NCL Breakaway March 3-10 from New Orleans semi-live

[cruisinmeme]

2 hours ago, boffoboffo said:

I went ahead and reworked the route we’d have to take to include Buc-ee’s and the one in Athens, AL would only add about 20 minutes to our driving time. Although at this point with all the hype it’s being given I’m wondering if we should just cancel the cruise and spend a week at Buc-ee’s instead.

I would drive 3 hours one way just to go to Buc ees. Yes there will be lots of people but it is so big you do t feel it. Also check out at two entrances and always goes fast. I can gut a Buc ees in less than 30 mins. 

[northernrose]

Make sure there no blizzard then I fly in February 28 2024.

[boffoboffo]

Of slightly less relevance for people mostly interested what happens while on the cruise since the cruise will be over, but I’ll still be posting pictures and stuff from our ride home so I’ll post that route as well. 
 

We’ll be looking at the fastest way possible so back on to the main interstates. Hopeful to do it in two days but we have an extra day available if we need it.

 

So day 1:

Looks like we’ll just be taking I-55 almost the entire way to our stop just outside St. Louis. We’ll skim through a bit of the eastern edge of Arkansas to be able to check it off our visited list. And the aforementioned Memphis donut place could certainly be considered.

 

Day 2:

I-70 to I-69 to state highway 24 to I-75. I’m pretty sure we’ve driven a decent chunk of this route on one of our previous road trips as it seems very familiar. I’m pretty sure my wife got pulled over for speeding somewhere between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. She managed to charm the cop out of giving her a ticket.

 

Probably won’t be looking to make any major stops or side trips on the drive home and there appear to be no Buc-ee’s anywhere nearby to distract us. 

[boffoboffo]

Since I’m running out of pre-trip stuff to talk about but need to keep up with fresh new content to keep the masses coming back and everyone like random pictures here’s a post about the previous time we crossed paths with the Breakaway.

 

Back in September 2022 we were in between our Gem and Getaway cruises and felt like getting out and going somewhere so we did a spur-of-the-moment week long road trip to Fundy National Park in New Brunswick.

 

Fundy NP is fairly centrally located with Moncton about 1 hour north and Saint John an hour south so we were going to just spend the week seeing the sights up and down the coastline. This is the height of the Canada/New England cruise season and Saint John is a regular stop on those itineraries so I checked the port schedule to see what ships would be in Saint John each day we were in the area. On Thursday the Breakaway, Joy, and Voyager of the Seas were all scheduled to be there so we decided to go to Saint John that day. At that point we hadn’t booked this cruise yet but since our first ever booked cruise was supposed to have been on the Breakaway it seemed like a great opportunity to see what we had missed.

 

Got to the port area fairly early in the morning and the Breakaway was already docked and the crowds had already dispersed to do whatever it is that someone does in Saint John during an 8-10 hour port stop. I assume be underwhelmed by a visit to the Reversing Falls or get on a bus to take you somewhere else away from the city. I like Saint John but it’s not exactly a prime tourist destination. 

 

After that we headed to the Irving Nature Park which is a really cool place on the outskirts of town. I would recommend it as a quiet place to check out if you ever do a Canada/New England cruise if you enjoy the outdoors and want to avoid anyplace that would have a large excursion crowd. It’s a better place to see the dramatic tide changes that happen than the much more famous Reversing Falls because it’s much easier to spend the required few hours there to be able to notice the change.

 

We got a trail that overlooked the Bay of Fundy and got to watch as the Joy sailed into port. There was also a seal teasing us in the water beneath us popping its’ head up for a few seconds at a time.

 

After we finished up at the park we got on the highway to head back up north to our campsite. Entering back into the downtown area we saw the two NCL ships now docked together side-by-side, along with the Voyager of the Seas segregated by itself at a separate dock. 

 

And that was the last we saw of the Breakaway until we actually are allowed to get on board in just 8 more days, some 1235 days after we were originally supposed to for our COVID cancelled cruise. 

[Panhandle Couple]

On 2/22/2024 at 5:37 PM, boffoboffo said:

Of slightly less relevance for people mostly interested what happens while on the cruise since the cruise will be over, but I’ll still be posting pictures and stuff from our ride home so I’ll post that route as well. 
 

We’ll be looking at the fastest way possible so back on to the main interstates. Hopeful to do it in two days but we have an extra day available if we need it.

 

So day 1:

Looks like we’ll just be taking I-55 almost the entire way to our stop just outside St. Louis. We’ll skim through a bit of the eastern edge of Arkansas to be able to check it off our visited list. And the aforementioned Memphis donut place could certainly be considered.

 

Day 2:

I-70 to I-69 to state highway 24 to I-75. I’m pretty sure we’ve driven a decent chunk of this route on one of our previous road trips as it seems very familiar. I’m pretty sure my wife got pulled over for speeding somewhere between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. She managed to charm the cop out of giving her a ticket.

 

Probably won’t be looking to make any major stops or side trips on the drive home and there appear to be no Buc-ee’s anywhere nearby to distract us. 

Lambert's Cafe. Sikeston Missouri.

Home of the Throwed Rolls.

Arrive hungry.

[boffoboffo]

Was checking out Lambert’s Cafe to see where that was on the route and how that would work out time wise. About 8 hours from the cruise terminal when it finally dawned on me just how much we’d be pushing it to try and get home in two days. Assuming getting off the ship and in the car around 8am if we included gas and bathroom and food breaks along the way we may end up on the road until 8 or 9pm. And then a second day of roughly the same length, albeit with an earlier start but also losing a hour with a time zone change was going to make for a very, very long two days. So I quickly re-kajiggered the route knowing that Sikeston is an 8 hour drive which seems like a more comfortable length of time to be on the road. So the new plan has day 1:

Same planned route as before but stopping for the night in Sikeston. Guess we’ll have no excuse but to try Lambert’s Cafe now. 
 

Day 2:

Very similar route to before but instead of staying on I-55 to I-70 we’ll be taking I-57 to I-70 and stopping for the night in Toledo. Leaves a nice leisurely third day of:

Should mean we’ll still get home sometime on Tuesday morning so that’s decent and nowhere near as exhausting as the original itinerary would have been. 
 

Also stopped at the bank today to get some American money for the trip and I’ve got to say there are few things more painful than the large chunk of money you lose when converting CAD$ to USD$. 

[Panhandle Couple]

6 hours ago, boffoboffo said:

Was checking out Lambert’s Cafe to see where that was on the route and how that would work out time wise. About 8 hours from the cruise terminal when it finally dawned on me just how much we’d be pushing it to try and get home in two days. Assuming getting off the ship and in the car around 8am if we included gas and bathroom and food breaks along the way we may end up on the road until 8 or 9pm. And then a second day of roughly the same length, albeit with an earlier start but also losing a hour with a time zone change was going to make for a very, very long two days. So I quickly re-kajiggered the route knowing that Sikeston is an 8 hour drive which seems like a more comfortable length of time to be on the road. So the new plan has day 1:

Same planned route as before but stopping for the night in Sikeston. Guess we’ll have no excuse but to try Lambert’s Cafe now. 
 

Day 2:

Very similar route to before but instead of staying on I-55 to I-70 we’ll be taking I-57 to I-70 and stopping for the night in Toledo. Leaves a nice leisurely third day of:

Should mean we’ll still get home sometime on Tuesday morning so that’s decent and nowhere near as exhausting as the original itinerary would have been. 
 

Also stopped at the bank today to get some American money for the trip and I’ve got to say there are few things more painful than the large chunk of money you lose when converting CAD$ to USD$. 

I 57 bypassing St. Louis traffic is a good choice.

Not the greatest scenery, but better time wise.

 

Remember Illinois is called the Prairie State when driving across it. 

 

If I recall, the rest areas in Missouri bootheel have some info on the 1811 New Madrid earthquakes.

 

[boffoboffo]

I’ve driven various parts of Illinois before. It’s easy to just think about the Chicagoland area and forget that almost everything south of there, which is most of the state is just farm land. However, having also driven all the way across Kansas before, any other state is exciting by comparison. 

[boffoboffo]

Wasn’t going to do it because I’m cheap and a $7 reservation fee sounds dumb but I went ahead and pre booked our parking at the port. 
 

https://portnola.com/cruise/parking-directions

 

I guess it’ll be one less thing we need to pay for after the cruise so that’s something. And having never been to the New Orleans port before while I assume there is plenty of parking available I don’t know that for sure so it felt better to be safe than sorry. It is nice that after paying $45 per day to park on the pier in Manhattan $25 per day sounds like a bargain in comparison.

 

Only one more week to go. 

[boffoboffo]

On 2/15/2024 at 9:31 AM, chewsifer1220 said:

 

 

I am also extremely introverted so I am most interested in this part. I would love to know where to go on this ship to find some solitude, other than my cabin, and places on the ship to visit. I look forward to reading your semi live review 😊

This is a post for the introverted types. Three cruises has been enough for me to come up with a decent list of ways to avoid people. For the most part I’ve found that the ship you’re on doesn’t really matter all that much because people are very predictable so it becomes fairly easy to know exactly what to expect from the masses around you, so then you can just do what they aren’t.

 

Tip # 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5: Should go without saying to anyone who is uncomfortable in social situations with strangers but at all costs avoid the elevator. The stairs usually end up being faster anyway and you’re not stuck in a small box with a bunch of people where it’s guaranteed someone is going to try to engage you in awkward small talk. You should already cringe at the torture that is a public elevator and just don’t risk it. Stay away.

 

That’s the end of my numbered list. The elevator is the worst.

 

Avoid the hot tubs for basically the exact same reason. You can try them later in the evening or night as they’re typically less crowded and if you get lucky and find an empty one maybe bring a Baby Ruth bar or two with you to add to the water and hopefully discourage anyone from joining you.

 

The pool deck will be busy during the day. The casino and other indoor venues will be busy at night. The Waterfront or promenade deck never seems to get too busy.
 

If you want to get sun during the day just keep going up decks and further away from the pool. Everyone wants to be near the pool and the pool bar and the buffet so everyone will be there. There are usually some nice open areas with minimal foot traffic two or three decks above the pool towards the front of the ship. Otherwise wait until anytime after supper time if you want to hang out near the pool. It’ll be fairly quiet. 
 

Some of the bars/venues aren’t open during the day but their seating areas are still accessible. Speciality dining restaurants would fall into this category as well and they include window seats. In many cases you could sit in one of these places for hours during the day and see no one else aside from a couple staff members.

 

The Waterfront on Breakaway class ships or promenade deck on Jewel class ships are always a nice quiet place that also get you closer to the water. The sunny side will always be busier than the shadier side. The Breakaway ships do also have another non-wraparound outside deck beneath the Waterfront deck. Aside from shuffleboard players and crew no one ever goes down there. If you just want to stand and watch the ocean alone, that’s the place to go. 
 

Some places are kind of impossible to avoid crowds like the buffet or the theatre. That being said I’ve never had anyone ever try to engage me in unwanted discussion in either of those places. Guess people have better things to do. 
 

Avoid lineups. People are waiting for something and getting bored and assume you would rather talk to them than be bored in silence.

 

Wear the most generic shirts possible. A shirt from a previous cruise destination or a favourite sports team are considered a conversation starter by far too many people. Now they know something about you so they can fake interest while they talk about themselves.

 

The biggest most obvious headphones you can find are always a good idea to have on your head even if you’re not listening to anything. No one but you knows you’re not listening to anything so you can easily ignore people without appearing rude.

 

If you’re just wanting to sit and relax outside enjoying the view or the sun bring a book even if you’re not reading it. If you’re just sitting there quietly or on your cell phone someone will inevitably think you’re lonely and take that as an invitation to sit beside you. If you appear to be reading, preferably some obscure, boring sounding book from some unknown author people are more likely to assume you’d rather not be disturbed and won’t attempt to talk about the book with you since they know nothing about it.

 

If you need to get a drink the bars towards the middle of the ship tend to be busiest(atrium, pool) and then they get less busy as you get closer to the ends of the ship. For as crowded as the buffet gets the bar in there almost never has a line, for some reason. 

On sea days the early risers start getting up around 7 and the masses closer to 8 and looking for breakfast around 8:30 to 9. Nothing is open but aside from a handful of other guests and a bunch of crew cleaning you will have the ship to yourself if you get up at 5 or 6. It is so worth it for that and the sunrise. 
 

Don’t be feel like you’re wasting your holiday if you decide to just escape to the solitude of your cabin for a few hours. You paid for it and it’s guaranteed to not have strangers in it.

 

For excursions the ship offered ones are usually going to be busy and feature waiting in lines and being stuck sitting close to a bunch of people in some sort of bus or van. Third party excursions are typically much less busy. 
 

If you’re in Bermuda avoid the bus stops. Our last cruise was to Bermuda and I only had three random people during that whole 7 days decide to randomly start a conversation with me. One was some drunk guy on the ship who saw me wearing a Bruins shirt and took that as a conversation starter. The other two were local Bermuda women who appeared to just be hanging out at or near bus stops looking to engage in conversation with tourists. 
 

I think that’s a good enough list for now to get you started. If I think of anything else or discover anything new while on board I’ll make sure to include it. 

[chewsifer1220]

16 hours ago, boffoboffo said:

This is a post for the introverted types. Three cruises has been enough for me to come up with a decent list of ways to avoid people. For the most part I’ve found that the ship you’re on doesn’t really matter all that much because people are very predictable so it becomes fairly easy to know exactly what to expect from the masses around you, so then you can just do what they aren’t.

 

Tip # 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5: Should go without saying to anyone who is uncomfortable in social situations with strangers but at all costs avoid the elevator. The stairs usually end up being faster anyway and you’re not stuck in a small box with a bunch of people where it’s guaranteed someone is going to try to engage you in awkward small talk. You should already cringe at the torture that is a public elevator and just don’t risk it. Stay away.

 

That’s the end of my numbered list. The elevator is the worst.

 

Avoid the hot tubs for basically the exact same reason. You can try them later in the evening or night as they’re typically less crowded and if you get lucky and find an empty one maybe bring a Baby Ruth bar or two with you to add to the water and hopefully discourage anyone from joining you.

 

The pool deck will be busy during the day. The casino and other indoor venues will be busy at night. The Waterfront or promenade deck never seems to get too busy.
 

If you want to get sun during the day just keep going up decks and further away from the pool. Everyone wants to be near the pool and the pool bar and the buffet so everyone will be there. There are usually some nice open areas with minimal foot traffic two or three decks above the pool towards the front of the ship. Otherwise wait until anytime after supper time if you want to hang out near the pool. It’ll be fairly quiet. 
 

Some of the bars/venues aren’t open during the day but their seating areas are still accessible. Speciality dining restaurants would fall into this category as well and they include window seats. In many cases you could sit in one of these places for hours during the day and see no one else aside from a couple staff members.

 

The Waterfront on Breakaway class ships or promenade deck on Jewel class ships are always a nice quiet place that also get you closer to the water. The sunny side will always be busier than the shadier side. The Breakaway ships do also have another non-wraparound outside deck beneath the Waterfront deck. Aside from shuffleboard players and crew no one ever goes down there. If you just want to stand and watch the ocean alone, that’s the place to go. 
 

Some places are kind of impossible to avoid crowds like the buffet or the theatre. That being said I’ve never had anyone ever try to engage me in unwanted discussion in either of those places. Guess people have better things to do. 
 

Avoid lineups. People are waiting for something and getting bored and assume you would rather talk to them than be bored in silence.

 

Wear the most generic shirts possible. A shirt from a previous cruise destination or a favourite sports team are considered a conversation starter by far too many people. Now they know something about you so they can fake interest while they talk about themselves.

 

The biggest most obvious headphones you can find are always a good idea to have on your head even if you’re not listening to anything. No one but you knows you’re not listening to anything so you can easily ignore people without appearing rude.

 

If you’re just wanting to sit and relax outside enjoying the view or the sun bring a book even if you’re not reading it. If you’re just sitting there quietly or on your cell phone someone will inevitably think you’re lonely and take that as an invitation to sit beside you. If you appear to be reading, preferably some obscure, boring sounding book from some unknown author people are more likely to assume you’d rather not be disturbed and won’t attempt to talk about the book with you since they know nothing about it.

 

If you need to get a drink the bars towards the middle of the ship tend to be busiest(atrium, pool) and then they get less busy as you get closer to the ends of the ship. For as crowded as the buffet gets the bar in there almost never has a line, for some reason. 

On sea days the early risers start getting up around 7 and the masses closer to 8 and looking for breakfast around 8:30 to 9. Nothing is open but aside from a handful of other guests and a bunch of crew cleaning you will have the ship to yourself if you get up at 5 or 6. It is so worth it for that and the sunrise. 
 

Don’t be feel like you’re wasting your holiday if you decide to just escape to the solitude of your cabin for a few hours. You paid for it and it’s guaranteed to not have strangers in it.

 

For excursions the ship offered ones are usually going to be busy and feature waiting in lines and being stuck sitting close to a bunch of people in some sort of bus or van. Third party excursions are typically much less busy. 
 

If you’re in Bermuda avoid the bus stops. Our last cruise was to Bermuda and I only had three random people during that whole 7 days decide to randomly start a conversation with me. One was some drunk guy on the ship who saw me wearing a Bruins shirt and took that as a conversation starter. The other two were local Bermuda women who appeared to just be hanging out at or near bus stops looking to engage in conversation with tourists. 
 

I think that’s a good enough list for now to get you started. If I think of anything else or discover anything new while on board I’ll make sure to include it. 

 

I love this! This is an introverts dream! This should be a pinned post for all introverts who want to cruise but are leery of being on a cruise ship. 

 

Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely keep these in mind when I sail in December. After reading multiple posts about the Waterfront I think that'll be me go to while on board. The sun side vs shade side though is some good advice. Personally,  I'm going to be nowhere near the pool if I can help it. I've seen on YT how that zoo looks. No thanks. 

 

Again, thank you and enjoy your cruise!

[swanhaven]

20 hours ago, boffoboffo said:

If you’re just wanting to sit and relax outside enjoying the view or the sun bring a book even if you’re not reading it. If you’re just sitting there quietly or on your cell phone someone will inevitably think you’re lonely and take that as an invitation to sit beside you. If you appear to be reading, preferably some obscure, boring sounding book from some unknown author people are more likely to assume you’d rather not be disturbed and won’t attempt to talk about the book with you since they know nothing about it.

 

 

Quintessential introvert speaking here....last book I read on vacation was titled

"People I Want to Punch in the Throat" by an author by the name of Jen Mann

 

Worked well.

 

 

[cruiseny4life]

Oh, you're amazing! I love that you post super long text, but are a reclusive hermit. That's me, too! I'm obnoxiously verbose on here, at times, yet on the ship I'd rather not have a conversation with someone who I have conversed with over and over on Cruise Critic. Now typing at each other. I'm down. But I don't want the face to face.

 

Thanks for the list. I just might try out some of these next times! Especially that walkway under the Waterfront on Getaway/Breakaway. 

[FredZiffle]

I'd disagree with the OP as far as the Waterfront being a good place if you want solitude.  Unless you want to sit in one of the specialty restaurant's outdoor seating areas (which few people use because the seating isn't very comfortable), you'll find no place where you can be alone since seating is in groups of 4 or 5 chairs.  Yes, you might find a spare seat, but you're intruding on another group which them may feel obligated to include you in their conversation.

[boffoboffo]

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Oh, you're amazing! I love that you post super long text, but are a reclusive hermit. That's me, too! I'm obnoxiously verbose on here, at times, yet on the ship I'd rather not have a conversation with someone who I have conversed with over and over on Cruise Critic. Now typing at each other. I'm down. But I don't want the face to face.

 

Thanks for the list. I just might try out some of these next times! Especially that walkway under the Waterfront on Getaway/Breakaway. 

Before our first cruise everyone in the roll call thread was so gung ho about the meet and greet and slot pull and gift exchange and I was thinking this all sounds like fun. 
 

Then I stopped and thought about it a bit and realized that it actually sounded like no fun at all. I’d walk in and obviously have no interest in sitting at a table where someone else is sitting. So I’d find an empty one in the back corner of the room hoping that nobody would notice me back there. So what point would there actually be in even bothering to go? So I never have and never will.

 

It does make cruising with my mom difficult at times because she’s one to initiate small talk at any moment where there’s silence and some other person around. And then complain afterward about how the other person wouldn’t stop yapping if they take the time to answer her questions instead of just letting her talk. I’m starting to think she may have been a strong influence towards my present day uneasiness or discomfort in social settings. But she’s happy to get out of her house and feel included in the life of one of her kids, so I’m willing to deal with it.

[boffoboffo]

Some random musings as we approach 120 hours until sail away and 36 hours until….drive away?

 

Of course the temperature here the last couple of days and tomorrow has been in the low teen’s and very spring like.

 

The cats are very much looking forward to not having the person around who insists on sitting on their couch forcing them to sleep in an almost literal pile.

 

Will probably finish packing tomorrow and immediately start wondering what it was that I forgot, even though I don’t recall ever forgetting to pack anything on any trip we’ve ever been on. I did download some TV shows to watch offline and downloaded offline Google maps as well, just in case. 

 

If you’re someone who likes negative reviews or complaining about every little thing then you should probably look elsewhere. I’m very easy going and not entitled and set my expectations accordingly so NCL would have to screw up really bad for me to be anything but satisfied with my vacation. Too many people I see writing reviews online where they seemingly decide before they even get on the ship that they’re going to have a bad time and then do everything in their power to make sure they do. I just don’t get it. 
 

I’m not a foodie or anything like that so I don’t have a high bar to clear for me to enjoy a meal. I will almost certainly be happy with all the food I eat. 

 

I never cruised in the before-COVID times so I’m not able to compare anything to how much better it was “back in the day”. I did get to experience things like twice daily room servicing(don’t miss it. Never thought it was necessary), the nightly blue plate special at O’Sheehan’s(do miss that. It kept their menu from getting boring fairly quickly) and hash browns for breakfast(may have to consider smuggling a bunch of McDonald’s ones aboard) but not having these things didn’t ruin my last cruise, so I doubt it’ll ruin this one.

 

 

[living at the beach]

Your kitties are so cute! But even though I have two cats who are brother and sister, they are rag dolls so they just jump in my lap on top of me and want lots of cuddles. Thank goodness that I have a cat sitter who has known them since they were babies. 
I am also on this cruise with you, scheduled to fly from Boston early Thursday morning hoping the strong winds and crazy weather doesn’t disrupt my flight to New Orleans. Have a solo balcony on deck 12 midship and looking forward to the cruise 

[boffoboffo]

My wife works at a vet clinic less than two blocks from our apartment so she usually has a few co-workers openly volunteering to come check on our cats while we’re away. We do have a fourth cat who still qualifies as a kitten and certainly acts like it, so we don’t trust him to not destroy the place if left unsupervised. That means he gets to spend a couple weeks boarding at the clinic. The other cats will enjoy not having to deal with him. 

There’s all four of them making sure to claim the couch as their own. Somehow the one second from the top who is pretty much the biggest of the four is still less than a year old. And in this picture, likely about 5 seconds from deciding which other cat he wants to pounce on to see if they want to play. Which they of course don’t. 

[boffoboffo]

Only a few small things left to pack and the car is mostly loaded to leave tomorrow morning. It’s weird when it feels like you’re not really overpacking at all and still end up with 5 bags to bring. Had the brief moment of putting on the new luggage tag before removing the one from the last cruise. 

The four months between these two cruises has been by far the shortest we’ve had thus far. I think I’d have preferred a little longer like maybe six months instead. While I’m looking forward to this cruise it doesn’t have nearly the same level of pent up excitement as our previous three did.

 

Still haven’t heard anything about a room upgrade, so while I know it can technically still happen the ship looks pretty much sold out so it seems very doubtful. This will be our second time in an inside cabin and we’re fine with that.

 

Weather started out at 12° this morning but then dropped to around freezing half way through the day with strong winds and snow squalls off and on. Supposed to be around -7 when we start in the morning but they’re not expecting any serious snow, so it should hopefully be a good driving day. High in Cave City, KY is supposed to be 9 so there’ll be no concern of snow at that point. 

[boffoboffo]

Up and getting ready. I’m sure we forgot something but the cats have food and water so anything else we’ll have plenty of time to buy along the way. Looks like some light flurries out right now and radar shows them off and on from here to, of course London. Hopefully nothing too serious and only for the first hour or so of the drive. Hope to be on the road within a half hour or so. 

[PaperSniper4]

On 2/14/2024 at 8:53 PM, Panhandle Couple said:

.............If you haven't gotten a hotel in NOLA yet, the Holiday Inn Superdome has a stay and park option that we used both times.  The parking is in their secure garage. ...

What do/did they charge for parking? Parking near the port is not inexpensive.

 

 Doug

[Panhandle Couple]

53 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

What do/did they charge for parking? Parking near the port is not inexpensive.

 

 Doug

It was in the room rate, maybe 3

$30 more. You only have to stay 1 night.

[PaperSniper4]

47 minutes ago, Panhandle Couple said:

It was in the room rate, maybe 3

$30 more. You only have to stay 1 night.

You were able to park there for $30 total for a 7 night cruise? If so, that's a REAL bargain!

 

 Doug

[PaperSniper4]

I looked it up at the hotel's web page:

Parking

On-Site Parking Available

• Guests may park in the covered self-park garage attached to hotel for $40 per day. Over-sized vehicles, bus, or RV parking available in the adjacent outdoor lot at additional cost, not affiliated with the hotel.
• Cost: $40 USD

 

Ouch, that would be $280 for the week, about $100 more than I'm paying near the dock. I think I'll stick with my regular plan; drive 5 hours from home to Hammond LA on Saturday, then drive the rest of the way (90 minutes or so) to the parking area near the dock.

 

 Doug

[boffoboffo]

My mom lives about an hour away from us and most of the way she was apparently driving in near blizzard conditions. She almost turned around but things cleared up by the time she got to our place. Ran into one snow squall along the way that lasted about 15 minutes. It was enough to muck up our car pretty bad. 

Crossing the Ambassador Bridge into the US. 

Detroit, Michigan on the left, Windsor, Ontario on the right. Some imaginary line in between. 

Welcome to the USA. Border guard asked a bunch of very random questions. 

Welcome to Ohio. 

The skies have cleared up nicely. Still 0° outside but driving doesn’t get much better than this.