Rio - Boarding Day

We board the Star Princess today!

All last night, Rio was abuzz with the beginnings of Carnival.  I could hear the constant deep rumbles of beating drums.  The vista from our hotel balcony in the morning showed thousands of people starting to congregate in the streets along the beachfront.

We had a nice breakfast on the club floor’s terrace before finishing packing up our suitcases.  Our car picked us up at 11:00 a.m. and began to slowly wind through the crowds who were oblivious to the fact that they were blocking traffic.

We made it to the port in no time.  There were four other cruise ships leaving at the same time, so the exterior of the port terminal seemed very chaotic.  However, once we got in the right line and inside the terminal, we were whisked through check-in and were onboard by noon.

Our cabin has a good size balcony but the cabin and bathroom itself are on the smaller side.  Next time, if we ever cruise Princess again, we’ll need to book one of their mini-suites or higher categories.  The layout of the cabin provides for one arm chair and an upright chair.  The next cabin category up from ours provides for a couch, which we now  know is what we prefer.  The ship is huge but gives one more of a feeling of being smaller than it actually is.  We’ve already found our favorite place, a wine bar that serves tapas and sushi with your vino.

Our friends, K-Lynn and Browning from Arizona, whom we met on our Azamara cruise two years ago, surprised us with a wonderful gift of a champagne brunch on our balcony.  Wasn’t that nice!!

The muster drill that occurred before sailing was the longest one we have ever encountered.  It must be a result of the recent tragedy in Italy.  The drill was given in English and Spanish.  I fell asleep at one point awakening to Jeff panicking because the clasp on his lift vest came apart.  I’m glad we got that fixed now instead of during an actual emergency.

The sailaway was scenic with great views of downtown Rio, Sugarloaf Mountain and Copacabana Beach.  The food in the main dining room was quite good with service being incredibly swift and efficient.  So far, so good!

Good night.