Amazon & Carnival Explorer Cruise - Day 30: Rio de Janeiro Day 3

Tuesday, March 5

 

Today is our last day in Rio.  Val definitely has a cold as she got up this morning not feeling well and with all the symptoms.  We didn’t really have any plans for today, but thought we should see some of the iconic sights of Rio like Sugar Loaf Mountain, the Christ Redeemer Statue and the famous beaches.  However, we had heard that because of Carnival going on there would be lots of traffic and crowds at the various sites so we decided just to stay on board today and let Val get some rest and take care of her cold.

It was a very low key day with Val resting and sleeping and mostly stayed in the room with the exception of going to the Lido for lunch.  Late in the afternoon there was another street parade in front of the port that we watched from our balcony.

Off in the distance is one of Rio's famous favelas (shanty towns).

 

We had 300 people that ended their cruise in Rio and leave the ship, but added 300 new ones so we had to have another muster drill to accommodate them, also I believe there is a requirement that you have to have one every 30 days anyway.  Thankfully it didn’t take very long as it wasn’t very pleasant standing out in the heat.

After the muster drill, Val returned to our room and I went up on deck to watch us sail out of Rio.  It was a beautiful evening as we left the harbor and while the ever present heat and humidity was there, a cooling breeze that made it quite pleasant out on deck.  I felt a bit sad leaving Rio as we had a great time here and got a taste of what it meant to be in Rio for Carnival.  Other than our night in the Sambadrome we didn’t get to see the sights of Rio, but hopefully we’ll be back someday to see them.

I wandered around the deck for a while taking pictures as we sailed away from Rio and ran into Tony doing the same thing.  I chatted with him for a while and then headed back to our room to see what Val wanted to do for dinner.

Interesting contrast, a luxury cruise and an offshore drilling rig.

Looking past the front of our ship.  The building that sticks out is a museum called The Museum of Tomorrow.

We are on our way.

 

On top of the mountain you can see the Christ Redeemer Statue sticking out of the clouds.

Sugarloaf mountain sits at the entrance to the harbor.

 

Val did want to go to trivia tonight, but not to dinner in the dining room.  After getting ready we were off to trivia where we compared notes on our Rio activities with the rest of our teammates.  After trivia, we got a quick bite in the Lido for dinner and called it a night.  Rest seems to be one of the best medicines for a cold so Val went to bed early to get as much sleep as possible.  Luckily, the next three days are sea days so she won’t be missing anything by being sick.

We had a great time in Rio and were sad to leave, but we are looking forward to sailing up the Amazon in a few days and we are excited about that.