unday, February 11, 2018- Cruise Day 19; Rio de Janeiro Day 2

Sunday, February 11, 2018- Cruise Day 19; Rio de Janeiro Day 2

We left the Sambadrome at 2:30AM and arrived back at the ship a little after 3:00AM.  There was an obnoxious club at the head of the wharf that was blasting out thumping music all night long and into the morning, but we were so tired, we managed to sleep in until the ship began doing its crew training drills, simulating a fire and evacuation starting at 9:45AM.  This involved multiple overhead announcements that penetrated into our staterooms, so we got up and headed to the Horizon Court for breakfast.  It was interesting to see crew members standing at various stations wearing their life jackets, and when the evacuation phase was begun, it looked like the rats were fleeing the ship from the atrium as crew members filed down the stairs to disembarkation stations.  It’s good to see that the crew is well trained in the event of the unthinkable.  

We attended brunchtime trivia at 11:45AM, but our usual team members were out on excursions so we teamed up with another couple from Michigan, scoring 10/20. The winning team scored 14/20.  

We disembarked the ship to take a walk about the port area, despite the repeated warnings to not go anywhere alone, not to take any thing of value or sentimental value, and to make sure your smart phones are locked.  It was blazing hot and sunny outside.  Stepping out of the ship was like stepping into a steam sauna.  It was 93 degrees and probably 90% humidity.  We walked down the length of the port area to the Museum of Tomorrow, which looked like an enormous whale skeleton spaceship, and then to a McDonalds, which failed to have working Wifi.  There was no working Wifi in the cruise passenger terminal either. Rio seems to be very internet challenged.  We turned around and headed back to the ship.  By the time we got to the wharf, we were soaked with sweat like we were melting.  It was a huge relief to climb back into the ship’s airconditioning.  We ran into our trivia partners John & Kathy, who had booked a private tour of Rio de Janeiro on line, but their tour guide never showed up.  They were hot and bothered by that.

We attended the 3:30PM afternoon trivia, this time with John & Kathy, Bob and Dan.  We had a 3 way tie for 1st place with 17/20 points.  On the tie breaker, the question was “rounded to the nearest 1000 ft, how tall is Mt Everest?”  We wrote 29,000ft.  The other two teams wrote 28,636ft and 23,000.  We were dead-on, winning the contest.  The actual height is 29,029 +/- due to snow pack depth.  We ended up winning Princess string backpacks.

We then had Afternoon Tea for the first time in a long time.  It seems we have been too busy to fit Tea in, so it was nice to do so again.  We sat near the Filipino and Greek couple we have had tea with at least twice before, and exchanged stories of our Samba experiences.  They were seated just above us, but had left after the second school, while we remained for the 5th school.  

We learned that the ship is doing a mass marriage vow renewal for Valentines’ Day.  We won’t be on the ship because we will be on our Iguazu Falls overland excursion, and will also miss the formal night featuring lobster.  However, we’ll probably get a certificate from the ship for signing up.  

We attended the Ventriloquist’s second show, which was funny and entertaining.  He brought out a new dummy- a bald eagle with a Donald Trump comb-over, who is an illegal alien with a spanish accent.  He also brought up two audience members to serve as living dummies for a singing duet routine.  He put a puppet mouth on the husband, which was hilarious.  

We had a relaxing dinner in the dining room and then made it to the 9:15PM Movie Trivia, which we won outright with 18/20.  We were able to get Holly to exchange the customary bottle of champagne for wine bottle stoppers, so wahoo!

We had to pack up our bags for the Iguazu overland excursion.  A bit strange packing a bag in the middle of a cruise.  Hopefully we won’t forget anything essential, but we are only allowed one carry on sized bag, and will probably be flying in some small commuter planes.