Feedback on French Quarter visit 6/19-6/22/2007

The Good:

Stayed at the Ritz - very nice - not that expensive considering! (~$200.00/night) - right next to bourbon street.

Had a great time!

I Reccomend the steamboat ride and bourbon street, and of course O%26#39;brien%26#39;s

The amount of work that has been done to get things back to normal is incredible!

People were generally really friendly.

The night life was awsome.

Just use common sense when you go out.

I skipped the devestation tours, but driving back to the airport the cabby pointed out the stains on a fence and one or two storefronts where you could still see the high water marks from the flooding downtown. It really made stop short and think.

The bad:

I didn%26#39;t have any problems but some of my friends did.

Several of my collegues got their cell phones picked. Then when they called their number they got them back for $100 each. My friend saw the same guy the next night and went to some policemen who were gathered near by. They never blinked an eye. Didn%26#39;t care.

I had mine in my pocket and wasn%26#39;t bothered at all.

Another friend got taken for an extra $10 on a cab ride by a cabby. He said his meter was broken.

Feedback on French Quarter visit 6/19-6/22/2007

Glad to hear you had a good time. My friends from work have just had their cell phones stolen in Rome Itay - that crime goes on in most city nowadays

Feedback on French Quarter visit 6/19-6/22/2007

Someone PAID a thief $100 to get the cell phone back? I don%26#39;t understand that.

Again, PAID ransom to a thief???

First, stop the service to it. I think the mfr can even block a stolen cell phone%26#39;s registered serial number from later having new service added to it.

';Broken meter?'; Get the cab%26#39;s number, report it to the regulatory office. One tried that on me. I said, ';I know the standard rate for this trip is X, so here you are, with no tip, of course.';

You should have called the police about the phone ransom. It wouldn%26#39;t be too hard for a plain clothes officer to meet the thief to pay the ransom. Would be easier to charge them with a crime at that time instead of pointing the perpetrator out on another day. Not sure if the police would be willing to do this though.

By paying, you only encouraged them to steal another phone, maybe one of ours.

Somehow tyhis posting sounds suspect.

';Several of my collegues got their cell phones picked. Then when they called their number they got them back for $100 each.';

Several? They called ..... they got them back? ANd this guys colleagues all, or separately, when to a meeting place with money for ransom? I don%26#39;t think this is a real post.

young_curmudg suit yourself, but the post is real. We were all part of meeting for a large company. All of us rely heavily on our cell phones for work. I did not witness the payoff myself as I wasn%26#39;t in the group that got hit. The following evening is when I found out about it when my colleague suddenly spotted the guy and told me what happened. He went straight to a group of 5 (yes 5) cops that were leaning against a patrol car at a street intersection and told them what had happened. I also asked him why he didn%26#39;t report it earlier - but seriously - think about it - I already knew the answer because I already knew that I would have wanted to get my phone back and get on with things rather than spend the rest of the few days we were there trying to track it down with the good possibility of not getting it and all the data on it back.

I%26#39;m not nocking New Orleans. We had an awsome time and I%26#39;d definitely do it again. But don%26#39;t be naive. It%26#39;s like going to New York or some other big city.

i just don%26#39;t get why they wouldn%26#39;t have called the police and the cell phone company to report it...and how could a number of them get it stolen, was it by one person just hovering around the group for awhile picking them off one by one?

Just sounds a bit unbelievable that grown people couldn%26#39;t come up with better alternatives than just paying the person $100, it%26#39;s just %26#39;egging that person on%26#39; to just do it more

Then I guess the old saying is true-- There%26#39;s one born every day.

The stolen cell phone story was on ';Cops 2007 Mardi Gras';. There was an incident where picpockets stole a man%26#39;s cell phone and then called the man%26#39;s wife demanding $100 for the phone back. The woman called her husband at his hotel. he called the NO police and they nabbed the picpocketer. I am a little surprised to hear that some paid $100 for their cell phone back. Why would you do that??