NOLA and Cruise-Day 2

So it was the beginning of the cruise. We started with breakfast in the hotel, after all, it was included. I opted for an Egg Mcmuffin and I added several sausage patties. Despite the temperatures hovering around the high 40s, I really wanted to explore the city. Mom didn't care to, she's been down to that town a number of times for work. I hadn't been there since January 2012 with my ex. Yes, there are reasons I remember the month and year, but we don't have to go there. 

So I started my travel with a walk north to Louis Armstrong Park. The wind plus the shade made my thankful I had on my Knicks hoodie and black sweatpants. It was pretty cold out, maybe high 40s, but gradually climbing to the low 50s. The park was pretty nice, there's a huge statue of Satchmo overlooking the small pond. That's Armstrong's nickname, by the way. I only wish there was a way to play his music there. It also houses Congo Square, which is a spot where blacks used to gather, dance, and drum back in the 1800's It's widely believed these Sunday gatherings helped form the bases for what would become jazz music. I was also thankful the town had restrictions on homeless sleeping there. Because there certainly are many homeless people in downtown NOLA.

Then I walked 25 minutes south to the Superdome, home of the Saints and many other notable events. It's actually more impressive in person with the bronze colored aluminum tiles on the outside. I like that they have various statues ranging from the Steve Gleason blocked punt following Hurricane Katrina to Saints owner Tom Benson to a former governor of Louisiana. 

Finally it was back to the hotel, I'd guess I had an hour and 15 minute walk total. After packing up, we headed to the cruise terminal on Julia Street. We had to take an Uber since the Julia St station on the RTA is closed. Now this Uber guy was terrible. The only thing he did right was arrive on time. But he played his own hip hop music. That's the first major strike. But the big thing was he left us off at the wrong spot at the terminal, so we wound up not checking our bags in at all. Yeah, we hauled them all the way through security. And these weren't carry on bags, these were holding 8 or 9 days' worth of clothes. Safe to say he did not get a tip.

Our ship was the Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas. It is an older ship, it was built in 2002, so it may have cost a little less for that reason. But we had to hold our bags until the rooms opened at 1. And it was cold outside, maybe back to the high 40s. Mom and I were pretty upset about the bag situation, well she was upset with me, because I just wanted to get on board. I figured the bag check was coming up, yet it never did. So we separated for a while. And I had lunch. Freshly carved roast beef, how can you go wrong?! I stuffed one of the two slices into a hard roll for a sandwich. Excellent. I also had a cheeseburger patty and garbanzo beans salad. Tried to behave with the carbs, at least a little bit.

So at 1 pm, the rooms were opened and we unpacked. Thank goodness. At 4 pm came the Sail Away party. We did all the classic white people dances. There was the electric side to the Everybody Clap Your Hands song. 

We arranged for all our dinners to happen at 5pm in the main dining room, we decided to not splurge on any of the private restaurants. I'd been to one of the steakhouses on a prior cruise and to be honest, I was not pleased. We got our personal table and it was right next to the window so every night we could view the sky go from light to dark. First night's dinner was shrimp cocktail, NY strip, and a great key lime pie. The steak was very thin but cooked how I wanted it. Truthfully I could have had two or three! Had I known they would bring more if I wanted, I would have started doing that immediately. 

I'm always big on trivia and game shows on these cruise trips. The first trivia I played was Name That Tune: Movies. I got 12 out of 22 points. I think I came in 2nd or 3rd, but I was a team of 1 going against teams of 6. This does tend to be the issue for me. Weakness in numbers. And even though I'm competitive in the moment, I get over it quickly. I guess I'm testing myself on how much knowledge I actually have. 

Then it was classical music in the Schooner bar, which is also where most of the trivias were held. Two good looking blonde girls played piano and violin, respectively. By that point, I think I was on drink number 8. Red wine, mojitos, maybe a margarita. At the bar, I tried the Irish Peach with Jameson, peach juice, lemon juice, bitters, and a little black pepper. It certainly became one of my go-to cocktails throughout the week.  

9 pm was the Christmas tree lighting. It had all white lights. As someone who's seen the trees in Rockefeller Center, downtown Chicago, and DC, this wasn't overly impressive. But I'm glad they had a nice big tree throughout the week. But there was also a menorah and a banner for Kwanzah, which is only fair. 

In the main theater, the Pacifica, there was a comedian. He was ok, most of his routine was about misheard lyrics. He came back for the final night, and I didn't feel compelled to go back and see him. The end of the night was karaoke, which is always hit or miss. It seemed that karaoke was every night, and I'm not so much into it especially when kids are around. And that's only because they will tend to sing Disney songs or newer pop numbers. 

Not sure what time I crashed, but I'm sure it was by 11 pm. Onto a full day of cruising, before all three excursion days, and then two more full days of sailing. Not the ideal setup, but that's the way it was set up.