Customs at the Port of Santos

We are cruising on the Splendour of the Seas out of Santos on February 16. We return a week later after stopping at four ports in Brazil. Do we need to go through customs upon our return to Santos? Will Royal Caribbean hold our passports for the duration of the cruise? We wonder how things will be handled. We will be in Brazil the entire time - from our arrival at Sao Paulo Guarulhos airport until our departure from GRU.

Hi, Linda, the answers are yes and yes. You may review the disembarkation process on my website (go to the link for Cruise Compasses, the last item is the two-page disembarkation guideline): https://sites.google.com/site/splendourbrazil/ Do note that non-Brazilian pax will not disembark until around 10 AM.

We loved that trip! I hope you do, too!

Oops, I may be in error as to both questions, as you said all of your ports are Brazilian! Hopefully, someone who's taken that itinerary can clue you in.

Returned yesterday from our Brazilian cruise on the Splendour of the Seas. Since we never left the country, we did not have to surrender our passports. We also did not have to go through customs at the port of Santos upon disembarkation. Everything was very easy. We had a wonderful time!

Linda,

Can you please tell me how you got on with the bus from the airport to Santos? Could you pay by credit card for the bus? Do you remember how much it was? We are flying in a week on Monday and want to take the bus to Santos. Is the bus stop near the Mercure hotel, or will we need to take a taxi there? Also did you stay in Santos? Any tips for there or the ports you visited. We will be in Buzios, Salvador and Fortaleza before heading to Tenerife. thanks in advance for your help.

Sorry, my brain is in overload, and I have just read your reply to my original question. Thank you. We will take the bus, as it sounds great. Any adbvice on the other bits and bobs welcome.

Linda,

 

Can you please tell me how you got on with the bus from the airport to Santos? Could you pay by credit card for the bus? Do you remember how much it was? We are flying in a week on Monday and want to take the bus to Santos. Is the bus stop near the Mercure hotel, or will we need to take a taxi there? Also did you stay in Santos? Any tips for there or the ports you visited. We will be in Buzios, Salvador and Fortaleza before heading to Tenerife. thanks in advance for your help.

The Cometa Bus from GRU to Santos was great. We found the ticket counter outside of Terminal 1. We did use a credit card - I think the price was around 22 reais per person. We were concerned about not having advance reservations, but it turned out to be no problem at all. The bus drops you off at the main bus station in Santos. There are plenty of taxis available to take you to the Mercure. (We stayed right next door at the Ibis.) The taxi drivers didn't speak English, but we showed them the address of the Ibis and they knew exactly where to go. We walked all around Santos, even though it rained the entire time we were there. We found shops, restaurants, a mall, and a grocery store. The beach was nice, too.

We really loved our stop in Buzios. It is a very cute beachside town with lots and lots of stores. We bought almost all of our Brazilian souvenirs there. Everything was within walking distance of the tender dock. We didn't have anything planned for Salvador, so we strolled 6 or 8 blocks to the marketplace near the pier. The actual downtown area looked modern and huge, and in hindsight I wish that we had taken a tour there. Didn't go to Fortaleza.

If you have any more questions, just ask! We had a great time!

We didn't have anything planned for Salvador, so we strolled 6 or 8 blocks to the marketplace near the pier. The actual downtown area looked modern and huge, and in hindsight I wish that we had taken a tour there.

If you walked to the Mercado Modelo from the cruise pier, you were nowhere near what is considered the downtown of Salvador, which is not very interesting anyway, so have no regrets on that count. You may have seen some of the Lower City buildings, unless you are describing some buildings the ship passed at a distance as it left the Bay of All Saints.

The main sights are in the Upper City historic district of Pelourinho, with its music, churches, museums, shops, distinctive Colonial architecture and restaurants/bars, reached by going up the Elevador Lacerda across from the Mercado Modelo. If you missed Pelourinho, you missed Salvador. (No guided tours needed though, and do watch out for those touting them rather aggressively there, but reading up on a bit of local history from a good guidebook before leaving the ship might add a bit.)

Thank you so much everyone. Not too long before we sail and even less time to plan for me as I am off to Tokyo on Tuesday, then flying to meet my husband and kids in Sao Paulo next Monday morning. Life is tough! Glad you had a great time. I had a booking for the Ibis, but needed two rooms there for four of us. Eventually a room for four cane up for the Mercure, which worked out slightly cheaper, so we went for that.

Did you find anywhere to eat that was good? I have Coeliac, so need to eat gluten free. Fortunately big steaks are fine, so plan to try to find some of those :). Japan will be more of a challenge for that than Brazil I think.

A typical Brazilian main meal is rice, beans and a piece of meat or fish. This is often offered at lunch as a "prato feito" or "executivo" lunch plate.

Big steaks are not common. At a typical churrassco (barbecue) rodizio (all you can eat), the meat is usually brought to the table on a skewer and small pieces are carved onto the diner's plate by the server.

You might want to try the "por kilo" buffets that are commonly found (particularly at lunch) which have a great variety of hot and cold items and you pay by the weight of what you put on your plate. (Note: You can usually walk in and take a look at the buffet items on offer before deciding.)

In Salvador, if you want to sample the very unique local cuisine, the Senac cooking school in Pelourinho has a large variety of Bahian dishes on their buffet.

Thank you rice beans and meat sounds great! I have heard that there is a type of bread which is naturally gluten free and sold as a snack everywhere in Brazil. Are you able to tell me the name of this please? Thanks

Thank you rice beans and meat sounds great! I have heard that there is a type of bread which is naturally gluten free and sold as a snack everywhere in Brazil. Are you able to tell me the name of this please? Thanks

Could this be the Pao de Quijo(Cheese bread roll)?

Yes,

That is the one. Unfortunately I didn't manage to find any! Probably there, but we couldn't speak the lingo. have a great time in Brazil though and had the 2nd best steak of my life in an Argentinian steak house in Santos.