Pre-Cruise: Drury Inn was a great value, all the added free extras (free long distance, free wifi, free breakfast and free appetizers/cocktails at 5:30) made it really worthwhile. Quiet hotel at night, away from the hustle of Bourbon St. We walked back from Bourbon St at night mostly between 9pm and 11pm and felt safe. I'm not sure how it would have been any later than that, but probably best to take a cab to play it safe. Rooms were nice and large and service at the front desk was extremely helpful. We also did a City tour with Southern Style tours which gave us a great overview of the garden district and the lower 9th ward restoration progress.

Embarkation: We rolled our luggage from the Drury Inn to the Julia St. entrance as we only had carry on sized baggage, this saved some cab fare and it wasn't too long of a walk. Once at the terminal we were on the ship within 30 minutes (arrived around 11am). I'm not too sure how much time we saved since we had priority boarding with platinum, but it looked like the other line was moving quickly as well.

Ship: My first time on a Voyager class ship. Although Voyager is older, they have kept up with the updates on a majority of public rooms and it still looks great. The Royal Promenade is a great way to get a frame of reference for where public lounges/dining areas are. I felt it was easier to navigate than the Radiance class ships. Read more