New Orleans just before Mardi Gras 2023

Our cruise on the NCL Breakaway started on Sunday, January 29, 2023 out of New Orleans, LA. However, since neither Jay nor I had ever been to New Orleans, we decided to fly in a couple of days early and also to stay two days after the cruise. This turned out to be such a great idea, although a few more days would have been perfect as we really enjoyed the city of New Orleans, the people and the food! Friday, Jan 27, 2023: Our flight on American Airlines left at 6:10 am out of San Jose, CA, so we woke up “bright and early” at 2:30 am. We left our house, after getting a “good” night’s rest of about 4 hours, at 3:15 am. We had prepaid for parking at our normal place, which is an offsite spot about 1 mile away from SJC. We jumped on their shuttle van and were at the airport by 4:40 am. That gave us plenty of time to check in our one bag and relax at our gate. Just so you know, we didn’t arrange this EARLY morning flight! It was a buy one, get one free from NCL, which sounded like a great deal when we booked this cruise, especially since NCL doesn’t tell you anything about the airline or the departure time until much later. Then, by the time we found out the times, it was too late to change anything... But considering the costs of the flights, it still turned out to be a good deal. Our one stop was in Dallas, where we had a layover of about 2 ½ hours. We went to the USO for about 1 hour. We are so grateful to the volunteers there! Our flight to New Orleans was right on time so we landed at about 4 pm. We called our hotel, Comfort Inn & Suites, and waited for their shuttle. Our friends, Don and Shery, drove in from Texas to join us on the cruise, and left the dinner choice up to me. I LOVE to research, so after looking at several places, I found one that sounded just perfect. On the front page of their website, it stated “where the locals eat”. It’s called Kenner Seafood (we actually stayed in the town of Kenner, which is about 3 miles from the MSY airport). As it was a Friday night, Kenner Seafood was busy (always a good sign, I think). We had a relatively short wait of about 30 minutes. I hate to admit this, but as we were all so hungry, I only took 2 pictures. One was of my dinner of (3) stuffed shrimp (crab stuffing). The price was very reasonable at only $11.95 and came with 2 sides. I chose green beans and fries. While the green beans were good, the shrimp and the fries were absolutely GREAT! And, if you do go, don’t forget the gumbo! Jay and I split a bowl of their seafood gumbo ($8.95). There was so much seafood in that bowl; it would easily have made a meal in itself! The 4 of us were so happy with our meal and our service that when we were finished, Don said that he wanted to return the next night! (PICTURES) Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023: The four of us, after a good night’s sleep and a quick breakfast at the hotel, drove to New Orleans. Again, after my research, we had prepaid for a ride on the riverboat City of New Orleans, the sister boat of the Steamboat Natchez (New Orleans Steamboat Company). We opted for the daytime jazz cruise with lunch option. It’s a 2-hour cruise down the mighty Mississippi River. HINT: although we had purchased our tickets online and had confirmation codes on our phones, we still had to wait in a line to pick up our actual tickets. I signed us up for the early lunch, 11 am seating. My thoughts: eat first, and then enjoy the ride while others were eating at the second seating. Well, even well-thought out plans don’t always work out. We did have a nice, relaxed and tasteful lunch of Southern fried fish, red rice & beans, jambalaya, bread pudding and coffee & tea. (PICTURES) After we had our fill, we went outside, thinking that we’d find a nice place to sit and enjoy the sights. Wrong! The outside areas were already pretty full. It seems that not all the passengers had opted to pay for lunch, so while we had been eating, others were outside getting good seats and getting comfortable for the ride down the Mississippi. My mistake! We eventually found some seats and sat for a while. We also wandered around, watched the paddles and the other sights, listened to the live jazz band. We even got to hear a calliope concert! The weather was a little cool so good thing we had all worn jackets. There was live narration of historical facts and highlights of the port, so not only did we have fun but learned some things, too. (PICTURES) Of course, no trip could be complete without visiting the gift shop. First of all, be prepared: their gift shop is a very small room. Also, because we had wanted to enjoy as much of the ride as possible, I had waited until almost the end of our trip. Well, it seems that many others were thinking like me. That little room was CROWDED! I bought a few things for my grandkids, and a pair of earrings for myself. By the time I had paid for my items, we were docking. That was a very interesting procedure. The Captain was standing on the bridge (I’m not sure if that’s the proper term on the steamboat...) He was telling the men ---- It was all very interesting, and a great way to end our trip on the Mississippi. I’d love to do it again, but with a few changes. I’d opt for the second seating at lunch, or maybe not one at all. I’d definitely go to the gift shop earlier. Last, I’d like to try their dinner cruise or their Sunday brunch. Both of those meals are much more extensive and sound mouth-watering good! The dinner cruise definitely would be different and exciting with all the night lights. Unfortunately, due to our timing, we had to do the lunch cruise. But it was both time and money well spent! We drove and walked around the area of Bourbon Street for a while. Jay and I did some shopping while Don and Shery went and had a drink. There were so many people, doing what we were doing, driving and walking. There was one man standing on the top of his car, speakers on the ground, and singing. And singing, much to my delight, country songs. He had a great voice. (PICTURES) After a couple of hours, we decided that it was time to go back to our hotel and rest for a bit. After all, the next day would be the first day of our cruise, and we had to be ready for that! Although we all thought about going back to Kenner Seafood, we decided that that would be just too much food. So again, I did some research and found a quick place to grab a bite. We went to New Orleans Hamburgers & Seafood in Metairie. I had their shrimp tacos and fries (I have to admit that I’ve never had tacos with French fries, but my dinner was very good.) Shery had the Asian chicken salad, which she said was great. Again, I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have; we were too hungry. We finished our dinners with soft serve ice cream, which was included with dinner. We drove back to our hotel as we had to pack and get ready for our cruise. (PICTURES) Our stay in New Orleans was wonderful and it was really a nice way to start our cruise. We enjoyed a few days with just our friends, got to ride a steamboat on the Mississippi, had some delicious food, and spent some time in New Orleans. If you have the time, I definitely recommend doing something similar, fly or drive in a day or two before your cruise. Do some sightseeing and relaxing. As I stated earlier, we stayed two days after our cruise, too, which we really enjoyed. Unfortunately, Don and Shery were not able to join us. They dropped us off at the car rental place and headed back on their long journey home. Jay and I had the best coffee ever along with the best warm beignets. But more about that later in another blog, so please, keep on reading.