Goodbye Rio – Hello Insignia

I feel like we just got here, but alas, it’s time to leave Rio. Our experience here has been fabulous! We feel that tour books need to catch up with today’s Rio, because there is a distinct tone of caution in them that we’ve found isn’t justified. Let’s face it. You need to be careful at night in any city – anywhere – but we found that the beach area along Copacabana comes particularly alive after dark and is the farthest thing from frightening. Plus, it’s the nicest time to take a walk because you’re finally getting some relief from the sun. It may be the beginning of fall here, but the temperatures are still hovering in the mid thirties. We’ve been very happy with our hotel – it’s location and it’s amenities. The buffet breakfast is especially bountiful with all manner of tropical fruit, breads and cheeses. And no, the fruit in the middle of the picture below is not a tomato. It has a consistency close to an orange but its sweet flavour is not comparable to anything else.

After breakfast, we took our last walk around our neighbourhood. At 9:00 a.m. it was almost already too hot for a walk so we tried to stick to the shady sides of the street. There’s quite a commercial area two streets away from the beach with many small grocery stores and since everyone in Rio wears flip flops, lots of shops selling them.

We arranged pickup from our hotel at 11:30 to take us to the ship and they were actually a little early. Even though it was approaching noon the traffic was pretty nasty. We drove past the commercial heart of downtown and saw another side of Sugarloaf. Once at the dock a porter disappeared with our bags leaving us to wonder if we’d ever see them again. We headed away from our luggage and located the Oceania entrance. Once we obtained our on-ship security/key/credit cards, we headed to the Terrace Café for lunch since our rooms were not yet available. This seems to be a recurring theme on this trip. That’s what we get for being on the early end.

At about 1:00, we headed for our now ready staterooms only to discover that no one on our floor had an operational key card. This meant a trip down to reception for new cards. We were rewarded once we got into our room with a chilling bottle of Champagne. We would have enjoyed sipping it on the balcony but it was too darn hot, so we cranked up the AC and enjoyed some time in our stateroom. Before we embarked, I took some last looks at Rio from the top of the ship.

Shortly after 5:00 the ship underwent a lifeboat drill – not a bad thing. We now know that we are in boat #4 on the port side and as lifeboats go, it’s a big one holding at least a hundred people. It’s handy to know this since we have an Italian captain – Ha ha.

We got a slightly late start since we had to wait for a flight of about 50 passengers. I mean, who shows up for a cruise minutes before embarkation? Clearly, some do. This did afford us some nice final evening views of Rio and the pool band played while we pulled away.

Dinner tonight was in the Grand Dining Room. Dawn had the Canyon Ranch Menu that is designed with good taste in mind and low calories. I actually had 2/3 of that menu and it was very delicious without excessive content. I pre-purchased a flight of wines when we arrived and we had the first, a Sonoma Rhone-style Cline that was excellent.

We finished off the evening with the entertainment in the lounge. They gave us a taste of what entertainment is available on the ship. Yes, it’s limited compared to the larger ships, but once again this ship is about quality and not quantity.

So far travel on the ocean is not perfectly smooth, but it’s not barf city either. Stay tuned.