Let's samba on down to Rio

CATCH the carnival (and learn to samba on the way) aboard a luxurious cruise ship, writes Veronica Matheson.

Queen of the Drums .... a dazzling dancer in glittering costume pauses during her passage along Rio's sambadrome avenue during Carnival / AFP

WE learn the hypnotic steps of the samba while cruising to Brazil's famous carnival in Rio de Janeiro, billed as 'the biggest party on Earth'.

Our dancing feet take on a life of their own (rhythm has no part in the frantic footwork), but our teacher Pablo is a patient man.

A Latino, he was born with that intrinsic beat.

We may, or may not, catch its wild, pulsating pace. But we are driven.

There is no point in being in Brazil's party capital if you cannot dance at lively street celebrations in the build-up to the once-a-year carnival.

Rio's Carnival (usually in February, and linked to pre-Lenten revelry) is a truly magic time, when rainbow-coloured costumes and uninhibited dancing meld into the city's in-your-face attitude.

Normal work routine is forgotten and organised chaos takes over.

Street urchins from the shanty towns (favelas) that spill down from hillsides surrounding Rio put on their sparkles to join the parade of stunningly decorated floats, beside sequinned dancers, marching bands and manic drummers.

The 'life's a beach' mindset of the city is briefly forgotten – though tourists still head to the beautiful bays of Ipanema and Copacabana to find sun and sand, between samba breaks.

For a lively week the city's tumultuous heart moves away from the hedonistic beach scene in an explosion of music, fantastic floats, mind-thumping music and wildly gyrating dancers.

Every traveller dreams of seeing and being a part of these intoxicating carnival celebrations.

But when we attempt to make a hotel booking in Rio de Janeiro – not far out from the sprawling city where the carnival runs all night at the inner-city Sambadrome – there are no rooms available.

Travellers head to this annual carnival from all over the world, and often return for another bout of heart-pumping fever. They know they have to book early.

Then comes inspiration: A cruise liner is heading north to the carnival from Buenos Aires in Argentina, and will anchor in Rio's port for the duration of festivities.

Everything is made easy as Celebrity Cruises' personnel arrange tickets for the carnival – at a cost, naturally – and create a comforting safety zone with drop-off and pick-up points between the ship's berth and the Sambadrome.

Safety remains a concern in Rio, a city with huge economic and social problems, and passengers are warned to dress down and not to wear any jewellery that could be easily by ripped off when they are out sightseeing.

The cabin is roomy enough for a couple to move around comfortably, and just about every passenger on board has also joined the cruise to be part of Rio's outrageous party.

Most Rio-bound passengers have not been on a cruise before, but are already thinking of future destination options that can be reached by ship, which offers all the advantages of a home away from home.

While the carnival is uppermost on passengers' minds – some are putting last-minute touches to the costumes they're planning to wear – there are port stops along the way to add to the frisson of excitement.

The ports turn out to be places you would not normally have on a travel itinerary, but are nonetheless delightful to visit.

Montevideo in Uruguay, for starters, has a wonderful down-at-heel feel of crumbling Spanish flavour in its pastel buildings; Port Belo, Brazil, proves a holiday haven with great beaches, glistening turquoise waters and uninhabited off-shore islands; and the resort town of Buzios, also in Brazil, was made famous by French film star Brigitte Bardot, who used it as a hideaway until the paparazzi put it on the map.

Yet most cruise passengers are impatient for the main event, rising at dawn for their first sight of Rio and the famous towering statue of Christ the Redeemer gazing down from the humped dome of Corcovado Mountain.

Some of the passengers still find time to fit in a last dance class, and smiling Pablo concedes we are finally samba-savvy. For there can be no carnival without a samba.