Our hotel in NO was wonderful. A Quality Inn in the Warehouse District near the port, booked through Bookit.com. Wonderful price and parking was included! For the cruise we parked our car in Fulton Place Parking which is 5 minutes from the dock. They shuttle you to and from the ship for a weekly rate of $70. You can call and make a reservation (504-556-1010). Ask for Maurice, he is the owner and very helpful.

We got there about noon, went through the boarding process very quickly and very soon were eating lunch in the buffet, watching others board. Our cabins were nice, the bathrooms rather roomy for cruise ships, and the cabin stewards took good care of us. No chocolates on our pillows at night, though! The food was good, huge breakfast buffet and lunch every day. We did the two main dining rooms for dinner so we could be waited on and found the choices satisfying, especially the appetizers!. We tried Cagney's Steakhouse one night. Not really worth the extra charge. Food in the dining room was just as good, if not better.

We booked all of our own excursions except one. Saved about $20 per excursions, but sometimes had to walk a little farther to the meeting place. Our favorite was cave-tubing on Belize. We booked that through cavetubing.bz. Owner is Vitalino Reyes. Leo picked us up at the dock, was our guide throughout and was a wealth of information. THANK YOU LEO! The caves were awesome and it was a wonderful trip. Lunch was provided at Vitalino's residence-chicken, beans & rice, and rum punch. The one excursion we booked through NCL was the Jolly Roger Catamaran and Gumbalimba Park excursion. The snorkeling was wonderful and the park was incredible. Read more