Rio Hotels

Does anyone have a suggestion for a hotel in Rio for a pre-cruise stay?

Sailing from Galveston aboard the Grand in

Cruise/Tour around Cape Horn in

This dropped off the board and I am bringing it back.

Sailing from Galveston aboard the Grand in

Cruise/Tour around Cape Horn in

Don't stay at the Sheraton. It is quite a ways from the tourist areas, the "private" beach is filled with local kids, and the restaurant only had menus in Portuguese. We ended up eating off the room service menu in our room. The outside Bar-b-que was OK and the pool area was nice, but we could have done a LOT better.

Has anyone stayed at Gloria? The reviews seem to be good. Although the hotel is in town rather than on the beach, with all of our sightseeing we won't be spending much time on the beach.

Sailing from Galveston aboard the Grand in

Cruise/Tour around Cape Horn in

A tour organizer from Rio, who's going to be our tour guide while we're there in December, recommended the following hotels to us:

Caesar Park from $268 per

Marina All Suites from $205 per

Marina Palace from $145 per

We're going to stay at the Marina Palace.

The board dropped this thread again.

Sailing from Galveston aboard the Grand in

Cruise/Tour around Cape Horn in

Rio

We stayed at the Sheraton - HAL's pre-cruise hotel. The hotel is lovely. We didn't have any problems with the menu - it was in English. There were guards all around the grounds as the hotel is next to the slum area - BAD! Even going to the beach there was a guard at the end of the steps before you enter the beach area who warned you not to leave anything on the beach and to stay in sight of him. The pool area is on the grounds and lovely.

But - if we ever went back there again we would stay in the Ipanema Area as neither of us spends a lot of time on the beach.

We were originally booked at the Sheraton but our future tour guide advised us that it was in an undesirable and remote area. He had several hotel suggestions and we settled on the Marina Palace which is located on the beach and close to numerous resaurants and shops. Can't wait for our Rio-Santiago Amsterdam cruise next December 15.

Thanks to everyone for their information. We have booked the Excelsior, one of the hotels in the Windsor hotel group.

We stayed at the Hotel Gloria in the '80s- even as poor students we wished that we had splurged for a better hotel. The beach across the dangerous multi-lane highway from the hotel was filthy, and the hotel wasn't within walking distance to anything- we had to risk our lives by taking those crazy taxis everywhere...

Nina

Any complaints about the Marina Palace Hotel? It looks as though it's a bit far out? Is the beach decent?

Nina

I am thinking of staying at the Ipanema Plaza. A double with breakfast is US$120 and it was recommended by the New York Times as a hotel built in 2000 and a block from the beach.

OTH I have been advised to stay in the Copacabana area as opposed to Ipanema.

We were originally booked at the Sheraton but our future tour guide advised us that it was in an undesirable and remote area. He had several hotel suggestions and we settled on the Marina Palace which is located on the beach and close to numerous resaurants and shops. Can't wait for our Rio-Santiago Amsterdam cruise next December 15.

That's interesting, I thought that I would like to stay at the Sheraton next time I visited. It is at the end of the Ipanema beach and looked like it might have a private beach. Let us know when you get back.

That's interesting, I thought that I would like to stay at the Sheraton next time I visited. It is at the end of the Ipanema beach and looked like it might have a private beach. Let us know when you get back.

This was the VERY reason we booked the Sheraton. The "private beach" is filled with local kids. I saw one person from the hotel on the beach. The rest of us spent the day around the pool, looking down at the beach.

To get ANYWHERE in Rio from this hotel, you must either take the hotel shuttle (which does not run regularly) or a taxi. It is about 15 minutes via taxi to Copacabana. IMHO, not the ideal hotel.

Iwnbwlr,

I got in touch with Luiz and mentioned your name. We will definitely use him next year. Thanks for the recommendation.

Jennie

Jennie:

Great! I have every confidence in Luiz and will post details when we get back next January.

Jim