Fingerprinted in Brazil

My husband and I took a 2-month segment of a 4-month cruise on the Saga Rose, a British ship sailing from Southampton, England. The portion of the cruise we took left Southampton on Jan. 4, ’04, and we disembarked in Sydney, Australia, on March 4. The ship returned to Southampton via South Africa.

We booked our cruise through Saga Holidays in Boston (800/343-0273). Our grade E cabin, No. 329, was central and nice.

Regarding the item on the fingerprinting of visitors to Brazil (March ’04, pg. 82), we were informed on our way to Recife that all 27 Americans on board would have to be fingerprinted and photographed when the ship docked. The ship retained our passports.

When we docked in Recife, on Jan. 16, we were led from the ship’s library down the gangway, where we were met by a phalanx of photographers and reporters who thrust microphones at our heads and asked what we thought of the new policy. It was quite frightening, and when the captain jokingly said, “We won’t leave without you,” as we were herded into police vans, it didn’t make us feel any better.

Everyone was very polite. I was the first to be processed, then my husband. Now, although we are both naturalized American citizens, we still retain our Scottish accents and we had quite a time getting them to understand information and details. It also didn’t help when they discovered that my husband didn’t have any thumbprints due to his bricklaying days when he was younger.

Incidentally, when we were released, none of us went off the ship to look around or spend money.

All in all, we had a great cruise after that and we would do it again.

JEAN ANDERSON
Olmsted Township, OH