WLHyatt

We have had shane on both of the cruises as the Matre D. He was great, I can almost quote what he says word by word.

Something along the lines of "if everyone is having a great time say HEELLLOOOOOO, This is your Matre D Shane here and trust you had a good day (at sea, in cozumel, whatever), and be glad you in (whatever) dining room because the (other dining room) sucks.

I hope he's on the dream in May, that would be fun.

misguidedangel,

We had that room at the Place D'Armes several years ago, when that was a shared balcony and the window did not open. To use the balcony we had to go out in the hallway and go through the door at the end of the hall. We loved that room, even though it was small. The weird thing was the slatted/vented bathroom door, that took some getting used to.

We went back about a year and a half later and they had segmented that balcony and added the window access. We were staying in the Junior Suite that opens right onto the pool area, and we loved that balcony so much we went up there and sat many nights.

That is my favorite hotel in New Orleans, but some of their policies (2 night minimum on weekends, and the parking costs) keep us from using that property when we cruise.

Luckily the only vacations we take are either cruising from New orleans, or New Orleans is the destination.

You guys are a hoot, I really like these quirky turn-by-turn reviews much more than the ones that just say "food was good, excursions were good, trip was good". This type of review makes the other reviews seem boring (and I bet some of their cruises were that boring, indeed).

I like your style, gonna watch the rest of this review!

I hate that you'd have to miss Belize, it's one of my favorite places. But, if you must, why don't you grab a lounger in the Serenity and catch up with a great book? I like to bring my pillow up on deck and take a little nappy!:D

Love your name, I am a huge fan of Abita beers.

If your knee is bothering you, Altun Ha may not be very fun. We did that one and there is a lot of walking and climbing steps on that tour.

On the Conquest they did lifeboat drills for the crew when we were in Belize, so you could watch that. They also have limited onboard activities, but some of the trivia and other things are sparely populated so you have a better chance of winning a ship on a stick.

We've booked the Prytania Park which includes parking. :)

I love that people ignore this place, it is a hidden gem. I guess most folks want to stay with a brand they have heard of before, rather than take a chance on a small private hotel that has excellent service and free parking if you want to stay a night or two before or after the cruise.

It's all good folks, don't stay here, I'll keep the cruise package to myself :)

I agree with all of these.

I still consider it home, and given the right opportunity, I will move back there.

We are booked in 2248 on the Dream next May, and I was wondering if anyone had any pictures of the balcony. I know the balcony to the aft will have a pretty regular balcony divider, but is there anything on the forward wall, or is it just a big white metal wall?

Just curious, because I was thinking about using it as a magmount place for the gopro to get timelapse.

Two questions:

No sports bar?

Casino bar, is the smoke from the casino bad?

We loved the sports bar on the Conquest, and the closest thing I can find to it is the Casino Bar. I like a bar that you can hold a conversation in (I have some hearing damage from REALLY loud music as a teenager, and anything over moderate level music makes having a conversation impossible), but is still busy. I also liked the Alchemy bar, and was wondering if one of the lounges can make a decent sidecar or manhattan.

Oh ok, I've been watching this stream: http://media.smh.com.au/national/selections/livestream-costa-concordia-salvage-4751321.html

This is fascinating. I have been watching all afternoon.

Did someone mention a press conference? Where can we watch that?

I will confirm, Jazz fest is _ALMOST_ as large as Mardi Gras as far as the hotels in the city are concerned. The hotels will be PACKED.

Given the dates and proximity to JazzFest, I would stay on the North Shore (Covington, Mandeville) and pay the toll to go visit the Quarter. This is what we do when we want to visit our friends who live on the north shore. A $2 toll and you are in the Quarter in about 40 minutes, with little of the craziness that can exist in the Quarter surrounding the hotels.

If it is not too late, I might recommend changing your hotel.

We stayed there for a week in 2011, and will never stay at that property again. The room was always HOT (in November, for crying out loud). The front desk is where you go for the Valet service and they always seemed to roll their eyes when anyone walked up to them. There was always a line at the front desk, so no matter what you were doing you had to wait (even if that was just dropping off keys for the valet to park your car). No wifi in the rooms, only in the lobby. The floors in the room were severely stained, and the bed was only comfortable for people who sleep on floors.

My recommendation would be either Place De Armes which is owned by the same group, the Oliviet house on Toulouse, or Prytania Park.

I hope it isnt too late, and if it is I hope your experience is better than ours.

The only positive we could find for this week was the proximity to Johnny's PoBoys.

There are a million ways to answer this question.

Here are my recommendations, by category:

Food:

Cafe Amelie

Camellia Grill

Oliviers

Johnny's Poboy's

Deanies

History:

All of the Louisiana State Museums, including the 1850 House.

While you are at the 1850 house, inquire about their walking tours, they are very informative and led by state licensed historians.

WWII museum is an all-day event.

About an hour northwest is the town of Vacherie, which has two plantations, Oak Alley and Laura. Do both plantations, as it shows the very different lifestyles between the english/american plantations and the french/creole plantations.

Explore outside New Orleans as well, there are plenty of historical sites from plantations and agriculture to industry to battlefields. One of my favorite sites is a couple of hours down river on the west bank, it is Fort Jackson and was very important to both sides during the Civil War. The fort is an old 5-sided star fort that has a moat and sits almost directly on the river and has a great view of the river for watching river traffic. You will pass the fort on your way down river to the gulf. If you are looking, the fort should be visible about 5 hours after departure in New Orleans.

Shopping:

Royal street is a great shopping area, with plenty of small shops selling Art, Weapons, Antiques, Furniture, Christmas and halloween items, groceries and many other things.

The Pontalba buildings (which house the 1850 house, all around Jackson Square) have many shops and restaurants.

Many malls, and most are quite clean and safe. My old favorite when I lived there was Oakwood, but my more recent favorite while visiting has been Lakeside.

Other than that, it is a great place to go with no list and see where the day carries you. New Orleans does not fit nicely into a scheduled vacation as there will be plenty to distract you and keep you busy.

Do the ships back in at Roatan?

That is really impressive.

Yes, Captain Moreno is one of the others that I recall.

That's the guy. He was really nice, and when we went to the bridge during the Behind the Fun tour, he was waiting and opened the door as we came up the hallway and greeted us. It was really neat.

He pretty much said "look around, if you have any questions, ask anyone and they will tell you what the different things do"

This captain is different than the one we met on the Behind the Fun tour in late August last year. I don't remember his name, but he had dark hair.

Schultz:

I used the webcam from the port of New Orleans to make a timelapse of your sailaway day and of your disembarkation day. (ok, I confess, I really did it because of our upcoming cruise, but you getting to see your sailaway is another reason)

Embarkation day:

Disembarkation day:

Wave at the port webcam on sunday, but do it for a full minute so that we can see you.

I wish they hadn't blocked access to the streaming webcam, that was my favorite webcam ever.