My girlfriend and I stayed with Celso and Cely during Carnaval 2019 and had a wonderful experience. I booked months in advance and had good communication in preparation for our trip. They were very nice and attentive to our needs during our stay. They clearly love having guests and have walls full of photos of guests who have stayed with them
One of my favorite parts is the location. They are a block away from the subway station which was our gateway to the various Carnaval parties throughout the city. They run more trains during Carnaval and honestly don't remember waiting more than a minute for a train. A 10 minute walk to the beach. The neighborhood of Copacabana was lively during Carnaval with many young people.
The accommodations were simple but clean and comfortable. Having a room with private bathroom was nice. The bed is actually two twin sized beds put together into one for us a couple, it could also be split into two if you don't want to share the bed. The only downside was the wifi doesn't really work in the bedroom. Celso was upfront about this and clearly has tried to remedy this with new routers, but at least the wifi works fast and great in the living room. Area in apartment for drying wet clothes/sandals after a trip to the beach and a sink for washing sand off feet downstairs in the garage.
Celso speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish well and was a joy to have a conversation with. We highly recommend Celso's place and hope to see him again in a future trip to Rio!