I booked a tour with Marcelo at “Do Brazil Right” for a half day Cumbuco Beach & Dune Buggy Ride and City Tour. Not a private group, but set up directly with him and everyone on the tour was from the ship. There were only 8 of us on the tour.
I had wanted a day tour to Morro Branco, but could not find a tour operator. So, my second choice was Cumbuco Beach with Dune Ride, but all private tours spent the day there. Not wanting to spend the whole day at the beach Princess had a 4 hour tour which sounded perfect. That way we could knock around the market and area near the port after lunch. But, Do Brazil Right offered a nice combo tour, so I canceled the Princess tour as Marcelo was all day for less than half the price. (and way less than the around 48 people with a ship tour)
The weather again was not in our favor. 6 ports so far and all have had rain. Yes, it's the dry season, but nothing is as it's supposed to be this year. (anywhere)
Despite being one of the smallest states in Brazil, Ceará has one of the longest coastlines and some of the nicest urban beaches in Brazil. Originally an ancient fishing colony, Cumbuco is now one of the most popular places to relax in the sun. (no sun today however)
Sail in
I don't know why but the guide thought I was in charge of the group and I quickly pointed out that I wasn't. After waiting for everything to come together (about a half an hour) we were off and the guide talked about what we were driving past and general facts about Brazil. Our driver was Mardona and our guide was Rafael.
It was raining and very hard to see things out of the windows of the van. Plus, we had a seat that had huge advertising on the windows which meant you really couldn't see out well. While I don't know yet how our Rio tours will go with the private driver I set up, I am glad I didn't book the group tours with Do Brazil Right. Marcelo was wonderful to deal with in setting everything up (even called me on the phone a couple of times to clarify details), but it seemed unorganized in Fortaleza trying to gather the people and then doing the tour we were supposed to do. There was confusion on if our buggy ride was included or not (it was) and there seemed to be a rush to get through the city tour to spend more time at the beach. We skipped a stop and sort of rushed through the rest of the city.
Perhaps we should have started at the beach which was about a 50 minute drive each way and then we would have known how much time we had to spend for the city tour. Honestly, the weather being what it was none of it really mattered....
Mercado (see the rain drops on the windows?)
Metropolitan Cathedral
Mercado
on the steps to the cathedral
Mercado (Central Market)
post office
drive to Cumbuco Beach
our driver pointing to the beautiful view (if it weren't raining...)
Matt & Heather on the left
We then ordered some lunch and it was very good. We ordered jerked beef empanadas and some yucca fries. They brought cheese and onion empanadas instead, but all was very good. I took the time we had left to call Scott and to talk to Dad in the hospital. Then, we made the drive back to the port with a stop at a local supermarket for wine.
our guide
Grocery store for a wine stop
At dinner we sat with a couple that we met on the 2013 World Cruise. The evening entertainment was a magician Michael Barron. Now, for 3 days at Sea!!
Fortaleza, Brazil https://photos.app.goo.gl/R5eoxLeevocRP2ga2
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ReplyDeleteDear Mrs Kanies, good morning from Brazil.
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much for your feedback, it´s very much appreciated. Through your feedback I can improve and make sure these inconvenients will never happen again.
This is the first time I operated Cumbuco in the Fortaleza Tour and the guide should never have spoken to you about the Cumbuco Buggy payment. If he was not sure, he should have contacted our office in Fortaleza and he did, but after causing this confusion among the passengers, and I truly apologize.
If it wasn´t raining the Guide would definitely had been set by the time you arrived. He told me he got delayed because of the rain, took him longer to get to the Port, but still this is not an excuse once he should have left earlier since it was raining. Fortaleza is the 5th largest Brazilian city with almost 4 million inhabitants and traffic can be bad on rainy days.
I apologize about the tour not being as you expected and if you believe you should receive a Refund, kindly contact me and I will take care of anything for you.
If you allow me please, a quick answer about your Rio de Janeiro Carinval post, which I trully appreciate all your kind words and recognition, although in Rio de Janeiro, I operate the tours myself, with no intermediates. I am not a middle man in Rio (as in Fortaleza for example), I´m a Tour Operator and I hire the Buses and Guides directly, but in order to have realiable and trustworthy guides during the busiest holiday of the year with almost 2 million tourists in town, I pay all my guides almost 5 times more what the market pays, so I can rely on them and they can be extremelly motivated. That´s why my Tours in Rio are not the cheapest ones but still affordable and cheaper than the Tours offered by the Cruise Line.
Mrs Kanies, again, please accept my sincere apologies and if you ever travel to Brazil again, please contact me and I´ll be pleased to assist you with a complimentary tour and net cost price services.
Have a wonderful trip!
Marcelo Zahar