Reflections on New Orleans
These are my very personal reflections and ratings of the time we spent in New Orleans. The numbers are out of 10 with 10 being excellent and anything lower less so. Anything in italics was not part of the Road Scholar program. I would stress these are just my views alone. This is the first Road Scholar trip I have made.
Item Score Comment
General
Hotel 8 Comfortable, efficient and pleasant. Staff were nice and helpful
Program 7.5 A little too organized for me with a rather early start and not really enough free time to explore on one’s own.
Food
NOLA Seafood 6 The lunch on the first days was OK but a bit ordinary
Dooky’s 9 This was a real experience with great food and atmosphere
Golden Feather 8 Nice food and an interesting talk
August 9 A beautiful restaurant with excellent food and great prices
Cochon 9 Some very innovative food, great service and reasonable prices
Court of 2 Sisters 8 A pleasant place with a good and comprehensive brunch.
Yakamein 8.5 This might be known as ‘left over broth with additions’ but it was really good and introduced us to the Museum of Southern Art.
Creole Queen 7.5 This was a pleasant enough evening although the buffet was just good. The cruise was pleasant enough but not spectacular.
Commanders Palace 7.5 A grand place with good but not exceptional food.
Other
Transport 8.5 The transport was well organized and made every effort to allow us to disembark as close as possible to the venue.
RS Staff 8 The staff were very helpful, sometimes a bit too much so but their work had to cover everyone so I can understand why they often seemed to give too much information.
Lectures 8 In general they were good although some tried to pack too much into the time available and some padded out the time. Sometimes the wandering off topic was a bit of a distraction but on the whole the speakers were well informed, opinionated and articulate.
Tours & visits 7.5 These were quite well directed but much of what we saw was from the bus window. Of course, I know there are some who did not want to walk too far but there was little chance to take photographs or to see things in any sort of detail. More time off the bus would have been better even if some had opted to sit it out.
Meeting Rooms 8 The meeting rooms were satisfactory but it would have been nice to have access to some coffee during the breaks or at the beginning. I understand this was a cost issue but perhaps the budget could have been stretched to that.
Overall 8 It was an enjoyable time with a very congenial group of people who were admirably punctual for all events and a pleasure to be with. I would have preferred to have had a bit less of a full program so that some of the other attractions of the city could be explored but I realize that is not the way of Road Scholar and I don't have a problem with their format which may fit some better than others. I think they fulfilled their mission to the max it is perhaps that their mission is not the best fit for me, personally. Having said that, I would not have missed the experience and I am glad I went.
These are my very personal reflections and ratings of the time we spent in New Orleans. The numbers are out of 10 with 10 being excellent and anything lower less so. Anything in italics was not part of the Road Scholar program. I would stress these are just my views alone. This is the first Road Scholar trip I have made.
Item Score Comment
General
Hotel 8 Comfortable, efficient and pleasant. Staff were nice and helpful
Program 7.5 A little too organized for me with a rather early start and not really enough free time to explore on one’s own.
Food
NOLA Seafood 6 The lunch on the first days was OK but a bit ordinary
Dooky’s 9 This was a real experience with great food and atmosphere
Golden Feather 8 Nice food and an interesting talk
August 9 A beautiful restaurant with excellent food and great prices
Cochon 9 Some very innovative food, great service and reasonable prices
Court of 2 Sisters 8 A pleasant place with a good and comprehensive brunch.
Yakamein 8.5 This might be known as ‘left over broth with additions’ but it was really good and introduced us to the Museum of Southern Art.
Creole Queen 7.5 This was a pleasant enough evening although the buffet was just good. The cruise was pleasant enough but not spectacular.
Commanders Palace 7.5 A grand place with good but not exceptional food.
Other
Transport 8.5 The transport was well organized and made every effort to allow us to disembark as close as possible to the venue.
RS Staff 8 The staff were very helpful, sometimes a bit too much so but their work had to cover everyone so I can understand why they often seemed to give too much information.
Lectures 8 In general they were good although some tried to pack too much into the time available and some padded out the time. Sometimes the wandering off topic was a bit of a distraction but on the whole the speakers were well informed, opinionated and articulate.
Tours & visits 7.5 These were quite well directed but much of what we saw was from the bus window. Of course, I know there are some who did not want to walk too far but there was little chance to take photographs or to see things in any sort of detail. More time off the bus would have been better even if some had opted to sit it out.
Meeting Rooms 8 The meeting rooms were satisfactory but it would have been nice to have access to some coffee during the breaks or at the beginning. I understand this was a cost issue but perhaps the budget could have been stretched to that.
Overall 8 It was an enjoyable time with a very congenial group of people who were admirably punctual for all events and a pleasure to be with. I would have preferred to have had a bit less of a full program so that some of the other attractions of the city could be explored but I realize that is not the way of Road Scholar and I don't have a problem with their format which may fit some better than others. I think they fulfilled their mission to the max it is perhaps that their mission is not the best fit for me, personally. Having said that, I would not have missed the experience and I am glad I went.
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