March 5, 2025 New Orleans Day #3

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. The sun was shining, no lingering clouds from last evening’s storm. At 8 a.m. temperature was 18°C, but the high today is only predicted to be 20°C and windy.

We ate breakfast again in the main dining room to have a wider choice than the Elite Continental Breakfast on the upper dining room level. This morning as we went to breakfast we noticed that the ship was having fuel delivered. We will be travelling south a distance about the same as Tampa to New Orleans then about 1.5 times that distance back to Tampa on early Sunday morning.

Yesterday President Trump invoked 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada.

We met the tour group in the theatre for our 3.5 hour Louisiana Swamp Tour. There was lots of room on the bus was with only 17 people on this tour, we left right at 9 a.m. with tour guide, Clare and driver Mr. Willie. The drive to Airboat Adventures was about 30 minutes encountering very little traffic. For half of the distance there was a separated bike lane running parallel to the highway.

As we left the port, we passed the Margi Gras Museum and its huge parking lot containing about 50 floats. Clare gave us some history of New Orleans. The French Quarter is a section of straight streets just seven blocks by 11 blocks. Because of the curves of the Mississippi River the French Quarter is the only part of the city with straight streets.

Clare explained that New Orleans was founded by the French in the early 1700s, but about 40 years later Spain took most of France’s land in south central North America, later known as the Louisiana Purchase. The area was just a territory of Spain not a colony, since no children or women came from Spain. There was a military presence and traders. French and Spanish men married French women already living there or indigenous women. In the early 1700s King Louis XIV sent six Ursuline nuns to open a mission hospital and teach children to read and write. Shortly after the Spanish took over there was a fire the destroyed most of the French Quarter and it was rebuilt in a Spanish style. The United States bought the Louisiana territory from Spain in 1803.

Before the American Civil War, the Pope declared that since slaves were assumed to be Roman Catholic, they had souls and so should not have to work on Sundays. Slaves gathered in an area around what is now Louis Armstrong Park and looked for other slaves from the same tribe by drumming the unique rhythm of their African tribes’ village.

Airboat Adventures is located in Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Reserve which is almost straight south of New Orleans. It is located on the Intercostal Waterway adjacent to Lake Salvador. Our group joined 61 people on a 90 seat covered pontoon boat to tour. The wind was blowing over 20 miles per hour over the lake which had small whitecaps on it. The notorious pirate, Jean Lafitte, sought refuge here after raiding Spanish ships.

We passed most homes with docks, some docks had fishing trawlers moored. The boat swung into the bayous of the swamplands surrounding the lake where we saw alligators on land and swimming. The many Cypress trees were draped with Spanish Moss hanging from branches. There were several kinds of birds flying around including bald eagles, great blue herons and the Louisiana state bird, the brown pelican. The Gulf of Mexico is over 30 miles further south. Louisiana is estimated to have over two million alligators, while Florida has around 1.7 million alligators and Arkansas between 15,000 and 20,000. Alligators average life span is about 50 years, but few of the 20 to 60 eggs per year, with a gestation period of 65 days, that one female alligator lays reach maturity. In Louisiana landowners also own the adjacent water.

As we reentered the Intercostal Waterway we passed the local Fleming Cemetery located right by the water not far from the airboat dock. There was time to browse in the gift shop before driving back to the ship. Clare explained some facts about Mardi Gras. The festival parades officially begin each year on January 6th, which is Epiphany, the day that the three kings met Jesus. This is also the day that Joan of Arc was born, There is a statue of her in the French Quarter. There is an official ceremony nearby and then a march to the statue. When Easter is early as will be the case in 2026. Parades are squeezed not a shorter time period. Normally there are parades or balls on Fridays only, but they are also added on Wednesdays to fit all the organizations events before Mardi Gras if Easter is early.

We climbed up the seven flight of stairs to the Oceanview Café buffet for lunch and were surprised that it was only half full.

Mid-afternoon there was a Salsa dance lesson in gusty wind by the outdoor pool on Deck 10. There was only five participants for the 30 minute lesson by dance troupe members Kara from Missouri and Matthew from Uruguay.

All aboard was 4:30 p.m. with Constellation scheduled to depart New Orleans at 5.

After changing for dinner, we climbed up to the Reflections Lounge on Deck 11 for an Elite members and up for the Music and Mixology event. The party band Nu Image played the music. There was a crowd for about 400 to watch the bartender from the Martini Bar juggle the stainless steel tupmblerswhile adding ingredients for three different cocktails - a Manhattan, a Spicy Pimms and a Mai Tai. There was an army of servers with trays of the cocktails trying to get the regular sized drinks to every in attendance. We had three cocktails with two ounces of alcohol in about 40 minutes, before going down to Deck 5 for dinner.

Beth and Randy were already seated and checking the menu. Irish arrived 15 minutes after us. After dinner we danced in the Rendezvous to the party band Nu Image. There were up to ten couples dancing which was a bit crowded.

The 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. shows in the Celebrity Theater this evening presented pianist Josh Christina. At 10:15 the Reflections Lounge on Deck 11 was full to capacity with more than 500 people. They waiting to watch the dancers and singers in a 20 minute performance to Motown tunes supported by the Celebrity Orchestra. Then the audience was invited to join them on the dance floor for the Motown party. After returning from the Motown event, the TV map indicated we were almost out to the gulf and that it is 480 nm to Progreso, Mexico.

Total steps 8,804