Rio Carnival, 2025

Carnival stems from Catholic festival celebrations of Portuguese colonialists and the music and dancing of African slaves.

In Rio De Janeiro, it has morphed into a week-long festival.

90,000 people gather to watch at the city’s Sambadrome stadium, wearing colorful costumes, and constantly dancing to Samba music.

500,000 foreign visitors attend annually. At our cruise port there are eight cruise ships holding about 20,000 people.

2,000,000 people are in the streets daily.

10,000,000 liters of beer are consumed.

It is no surprise Guinness says it is the world’s biggest carnival.

Crystal Cruises was kind enough to host a fabulous World Cruise event at the Sambadrome with all the appropriate perks including food, drink, transportation, security and facial recognition. They even had a blocked off special seating area for us in the 100% location.

Many samba schools compete on how elaborate their floats (They are about 70 feet high) and costumes are, as well as their dancing and music. Some schools spend over $4 million to prepare.

Virtually every float is preceded and trailed by 4,000 – 5,000 dancers (no exaggeration) commonly dressed to the hilt.

Additionally, there are about 587 blocos (street parties) which take place in Rio de Janeiro during the Carnival period. It’s totally wild here.

Did I mention the beaches? Ipanema is just one of many. They are gorgeous and gigantic and packed this week.  They make Waikiki at Christmas feel like a miniature version.

If elaborate events are your deal, Carnival in Rio must be on top of your bucket list.