New Orleans: Kimpton Hotel Fontenot

 November 2021, weekday, 1-night, king suite 808

View from bedroom window in suite 808 Kimpton Hotel Fontenot

Pre-arrival and mishap with first airport hotel reservation 

This hotel reservation was an unplanned booking for us. We had originally planned to stay at the DoubleTree MSY airport, as our flight was not arriving until evening. We were staying just the one night, and had planned to get a ride from the airport to the cruise port in the morning. About 7 weeks before our stay at the DoubleTree, we found out our reservation had been cancelled. We were NOT notified of the cancellation, even though the Hilton website stated that a cancellation notice had been sent. I knew about the damages from Hurricane Ida, so I had been checking our reservation periodically to make sure all was well. One day when I checked, I saw the reservation had been cancelled. This may have happened as much as a week before I discovered it, as I was only checking every few days. I checked all my SPAM and trash folders after I saw the cancellation on their website, to make sure I had not missed a notification, and there was nothing I had missed. I then wrote a letter to Hilton expressing my disappointment with the way the cancellation had been handled. As a diamond member, I expected they would at least rebook a room in a similar location for a similar price. Apparently, I have too high of expectations! The reply from Hilton (3 weeks after I submitted it) basically just told me to call customer service to make a new reservation. Another Hilton diamond disappointment. I am slowly realizing the unappreciated loyalty I have been giving to this hotel chain. 

After the cancellation, I considered Hilton properties at the airport and downtown, before deciding to forgo Hilton and go with Kimpton Hotel Fontenot, an IHG property. This was our first stay at a Kimpton Hotel, and this stay won me over as a loyal guest! Since we were not arriving until evening, I contacted the hotel beforehand via email with our expected arrival time, and a few questions. The immediate reply I received said we had been upgraded to a suite, and that we would receive "a bit of lagniappe," since we were going to miss the evening social hour.

Amenity in our suite in Kimpton Hotel Fontenot 

Check-in and platinum perks

I had reserved a king guestroom with points, and as I already mentioned, we were upgraded to a suite. When we arrived, it took a few minutes to check-in at the front desk, and our amenity was in the suite.

Suite #808

The guestroom was clean, spacious, and comfortable. Even though we were not on the top floor (my usual preference), we did not hear any noise overhead. 

Kimpton Hotel Fontenot wardrobe closet in suite 808

The suite entrance from the hall opened into the living area, which was quite spacious. Other than the amenity and wardrobe photos above, I forgot to take photos of this room. Furnishings I recall included: a large desk with plenty of outlets, desk chair, sofa, coffee table, large flatscreen TV, cabinet under the TV, small table and chairs (in front of window, partially visible in amenity photo), and a padded suitcase bench.

I loved the luxurious bathrobes in the wardrobe closet. A small fridge is located behind the door under the ice bucket. The door between the living area and bedroom could be closed.

Carnival Sunshine Cruise ~ 7-day Exotic Western Caribbean January/February 2014

Pre-cruise

Our son had given us dinner in the steakhouse for Christmas this year, and we wanted to go the first evening because a bottle of wine is included the first evening. A few weeks before our cruise, I made the reservation online. The computer screen showed that my transmission had been successfully sent; however, I never received an email confirmation. I searched for information about steakhouse reservations online, and some guests said that they had been contacted prior to their cruise, and some said that they got their reservation details after they boarded (these comments were not specific to the Sunshine). I decided to call Carnival a few days before our cruise to make sure our reservation had been received. The person I spoke with did not say whether she could check into this; she merely said that our reservation would be confirmed during check-in. *2019 update: our experience on different cruises this year, is that the reservation and payment is confirmed immediately; just like a Fun Shops purchase.

Arrival and Check-in ~ Port of New Orleans

We walked to the cruise port because our hotel, the Astor Crowne Plaza, was only a little over a half mile away. This did not end up being as easy as we anticipated. My husband and I had gone for a walk to the cruise port that morning, and we chatted with two female travelers who were pulling their luggage. They told us that they had just gotten off the Carnival Sunshine, and that they had walked out from the ship. They pointed to the corner across the parking lot, which they said is the cruise port entrance. There was a sign at the entrance into the parking lot from the sidewalk that said, "Pedestrian Entrance," so we did not walk any farther. We expected there to be a pedestrian walkway after we entered, so we returned to our hotel to finish getting ready.

View from Serenity deck

When we were headed toward the cruise port with our luggage around 10:30 a.m., we passed a few more travelers pulling their luggage headed in the opposite direction. After we went though the pedestrian entrance, we saw that the parking lot was uneven, and that there is not a pedestrian walkway through the lot. Since we did not think we had much farther to go, we continued on. We found the cruise port entrance in the corner exactly where we expected it; however, the cruise port is not pedestrian friendly.

Cruise port view from our balcony
cabin 6363
Click on photo to enlarge and read labels

We observed many people walking along the edge of the road inside the port, even though there were signs that said, "No Pedestrians." Since I did not see any cruise ship signage, I asked an officer in the area how to get to the Sunshine, and he gestured toward the road leading to the south end of the port. I asked him if it was okay to walk through that way with our luggage (after all, the signs did say, "No Pedestrians"!), and he said yes.