It is the last post for the New Orleans/Mexico cruise series! This last full day of the trip is filled with food, walking, and unfortunately sickness. Let’s get into it.

Disembarkation
Short Streetcar Ride

St. Louis Cemetery 
Lunch Time 
Shopping in New Orleans
Jackson Square and the French Quarter
The Vampires Are Out 
End of the Night
Flying Out

Disembarkation

The morning we disembarked the cruise we woke up early as usual. I had spent the last night on the couch. I kept going to the bathroom during the night and I was tired of climbing up and down the ladder.

Since we packed the night before, all we did was put on clothes and go up to get breakfast for the last time.

During our last breakfast we bought our streetcar Jazzy Passes and our Cemetery tour tickets to save time later. After, we walked around the ship one last time.

We chose a self-assisted disembarkation. This meant we carried our bags off with us. We’d chose to get off at 8AM so when it was time, the announcement called that group to the theater and we exited the ship from there.

Going through customs was fairly easy because none of us spent over a certain amount on items from Mexico. All they did was check our passports and send us on our way.

The cruise terminal pick-up area was a little congested. There were different shuttles taking people to their cars or to the airport.  I called our hotel to pick us up from the port bypassing the other lines. Thankfully, we were able to check-in early.

We stayed in the Hampton Inn near the convention center. The room was nice and spacious (especially compared to our stateroom we left) but we couldn’t get the temperature just right for us. It was either too hot or too cold.

Short Streetcar Ride

My friends and I got settled in the room and worked out our game plan for the day. We figured we’d use our streetcar passes to get to the cemetery. The only problem was we had to walk 15 minutes to the station. It was still nice to take, even if it was for a few minutes. And I really mean a few minutes.

We got off at a station near a Walgreens for my friends to get ponchos. It was gloomy with light drizzles on and off. I already had a poncho that I packed with me so I didn’t one. Because the street car wouldn’t get us much further to cemetery, we walked the rest of the way.

 St. Louis Cemetery 

The St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 tour starts at the Basin St. Station. There’s a cafe and gift shop here as well so you can check it out before or after the tour.

Even on this dreary day, our tour guide had great energy. He enthusiastically talked with my friend about her frog hat before our tour started.

During the tour we learned about families who have used the cemetery for years and years. We also learned how the…remains of others are disposed of in the crypt when the cemetery gets too full.

Our tour guide showed us the difference between the real and fake Marie Laveau tombs. Both tombs had markings on them of other tourists trying to make a wish.

We also saw Nicolas Cage’s pyramid tomb and learned of some more local history.

The tour was a good way to start our New Orleans day. We went into the gift shop after the tour where I got a cookbook, two shot glasses, and a magnet. I’d realized I didn’t get any souvenirs when we were there last week.

Unfortunately, I had been feeling nauseous since we started the tour. My friends convinced me for us to take an Uber back to the hotel so we didn’t have to do all of that walking. I wanted to try to get another streetcar ride in but we’d still be walking for another 20 minutes.

Once we were back at the hotel, they allowed me to rest for a few minutes. I think that nausea had to do with dehydration because I felt better after drinking water. My throat was still sore but I was taking one problem at a time.

Lunch Time 

When I was ready, we took another Uber to the Market Café in the French Market. Our Uber driver was sweet and even offered to drive us to the airport the next day (though I suspect her sweetness was mainly about making a sale).

The Market Café had outdoor seating with heaters and a live band. I thought it may have been the same at the Gazebo Café but they didn’t have ice cream daiquiris (not that I was really up for drinking with how I was feeling). We were seated right under a heater which was perfect because it was so cold. Especially compared to the hot weather we had in Mexico.

I ordered the Taste of New Orleans which was gumbo, red beans and rice, jambalaya, and crawfish étouffée. It ended up being more food than I could handle but it was decent. I think the jambalaya and gumbo were my favorites. My red beans and rice were cold and the étouffée was missing something in flavor.

Watching the band perform was fun. There were two patrons that had a birthdays so the band sang for them. It wasn’t your typical birthday song. When they were doing their regular set, they had a wild story to tell. You could tell they were making it up on the spot but that didn’t make it any less fun.

Shopping in New Orleans

Once we finished eating, we started to shop at the local stores and gift shops nearby.

My friends shopped for more souvenirs. Really it just turned into regular shopping. We stopped by Aunt Sally’s Praline shop where my friend got her mom some pralines. She said her mom really liked pralines so I suggested she get the pot holder that had a praline recipe. That way her mom would know how to make them.

As for me, I got a cool keychain (not pralines related).

Afterwards, we went to a local artist shop called Dutch Alley. We talked to John Fitzgerald, a local artist and letter press owner and operator of Fitzgerald Letterpress. He was currently putting out his art for the Lunar New Year. It’s the year of the rabbit so he used his press to create a texture for the rabbit illustration.

While at Dutch Alley, I bought two pieces by other artists and I can’t wait to put them up in my home!

Shortly after this, we went to Café du Monde in the French Market. That location is cash only.

The line was long but went down pretty quickly. Someone tried to cut in front of us, acting like they didn’t know we were in line but we moved them back.

I think the beignets here were even better than the ones at the airport.

Jackson Square and the French Quarter

There was no more space to sit at Café du Monde so we walked over to Jackson Square and ate in the park, feeding the birds. We could hear live music from there and even witnessed what we assumed was a wedding parade.

We took pictures of the St. Louis Cathedral and walked through the French Quarter.

We were headed to the Voodoo Museum but stopped by Dark Matter and Oddities Shop along the way. My friend found a few things there that interested her.

The Voodoo Museum is only $10 cash ($11.35 if you pay with a card). It’s very small, which means it gets crowded fast but there is so much to see. We walked through on our own but we wished they were doing a guided tour because we probably would’ve retained more.

The Vampires Are Out 

Next up, we went to the Vampire Café that we passed by on our walking tour the first night. I already had it on the itinerary to visit but I wasn’t sure we’d make it.

They wouldn’t seat us unless we ordered food so we got the baked brie (we talked earlier during the trip how I’d never had brie baked before) and ordered the blood bag cocktails. I got a mocktail pomegranate lemonade blood bag because I still was feeling a little iffy health wise. It was really good but the “Fangria” definitely looked more like blood.

We stayed at the cafe for a while, then went to the vampire boutique around the corner. It was extremely small but had a lot of cool stuff. I ended up getting a pin.

My friend got a painting for a classroom of Edgar Allan “Crow”.

Fritzels

Our last major stop before going back to the hotel was Fritzels. Our tour guide from our walking tour the first night told us about their being a speakeasy here. Well, as long as you have the password.

You have to go towards the back where the courtyard is and say the password to someone (who is most likely wearing black). I won’t just give the password here but I’ll give you a hint: [something] sent us.

Think about what has been the common theme from the last two stops before Fritzels and that should give you your answer.

We almost missed the person to give it to because we weren’t sure. She slyly waved us over because she knew we were trying to go to the speakeasy. After we told her the password, we went up and saw that the speakeasy had quite a few people in it already. It was quiet and chill for the most part. They offered drinks, tarot readings and tea leaf readings.

My friends were considering doing the tarot readings. Because of how long it might take and the fact that I looked tired (Fact: I was tired) we left.

End of the Night

We went by one more souvenirs store. My friend wanted some Mardi Gras beads. We used the streetcar to get part of the way back to the hotel.  We wanted to get our money’s worth on the jazz passes.

In retrospect, I don’t think getting a jazz pass was worth it this day. We ended up taking an Uber to the French Market which would’ve been the main reason to use it.

Tip: Map out where you’re going and see if the streetcar has any paths to where you want to visit.

If you’re only going to be in the French Quarter, there is no need for a streetcar pass unless you’re going up and down Canal Street. If you’re going to the Garden District, I think a streetcar pass is worth it because there are street cars that go in the Garden District.

I say that because we only rode the streetcar car for two stops and had to walk 15 minutes back to the hotel which felt longer than it did this morning.

When we got back to hotel we decided to order Uber Eats for dinner. We had no energy to go back out and I still didn’t feel great.

We got Café Beignet. I order the conti sandwich and we all got a bag of beignets. They were really good and I think it’s hard to compare to Café du Monde without having them side by side.

I went to sleep pretty early that night which was fine because we had to get up early.

Flying Out

The next morning we woke up at 3AM and went to the airport together. We went through TSA where two of us got stopped because of the salt we bought in Progreso (they knew it was salt but they had to test it anyway). My other friend has TSA pre-check so she sailed through with no issues.

We spent time together for about an hour before I had to board the plane.

I’d felt bad all day yesterday but it seemed to get worse once I got home. I definitely got COVID. I’d felt a tickle in my throat the day before we disembarked the shio and I knew if it didn’t go away within a day that I’d be in for the worst.

I had held off on going on a cruise initially out of fear of getting COVID. I thought it would’ve been better now but I got it anyway. In the past three years I had never gotten it!

Thankfully, I was fully boosted so it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.  One of my friends also got COVID and she seems to be having a harder time than I was even though she’d had it before. Our other friend was spared surprisingly.

So, this was the big (and kind of sad) finish to my New Orleans/Mexico trip. Next month I’ll talk about my Disney trips (Disneyland and Disney World).