Our Caribbean Cruise Vacation - New Orleans (Part 10)

We arrived in New Orleans early on Friday.  We had to eat breakfast early on board the ship then it was a wait till it was time for us to de-board . . . then a long line in the terminal for customs (once we found our luggage).  Then the taxi ride to our hotel in the French Quarters.

While waiting for our room to be ready, we booked several tours, ate lunch, then took our first tour.  This was a tour of the city - seeing one of their cemeteries, damage done by Katrina, Garden District, University District, and I don't remember all (didn't write it all down).

The next day we took to the Mississippi River aboard a paddle wheel.  FANTASTIC!  Got to see where the Battle of New Orleans took place, Navy base, and life on the river.  Enjoyed a true Louisiana meal - fried catfish, jambalaya, and rice & red beans.

The afternoon was spent walking along Bourbon Street, taking in the Gumbo Festival in Armstrong Park, then going to the Central Business District for dinner at Huck Finn's.

The next day was spent on our Plantation Tours.  First up was the Laura Plantation then we went to Oak Valley Plantation.  We ate lunch at Oak Valley.  We got back to our hotel mid-afternoon.  Early evening saw us walking towards Canal Street.  We ate dinner at Deanie's Seafood.  Oh my, stuffed crab!

 

 

Monday was a relaxing day . . . no alarm!  We ate breakfast at the Ruby Slipper on Canal Street.  Then caught the Charles Street Trolley to head over to the World War II museum.   Wow, what a museum.  We really should have gone earlier.  There is so much to see.  You first start out on a "train" and you receive  your soldier.  Throughout the museum building, you visit various areas and learn about your soldier, collect mementos, and see what was happening. They covered all regions of the war.  there's a building dedicated to the planes of the war, jeeps, tanks, etc.  I highly recommend visiting the museum.

Tuesday was our last day . . . flight home.  We spent the morning doing some more exploring around the French Quarter and Jackson Square.  But weather was starting to threaten us and sent us back to the hotel to wait until time to catch the taxi to the airport.  Good thing we caught the taxi early - traffic was very thick.  Storm finally hit just as we were leaving New Orleans.  Flight was about 15 minutes late.  We got into Sea-Tac a little late and there was a long wait for our luggage that we missed our aeroporter.  We ended up having to take the last one of the night (just after midnight).  Got home about 2 am.  Glad took the rest of the week off!.

Our Caribbean Cruise Vacation - Part 9 Cozumel, Mexico

Our tour guide

Our last port of call . . . My what a trip!.  We've been to Cozumel before but my how it has changed!  Our shore excursion this time was another best of . . . our first stop was Discover Mexico.  This is a museum about the Mayans and it had miniatures of the various ruins!  They also did a show (similar to the one we saw when we did the Tulum Ruins several years ago),

one of the miniatures

the show

Our second stop was at the Mayan Cocoa Company.  Who doesn't love chocolate!  What a great way to see how chocolate is made the old fashioned way.  We also got to taste it.  Lots of flavors.  (oh, they have a website and a facebook page).

demonstration

Our third stop was at El Cedro, the oldest village on the island.  Here people can have tequila to sample.  It was a tourist trap as far as we were concerned.  You were a captive audience for all the vendors.

On our way back to the ship we got to see some of the coast.  


Back at the ship we spent the evening listening to music and setting our clocks back another hour.

The next day was our last Sea Day.  We had our Veteran's breakfast, Bingo, Trivia, more Bingo, then a Neil Diamond tribute.