roothy123 Posted January 4, 2011 #1 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I was wondering if anyone is currently on this cruise (or back home) and could help me with some dock/port/excursion information. Ports include Porto Belo, Parati, Rio, Santos, Buenos Aires, Ihle Grande, Rio Grande, and Montevideo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetiredFL Posted January 8, 2011 #2 Share Posted January 8, 2011 I finally have time to advise on these ports. We were on the holiday sailing from Rio to BA so our experience may be slightly different than at other times. First, take the warnings about pickpocket, etc seriously. While 99.9% of the Brazilians, Argentinians, and Uruguayans are honest, hard working people we did encounter several potential pickpockets. Leave the good jewelry home and only carry what you need in port. We used a little coin purse with one credit card and a few dollars and kept in deep in our front pocket. The wallet was left in the safe. Before you go get some $1 and $5 bills as most places accept American money but have trouble making change. (Don't get a lot of reales, you really don't need them) Lastly have good slip resistant walking shoes. In all ports the sidewalks, streets, are in poor repair or are not paved. Watch where you are walking even if it is tempting to look at the displays. Rio de Janeiro - We did a private tour and liked the city very much. Traffic is a mess. Roads very bumpy. We especially enjoyed Santa Teresa tram ride and the Selaron steps. Buzios- small coastal resort. Mainly surf shops, jewelery shops, t-shirt shops and restaurants. Most stores open late, 10 or 11, so go later rather than early. Be sure to visit Brigitte. Ihla Grande - Not much of a town, mostly a nature preserve but worth a quick walk around. Parati-well maintained colonial town. Lots of craft shops and pretty streets. Worst walking on cobblestones of the trip. Be very careful. Santos- We were there x-mass day and everything was closed so we did not get off the ship. Porto Belo - not much there, mostly a few souvenir shops. The dock to town is a $10 round trip bus ride, payable in US$ or reales. Mostly a town to service local residents and Brazilian visitors. Rio Grande - Small, industrial town. A $15 taxi ride to town(up to 4 people) and then there are two small churches and a small pedestrian area with local shops. For all of the above small towns we mainly went into port to get off the ship and have something to do. Most also had inexpensive Internet Cafes. Buzios and Parati were the only two ports really worth seeing. However the natural scenery was amazing. Beautiful mountains and islands. Well worth the tender ride just to see them. Punta del Este - a highlight of the trip. Very upscale resort town. We did the ship's Highlights tour but the main shopping street is walkable from the ship. If you do the tour there is a 45min shopping stop at the "hand". Most of us chose to quit the tour and walk back to the ship along the main shopping street. Was about 10 blocks and I would recommend doing that. Visit to modern art museum very nice. Montevideo- What can I say, we wanted to love the place but there is not a lot to love. Ship's tour mostly drives you through residential areas as they have to use up time. Legislative Palace is mildly interesting but almost of comic opera proportions for such a small country. There is a "craft market" near the dock with restaurants but that is where most of the potential pick-pocketing occurred. It was New Year's eve and locals were partying so I am sure it was worse than usual. Buenos Aires - We did the ships 1/2 day tour to the Tigre delta and found it very enjoyable. We then did a private one day tour of BA before heading to the airport. Was surprised we could go into the Casa Rosada and stand on Evita's balcony. San Telmo area interesting and we especially enjoyed La Boca for lunch and shopping. Evita grave a must although not that interesting. In summary we enjoyed the cruise but most of the ports between Rio and Punta del Este we mostly for a place to stop and, for some, an excuse to go to a local beach. Figure and hour or an hour and a half in each port to walk around and unless you shop until you drop that should be enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudiaF Posted January 9, 2011 #3 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Buenos Aires, definetly take a great city tour and go with De Frantur , see everything EVITA!!! The cemetary is insane..and a must see.. If you are staying in advance or after ( best shopping street of course is Florida Street and all the great side streets off it, for amazing leather good)... We had custom leather jackets ( and I also had a skirt made to match, my jacket was soft kidd leather with fox cuffs crazy beautiful in off white all made and delivered to our hotel in about 4 hours...before the ship left port.. ;-) Definetly find TANGO show!! ask at the hotel http://www.defrantur.com/ingles/citytour.asp basically all the other ports are small and some have not much to see.. Montevideo find a tour.. Rio of course see the city.. hopefully you will stay to enjoy..we spent the Samba cruise at Carnavel time so we had a blast. all the jewelrey stores have reps either on board the ship or at the ports ( BA and RIO) who will offer you free city tours..take advantage of that..no need to pay for one.. google H. Stern in Rio/ jewelry stores , free tours .. also if you want to see Samba shows or you must do a private tour try our great friend in Rio for tours Peter ( Pedro) and tell him Claudia & Ron say HAPPY NEW YEAR!! pnovak@privatetours.com.br have a wonderful cruise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roothy123 Posted January 9, 2011 Author #4 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Thanks to both of you for the very helpful info and links!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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