Ampurp85

Yes

Hello I believe it's only available on some Allure sailings and hasn't been released ship-wide.

Last day/travel day. We left the hotel around 10:30 for an 11am checkout. And made it to the airport around 11:45. It took me 10min to get through tsa precheck and I'm typing this while waiting for my brother to go through Gen pop. It does seem to be popping but maybe 30mins wait or less. Our flight is currently delayed about 30min. It was originally delayed more than an hour but has since updated. We are planning to also eat at the airport. Beignets and maybe po'boy sandwiches. We are flying Spirit, which at the time of booking was the only airline with a direct flight under $500+. They are a no frills airline so you must bring your own beverages and such. I forgot to take photos of the pizzas last night. My brother got something called the Natty E which had green goddess dressing, jalapeños, mushrooms, chicken and Spanish onions. He may have a picture and I will update. I'm posting photos of the hotel lobby and lounge area. There was a very nice pool but it was also the smoking area, so I avoided it. Once I get home and settled I will post my final thoughts and stray observations.

The big waves always facinate me. However it does suck when all these little things add up, missed/canceled shows and excursions, no hot water, etc. I keep wanting to try Chef's Table but as a person who doesn't eat seafood, like things a little less frou frou and dislike caramel, my options would be very limited.

The tots were good. They give you a lot too.

I am all for a longer cruise, so I would say it would be worth it. It might be cold for a few days but Odyssey and Quantum class ships seem to handle cold well. I sail in Jan a lot and come from the cold of Chicago to do so. The last year Florida was cold for them, like 50/60s, and so the first few days of the cruise were cooler than normal. It didn't make the cruise any less enjoyable. With the longer 12 nights even if the first couple of days are cool, you will have a lot still to warm up.

We walked the neighborhood today and people watched. Was surprisedto see less homeless folks here. We stopped at our favorite lunch spot The Company Burger. My brother got a falafel burger, a turkey burger, onion rings and cheese tots plus a cinnamon toast crunch milkshake. I got tots and a grilled cheese. I have been surrounded by them and it didn't disappoint . I also got a cookies and cream milkshake. We also stopped by the pizza place for salad and pizza to take back to the room. We have plans to relax and pack up for the flight home tomorrow.

We walked the neighborhood today and people watched. Was surprisedto see less homeless folks here. We stopped at our favorite lunch spot The Company Burger. My brother got a falafel burger, a turkey burger, onion rings and cheese tots plus a cinnamon toast crunch milkshake. I got tots and a grilled cheese. I have been surrounded by them and it didn't disappoint . I also got a cookies and cream milkshake. We also stopped by the pizza place for salad and pizza to take back to the room. We have plans to relax and pack up for the flight home tomorrow.

We slept in.....for us until 9am. Then we showered and headed to the French Quarter. Our goal was beignets and something breakfast . We tried to remember the place we went in 2019 but Google maps said it no longer exists. So we walked until something called to us. We decided Cafe Fluer de lie and it was great. Well the beignets weren't as remembered or this place did them weird. Turns out they did them weird. My brother got fried oysters Benedict and a fried grit brick. I got a shrimp po'boy. The food was really good and the portions were nice size. The fried grit brick was made with seasonings, cream cheese and some breading. It was weird but my brother loved it. They used sweet pickles on the po'boy and lots of honey in the remuloade(sp). After brunch we walked around. Even early in the day people are loose. Lots of everything hanging out and people making things clap. I can't imagine dancing in the street to no music . We then went to Harris which is now Ceasars. I had $20 to gamble with . If you gamble you can get drinks, we were thirsty from the 90+ degeees and walking. Lady luck was on my side, I played for 2hrs and left with $203. However I never got a drink!. Want to know how many neat bourbons my brother had? While he played $5 of eight cent bets on Dancing drums? 6 drinks. He turned that $5 into $22. I got no drinks, none of the machines would process my request. Which sucks because you have to order at a machine while actively playing. I tried several machines but oh well, at least I left with my money and some of theirs . We then went to Dennie's Seafood, a place we loved back during our first visit. My brother got a dozen charbroiled oysters, onion rings and a seafood platter. I got a shrimp platter. The cocktail sauce was amazing but the shrimp were slightly flavorless. This meal took a little over half my winnings. We then walked around doing some window shopping, but also looking for more beignets as our dessert. Let me just say we lucked out. So we headed back to the hotel. A few blocks away we saw a 24hr donut shop. They made beignets fresh to order in glazed or powder sugar. We got 1 of each and half a dozen donuts for tomorrow breakfast. Now I'm back at the hotel, enjoying my dessert.

NOLA has an abundance of different styles of food that they Cajun up. We are exhausted. So we just ordered a cheese pizza and wings for the room. After much needed showers and a nap, i am enjoying the leftovers. We plan to head into French Quarter tomorrow.

This is not available in many rooms, in fact not in most.

It is new Orleans deep dish and they have special toppings. After the makeshift pizza that is Sorrento's, I was craving "real pizza" . It was so good, I had 3 slices, which is a record for me. But I hadn't eaten since 9pm yesterday when I had Wendy's fries and a frosty. My brother had double that and got a pizza to go. Naps need to happen before we head to Bourbon street for some decadent dinner and dessert.

We are staying at the Alder hotel, we stayed here last time and loved it. It's a boutique hotel located near the Freret neighborhood. The balcony could use a cleaning but otherwise it's a nice room. I plan to do a load of laundry. We have a microwave, refrigerator and sink to do dishes.

Midway pizza on Freret street. The have a pizza buffet for $14pp 11:30-2pm. It is walking distance from our hotel. A salad and as much pizza as you can handle.

We have landed in NOLA. Very smooth flight and by time we made it to baggage claim our luggage was up. I would definitely use port valet again. We were slightly afraid because we heard horror stories of lost luggage but that was mostly because it was tagged wrong. I was able to follow our luggage on the Alaskan app and with our tags. We are hoping to get early check in at the hotel. They do offer luggage storage if there isn't a room ready. We are really looking forward to a shower.

I'm about 90min away from landing in NOLA. The flight boarded early because it wasn't full. The vintages boarded a bit late. So we actually left at the same time. Their flight actually left almost 30min before ours. My brother and I had a row to ourselves.

@ScottD we didn't go back to the Pop culture museum. As a 90s grunge person I was originally excited but there was a massive concert happening. Greenday, SPs and Rancid. We didn't want to go back that way and get caught up in it.

It was the neighbors . They were a nice friendly couple... .I guess you have to be.

Drinking tons of water to keep my skin fresh and youthful has drawbacks and bathrooms have become a bane. I hearsd an earful on the cruise about swinging, I have chosen not to repeat it because

Older classes like Mariner won't have outlets near the bed. I have taken to just buying 25ft USB-C cables.

Oasis class because of the space, shows and specialty restaurants. My favorite ship is Wonder because there is also a Mason Jar. Wonder for Oasis Freedom for Freedom class. Navigator for Voyager. Odyssey for Quantum I have been on Grandeur for Vision No radiance or icon class yet Right now Wonder is my favorite overall because she is perty and has 95% of the things I like and need. However I have sailed Harmony and Allure a lot more.

Sorry to hear that. One of the vintages said she had a cough, it was the bears, but she tested negative for covid but believes she has the flu. I hope it is mild and you feel better soon

@SweetPea why did you go down the rabbit hole?

Disembarkation/ Seattle Omg the disembarkation was hilarious and smooth. We went down to wait with the vintages to get wheeled off. They had collected more strays and we had to listen to some complaints. They were catching the shuttle to the airport and got a porter for their many bags. We walked with them until they boarded the shuttle. The porter tried to give us "our" bags and we had to inform him they were only theirs. If you could see his face . So we walked along the pedestrian lines to rideshare and then further along to catch the 24 bus to the Pop culture museum. It was an easy ride and it let us off only a few blocks away. It was $40pp for admission and they opened at 10:30, which was almost an hour away. So we went to do the space needle and a couple from the ship said don't bother. It is also $40, but only $57 if you add in the Chihuly Gardens. It's that price for 5min and they said even though they section you off, it's hard to really enjoy the experience. So we decided to walk to Pike Market. It was probably a half an hour walk and we got to see a lot of the city's downtown area. It smelled horrible because I assumed it rained and activated the garbage. Also the most depressing and disturbing part was the sheer number of homeless folks. Side rant: I think it really says something about Seattle that there was a lot of elderly Asians who were homeless. Their culture is big on taking care of their elders and to see them begging was very sad. A lot were barefoot too . Even in LA I didn't see that eclectic range of homeless people. But back to it. The line for the Starbucks extended past the start of the market. We saw the cat accordian. There were tons of stalls and really cool wears. We saw the fish throwing and people drawing others portraits. We got a couple of souvenirs and then walked up and down Pike street. We ate some lunch at Pike bar and grill. Our servers butt cheeks were on full display. They could wear any bottoms but had to wear the company's shirt. Her skirt was nonexistent. Food was decent, I've had better but I have definitely had worse . So super scary. The bathrooms in Pike Market only cover the mid area. You can stand and see people.....in fact you could go over to one and see in. I was using one when a homeless lady came and leaned over the stall to ask me for money while I was using it. to say I have been scarred for life is an understatement. I was planning to get donuts but I was so uncomfortable I needed to go. We took the 124 bus to a tram and the airport was only one stop away on the tram. It was around the end of school, so youths got on cursing and vaping. Many looked barely 14. We made it to the airport around 4pm for our 11pm flight. The vintages were here and we could hear them as we rounded the gates. FYI tsa precheck was slightly horrible. It took me 25min because the line was insane. That's the longest it has ever taken me. It only took my brother 32min in the regular line. So now we wait.

It was the end of season and I just think Quantum class doesn't handle motion well imho. We felt all the swells and such on Odyssey. I had a wonderful time in ports, so seeing Alaska isn't the issue. The plan is a transatlantic in 2026, so if we did Alaska again it would be on Celebrity and far in the future.