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Navtech visits New Orleans to check on
Wanting to see the condition of New Orleans' French Quarter after Katrina prior to Navtech’s January 9-13, 2006 courses at the Chateau Sonesta, Keith and Carolyn McDonald went to New Orleans for a site visit.
We were glad to see that for large
parts of the city, life is getting back to normal. Our first impression was
that for an area known for its cultivated seediness, the French Quarter is
entirely too clean, and even smells oddly pleasant! We are pleased to bring
you our impressions and photos of the French Quarter as we saw it this
week. In a nutshell, the Quarter is more than ready to host us. The Quarter is safer and cleaner than ever! Bourbon Street is active at night. Music is coming back strong, as are the nightclubs, souvenir shops, antique shops, restaurants and hotels. In fact, every hotel we walked past in the Quarter is open except for the Ritz Carlton. All utilities, including drinking water, sewage, electricity, telephone service, and CELL service appear to be perfectly visitor areas. There was never even any mud on the streets in the Quarter, and most buildings got little water except for those few buildings unfortunate enough to have a basement.
Many of the French Quarter’s businesses are open and more will do so as they see the customer base grow. A large part of this base is in conventions, which are gradually resuming.
Our meeting hotel, The Chateau Sonesta opened December 1 and is in beautiful condition. The hotel’s management has taken advantage of this slow time to do some renovations, as well as repairing the minimal water damage suffered in one part of the ballroom area. The heated outdoor pool and lovely atrium patio beckon and a full breakfast buffet is available. Lunch service in the attached Red Fish Grill was excellent, and room service will be operational by January. To see the hotel’s site, go to: http://www.sonesta.com/neworleans_chateau/page.asp?PageID=17467 Note that the hotel’s main restaurant and gift shops are not yet reopened but the lobby bar is in place. This is a beautiful hotel so be sure to stay here!! (Our Navtech rate of $109 is well below government per diem rate for New Orleans.) Useful links & reports: Convention and Visitor’s Bureau list of open restaurants General New Orleans info, including a Katrina report
Hotels seem to be pioneering the effort to open, essential to restarting the tourist business. Some hotels are heavily booked with Government-paid construction workers, many who have their families of pre-school children with them. These people are evident everywhere and are helping to support restaurants and shops.
It appears to us that most of the major sights in downtown New Orleans are accessible. We noted small meetings happening in most hotels, and the Christmas social season is getting booked.
One of the saddest realities for the city is that so much of the damage was caused not by water damage but by vandalism and looting after the storm. All four of the malls in downtown New Orleans were looted and Riverwalk is the only one able to have reopened. Thirty-three of Riverwalk’s 170 stores, shops, and restaurants have reopened as of Dec. 6, with about half of the rest preparing to open by January. Riverwalk’s management is supplying us with information so that we will be able to inform you of its exact status when you arrive. A few of the open businesses in the French Quarter and nearby:
Most hotels St. Louis Cathedral (undamaged) Lakeside Mall (near the Causeway, $5 by cab) The Audubon Zoo (the animals want visitors – they say they actually miss seeing people!) Café du Monde at the French Market and at Riverwalk Maspero’s Brennan restaurants Bacco, Bourbon House, Redfish Grill (in the Chateau) Arnaud’s The Gumbo Shop La Louisiane K-Paul’s Kitchen Emeril’s New Orleans will open December 8 (we called for that info today) Emeril’s NOLA will open in late December Riverboats Cajun Queen and Creole Queen Fat Tuesday’s at Riverwalk Landry’s Crescent City Brewery Pat O’Brien’s Bar Desire Café Touro Infirmary in the downtown area (and many others between the Quarter and the airport) New Orleans International Airport (undamaged and never closed) Here’s a useful website list published by a group of French Quarter businesses. This includes restaurants, nightclubs, shops, tourist attractions, and transportation. Note it doesn’t list the Chateau Sonesta as being open, but it did open Dec. 1, (we enjoyed our stay there) as did some other businesses! http://www.frenchquarter.com/katrina.php#dining
Given the vitality of the French Quarter and the Convention and Financial Districts, it is inconceivable to us that anyone can talk about not bringing New Orleans back. It IS back, and is on its way to being a busy city again. The city as a whole cannot ever be the same again, but the Quarter and surrounding areas are in good shape already. The momentum is returning to those parts of the city that bring in the most tourist revenue, and consequently, many jobs.
We are proud to be helping the city by keeping our seminars in New Orleans. The hotel is grateful that Navtech and our attendees are coming in January and we have no doubt they will give us the exemplary comfort and service they always do. So join us et laissez les bon temps roulez!
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