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@amycurl: Mini review of Avenue Plaza, for you and others who may be interested: (I'll write a more detailed review once things here are completed.) We've only been here two days, and things so far have been very pleasant.
We flew in on Saturday late afternoon, rented a car at the airport for two days, and drove to the resort with no issues. The in-car Navigation made it a piece of cake. (Justification for a rental car: We needed a ride from the airport to the Avenue Plaza, and I've been told it's about a $40 cab ride. We also knew we wanted to drive ourselves out to see a few of the Plantations, and the formal tours were expensive, and took all day. They share the bus ride with guests from other hotels, so they spend a long time collecting and dropping off those other people while you wait on the bus. Friends did it, and said they'd never do it again like that. So we rented a car.)
With two days of Valet parking at Avenue Plaza, it only cost us about $85 total. Factor in the money saved on the cab ride to the resort, and the convenience of driving to the Plantations on our own terms, and it was an easy choice to make. We dropped off the Budget Rental Car at their location at 1317 Canal Street, and walked the ~four easy blocks down Canal Street to catch the St. Charles Streetcar back to the resort. Simple, easy, and worth doing again. (Budget through Costco Travel was a great deal for us - get Fastbreak. we skipped a HUGE line at the regular counter, and we were second in line to collect our keys. We were in the car and driving away in about five minutes.)
The Resort has Street View (Front of the building, facing St. Charles Avenue), and City View (the back of the building, away from the street.) I asked which was better, and was told the City View rooms are quieter, but they didn't have any available. We were assigned Room 804, a 1bedroom Street View unit on the eighth floor. Three elevators, and they move pretty fast. There is a certain amount of street noise, but it's an urban location in a very busy city, so some noise is to be expected. It's not bad, just something to consider. By bedtime, it's pretty quiet.
Accommodations are classic WorldMark. Clean, tasteful, and no surprises. (See pictures below.) The king bed we have is excellent. Very comfortable, and a great night's sleep. Small closet, (seven hangers), in-room safe, dresser with several large drawers. Tiny bathroom with tiled shower, no tub. The Living Room furniture is comfortable, if a bit industrial, but works fine, for the intended purpose. (Pull-out sofa, side chair, table with four chairs, TV cabinet with extra bedding in it.) The kitchen has only a cooktop, no oven. Small dishwasher, full size fridge. No ice maker, just ice trays. But there are ice machines on (I think) four floors of the 12-floor building. No balcony.
There is a complimentary laundry room on the second floor, with three washers and three dryers. They ask you to tend to your laundry, so you're not inconveniencing anyone else. When I checked out the laundry room, there was a woman sitting there with her child, who was watching TV while Mom read. A workout room on the 1st floor is open 24/7, and has assorted weight machines and aerobics equipment, (treadmills and such.) There was one person working out when I went through there.
On the roof is a sundeck that gives panoramic views of the City. (Take the elevator to the12th floor, follow the signs, then go out into a stairwell and climb another three flights to get to the rooftop. There are chairs and tables there to sit out, if you're so inclined. Between the two sides of the building is a courtyard with a small swimming pool and jacuzzi. When I checked it out one evening, there were two people in the pool and about eight in the jacuzzi. A number of other people were hanging out in the area, sitting at tables, and having a good time. Looks like it'd be a fun place to relax. Not sure how well small kids would do with it.
We're still exploring restaurants, (Thanks, everyone, for all the recommendations!) One find I specifically wanted to share with @amycurl was a basic breakfast joint about a block west of the Resort, called The Trolley Stop. Classic breakfast fare, (bacon and eggs, pancakes, French toast, omelettes - that sort of thing.) Prices are cheap, (maybe $10 or less), and they are very busy on weekends. I'm a quick breakfast guy, and we've eaten there both mornings we've been here. My "1 pancake, two eggs, three slices of bacon" breakfast this morning was $7.00. The total for the two of us, with coffee, was $19.00. Hard to beat that. Food is good, coffee is okay, service is efficient. Sunday morning it was packed . The waiter said it's like that on weekends. Today (Monday) there was only about four tables in use when we ate there at 7:00AM. We'll eat there again.
There is a 24-hour Walgreens about three blocks west of the resort on St. Charles (two blocks past the Trolley Stop restaurant.) Easy to pick up last-minute things there. Bring your Walgreens saver card for better discounts. At the other end of the block from the Resort is a convenience store that was more about alcohol and snacks than anything else.
We drove out the River Road today to see two Plantations. (I'll talk about those in my full review later on.) We went to Oak Alley and Houmas House. Both were very picturesque, and the tours very worthwhile. It was a bucket list thing for me to see Oak Alley, and I'm very glad we went. It was really nice. We toured Oak Alley first, arriving just about when they opened (9:00), then Houmas House, and we had lunch at Houmas House restaurant after the tour. Great food. Then we hightailed it back to New Orleans (about a fifty-mile drive) to turn in the rental car. It was an easy drive back on I-10.
Weather today was warm, bordering on hot, and humid. About what you'd expect from New Orleans in late Spring. There were tremendous thunderstorms most of yesterday, so I'm glad we had the rental car for two full days. The Guide at Oak Alley today said it was torrential downpours there all day yesterday, and we'd have had a miserable time trying to see the place. Today it was sunny and dry. By arriving so early, we had the place basically to ourselves. Beautiful place, and those trees are spectacular.
Tomorrow starts three casual days of Hop On Hop Off bus touring of the city, during which we'll hop off to explore the Mardi Gras Museum, take a Riverboat brunch cruise, and do a couple of walking tours of the French Quarter and the Garden District. We've already spent time in the French Quarter and on Magazine Street, and we know there's a lot more to see.
If anyone has questions while we're here, ask away. I'm happy to try and help. More to come after our trip.
Dave
We flew in on Saturday late afternoon, rented a car at the airport for two days, and drove to the resort with no issues. The in-car Navigation made it a piece of cake. (Justification for a rental car: We needed a ride from the airport to the Avenue Plaza, and I've been told it's about a $40 cab ride. We also knew we wanted to drive ourselves out to see a few of the Plantations, and the formal tours were expensive, and took all day. They share the bus ride with guests from other hotels, so they spend a long time collecting and dropping off those other people while you wait on the bus. Friends did it, and said they'd never do it again like that. So we rented a car.)
With two days of Valet parking at Avenue Plaza, it only cost us about $85 total. Factor in the money saved on the cab ride to the resort, and the convenience of driving to the Plantations on our own terms, and it was an easy choice to make. We dropped off the Budget Rental Car at their location at 1317 Canal Street, and walked the ~four easy blocks down Canal Street to catch the St. Charles Streetcar back to the resort. Simple, easy, and worth doing again. (Budget through Costco Travel was a great deal for us - get Fastbreak. we skipped a HUGE line at the regular counter, and we were second in line to collect our keys. We were in the car and driving away in about five minutes.)
The Resort has Street View (Front of the building, facing St. Charles Avenue), and City View (the back of the building, away from the street.) I asked which was better, and was told the City View rooms are quieter, but they didn't have any available. We were assigned Room 804, a 1bedroom Street View unit on the eighth floor. Three elevators, and they move pretty fast. There is a certain amount of street noise, but it's an urban location in a very busy city, so some noise is to be expected. It's not bad, just something to consider. By bedtime, it's pretty quiet.
Accommodations are classic WorldMark. Clean, tasteful, and no surprises. (See pictures below.) The king bed we have is excellent. Very comfortable, and a great night's sleep. Small closet, (seven hangers), in-room safe, dresser with several large drawers. Tiny bathroom with tiled shower, no tub. The Living Room furniture is comfortable, if a bit industrial, but works fine, for the intended purpose. (Pull-out sofa, side chair, table with four chairs, TV cabinet with extra bedding in it.) The kitchen has only a cooktop, no oven. Small dishwasher, full size fridge. No ice maker, just ice trays. But there are ice machines on (I think) four floors of the 12-floor building. No balcony.
There is a complimentary laundry room on the second floor, with three washers and three dryers. They ask you to tend to your laundry, so you're not inconveniencing anyone else. When I checked out the laundry room, there was a woman sitting there with her child, who was watching TV while Mom read. A workout room on the 1st floor is open 24/7, and has assorted weight machines and aerobics equipment, (treadmills and such.) There was one person working out when I went through there.
On the roof is a sundeck that gives panoramic views of the City. (Take the elevator to the12th floor, follow the signs, then go out into a stairwell and climb another three flights to get to the rooftop. There are chairs and tables there to sit out, if you're so inclined. Between the two sides of the building is a courtyard with a small swimming pool and jacuzzi. When I checked it out one evening, there were two people in the pool and about eight in the jacuzzi. A number of other people were hanging out in the area, sitting at tables, and having a good time. Looks like it'd be a fun place to relax. Not sure how well small kids would do with it.
We're still exploring restaurants, (Thanks, everyone, for all the recommendations!) One find I specifically wanted to share with @amycurl was a basic breakfast joint about a block west of the Resort, called The Trolley Stop. Classic breakfast fare, (bacon and eggs, pancakes, French toast, omelettes - that sort of thing.) Prices are cheap, (maybe $10 or less), and they are very busy on weekends. I'm a quick breakfast guy, and we've eaten there both mornings we've been here. My "1 pancake, two eggs, three slices of bacon" breakfast this morning was $7.00. The total for the two of us, with coffee, was $19.00. Hard to beat that. Food is good, coffee is okay, service is efficient. Sunday morning it was packed . The waiter said it's like that on weekends. Today (Monday) there was only about four tables in use when we ate there at 7:00AM. We'll eat there again.
There is a 24-hour Walgreens about three blocks west of the resort on St. Charles (two blocks past the Trolley Stop restaurant.) Easy to pick up last-minute things there. Bring your Walgreens saver card for better discounts. At the other end of the block from the Resort is a convenience store that was more about alcohol and snacks than anything else.
We drove out the River Road today to see two Plantations. (I'll talk about those in my full review later on.) We went to Oak Alley and Houmas House. Both were very picturesque, and the tours very worthwhile. It was a bucket list thing for me to see Oak Alley, and I'm very glad we went. It was really nice. We toured Oak Alley first, arriving just about when they opened (9:00), then Houmas House, and we had lunch at Houmas House restaurant after the tour. Great food. Then we hightailed it back to New Orleans (about a fifty-mile drive) to turn in the rental car. It was an easy drive back on I-10.
Weather today was warm, bordering on hot, and humid. About what you'd expect from New Orleans in late Spring. There were tremendous thunderstorms most of yesterday, so I'm glad we had the rental car for two full days. The Guide at Oak Alley today said it was torrential downpours there all day yesterday, and we'd have had a miserable time trying to see the place. Today it was sunny and dry. By arriving so early, we had the place basically to ourselves. Beautiful place, and those trees are spectacular.
Tomorrow starts three casual days of Hop On Hop Off bus touring of the city, during which we'll hop off to explore the Mardi Gras Museum, take a Riverboat brunch cruise, and do a couple of walking tours of the French Quarter and the Garden District. We've already spent time in the French Quarter and on Magazine Street, and we know there's a lot more to see.
If anyone has questions while we're here, ask away. I'm happy to try and help. More to come after our trip.
Dave
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