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NEW ORLEANS LAUNCH PARTY
Let’s start our vacation in grand style with a party along the mighty
Mississippi. Enjoy Sweet DJs and celebrity guests, dancing, fantastic food festival stations where you can buy classic Cajun treats (mmm, Jambalaya and Bayou Gumbo) and cash bars.
Meet us at Toulouse Street Wharf
Saturday, Nov. 7, 7-10pm
Tell your cab driver to take you to “the Toulouse Street Wharf, home of the Natchez Steamboat.”
Free admission / cash bar and food
NEW ORLEANS PRE-CRUISE PACKAGE
November 5-8, 2009
Join Sweet on our three-day pre-package where we’ll enjoy the French Quarter at the Hotel Monteleone, a gay and lesbian history tour, a French Quarter tour, a cooking demonstration (followed by lunch), exclusive Sweet party and wetlands restoration project to protect the city from future flooding.
Located on the world famous Royal Street, the four diamond Hotel Monteleone is a beautiful and historic hotel. It’s a block from the sights and sounds of legendary Bourbon Street. Because we’ll be located in the heart of the French Quarter, you have easy access to charming antique shops, one-of-a-kind galleries and lively jazz clubs. There are many great things to see and do within walking distance. Take a stroll along the Mississippi River, win big at Harrah’s Casino or enjoy the delectable New Orleans cuisine at nearby restaurants.
For our volunteer project in New Orleans, we will be taking part in a replanting project with Bayou Rebirth. We will spend about six hours out in the bayou, replanting various plants and learning about this fragile ecosystem.
The top floor of the Hotel Monteleone is host to our exclusive Sweet party. We will be able to take in the amazing sites surrounding the hotel, such as the Mississippi River and the French Quarter while enjoying a slide show from our volunteer project in bayou, tasty hors d’oeuvres and hosted drinks.
We’ll enjoy an LGBT history presentation followed by a walking tour of the French Quarter and nearby cemetery. We’ll see and learn about such landmarks as the historic French Market, the country’s oldest open-air market; St. Louis Cathedral, the country’s oldest basilica; and other notable landmarks. We will end our tour with Cooking Creole, where you will get a cooking demonstration of such New Orleans staples as jambalaya and bread pudding. It doesn’t stop there: We’ll be treated to these delicacies after the demonstration and get to try the local Abita Beer. We will even get recipes to take home and try ourselves.
Included
• Three nights at the Hotel Monteleone (November 5-8, 2009)
• Breakfast every morning in hotel restaurant
• Tour of the French Quarter with lesbian and gay highlights and history
• New Orleans Cemetery tour
• Cooking demo with lunch
• Exclusive Sweet party with hors d’oeuvres and drinks
• Volunteer project: Replanting the wetlands with presentation on the importance of wetlands, project educators, plants, equipment, boots, lunch, drinking water and roundtrip transportation.
• Hotel taxes
• Gratuities for tour guides on French Quarter tour
• All carbon offset with CarbonFund.org
Not included
• Airfare to New Orleans
• Transfer from airport to hotel
• Meals and drinks not listed above
• Incidentals at hotel
• Transfer from hotel to port terminal on November 8, 2009
Price
$669 per person based on double occupancy
$999 per person based on single occupancy
Our schedule
Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009
3pm: Check in begins at the Monteleone
6pm: Meet the Sweet crew in the lobby and head for dinner at a local hotspot. Dinner not included.
Friday, Nov. 6, 2009
8:30am – 4:30pm: Bayou Rebirth wetlands restoration project.
Departs from the Monteleone. Bring your gloves.
6 – 8pm: Post-project celebration on the top floor of the Monteleone with stunning views of the Mississippi.
Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009
9am – 3pm: LGBT history tour, French Quarter walking tour, cooking class and lunch. Starts at the Monteleone
7pm – 10pm: Kick-off party with the New Orleans lesbian community and Sweet guests. Location TBD
A LA CARTE FUN
Friday, November 6
Wetlands restoration project and celebration
8:30am – 4:30pm: Bayou Replant Service Project: Take part in a replanting project with Bayou Rebirth. We will spend about four hours out in the bayou, replanting various plants and learning about this fragile ecosystem.
Includes: presentation on the importance of wetlands, project educators, plants, equipment, boots, lunch, drinking water and roundtrip transportation from the Hotel Monteleone.
6 – 8pm: Celebration: The top floor of the Hotel Monteleone is host to our exclusive post-project party. We will take in the amazing sites surrounding the hotel, such as the Mississippi River and the French Quarter, while enjoying a slide show from our volunteer project in bayou, tasty hors d’oeuvres and hosted drinks.
$139 per person
Saturday, November 7
LGBT New Orleans history tour, French Quarter walking tour, Creole cooking class and lunch
9am – 3pm: Join us for a fabulous day of food, fun and facts. We’ll start with a Gay Heritage talk by legendary New Orleans’ historian Roberts Batson. We’ll stroll the lovely French Quarter and nearby cemetery, learning about this city’s fascinating and surprising history. Now, you’ve worked up quite an appetite, so it’s on to the Creole cooking and eating demonstration. You’ll learn to prepare New Orleans staples, like jambalaya and bread pudding. We’ll wash it all down with local fave Abita beer. You’ll get to take these recipes home, so you can delight your friends.
$79 per person
To book a la carte, call us at 877.793.3830.
A LA CARTE HOTEL
November 6-7, 2009
Hotel Monteleone
214 Royal Street
New Orleans, LA
Price
$236.17 per room per night single/double occupancy
add a third or fourth person for $25 per person per night
Included: All hotel taxes
Not included: Breakfast or incidentals
To reserve, call 504.523.3341 and reference “Sweet 2.”
Deadline for booking through hotel is October 31, 2009, or when all spaces are sold out.
MORE ABOUT BAYOU REBIRTH
Bayou Rebirth is a new program that has the mission of matching volunteers to wetlands restoration projects in the Southeast Louisiana. Healthy wetlands once surrounded the greater New Orleans area and protected it from hurricane storm surge, but various storms and human activities have led to their degradation and disappearance. The State of Louisiana and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, among others, are trying to address the rapid wetlands loss along the Louisiana coast through a number of programs, some of which call for planting wetlands plants in various locations. Bayou Rebirth uses a volunteer base for these programs as well as building capacity for restoring the National Wildlife Refuges near the city. In addition to instilling stewardship for their environmental resources, such plantings, it offers visitors from around the country an opportunity to see the beautiful ecosystem that is the Mississippi River delta.
pricing | ship | ports | entertainers | excursions | new orleans | overview | faq
Tags: Extra Sweet, New Orleans, pre-departure package, volunteer, voluntourism
12/28/08
6:12 pm
thanks for the info/ hope to see you one of these days.