1) United EWR-MSY Y
2) The Ritz Carlton NOLA
3) New Orleans
4) United MSY-IAD Y
5) The Ritz Carlton Georgetown
6) D.C.
7) United IAD-LGA Y
Just getting back after taking some time to pop around with my Mom for her birthday.
She was already in NY for a few days to do some shopping and meet up with some of our friends for dinner and such. She flew over on the new AA 321T 3 class in Business, she said she liked it and was nice compared to the normal red eye recliners she does to come visit. Usually she stays at The Bowery Hotel since it's 2 min from my place, but this time for a 4 min walk I had her try out the new Hyatt in Union Square that had just opened (I think when she decided to book the Bowery was even more expensive than normal). I went in twice and had drinks in the lobby...rooms and things looked nice, friendly staff, location is a good launching point to get around the city. Elevators were slow as molasses.
Originally I wanted to do the trip where we would take the Acela from NYC to DC and then fly DC-MSY where I would fly back MSY-NYC and then she would go back to California from MSY. But, my sister and her friend decided they wanted to join us in New Orleans and the dates worked better to go there first, but another factor was on the Acela (apparently I didn't realize it until this trip planning and checked) you really can't bring a large proper suitcase on them. I was fine with a duffle/carry on but she had her big 60 pound bag for 12 days worth of travel we had to deal with.
Check in and everything was a breeze...Monday at around 11:15 am there wasn't much going on in the airport. You can see from the photo security was very light, we both had PreCheck (her first time...which she loved).
Not too much going on in Terminal C at EWR...decided to share a little snack at Caliente Cab with the idea we would probably get a snack box or something on the flight down.
Boarding took place in the little ground level gates at the end of the gate pier on the right at EWR. A few smaller things crowded down there. UA used the automated boarding group caller...no real mention of the newly enforced carry on limits. The GA did say that "while this is a larger regional jet" they can probably fit about 40 suitcases on before they have to gate check the rest.
UA has 3 flights down, the morning and evening ones are mainline A320/19 it looks and the mid day flight is a E-170. The timing worked out for us to take this flight and I wasn't really banking on a CPU with the worst case scenario we would be in E+ in a 2-2 cabin so we would be sitting next to each other. With 1K status my CPUs can clear 96 hours in advance...nothing emailed. At check in I was asked if I wanted to split the reservation to put us on the upgrade list but I saw 1 seat available and didn't want to deal with it, so like I said we were fine for 3 hours sitting next to each other in E+.
I could finally use my free drink tickets! Most of what I fly is international and the few times I take domestic flights I am able to fly in Business on the p.s. flights between the coasts. I'm giving a few to a friend who is flying UA EWR-CDG in Y in a few weeks. No Bistro on Board for the length and/or being operated by an express carrier. Just the Snack Boxes.
Instead of finding an operator in NOLA I just used Carmel's worldwide booking to get an SUV for the 4 of us and all the bags. Didn't have to request it but we were met at baggage claim with our name on a sign and a good ole southern boy who talked the entire 30 min ride to the French Quarter...Southern hospitality I guess.
We had two rooms booked and this would be the first time being a Ritz Rewards Gold member (due to the MileagePlus x Marriot Rewards partnership for Rewards Plus where as a Gold+ UA MP member I was given Marriot/Ritz Gold for the year). It got us one room upgrade to a suite and free internet. Can't complain!
Overall the property was great, VERY friendly staff. The layout was a little odd that you can enter from the street at two sections and then take an elevator to the 3rd floor where you go to another bank of elevators to get to the guest rooms.
Certain halls/parts of the hotel smelled a little damp and musty. In the suite the bathtub drained VERY slow...like nearly an hour which made it a problem for someone wanting to take a shower after and not want to wade in the old bath water. In the bathroom some of the wallpaper near the toilet was stained and peeling.
The Davenport Lounge had a nice ambience and some live jazz at certain times. Really amazing vodka, ginger beer, basil drink! Behind that is the M Bistro where you can get breakfast and other food. I didn't do the breakfast buffet I went for their healthy heart eggs which was pretty tasty.
Did room service breakfast one morning...the eggs ben were great, the waffle came cold.
Also apparently on our (the top floor) there is a residence.
All in all I was happy with the stay, it was comfortable and quiet just steps away from Bourbon Street. If I came back to New Orleans (which you'll see in the next post, I probably won't) I would probably check out another property like The Roosevelt.