Cruise Like A Millionaire

Ever since Jackie O graced the deck of the Christina, yachting has been synonymous with class and filthy riches. Donald Trump does it, so do Larry Ellison and Tom Cruise — all those beautiful people frolicking aboard some fabulous yacht off Crete, Bimini or Cancun. How often have you dreamed of leading the nautical life of a Sybarite?

Well, wake up! A vacation like this is not out of the question — even for the average guy or gal.

Heaven knows there’s nothing wrong with cruising on a mega-cruise ship. Today’s luxury liners offer just about every amenity along with fabulous service. On my last cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas, I could climb a rock wall in the morning, work on my long drive in the afternoon (didn’t really help), and groove til the wee hours in the disco. But sometimes your inner yachtsman yearns for something more intimate, more exclusive and closer to the water line. Sometimes you just want to vacation like a mogul or a movie star.

Chartering a private yacht may not be as far-fetched an idea as it might seem at first. Let’s take a look at the numbers, comparing a traditional cruise ship and a chartered yacht side by side. For the purposes of the comparison, we will look at a “crewed charter,” which provides a two-person crew — a captain and mate/chef — with the boat. On the other kind of yacht charter, a “bareboat charter,” you handle the helm and the lines yourself. Fun but hardly comparable, as I cannot remember the last time the captain of a cruise ship allowed me to take the helm (good move).

Charter yachts ply the same waters as the cruise ships — the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean — but the onboard experience is both more intimate and more casual. A charter vacation won’t have Vegas-style shows, a buffet at every turn, or a small army of cruise directors to involve you in all kinds of activities. A chartered yacht will probably not even have — dare I say it? — a swimming pool, but then again, you have the entire ocean to swim in.

What about price? On a typical seven-night cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas, this one departing Miami on June 10 with a (partially obstructed) view of the ocean from your cabin, the price will be $1,499 per person plus port charges and taxes, for a total cruise fare of $3,119 per couple. Add another $1,000 for shore excursions and alcohol and you’re just over $4,000 for the week. This is a very good price on a fabulous cruise vacation — one that I have personally taken many times and will undoubtedly take many more times. In fact, I am headed out on the Freedom of the Seas in August.

But, contrary to what I believed in college, you really shouldn’t eat pizza every night. Sometimes, you need to step out of your comfort zone, take a chance and sample something new for the sheer adventure of it. So let’s take a look at that chartered yacht.

While there are many charter outfits operating all over the world, The Moorings (888-952-8420) is one of the finest and most established firms offering this type of vacation. For this column, I asked the Moorings about a comparable seven-night Caribbean sailing in June aboard one of its Signature 4700 Catamarans. This is a 47-foot yacht with four staterooms, four heads (“bathrooms” to you landlubbers), five showers, air conditioning, a full galley and more.

To compare the two ships, we have to shave 973 feet off the hull of the Navigator of the Seas, cut the list of passengers from 3,114 to six, and trim the crew from around a thousand to two. Ditch the ice-skating rink and the rock-climbing wall, and subsitute a tall mast, a billowing sail and a spinnaker. What the heck, toss a few sea kayaks on the catamaran for fun. Oh, and the itinerary? Let’s just figure that out day by day as we go along — with a charter, you are always on “island time,” and you can go as the wind takes you.

Included in your charter are a captain and a chef, who work as a team. They are selected for their qualifications, experience and knowledge of the local waters. Their goal (because you will be tipping them) is to make sure this is the best sailing vacation ever, so they will show you the best spots to snorkel, serve up your favorite drinks and snacks, and choose the perfect anchorage for an awesome sunset. If you want, you can even take the helm and learn a bit about seamanship.

But there is more to do on a charter vacation than just sail and dive into the sea at a moment’s notice. The Mooring’s yachts come equipped with dive masks, fins and snorkels for everyone, and a two-person sea kayak or a sailboard. Additional sea toys can be rented as desired. Since your itinerary is “as you please,” you can stay ashore in Tortola for the world-renowned Full Moon Party at Bomba’s Shack, or you can sail to St. Kitts, Nevis and St. Lucia all in a single day, stopping along the way to snorkel or kayak in the clear water.

As on a cruise ship, all meals are included in the fee for a provisioned charter. A day’s menu might include piña colada pancakes (made with fresh pineapple) for breakfast, a buffalo chicken sandwich with an avocado-and-orange salad for lunch, crab cakes for hors d’oeuvres and, for dinner, fresh-caught red snapper grilled and spiced to perfection. And, oh yeah, chocolate soufflé for dessert. All this is prepared by your chef, who can also handle special requests after a shore stop and a visit to a local merchant. All beverages are included in the price of the trip — not just coffee, tea, juices, and soda, but beer, wine and spirits, too — a practice almost never encountered on a cruise ship.

Wow, this does sound like a Sean “Puffy” Combs vacation, doesn’t it? With a Sean “Puffy” Combs price tag? Guess again.

This cost for a full week in the Caribbean aboard a Moorings catamaran will run $10,521 — for the whole boat. That’s just $3,507 per couple. Surprised? I know I was the first time I chartered a yacht with a bunch of friends.

So, who charters a yacht? Is it just celebrities and nearly broke travel agents?

Hardly. In fact, it’s almost anyone— families looking for a bonding experience, friends looking for adventure and fun, active vacationers, grandparents with their grandchildren — even small companies looking to bring their employees together for some team building. It is not a typical cruise, and it’s not for everyone, but a vacation aboard a chartered yacht gives you a new way to see the islands and the sea, and it’s a great way to relax and rejuvenate. I recommend it. You’ll come back with wonderful memories of a unique experience.

Rising Like The Phoenix--New Orleans Part 2

Doom-and-gloom seems to be the popular take on the future of New Orleans post-Katrina. I discussed it the other day. But, I see it otherwise. New Orleans has always been a friendly, party city. This was the call that first beckoned me to “The Big Easy” 15 years ago and it is the call that brought me back to New Orleans two weeks ago. I love this city, and I needed to know: Can New Orleans, after all the adversity it has faced, still show a visitor a good time?

The answer, I am relieved to say, is yes.

Let’s put the question in perspective. How many visitors to New York take the side trip to Bayonne or Secaucus? When you go to Philadelphia, is Eddystone on your must-see list? New Orleans is no different. The areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina — the Lower 9th Ward and Chalmette — have never been tourist destinations. But other, more popular tourist areas survived Katrina better. The French Quarter was spared flooding and sustained mostly wind and rain damage. The Warehouse District, Garden District and Uptown neighborhood all fared fairly well. Yes, some businesses are closed and some windows are boarded up, but much of the city is open for visitors.

In a previous column, I said that I was heading down to New Orleans as a “tourist with a vengeance,” and that is exactly what I did. I hope you don’t think my “Party on!” mission was heartless. It was just the opposite. It is my hope that visitors will return to New Orleans in droves, fueling the economy and giving it the boost it needs to rebuild. New Orleans is my favorite American city, and I won’t let it go down without a fight.

Here are the cold, hard facts. According to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, tourism is a $5.5 billion industry in New Orleans. That’s $15.2 million a day, or 40 percent of the city tax revenues. Before Katrina came ashore, the industry employed 85,000 people. It is imperative that tourists return to the city, and the sooner the better.

The good news is that the tourism infrastructure is in good shape and many key businesses are open. For example, 27,000 of the available 38,000 hotel rooms are in inventory, and 764 restaurants are open and cooking. The New Orleans Museum of Art reopened on Friday (March 3). Café Du Monde, City Park, the Audubon Zoo, Morial Convention Center, Amtrak, the D-Day Museum, Canal and Riverfront streetcars, Harrah’s Casino — all open.

Does this sound like a ghost town to you? Not at all. In fact, 80 to 90 percent of the longstanding visitor areas are open, and the target for opening the rest looks to be April 1.

My three-day visit took me first to the Louis Armstrong Airport then to the hotel where I was staying with several friends, The Maison Dupuy (504-586-8000, 1001 Rue Toulouse). While the hotel is not open to the public until April 1, the manager was able to get us an early room and a sneak peek at improvements at the hotel, which underwent a $15 million renovation after Katrina damaged the roof. Ever the good neighbor, the Maison Dupuy has been housing its displaced employees and has managed to keep most of them working — and paid — since Katrina came ashore. Dominique’s, the hotel’s fabulous restaurant, is scheduled to open March 25 — if the hotel can wrestle Dominique Macquet back from his temporary gig as a celebrity chef in Houston. Don’t worry, his roots are in “N’awlins,” and he will be back. Sorry Houston — you lose!

After a late-afternoon lunch at the Coffee Pot (504-524-3500, 714 St. Peter Street), we took a whirlwind tour of the French Quarter. It looked great. There were a few broken and shuttered windows, but most businesses were open and welcoming visitors. I bought a 2006 Mardi Gras print from my favorite artist, Matt Rinard (his gallery is at 738 Royal Street), and we stopped in at George Rodrigue’s gallery (721 Royal Street) to make sure the Blue Dog had weathered the storm (he did). The antique stores on Royal Street are alive and well, too, and the crystal chandeliers are still out of my budget! Hey, this was looking like my old friend New Orleans!

The evening began with a fabulous burger at the Clover Grill (900 Bourbon Street), which still has its hubcaps, sassy employees and wacky character. After dinner, we gathered our courage and took the “New Orleans Ghost Tour” operated by Haunted History Tours (504-861-2727, $20 per person). Sid Smith has been running these tours for many years, and they are the best in town — fascinating, insightful and not too touristy. Our walking tour of the French Quarter began at The Reverend Zombie’s Voodoo Shop across from Pat O’Brien’s and ended up in Pirates Alley (with a stop along the way at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop for a drink or two). Our guide was Kalila Smith, a published authority on the paranormal who has a special interest in the macabre goings-on in New Orleans. Spooky good!

The rest of our night was spent at “The World’s Greatest Karaoke Bar”: Cats Meow (504-523-2788, 701 Bourbon Street). The club reopened just three days before our arrival, so I was concerned that the crowd might be thin. Worries allayed! The karaoke bar was packed and the upstairs balcony bar was crowded — not as crowded as usual but still, Friday night was a party. You have not lived until you have heard a bunch of Texas Longhorn fanatics singing “It’s Raining Men.” Thanks go to Theresa for making an amazing Hurricane for me (OK, many amazing Hurricanes). The Cat’s Meow also hosted our Tripso Happy Hour on Saturday night, when 300 people enjoyed all drinks 3-for-1. A big thanks to Stephanie for keeping everyone in line!

No visit to New Orleans is complete without a fine meal. While all food in New Orleans is good, our “fine dining” experience led us to Irene’s Cuisine (504-529-8811, 539 St. Philip Street). Here we waited 90 minutes for a table (sorry, no reservations accepted), but a fantastic piano player named Dan Marie kept all of us starving diners-to-be pleasantly occupied. Dinner was fabulous. In fact, my lamb dish was out of this world.

Unfortunately, Sunday was our day to head back home, and we only had time for beignets at Café Du Monde, some cheesy souvenirs for my kids (no, I did not get any of the FEMA shirts), and a glimpse of the Mystic Krewe of Barkus Parade and the Krewe of Carrollton Parade on our way out of town.

So, there you have it: a firsthand report of New Orleans six months after Katrina. Yesterday I laid out the terrible devastation that the hurricane brought to this proud old city. I do not want to make light of the ongoing suffering, as it is very real. I do not want to give the impression that things are back to normal, as they are not. But I do want to convey the message that this city is on the mend.

The music is wafting across the French Quarter, though not as loud or as confident as before. The Ghost Tours are still walking the streets, but they are not so well attended. The bars and clubs are pouring their drinks, but not as many. And while some restaurants have long waits for dinner, others are looking for patrons.

There is a long road ahead, for sure. I encourage you to do something to help with the rebuilding. Plan a trip to New Orleans for tomorrow, next week, next month or next year. As I have said for many years, New Orleans has something that eludes definition, something that you can’t quite put your finger on. The city has soul. Personally, I am not going to let this city down. My reservations for Mardi Gras 2007 are already secured, and there is a good chance I will be back before summer!

How ’bout you?

Rising Like The Phoenix--New Orleans, Part 2

Doom-and-gloom seems to be the popular take on the future of New Orleans post-Katrina. I discussed it the other day. But, I see it otherwise. New Orleans has always been a friendly, party city. This was the call that first beckoned me to “The Big Easy” 15 years ago and it is the call that brought me back to New Orleans two weeks ago. I love this city, and I needed to know: Can New Orleans, after all the adversity it has faced, still show a visitor a good time?

The answer, I am relieved to say, is yes.

Let’s put the question in perspective. How many visitors to New York take the side trip to Bayonne or Secaucus? When you go to Philadelphia, is Eddystone on your must-see list? New Orleans is no different. The areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina — the Lower 9th Ward and Chalmette — have never been tourist destinations. But other, more popular tourist areas survived Katrina better. The French Quarter was spared flooding and sustained mostly wind and rain damage. The Warehouse District, Garden District and Uptown neighborhood all fared fairly well. Yes, some businesses are closed and some windows are boarded up, but much of the city is open for visitors.

In a previous column, I said that I was heading down to New Orleans as a “tourist with a vengeance,” and that is exactly what I did. I hope you don’t think my “Party on!” mission was heartless. It was just the opposite. It is my hope that visitors will return to New Orleans in droves, fueling the economy and giving it the boost it needs to rebuild. New Orleans is my favorite American city, and I won’t let it go down without a fight.

Here are the cold, hard facts. According to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, tourism is a $5.5 billion industry in New Orleans. That’s $15.2 million a day, or 40 percent of the city tax revenues. Before Katrina came ashore, the industry employed 85,000 people. It is imperative that tourists return to the city, and the sooner the better.

The good news is that the tourism infrastructure is in good shape and many key businesses are open. For example, 27,000 of the available 38,000 hotel rooms are in inventory, and 764 restaurants are open and cooking. The New Orleans Museum of Art reopened on Friday (March 3). Café Du Monde, City Park, the Audubon Zoo, Morial Convention Center, Amtrak, the D-Day Museum, Canal and Riverfront streetcars, Harrah’s Casino — all open.

Does this sound like a ghost town to you? Not at all. In fact, 80 to 90 percent of the longstanding visitor areas are open, and the target for opening the rest looks to be April 1.

My three-day visit took me first to the Louis Armstrong Airport then to the hotel where I was staying with several friends, The Maison Dupuy (504-586-8000, 1001 Rue Toulouse). While the hotel is not open to the public until April 1, the manager was able to get us an early room and a sneak peek at improvements at the hotel, which underwent a $15 million renovation after Katrina damaged the roof. Ever the good neighbor, the Maison Dupuy has been housing its displaced employees and has managed to keep most of them working — and paid — since Katrina came ashore. Dominique’s, the hotel’s fabulous restaurant, is scheduled to open March 25 — if the hotel can wrestle Dominique Macquet back from his temporary gig as a celebrity chef in Houston. Don’t worry, his roots are in “N’awlins,” and he will be back. Sorry Houston — you lose!

After a late-afternoon lunch at the Coffee Pot (504-524-3500, 714 St. Peter Street), we took a whirlwind tour of the French Quarter. It looked great. There were a few broken and shuttered windows, but most businesses were open and welcoming visitors. I bought a 2006 Mardi Gras print from my favorite artist, Matt Rinard (his gallery is at 738 Royal Street), and we stopped in at George Rodrigue’s gallery (721 Royal Street) to make sure the Blue Dog had weathered the storm (he did). The antique stores on Royal Street are alive and well, too, and the crystal chandeliers are still out of my budget! Hey, this was looking like my old friend New Orleans!

The evening began with a fabulous burger at the Clover Grill (900 Bourbon Street), which still has its hubcaps, sassy employees and wacky character. After dinner, we gathered our courage and took the “New Orleans Ghost Tour” operated by Haunted History Tours (504-861-2727, $20 per person). Sid Smith has been running these tours for many years, and they are the best in town — fascinating, insightful and not too touristy. Our walking tour of the French Quarter began at The Reverend Zombie’s Voodoo Shop across from Pat O’Brien’s and ended up in Pirates Alley (with a stop along the way at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop for a drink or two). Our guide was Kalila Smith, a published authority on the paranormal who has a special interest in the macabre goings-on in New Orleans. Spooky good!

The rest of our night was spent at “The World’s Greatest Karaoke Bar”: Cats Meow (504-523-2788, 701 Bourbon Street). The club reopened just three days before our arrival, so I was concerned that the crowd might be thin. Worries allayed! The karaoke bar was packed and the upstairs balcony bar was crowded — not as crowded as usual but still, Friday night was a party. You have not lived until you have heard a bunch of Texas Longhorn fanatics singing “It’s Raining Men.” Thanks go to Theresa for making an amazing Hurricane for me (OK, many amazing Hurricanes). The Cat’s Meow also hosted our Tripso Happy Hour on Saturday night, when 300 people enjoyed all drinks 3-for-1. A big thanks to Stephanie for keeping everyone in line!

No visit to New Orleans is complete without a fine meal. While all food in New Orleans is good, our “fine dining” experience led us to Irene’s Cuisine (504-529-8811, 539 St. Philip Street). Here we waited 90 minutes for a table (sorry, no reservations accepted), but a fantastic piano player named Dan Marie kept all of us starving diners-to-be pleasantly occupied. Dinner was fabulous. In fact, my lamb dish was out of this world.

Unfortunately, Sunday was our day to head back home, and we only had time for beignets at Café Du Monde, some cheesy souvenirs for my kids (no, I did not get any of the FEMA shirts), and a glimpse of the Mystic Krewe of Barkus Parade and the Krewe of Carrollton Parade on our way out of town.

So, there you have it: a firsthand report of New Orleans six months after Katrina. Yesterday I laid out the terrible devastation that the hurricane brought to this proud old city. I do not want to make light of the ongoing suffering, as it is very real. I do not want to give the impression that things are back to normal, as they are not. But I do want to convey the message that this city is on the mend.

The music is wafting across the French Quarter, though not as loud or as confident as before. The Ghost Tours are still walking the streets, but they are not so well attended. The bars and clubs are pouring their drinks, but not as many. And while some restaurants have long waits for dinner, others are looking for patrons.

There is a long road ahead, for sure. I encourage you to do something to help with the rebuilding. Plan a trip to New Orleans for tomorrow, next week, next month or next year. As I have said for many years, New Orleans has something that eludes definition, something that you can’t quite put your finger on. The city has soul. Personally, I am not going to let this city down. My reservations for Mardi Gras 2007 are already secured, and there is a good chance I will be back before summer!

How ’bout you?

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly--New Orleans Part 1

“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” That pretty much sums up New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina. I visited New Orleans two weeks ago, so I speak from firsthand experience. The good news is that there is a lot more good than bad — or ugly. The bad news is that there is a lot of work to be done.

There is a lot to be said about the future of my favorite American city — so much that I am writing this column in two parts. Today, I will detail the bad news. Tomorrow, you’ll be amazed by the good.

When assessing the future of New Orleans, it’s important to understand that the recent devastation was not directly caused by any natural body of water. Lake Pontchartrain kept within its shores; the Mississippi River stayed well within its banks. The damage you see is due to the failure of the levees, manmade marvels that were under-engineered from Day 1. When they failed, floodwaters were released, flooding — and even eradicating — entire neighborhoods.

The Lower 9th Ward and Chalmette were the neighborhoods hardest hit. The Lower 9th is a workingclass town and a neighborhood of very old homes. Many of the houses were built by hand, and none was designed to handle flooding of this magnitude. As I drove through this area, there was very little sign of life. The homes were in shatters. Shrimp boats were propped eerily against houses and other buildings. There was no electricity, no water, and very little movement in terms of a recovery. Unfortunately, the best option for this area might be to raze it and let the neighborhood rise again over time. Of course, many old-timers are saddened by this prospect. Fearing they will lose the legacy of the generations of families that lived here Pre-K (as the locals like to say), they are refusing to leave and insisting on rebuilding.

A short distance from the Lower 9th Ward is Chalmette, a hard-hit community that has experienced the added misfortune of getting very little face time on the news. In addition to the flooding, Chalmette has suffered the largest residential oil spill in the world. Its neighbor, Murphy Oil Company, apparently lost a storage tank during the storm, which leaked just over 1 million gallons of oil into this upper-middle class neighborhood, leaving a layer of oil sludge two feet deep. A week before Mardi Gras, the streets were busy with contractors pressure washing walls and gutting houses — making a start at a new beginning.

Outside of the Lower 9th Ward and Chalmette, other storm-damaged areas are abuzz with activity. Homeowners are back, doing what they can to rebuild. What impressed me most was that so many people started by rebuilding their garden — a seemingly universal symbol of hope, color and rebirth.

All over town, bulldozers are scraping the muck from the streets, and the telltale signs of search and rescue (those ominous orange “X” marks) are slowly being eradicated. The city has set up recycling areas to receive ruined appliances, household goods and wood. (Mulch is not a problem in New Orleans!) More vexing is the large number of abandoned and destroyed vehicles. Currently, if a vehicle is found blocking a street, it is being towed to a makeshift parking lot (graveyard?) under the interstate, where it will sit, rusting, until its owner can be found. Of course, finding the owner is a challenge since so many people have fled the city and may be beginning life anew someplace else.

Last week, I watched the network news do its best to dampen the spirit of this struggling city. One talking head was so intent on forcing her opinion on the nation that she neglected her facts. Her opinion was that the city must now be crime-ridden because the police force must be decimated. Wrong on both counts. Not only are there more police officers in New Orleans now than ever before, but Katrina forced a lot of the criminal element out — unfortunately, from what I hear, to Baton Rouge and Houston.

Let there be no doubt: The citizens of New Orleans are planting their gardens and setting their neighborhoods on their way to recovery.

When you go down to New Orleans (and I recommend that everyone head down there), please take one of the so-called “disaster tours.” I was conflicted about these tours at first; I felt that by taking tourists out to gawk at the damage, they were cashing in on people’s misfortune. But having seen the devastation firsthand, I feel the tours perform an important service, reminding us how powerful nature can be. Last year was New Orleans; next year, it could be somewhere else.

Tours by Isabelle (877-665-8687, $50 per person) is probably the best of the New Orleans hurricane tours. This company, which has been offering tours of New Orleans since long before Katrina, does not operate large motor coaches, but rather small, comfortable vans that are better able to navigate the city and reach some of the more seriously affected areas. Your guide is a local resident who lived through the storm and is participating in the rebuilding of the city. While the devastation is very disturbing to see, it teaches a lesson we must never forget.

For a glimpse of some scenes not shown on the nightly news, I have prepared a slide show of the good, the bad and the ugly. Watch it with compassion and respect for the people so grievously harmed — and with joy that they can celebrate new beginnings with such a zest for life.