio as we sailed away

The new art museum near the cruise terminal

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil March 3

We arrived in Rio a bit ahead of schedule but it was cloudy and not near as spectacular as the last time we were here.  The port area has been cleaned up a bit and there is a new art museum near our dock.  The Olympics will be here in August but it appears that they are behind schedule with building the light rail system.

 We could barely see the beaches or the tops of the mountains

"Christ the Redeemer" statue 














We took what was supposed to be an afternoon three hour bus tour around the city but the traffic was so bad that it ended up being over four hours. It was very overcast and humid and since the bus windows were very darkly tinted I could not really get great pictures.  We did not arrive back on the ship until after 6 pm and we had a 6:30 dinner reservation.  It was the quickest shower and dress since we have been on board, Tom did not even have time for a cocktail!

Ornate opera house

The lagoon where the Olympic rowing events will be held 

 Copacabana Beach

Ipanema Beach

We had a better view of the statue from our suite!

Santos, Brazil March 2

Still in Santos, day 4.  They worked on the generator all night and we hope to sail later today.  Breakfast and lunch are a bit of a challenge for those that want to eat in La Veranda as the port side will be closed as long as the temporary generator is on the deck above.  They have jammed as many tables as possible in the restaurant  and it is very crowded, difficult to maneuver around especially when the staff is trying to clear tables and people are going back and forth to the buffet. We have been eating breakfast in Compass Rose when we do not have to rush to be ready for a tour.

Sign in front of port side La Veranda 

I took a quick peek inside and found large steel supports going up through the ceiling












Finally!  the generator was tested about noon time and we sailed for Rio about 4 pm.  


                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Santos, Brazil March 1

Still in Santos, our third day on our floating hotel tied to the dock.  We were told that they located a generator in Rio and is being sent to us by truck and will take about 8 to 10 hours to install.

The generator arrived about 1 pm. The crane to lift it arrived shortly there after and a lot of the passengers gathered on deck twelve to watch them unload the generator from the truck.  The generator is obviously not new, so we all have our fingers crossed that it works. No much happened for quite a while, mostly a bunch of workers standing around and a few officials coming and going.

Arrival of the generator provided a bit of excitement for everyone. 

The crane arrived shortly after the generator













After they set the generator on the dock nothing happened for a long time.  We even noticed that the crane operator was asleep in the cab.  By 5 pm no one was out on the dock, not sure where they all went , perhaps dinner?  Then about 6:15 they were all back and started the hoist to the deck. It did not take very long.

Halfway up to the deck 

Crew ready to guide it into position

We were surprised to see that they only had one guide rope attached 

Almost in position















There was a special dinner for the "Grand Voyage" passengers (anyone doing two or more segments).  They decorated one side of La Veranda Restaurant with a Brazilian theme and served a meal typical of the ones in Brazilian steak houses.  It was a very nice dinner and the captain did come around and visit all the tables and spent quite a bit of time talking and posing for pictures with the guests.  It does look like we will be in Santos for at least one more day and then we will sail directly for Rio in order to get back on schedule.

The wait staff dressed as gauchos 

Hard working restaurant staff

Tables were nicely decorated 

Santos, Brazil February 29

Another day in the port of Santos.  There were a couple of tours available but only about 50 passengers went on those as they were the same ones offered on the first day here.  It is a fairly nice resort city but there are only a few things to see.  The beach is very nice but it is raining today so don't think anyone wanted to do that.  The captain announced that they were unable to repair the current emergency generator and were trying to locate a replacement which would be installed on deck 12, port side aft.  No other news