I am finally sitting down to re-cap our travel adventures in New Orleans pre-cruise, our time on NCL Breakaway for the Vlogger Extravaganza Cruise 2023 (#VE2023), and the port of calls we visited along the way.
Today, let’s kick it off with New Orleans.
This the first time visiting for Kenyon and I as well
as Phoenix and Stacey. Wanda and Michael
have been before several years ago. In
hindsight, I am glad we stayed in the French Quarter and experienced all that
is within the vicinity of Bourbon Street.
I am also glad we flew in on Thursday instead of Friday as it was so much
busier once the weekend rolled around. I
mean, there was also 800+ people in town for #VE2023. Although I enjoyed my visit, I probably won’t
be visiting NOLA again anytime soon.
The flight east was not bad with a quick layover in
Denver, CO where we enjoyed a local beer while waiting to board. Once we landed, we hit the ground running after
taking a Lyft to the hotel coordinated through our travel partners Jason and Alisa with EECC Travels. The Wyndham French Quarter was a nice hotel with a comfortable bed and a view of the Mighty
Mississippi. We had great weather although
chilly at night it was much warmer than Boise.
We had tickets for a free tour at The Sazerac House but needed some food
in my belly ASAP beforehand. Since we
were short on time, we spotted a Café Beignets with zero line, and I knew I could
not wait to try beignets. I had the jambalaya
which did not hold a candle to The Court of Two Sisters which hands down that the
best jambalaya I tired the entire trip.
The beignets also did not disappoint, and this was my favorite beignet
since most say Café Du Monde is the best, which we also tried during our stay. I think Café Beignets wins and we made sure
to try each location once more…just to be sure!
Our visit to the Sazerac House was fantastic and so fascinating. This is a free tour with cocktail samples
along the self-guided tour. We were also
told the cocktails change so even if you’d been it is worth another visit. We for sure wanted to buy the whole wall of alcohol
they had to offer.
We made our way on foot through New Orleans visiting Bourbon
Street and as top into Pat O’ Brien for the dueling pianos show and an iconic
Hurricane drink. Oh man it was
good. Our night ended with a visit to the oldest bar in New Orleans for a “purple drink”, a recommendation from the
flight attendant I made friends with on the second leg of the trip.
Our second day in NOLA started with a city tour via
the St. Charles streetcar to the Garden District and the famed Magazine Street. We also met up with Beatrice, whom I met
during our Europe Viking River Cruise in 2018.
We booked a tour of the NOLA Distillery and Roulaison Distilling Company
via Groupon with a stop at Port of Orleans Brewing Co. for a beer flight and
some tacos.
The bus stop back to the French Quarter was right next
to the King Cake Hub and you had better believe I needed to try some king
cake. We booked it on foot right at closing
and the next day enjoyed the fruits of our labor. It was delicious!
We ended our night on Frenchman’s Street listening to
jazz and eating NOLA food. It was a
great first full day!
On our second/last full day in NOLA, Kenyon and I went
in search of the outlet mall connected to the cruise port to see if we could walk
there in a reasonable fashion lugging our suitcases behind. We stopped off at Harrah’s Casino where we
won some money again after having a big win the night before. We visited the WWII Museum and tried a Muffaletta sandwich that was massive. We made our way to Beatrice’s apartment on Decatur
to watch the Krew of Chewbacchus sci-fi themed parade. I made friends with the young Oregon crowd
next to us and although we enjoyed the parade, it was sort of lacking the
appeal.
We said our goodbye to Beatrice, it was sooooo good to
see her again, and grabbed a Lyft back to the hotel. My feet were plum worn out from all the
walking.
Up next…embarkation on the NCL Breakaway.
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