Crown Princess in Rio today

[satxdiver]

The Crown Princess was due to arrive in Rio at 8 AM today and allow pax to depart the ship at 8:30 AM. The ship arrived on time, came alongside the dock and secured the lines allowing pax to depart the ship at 8:30 AM according to plan. However the Brazilian authorities would not allow pax to depart until 11:10 AM, 2 hours and 40 minutes after the scheduled time to depart. We were told in the MDR last time that it took 6 hours!!! So a warning to all trying to visit Rio had better be aware of what the Brazilian Authorities are doing. We were told this is the usual procedure.

 

Warning: if you want to visit Rio expect a several hours delay in being allowed to depart the ship for your excursions. This IMO is unacceptable and Brazil needs to be eliminated from all future cruises!

[fishywood]

Already been eliminated. Only call in Rio for the 2017-18 season is on the 60 circle SA sailing. None on the round the horn sailings anymore.

 

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[fishywood]

Already been eliminated. Only call in Rio for the 2017-18 season is on the 60 circle SA sailing. None on the round the horn sailings anymore.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Nor on the repositioning cruises at the start and end of the season.

 

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[capriccio]

It's a shame that Princess won't be stopping any longer in Rio but it is understandable. Many US citizens don't want to spend the $160 to obtain a visa (even more if you go through a visa service) and it sounds like the Brazilian authorities are less than cooperative as a matter of course.

 

We were on the Crown Princess from LA to Rio from early December 2016 to early January. It was the Crown's first visit of the season to Rio plus Princess had reported cases of the flu (as required) to Brazilian officials in advance of disembarkation. The inspectors showed up late and the medical center had to contend with an unannounced public health inspection team that wanted to see the passengers with the most recent cases of the flu before anyone was allowed to disembark. (I happened to be waiting for the med unit to open and got the story about the late inspectors from Princess staff. Once I was inside the med unit, I saw the Brazilian health officials and the Princess passengers). We ended up disembarking about 1 hour late and then the process of getting through customs and immigration took more than another hour - much of the time spent out in the sun with the temperatures rising that day to 110! It did look like Rio was renovating or constructing a new terminal but I'm sure it was completed for this season. Rio was the only place we missed an excursion due to late disembarkation.

 

It is a shame since Rio is one of the scenic cities we have ever seen anywhere in the world and the Brazilians we met (we spent 2 more days in Rio) were lovely. It is also a great jumping off point for Iguazu Falls where we spent 2 more days. Of course you can access Iguazu via a flight from Buenos Aires but if you don't visit the Brazilian side (which needs a Brazilian visa) you miss, in our estimation, the most scenic views (which is saying alot since the views on the Argentine side are stunning :D).

[Colo Cruiser]

This has been an issue on the Crown for a while now.

[caribill]

We have had two Princess cruises that went to Brazil and these were several years ago, so the harassment of Princess and its passengers has been around for a while.

 

One was a cruise that embarked in Rio. Less than 20 minutes after leaving the dock the ship stopped and stayed in place while Brazilian authorities "completed necessary paper work." The captain said that Brazil had been doing that for a long time.

 

The other cruise entered Brazil waters when going up the Amazon River. We stayed anchored in the river for four hours while Brazil authorities made a Xerox copy of all of the 1200 passengers' passports. That delay (plus a few other events not caused by Brazil authorities) meant we did miss a port.

[satxdiver]

Therehas been a sign at both pools on the lido deck that all unoccupied loungers for15 minutes or more will have the towels removed and the crew has been enforcingit. I saw a fight between two women thatwere unhappy where one had removed the towels and sat down on the lounger whenthe other woman returned to “her” lounger.

TheCaptain’s Circle party was divided into two nights and I attended the firstnight. The announcement was that therewere 634 elite aboard and 92 who would be elite the next cruise. There were 921 platinum aboard as well. The first place couple had 1801 days aboard,second place went to a couple with 1432 days and third place to a couple with1098 days. The captain’s young daughterhelped with some of the ceremony and was introduced. His wife was aboard as well.

 

Wecrossed the equator at 1100 Saturday and there was quite a ceremony for firsttime sailing across the equator.