For Christmas this year, David & I decided to get away from everyone and celebrate the holidays our way. So for 2024, we’re on a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise from New Orleans to Cozumel, Grand Cayman & Jamaica. And as part of our presents this year, we’re going on excursions at every port. Life is very good to us – though we do feel a little guilty that we’re cruisin’ since just a week ago we had our 5th grandbaby (Asher) and 2 days later the 6th grandbaby (Lennon) was born. But if those kids play their cards right, maybe Opa & Oma will take them on a family cruise. However, Oma draws the line at a Disney-themed cruise.
We landed in NOLA Friday evening and quickly changed our clothes so we could make our 8:15p reservation at Antonine’s. I knew nothing about this restaurant and felt severely underdressed in jeans, sweatshirt & sneakers. NOLA was really cold and I wasn’t expecting <50degrees weather. I also wasn’t expecting to eat at a restaurant where the wait staff dressed in formal suits. With reassurance from the bartender that I wasn’t under-dressed, we shared crab and Brie bisque, beef tenderloin & their famous oysters Rockefeller. That just might be the way to order oysters from now on – they were phenomenal.
After dinner, I led David on a mini-haunted tour through the French Quarter with Pat O’Briens’ famous Hurricanes in hand. We went to Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo but a reading was not in the cards for us that night. Get it??! Then we walked to Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, purported to be the oldest bar in America and haunted. No ghost sightings but it was fun to see New Orleans even if we were freezing.
Our hotel had a late checkout so around noon, we caught a ride to the cruise terminal to start our Caribbean Christmas. When we boarded the ship, there was a contest to correctly guess the weight of a resin Hello Kitty looking sculpture. Along with entering the contest, we received raffle tickets for the art auction happening that evening and the promise of free champagne. Sure, let’s check it out, we thought. Who doesn’t love free champagne??! Before the art auction, we stopped at the Casino & fortune did not favor me at the slot machines. But it’s ok; you win some and lose some. In my case, $20 but all good because our luck changed at the preview night.
We stood next to Dwight and his wife Elizabeth. Dwight was cool & helped us unlock a Cruise/Life Hack in terms of art collecting. Dwight said he’s spent something like $50K on art he’s bid on while cruising. Whatever he was doing, I wanted to learn from him! Elizabeth wasn’t as friendly but that’s OK. The bidding started at $1 and David got into the action with a limit set for $150. At least that’s what I was comfortable spending. Dwight kept urging us to bid higher and I thought, he must think we have loads of money to spend. It got up to $300 before they announced that the auction was fake. It was a free raffle. Guess who won the art… Elizabeth! Dwight knew all along the raffle was fake but didn’t tell us. And now that we know, we’re going to hit the art auctions every time we cruise. It wasn’t all in vain because we won 2 raffle prizes (a $50 spa credit & a bottle of champagne) just for showing up. I call that a success!
The night wasn’t over because we still had some good luck bestowed upon us. While standing 20 people deep in the “my time dining” line, one of the head waiters came to us & asked if we wanted to make reservations with him. We jumped at the opportunity and were whisked out of line to table 431 where Francis and Ketut took care of us. Winning at the auction and winning at dinner sure gets the cruise started on the right foot. With Day 1 down, this feels like it could be an annual Bennett tradition of cruising away for the Holidays. Next stop: Cozumel & Excursion #1. Bon voyage, indeed!
There She Goes... 