Brazil Stops in November.

[nookmell]

Hi, 

New forum user.

We are cruising to Brazil in November and stopping at Salvador, Ilheus and Ihla de Grande.

Anyone got any recommendations for all 3 at all?

The first two are just port stops and have read that a walk around will suffice, but I am specifically after any excursion, trips or stuff to do on Ihla de Grande. Don't want to pay the Cruise ship excursion price, so any knowledge would be great.

Thanks in advance

[clo]

We'll be stopping at Ilha Grande in December and haven't been there before, although we've spent tons of time in Rio.  This is a site I consider reputable:

https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/brazil/articles/15-reasons-why-you-should-visit-ilha-grande-on-your-trip-to-rio-de-janeiro/

 

Our plan for our trip is no excursions, just leave the ship, poke around, have lunch (with a caipirinha of course!), poke around some more and head back to the ship.  But we're not beach people 🙂  So YMMV.

[nookmell]

Hi,

Thanks for that.

We have read that Ilheus and Salvador are just a walk around, but was wondering if any boat tours or island trips are worth exploring at Ilha Grande, but obviously not via the Cruise company. Thanks for the link, but there are no links within the article to see what the trip prices/duration are. Thanks for the reply so promptly anyway.

Cheers

[Omega1]

We are on the MSC Fantasia in November sailing from Genoa with stops In Salvador, Ilheus and Isla Grande. We have pretty much decided to do a self guided walking tour in Salvador and Ilheus and done research/printed notes and maps etc. I have read that there are boat trips available on Isla Grande either to the better beaches or more for sightseeing. So that’s our very unstructured plan but we always have a great time. Are you having the Yellow Fever vaccination?

[clo]

5 hours ago, Omega1 said:

So that’s our very unstructured plan but we always have a great time.

That's how we travel also. I'm an info-junkie so the research pleases me 🙂  And no matter where in the world we've gone I've researched and found good food to eat.

[Lunenburg]

On 8/24/2019 at 10:44 AM, Omega1 said:

Are you having the Yellow Fever vaccination?

There is still a risk of yellow fever in Brazil and a number of countries require the vaccination if you have visited Brazil recently or even spent over 12 hours in an airport in Brazil.

 

https://www.vaxbeforetravel.com/visitors-brazil-should-consider-yellow-fever-vaccination-10-days-prior-arrival

https://www.who.int/ith/ITH_country_list.pdf?ua=1

[Omega1]

20 minutes ago, Lunenburg said:

There is still a risk of yellow fever in Brazil and a number of countries require the vaccination if you have visited Brazil recently or even spent over 12 hours in an airport in Brazil.

 

https://www.vaxbeforetravel.com/visitors-brazil-should-consider-yellow-fever-vaccination-10-days-prior-arrival

https://www.who.int/ith/ITH_country_list.pdf?ua=1

Thanks. We are receiving mixed messages from health professionals whether we should be vaccinated owing to age and other health considerations.

[Lunenburg]

Here in Uruguay, you can get a letter stating that you are exempt from the vaccine due to age or health but it is only good for a few months and you need to get one for each trip. Presumably that is available in the UK if you travel to one of the listed countries from Brazil.

There was someone who was denied entry to Costa Rica following a cruise to Rio as he did not have  a yellow fever certificate a year or so ago. 

Edited August 25, 2019 by Lunenburg

[nookmell]

On 8/24/2019 at 2:44 PM, Omega1 said:

We are on the MSC Fantasia in November sailing from Genoa with stops In Salvador, Ilheus and Isla Grande. We have pretty much decided to do a self guided walking tour in Salvador and Ilheus and done research/printed notes and maps etc. I have read that there are boat trips available on Isla Grande either to the better beaches or more for sightseeing. So that’s our very unstructured plan but we always have a great time. Are you having the Yellow Fever vaccination?

Yes, we are on this Cruise. We are having injections in September. We board at Barcelona. As stated we are just walking about Salvador and Iheus, but was after independent trips at Ilha De Grande as this looks the place to do an excursion. Do you know of any Grande websites so we could pre-book. We arrive at 08:00 till 16:00 at the Ihla, plenty of time to get an excursion in without paying on board inflated prices. Any websites or if anyone can recommend a days trip, that would be massively appreciated.

Cheers

Edited August 26, 2019 by nookmell
spelling

[Omega1]

10 minutes ago, nookmell said:

Yes, we are on this Cruise. We are having injections in September. We board at Barcelona. As stated we are just walking about Salvador and Iheus, but was after independent trips at Ilha De Grande as this looks the place to do an excursion. Do you know of any Grande websites so we could pre-book. We arrive at 08:00 till 16:00 at the Ihla, plenty of time to get an excursion in without paying on board inflated prices. Any websites or if anyone can recommend a days trip, that would be massively appreciated.

Cheers

As yet I haven’t found anything pre-bookable to commence on Ilha Grande, all the tours online seem to start and finish in Angra dos Reis on the mainland. I’ll keep looking and contact some operators to see if they can offer anything for a small group.

[nookmell]

Cheers for that. Please keep me in mind if you find anything, doubt we will be going back here, so need to make the most of seeing the island in the time we have there.

Thanks

[Omega1]

20 hours ago, nookmell said:

Cheers for that. Please keep me in mind if you find anything, doubt we will be going back here, so need to make the most of seeing the island in the time we have there.

Thanks

If I find anything, I’ll post it on the roll call for this cruise https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2619756-msc-fantasia-2-november-2019-genoa-to-rio-santos/

There’s only a few of us on the roll call - but high quality!!😂

 

[clo]

On 8/25/2019 at 1:26 PM, Omega1 said:

Thanks. We are receiving mixed messages from health professionals whether we should be vaccinated owing to age and other health considerations.

Age can be an issue.  Please check with your doctor or a travel medicine clinic.

[clo]

On 8/26/2019 at 3:26 AM, Omega1 said:

As yet I haven’t found anything pre-bookable to commence on Ilha Grande, all the tours online seem to start and finish in Angra dos Reis on the mainland. I’ll keep looking and contact some operators to see if they can offer anything for a small group.

Here's a site that I've found to be reputable:

 

https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/brazil/articles/10-things-to-know-before-visiting-ilha-grande/

 

We'll be there also, on a different ship/time.  Most of our Brazilian ports we'll just go ashore, poke around, have lunch (with caipirinhas!) and head back to the ship.  YMMV.  We used to have an apt. in Rio so we likely have a different MO.