New Orleans trip

[rie'smom]

Hi y'all, just wanted to say that DH,DD,and I went to New Orleans for a short weekend trip. DD had a cheerleader competition (not Pop Warner) It was fabulous. We stayed at the Loews on Poydras and while the exterior is not much,the interior,including our room, is gorgeous. The people there were very friendly. Room service was delicious!
DH,DD,and I walked the the mile or so to St. Louis Cathedral for Mass Saturday evening. It was a lovely walk.
The Quarter was fairly busy.
On another note,around the outskirts,we were saddened to see FEMA trailers and homes with blue tarps nearly 1 1/2 years after Katrina. It breaks my heart that those people still cannot get the insurance or monies coming to them in order to fix their homes.

 

[Muffin]

Glad y'all enjoyed your stay. Thanks for coming!

 

[arminnie]

Cafe Adelaide, the restaurant off the lobby, is one of my favorite restaurants. I bet they did the room service food. They have the same owners as the famous Commander's Palace.

It truly is a tale of two cities. The FQ and touristy parts are pretty normal (including the Super Dome), but the rest of the city is still devastated.

 

[rie'smom]

Cafe Adelaide did do the room service. Yummy food-when the bellman was taking us to our room and told us it was owned by the Brennan family I knew that I had to sample the food.
We live about an hour away and were fortunate to live in the narrow corridor not affected by either Katrina or Rita. I grew up in Algiers and it tears me up to see New Orleans still hurting.

 

[shovan]

Glad y'all came to visit!! Come back again soon!

 

[TigerKat]

Hi y'all, just wanted to say that DH,DD,and I went to New Orleans for a short weekend trip. DD had a cheerleader competition (not Pop Warner) It was fabulous. We stayed at the Loews on Poydras and while the exterior is not much,the interior,including our room, is gorgeous. The people there were very friendly. Room service was delicious!
DH,DD,and I walked the the mile or so to St. Louis Cathedral for Mass Saturday evening. It was a lovely walk.
The Quarter was fairly busy.
On another note,around the outskirts,we were saddened to see FEMA trailers and homes with blue tarps nearly 1 1/2 years after Katrina. It breaks my heart that those people still cannot get the insurance or monies coming to them in order to fix their homes.

Hey my buddy, see my ticker?? Thanks again. I'm so glad you got to come and visit. Did you make it over to Algiers, where we grew up??

 

[Fionasmommy]

Wow! Sounds like a wonderful trip! New Orleans is my favorite place in the world.

 

[rie'smom]

Hey my buddy, see my ticker?? Thanks again. I'm so glad you got to come and visit. Did you make it over to Algiers, where we grew up??

Not this trip. We got out of the competition too late. DD had school today. Hopefully next time!

 

[lucas]

Glad you posted about your trip. I can't wait for my next trip home - to New Orleans!

 

[arminnie]

We live about an hour away and were fortunate to live in the narrow corridor not affected by either Katrina or Rita. I grew up in Algiers and it tears me up to see New Orleans still hurting.

I was lucky enough to be in the "sliver by the river" and was okay. I closed on my condo 10 days before Katrina and spent 2 months in AR trying to figure out what was going on.

I'll never forget that first trip back and unlocking my front door not knowing what I was going to find on the other side. I was so fortunate to have only a tiny bit of water damage (from wind - I'm on the 6th floor) and absolutely no mold. And better yet - no food in my refrigerator.

I've had 12 different people come visit me since Katrina. I hope to have a bunch more this year too. That's my contribution to the recovery - trying to get people to visit and spend money.

For those that are worried about visiting - I take my soon to be 86 year old father to New Orleans all of the time. He has a great time.

 

[golfgal]

DH has a work trip to NO in April. I declined to attend since I have no interest in going there but your trip sounds lovely.


I needed to add though, your comment about people not getting their insurance money, if they had the right coverage they have gotten their money the problem is too many people skimp on insurance and then in cases like this cry foul when they can't rebuid. Sorry, just had to comment about that.

 

[Soubrette]

I'll be in NO for the first time this weekend, staying at the Sheraton downtown. Most of the time I'll be in planning meetings (our organization is holding a conference there in July), but I will have Sat. evening and Sun morning to explore. I'll definitely be looking for some coffee and beignets for breakfast!

 

[NikiM20]

Hi y'all, just wanted to say that DH,DD,and I went to New Orleans for a short weekend trip. DD had a cheerleader competition (not Pop Warner) It was fabulous. We stayed at the Loews on Poydras and while the exterior is not much,the interior,including our room, is gorgeous. The people there were very friendly. Room service was delicious!
DH,DD,and I walked the the mile or so to St. Louis Cathedral for Mass Saturday evening. It was a lovely walk.
The Quarter was fairly busy.
On another note,around the outskirts,we were saddened to see FEMA trailers and homes with blue tarps nearly 1 1/2 years after Katrina. It breaks my heart that those people still cannot get the insurance or monies coming to them in order to fix their homes.

Was it Mardi Gras Nationals at the Convention center? If so we were there too!!!

 

[Ms Marigny]

I'm glad you had a wonderful trip! Thanks for coming down!

I needed to add though, your comment about people not getting their insurance money, if they had the right coverage they have gotten their money the problem is too many people skimp on insurance and then in cases like this cry foul when they can't rebuid. Sorry, just had to comment about that.

Um, not to start a debate here, but I had the proper coverage (homeowners and flood) and did not "skimp" on my insurance, but I went through he** to get my insurance to pay out. They did everything they could to not pay for the repairs on everything. I had to use my personal savings to cover what they did not. Not everyone is fortunate enough to do that.

 

[golfgal]

I'm glad you had a wonderful trip! Thanks for coming down!


Um, not to start a debate here, but I had the proper coverage (homeowners and flood) and did not "skimp" on my insurance, but I went through he** to get my insurance to pay out. They did everything they could to not pay for the repairs on everything. I had to use my personal savings to cover what they did not. Not everyone is fortunate enough to do that.

Can I ask who you had your insurance with (assuming you no longer have them if they gave you such a hard time)? Most reputable insurance companies don't treat people like this--there are some that do though. My SIL had a hole in their roof from a windstorm, should be covered no issues, but they are still fighting their insurance company over their claim and her DH WORKS for them. They are getting coverage elsewhere when this is cleared up.

 

[2poohbears]

State Farm seems to be one of the big offenders I'm hearing about from friends.

 

[Ms Marigny]

Can I ask who you had your insurance with (assuming you no longer have them if they gave you such a hard time)? Most reputable insurance companies don't treat people like this--there are some that do though. My SIL had a hole in their roof from a windstorm, should be covered no issues, but they are still fighting their insurance company over their claim and her DH WORKS for them. They are getting coverage elsewhere when this is cleared up.

Well, I can't go with anyone else because no one is writing new policies down here right now, only renewals if you're lucky enough to get one, but I had (still have) Lexington for homeowners and Fidelity for flood. Both companies had tons of excuses for not covering numerous repairs, such as foundation work and plumbing ("oh, that's regular wear and tear...." yeah right, I just had the house totally renovated in 2002) and of course, they also did the "no, that should be covered by flood, ...no, that should be covered be homeowners" vice versa argument always saying it should be covered by the other coverage resulting in no one covering the repair. I heard so many stories from people going through the same kinds of insurance problems. Ugh, what a nightmare, gives me a headache just reliving the memories...

 

[golfgal]

Well, I can't go with anyone else because no one is writing new policies down here right now, only renewals if you're lucky enough to get one, but I had (still have) Lexington for homeowners and Fidelity for flood. Both companies had tons of excuses for not covering numerous repairs, such as foundation work and plumbing ("oh, that's regular wear and tear...." yeah right, I just had the house totally renovated in 2002) and of course, they also did the "no, that should be covered by flood, ...no, that should be covered be homeowners" vice versa argument always saying it should be covered by the other coverage resulting in no one covering the repair. I heard so many stories from people going through the same kinds of insurance problems. Ugh, what a nightmare, gives me a headache just reliving the memories...

I had to look up Lexington, hadn't heard of them but I see they are part of AIG, which explains a lot. Sorry you are going through all of this. If you can, simplify the issues by having all your insurance with one company and then they can't give you the run around.

 

[lulu71]

Golfgal, just jumping in here to give you another perspective. Even if your insurance did pay you well for your damage, a lot of people are going through the whole issue of whether or not to sink that money into a property that is in the middle of a neighborhood that is not being rebuilt. Here we are 17 months after Katrina and my neighborhood still looks like the day after. We cut bait, sold the property and bought in a viable neighborhood because there is nothing but blight all around where we used to live. There are still a bunch of people doing the wait and see game before they rebuild so that's why you see so much not being done.

 

[rie'smom]

I had to look up Lexington, hadn't heard of them but I see they are part of AIG, which explains a lot. Sorry you are going through all of this. If you can, simplify the issues by having all your insurance with one company and then they can't give you the run around.

If there's an insurance company that will cover every need,please let the people in New Orleans know about it. I'm sure they would be appreciative. Even before the storms,many companies had cut coverage. Sometimes it's easy to say woulda,shoulda,when one is not in the situation.