THE MA'AMs SWEET JEWEL SUITE review and pictoral

Well, at least two of the Ma'ams were on this cruise, Medicalma'am and myself, Planma'am and our DHs. Screenma'am and her DH, Bullit, couldn't get away in December; though just having sold her business as the end of December, she and Bullit will be sailing in January 2014 on the Epic with Medicalma'am. (Hopefully those two ma'ams will contribute a review upon their return, too.)

Our cruise was December 15-22, 2013 sailing from New Orleans. This was the alternate itinerary only offered by NCL a handful of times in November and December to Montego Bay, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. We sailed with Mitsugirly, having the pleasure of meeting her for the first time. Our review will have a different take than hers, though, as we were just two older couples sailing in suites; no kiddos. Though we met up a couple of times for events and drinks, even taking one excursion together, our on-board experiences were different enough that I think it warrants our own review.

Medicalma'am and I are sisters, I live in Utah and she lives in Texas. We will both be contributing to this review, each adding pictures as we go. We are going to attempt to make this chronological, each completing a day at a time then waiting for the other to complete their additions for the same day. Hopefully this will work out well because of our differing work schedules. I work 8-5 in the Mountain time zone, and she works 2 pm -10 pm in the Central time zone.

This is a picture we took as we were waiting for our DHs to park the car at the cruise port.

OK, I've tried all three of the options to get other than an thumbnail, and I can't seem to post a full-sized picture. Guess I'll have to do some more research before posting more pics. :-(

Well, maybe I'll just finish the preliminary information for now.

Medicalma'am and her DH drove to New Orleans on Friday, December 13, 2013, where she had booked us at the Maison St. Charles where we had stayed in January prior to our cruise on the Star. This time we got a 2-bedroom, 2-bath suite with a common living room.

DH and I flew out on Saturday morning, and arrived around 4 p.m. after a short layover in Denver, and Medicalma'am and her DH picked us up at the airport.

I'll stop here to let Medicalma'am tell about her portion of the trip prior to picking us up; maybe I can figure out the pictures in the mean time. See you on the morrow.

Yippee! Excited to read another one of your reviews!!!!! :)

Well, I just got home from work. It is a chilly 28 degrees and windy here in Texas......BRRRRRRRRRR. Missing me some warm beaches!

My DH and arrived at the Maison St. Charles Quality Inn rather late on Friday evening and we just elected to have dinner at the Tapas restaurant next to the hotel. It was not crowded and many locals were dining there. There was also some private function in the building and the music could be heard. BOOM BOOM BOOM of the bass stayed with us all during dinner. My only complaint during the meal was that the waitress took iced tea with my plate. I was turned looking out the window and it was gone before I knew it! You NEVER should take someone's drink! Ask to refil it, but DON'T TAKE MY DRINK!!!

Back to our room, we got comfortable and chose our bedroom from the two. We were on the second story of one of the historic buildings on the site. It was very quiet, and I believe that no one was in the rooms below us. That meant we had this building to ourselves.

http://s531.photobucket.com/user/robingk/media/IMG_3580.jpg.html

We chose the biggest room with the BIGGEST bed. No kidding...this bed was way bigger than a king.....it was a giant king!

The living room

http://s531.photobucket.com/user/robingk/media/IMG_3579.jpg.html

The other bedroom

http://s531.photobucket.com/user/robingk/media/IMG_3578.jpg.html

There seems to be a ghost in this pic. More on that later.

Well, it has been awhile since our last review, and I am having trouble remembering just how to post pics. I feel old.....

The largest bedroom

The smaller bedroom with ghost.

Living room

Where do you see the ghost in the picture?

DH and I really enjoyed this suite all to ourselves that night. Next morning we had a leisurely morning, sleeping in. He went down and brought me breakfast. What a sweet heart!

I was having a time getting pics onto my new laptop so I could take more on the cruise. I was out of memory and had to download them!

We headed out to lunch at a local place he had found that gave points on his Southwest card. It was a Cajun place that was really good. It was raining all afternoon and sight seeing was out of the question. We were then looking for a liquor store and found everything but. Really, if you want to know where ANY store is in NOLA, just ask because we found them.

It was time to head for the airport to pick up The other Ma'am and BIL. We easily found the cell lot and waited. Soon we got a call saying that they were in baggage claim. We had to follow other cars out of the lot to the airport entrance. We could not see on my phone google earth/maps just where we entered the airport for pickup but managed by following a taxi. The rain did not help. We got their luggage loaded and looked at it wondering just how were we going to get everything in on the way to the port the next day. :eek: My DH alone had five bags......yes, five bags. (one of which was a carry on I might add)

We were soon on our way to find said liquor store with the help of three people's cell phones! There was a large one very near the airport. Wait, this doesn't look like and area where there would be a store. We were at a big warehouse for a liquor store supplier! What can I say.....Siri led me there. I had to let it go and just let BIL guide DH there. Men don't like to listen to women in the back seat!

We settled for a CVS that we had passed on the way in.....along with all those other stores. Just ask me. We all were able to get what we needed (favorite wines) to take aboard, plus various things we just HAD to have.

It was time to eat again.....this will be an ongoing theme for the coming week. My DH and I like to watch Drive Inns Diners and Dives (or AKA triple D). We had seen a place in the Midtown area of town that we wanted to try. Katies Midtown Diner. It was in a residential area and not too hard to find. Finding a parking place was another story though. We found acceptable parking and walked in the rain without getting too wet. I is a very small place and it was packed! Well, at 7:30 on Saturday night that is no surprise. We made ourselves comfortable at the bar and ordered drinks. We had a good time visiting with the bar staff and soon our table was ready. I don't remember what I had. Planma'am and I shared something and each had a salad. It was wonderful, what ever it was. Pulled pork rings a bell, maybe a sandwich. Two Tanqueray dirty martinis did not help my memory. It must have been the olives. ;) Food was all wonderful. We talked with the manager on call. She said that they had stayed the same, not tried to capitalize on the advertising the show had afforded them and quality did not go down. It showed. This place is great.

After dinner, we headed to the hotel. We gave Planma'am and BIL their choice of which bedroom they wanted. They choose the BIG GIANT BED. We had moved our things into the living room and just wheeled the bags into the smaller bedroom. This one had an en-suite. The BIG GIANT BED room had the bathroom all the way across the living room. We were happy with their choice.

BIL helped me get the pics onto my laptop finally. We opened a bottle of wine and opened the living room door to the balcony and enjoyed the breeze. We talked late into the night then turned in.

Ghost.....bottom right had corner. That is where the noise came from later too.

Hey, I really like this picture. It makes me look skinny. Well, anything from the neck up makes me look skinny. :o

Subscribing...:D I can't wait for more.

Thanks very much, Ma'ams! I'm enjoying it so far.

Subscribing...:D I can't wait for more.

Mitsugirly, what you doing up at 2:00 am? Your work schedule thst screwy?

I managed to one-finger type this from my phone!

after months of scattered info on the Jewel it is nice to see an influx of reviews.

We head to NOLA a week tomorrow. Our first time so I am really hoping for decent weather. and no rain as we have mostly out door activities planned

We sail a week from Sunday all these reviews are making me giddy to board!:)

Yay! I love the ma'ams' tag-team reviews!

Mitsugirly' date=' what you doing up at 2:00 am? Your work schedule thst screwy?

 

I managed to one-finger type this from my phone![/quote']

 

Haha, because of my schedule, we are night owls. I went to bed at 4:00am actually. :D

 

I managed to two-hand type this from my computer. :p

 

I can't wait for more.

Yay! I love the ma'ams reviews!

I don't remember what I had. Planma'am and I shared something and each had a salad. It was wonderful' date=' what ever it was. Pulled pork rings a bell, maybe a sandwich. Two Tanqueray dirty martinis did not help my memory. It must have been the olives. ;) Food was all wonderful. We talked with the manager on call. She said that they had stayed the same, not tried to capitalize on the advertising the show had afforded them and quality did not go down. It showed. This place is great.

 

[/size']

It was pork ribs we shared; I remember cutting them to divide them up. I remember them being good, too. So glad this place did not succumb to the "Triple D Curse". (Trying to keep up with the notoriety gained from the show and opening more locations, etc. and then ending up going under.)

Here is another attempt to upload a picture; hope it's not a thumbnail again. This one shows the HUGE bed in our suite at the hotel.

OK, second try:

Darn, only a thumbnail again. I need more practice. Guess I'm not going to get much done while at lunch here at work; I'll have to finish from home tonight.:(

Wendy, you have to host the picture, then grab the http address of the picture, go to the little button on your post here (that looks like a picture) and then when the pop up box comes up, paste that http address in it and it will post the picture. :)

Anyway, have to share another story. While my DH and Medicalma'am worked on downloading her phone pics to her computer, her DH and I talked. He is a rather soft-spoken guy, and remember when Medicalma'am wrote they just ate at the TAPAS place at the hotel? Well I heard him say what sounded like TOPLESS place! And said with such non-nonchalance! My mind was spinning: Not this brother-in-law! He'd NEVER step foot into a topless place, not to mention my sister! Surely not! I even asked him to repeat it, and sure enough, it still sounded like topless! So I said "there's a topless place at this hotel?" No, no, no, TAPAS! TAPAS, not TOPLESS! We all had a good laugh about that one!

Well, we were having a good time! We were well on the way to draining one of the bottles of wine I had bought at CVS................

The next morning I awoke early and decided to get into the shower before my DH, who is notorious for long, hot showers. The bathroom across the living room was ours, and it was the size of a powder room with a tub at the end. The shower hit me about neck high, and I had to duck down to wash my hair. That and the water kept going hot and cold, I knew DH was not going to be a happy camper. Sure enough, later he told me he appreciates old places and all, but next time could we stay at a hotel with more modern bathrooms?

This hotel serves a full breakfast, but only until 9:00 a.m., even on weekends. I managed to get there in time, but when DH got there at about 8:50, they were already taking things back to the kitchen. And when I went to get a refill on coffee at about 8:55, all they had left out there was hot water and tea bags. So warning, if you ever stay here, plan to get to breakfast early enough to get what you want.

Medicalma'am will have to tell you how they managed for breakfast, I didn't see them there when I was there.

Well, my lunch is over, have to continue tonight.

OK, the picture of that bed just does not do it justice. Planma'am did say that she reached over as far as her arm could in the morning and did not feel her DH there. Now they have a king sized bed at home so this is saying a lot. She stretched and reached again and alas, he was there. This bed was a monster.

Now I remember the ribs...they were really good.

OK' date=' the picture of that bed just does not do it justice. Planma'am did say that she reached over as far as her arm could in the morning and did not feel her DH there. Now they have a king sized bed at home so this is saying a lot. She stretched and reached again and alas, he was there. This bed was a monster.

 

Now I remember the ribs...they were really good.

 

[/size']

Alas? Hmmmm, guess I won't be showing this review to DH!;)