Trip Report-Oceania's Samba Rhythms

[aneka]

On Dec 9th, 2007 we boarded Insignia for the Samba Rhythms cruise from Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires. Here are my thoughts on this cruise.

 

1. RIO-we started in Rio and used Renata Hein as a guide for the two of us. She is excellent, prompt, knowledgeable and speaks perfect english. She was a delight to spend time with. Rio is a beautiful city and we enjoyed it very much. We toured with her on our own. Others from our cruise used Pedro Novak for a pickup from the airport. He arrived with a dirty car which kept stalling out. They canceled their tours with him and their transfer to the ship with him. He is bragged about on CC, but they were not sure why.

 

2. Sao Paulo-we used Claudio Saalfeld and he was an acceptable guide and a nice man. However, it takes about 1.5 hr. to get to Sao Paulo and back. It is a huge city, and not enough to see in the timeframe available. Traffic is horrible and it made the tour long and boring. We would not bother with it again. We would explore Santos in more depth. There is a nice looking beach in Santos.

 

3. Uruguay-Discover Uruguay did a very nice job with our two tours of Punta del Este and Montevideo. We had Raquel as a guide and she is an intelligent young woman who impressed the 10 of us on this tour. In Punta we went to Casa Pueblo the home of artist Carlos Paez Vilaro. It was a beautiful spot overlooking the ocean. We enjoyed her tours.

 

4. Iguazu Falls- We went with another couple on our own when we arrived in Buenos Aires. We booked flights and the Sheraton through Expedia about 6 weeks ahead of time. We used Oliver Daizi as our guide. He was great and we had a great time with him. Iguazu Falls was the highlight of the whole trip. It is an amazing spot and the waterfalls are gorgeous. They just go on and on forever. We also did the Zodiac boat trip which was great fun, but be prepared you will get drenched totally! Because we had the Brazilian Visa already we went to see both sides of the falls and I'm really glad we did. The views are very different from each side. The Sheraton is right in the park and you could easily do the Argentine side on your own from the hotel. The trails lead right down from the hotel. A site not to be missed. Do it on your own, people from O were complaining about the O trip. It's price and the time at the falls and the time they got back to the ship seemed to at issue. We had a great time on our own and would go back if we get the chance.

 

5. Buenos Aires-We had reservations for pickups to the domestic airport, to the hotel from the ship, for a tour and a tango show and transfer to the international airport to go home with Carlos from Private Tours, Argentina. They did not show up for the transfer to the domestic airport and we ended up taking a taxi from the port, which cost us $15. Private tours was going to charge us $40. Then we called them when they also failed to show up for the ship to hotel transfer and they said we did not show up for the domestic airport transfer so they canceled all our other tours. We told them we were there waiting for them for half and hour before we took a taxi but Carlos (private tours) insisted there we there and we were not. All their services were overpriced and we were able to do everything we had planned to do with them on our own with the help of the Marriott, BA concierge (who was great). The Marriott has a great location and their staff was very helpful. We would stay there again. Don't use Private Tours Argentina. Carlos lied to us and would have overcharged us by about double.

 

6. Other stops: We did not use a guide for Buzios, Ihla Grande, Porto Bello, Santos. We just wandered around on our own. Others who did a tour of Porto Bello did enjoy the cable car ride.

 

Overall, it was a great trip. We enjoyed the cities of Rio and Buenos Aires. Iguazu Falls is magnificent. Food and accommodations on O were great as usual. We did not think the entertainment was too good on this ship. It was better on Nautica. We also play trivia for Big "O" points. When it was time to cash in our points the selection of "O" merchandise was extremely limited and the clerk in the ship's store was very rude and disinterested in helping us in any way. We did complain to David the cruise director, but we were in port in BA and the stores had to be closed.

 

We had great weather and it was nice to miss out on some of our winter. ( We live in Wisconsin!) We were in cabin 6093 and enjoyed the larger balcony, but the cabin gets more noise and vibration being in the back of the ship. I am also sensitive to motion and noticed slightly more than on our last cruise when we were in the middle of the ship.

 

If anyone would information on any of our guides please email me at aneka0925@aol.com.

[hrprof]

Re the complaints about the O Iguacu excursion, was the arrival back at the ship too early or too late? How much time at the Falls?

[aneka]

We did the Iguazu Falls excursion independently. From what we heard the flight going to the falls was delayed and the O people did not leave BA until late afternoon. The return to the ship was scheduled very late and the individuals did not return to the ship until 9-930 PM. In fact O kept the buffet dinner lines open late on the ninth deck to accomodate these individuals. Disembarkation was the next morning at 800 AM. Some people also were complaining that they did not receive Falls view rooms. I did not think this was that important. Once it is evening and dark you can not see the falls anyway. You can see the falls from the lobby, the bar, and the outside patio. We seemed to have a lot of complainers on this cruise. We heard a lot of negative comments on very petty things. I guess we are easy to please because we found the cruise to be very enjoyable!

[shoshona2]

Dear Aneka,

 

Enjoyed reading your review of your cruise. It brought back great memories from our cruise on another line four year ago.

 

We did the Falls independently also and had a "Falls View" room at the Sheraton. No big deal -- we looked, dropped our carryon bag and ran out to meet our guide. In the morning, we did the same thing -- looked at the Falls (or the steam coming off of them) and ran to meet our guide to take us to the other side in Brazil. We also took the zodiak ride -- even bought the video to show our grandchildren.

 

Interesting how negative people can be -- some people are never happy.

 

Sheila

[dwelsh]

I enjoyed your report on Samba Rhythms. Thank you for the time you took to make the report.

 

Did you, or was it required for you to have a Yellow Fever Inoculation before you went to Iguazu? Was`it very "buggy" there?

 

Your response would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[aneka]

Thank you for your nice comments. Our health dept in Wisconsin recommended the yellow fever shot. So we did get the shot. No one looked at the documentation as we entered Brazil or at Iguazu. We did not get one bug bite. We did not even see as much as one mosquito or bug of any type. It was quite warm and humid at the Falls, so maybe the bugs are there at other times of the year, but we did not have any pesty critters on our adventure.

[CruseKrazy]

Yes thanks for this Samba Rhythms cruise report Aneka.

 

Did the Rio/Brasilia/Bahia thing on land in the 70s and have been dreaming of going back ever since. Seriously considering a Rio carnival cruise in Feb 2009 on RCI return from Buenes Aires but also comparing O at the same time.

 

Insignia will not be in Rio at Carnival time (Feb 21 -24, 2009) but has a better itinerary - ony 1 sea day vs. 4 on RCI. Price for an outside cabin only $600 pp more on Insiginia vs. Radiance.

 

Not sure if O is worth the difference yet. Once we go O this Fall, do you think we will we ever want to come back to RCI to save $$? :confused:

[dwelsh]

No!!!!!!!!

[cafetao]

I wouldn't worry about a yellow fever shot for that part of Brasil. Northern Brasil near the amazon you would definitely need it but that far south it is almost never an issue. I lived in Brasil for two years, always north of Rio except for a trip to Iguasu, and never once encountered any yellow fever. Dengue fever, hepatitis and others were around but not yellow fever.

[hrprof]

All of that may be true, but I was told, in no uncertain terms, that I had to produce a current yellow fever certificate to obtain a Brazilian visa.

[dwelsh]

Hi! HRprof

 

Not too long till you leave is it?

 

We got our Brazilian visas with no problems through "O."

 

We have decided to get the shots anyway because we are going on from Rio and will be in Pernambuco province. I checked the D of H web site and found that Yellow fever was endemic from Iguasu northwards. Better safe than sorry!!

 

Hope your trip from Valparaiso is fantastic and that you are blessed with good weather.

 

David & Betty

[cafetao]

If it's required then by all means get the shot. I can only speak to my personal experience, which is pretty extensive. IMO the dept. of health report is a bit of an exageration, but do what makes you comfortable. If I wasn't required to get the shot to obtain a visa and was only going to Rio and parts south I would not get the shot. Yellow fever shots are not a fun experience. Besides there are far more dangerous things in Brasil than yellow fever.

 

Dwelsh if your going to Pernambuco I agree with the decision to get the shot, yellow fever is much more common in that region. But the beaches are absolutly spectacular, far better than Rio.

[hrprof]

Hi! HRprof

 

Not too long till you leave is it?

 

We got our Brazilian visas with no problems through "O."

 

We have decided to get the shots anyway because we are going on from Rio and will be in Pernambuco province. I checked the D of H web site and found that Yellow fever was endemic from Iguasu northwards. Better safe than sorry!!

 

Hope your trip from Valparaiso is fantastic and that you are blessed with good weather.

 

David & Betty

 

Yes, indeed, we head out on 2/9 and will leave Insignia on 3/10 in Rio. This is our first O cruise and are looking forward to it.

 

We have always used Zierer for visa services and in this case they required yellow fever certification for Brazil. We travel to Africa frequently so always keep our YF current. It can be tricky there - South Africa does not require YF, but does if you move from Kenya to SA.

 

Thanks for your entreaty for fair winds - we've rounded the Cape before, but never in a stern cabin!

 

Ted

[DGF]

How did you find the Sheraton Hotel in Iguazu?. Is now getting getting mixed reviews

 

We have also written you for info on your guides

 

Thanks