New Orleans & Caribbean 2015 - Part V

Our first port was Grand Cayman. We have been here several times, and love the water and the lizards.  This time, we opted to do an island tour, since we hadn't done that before.

Hell. Yeah, it looks like that.

We started with a trip to Hell. (Humorous side note, we actually started with a misdirected trip to the beach, since the driver hadn't realized he was doing an island tour). Hell is apparently mostly spiky black rocks and gift shops. There is a joke in there somewhere; I will leave it to you to find it.

Me and my new friend.

There was a gentleman there doing photo ops with his tame lizard. Since the lizard was clearly comfortable with people, I took him up on it.  I am very fond of lizards (my own body-heat generating abilities would suggest they are my people), and don't often get a chance to snuggle one. I guess you could say we were chillin' together.

We stopped off at a condo/mall complex. It looked quite lovely with the little island in the middle of the lagoon. 

I'm Not the Only One Who Loves Palm Trees

After we finished the tour, we went to the beach for a beach break. Included were a welcome drink and beach chairs. And of course, as soon as we got situated the skies opened up. We found a sheltered beach front restaurant and ordered lunch. While it was a bit pricey, the food was delicious and the fish was fresh, so I have no actual complaints. We did have to stay in the shelter of the bar until our mini-bus came back for us. It was pouring quite vehemently.

The Clouds Begin to Threaten

Our next port of call was Falmouth, Jamaica. We didn't take a lot of pictures because we opted for an all-inclusive resort day the Jewel Runaway Bay. The jerk wasn't bad, although it wasn't terribly spicy, and the service was good. The main pool was fairly un-busy, and the beach was nice, with clear, sparkling water. We would do this again, although I might opt for a resort closer to Falmouth.

Our last port of call was Cozumel. We haven't had terrific luck here, so we normally step gingerly off the ship, have a couple of beers in the port area, and step gingerly back on. This time, the worst thing that happened to us was getting ripped off for $5 by the wait staff at a beach side bar. I figure we got off lucky.

Before that, though, we went to the little bar we have made a tradition to get Dos Equis Ambar's to kick off our little tour of the port. Ice cold cervezas, and cheery Mexican music. It's a nice way to start a port day.

New Orleans & Caribbean 2015 - Part IV

The next morning was Valentine's Day, and we embarked on the Serenade of the Seas, for a lovely non-winter week in the Caribbean. This post will deal with the ship. I will report on the ports of call in the next post.

She's a Royal Caribbean ship, and quite lovely. Our cabin was an aft balcony cabin, which meant we had a larger balcony than we normally do, and the wind wasn't actually an issue.

I always feel kind of sentimental when sailing up and down the Mississippi. New Orleans is one of my favourite places in the world, and it's like there's one more gift from her as the ships leans first to one side and then the other as we navigate the curves of the river.

I do find the upcharge restaurant Chops Grill to be worth it on Royal Caribbean ships. Chops is quieter than the main dining room, the service is excellent, and the food. Well, that's why you go to a restaurant isn't it? My favourite things here are the Caesar salad (caviar available upon request. Do I request? Of course I do.), and the Red Velvet Cake (capital letters deserved). 

The sushi restaurant is also worth a visit. A seat at the sushi bar puts you in front of the action, so to speak, and the chef we had was wonderful.

The Schooner Bar is one we tend to gravitate to on any RC ship, and this trip we tried some of their speciality cocktails. My personal favourite was the Lavender Daiquiri. Interestingly, every bartender made it different. Some frozen, some on the rocks, some in a tall glass, some short. They were all delicious, though.

Another spot I favoured was the Solarium. Adults only, nicely temperatured pool, piped in bird song; it was very peaceful. I loved the decor as well.

The one thing that disappointed us was the difficulty of getting drinks in the main dining room. Our servers did their best, but it was obvious that the lack of bar waiters (there used to be a lot more) was being keenly felt. I don't know why RCCL has decided to cut back on this particular part of the staff, but it seems a horrible idea. I also felt that they had really crammed the tables into the dining room. It was very crowded and busy.

Formal Night with The World's Greatest Husband™

And the World's Greatest Parents™

Overall, though, the good vastly outweighed the bad, and we had a lovely time.

New Orleans & Caribbean 2015 - Part III

One thing we had planned, since we were in NOLA for Mardi Gras season, if not the day, was to take in a few parades. In the interest of full disclosure, I am uncomfortable standing for long periods of time, and I don't think my parents would enjoy it too much either. But, you can buy tickets to sit in a viewing stand, with seats and access to port-a-potties, so you can be comfortable and watch the parades. We bought tickets for Hermes, Krewe d'Etat and I can't remember the last one, to be honest. It was cold, the parades were late, so we didn't make it to the last one. We were still there over four and a half hours, so I think we did fine.

We made lots of "Stand Buddies". Everyone was very friendly. The only thing we found was you have to be careful when they are throwing things. Heavy beads can leave quite a bruise on your forehead.

We would definitely want to do this again, although, we would bring warmer clothes and hope for better weather.

New Orleans & Caribbean 2015 - Part II

After lunch, we decided to go for a stroll on Frenchmen St. There are several interesting-looking music venues on Frenchmen, and next time we are in NOLA, we plan to stay on the side of the French Quarter closer to, so we can do a more in-depth exploration.

We found this lovely looking courtyard venue called Rare Form at the bottom of Frenchmen. It had apparently only been open a few weeks. It boasted live music (although we were there far too early for that) and a fountain with goldfish.

After our refreshing beverage stop, we checked out the Mint, which has a historical display, some jazz history exhibits, and a couple of photography exhibits. It is free to enter and look around.

We decided to do a splurge dinner this evening, so we headed over to Muriel's on Jackson Square. The food here is excellent, and not exorbitantly priced for what you get. The service is also quietly impressive. We really enjoyed this.

Afterwards, it was time for our ghost tour. This had been touted to us as something of a haunted pub crawl, in that it started at a bar, took a break at a bar in the middle, and finished at a bar. It was not quite as advertised. The bar we met at was closed for a private party. There was no bar in the middle. We did, however, finish at a bar.

The chandelier in the haunted bordello

We did go into a reputedly haunted bordello, with a chandelier which flickered madly when the guide spoke. We then went around the French Quarter to several of the traditional ghost tour venues, including the LaLaurie mansion and the Ursuline Convent.

The haunted bar courtyard

We finished at a rather pleasant "haunted bar" which seemed to have taken the opportunity to turn its place on the ghost tour as a money-making opportunity. It even had shooters themed to its ghost story on the menu. It had a nice atmosphere, but there are cheaper drinks to be had in the Quarter.

Your Humble Narrator in Jackson Square

The next day was Thursday, when my parents joined us. They were staying at the Roosevelt Hilton. There room was very luxurious. The bathroom was almost the same size as the bedroom.

Once they were settled, we had lunch at the lounge in their hotel, and then set off for a leisurely stroll to the bottom of Jackson Square, where we planned to grab a carriage tour. The tour was fun, and allowed my parents to relax and sight-see before we headed for dinner at El Gato Negro (our second meal there this trip. Did I also mention our multiple visits to our favourite New Orleans restaurant: Pierre Maspero's?).

Big Shot - Our Carriage's Noble Steed

Ceviche at El Gato Negro - Perfection

The next day, we took a stroll to Riverwalk, and stopped at Time Out. They have cool go cups. We talked our waiter out of moving to Canada. Not because we wouldn't want him here, but because I really don't think people from warmer climates should be subjected to ours.

We wandered around the mall for a little while, but didn't really do any shopping. We did get a view of the cruise terminal, where we would be the next day. After that, we headed over to Bourbon to see what mischief we could get into.

Yes, we shamelessly begged for beads with the rest of the crowds, but we didn't flash anyone. Actually, we didn't see anyone doing that. Maybe that's just a television thing.

A vist was paid by one of the marching bands which would appear in Hermes(?) later that night. Apparently, they were deployed to collect the marshals, who had been drinking in the Quarter all day. At least that's what we heard.

And, with this festively decorated balcony, I will leave you. We will continue with the parades next, and our cruise to the Caribbean on the Serenade of the Seas.

New Orleans & Caribbean 2015 - Part I

New Orleans at Mardi Gras time! What could be better? Not too much, I am sure. New Orleans has been one of my favourite places since I was a mere slip of a girl, so when I had a milestone birthday recently, I knew where we had to go. This time, my parents joined us for most of the trip.

The World's Greatest Husband™ and I stayed in the French Quarter at the Holiday Inn Chateau Lemoyne -- a very nice hotel, with friendly staff, and a good location. Ours was a king bed room with a shared balcony.

Our balcony

Among the fine amenities of the pool is a lounge with live music, and a heated outdoor pool. The former was nice, but I am sad to report that it wasn't really warm enough to use the latter, although we did see a few hardy souls in there during our stay.

The pool in the courtyard

We love live music in New Orleans, so we try to get to at least a few venues during our visits. This time we didn't get to as many as on some other trips, but it was a short stay, and we had some other evening activities as well.

Maison Bourbon - Live Jazz

Day 2, we went walking. All over. We went down by the river, and then out along Magazine.

Your Humble Narrator by the Mississippi

TWGH™ next to the Mississippi

Along Magazine

St Charles 

Beats Sneakers

The Streetcar arrives

We took the streetcar back to the French Quarter and had lunch. We went to Pat O'Brien's, but we had an unpleasant experience there. We ordered Bloody Mary's, and when the bill arrived, they had charged us for the glasses. We have bought glasses from Pat O'Brien's before, but only upon request. We were also informed that we would have to pay the bill, and then give the glasses to the bartender and she would refund our charge. She did not refund the taxes which I am sure were included in the bill. What a scam! We are never going back there.