February 2024: A MAGICAL February Vacation: Day 9, The End

Day 9: Saturday March 2, 2024

Vacation is over. Having slept surprisingly better than expected, I was still awake fairly early. After awhile I got up and started getting ready for the morning, then woke Nick up. Time for breakfast!

We went downstairs because breakfast is free and the weather was kinda gross to be walking around in. Breakfast definitely was no Mother’s or Ruby Slipper, but it was solid for a hotel free breakfast.

After breakfast we headed back upstairs and finished packing. Vacation is really over. We headed downstairs around 8:40, where we handed over the keys at the front desk, and headed for the foyer to request a Lyft. In no time a driver, with an adequately sized vehicle for the airport run, had accepted the trip, but then they didn’t seem to move on the map at all and the map showed them on the other side of the city, so even when they started moving they were probably 15 minutes away. After several minutes of this, we canceled that trip and requested an Uber. This driver came along quickly, and soon enough we were on our way to the airport.

It was an uneventful trip with a really pleasant driver. She dropped us off right by the door for JetBlue, and we were in line for the limited number of kiosks shortly after that. It took awhile to get to a kiosk, but after that check in was smooth (and both of our suitcases miraculously were under 50 pounds) and pretty soon we were at TSA, where there was minimal wait for Precheck. Nick’s boots (WHY?!) set off the metal detector again, but other than that security was uneventful. We found our gate easily, and hung there for awhile before joining nearly everyone at the gate in getting food from Chick-Fil-A for the flight.

Side note, I’m always amazed by how this airport is so big yet so small. And this is now a brand new airport terminal since we were last here. It’s SO bright and clean, with windows everywhere (including by the bathroom sinks). And it serves a big city. But it’s really not an exceptionally large airport.

All too soon boarding began, and we were fully boarded early. The flight was bumpy (no surprise), but uneventful. The snacks were the ever amazing Stellar Pretzels and some plantain chips. I texted my way across the country, obviously, because no attention span. Thank goodness for free wifi. Nick watched a movie or two. We got into Boston slightly early and were greeted with rain and temperatures in the 40s. GROSS. Back to New England Gray.

We had to wait FOREVER (basically until our scheduled arrival time) for a jetbridge driver to appear, so needless to say we all had ample time to collect our belongings and basically stampeded off the plane. It was a process to find baggage claim because the logical escalator was out of order, but we made it eventually, and then we waited, and waited, and waited, because JetBlue. I swear, they’re the slowest at getting luggage out, regardless of airport. If they had the same policy that Delta has about waiting for luggage, I’d have earned a free flight by now just in luggage wait points.

Luggage in hand, we followed the directions that Michael, the same driver we’d had for the trip down, had texted to me, and soon enough we’d located him, holding a sign with our last name. He loaded our luggage in the car, warned us that Boston had closed the Sumner tunnel again for the weekend for ongoing construction, so EVERYONE had to use the Ted Williams, so the trip was going to take awhile, and then we were off. It rained and was gross, and we were glad to not be on a bus north given the extra time the tunnel closure was adding to the trip. It ended up taking about an hour and a half to get to Nick’s parents’ house, instead of the 50 minutes it had taken to get to Boston the week before.

When we got to my in-laws’ we threw the luggage in the car and then went to retrieve the dogs, who were VERY happy to see us. Nick’s parents were trying to get out the door to some dinner with friends for someone’s birthday or something, so we were in our car with the dogs very soon after arrival, and it was an uneventful drive home from there.

Final thoughts:

I’d totally sail out of New Orleans again. Loved being able to combine cruising and our favorite city in one trip. And it’s pretty cool to sail down the Mississippi. And airfare to NOLA is way cheaper these days than airfare to Florida. Go figure.

Guest behavior on our cruise was abysmal. Our next door neighbors were OBNOXIOUS. There was that drunk parent situation. There was evidently an actual fight at karaoke one night. And sadly, I think that’s simply a reflection of our society these days, not the city we sailed out of.

Our main server was phenomenal, possibly the best we’ve had (and he’s got stiff competition). Our assistant and head servers, however, were the worst we’ve had.

I didn’t expect the Magic to feel smaller since it’s been 5 years since we last sailed, but…it definitely felt smaller than the Fantasy, and the pool deck food areas felt more disjointed. Our only real complaint about the ship itself though was uneven air conditioning. Thankfully our deck was in good shape. The elevator lobby one deck below us though was ALWAYS a sauna.

We still love New Orleans and we still have a list of experiences to save for a later date there, even after having now been 3 times. And the Eliza Jane is our new favorite New Orleans hotel. Will definitely be saving up my Ultimate Rewards points to transfer to Hyatt to stay there again.

I’m so glad we ignored all the warnings that “the bus ride is too long for it to be worth it” and did the excursion to Chichen Itza. Such an incredible experience. And I’m really glad we had a tour guide leading us through the chaos that existed there. It really was nutty just how many people were everywhere, especially in the entrance area. Once in the complex, it was much less chaotic. But I think if we’d shown up on our own (not sure when that would ever happen, because Mexico, but…), we would have turned around and left.

We felt the excursion was pretty fairly priced. I’m not actually sure what entrance into Chichen Itza costs, because Spanish, but nearly 5 hours on coach buses, 2 tour guides, lunch, tolls (and THOSE I understood the signs for and they were expensive) and entrance into Chichen Itza…it checked out as fair.

I got Nick an AirFly for Christmas, which allowed him to pair the in-flight entertainment system to his bluetooth headphones. He was a fan. It’s a small gadget, so you have to be careful to remember to take it with you, especially if the headphone jack is in the armrest, but it worked perfectly and it's pretty inexpensive.

Our haul:

I’m chomping at the bit to get another cruise on the books.

We prefer February vacation weather in New Orleans to April. Much more comfortable temperatures.

It was another awesome vacation!!!

February 2024: A MAGICAL February Vacation: Day 8

Day 8: Friday, March 1, 2024

It was a short night. End of story.

Around 2 am I woke up with significant heart burn, because I’m old now. Also because I had that cranberry and lime based drink, pasta with tomato sauce, and lemon pie for dinner at like 9 pm. So I went hunting for Tums. And then Nick woke up, also with heartburn. And then the light show started.

Remember those choppy seas? Yeah, there was a bit of a front, and we had found it. We were treated to quite the thunderstorm while sailing up the Mississippi. Thankfully, because we were on the river, the water was remarkably calm. The storm? Not so much. Think sheets of water just blowing by.

And then when the storm ended, there were things to see, because we were, you know, sailing up the river. Nick went back to sleep. I tried, but SQUIRREL.

Around 6, I caught sight of New Orleans, so I took some pictures.

 
And then I turned my phone off of airplane mode, attempted to catch up with the world, and then got up and got dressed. Yeah, my 8th grade English teacher is rolling in her grave with that run-on.

Then it was off to do some picture taking around the ship, because I wanted a view of the city at this hour, and I decided to snag pictures of details I’d learned about on the tour, and take pictures I hadn’t yet taken. This ship is getting old, who knows if we will have the opportunity to sail on it again.

 
Picture taking complete, I retrieved our contraband from Keys and returned to the room to pack up what was left and take in our current view. This was a bit disrupted by the kids next door (and their redneck…no really…mullet and fluorescent pink swim trunks…father) who were screaming at passing cargo ships to blow their horn, but, the view wasn’t terrible.

Soon enough it was time for the final walk through to make sure we hadn’t forgotten anything, and then we were back in Animator’s Palate for breakfast. We were the first to arrive by a longshot, but Stephanie and Jesse, and Irene and Josh showed up eventually. Breakfast was good. I had the egg for the road, with ham, and Nick had french toast. Jelena visibly examined her tip envelope for signs of additional money, confirming our thoughts about her. Sompong continued to be awesome. We all chatted at the table until they all but threw us out.

Then we headed for the exit. There was basically no line to scan off the ship. Irene and Josh had had to go to guest services, but Stephanie and Jesse were with us right up until luggage collection. We continued chatting with them. Debarkation was easy, luggage collection was well organized with different tags in different rooms and reasonable signage (and a small army there to direct us). The passport check was quick, and pretty soon we were in the holding pen waiting for a Lyft to our next hotel. I did a Lyft XL, so we were picked up in a Highlander, and this worked out great. We were very grateful we were on the later end of folks exiting the ship, because the rideshare holding pen is NOT large, but this was really the only negative we found about the New Orleans port.

It was a quick drive over to the Drury Plaza. We hauled our luggage into the front desk, and, surprisingly, a room was available, even though it was before 10 am, so within a few minutes, we were in room 900, a pretty big corner room that I had paid only points for.

We chilled for a little bit and then headed for Royal Street. Our first stop was a new one for us: the Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone. We (intentionally) got there about 10-15 minutes before it opened, and got in line. I was pretty sure from the size of the line that we were not going to get seats at the carousel part of the bar, but what the heck, we’re here, let’s at least experience the place.

At 11 the doors were opened and we snagged a small table right next to the main bar. The carousel bar, like its name implies, rotates and is pretty elaborately decorated. It was pretty cool to see, and we quickly decided we actually preferred not sitting at the rotating bar so soon after a cruise, because we were swaying pretty good on our own. We also liked being able to see all of the painted chair backs on the “carousel”. We each had a drink (an Old Fashioned for Nick, a Pimms Cup for me), and enjoyed the experience. Nick said he hadn’t had any idea that this was here. But honey, this place is an institution!

Drinks enjoyed, we decided to go to lunch at the Gumbo Shop, since it’s delicious and was only a few blocks away. I had the chicken gumbo again and Nick probably had crawfish etouffee. It was another delicious meal.

After lunch we headed towards Jackson Square. By now it was raining again, but not torrentially. We attempted to go to Cafe du Monde, but even the line for takeout stretched down the sidewalk, so we turned around and headed back to Royal Street, where we found Cafe Beignet this time. We got 3 beignets, and then when we discovered that all the tables had been snatched up while we were ordering, we packed them to go…after I got a picture of those beauties.

 
Beignets in hand, we walked back to the Drury, where we enjoyed our beignets and Nick grabbed a jacket, before we headed back out to our next destination, the Sazerac House.

From a location standpoint, the Sazerac House would have made more sense when we were staying at the Eliza Jane, since it was only about a block from there, but we suspected (accurately) that we might want to buy some alcohol here that isn’t sold in NH, and we didn’t want customs issues. So we walked a little further today. But it still was less than a 15 minute walk.

The Sazerac House is a free museum (or boozeum depending on who you talk to) about the Sazerac, the cocktail of New Orleans. They also have a small distillery there, where they make Sazerac Rye. We had made reservations online before the trip. We’d learned about it during our tasting at the Buffalo Trace Distillery last year in Kentucky. They’re all part of the same company.

It was pretty interesting. We also got to sample multiple different cocktails, plus the bitters that make a Sazerac a Sazerac. We enjoyed the experience. And yes, we picked up some alcohol that we can’t get in NH. Yes, we had packed bubble wrap for this trip.

Once our shopping was done, we headed back to the hotel, noticing just how cold it really was. I think the temperatures had dropped or something. The forecast had called for it to be in the 60s today, but it actually never made it out of the 50s. Add in the rain and it was pretty raw. And, having not expected this, we really weren’t dressed for it.

Back at the hotel, we chilled for awhile and did some initial packing. Eventually we decided to head downstairs for the 5:30 kickback. If you’re not familiar with Drury, every evening they do the 5:30 kickback. During this time (from 5:30-7) every adult is entitled to up to 3 adult beverages (each evening). They also put out a buffet of appetizer-type foods which are sometimes sufficient to make a dinner out of. Nick and I got beverages and then scoped out the food and decided to make dinner out of it. There were swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, and basic nacho fixings, as well as other options on the buffet. Not the healthiest (but is anything we eat?), but it beat going back out in the weather or trying to pick a restaurant. And free is nice too.

Once we’d eaten, we headed back to the room to finish packing, shower, and attempt to crash for the night. Being a corner room, this one had a lot of road noise. But I was tired enough from the night before that I managed to get a reasonable night’s sleep.