June 2024. For our first visit to the United States of America since the COVID-19 pandemic, we flew to New Orleans via London Heathrow with British Airways. After two days of exploring NOLA, Amtrak‘s Crescent overnight train brought us from Louisiana to New York, where we we stayed one night only before flying home. 

In New Orleans we decided to stay at the voco St. James Hotel, as it was an IHG brand we hadn’t tried before, located in a classic building near the French quarter and offering a pool. We arrived late at night straight from the airport on an Uber and where checked-in by the lovely Adam.

The hotel oozes some colonial charm with the outside terraces at the front. The hotel consisted of a front main building which housed the check-in area and the bar/breakfast area on the ground floor, with the vending machines on the second floor. The rest of the hotel is housed in a second building across an interior courtyard from the main building, this courtyard also had a gate open to the street enabling you to bypass the main building.

Our room was located on the ground floor of the second building. It contained two comfortable queen beds, with the night table in between both beds. On the night stand there was a power distributor with two American plugs and two USB-A plugs, perfect for charging.

The room also contained a closet with the flat screen TV on top, the empty mini fridge and the Keurig coffeemaker inside. In the corner there was a desk with chair.

In the entry hall before the bathroom there was a built-in walk-in closet. The bathroom was spacious and (for American standards) nice looking. The vanity area was spacious enough for us to store all our stuff.

The typical low American style bathtub provided a shower head with good water pressure, however the plug wouldn’t close so Timothy couldn’t take a bath.

The products where provided by Apotheke of Brooklyn in big multiple use dispensers. They had a rather neutral forgettable scent.

Right outside of the French windows of our ground floor room was the pool area. This was a rather small interior courtyard with a tiny plunge pool. We plunged in it once, as it was a refreshing plunge after a hot day out in New Orleans. But it wasn’t inviting to stay in for extended periods of time.

Breakfast was served in the morning in the tiny bar area and was made to order from a small menu. The items where rather basic, with only the shrimp breakfast being really exceptional.

The first morning service was lacklustre, despite being advertised to open at 7 AM, there was no one there. When the bartender first showed up he couldn’t care less, we were just a nuisance to him. Eventually he threw us some menus, then asked what we wanted to eventually say we couldn’t have anything but the breakfast sandwich, so we obliged.

It took about 40-ish minutes between arriving in the breakfast area and finally being served.  The next morning we learned our lesson and only arrived at 8. This time the very friendly breakfast women welcomed us with a cup of hot tea (or coffee) before handing us the menus and asking what we wanted. This time we could have what we wanted and how we wanted it, a much nicer experience.

All in all the hotel provided us with a solid stay. Most of the staff (except for the bartender) where very nice and welcoming. The hotel was clean and well-maintained and provided a daily housekeeping (which is becoming a rarity in the USA nowadays).

The implementation of the breakfast hours could be better, if it is only available at 8 then also advertise it as such. No one is going to bat an eye if you say breakfast only opens at 8, but don’t advertise it opening at 7 for it only really to be available by 8.

From New Orleans to New York on Amtrak’s Crescent – USA 2024

1. REVIEW | British Airways Brussels to London Heathrow.
2. REVIEW | British Airways World Traveller London Heathrow to New Orleans.
3. NEW ORLEANS | Streetcars, Garden District, Algiers Point, Riverfront, Jackson Square.
4. REVIEW | Louisiana State Museums – the Presbytère and the Cabildo, in New Orleans.
5. NEW ORLEANS | French Quarter ft. Bourbon Street.