When Disney Cruise Line announced they were sailing out New Orleans, I just had to book a cruise. I love Disney. I love New Orleans. It was the best of both worlds.
I am going on the cruise with friends Memoree and Abby. We fly to New Orleans the day before the cruise. Mem and I are arriving on the same flight from Chicago and will meet Abby at the airport. We will take a taxi to our hotel for the night. Mem has never been to New Orleans (it's her first cruise too). I am planning on hitting the tourist spots. First stop is lunch at Mother's (depending on the line) or Johnny's Po Boys. We will explore the French Quarter before cocktails (a Hurricane, of course) at Pat O'Brien's. I also invited members of the Facebook cruise group to meet us if they are available. A trip to NOLA is not complete without beignets from Cafe Du Monde. It probably won't be a late night since we will all be up early for our flights.
Our port arrival time isn't until 1:00 so I am planning on breakfast at the Red Gravy (I've never been but have heard good things). We'll also stop for a bottle or two of wine to bring on the ship. Then we are off to the port.
Cruise day 1: After boarding the ship and getting some lunch, we are meeting with the cruise group members for a group picture before the muster drill. We will review the navigator app to plan our activities for the week (my favorites are silent dj, trivia games and Match Your Mate).
Cruise day 2: Day at sea. I am organizing a pub crawl with the cruise group. I can't take all the credit for it. Someone organized it for my Alaskan cruise so I'm using the same schedule. We are having dinner at Palo. I haven't had dinner there and am looking forward to it. I booked it for this day as it formal night. We only have to dress up once on the cruise.
Cruise day 3: Key West. We are going to the Southern Most Point (it's mandatory when visiting, right?), lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and finding some key lime pie. We'll play the rest by ear depending on time.
Cruise day 4: Nassau. When Abby and I went on our first cruise, we had booked the Ardasta Gardens and City Tour. The cruise was right after hurricane Matthew and the tour was canceled. We booked it again as a do-over.
Cruise day 5: Castaway Cay. We are starting the day off with the Castaway Cay 5K and then just relaxing for the rest of the day.
Cruise day 6: Day at sea. We are booked for the Stem to Stern wine tasting and mixology.
Cruise day 7: Day at sea. We are booked for the Chocolate & Liquor tasting.
Cruise day 8: back to New Orleans
The trip doesn't end here because it is the first weekend of Mardi Gras!! My brother and sister-in-law and some friends are flying in the day before to meet us for the weekend after the cruise. The weekend will consist of drinking, parade watching and eating. Abby is flying home on Saturday, Mem on Sunday and me on Monday. The timing was perfect enough with at the first weekend of Mardi Gras and was even better when I realized Monday is President's Day which I have off from work.
