New Orleans/Cruise - December 3, 2017

Today we boarded the cruise.  Our arrival time at the port was 11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. and so we booked a taxi for 10:45 a.m.  We ran into a little hiccup as the hotel across the street experienced a fire just before then and so fire trucks blocked our street.

Upon arriving at the port, the lines were fairly long as many people scheduled for later arrival times had shown up early and they weren't making them wait.  Fortunately the lines went quickly and we were on the ship by noon.

We had lunch in the Lido Restaurant (buffet) and were actually able to find tables for all eight of us, which is amazing because usually that first lunch is insane as people sit with all their luggage until the cabins are ready.

We stopped by to talk to the Maitre'd about my allergies.  He wasn't there at the moment but a junior hostess took down my information.  She was not very encouraging about them being able to accommodate my allergies but when the Maitre'd came in, he was much more confident on what they could do.  We shall see.  One nice thing was that they took my order for tonight's supper.  On Celebrity, usually I don't have much choice that first night as they don't have time to make many accommodations.

We then wandered to the Dream Lobby & Atrium and listened to Caribbean Sounds with Kevin.  They have nice couches on the 4th level overlooking the Atrium which was an ideal place to listen and dance.  Here are some photos/videos I took:

We received all of our suitcases really quickly and were able to unpack before the muster drill.  Here are some photos of our room (Balcony Room 7251):

The muster drill for our station was held in Encore, the huge theater.  Muster drills are usually pretty boring and there are always people who don't show up or are late which adds to the time we sit there but it is nice that we no longer have to stand outside our lifeboat with our lifejackets on.  Here are photos of Encore:

New Orleans is a unique port in that the city is not situated right on the ocean.  It is actually about 100 miles from the ocean.  So the first part of the journey involves turning the boat around in the Mississippi River and then traveling down the river.  Here are photos of leaving port:

Pulling away from the dock

The front is starting to turn

Perpendicular to the dock

Fully turned around

The bridge where we were parked and turned around in the distance

A huge beautiful red sun made for a spectacular sunset - these pictures don't do it justice

We enjoyed a before dinner drink at the Alchemy Bar which is known for its martinis and will be our favorite bar.

Dinner was at table 602 of the upper level of the Scarlet Restaurant.  It is a table for eight fairly near the entrance in an area that isn't so crowded so I think we will enjoy our nightly dinners here.

The food was good although they really struggled with getting my dishes (which I had pre-ordered due to my allergies).  My appetizer didn't arrive until after we had eaten our main dishes.  Hopefully things will go smoother now that the craziness of the first night is over.

After dinner, we enjoyed Caribbean Sounds with Kevin.  The kids enjoyed dancing to their tunes on the dance floor in the Atrium/Lobby.  And then we decided to check out Bonsai Sushi.  For $5-$7/roll or $1.50 per piece of sushi/sashimi, you can sample some excellent quality sushi.

This is where my husband and I parted from the rest of our family and enjoyed the rest of the evening listening to country music by Whiskey & Wine in The Song lounge (who were really enjoyable to listen to) and then attending an adult show from the Punchliner Comedy Club held in the Burgundy Lounge.  The comedian was Valarie Storm and she wasn't too bad.  There is another comedian onboard that we will have to check out one of these nights and see how he compares.