New Orleans - Day 3

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Monday, August 25, 2014

We were up around 6am today. It was cooler and windier and not as sunny so the heat index was only around 96 to 98F. That doesn’t sound like a lot but you could really feel the difference from the 106F heat index of previous days even though you were still sweat soaked within minutes. At least I wasn’t so hot all day that I felt like vomiting and collapsing.

So since we were up and the sun wasn’t shining on the balcony, I went down and got coffee and ice and Clay went over to Croissant d’Or and got himself a breakfast sausage croissant and a raisin Danish and for me a cheese Danish and a chocolate croissant. They were delicious and I am sure I ate at least a half stick of butter! It was a pleasant way to watch the French Quarter come awake and we were high enough off the street level to catch a nice breeze and low enough to catch the shade from the building across the street.

We set off walking about 8am. We were headed for Dauphine Street towards Canal Street. One of my favorite fictional characters is Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast. His ancestral  and boyhood home was across the street from 439 or so Dauphine Street and he met his future wife at an Audubon home a block or so away. I know his fictional home Maison de la Rochenoire burned, but I wanted to see where it was. There is a parking lot there now. It was kind of anticlimactic.

Even though we walked slowly we still arrived at the Audubon Insectarium, our destination, far too early. I guess we were so fast because really nothing was open yet so we didn’t make any stops on the way. But, just down the street on the other side of Canal, Harrah’s was open. It was super cold in there, too. So, we wandered around inside and found they have a location of Acme Oyster in there. We used the restrooms and found another Starbucks where we sat and had cold drinks. About 9:45am, we went back out and across to the Insectarium, unlike the Aquarium yesterday, they did not have an outside ticket window nor did they open early. The Insectarium is in the US Customs House building and evidently it is still a federal facility because we had to have our bags x-rayed, remove our watches and jewelry and go through a metal detector as if we were visiting the US Mint.

We spent about 2 hours in there and I enjoyed it more than I had thought I would. Being Monday, there were far fewer children running and screaming than were at the Aquarium. That was a good thing. They had an animated movie about bugs with padded action seats reminiscent of It's Tough to be a Bug at Disney World and Disneyland. We had the whole theater for a private showing. My favorite part and the reason I went was the Butterfly House/Garden. It was beautiful and serene and interesting, if a bit hotter than the rest of the museum. The museum is laid out in a loop and the butterflies are the last stop before the gift shop and exit.  

We left and walked up to Acme Oyster Bar for Clay to have a snack. He said he would only go if I had something. So I had a root beer float and he had a dozen oysters and an Abita again. He really liked it and as a bonus he got to finish my ice cream. We are skipping lunch today.

We walked back to the Villa Convento and refilled our water bottle with ice and used the restrooms. Then we got the car lot key and went to pick up the rental car. We drove back to Villa Convento to return the key and then set off to fill the gas tank and to Plum Street for sno-balls. We got there right at 2pm (which is their opening time) and found they had opened early and we were not the first customers. I got vanilla crème and Clay got peach crème. We sat under the umbrella on the bench outside and enjoyed them in a nice breeze. 

Back in the car to return the car to Hertz. You have to drive to the 4^th level of the Fulton St. Parking Garage and park in a designated spot. Then you take your filled out paperwork and key to the Hertz office on the corner of the building (Andrew Higgins St. side door).  

We walked down to Julia Street and past the Convention Center to the streetcar stop. They were running about every 20 minutes then. We got on and I paid $1.25 and Clay showed his 65+ ID and paid $.40. We rode a crowded car to Dumaine St. and got off and walked to Central Grocery. You might imagine where this is headed. Outrage! Central Grocery is closed on Mondays and evidently always has been. Central Grocery does not even have a website. Clearly Clay was hallucinating in a delirious dream of muffuleta fever when he convinced himself over several months that he would buy one on Monday for Tuesday’s flight. Now he has a serious case of muffaleta envy over Margie’s sandwich on Saturday. He can’t imagine when we will be back and get the sandwich of his dreams. We walked down about 2 doors and bought one from Frank’s. It should be similar enough (for me anyway). I will have to let you know what Clay thinks after tomorrow. (He liked it well enough, but wasn't sure it was quite exactly the same. He did watch them make it and said that they put extra ham on and he thought that helped. Now you know.)

The last snafu of the day (I hope) came when we asked to put our sandwich in the community refrigerator behind the desk. She put our room number on it and put it in there. Then Clay asked her about arranging a cab for 6:15am tomorrow. She gave him a cab company card and told him to call 15 minutes before he wanted it. This is not what the last guy at the desk told Clay. He asked her again about it and she said since it is so hot and their business is so slow that they would lock the office overnight tonight and no one would be on duty again until after 7am. Clay asked her, then how will we get our food out of the fridge before we leave here at 6:15am. She admitted that would be a problem. Then she checked her computer and told us suite 400 was vacant tonight and has a fridge in it. She made us 2 keys for #400 and we took the sandwich up and put it in and we'll get it out in the morning. Clay asked her how we should check out and she didn’t know. I volunteered that we would just leave the keys in our room and she thought that sounded right. The weird thing is we aren’t the only 2 people here tonight. When we were here in the afternoon, a couple came in off the street and followed me up the stairs with my ice bucket and went to one of the 2^nd floor rooms down the hall from us. So, there are guests here tonight in at least 2 rooms.

I am typing this between 3 and 5pm which is about the hottest time of day. We plan to go to Ralph & Kacoo’s after 5pm. Well, we went and it was a pretty big disappointment after all Clay’s restaurant research. I had picked it originally because we thought we would stop on the way back from returning the car. That didn’t work out, but Clay said it was still a highly rated restaurant and that we should walk back over there anyway. The menu was much more expensive than the menu they had posted on their website. So beware! There was only one dish for me, blackened chicken primavera. The primavera was bell peppers! Disgusting! The whole dish reeked of bell peppers. I picked them all out and I am still burping them. Clay ordered a combination fried seafood plate. He got 6 oysters and 5 shrimp for over $20. As I said, disappointing.

I refused dessert there and told Clay we could stop at Café du Monde as we passed it on the way back and have a last order of beignets. I walked out the back so I could see them working one last time and that was a mistake! They weren’t working on beignets, but were mucking out the fryer vats with a big wooden stick, like a broom or mop handle. It was quite disgusting. Good thing we only make it to NOLA about once a decade.

Well, we have an early morning tomorrow, so I’ll stop here and hope to get these entries posted online with photos as quickly as I can. (Ha!)

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

We called United Cabs about 5:15am. I have no idea why we were up and ready so early. I got up when Clay woke me and was my usual slow morning self. Anyway, we went outside and waited no more than 5 minutes after calling when a van showed up for us. At this hour, there was no traffic anywhere and we got to the airport quickly. No line at security and we had TSA pre-check status. The TSA people at MSY (unlike at RDU!) went ahead and accorded us that status without having a special line open. This means that you leave your shoes on, you don't have to take out you liquids or empty your pockets. Here at MSY, it also meant no full-body scan, but a walk through the metal detector. If MSY can honor pre-check it makes you wonder why other airports can't or won't. Anyway, all flights on time and full. No problems. We took TTA bus route 100 home. They increased the fares on August 18! Mine went up from $2 to $2.25. Clay's went up from free to $1.25! We walked home and it wasn't as hot or humid as New Orleans so that was good, but we still worked up a pretty good sweat before we got home. Clay broke his rolling duffel's wheel a couple of blocks from home. Mine had several holes and rips in it so we threw them in the trash after we unpacked. We got them for the Antarctica trip for about $35 each at Target so we more than got our money's worth out of them. They will be missed!

Well, I'm finishing getting these entries just in time. In a couple of weeks, I'll be back with some more seriously delayed posts!

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New Orleans - Day 2

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Sunday, August 24, 2014

We had decided to sleep late today. We had nothing to do and all day to do it. It was quiet and the bed was comfortable and the room was cool, but I still didn’t sleep well. I kept thinking the boat was taking a big turn or curve in the river, enough that I kept shifting in bed to keep from being rolled out. Then I would open my eyes and realize over and over again that I was no longer on a boat. Then I would wonder if the building was falling before going back asleep.

We got up after 7am and Clay checked the weather and it was about 85F outside but the heat index was already near 100. He said he was going to offer to walk across the street to Croissant d’Or and bring back breakfast to eat on the balcony but we both decided we’d rather walk over and eat indoors. They have very good croissants. I had a complimentary cup of Community Coffee from the lobby before we went. Croissant d’Or has chocolate croissants but I didn't notice until after we had both ordered the eggs to order breakfasts at about $7 each, so maybe tomorrow.

We set out walking and walked through part of the French Market’s weekend flea market early but not for long. I tried to get Clay to cross the street to check the door sign of Central Grocery to verify their hours since he plans to get a muffuleta for the plane trip home, but he refused and said that he had checked the website and they were closed on Sunday. We walked around the back of Café du Monde again, so I could watch them making beignets again. I love that!

We set off for the Audubon Aquarium and to look for a Starbucks for an NOLA mug. We found the mug and got one for $10.95. Thanks again to Stuart Jones for the $10 Starbucks giftcard he sends annually! I still don’t like the new Starbucks mugs’ designs as well as the old designs though. We were still too early as the Audubon Aquarium doesn’t open until 10am. So after buying the mug, we sat in the Canal Place Mall in the AC for about 15 minutes to let the sweat dry. By the time we walked around to the aquarium the box office had opened and then we had about a 10 minute wait in the shade of the riverfront to enter.

We had been here pre-Katrina, so nothing seemed familiar. It is a small aquarium compared to Atlanta. But, we strolled and sat and checked every tank and spent at least 4 or more hours.

We left and headed to Hard Rock Café and Acme Oyster Bar. Clay had a dozen raw with an Abita and he was a happy man. He loves LA Gulf oysters the best of anywhere in the world. They were $15/dozen which was also cheaper than he has paid elsewhere lately.

We walked over to Canal Street and found the statue of Ignatius Reilly from “AConfederacy of Dunces.” Behind Ignatius was a Pop This Popcorn Shop. We bought 2 small bags of white cheddar cheese and caramel corn for dinner tonight in our air conditioned room.

We plan to eat a late afternoon main, big meal at Johnny’s Po-Boys. Johnny’s closes at 4:30pm daily so it will be a combination late lunch/early dinner. Clay had an oyster po’boy. I had a country fried steak with rice and gravy. It was brown onion gravy like they use on roast beef po'boys, so it was different but I liked it.

As we left we found a sweet shop with Italian gelato. We stopped for dessert. We walked down Chartres Street and found a needlework shop that we failed to see yesterday when we walked by. Today I saw it and we went in and I bought some local cross-stitch pictures about food in NOLA, but they were out of Café du Monde and so we paid to have The Quarter Stitch mail all 3 to Mom’s house when it comes in. They will be great art for our kitchens when she finishes them!

We got back inside our room 200  by about 4pm and got settled into the AC as the heat index reached 106F again.  We’ll hope to find a good movie on TV tonight.

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New Orleans - Day 1

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Saturday, August 23, 2014

Today was disembark day which meant get up early, get your breakfast and get out of our way because new people are coming. ACL lets/expects new passengers to arrive early in the morning, not midday or afternoon.

Clay and I went back to the cabin to use the restroom after breakfast and brush our teeth before final pack and carry off and all our towels were gone. Mom & Judy still had theirs but only because they were in there after breakfast when housekeeping arrived. We were gone off the boat by 8am.

The ladies sat on some steps in the shade while Clay went to the Hertz at the convention center to pick up our rental car. (Advisory! The Hertz reservations website will not actually allow you to reserve a car here for return at the airport. It is an option, but after you have saved and reenter the website to check your reservation it is changed to return the car to the convention center. We called the local office about this and they said we could return the car to the airport instead of the convention center but that increased our rental price by $300. They would never confirm that $300 was their airport drop off fee, but clearly it was. We kept the reservation at the convention center, returned the car the afternoon before we flew home and used a flat fee cab $33, I think, to get out to the airport. There were enough cabs that morning that it might have been just as easy and possibly less expensive to rent somewhere else away from the port with airport return.) By 8:30am we saw a bus arriving at Queen of the Mississippi from the airport with new passengers. We saw a big Carnival ship unloading just down the dock from us. Clay came and we loaded up the car and took a ride out to the Garden District and Tulane first. It was so hot and humid out that no one really wanted to get out of the car, but we couldn’t think of enough to do just driving around. Plus most of our list of things to do was in the French Quarter so that meant walking around.

Clay parked when he saw an easy open street spot, but it was about 4-5 blocks from St. Louis Cathedral on Chartres, but he thought he was right by Jackson Square for reasons that remain mysterious other than just wishful thinking. Anyway, we walked down by Jax Brewery and over to Jackson Square and around it to Café du Monde. I guess because of the Carnival ship there was a long line, but we got in it and within 15 minutes or so we were seated and ordered. Beignets all around. It was a sweaty and sweet experience with a trumpet player/singer on the sidewalk. We walked out through the back to the windows so we could watch them making beignets. I love that!

Then we crossed the street and went to Central Grocery to get Mom & Judy a muffuleta for their dinner on their way home today through Atlanta. Clay wanted a Café du Monde t-shirt and they have a gift shop on this side of the street so we stopped there and then made our way back to the car where our meter had expired.

We decided to drive to Hotel Villa Convento to see if we could get our room or at least drop the bags. If the day had not been unpleasant enough, now it turned into a comedy of errors. The Villa Convento website said they had a loading zone and a secure parking facility a short walk away. Well, the loading zone was full and the off-site parking is about 15 blocks away and you have to take a key attached to a 2x4x12 inch board over there to let the passenger go in and open the garage door, then you have go back the 15 blocks immediately to return the board with the key and the reverse if you go get the car. So, Clay parked at the corner of the street and they all stayed in the car with the AC on while I walked to the middle of the block to learn all this and if our room was ready. The lobby was open air and absolutely sweltering. (Clay Googled the weather later and found the temperature was 96F but the heat index was 106F. That was about 3pm, so I am sure it was at least the same at 11am.) Anyway, I paid the desk clerk the $350.69 we owed for the next 3 nights and filled out the parking form. Then as we were discussing how to handle transferring the bags at least, I turned and saw Clay drive by the window. The desk clerk was offering to go out and explain to Clay where he could and couldn’t park. He couldn’t park at the corner where he was idling, though the clerk didn’t think he'd get towed sitting in the car. As he and I walked outside, Mom walked up and said the police just tried to tow the car with them sitting in it! The clerk was incredulous. Clay said the cop was very angry and surly as Clay backed away from the tow equipment he was lowering. Anyway, eventually Clay drove back by and just blocked the street as the 3 ladies and the clerk unloaded and then Clay parked about a block away and we all took bags up to a very small but nicely air conditioned room. We took turns in the restroom and then drove out for lunch.

Po’ boys had been decided upon. Parasol’s was the selection in the Irish Channel. It was in the direction of the airport and we hoped it was far enough out that parking would get easier. Parking didn’t get a lot easier but we found a spot right across the street anyway. We ordered far too much food in this heat anyway. Clay and I should have shared a regular instead of ordering a regular and a large. Mom ate most of her oyster po'boy. Judy ate half of her shrimp po’boy and got the other half wrapped up to go. Clay & I had roast beef po'boys and they were super messy with dripping gravy and neither of us wanted to take my remaining half with us.



Unfortunately after Clay got his po'boy down he started vomiting. We wound up parking at the airport when we arrived and walked Mom & Judy in on time so Clay could use the men’s room. It went out for about an hour. I guess one day he will talk to the doctor about this and find out what is causing it and if there is something to be done about it. (Or not. As I type this, he has returned from the Doctor without a word about it and he won't return for a year. So...)  It is unpredictable, but regular enough to be worrisome. I guess when it gets worrisome enough for Clay he will ask for medical help. It was just another in the pile of unpleasantness in a day that was unhappy enough. Any end of vacation and flying day is already stressful and unpleasant enough already. I felt really bad for Mom & Judy setting out for a long flying day this way.

When Clay finally kept down a mouthful of Coke Zero for a few minutes we set off back to the Villa Convento to park the rental car. Once we were parked and returned the key we were too exhausted to do anything else and came up to room 200 and laid down in the AC. We looked up things on the Internet and debated what to do and how. The rental car is useless to us at this point with it taking an hour to get it out and an hour to put it away. Unfortunately, we prepaid for the 3-day rental and it is not clear they will refund any unused portion. We had thought we would tour some outside of New Orleans but we both remember the last time we toured a plantation being hot and miserable. We're not willing to be outdoors much in the next 3 days. I think we have finally decided to just leave the car parked until late Monday when it has to be returned to the convention center. We can’t even return it to the airport since Hertz wanted $300 for the one way fee and we can take a cab for $40. So, we are planning to ride street cars to the Audubon Aquarium one day and the Audubon Insectarium/Butterfly House the other and try to spend most of the days indoors. I think the combo ticket covers the zoo too, but neither of us think we can tolerate the heat for that outdoor visit.

About 5pm, we walked around the corner and down a block or so to Mona Lisa, a casual and inexpensive Italian restaurant. We once again ordered twice as much food as we could eat and just left it. I ordered chicken parmesan which came with a salad that we shared. Clay ordered a pizza. Clay went to a convenience store on the way back to the hotel and got himself a stock of Coke Zero. There is an ice machine in the first floor courtyard and a refrigerator for guest use behind the front desk. Clay wanted a fridge to store a muffuleta from Monday afternoon until we check out about 6:15am on Tuesday. He wants to have it to eat on the way home. (Spoiler Alert! Note that Central Grocery is and always has been closed on Mondays!)

Well, as I write this, I hope Mom & Judy are well on their way home safely. I will probably be long asleep before they arrive.

We are in room 200 of the Hotel Villa Convento. It is one of 3 on this floor that have a balcony overlooking Ursuline Street and the Croissant d'Or. It is a small basic room with a double bed, I believe. There is a chair, sink and TV against the bathroom wall and a hanging clothes rod and iron/ironing board against the balcony door wall. The bathroom is a small space with a shower over tub and toilet. It is up a long flight of stairs or a tiny antique elevator. I did not see a handicap entrance to the building, only stairs. The rooms are air conditioned but the public spaces are open air and HOT! The ice machine is downstairs in the courtyard. There is complimentary hot water/tea/coffee downstairs in the front desk lobby. It is most definitely not a chain hotel. It has character! It is conveniently located in the French Quarter.

We were both so sweat soaked that we had to shower before we could get in bed and go to sleep tonight. Make a note, avoid New Orleans in August!

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Complete Mississippi River Cruise - Day 14

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Friday, August 22, 2014

I was up just after 6am this morning which was later than usual for me. Clay had done laundry last night and the dryer he got wasn’t drying so we had wet clothes hanging up all over last night and early this morning he went up to get a dryer again. All done within 20 minutes this time. 

We got our front 4-top for breakfast again and today we had Shaun for a waiter. He was just as good as Damin or Jake and we had to wonder how it had taken us a week and a half before we got a half week of good service. There was a line out the puzzle room all morning, so that was annoying.

We got out early to catch a golf cart ride up the spiral ramp and over the levee to the buses right in downtown Baton Rouge. We could see the old Capitol Building nearly across the street as well as the new one down the street. But, we were headed out of downtown for our complimentary Rural Life Museum Tour. This was to finish Judy’s wish list of seeing a plantation. Now we have Cedar Grove, the unfinished Longwood and the working part of a plantation without the big house today. We had to do it in pieces! There were only about a dozen people on our bus today and when we got there they split us again to take us through the grounds. It was another good tour and we really would have liked to have more time. But for some reason the guide thought we were entitled to a Louisiana capitol city overview driving tour as well and he saved 30 minutes for that. It was OK, but our tour description did not have that.

When we got back Mom & Judy’s room had not been serviced. Judy went to tell someone and she was told it was because the do not disturb sign was out. That was not true and even if it was written on the staff report, their room is directly across the hall from the office and they could easily have seen that it was not on the door. It was cleaned during lunch. We got back just in time for lunch and sailing.

Lunch was first course of shrimp & grits or goat cheese crouton. Entrée was BBQ chicken salad or mahi mahi. Dessert was brownie a la mode or ice cream.

This afternoon we worked on the puzzle and participated in activities. There was dancing, kite flying, trivia and bingo. We all stayed busy, happy and occupied right up to cocktail hour. 

Dinner was first course of poached shrimp or French onion soup. Entrée was beef tenderloin or stuffed lobster tail or both. Dessert was chocolate raspberry terrine or berry cheesecake cobbler or ice cream.

Entertainment tonight was the Victory Belles, an Andrews Sisters type trio. They were around all day today in costume. The real activity for us tonight though was packing. We have pretty well settled in here during the past 2 weeks.

We have breakfast at 7am tomorrow and are supposed to be off the boat by 8:30am. Per our disembarkation forms earlier this week and our tag assignments, by saying we would make our own arrangements upon disembarkation we also get to carry off our own luggage since we 4 received no tag assignment. We talked about it and all decided that rather than having to put our luggage out by midnight, we’d just as soon keep it until morning and handle it ourselves.

We have a car reserved at the Convention Center which should be within a 5 to 15 minute walk for Clay and he will go pick it up while we wait outside with the luggage. Then we will have the car for the day to ferry Mom & Judy to the airport for their afternoon flight and take us to Hotel Convento for the next 3 nights.

We are all sorry that the service was not equal to the high per diem fare ($715) and that we feel we cannot justify another cruise with ACL again on that account.

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Complete Mississippi River Cruise - Day 13

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Thursday, August 21, 2014

We awoke to a big close rainbow on the port side of the boat this morning. It was very scenic.

I don’t know why but we are docked in Vidalia, LA for our port call in Natchez, MS today. Clay said we arrived about 11:30pm last night. Breakfast is back to 7:30am. We are on the complimentary Natchez City Tour at 9am. There is only one other tour offered during our ½ day here and that one is $45 to Frogmore Plantation at 8:30am. Otherwise they are running a shuttle service all morning every 30 minutes or so. (That is what they needed in Greenville!)

The tour was OK even if the guide was disorganized. Natchez is a little town full of old homes. Evidently they were Union sympathizers and did not suffer much damage. The highlight of the tour was a guided tour of Longwood. Longwood is the largest octagonal home in America. It was begun before the Civil War and left uncompleted to this day. I had seen a TV show or 2 about it, or else have seen the same TV twice, but didn’t realize the name of it so didn’t expect it. It was a pleasant surprise. We were all back onboard and sailing by lunchtime. Today is Eagle Society day so they have to have us all captive and onboard. 

Lunch today was first course of crab & corn bisque or salad. Entrée was salmon salad or BBQ baby back ribs. Dessert was peach strudel or ice cream. I special ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. It was good.

Right after lunch, Mike our Riverlorian had arranged for a friend with a old small plane to do a flyby. There is a short video in the photos for today. Around 2:15pm, he came flying upriver and he dropped lower and circled us several times. We were in the process of passing a houseboat and were sailing side by side for the entire time and they had to wonder what was happening. It was pretty exciting.

Later in the afternoon, Robert announced kite flying but as soon as the first one was launched there was thunder so that was shut down pretty quickly. Robert said he would leave the kites out by the calliope so people could use them whenever they wanted or take them home. It was a very busy afternoon for the 2 complimentary self-service laundry machines. Mom & Judy went to Devina’s arts and crafts class to make ribbon leis. I flew a kite for a few minutes later in the afternoon, but then saw lightening again. I got another chance to fly one another day and I did take that kite home. That was nice.

Dinner was first course of spinach & goat cheese salad or oysters Rockefeller. Entrée was chicken, pork tenderloin or crab cake. Dessert was red velvet cake or apple streusel pie or ice cream. Our waiter at lunch and dinner today was Jake and he was just as good as Damin, but quieter. We are happy to have better service here in the final days, but it is too little too late to bring any of us back to ACL.

We should be docking around 11:30pm tonight in Baton Rouge. We are signed up for the complimentary rural life tour at 9am. There is also a historic Baton Rouge tour at 9am. The boat sails at 12:30pm for New Orleans. We should arrive in New Orleans about 11:30pm again and we are off the boat by 8:30pm on the next morning. Mom & Judy fly home in the afternoon and Clay & I will stay in New Orleans for 3 nights.

There was a spectacular sunset tonight. We got our tip envelopes on the bed tonight. The end is in sight.

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Complete Mississippi River Cruise - Day 12

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Wednesday, August 20, 2014



We set an alarm for today to make sure we are up and moving a half-hour earlier. I don’t know if it went off, but Clay woke me up about 5:30am. We have been shooting for the 2 4-tops in the center of the dining room and this morning we lucked into Damin as our waiter. He is great! He is conscientious, attentive and efficient. We got him for all 3 meals today and it has been the difference between night and day. If only he stays at those tables and doesn’t move, but that hasn’t been happening. They have kept moving the wait staff around to where we couldn’t get the servers we wanted or avoid those we didn’t want. We are on the downhill side now anyway and will be leaving soon.

Breakfast was at 7am. The ladies all had the cinnamon bun French toast that I had raved about last week. Unfortunately, it was not as good this week as last week. It hadn’t been soaked in egg. The flavors were the same, but the textures were different. Mine was literally like someone had just smashed some scrambled eggs with a cinnamon bun and called it French toast. Pretty disappointing, but then we have come to expect that now every time we enter the dining room, I am sorry to say.  

We took the complimentary tour of the National Park at Vicksburg Battleground. It was enormous and it has the remains of an armored paddlewheel boat, the Cairo (pronounced kay roe). The bus tour took from 8:30am to 11:30am. It was very well done and informative. It was very hot downtown when we got back to the boat. But, we still walked along the levee wall and viewed all the murals and brass plaques on our return to the docked boat. Nicely done!

We went in for lunch. Mom had special ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. She had a chocolate éclair for dessert and pronounced it her 2^nd best meal of the cruise. First best meal was the tamales we brought back for lunch yesterday. How sad a state is that? I had special ordered a pb&j sandwich. I had an éclair too and we were both happy. First course lunch was cauliflower cheddar soup or cornbread salad. Entrée was spinach salad or crab & crawfish baked mac & cheese. Dessert was chocolate éclair or ice cream.

After lunch, Clay called a cab and we headed over to Cedar Grove. Judy had 2 wishes for this cruise, one was to see Graceland (check) and the other was to see an antebellum plantation. Since Judy & Mom were leaving New Orleans on arrival pretty much, this wasn't going to be possible. We asked Mike the Riverlorian about it and he said if we were doing the Rural Life tour in Baton Rouge, we would see the working buildings of a period plantation but not the mansion. He suggested Cedar Grove as a good example of a plantation mansion. He was right, this one was pretty good. It is an inn and restaurant now, but for $6 each you can go on a self-guided tour of the house and grounds. It has repaired and retained cannonball holes and there is still a cannonball lodged in the parlor wall!

After that we called the cab and went back to the boat. There were pilot house tours this afternoon, but no one went. Clay and I walked through Catfish Row and I played in the splash fountain before we arrived at the Lower Mississippi River Museum. It was free and cool and interesting, especially the boat sitting outside. Queen of the Mississippi had a free downtown shuttle running most of the day that stopped at the Old Depot Museum which was right across the street ($5.50) and the Old Court House Museum (Admission) and the Museum of Coca-Cola ($3.50). We never made it on the shuttle or to anywhere else in downtown. The heat index was 100F and the hills were so steep!

Dinner was first course of beet salad or shrimp & tomato bisque. Entrée was chicken breast or salmon or flank steak. Dessert was pecan pie or orange sour cream cake or ice cream. Damin set his own new record tonight by completing our entire 3 course meal in 51 minutes. We congratulated him on it and told him we had waited that long onboard for fried eggs before. He was appalled and it is appalling. He asked to make sure we told Gerardo. With all the bad service we have had I am not sure how our lone praise can help one conscientious and hardworking waiter in a bunch that don’t seem to care. But, we did confirm with Gerardo what Damin had already told him.

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Complete Mississippi River Cruise - Day 11

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Tuesday, August 19, 2014

We were both up early again this morning. Last night the boat seemed to be running rough. I don’t think we slept as well as we have been. We had the usual problems at breakfast, but everyone left the room full. We tried to figure out how to fill out our lunch order forms since we are hoping to have Delta tamales ashore. Since we don’t know if that will be possible, we said we may or may not dine ashore and said maybe to hamburgers as our choices. Before we boarded the bus this morning, Mom asked the guides about where to get tamales and they said that there would be a cart of them on the levee outside the boat when we got back at 11am.

Today we are in Greenville, MS all day. It is the first time that ACL or Queen of the Mississippi has been here. It has been years since any river boat has gone there. It is not right on the river, but up a channel. It is in the Yazoo Mississippi River Delta, now known as the Delta. They were very excited to have us. Lots of people, police, fire department, a blues band etc. turned out to welcome us. They had a drone circling the boat taking video or photos. Then we were our usual disorganized selves and nobody was coordinated with anyone else. The buses were late leaving because we waited for the water to be loaded again. Then it went right under the bus and no one got any anyway. Honestly, it shouldn’t be that hard and it isn’t like they don’t know what to do, they do it almost every day.

We got on the first bus. We went directly to the E. E. Bass Center which was an old school and saw and rode the 1901 Armitage Herschell Carousel. That was interesting and was not even listed on our tour description. It had rocking horses! Then we drove to the Hebrew temple where we unloaded again and were served cold drinks and given goodie bags. We sat in the sanctuary and a man spoke to us about the temple. Then our guide told us to visit the Jewish museum down the hall or else the 1927 Flood Museum next door and then make our way back to the bus. When we got off the bus each time today, the guide never said what time to get back onboard. When she told us to pick a museum and then make our way back to the bus we did so with the idea that she was letting us know time was short and we were to return at 11am. (Keep in mind that the guides had told Mom we'd be back to the boat by 11am.) We got back to the bus a bit after 11am and it was more than half full. We kept seeing people walk past and sometimes they’d get on the bus and others would turn the corner and never reappear. At about 11:45am, the guide came on the bus (which had been idling with the AC running all along, so it was the most comfortable place anyway) and asked what we were doing. Waiting! She then said over and over that she had told everyone to be back onboard at noon. There were some angry people but she kept insisting she had told everyone noon. She didn’t. Some people got off and went to other nearby museums for a quick look. We were back to the boat before 12:30pm. When we went in the puzzle room, we found a stack of Delta Democrat-Times newspapers and on the front page was a photo (which showed Mom & Clay on the 2nd deck on the front of Queen of the Mississippi) and an article about our visit to Greenville. That was some quick turnaround on publishing!

I asked our guide about getting someone to drive us over to Leland and back so we could see the birthplace of Kermit the Frog, the Highway 61 Blues Museum and the Blues Murals. She asked me how I knew about that. I told her, well from the brochure I was handed as I walked off the boat. She offered to do it if we would leave with her directly on our return and she could drop us back at the boat at 1:30pm because she had an important prior appointment. We wanted to eat tamales and spend more time since we are here until 7pm, so I turned her down. She did not offer to find another driver and car for us. When we got back I asked the tamale guy with Sho-Nuff and he said he had a helper coming soon that would probably know someone for us. The tamale guy couldn’t get a straight answer from anyone about where to set up his cart. He told us he would set up nearer the gangway when his helper came, so we told him we’d be back then. We went inside and used the restrooms and watched. His helper came and they talked and then each got in their trucks and started to leave. I quickly headed back out and up the levee and asked again if we could get tamales for lunch and get someone to drive us to Leland. They said they weren’t sure, so I asked them to just sell us tamales and we would go inside and have them for lunch and come back out to find out about the ride. They finally decided to set up their canopy just beyond our gangway and we bought 2 dozen tamales and ate 6 each. They were skinny little things tied in bundles of 6 each. They were beef and good and spicy, but not too much. We all really liked them. It was better than a hamburger! We took them to the game table in the puzzle room and got drinks from the Paddlewheel Lounge and I went down to the dining room and got plates. We told everyone we saw how good the tamales were and to go out and buy some. They were 6 for $5 and 12 for $9. I think a lot of people did go out and buy tamales eventually. We saw Capt. Hopkins and Chef James both buying some and we didn’t even tell either one of them. The tamale guys never were able to find anyone they would recommend to drive us to and from Leland.

After lunch, we went back outside to keep looking for a way to Leland, MS. We are here for a long time. There is nothing we wanted to see in walking distance and it is crazy hot here! So, no one really felt like walking anyway. Greenville, MS has no rental car companies and no taxis. There is incredibly one limo in town and it took away the band from Memphis that played onboard Queen of the Mississippi last night.  The boat offered a $30pp bus trip to Winterville Mounds State Park this afternoon, but after the fiascos with the complimentary tours none of us are interested in paying ACL extra for a tour. After asking everyone on the levee except law enforcement and the fishermen, we finally got a volunteer. Wesley, the Greenville Tourism director, agreed to take us in his family SUV. So we spent the afternoon driving through the fields of soybeans, milo and rice to and from Leland. We saw Deer Creek and lots of ducks and geese around the Birthplace of Kermit the Frog. We saw a few of the Blues Mural and Blues Markers on the way to the Highway 61 Blues Museum. Wesley had called ahead and Pat Thomas, the son of James “Son” Thomas was there to entertain us. He played songs and signed Cathead Dominoes for us then offered to go outside and have photos with his father’s historic marker.

Wesley also offered us a stop at the Montage Marketplace which was interesting but no one found anything to buy there, sadly because they were so excited that "boat people" had finally arrived. The people in Greenville really needed to think about providing some kind of free shuttle if they want cruise passengers to come to their businesses since there is no other way for us to get there. Wesley said we didn’t owe him anything for doing his job, but of course he had gone out of his way at some expense so we told him to take the cash and treat his wife to a meal out. We made the most we possibly could of our time here and I loved the Kermit stop! (I think we all would have preferred to get the originally scheduled overnight in Memphis though.)

Dinner tonight was first course of bleu cheese salad or blackened catfish gumbo. (The blackened catfish gumbo was Clay’s favorite dish of last week and he thought about ordering an entrée sized portion, but too many things have not tasted the same from week to week to take a chance. It turned out to be as good, but he didn’t have any catfish or okra in his cup, only broth and rice, so he was happy to get another course!) Entrée was swordfish steak, Alfredo pasta or chicken breast. Dessert was chocolate fudge cake or peach and blackberry cobbler or ice cream.

During the sailing away back out of this side channel, Clay saw at least 5 river otters around the barges lining the shores. It was too dark for him to get any photos of them though. They are the only otters any of us spotted outside of aquariums!

Early to bed because everything is a half-hour earlier in the morning. I am not sure why. Tomorrow is Vicksburg, but we are to be moored in Vidalia, LA and shuttle to Vicksburg. I don’t know why.

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Complete Mississippi River Cruise - Day 10

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Monday, August 18, 2014



I was up first this morning. I was up between 5 and 5:30am and that was too early to get up, but too late to go back to sleep because we have a big day ahead in Memphis. I went to get a mocha from the Paddlewheel Lounge and I guess I was before 6:30am and there was no coffee. I got a hot chocolate packet and brought it back to the room and made coffee with the Keurig. Breakfast was at 7:30am and was the usual experience, some good some bad. I had Bananas Foster French Toast and it came with white chocolate chips and sugared pecans. I had to scrape all that off and it was good.

We are docked on the starboard side today so we could see that it was a long walk up a red corkscrew or a ride in a golf cart that at most would hold 5 passengers so Clay scouted ahead and told us to come on up. We did and loaded the first bus. We were not the first aboard. There were 3 buses and none of them left until after the water had been loaded at about 9:10am. Last week if we had a 9am tour, they wanted the buses loaded by 8:45am and then they would bring out the water but never after scheduled departure before. Our tour description said we would drive past a lot of things and one was the St. Jude’s Children's Hospital. We however had an appointment to visit at 9:30am and the tour guide was anxious. We drove by Beale Street since we were docked right at Beale Street Landing. It was another fiasco of a morning since no one knew or cared about going to the St. Jude Hospital and if you load and unload a bus with disabled people on it you’ve spent 30 minutes. Next stop was not even listed on our tour description, but I was happy about it. We went to the Peabody Hotel to see the 11am duck march from the elevator to the fountain. (Video in photo album!) I was pleased. We decided to ditch the tour here. We were told that we would miss the drive by of the Civil Rights Museum where MLK was assassinated and past Mud Island. OK.

We went back through the Peabody and got some souvenirs and then out the other side to the cab line. Yesterday Mom and I had gone online and purchased Mansion Tour tickets for Graceland for 12:30pm today. The tickets were with Mom’s AAA discount, so instead of paying ACL $65pp, we paid $27.55 for each of the seniors and $30.60 for me. There was a $4.95 convenience fee for the order. The cab ride was about $30 with tip for the 4 of us. It was pretty far out to Graceland. The website for planning your visit did not mention that you get in an hour long line for a shuttle ride to Graceland. That and carrying ipads were the downsides. (The website says the ipads debuted the week before our visit! I should also point out that when we visited the website to book our tickets the ipads were not mentioned at all and we assumed audiotour was just that audio, not mixed media. It was not nice surprise for us despite all their online hype now. Now, Clay thought it was a fantastically well done interactive program and that may have been true. But, if you want to see Graceland and learn all about while holding a big ipad then you don't need to go in person, do you? The ipads had a strap around the neck and were too heavy and cumbersome. The cords to the headsets kept touching the screen and messing up or changing tracks/programs and other people bumping into your screen or cord would do the same thing. Judy got one that the audio was not working on and it was her wish to visit Graceland that brought us. So, Judy had more trouble than Mom or I but really the ipads were just a huge distraction all the way around in my opinion.) All the tours of Graceland entailed a self-guided audio-tour so the ipads were unavoidable, but the planning website should have warned that a timed tour ticket only meant what time you can get in line! After picking up 12PM Tour No. 5 tickets at will call, we walked over to Rockabillies and ate grilled peanut butter and banana sandwiches for $4.95 each. (I never had anything like this before, but I really liked it and we have tried it at home since. Doesn't beat grilled cheese for me though.) We also got a basket of onion rings and one of fries to share. Then we waited to be allowed in the shuttle bus line and then we waited about an hour or more in that line before actually arriving at the mansion. So much for the website's planning function. You can spend 1 to 1.5 hours touring the mansion if it takes an hour or more just to get on a shuttle bus! All in all I have to give thumbs down to Graceland. Lastly, if you want to see Graceland then check out their website because all photography is for individual use only and not for publication or public display without permission. I assume that published on this blog would violate those terms, so I won't put any photos. Also, if you look online you'll see the rooms without the throngs and jostling or the heavy ipad hanging around your neck!

We were back from Graceland and in the last of the gift shops when the Queen of the Mississippi tour bus arrived. They must either not have to wait in the shuttle queue or the CD staff sent a place holder to the line for the bus. We never learned which, but they would not have gotten back in time if they had waited an hour for a shuttle like we did and they were all scattered in the gift shops when saw them as they first arrived. We walked on over to the taxi line hoping to have time to walk on Beale Street before re-boarding the boat. We got a taxi van with a local character with a bad limp and a humpback who appeared to be blind and we couldn’t understand a word he said. We thought he was just an annoying guy getting people loaded in the next taxi in an orderly fashion. Not! He got behind the wheel and off we went on to the highway with the whole van shimmying like it would fall apart and all the windows open! He got us back to Beale Street at the Hard Rock Café which is exactly what we were shooting for and for about the same cab fare. So while we were all worried when it was happening, it turned out fine. Better, it was an adventure! We walked a couple of blocks up and down Beale St. while Clay moaned about not having Memphis BBQ ribs. We all tried to convince him to pick some up to go as all the restaurants had windows out front for that purpose, but he wouldn't do it. Oh, well.

We walked on back down to the riverfront in about 10 minutes or so and were back onboard Queen of the Mississippi by about 4pm. It is sailing time, 5pm and the bus hasn’t returned. We just heard the dock crew discussing that they were 10 to 30 minutes out yet. And Davina nearly had a fit about us holding up the boat’s departure when we told her our plans. The tour group was all aboard by 5:15pm. We set sail immediately.

Cocktail hour followed by dinner. They rang the dinner bell early and it was a mad dash to a closed dining room. You’d think everyone onboard had skipped lunch. Of course, I don't know, maybe they did. We ditched the tour at 11:30am. Another unhappy time at dinner. It is unconscionable that ACL uses us as a training school for wait staff. We are not paying training school practice prices. You don’t pay salon prices when you go to a beautician school to have a haircut or a manicure and this is the same thing. We are paying too much to put up with this and frankly it is quite unfair to the 18-23 year olds who are faced with serving us without proper training, practice, management or supervision. I am not happy about it and I am certain it is not mentioned anywhere in the ACL literature. If it is the practice, then it should be fully disclosed as anything else is deceptive advertising.

Dinner was first course, Caesar salad or crab meat ravigote. Entrée was red snapper, duck breast or pork tenderloin. Dessert was flourless chocolate torte or cherry pie or ice cream. During dinner all the lights except emergency lighting went out for a few minutes. That was not too disturbing as the boat was still running. Then the engines stopped running and we slowed to a drift. That was a bit worrisome. Gerardo and the chef both tore out of the kitchen and through the dining room and out and down the hall. No idea what happened, but within a few minutes we had lights back on and the engines restarted.

I don't have any idea what any one did the rest of the evening before going to bed!

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Complete Mississippi River Cruise - Day 9

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Sunday, August 17, 2014

Clay was up first this morning. I finally got up a little after 6am. It is getting lighter later the further south we go. Today was a sailing day. It stormed terribly overnight with lightning and thunder. It was close, hot and muggy all day and in the afternoon there was another ominous storm. It looked like tornados forming off the back of the boat and then a heavy rain blew across from starboard to port in a wall. So, at one point half the boat was dry and the other was drenched before it went all the way across whipping up waves in the Mississippi River.

I hope all this weather gets cleared out and we have a nice day for touring in Memphis. We booked our Graceland tickets for Monday afternoon with Mom’s AAA discount. It was harder than you might think because you have to buy timed tickets and with our complimentary morning city tour and lunch (which we all finally voted to just skip!) and getting a taxi out to Graceland, we weren't sure what time to try for to allow time to tour and safely get back before sailing time. (In the original itinerary, we were docked here in Memphis at the foot of Beale Street. That would have been awesome, but it is no longer on the itinerary!) ACL did offer a Graceland tour, but it was $65 each and we did better than that sharing 4 in cab both ways and buying our tickets directly. We were probably out around $50 each with cab, AAA discount, Mansion Tour and lunch. The Graceland did a terrible job of describing what to buy based on time allotted. We picked the tight schedule tickets of Mansion Tour only if you had 1 to 1/5 hours, but we were called and searched and allowed into an hour long line for a shuttle over to the Mansion at our ticket time. If you wait an hour for a shuttle ride, there is no way you can complete the tour in 1.5 hours. Just saying. Since ACL's tour bus left the ship at 2pm and they were arriving as we were departing, I think they must have somehow bypassed standing in the shuttle queue, otherwise we would have sailed late. So, the extra charge may have been worth something, but that is hindsight.

We had breakfast at 7:30am. Eggs Benedict. On my endorsement from last week, all 3 ladies had the Eggs Benedict. It was good. Relief!

We were to have a lecture on Vicksburg: The Gibraltar of the South at 9:30am, but Mike our Riverlorian heard they were having church then back in the Paddlewheel Lounge and he refused to go head to head and sent everyone out to return at 10am. Then he talked…Squirrel! About whatever crossed his mind and said Vicksburg about 100 times. I have no idea why Gibraltar of the South as he never spoke the term.

Lunch was first course, shrimp cakes or salad. Main course was Cobb Salad or fried catfish. Dessert was lemon meringue pie or ice cream. I had another PB&J with chips and no dessert today.

After lunch, we all sat out on our balcony and wildlife watched. Judy had asked earlier about seeing deer or something besides birds. We hadn’t. But, after lunch I spotted 2 deer and then a deer with some wild turkeys. Clay was in the bathroom, so although my hands shake enough that I don't usually try to use it, I grabbed up his camera and started trying to get a focused photo. He came out as I was giving up because the last deer had run off and he asked if I got the wild turkeys. Huh!?! I was working so hard to get the deer that I didn't even see the turkeys. Clay shot some more photos of just turkeys and it turned out there were at least 4 of them out on a sandy beach. I asked him to check the camera for deer. I was afraid they were just big tan dogs or something since I picked up his camera instead of binoculars. No, it was a deer. (It was a good thing I did this because it turned out those were the only deer photos we got!) So I went and tracked down Mom & Judy and we sat and watched. We only saw one more deer, then we crossed an incoming river and didn’t see anymore. We did see Bald Eagles, Egrets and Herons. It is funny that at some point we got out of the range of American White Pelicans because we haven’t seen anymore.

We had a 3pm cooking demo with Chef James. He made a roux for gumbo. Then he got distracted so, he also held an impromptu kitchen tour. The kitchen was small, but not the smallest boat kitchen we’ve toured. He said they do about ½ of the baking they serve. He said that all the service staff work both steward and wait staff duty and work in 12 weeks increments. (This concurs with what Mike told us about 12 weeks on and 6 months off.) He said most of them have no experience or training. They go through a one-week training session and then they are thrown in and it is considered a kind of hospitality training program. Well that explains a whole lot. It fits with our experience. What does not fit is why ACL would think that at the per diems they are charging that we are interested in funding their student work experiences program. There is nothing in the literature or on their website to explain that this is the experience we should expect and certainly the prices don’t reflect all staff in training.  What is really amazing is that it isn’t actually worse than it is. They served rum-rich Hurricanes and slices of sweet potato pie.

The ladies went up to the Sky Lounge at 4pm for Classic Movie Trivia and we had no winners. My best was 7 out of 10 and my worst was 3 out of 10.

Cocktail hour followed by dinner. First course was feta house salad or chicken & Andouille gumbo. Main course was BBQ flank steak or pasta St. Charles or roast Cornish hen. Dessert was chocolate bread pudding (not as good or the same as last week’s) or carrot cake or ice cream.

No one went to tonight’s entertainment. It was Silk Pajamas again and Mom & Judy didn’t like them last night. We took apart the puzzle we finished this morning (after Mom got Robert’s permission) and we started a new puzzle in a different corner of the room against the window. Hopefully the light will be better there. You will notice in the photo from this morning that there are 2 missing pieces. We checked the whole room thoroughly for those missing pieces, but when we tore it apart this evening there was only one missing piece. You have to wonder!

We should be in Memphis at 6am and have a full day of touring ahead of us. The weather has been awful today and we hope we are out of it or it has blown by Memphis by tomorrow.

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