New Orleans Trip by Train - Day 3 - Steamboat Cruise - October 10, 2021

 Clearly all the fresh air and walking had tired us out as we slept in later than normal!  After leisurely enjoying some breakfast in the room, we headed out to go find the ships that were in port this day.  The port schedule showed both the Carnival Glory and the American Jazz in port.

It was cruise day for some people!  

Carnival Glory

We remember these swings from the last family cruise we took out of New Orleans.

American Jazz

We then walked through The Outlet Collection at Riverwalk and continued on towards the dock for the jazz river cruise we had booked for the afternoon.

Interesting sculpture across from the Convention Center

Paul found us lunch from Cafe Beignet while I watched the boats traveling the Mississippi including the steamboat we would soon be on.

Riverboat City of New Orleans

Before we boarded the steamboat, they had a Calliope concert.

Our cruise on the Riverboat City of New Orleans included a jazz trio, Duke Heitger's Steamboat Stompers (we picked up a CD from them) along with a historical narrator.  The City of New Orleans riverboat used to be the Rock Island Casino boat out of NW Illinois before it was completely renovated to become the ship it is today with 4 passenger decks which can carry over 1,000 passengers. 

It took two tugboats to pull this barge!

Duke Heitger's Steamboat Stompers

The Caption

The last rope being released before we took off.

Jackson Square and Cathedral-Basilica St. Louis

New Orleans City line (you can see the tail of the Carnival Glory  just left of the city)

Rolling Cargo Carriers (see the next photos for the ramp of how cargo can just be driven on to this ship).  I understand there are two of these ships in each major port of the US.  They are maintained by the National Guard and stand ready should they be needed.

Domino sugar plant

Iron ore is being loaded on to this barge

Carnival Glory

We walked over 16,000 steps and almost 6 miles this day so we decided to head back towards the hotel, picking up some fried chicken from Brother's Food Mart on the way.

New Orleans Trip by Train - Day 4 - Train Trip Home - October 11, 2021

 Our train departed at 9:15am this morning and since New Orleans is the first stop, we knew it would likely be on time.  We headed out, stopped at Rouses Market, a grocery store near the train station to pick up some food for the train since we would be traveling coach this time and thus not entitled to meals.  Once again, when we arrived at the train station, we just found a seat.  There was no security to go through.  They didn't even check our tickets before going on the train platform.  This station was a little busier as the Sunset Limited, a Superliner train that travels between New Orleans and California three days a week left 15 minutes before our train did.