Everything was so organized from checking in to getting to our room to getting meals.
We were cruising up the coast to Rio on the first full day, which gave us time to get to know the ship. From our first meal on board, lunch on Monday at the 24 hour buffet, we didn't go hungry the rest of the trip.
There were minimal decorations for Christmas, but very nicely done. Santa and his sleigh hung above the central hall. It was a fine view from up on the seventh floor where our stateroom was located.
This is considered a smaller ship, but had over two thousand people on board. Each evening the Centrum, or main lobby area, had a special show after the first dinner hour. There were glass panoramic elevators that came down each side of the grand staircase. On Christmas eve we sang Christmas carols both in English and Portuguese.
Most folks spent their day times at the outdoor pools and jacuzzis at the front of the ship. What a crowded and hot place that was! There was always lots of activities and plenty of noise going on up there.
We enjoyed the indoor, salt water solarium pool, which had kid restrictions. It was also air-conditioned and just nice for relaxing and reading.
Evening meals were in the King and I dining room. It was a beautiful place with a Thai theme, and a grand piano in the middle of the room that was played while we ate. Meals each night there were incredible, from prime rib to filet to shrimp with lobster. We had our own waiters, Miraflor from the Philippines and Jose from Chile. Everyone wanted to speak English with us!
There were lounges and other rooms with different themes throughout the ship. We liked the art deco Top Hat lounge for a quiet place with a Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers theme. I couldn't get a good shot of the walls in the halls leading in, but one had tiles with Fred spinning along as you walked through and the other had tiles with Ginger doing the same as you walked by. And the one day they even showed the movie Top Hat - kind of silly but fun.
Each evening after our early dinner hour - 7:30 - we went over to the huge 42nd Street theatre for the show. They switched off with one night the show with the English speaking cast and the next night another show with the Brazilian cast.
The Christmas eve show was all English and all Christmas! Nice!
There were two formal dinner nights on board. One was the Captain's night and the other was Christmas eve. I wasn't excited about the dressing up, but in the end it was cool.
We enjoyed our stateroom and veranda. The neat deal when we bought our tickets was that getting a room like this, we got the price of pay for one person and the second goes free.
Our room was on the second to top deck and being near the center of the ship, convenient to everything.
Going into land was an interesting experience when we got to Buzios.
You go down to water level and take a "Tender" in. We were advised not to get the first boats as lines would be long with everyone wanting to go, but to hang around on board and go later. That worked really well for us at both ports. The tenders took off directly below our cabin.
Buzios was very senic, but super hot! We wandered along the beach walk for a while (since I wanted to see the Bridget Bardot statue) and then we looked in some shops, but only stayed a couple hours before heading back to the ship.
That worked out great and we learned that the quietest times on board were when we were in port since everyone was taking tours or laying out on beaches, making pools and restaurants on board almost empty!
Christmas eve day we were at sea all day and night. I looked for whales, but didn't see one during that time. We had fun exchanging some small gifts we'd bought for each other on Christmas morning. Then after breakfast we went in to Ilhabela to wander around. We figured everything would be closed being Christmas, but with two cruise ships in port it was quite the opposite so we wandered beaches and around town. Another senic place!
Again it was really hot on this island, so we headed back to the ship and its pools and great food.
We didn't get up early enough to see any sunrises, but the sunsets were beautiful each day. And suddenly it was our last day of cruising. But what a great experience!
Again it was really hot on this island, so we headed back to the ship and its pools and great food.
We didn't get up early enough to see any sunrises, but the sunsets were beautiful each day. And suddenly it was our last day of cruising. But what a great experience!
Maybe, if we can find another price like this one, we'll go again. There's one going down to Buenos Aires around my birthday!
Speaking of birthdays, it's Aaron's today! Happy Birthday, Son! We're proud of you and love you.
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