I know what it means to Miss New Orleans

[misguidedangel]

I have been home for two weeks and leaving New Orleans was so hard. I had so much fun and never felt like I wanted a vacation to last forever.

 

It helped that I planned what I wanted to do and see. I had a list of restaurants, shops, and sites to see and managed to do a lot. I made sure I had a lot of money to spend because it was the first time visit for me...

 

We only left the French Quarter to take the street car to see the Cemetery, a day after we did the cemetery tour so we could take pictures. I was there for five days pre and post cruise and they were amazing days. I only wish I could have gotten a balcony hotel room for the whole time. The courtyard room was quite nice and the balcony room at the end of the cruise was fabulous! Nothing like sitting out on the balcony looking at the Jackson Square and listening to the ghost tours talk about the ghost at Muriel's restaurant....

 

I can only hope the lotto luck voodoo dolls I bought will assist me in getting back to NOLa before next September!!!!!!

 

If you plan on going, do your homework, plan the what/where, and do stay at a hotel in the French Quarter!!!!!!!

 

Oh ya, and remember to take a cruise before or after you visit *BG*.....

[curacaoqueen]

I have been three times and miss it too. Where did you stay? Did you eat at any good restaurants, of course you did.

[hlb76]

I feel your pain.. We have stayed there twice before and enjoyed extra time pre-cruise. I never want to leave either. We have barley touched the surface with all there is to do and see. And have def not even had a chance to taste NOLA. We head back down in Jan and super sad we have no extra time to enjoy this amazing City!

[misguidedangel]

I stayed at Place D'Armes hotel on St. Ann Street. I had a courtyard room for the first four nights and the post cruise night we had a balcony room overlooking Chartres Street right next to the balcony of Muriel's restaurant...oh my...that was an amazing room....the window was the access to the balcony...a little heavy to lift, but worth it!!!

 

My friend had some issues with walking too far or long, so we limited out explorations to as eight street by three street area to explore. Even on my own I couldn't get to all of the places. Next trip I will go for five or six days before or after. I will make sure to get to the places that are closed on Sunday/Monday when they are open

 

Food--I have a sensitive stomach to spicy food--I KNOW!!!! Damn!!!! I also have issues with peppers. Green, yellow, red, orange, hot or mild peppers, they just don't like me, so I have to avoid foods cooked with peppers or I've got serious tummy issues if I do eat anything cooked with em...I KNOW!!! They seem to be in so many foods.....We did try some of the PoBoy shops and the diners--good food and excellent service....I did enjoy many, many, many beignets........

 

I wish I could have known that I was going to have such a good time. I would have saved more money and went down a couple days earlier....S'okay, the plan in to go down next year--even if my current situation changes, I will find the funds and go.....

[WLHyatt]

misguidedangel,

We had that room at the Place D'Armes several years ago, when that was a shared balcony and the window did not open. To use the balcony we had to go out in the hallway and go through the door at the end of the hall. We loved that room, even though it was small. The weird thing was the slatted/vented bathroom door, that took some getting used to.

We went back about a year and a half later and they had segmented that balcony and added the window access. We were staying in the Junior Suite that opens right onto the pool area, and we loved that balcony so much we went up there and sat many nights.

 

That is my favorite hotel in New Orleans, but some of their policies (2 night minimum on weekends, and the parking costs) keep us from using that property when we cruise.

 

Luckily the only vacations we take are either cruising from New orleans, or New Orleans is the destination.

[misguidedangel]

I agree, the bathroom door with slats was a bit odd......we only stayed the one night in that room. The small, shared balcony was right next to our room, so it made wearing my nightshirt odd when someone else was right next to us while we were lounging in out PJ's!!!!!! Glad that Muriel's didn't have a function on their second floor that night.......

 

Junior suite--I wonder if the junior suites are street facing balconies or courtyard facing? I'd want street......As for the policy, ya it sucks....

[WLHyatt]

Ours was courtyard facing. If you walk from the lobby into the walkway that leads to the pool, and once you get to the pool look to the left, there are two doors. The door to the right is the functioning door to get into that Junior Suite, the other is sealed off, in the living room area of that suite.

 

It was a nice room, but kids in the pool often interrupted our naps and we did prefer a balcony on the street.

 

I say that to say this: Place D'Armes is our favorite hotel in the entire city, it has a great courtyard that I really enjoyed sitting in and reading books while my wife got ready to go out and enjoy the Quarter, but it will be limited in use to us to times when we can stay more than one night. Other than those times, we will use Prytania Park in the Garden District, which while not as scenic, allows us to park there for the duration of the cruise if we stay one night before and two after, or vice versa. It is a great deal because we would not stay any less than three nights in New Orleans if we were to go there anyway and we would break it up in that pattern anyway.

[crusin okie]

Hi fellow Parrothead :) JB and Allen Toussaint - one of my favorite songs.

[Shekim]

I am so glad to hear great reviews of Place d'Armes. I stayed there pre Katrina and have not been back to New Orleans. We are cruising from there in March and staying precruise at Place d'Armes.

 

I heard the hotel had been remodeled after Katrina. It was showing wear and tear before.

[nolatravelgirl]

We only left the French Quarter to take the street car to see the Cemetery,

Next time you should really plan to venture beyond the confines of the French Quarter. It is a great big beautiful city full of history and culture and it isn't all crammed in the FQ.

[misguidedangel]

Plan is to go to do a plantation tour and head over to the Garden District to check out Anne Rice's old house and others .......oh and a ghost tour....

[WLHyatt]

I am so glad to hear great reviews of Place d'Armes. I stayed there pre Katrina and have not been back to New Orleans. We are cruising from there in March and staying precruise at Place d'Armes.

 

I heard the hotel had been remodeled after Katrina. It was showing wear and tear before.

 

They have done quite a bit to it. We have not been there since 2010, but between 2007 and 2010 they had replaced the stairway on one of the buildings at the back end of the Court Yard, the one that faces Chartres street.

 

We will go there again when we go for non-cruise things.

[hlb76]

Oh we will be back! As I said we have barely scratched the surface. Its probably my most favorite place I've been to in the US. We need to go when we have some real time to spend and a bigger budget.

 

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