I started the day by packing my bag, checking out of the hotel and storing my bags there.
I took the public bus to the Botanical Gardens as it was one of the things open early in the morning. From there I took a bus (almost to CInelandia – because I accidentally typed in Candelaria in my transit app) to visit the Municipal Theater at 11:30 AM (tour was in Portugese, only 2 PM tour is in English). The Municipal Theater was very similar to the Palais Garnier in Paris. There were a few differences (color of the marble, etc.), but was amazingly similar. I relaxed in the shade until 2 PM when I had a tour in English of the National Library of Brazil next to the theater. After the tour of the National Library I took the metro back to the hotel to collect my bags.
I ordered an Uber to take me to the port. What I know now, but didn’t know then was that when Uber shows “Port Maua” as the destination that the destination is not possible to get to by car. Apparently there is a new tunnel, perhaps the driver missed the turn, but we couldn’t get to the destination. The driver spoke no English and I spoke no Portugese. I gave him the paper from NCL with the address. He seemed to think he knew where to drop me off…. which wound up being the bus station. Luckily there was an information center with an English speaking person. He told me it was far from the bus station, but gave me directions to take the VLT (light rail) to “Parada dos Navios” which is right in front of the cruise terminal. After dragging my luggage around I decided to carry on my luggage to the ship so that I could take a shower as soon as I got to my room.
So, if you are taking a cruise from Rio and intend to take an Uber – I recommend putting in the destination as “Parada dos Navios” and not the pier.
The stateroom was very large – I had an OA category room, which is a large outside room and had a pull out sofabed. I took a few pictures, had dinner and enjoyed the welcome aboard show..
Above is a picture of a flower from a “Cannonball Tree” in the botanical gardens.
