Maceió, Brazil

New-to-us port #17.

What can I say about this port of call? Not much. Our tour was a huge disappointment … I know Sonia and Boris would agree with that statement.

It started with the delay in clearing the ship. It was about 45 minutes after we were docked that we finally got the OK to disembark. And then there was the chaos ashore with the left hand seemingly not knowing what the right hand was doing. Finally, we found the required interport shuttle outside the cruise terminal … instead of pierside where the shuttle to the city center was waiting to whisk people into Maceió.

The shuttle took us to Mercado 31 outside the port entrance. We looked for the guide, who was supposed to be there with Sonia’s name written on an “A4 paper.” That’s what we were told by the man with whom Sonia had been corresponding to set up the tour. No sign with her name on it. Eventually, we connected and set off on our tour.

The tour! The less said about it the better. It was a non-tour … more like a drive on the highway with a few stops along the way. The guide, and I use the term in the loosest possible way, spoke very, very (very) little English; the driver had marginally better language skills. No narration whatsoever to explain what we were seeing.

We saw nothing of Maceió itself. And very little of the places to which we were taken … the French Beach; Barra São Miguel; Gunga Beach. The latter was supposed to be our beach break. But the water was so rough that it made no sense to stick around. That was especially a shame since the beautiful color of the water as we approached our berth at noon had been exceptionally inviting.

If there was a highlight today, it was the overlook at Gunga Beach where a sea of coconut palms stretched as far as the eye could see … millions of trees we were told.

We tried to put on a brave face and persevere. But finally our frustrations got the better of us. We told the driver to return us to Mercado 31 so we could catch the interport shuttle back to Insignia. This time, the shuttle took us right up to the ship … grateful for small favors we are.

This day goes into the annals of our sightseeing experiences as a definite loss.

We will forget about it and move on to better experiences.Read more