Maasdam - Rio, Carnaval, the Amazon and more

It is deck 7 which is the lower level.

Thanks for taking the time to read and answer my question.

Day 2 in Rio proved to be a good one despite limited sleep by our group, as many had gone to Carnaval the night before. We went to Sugar Loaf first off and the weather was better than the day before. Not crystal clear but certainly better than yesterday. Lots of pictures including a group of small monkeys. After about one hour we came back down, loaded on the bus and headed to the beaches. I wish I could remember the name of the first beach we visited. We watched hang gliders come down from very high up on a mountain and land right in front us, pretty cool. The group enjoyed some beer, coconut water and many ate acai, made from a local fruit. I was chicken with the acai as I want to avoid any gastro problems. Than it was off to two more beaches including Copacabana where we walked and shopped. After that it was back to the ship and a 4:15 muster. I think the group was pleased with our guide Estella. She was very knowledgeable and despite actually performing in the first school Sambradome parade the night before still brought lots of energy to the tour. She even demonstrated playing a small drum she called a tambourine.

No luck on changing rooms and our plans to sleep in were interrupted at 6:00 by, you guessed it, the thrusters as the ship maneuvered off the sleepy town of Armacao dos Buzios. It took a while to get the tenders going as the captain and crew had to fight the wind, waves and current but we got to shore around 10:00. Armacao dos Buzious is a little port town best known for its beaches. Originally we were going to take a catamaran tour but changed that to just walking around a bit. There are only a few streets parallel to the beaches but there were some fun sights like a statue of Brigette Bardot who put the town on the map in the 60's. Most folks head off to the beaches for fun in the sun, wind surfing or surfing. We just window shopped and as lunch approached stop for a beer. We sat next to a very nice English couple and chatted with them for a hour. They were doing a thirty day land tour of Brazil. The last tender left a 1:30 so we than tried out our Greenhouse passes spending time on the heated recliners and in the hot top, nice! Tonight is back to the Pinnacle, yum.

An update on the room, DW visited the front desk and proving that honey attracts more flies than vinegar got us a room change. It's down one deck and about ten rooms from the front. We appreciate HAL's willingness to do this as we do like our sleep.

Thanks for the update. Hope your new cabin is quieter!

Sea day, great time to relax but we seemed to be doing something all day. After breakfast we had our Cruise Critic meet and greet. Linda did a great job and we had a lot of people including the Cruise Director Jeremy. I must say Jeremy brings a lot of energy and is a great Cruise Director! After that it was a quick lunch as we had the ever important team trivia at 1:00. We had formed a team the day before. Understand this was a cumulative event over the entire cruise, very intense!!! Than it was off to a great talk about the rainforest. This was part of HAL's enrichment series and the speaker Jay Chrisofferson did a great job. It's always amazing to hear about things like this on a cruise. Jay showed how interdependent creatures are in the Amazon. We intended to go to afternoon tea but to be honest, we just wanted to relax at this point so we did. Needless to say we still were back on duty for happy hour in the Ocean Bar, one of our favorite haunts.

This was our first formal night so that took some energy as well. Food was good but not as special as I would like on formal night. We are in open seating and continue to meet new people in the main dining room. Some of our table mates had great stories about their adventures.

I forgot to mention that the night before we went and watched the five man ukulele band, they were actually quite good and I think the crowd enjoyed them. Tonight we choose to skip the HAL singer presentation of Unforgettable. Instead I made a contribution at the casino.

Thank you for your reports.

Glad you have some fresh entertainment, especially for the people continuing from Ft. Lauderdale. Is Junior still there with the steel drum?

Roy

Salvador da Bahia or "Holy Savior of All Saints Bay" is one of the oldest cities in Brazil as well as the third most populous. The vast majority of the population is African as the city housed a huge slave market for over 400 years. Most people think of Rio when the word Carnaval comes up but Salvador has a seven day version (which just ended before our arrival) which has almost two million people attend. In fact according to Guinness it is the largest street party on the planet.

Our plan for today was simply walking from the ship to the nearby Mercado or market, doing some casual window shopping and than riding the Elevator Lacerda which whisks you up to the upper level of the city for a mere .15 Reals. From there it is a short walk to Pelourinho, a Unesco heritage site consisting of colorful colonial building and churches. We spent several hours wondering the compact area dodging light rain. The area still had all the elaborate decorations from Carnaval so it was quite a sight. We felt quite safe as well as there was a noticeable police presence.

We made our way back to the ship for lunch and than enjoyed our Greenhouse Retreat passes for a while. For dinner we had signed up for the Bahian Folkoric Show and Brazilian Dinner. We were bused to Pelourinho for the dinner, a buffet that was tasty. Than after dinner there was a Forro - a presentation of Bahian music that captures the local Afro-Brazilian culture. The dancers were fantastic. At the finished they dragged several of us (including yours truly) up on stage to close out the show. I think my moves demonstrated that I in fact have no rhythm. By the time we returned to the ship it was 11:00 and time for bed.

Tomorrow is a sea day, time for some relaxing!

Glad you have some fresh entertainment, especially for the people continuing from Ft. Lauderdale. Is Junior still there with the steel drum?

 

Roy

Hi Roy,

Not sure about Junior, we have not seen any steel drum playing but I will keep my eyes open and report back.

He's usually by the lido pool at lunchtime

Terry

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He's usually by the lido pool at lunchtime

Terry

 

 

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Yes, I see he is giving drum lessons today, I may have to check that out.

Thank you for your Live From!

Would you please advise if the Maasdam still has the regular by-the-minute internet package or do they offer the unlimited package?

Thanks, again!

Thank you for your Live From!

 

Would you please advise if the Maasdam still has the regular by-the-minute internet package or do they offer the unlimited package?

 

Thanks, again!

No unlimited, you can pay by the minute or buy packages of minutes like 250, 500 or 1,000.

No unlimited, you can pay by the minute or buy packages of minutes like 250, 500 or 1,000.

Thank you!

Sea days and more sea days......

So we were scheduled to have two sea days followed by the port of Fortaleza but Mother Nature had other ideas. We had the two sea days but strong ground swells prevented us from docking in Fortaleza. I think everyone took it in stride as it was raining as well. Some said they would have liked touching terra firma after two days of rocking. Either way we are ending up with six straight sea days on our journey to the Amazon. I told DW it's like a transatlantic in the middle of Rio and the Amazon!

So for what now is the last three sea days HAL has done a great job keeping us busy. They have had two fantastic speakers talking about birds, sea creatures, the Amazon, global warming and the Panama Canal. Throw in morning walks around the promenade, team trivia, cooking shows, trips to the Greenhouse Retreat, meals and happy hour and you have a full day.

I also have to give Canaletto props. We went there and I asked if they could pair a whole wheat pasta with the veal piccata. They said they would check. Not sure where they found some (probably the crew mess) but it was very good.

Hi Kirk was enjoying you posts as we are on this cruise next year. Hope all is well with you. Will you be posting for the rest of the cruise.

John

We were on the Maasdam and got off in Rio after 24 days. I plan on writing a review of the cruise and the ship but I will say that this was my first and probably my only trip to Brazil. It is really sad how much poverty there is.

Hope you had a good time on the rest of your cruise and smooth sailing coming home.

KirkNC The same happened to us in 2015 49 day cruise. The Captain tried six time to dock and couldn't. so more sea days. We had a family emergency and we were getting off to catch a plane.and I have to say the entire crew of the Maasdam and many cruise mates were very helpful. We were finally able to get off the ship in Manus fly all the way back to San Paulo. 4 hrs fight and then take a fight over 10 hours to Dalls then to Calgary. Thank god for travel insurance I was very surprised the insurance company , Holland America and our travel agent were very helpful and we received way more then we expected.

KirkNC The same happened to us in 2015

This (bumped up) thread is about a 2015 cruise. The same one?

This (bumped up) thread is about a 2015 cruise. The same one?

Not sure Ruth, my original thread was from Feb 2015.

We were on the Maasdam and got off in Rio after 24 days. I plan on writing a review of the cruise and the ship but I will say that this was my first and probably my only trip to Brazil. It is really sad how much poverty there is.

 

Hope you had a good time on the rest of your cruise and smooth sailing coming home.

It is a very different experience than most cruises we have been on. Having said that, we enjoyed it and would do it again. There is certainly poverty, especially the slums in Rio. To us that's part of the cruise experience to see how others live as well as their culture.

Sea days and more sea days......

 

So we were scheduled to have two sea days followed by the port of Fortaleza but Mother Nature had other ideas. We had the two sea days but strong ground swells prevented us from docking in Fortaleza. I think everyone took it in stride as it was raining as well. Some said they would have liked touching terra firma after two days of rocking. Either way we are ending up with six straight sea days on our journey to the Amazon. I told DW it's like a transatlantic in the middle of Rio and the Amazon!

 

So for what now is the last three sea days HAL has done a great job keeping us busy. They have had two fantastic speakers talking about birds, sea creatures, the Amazon, global warming and the Panama Canal. Throw in morning walks around the promenade, team trivia, cooking shows, trips to the Greenhouse Retreat, meals and happy hour and you have a full day.

 

I also have to give Canaletto props. We went there and I asked if they could pair a whole wheat pasta with the veal piccata. They said they would check. Not sure where they found some (probably the crew mess) but it was very good.

As I am going on this cruise in February 2017, I was eagerly following your wonderful narrative of the trip when the thread seems to have suddenly ceased. Did you continue this exciting narration of the trip, and if so can you link me to it. If you prefer, you could contact me at kochtravel at comcast dot net. Thanks for your eloquent review.

We did this cruise on the Maasdam in Jan 2016 and loved it. This one has been on our bucket list for longer then we've been cruising so to finally do it & see it was the trip of a life time. Carnival is something very hard to describe it's something you have to experience, the floats, the noise. The other favorite port was Manus. I'm sorry we didn't stop Macapa a city on the equator. We also enjoyed Devils Island.

Allan

Yes -I could not find the rest of the review-will be on the 48 days on the Veendam.

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Sorry, we got busy once we went up the river and I fell so far behind I never tried to catch up.

I am happy to answer any questions. It's a great trip, very unique.