2026 March 16-20, Trip to New Orleans with the Club, Diamonds in the Rough, Diamond Tours

 Day 1: Monday, March 16: Travel Day 

For breakfast, we ate Sausage and biscuits at home.

We rode to the Club, met inside to pick up our name tags, and had a brief talk about the trip.

We loaded onto the bus by 8:30 and were on our way. 

Our driver's name was Jerome, on bus 334, Graylines Tennessee, with a mural of Nashville wrapped on the side. 

Our first stop was Loves in West Point, MS. Hubby bought a Diet Coke and some Sweet & salty trail mix; he spent $7.01.

For lunch, we stopped at Burger King, where we bought one Steakhouse Whopper, fries, and two Cokes, and spent $15.98

We stopped at Love's West Point, MS, for a restroom break. 

For dinner, we stopped at Golden Corral in Hattiesburg, MS, for a buffet. 

I got fish, okra, blueberry pie, corn on the cob, a Diet Coke, and seafood salad. 

We traveled through Heidelberg and Laurel, MS., into Slidell and New Orleans, LA. 

We arrived at our hotel, Sonesta ES Suites New Orleans,212 Loyal Ave, around 6 P.M.

Room 905.

Took a shower, worked on this journal, watched some TV, and went to bed. 

3257-3261 Love's West Point, MS @10:32 AM

3264- Macon, MS 

3265-3268 Burger King Maridian, MS 

3269-3272 Laurel and Heideburg, MS Loves

3273-3275 Golden Corral Hattiesburg, MS @5:15 PM

3277-3281 traveling through Slidell, LA @6:28

3282-3299 Traveling through New Orleans, LA @6:48

3300-3301 Room at Sonesta ES Suites, room 905 

Day 2: Tuesday, March 17: New Orleans 

Breakfast in the hotel where I ate egg, bacon, waffles, Waffle, yogare and cranberry juice.

We were on the bus by 8:15. 

Our first stop was to pick up our rep and head to Mardi Gras World. We arrived a little before 9 and stayed until 11. 

We watched a video and then toured the warehouse where floats for Mardi Gras are made and repaired. 

We got back on the bus at 11 and rode to Riverwalk Mall, where we shopped and had lunch.

Hubby and I shared lunch we bought at Pei Wei Asian Kitchen: orange chicken, Seaweed Chicken, and steak, with a Diet Coke.  

We took a group photo before boarding the Creole Paddlewheeler for a cruise to the Chalmette Battlefield and returning to the Riverwalk. 2-4:40 P.M.

We loaded onto the bus and rode to Landry's Seafood House, 620 Decatur St. 

We enjoyed fried shrimp, salad, fries, red velvet cake, and iced tea. Tim bought appetizers: crawfish bites and spinach and asparagus dip with chips. 

After dinner, we got back on the bus and headed for our hotel, but ended up getting caught up in the St. Patrick's Day Parade for 2 1/2 hours. We sat on the bus waiting for the parade to end. 

We sang and danced on the bus while we waited. 

It was late when we got back to the hotel, and everyone was exhausted 

3304 Breakfast at the hotel @ 7:15

3305-3357 Mardi Gras World @9:19-9:39 A.M. 

3358 Mural Mall 

3359 Lunch @11:18 AM

3360-3365 Riverwalk 

3366 Riverwalk Jester @4:38

3371-3377 Walking to Landry's @5:07 PM

3378-3383 Dinner at Landry's @ 5:13 

Big Camera

7221-7307 Mardi Gras World @8:59-8:55

7308-7311 Riverwalk @11;3-1:28

7312-7360 Chamette Battlefield @2:46-3:36

Bought two Mardi Gras T-shirts at Puma for 18.01

Day 3: Wednesday, March 18: New Orleans 

Breakfast at the hotel, I ate an egg, a sausage link, French Toast, and water. 

We were on the bus by 8:15 and picked up our guide, Wanda. We toured New Orleans, stopping at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. Everyone got out to listen to our guided talk about the cemetery.

One of the Crypts was built like a castle, costing several thousand dollars. I guess she took her money to the grave with her. 

Our next stop was at New Orleans City Park Restaurant (Benya's Café Du Monde), where we enjoyed a beignet and Coke. I took a few photos. 

We boarded the bus, dropped off our guide (8:30-11), and rode to the French Quarter, where we shopped and had lunch.

We ate lunch at Frank's Restaurant, where Hubby and I shared a shrimp po' boy and Coke. 

I ate the shrimp because the bread was very dry. (11-1:30).

Our next stop was the WWI Museum, 1:30–5 P.M.

Our next stop was for dinner at Crescent City Brewhouse, 527 Decatur Street. Here we enjoyed pork chops, green beans, spring salad, rolls, mac & cheese, bread pudding, and iced tea.  

When we were walking through the French Quarter, an Oriental woman walked up to us, put a couple of bracelets on our wrists, then asked for money. She also handed me a necklace, and I handed it back. She told Hubby that she wanted $40, and he said no. He gave her a $5, she said $10, Hubby said no, and gave her another dollar. I tried to give back the bracelets, but she said no. As she walked away, Hubby heard her say, " Cheap ashole. 

3384-3391 Park @ 8:48 

3392-3415 St Louis Cemetery #5 @9:20-2:38 

3416-3420 City Park & Restaurant @10:17

3421-3424 French Quarters Park Jackson Square 

3425-3443 French Quarters @11:33-11:48

3444 Lunch at Frank's 12:10 

3445-3451 French Quarters 12:33-12:55

3452-3473 WWII Museum 1:44–2:30 P.M. 

3474-3480 New Orleans Headed to restaurant 5:-5 

3481-3483 Restaurant @5:24-6:15 P.M.

3484-3492 Hotel Receipts Room #905

Big Camera 

7361-7366  French Quarters @8:54-9:14

7357-7371 Cemetery @9:26

7372-7381 New Orleans City Park @9:56-11:25

7382-7428 WWII National Museum @2:4:36 P.M. PM

Day 4: Thursday, March 19: 

Breakfast at the hotel. I ate egg, French toast, and juice.

After breakfast, we rode to Caesar's Casino, where several people gambled. We decided to walk over to the Riverfront Mall. 8:30-11

Hubby sat on the steps outside while I walked along the riverfront, taking pictures.

When we got back, we went inside the mall, bought a beignet, and walked around.  

Lunch: at the French Quarter Market Bowl of Gumbo. World-famous N'awlins on N Peter St, spend $ 12.32. 11:30-3

We also got a scoop of cookies and cream ice cream in a cone at Southern Candy Makers, spent $4.35 cas.h 

At 3, we headed back to the hotel to rest.6 P.M.6 PM, we loaded onto the bus for dinner at Boomtown Casino & Hotel in Harvey, LA

At each table, we had a spring salad, rolls, butter, and water. 

One table at a time went to the buffet. There I got fish, green beans, beans and rice, gumbo, and bread pudding.

There was dancing and music, and we stayed until 8 P.M. 

Rode back to the hotel, packed, as we are leaving tomorrow. 

3493 Breakfast @7:35

3495-3519 Riverwalk @9:08-11:07

3520-3527 Jackson Square @11:47-12:14

3528-3529- Dinner Boomtown Casino 6:01

Back to the hotel by 8:30.

Day 5: Friday, March 20:

Breakfast at the hot:l, I ateggsgg, bacon, and a muffin.

We were on the bus by 8:30, headed home. 

We stopped at Arby's in Tuscaloosa for lunch. Hubby ordered their lunch special for $8, which included a sandwich, curly fries, cheese sticks, a pie, and a drink. 

I ordered a roast beef slider and a drink we spent $14.05

We stopped at Love's Poparville, MS, to fuel up.

We stopped at Walmart in Russellville for a restroom break

We arrive back at the Club around 6 P.M.

Hubby helped clean out the bus, and we loaded our luggage into our car and headed for home. 

We stopped at Hugos for a Shrimp Fajita for dinner. 

Washed clothes, uploaded some of my photos, and went to bed around 12.

2025 Oct 16-19, NCL Getaway Cruise 7-Day Canada and New England Round Trip New York, Bar Harbor & Halifax Part 2

Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick 

 Day 5, October 16, Thursday, Beautiful Bay of Fundy 

We will be docking around 9 A.M. The time changed from 6 to 7 A.M. Clocks moved up one hour. 

We ate breakfast in the Garden Cafe. There I ate scrambled eggs, biscuits, gravy, sausage, cheese, and water.

Everyone on the Beautiful Bay of Fundy excursion meets in the Manhattan room @ 9:30 A.M.

We left the ship and went into port @ 10:15 A.M. We loaded onto the bus. Our driver was Terry Finnegan, and our guide was Paul. 

Our first stop was the Cave Restaurant in St Martin's, where we were served seafood Chowder. (The food was delicious.) and a cookie for dessert. 

The famous creamy Chowder comes with scallops, lobster, haddock, and a biscuit.

To find the Cave Restaurant, drive through Saint Martin Village until you reach the harbor. Take the covered bridge, and the restaurant is the second restaurant on the right, where the caves are. 

The tide was low, so several people walked down to the caves. It was lots of rocks and wet. I was wearing tennis shoes and didn't want to get my feet wet, so I just walked to the edge. 

We stopped at the Visitor Center at Fundy Footpath and walked along the Big Salmon River to the Bay of Fundy swinging bridge, which was closed. 

Big Salmon River and Swinging River Bridge 

In Saint Martin's, we stopped to take pictures of the two covered bridges we passed on our way to the restaurant. There was an ice cream shop where everyone bought an ice cream. We purchased a peanut butter chocolate waffle cone. 

The tide was still out, and all the boats that were docked were on dry land. 

We rode back to Saint John, stopping on a hill overlooking the town, where we could see our ship.

Here, everyone got off the bus to take pictures.

The bus took us back to the port, and there we shopped at the Container Village. 

We loaded back onto the ship in time for dinner. We ate dinner in the Garden Cafe. I ate a taco with sour cream, avocado dip, chips, and lemon cake. 

At 8P.M., we walked down to the Effie Store to collect two more charms, and we won a watch at the Watch store. 

I bought two more charms for my bracelet.

We returned to our room, took a shower, and went to bed. 

498 Breakfast 7:40 A.M.

500 Port Bay of Fundy @ 9:51 A.M.

502-535 Traveling on Bus St John -Champlain, Saint Martins, Orange Hill, Bayview  @11:02 AM

535 Lunch at Cave Restaurant, seafood chowder @11:44 AM 

536-551 St John's @12:57 PM

552-604 Salmon River @1:34 PM

605-612 St Martins @3:36 PM

613-614   St John's Bains Corner @4:05 PM

615-619 St John North End @5:04 PM

620-626 Bay of Fundy @5:28 PM

627-628 Dinner on ship @6:04

629 Pier Bay of Fundy @6:26 PM

630 Receipts 

Canon EOS R6 Photos

5388-5407- Saint John, Port New Brunswick

5408-5424 The Cave Restaurant 82 Big Salmon River NB 

5426-5449 Berry Beach St Martin NB

5454-5551 St Martin NB 

5450-5554 Bay of Fundy, NB 

5557-5624 St John's, NB 

Day 6: October 17, Friday: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

We slept until 7 A.M. 

We did not have an excursion planned for today. We thought we would explore the town. 

We ate breakfast in the Savor Dining room @ 9:00 A.M. I ordered a parfait, a bagel with salmon.

After breakfast, we went ashore, stopping at the Immigration Research Area. 

I have family who immigrated to Canada, so I wanted to see what I could find. 

Some of my family came before 1865, and there weren't many records before then. 

I did find others that came later. 

We walked down the Boardwalk on Pier 21, past the Immigration Museum, train car, and historic markers about immigration.

We walked past the children's play area, many stores, shops, and food areas. We walked all the way to the Maritime Museum, which we visited the last time we were in Halifax.

We stopped at Crème Cafe, Cakes, Cocktails ( a distinctive restaurant united by excellence in cuisine and atmosphere) for passion fruit cheesecake, located at 341 Lower Water Street, Unit 123, Halifax, NS, B3J 3R3.

We walked back to the ship, and at 6:30 P.M., we ate dinner in the Manhattan Dining Room, where we ordered two lobster tails and creamed potatoes from Cagney's restaurant for $25.00.

Hubby ordered shrimp Pasta, and I gave him one of the lobster tails. 

We went to the Effie Store, where we collected another charm, then we went to the Atrium area to watch a game show. The Wild Cards. 

East Coast Store Halifax 

Iphone Photos

631-632 Breakfast in Savor @9:19 AM

633-635 Ocean Halifax @10:10 AM

637-638 lunch Garden Cafe @12:47 PM

639-775 Halifax Harbor walk @3:22-5:34 P.M.

776-778 Dinner Manhattan Room 

779-780 Receipts

Day 7: October 18, Saturday, Sea Day 

We ate breakfast in the Taste Dining Room (deck 6), where I ordered a spinach, mushroom omelet, a bagel with cream cheese, and a strawberry parfait. 

Hubby ordered three fried eggs, waffles, and toast. 

For lunch, we ate fish and chips, a chocolate brownie, and cheesecake at O'Sheehans (deck 7).

After lunch, I went outside. This was the first day it wasn't cold and wet. So, I walked 3 miles around the ship.

We watched several shows and went to Effie for more charms. 

For dinner, we ate at the Garden Cafe, which had seafood. I got grilled shrimp, corn on the cob, potato wedges, and lemon cake. 

From 7-8, we watched Rumors, a tribute to Fleetwood Mack  

Packed for the trip home tomorrow.

Iphone Photos

781-784 Breakfast in Taste  @9:21 AM

785-790 Battle of the Cake Master @10:52 AM

791-793 Lunch O'Sheen's @2:10 PM

794-797  Dinner Garden Cafe 

795-796 Sunset @7:98 PM

Day 8: October 19, Sunday Excursion New & Old New York and Flight Home 

Breakfast in the Savor Dining Room, where I ordered scrambled eggs with cheese, potatoes, and a strawberry parfait. Went to our room to get our luggage, put black tags on our luggage, and walked to the theater on deck 7 to meet our group for our excursion. 

We were the first group to disembark. Our bus was the first on the left as we left the terminal. 

Our driver was Harold on bus 760 Provost. 

We rode through New York down 59th Street, Columbus Circle, Lincoln Square, Central Park, 49th Street, Times Square, Garment District, 34th Street Penn Station, passed Macy's, Trump Tower, Apple Store, St Patrick's Cathedral, NBC News, Ropckerfellow Center, Hershey's, University of NY, and stopping at the Grand Central Terminal. 

We walked through the main Concourse level of Grand Central Terminal to the Summit. 

View of New York from the Summit 

In the Clouds at the Summit 

The Summit is a three-level multi-sensory art immersion.

Level 1 is on the 91st observation floor. 

Level 2 is on the 92 observation floor, where you are standing in a glass-bottomed ledge extending 1,000 feet over Madison Avenue. 

Level 3 is on the 93rd Observation floor, an open-air terrace with views of Manhattan and beyond. 

When finished, we rode the elevator down and walked through Grand Central Terminal to the bus. 

The bus took everyone to the airport as we passed through Eugene, Hudson Yards, Chelsea, 34th St, Herald Square, Koreatown, W36th St, and Bryant Park. 

We go through security and onto our gate. Our plane is not scheduled to leave until 7:30 P.M. Central Time. Our gate location changed 4 times while we waited for our flight. 60,61,69,75.

Confirmation GEIC WW LGA to Hsv, Canadair Bombardier Regional Jet 900 for 2 hours 40 minutes. 

We ate lunch at Jimmy John's: a submarine sandwich, cookies, and Cheetos. 

We sat in the dining area where we met a professor from Renoke, NC. She said she had two daughters. 

We found several reclining seats in the sunny area, and that is where we sat until it was time to go to our gate. 

We boarded the plane at 6:50 P.M., arrived at Huntsville Airport around 10:30 P.M., collected our luggage, and started our trip home. 

There aren't many places to eat that late, so we stopped at Buc-ee's in Athens, where we bought a BBQ sandwich, chips, and Coke to share. It was very late when we arrived home. 

Iphone Photos

801-804 Arrive at New York Port @4:42 AM

805-807 Breakfast Savor @6:45 AM

808-811 Pier 90 @7:07 AM

812-888 Bus tour New York 8:29–9:18 A.M. 

889-910 Summit @10:20-11:13 A.M.

911-927 Travel to Airport @11:14 AM

Canon EOS R6 photos

5644-5676 @8:25 AM Grand Central Station, New York 

5677-5723 @9:23 AM Summit One Vanderbilt Observation Deck, New York

Collect Your Free Amulet of Adventure

Day 3: Anchor & Necklace at the Getaway Theatre Deck 7 FWD @12:30 P.M. Port and Shopping Talk Sea Sea)

Day 3: Nahla Amulet, Syd Norman's deck 8 fwd at 3P.M., Diamond & Gemstone Seminar 3:00 P.M., Sea Sea)

Day 3: Shopping Bag, we skipped 

Day 3: Champagne Glass at Effie Boutique Deck 8 AFT  8P.M. Celebration Party (At Sea)

Day 4: Effy TAG -we skipped

Day 4: High Heel at Effie Boutique Deck 8 AFT Feminine & Fabulous ladies night @8 P.M. (Bar Harbor)

Day 5: Gemstone at Effie Boutique Deck 8 AFT Colored diamonds & Showcase 8P.M. Deck 8 (Saint John)

Day 6: Heart at  Effie Boutique Deck 8 AFT Reverie Diamonds Dreams Reveal 10:30 A.M. Deck 8 (Halifax) 10:30 A.M. 

Day 6: Mad with Love @ Effy Boutique Deck 8 aft, Kabana showcase (Halifax @ 11 P.M.

Day 7 Panther @ Effie Boutique deck 8 aft, Final Call Savings (at Sea) 10:30 A.M.

Day 7: Horse Shoe @ Effy Boutique Deck 8, aft Effy Best Buy Sea) 2 P.M.