Rio to buenos aires

[Acrusa]

We just booked the Feb 22 2013 cruise Radiant Rhythms.Has anyone taken this itinarry?

We plan to stay 3 nights pre at either the Copacabana Palace or the Softle.Any suggestions or thoughts about these 2 hotels? This itinarry seems to be less port intensive as compared to the Sydney to Auckland cruise we just did last month.

We also plan to book the post Iguazia Falls trip when it comes avaliable.

 

Thanks for your help

[travelhound]

We just returned from Rio last night after doing the Samba Rhythms on Insignia. Our post in Rio was three nights at the JW Marriott. We went into the CP but not the Sofitel, but I can tell you from their placement on the beach, I think CP is better. It's more centrally located in the arch of the beach and Sofitel is at the very end of Copacabana near the Ipanema crossover. The CP had a recent renovation and the pool area is beautiful. That would be my choice. Have fun!

 

Teri

[vaitape]

We just returned from Rio last night after doing the Samba Rhythms on Insignia. Our post in Rio was three nights at the JW Marriott. We went into the CP but not the Sofitel, but I can tell you from their placement on the beach, I think CP is better. It's more centrally located in the arch of the beach and Sofitel is at the very end of Copacabana near the Ipanema crossover. The CP had a recent renovation and the pool area is beautiful. That would be my choice. Have fun!

 

Teri

 

Teri, off topic BUT, could you post about your experience at the Rio airport? Did it go smoothly?

I've noted some posters had nightmare lines and processing that took up to 4 hours at Rio Airport.

[lilybug]

We also just returned from Rio. Airport experience was fine, although there isn't much to it. I hope they get busy soon preparing to host the 2016 Olympics, they need major improvements.

[travelhound]

We bought the post and transfers from Oceania. Since we checked out at 11:00 on Sat morning and our flight wasn't until 9:55 pm we had nightmares about spending 10 hours sitting at the airport. Thankfully Oceania had our transfers set for a 6 pm pickup. We were the only ones left at the Marriott so we had a private car - very nice. In fact, if you want a private guide I would highly recommend this man. His site is funinrio.com.br. But - back to what you asked. Depending on where you are coming from it can take a while to get to the international airport. If you're taking a domestic flight, such as to Sao Paulo, then the domestic airport is much closer. There was a big rainstorm just before we got picked up and that made traffic horrible. It took about 75 minutes to get there so we arrived about 7:15. Only a couple of people were in the check in line so by 7:30 we were ready to go. The person that checked us in recommended not going through security first and eating dinner first. I'm not sure that was worth it. About 8:30 we went to the security line with about 20 people ahead of us, but it wasn't moving. Later we found out that was the line to get to the line. They hold that one back so the actual security line doesn't get too long. About three minutes after we got in line about 100 people were behind us. There are probably a lot of overnight flights and everyone comes to security at the same time. We were through and at the gate in about 20-25 minutes but I'm not sure what happened to the others behind us.

 

So, long story short, I would leave enough time but I would be surprised at a four hour wait. However, I could see how it could happen. Also, almost no one speaks English, (and you don't speak Portg) if you get in a jam or just have questions it's hard to get help.

 

I hope they'll be making improvements to the airport before their major upcoming events. We arrived right after the big rain storm and there were literally dozens of buckets and garbage cans catching the rain from the leaking roof.

 

Good luck,

Teri

[hondorner]

My 4 hour experience was some time ago, in 2007. We debarked Insignia about 9:00 AM, took Oceania's combo transfer/Rio Tour, which covered downtown Rio, Sugar Loaf (we had been to Corcavado the day before), Copacabana beach, Ipanema beach and a couple of hours in a very large mall to get a late lunch/early dinner. Well done and worth the price.

 

Our flight to Miami was at 8:15 PM; others on the bus varied from around 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM. The bus dropped us off at the airport about 4:00 PM, and the tour guide escorted us into the terminal and pointed out the end of the line.

 

Imagine a long, gently curving arc, several hundred yards long. We entered at the center of the arc. The end of the line was about 1/4 of the way down the arc to the left -- facing away from the center, towards the end of the terminal. The entrance to the check-in area was very near the center. We progressed very slowly down the arc to the end of the terminal, made a U-turn and moved back towards the center, waiting often and moving slowly. It took about 1-1/2 hours to reach the check-in desk. We checked our luggage and got our boarding passes.

 

We were then directed to another line, starting very near us at the center of the arc and moving to the right, towards the opther end of the terminal. This was the line heading for security. We moved down that line to the right end of the terminal, made a U-turn and headed back towards the center, again. The entrance to security was very near the center, almost behind the check-in counters. It took about 2 hours waiting in this line to get through security, then we had to walk to the gate.

 

We arrived at the gate with about 20 minutes to spare, after many of the passengers had already boarded.

 

We vowed never to fly out of Rio again.

 

But, that was not all -- our flight made a stop in Sao Paulo to change planes -- Sao Paulo was the hub for American Airlines. When we exited the plane, we could see through the glass door into the gate area, and we could see that the gate for the next leg of our flight was perhaps 100 feet across the terminal. We had already checked through security and expected to be let into the gate area within the secure area to wait for the next leg. But, no, apparently they had to keep the security people busy or something, because they marched us down a long corridor separated from the gate area, exited the secure area, then turned us around and made us go back through security again to get into the gate area and walk all the way back to the boarding gate. Again, we made it to the gate with about 10 minuites to spare and immediately boarded -- it had taken over an hour to get to the spot about 100 feet away from where we started.

 

So, maybe it's imporoved. Or, maybe there were just a lot of ships that all emptied out that day. Maybe it wasn't normal. But, we had already been warned about 4 hours in the Rio airport before we left home, and our guide was not at all surprised to see the long lines when dropping us off at the airport more than 4 hours ahead of time.

 

That was 5 years ago, and I don't pretend to know what it's like today. All I know is that I saw the major Rio sights, checked it off our bucket list, and it will be a cold day in a hot place before I go there again.

[no fuss travel]

We were in Rio in February this year and Rio's airport was much better than Sao Paulo. At least in Rio, we could talk to people that spoke English. We had to fly to Sao Paulo to catch our Air Canada flight back home but they checked our luggage through to Vancouver in Rio. The only problem we had was finding the correct place to go through security. Since we were taking an international flight from Sao Paulo, we had to go through international security. The international security does not have as many machines as the domestic which slows things down dramatically. Also, they use domestic gates to depart what they call international flights, but you have to wait in the international area until they open these glass wall panels so that you can go to the domestic gate. That part was very confusing as we could not find anyone who would tell us the process for about 30 minutes. Sao Paulo was a nightmare. We had the same situation as Don where we had to exit, then go through security again. BUT, security would not let us go through until we had a stamp from Air Canada even though we had our boarding passes from Rio. We then had to walk an additional 10 minutes before we found Air Canada, stand in line to get this stamp, go back to security where you were separated into foreigners and people from South America. Our line inched along and this was the longest lineup we had to stand in. The worst part was the waiting room for the plane. They had three gates in the waiting room, seats for maybe one large plane, no air conditioning and if you dared to get up from your seat it was gone. It was total mass confusion trying to get on a bus to take you to the plane. Of course it did not help that it was raining cats and dogs at the same time. By the time everyone got on the plane they were a bit grumpy and just wanted to get home. The flight attendants were very good and they soon had the passengers smiling again.:o

[vaitape]

Thank you everyone.....yikes!!! Rio and Sao Paulo airports sound challenging. We appreciate all the info.

[Lady golfer]

Acrusa,

 

We are Bob and Suzanne from Florida and have just booked the cruise yesterday. Having been to Rio before, we will pre for just the 1 night at the Palace. The Sofitel is very large and that time of the year might be very noisy.

 

What will you do with all that time in Rio. I just thought 1night is enough, because we do overnight on the ship.

 

I did start a roll call, but no replies yet.

 

Suzanne

[LHT28]

Acrusa,

I did start a roll call, but no replies yet.

 

Suzanne

You may want to join the Roll Call already in progress

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1573344

 

when starting a roll call it is always helpful to put the DATE of the cruise in the topic line

[Lady golfer]

LHT,

 

Thank you for roll call info.

 

Suzanne (Lady golfer)

[sboca]

I will be booking the March 6th cruise Rio to Buenos Aires anyone else? Has anyone else been on this cruise in the past?

[pacheco18]

You can do Iguazu on your own for far less than O will charge you.

Flights run frequently and are inexpensive. A stay at the Sheraton with a room facing the Falls is a must. Then book one of the river raft-like boats when you get there and get drenched under the Falls. Nothing like it.

 

 

It is easy to book.

[LuAnn]

stay at the Copacobana Hotel...a fabulous Orient Express Hotel ..and a first class hotel. We were able to book a one night stay room...as a

day room..with three couples...for the regular rate of one couple...a great deal!!!!LuAnn

[hrprof]

We did the Iguazu extension on a Valparaiso-Rio B2B in '08. The experience was breathtaking, but expensive and O did not put us in a Falls view room - pretty disappointing!

[Acrusa]

Acrusa,

 

We are Bob and Suzanne from Florida and have just booked the cruise yesterday. Having been to Rio before, we will pre for just the 1 night at the Palace. The Sofitel is very large and that time of the year might be very noisy.

 

What will you do with all that time in Rio. I just thought 1night is enough, because we do overnight on the ship.

 

I did start a roll call, but no replies yet.

 

Suzanne

 

We took into cosidiration the weather from JFK at that time of year.Also we feel like we are extending our vacation just using the CP as a resort.Relaxing by the pool B L D we wont even leave the hotel till we board Regatta on Friday.