Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 RIO DE JANEIRO Saturday, 5 December (continued). Even with a map, I wasn't able to follow the route we took on this unexpected three hour tour of Rio. The guide kept receiving calls from the ship terminal telling her to delay our arrival there still more. I think she made up our itinerary on the fly, modifying it with each call. As a result, we zigzagged and backtracked a great deal. But this is my best reconstruction. From Urca we drove by Botafogo beach and through the Flamengo district, which the guide told us has a Carmen Miranda Museum. We went through the Santa Barbara Tunnel to the North Zone. The rain had stopped for a time. We drove around and through the Sambadrome (1984) with a brief stop for photos. This unique structure consists of elaborate permanent bleachers on both sides of Marquis de Sapucai Street where samba schools parade competitively each year during Carnival. It is 700 meters long and seats 90,000 people. Each samba school has about 80 minutes to parade from one end of the Sambadrome to the other with its thousands of dancers, drum section, and a number of floats. The Schools are then graded by a jury and one is declared the winner.
From there we drove west to Maracana Stadium, supposedly the world's largest soccer stadium, although I think that was before it was remodeled for safety reasons. (Attendance at the final game of the 1950 World Cup was almost 200,000, but the stadium currently seats less than 90,000.) We headed back toward the Centro district, passing the zoo along the way. We stopped for a visit to St. Sebastian Cathedral (1979), an unusual conical structure with floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows. Nearby we passed the Arcos de Lapa, built in 1744 as an aqueduct but now a tramway.
In our wanderings back and forth, we also saw the Praca (Square) de la Republica, the Tiradentes Palace (now the home of the Legislature), City Hall (Prefeitura), a large public market, the Municipal Theater (Opera House), the National Library, the Museum of Fine Arts, and Candelaria church (1775-1877).
By this time it was nearly 2:30 and we still were not cleared to go to the ship terminal. Our guide told us she was having the bus go to the Santos Dumont Airport (Rio's old airport) for a rest stop and something to eat. Some of our fellow passengers began shouting in protest, saying they planned to eat lunch at the buffet aboard the Veendam. That was clearly out of the question, and most of us were glad for the break. The airport had a cafeteria that featured a "kilo buffet." You took whatever you wanted; it was weighed at the end; and you got a bill based on its weight. It was also relatively inexpensive and we could pay in dollars or by credit card. Unfortunately, there was still time to kill after we left the airport. The bus drove to the Praca XV de Novembro, where the former Imperial Palace (1743) now serves as the Nation Museum. We saw the Casa Franca-Brasil (former Customs House), the ferry dock, an old ship, and the Gloria Church before finally heading for the docks.
When we got there a little after 3:30, there
was a line of buses waiting ahead of us. Apparently they were being held up
because the terminal was so crowded that no more people could get in. There were
about 1,200 passengers on this cruise, and apparently few if any had boarded as
yet. As we waited, I could see the Veendam moored next to the terminal. The
water in the harbor was filthy and littered with trash.
We finally reached the terminal after 4:00. We were assigned a number as we entered, but no one told us what was happening or what we were supposed to do. There were hundreds of seats, almost all taken. Occasionally someone would call a number and a few people would get up and disappear down a long hall. There were all sorts of rumors circulating about what the problem was and what was happening. Most of them were false. One report, later verified by the Captain of the Veendam, was that the Brazilian immigration officials were very slow in clearing passengers from the incoming cruise. (A letter from HAL headquarters in Seattle, after our return, attributed the delay to Brazilian public health officials.) The Veendam had docked at 7:30 a.m. as scheduled, but the last of the debarking passengers were not cleared until 5:30. Apparently that delayed the boarding of new passengers.
Our number was finally called at 7:10. HAL processed us in and we boarded the ship at about 7:30. With no guidance whatsoever from Veendam personnel, we finally found our stateroom (#413) at 7:30 p.m. (There was no correlation between room numbers and deck numbers.) On opening the door, we were met by the loud roar of machinery and a blast of extremely hot air. Two large industrial-type blowers were spewing hot air. With their long, tangled electrical cords, they occupied almost all the available floor space in the stateroom. Our suitcases lay on the beds, but we were blocked from reaching them. At that time we did not know why the machines were there, but we learned later that the room had flooded and they were being used to try to dry it out. I was amazed that HAL, knowing that our assigned room was not habitable, had not assigned us a different room during the boarding process. I found one of our stateroom attendants in the passageway and asked him to contact the appropriate people to have the equipment removed from our stateroom (so we could reach our suitcases) while went to get something to eat. Meanwhile, the ship sailed at 8:40 p.m., more than three and a half hours late. The sea was very rough, making it difficult to walk onboard. When we returned to our room around 9:00, the machines were still running. Nothing had been done. The room was unusable. This time I found both our stateroom attendants. They were no help. I then went to the Front Desk where I waited in line for 20 minutes to talk to someone. The woman at the desk acted like she didn't believe me and maybe I was running some kind of scam. After much delay, she agreed to come to our stateroom. By then the attendants had removed the machines, but the carpet was soaking wet and the air temperature was still more than 100 degrees. The woman refused to provide other accommodations. She offered to send us a fan!!! At that point I went and found the Hotel Manager's office and pounded on the door until I roused him. After I explained the situation, he asked the Guest Relations Manager to take care of the problem. After much more delay, with no apology and very reluctantly, she finally gave us a different stateroom for the night. By this time it was 10:45 p.m. With no assistance whatsoever from any HAL personnel, Jane and I had to move our two large suitcases, as well as our carry-ons, to the other room. It was an inside room much smaller than the one we booked. I had to stack the furniture up to clear a place to open our luggage. We didn't get to bed until 11:30. | ||||||||||||||
