Embarkation:
We were traveling from Dayton Ohio, so we left early on Saturday morning and drove to Picayune MS and spent the night there. We did our research and found that we needed to get to the port early to avoid any possible bad things happening so we did just that. We left the hotel early and got to the port just as the exit for St Charles Street was backing up. We arrived and parked at the port at 8:30. Instead of offloading our stuff and waiting, we left our luggage in the car and walked through the French Qtr and eventually made it back to the port between 10:30 and 11. Embarkation was a breeze. We did wait a bit to get on board, but our philosophy was better early than too late. (As is turned out there were a few who did not think that Mardi Gras would affect traffic in New Orleans.
Activities for the kids:
We had room 6035. This is one of the large inside rooms near the for-steps. It was very spacious. With the four of us, we always had plenty of room, the closet and cabinet held almost all of our clothes (including the 15yog. Our room steward was wonderful and our room was always clean and well kept. The room did have some noise late at night as it is directly under the restrooms next to Shanghai Bar, but not enough to overcome the spaciousness and convenience.