Help: HAL Veendam SA post-cruise Rio tour & hotel

[CarolZaga]

My sister, husband, and I will be on the Veendam in October for the 35-day SA tour embarking in San Diego and ending in Rio. Since my husband is disabled due to stroke, we generally take the ship tours. He walks slowly with the aide of a cane. We are looking into the 2-nite post cruise samba tour which includes a half-day tour of city including Corcovado followed by a BBQ dinner at a Churrascario and a samba show following. The next day is a half day tour including Sugarloaf. The hotel that HAL uses is the Intercontinental. I would really appreciate any comments from others who have done this tour or something similar and would also appreciate any and all comments on the Intercontinental.:)

[RuthC]

Sugarloaf involves stairs (I didn't find any way around them), if that's a consideration for your husband. There's also a lengthy walk from one cable car to the other, besides the walk to the cable car. That could be a problem for him.

At Corcovado he should be able to get a wheelchair (I did). If the elevator is out of commission that day (it happens), he may have a problem with all those stairs. There's an escalator at another point. There's also some stairs at the statue area, but they can be avoided (you don't miss too much by skipping those).

Is this a private tour? Or a large group? Your husband may be able to do this if it's just the two (or a few) of you.

Don't forget, though, that the heat and humidity make extra demands on the body, and this could be very difficult for your husband.

I thought the Intercontinental Hotel was all right, but nothing special---especially for the price.

[ScottishMaid]

Hi,

We have a roll call at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=888500

We are slowly gathering more people and would be glad to have you join us.

Jill

[CarolZaga]

RuthC, Thanks for the info on the tours, very much appreciated. My husband can walk fairly well with the cane, but he walks slowly (some foot drag) and he can climb stairs, again slowly. The tours would most likely be with a group since it would be a HAL 2-night post-cruise tour package; so I don't know how many cruise passengers would be interested in signing up. The package was pretty reasonable with two nights hotel, two half-day tours, dinner and the samba show, and 6 p.m. checkout the day of departure for the airport and transfers. We are debating on whether to do the package deal since it is a reasonable price or try to arrange everything on our own. Still in the process of researching everything and reading all the wonderful and valuable posts by CC members.

Jill: thanks for the info on the roll call. :)

[leoandhugh]

If you feel the package is fairly reasonable as you say, by all means do that. Trying to put all the bits and pieces together to do it on your own means a lot of calls and a good chance that something will go wrong somewhere. We are handicapped and always do the packages now, having experienced some near disasters trying to do our own involving foreign countries and different language(s) It just is not worth the stress and when you put the cost in perspective of what you are spending to make the cruise from here to Rio, it really is peanuts.:)

[mancunian]

We did this last year, though our stay in Rio was pre-cruise not post cruise. The Intercontinental, as Ruth says, was fine. The main problem was that it was quite a long way out in one of the quieter bays. That is no problem at all if you are doing the package, but harder if you were going to do things yourself. There were, on our cruise, plenty of people doing the package.

 

We loved Rio and would not have missed it.

[ScottishMaid]

How did you find out about the post cruise tour? I booked with an online travel agent and have my booking number to book excursions online. For Rio I can see day trips with transfer to the airport but no overnight packages. I do not have a S. America printed brochure for next fall/winter 2009/2010.

[CarolZaga]

Thank you everyone for all of your valuable input. Leoandhugh, we've decided to go with the package. As you said, trying to put all the bits and pieces together is quite a chore and the chances of experiencing issues/problems are greater. Since my husband had his stroke, we generally go with the ship tours and they have worked out satisfactorily.

Scottishmaid, I went onto HALs website, to the cruise finder, located the cruise, then clicked on the itinerary page. There are several pull down menus: itinerary, ship details, shore excursions, ports, and hotels/tours. Just click on the hotels/tours and it gives a review of the 2009 SA packages. Since we are doing the repositioning cruise, our date wasn't listed; so I just contacted my TA and asked her to look into it. HAL confirmed that they are offering the 2-night post cruise package in Rio for our repositioning cruise. Thanks again everyone. Happy sailing!:)

[Starr Mtn]

We did a post-cruise excursion provided by our TA a few years ago.

Definitely agree that you made the best decision to book the package

excursion.

 

Please be careful and don't drink the water. Be sure to have bottled

water available at all times. Don't even brush your teeth from the

hotel water !

 

As in several large cities - just be careful and observe your surroundings.

Don't wear your expensive jewelry - keep your purse/wallet in a safe

place.

 

It's an interesting city, and even being handicapped, I treasure

our two days there.

[CarolZaga]

Thanks for your comments We2Cruise. I wasn't aware about the issues with the water. I knew that this applied to Mexico but didn't know that one might experience problems in Rio. :)

[DGF]

My sister, husband, and I will be on the Veendam in October for the 35-day SA tour embarking in San Diego and ending in Rio. Since my husband is disabled due to stroke, we generally take the ship tours. He walks slowly with the aide of a cane. We are looking into the 2-nite post cruise samba tour which includes a half-day tour of city including Corcovado followed by a BBQ dinner at a Churrascario and a samba show following. The next day is a half day tour including Sugarloaf. The hotel that HAL uses is the Intercontinental. I would really appreciate any comments from others who have done this tour or something similar and would also appreciate any and all comments on the Intercontinental.:)

 

Recommend that you contact the local guide that we used for three days in Rio at excellent hourly rates- Martha Vasconcellos- martha.guideinrio@globo.com

 

Getting around will require special care and attention and if anyone knows how to do it she does. Feel free to use our names.

[RuthC]

I wasn't aware about the issues with the water.

Neither was I. I used the water in the hotel bathroom for brushing my teeth and taking meds. I also drank the water in the restaurants in the hotel. The taste was fine, and there were no negative consequences.

[Starr Mtn]

I've read the responses from cruisers who were in Rio - apparently

more recently. Sorry if my information is out of date. It's been a few

years. At that time we were advised to only drink bottled water. Even

brushing my teeth caused serious consequences ........

 

Our post-cruise agents were careful to warn us and provide bottled water........