Exploring
New Orleans
We spent a weekend in New Orleans prior to a Carnival Cruise.
Here are some photos of our visit.
Exploring
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New Orleans at night
Prior to a cruise on the Carnival Conquest, my wife and I spent a weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was our first visit to New Orleans.
I'd like to share some pictures of our visit with you. Every picture on this page is my original photo... and they were taken with a Canon Digital Rebel T5i camera... which is the latest camera in Canon's digital rebel series.
We stayed at the Drury Inn & Suites on Poydras Street... which is one of the main streets downtown.
We chose this particular hotel for several reasons:
The Drury Inn features classic old-fashioned styling, but everything has been modernized and maintained well. So, you get the class and elegance of an old hotel but the updated features that you would want in a modern hotel. Here's a look at the lobby, to give you a good example of the classy styling from another era:
The tables you see there are used by the hotel guests when breakfast and dinner is served. As I mentioned, it's free for hotel guests. There are quite a few more tables out of view of the camera, and even more down those stairs. It's a popular place when the meals are being served. They also have a movie-style popcorn machine and your are welcome to free popcorn which is served after 3 PM each day. There's also a free soda dispenser, and you're welcome to unlimited free sodas such a Coke, Diet Coke, etc.
I loved the way the hotel included everything in one price, with no extra sneaky charges added on later. At some hotels you get hit with extra charges for wi-fi, service fees, or a resort fee. The Drury Inn goes the opposite way and just makes everything included... which is the way you would be treated if you were a guest in someone's home. I really like it. They even give each guest a coupon for three free alcoholic drinks which are served in the lobby each evening.
Here's a look at the outside of the Drury Inn & Suites:
Notice the new construction to the left of the hotel. Business has been so good that they've embarked on a major expansion... adding an entirely new wing on to the building. They were really good about limiting the construction hours... we were never bothered by construction noises one bit.
The location of the hotel is totally ideal. Walk six blocks down Poydras Street and you're at the waterfront of the Mississippi... and all the tourist attractions such as the Riverwalk, the aquarium, the casino, and the IMAX movie theatre. In the other direction, it's just a few blocks to the Superdome. The cross street, Carondelet Street, will take you to Bourbon Street and the French Quarter, as well as Canal Street... which is the main street through New Orleans. Anything you need to buy, you can probably find on Canal Street. Right outside the hotel, at the corner of Poydras and Carondelet streets, is a stop for the streetcars... if you don't feel like walking.
Instead of booking just a regular room at the Drury Inn & Suites, we decided to go all the way and get what they call a "Jacuzzi suite". That's a suite with a separate living room, and a Jacuzzi bathtub (as well as a shower) in the bathroom. Here's a look:
The living room of our suite.
Notice the tall ceiling!
Here's the bedroom...
The televisions are fairly large, and of good quality. Not only is there one in the bedroom, but another in the living room, too.
The Jacuzzi bath tub is quite large. In fact, it will comfortably fit two.
I'm pretty sure that I don't need to explain how I know that.
Up on the rooftop, you'll find the swimming pool and Jacuzzi.
The views up here are excellent, especially at night!
It's an easy walk from the hotel down to the shores of the Mississippi river. They've done a great job of developing this area for tourists. It's called the Riverwalk. Here you'll find all sorts of interesting things to see, explore and enjoy.
Looking down the Riverwalk towards the French Quarter
Looking the other direction from that same spot on the Riverwalk
The hotel provided us with this map of New Orleans to help us find our way around.
This is a shopping complex on the Riverwalk, next to the French Quarter
It was something like a New Orleans version of San Francisco's Ghiradelli Square
I liked the look of this restaurant's patio dining area, although we did not eat here
I'm embarassed to admit that with all the great restaurants in New Orleans
that this was where I ended up having lunch...
If your preference for lunch is a good burger... this is the go-to spot in New Orleans.
A beautiful thing to see on the Mississipi river... and the horn sounded great, too
This church in the French Quarter was built in 1849
It replaced a church built in 1789... which replaced a church built in 1724!
Now here are a series of pictures I took at the Aquarium of the Americas, which sits right along side the Mississippi river...
I was surprised to see this red tailed hawk at the Aquarium
And this owl, too...
One last photo of Kellyn, and then we're done with
the photos from our pre-cruise stay in New Orleans...
In addition to all the still pictures, I also created
a video at the Aquarium of the Americas. Take a look:
(To start the video playing, click on the triangle in the center of the picture)
The next morning, I went up on to the roof of the hotel, hoping to get my first glimpse of our cruise ship... which had arrived in the early morning hours. From the roof of the hotel, here's what I saw as I looked towards the river...
It was kind of a thrill to get that first glimpse of the ship that morning! First, there was the relief that the ship had indeed arrived as planned... which meant there shouldn't be anything stopping us from getting onboard later that morning... and second, it was so cool to see that the ship was situated in just the perfect spot between the tall buildings for me to have a direct view of that big corner balcony that would be mine for the next week!
If you're in New Orleans prior to a cruise, and you're not lucky enough to have a view of the ship from your hotel roof... another way to check to make sure that the ship arrived on schedule is to check the Port of New Orleans web cam.
Finally, it was time to pack up our luggage... catch a taxi to the cruise port... and get onboard the Carnival Conquest for our 7-day cruise to Key West and the Bahamas. To see lots of pictures from the cruise, click here.
About The Camera Used To Take These Photos
Almost all of the photos on this page were taken with my Canon Digital Rebel T5i. It's a brand new camera... the latest and greatest in Canon's series of Digital Rebels. You can read more about this camera on my page about the T5i.
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