Cruise The World With Us

Wednesday – January 22, 2025

Corcovado means “hunchback” which is what the mountain looks like. On top is a symbol of Rio de Janiero – Christ The Redeemer (CTR). We had an opportunity to take an excursion to the top of Corcovado to watch the sunrise. It was amazing! I’ll fill in a description of what we did when I have time on Friday. For now you can view the photos and video here.

I have watched sunrises from the Continental Divide in Colorado and from the peak of Mt. Haleakala in Hawaii plus numerous sea-level locations. Watching the sun color the sky from 2,300 feet above Rio de Janeiro beats them all! The excursion we booked was an exclusive for our ship. The only people on top of Corcovado were 75 passengers from our cruise, the excursion staff and the drivers of the 5 vans that took us to the mountain.

Getting up at 3:30 am to be ready to assemble at 4:15 am was not something I would like to do every day, but it was worth it. When we arrived in the assembly point (Tiger Bar) we were each given a paper grocery bag which contained a bottle of water, a bottle of orange juice and what was called a “Mediterranean breakfast”. The breakfast consisted of a sandwich on a small oblong bun with slices of cheese and ham, a croissant and a small chocolate cake. None of us ate those breakfasts at that time of the morning.

We left the ship and exited from deck 4 to board 5 vans waiting in front of the exit plank. Ours was the last van – we sat just behind the driver and excursion staff (2 women). Driving through Rio at 4:30 am was interesting. We blew through all the red lights I can remember. I asked about this later and was told that it is the law in Rio that you may ignore red lights up until later in the morning. Haven’t encountered that in any U.S. city. We reached the peak after transiting on narrow winding roads. About 5:15 am we were able to park in a special area adjacent to the elevator that rises about 2 floors to a series of 2 escalators which take you to the base of Christ The Redeemer.

We arrived a few minutes before the sun broke above the ocean. We could see a panorama that stretched from our dock area to Ipanema Beach – about 270 degrees. As the sun rose everyone was quiet – just observing the view. Once the sun was above the water people began standing with arms outstretched like CTR and having their photo taken in front of the statue.

2 priests cam to the top of the stairs leading to a lower observation level. The first priest gave a blessing in Portuguese. Then the second priest gave a short speech, asked us to join him in the Lord’s Prayer and offered a blessing for all those attending. Following that blessing the first priest sprinkled the crowd with holy water. We stopped to visit with the priest who spoke English and asked where his church was located. He said “Right here!”. There is a chapel in the base of the Christ The Redeemer statue. He offers mass twice daily there. He took us to the chapel and I snapped his photo.

Around 7:00 am we were ready to board our van and return to the ship. The streets were full now and we did stop for red lights. I got a photo of the entrance to a tunnel through which we traveled. Graffiti is encouraged in Rio – of the type that is art rather than just spray-painted words. You can see that in the decoration for the tunnel. On the way back we passed a large ferris wheel similar to the one in London. It is near the dock and was in one of the photos from 1-21.

Once back we had breakfast in the dining room – saved the breakfast in the grocery bag as a snack for later. There was no World Cruise Game today as we were not at sea. Next activity was our departure from Rio around 4:00 pm. By the way, on board everything is stated in military time. I haven’t been using it to make your lives a little easier. For sail away there was a group of dancers who performed on deck 13. Passengers lined the starboard side of the ship to watch as the anchor ropes were loosed and we separated from the dock. On our way out of the harbor we were able to see Corcovado, Sugarloaf, Copacabana Beach and Ipanema Beach. You’ll see photos of each of these.

This evening’s entertainment was something neither Jan nor I had a desire to watch – the classical musicians and vocalists performed French songs. Kelsey has gone to every production offered so she took some photos for us to include with this post.

In case you missed it above, here is a link to videos and photos from 1-22-2025.