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New Orleans.... where to stay and what to do for day prior to cruise?


ABQrobin
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We are thinking of booking the Carnival Dream in May, flying in on Friday night or Saturday morning. That would give us either a full day or half day to see a little bit, eat at a restaurant, etc. Does anyone have recommendations for a hotel? near French Qtr? transportation? food that is good but not wanting a 5* restaurant, seafood and cajun preferred.

It will be our first trip to NO, and we are just looking to get a little taste of it before the cruise. Not planning to party all night.

 

thanks

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Im headed to NOLA in April for the first time and I've been doing some research. This tour company has great reviews, and they have a lot of good options. http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/new-orleans-tours/.

I'm only there for 1 full day and will be exhausted by dinner time...cheers to 6am flights! I'm going to do a tour or two and check out the FQ, and maybe the Garden District too. If you search for New Orleans travel or Visit New Orleans you'll get the tourism websites.

For hotels I'm going to use Priceline, probably in the FQ.

 

 

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We are thinking of booking the Carnival Dream in May, flying in on Friday night or Saturday morning. That would give us either a full day or half day to see a little bit, eat at a restaurant, etc. Does anyone have recommendations for a hotel? near French Qtr? transportation? food that is good but not wanting a 5* restaurant, seafood and cajun preferred.

It will be our first trip to NO, and we are just looking to get a little taste of it before the cruise. Not planning to party all night.

 

thanks

 

There are many great places to stay. But I would recommend Hilton Riverside if you can get it. It's attached to the riverwalk mall. Some actually walk to the port through the mall. It's right by the riverwalk and the Aquarium. There's a streetcar stop outside. You can get an unlimited ride pass for $3/day or it's like $1.25/ride. For lunch I'd walk 2-3 blocks down Poydras to Mother's Restuarant. I get the debris po boy and jerry's jambalaya. http://www.mothersrestaurant.net/

 

For dinner I'd stay in the hotel for Drago's Seafood..and make sure you at least try the charbroiled oysters. http://www.dragosrestaurant.com/

 

Either for desert that night or breakfast the next day I'd take the streetcar down to the french market and get beingets at cafe du monde. http://www.cafedumonde.com/ There is also a location in the riverwalk mall which opens at like 8am but if time permits you really want to visit the original.

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So we are heading out on the Dream in 2 weeks, staying at the Holiday Inn West Bank the night before. It is on the other side if the river but room,parking for 8 days and breakfast was $199. Plus Uber to the pier is only about $9. Will let you know how it was after the cruise.

 

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So we are heading out on the Dream in 2 weeks, staying at the Holiday Inn West Bank the night before. It is on the other side if the river but room,parking for 8 days and breakfast was $199. Plus Uber to the pier is only about $9. Will let you know how it was after the cruise.

 

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We are staying at the same hotel in next December, have stayed before. It worked well for us. I am really interested to hear how your experience with Uber goes! I've haven't been brave enough to try it yet.

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We used Uber in NOLA and had no problems at all. We used it to get from the airport to our hotel in the Warehouse/Convention area then after the cruise from the port back to the airport.

I have also taken a tour from Free Tours By Foot - had a nice experiace with them too. My teen loves ghost tours.

NOLA is my favorite port. We walked everywhere - had great food at all the places we ate.

I have been on a lot of cruise ships - am going on the Dream again - the only ship I will have sailed on twice! I found the Vista to be larger than I like - Dream is just right.

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where do the ships dock in New Orleans? We'll be getting off Vision Dec 15 after her Panama Canal transit and we want to stay an extra day in NOLA. Where is the airport? Do I want to look at hotels in the Garden district? They say they are .5 miles from the Port of New Orleans.

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Last year, we stayed at the Embassy Suites on Julia Street. It's less than 1/2 mile from the terminal, not far from a street car stop, and within walking distance to lots of places to eat and drink. We ate at a restaurant near the hotel called Mulates. It had live Cajun music and great food. Our children really enjoyed dancing!

 

As for prices, please know that deals CAN be had....you just have to be vigilant and check often.

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where do the ships dock in New Orleans? We'll be getting off Vision Dec 15 after her Panama Canal transit and we want to stay an extra day in NOLA. Where is the airport? Do I want to look at hotels in the Garden district? They say they are .5 miles from the Port of New Orleans.

 

The ships dock in the "Convention District." You could easily stay in French Quarter or the Garden District, as the street car system is affordable and allows easy transit between areas.

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We are also considering cruising on the Dream next month and not sure where to stay, we will most likely fly in but may drive.

 

We love New Orleans but for the chargrilled oysters Dragos was our least favorite overall. We Loved Royal House and Mr. Ed's and not just for the oysters. Beignets are a must and just walking around and exploring the French Quarter is a great way to spend the day.

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We're cruising next month out of New Orleans. We decided to come one day early and leave one day after, because we are from New England and one never knows if you are going to be delayed with weather!

 

We're staying in Hilton Riverside the night before. It was a little pricey but holy heck, we can roll out of bed and be on the ship! It actually wasn't *too* bad, I just need to remember to quit the stupid hotel club I had to join to get the special rate.

 

The day after, we booked at the Hampton Inn Downtown - French Quarter. Reasonable rate and a good place to be so we can spend the day exploring the city once we disembark.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I [emoji171] NOLA and I spend as much time there as I can get away with. I’d like to recommend Ernie’s Tours for the BEST cemetery tour in the city! Ernie is local, he does not work for the big companies that have flooded the tour market with outsiders reading from a script. He is easy to find online just google Ernie’s tours New Orleans and his page will pop right up. You will not be disappointed I promise!

 

 

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  • 2 months later...
We are also considering cruising on the Dream next month and not sure where to stay, we will most likely fly in but may drive.

 

We love New Orleans but for the chargrilled oysters Dragos was our least favorite overall. We Loved Royal House and Mr. Ed's and not just for the oysters. Beignets are a must and just walking around and exploring the French Quarter is a great way to spend the day.

I didn't love the charbroiled oysters at Dragos either, but the ones at Acme Oyster house were outstanding

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Hi! Can you confirm that it's is still possible to walk through the port to the mall? I know a few years ago that access was blocked, but maybe it was only temporary.

 

 

There are many great places to stay. But I would recommend Hilton Riverside if you can get it. It's attached to the riverwalk mall. Some actually walk to the port through the mall. It's right by the riverwalk and the Aquarium. There's a streetcar stop outside. You can get an unlimited ride pass for $3/day or it's like $1.25/ride. For lunch I'd walk 2-3 blocks down Poydras to Mother's Restuarant. I get the debris po boy and jerry's jambalaya. http://www.mothersrestaurant.net/

 

For dinner I'd stay in the hotel for Drago's Seafood..and make sure you at least try the charbroiled oysters. http://www.dragosrestaurant.com/

 

Either for desert that night or breakfast the next day I'd take the streetcar down to the french market and get beingets at cafe du monde. http://www.cafedumonde.com/ There is also a location in the riverwalk mall which opens at like 8am but if time permits you really want to visit the original.

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Hi! Can you confirm that it's is still possible to walk through the port to the mall? I know a few years ago that access was blocked, but maybe it was only temporary.

 

I did the walk several times last fall/winter. The only thing I've seen blocked off is up the stairs when there is no ship in port. The other way...around the stairs (not on the riverside) I don't think they ever block off.

 

This thread may be helpful

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2562162

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Hi! Can you confirm that it's is still possible to walk through the port to the mall? I know a few years ago that access was blocked, but maybe it was only temporary.

 

 

 

I can confirm that I walked through the mall to the Port a few weeks ago. It was very simple. I stayed at Hilton Riverside, which is connected to the mall via an escalator to the right of the hotel check in desk. (If you're staying at Hilton take the escalator up, and continue to walk. you will eventually come to an escalator going down. There is good signage. At the bottom of that escalator, go through the door on the right, and you're in the mall. Walk down that hallway and go right. You're now in the main mall hallway. Go all the way to the end, take the escalator up. Again, go all the way to the far end of that hallway (only one way to walk so you'll see where you need to go). At the end of that hallway go up again and go all the way to the end of the hallway. You will pass the food court. You'll see glass doors leading to outside on your left as your get near the end of the hallway. Go out those doors and look right. You'll see your ship. Follow the outside path all the way there, you'll go around a corner or two. Then you'll see the big staircase everyone talks about. Walk on down and the Porters are under the covered area. I tipped them $5 for my two bags and everything got to my room accordingly.

I hope this helps!

PS- I had a river view room and did see some folks walking right down Julia Street with luggage. But, there are no sidewalks. The mall floor was very smooth and easy to wheel the bags.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I too have had great success in getting nice accommodations on Hotwire/Priceline "secret hotels"-more success in New Orleans than any other city. There are even websites that will predict the hotel based on its description and with a little investigation I always got the hotel I thought I would. I got Le Pavillion and the Intercontinental for a little over $100 per nite in last couple of years

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There are many great places to stay. But I would recommend Hilton Riverside if you can get it. It's attached to the riverwalk mall. Some actually walk to the port through the mall. It's right by the riverwalk and the Aquarium. There's a streetcar stop outside. You can get an unlimited ride pass for $3/day or it's like $1.25/ride. For lunch I'd walk 2-3 blocks down Poydras to Mother's Restuarant. I get the debris po boy and jerry's jambalaya. http://www.mothersrestaurant.net/

 

For dinner I'd stay in the hotel for Drago's Seafood..and make sure you at least try the charbroiled oysters. http://www.dragosrestaurant.com/

 

Either for desert that night or breakfast the next day I'd take the streetcar down to the french market and get beingets at cafe du monde. http://www.cafedumonde.com/ There is also a location in the riverwalk mall which opens at like 8am but if time permits you really want to visit the original.

I totally agree with Mothers, amazing food, small price, we liked Acme Oyster house way better than Dragos, Dragos was just ok for us, Acme was amazing. We also stayed at Riverside and liked it just fine, this next time we're going for one of the more historic places, staying at Place D'armes

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I totally agree with Mothers, amazing food, small price, we liked Acme Oyster house way better than Dragos, Dragos was just ok for us, Acme was amazing. We also stayed at Riverside and liked it just fine, this next time we're going for one of the more historic places, staying at Place D'armes

 

I like ACME but the line to get in is always down the street and I'm usually with someone who doesn't want to stand in line outside. When that happens we end up going to Felix's across the street which is pretty good. Due to the lines I haven't been to that ACME in probably 5 years. I did eat at the one in Baton Rouge last year and it was great. Huge oysters. Bananas Foster Cheesecake.

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