Sailing out of New Orleans

[Chelle621]

Its probably a conversation about this already out there somewhere....so if it is, please redirect me.

 

Never sailed out of New Orleans before.  Was wondering about parking...is there a garage or parking lot close to port?

 

And is there anything, other than the normal that I can expect from sailing out of this port.

[smcgoldr]

It has been several years since I sailed, so I am not sure if there is anything "other than normal" currently. When we sailed, check in was the same as we had experienced at other ports. There is a multi level parking garage next to the terminal. There are other cheaper options in the area, but we chose to park at the port for convenience. Sail away was a little different because it was well after dinner before we were in open waters. You spend hours on the Mississippi. 

[Joe817]

33 minutes ago, Chelle621 said:

Its probably a conversation about this already out there somewhere....so if it is, please redirect me.

 

Never sailed out of New Orleans before.  Was wondering about parking...is there a garage or parking lot close to port?

 

And is there anything, other than the normal that I can expect from sailing out of this port.

They will have all the info you need at the ports of departure; Gulf Coast region:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/316-gulf-coast-departures/

[Mutumbojimbo]

There is a garage right next to (or maybe part of) the port building, as well as a viable alternative garage (Fulton Street Garage). I really enjoy  the sail away down the river, and New Orleans is fun pre-cruise, but in my experience, bring your patience for embarkation - it has been chaotic on both our cruises from New Orleans. Oddly enough, disembarking has been very smooth. 

[Saint Greg]

There are several parking options. The most popular is fulton garage. It can be booked at www.neworleansparking.com

 

I covered all of the parking options here:

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/new-orleans-parking/

 

[jerrya72]

We've sailed from there twice once we parked at Fulton and once at the port.   The port was a little more but it was way easier than Fulton.

[reeinaz]

The biggest out of the ordinary thing IMO is the long trek down (up?) the Mississippi.

 

 

 

[cruisinmeme]

IMO parking in the garage in New Orleans is worth every dollar. 

We use Fulton garage when we sail Norwegian because they just have a lot.

to me New Orleans has always been a scramble. Some people say it is smooth. Happy for them but after about 15 NOLA cruises most have been a mess.

[jlabs03]

I use Machu Picchu parking since I am very particular about my door not being dinged and Angel is great.

[TNcruising02]

We parked in the garage at the port.  Even though we arrived fairly early, we had to park on the top floor.  I guess there might be a second garage onsite, but I am not sure.  When we first pulled into the garage, the staff took our luggage.  I thought that was great because I figured we would have to carry those to the terminal area ourselves.

If you arrive outside of your appointment time, be ready for a very long wait in the early/late line.  That's probably the longest I have ever waited to check in.  We arrived early because we weren't sure how long it would take us to park.  Then when you get inside the terminal to check in, it's like a cluster and very disorganized.  The worst part of cruising out of NO was our arrival.  After that, we had a wonderful cruise.  Getting off of the ship was much easier.  It was so nice that we were able to get to our car quickly and get back on the road.

[canes20]

Just got back Thursday. We used Fulton Parking. Shuttle to and from port. Very easy embarkation and debarkation.

[Lee Cruiser]

The parking at the port is expensive ($20 a day now I believe) but it is very convenient.  The garage is in the same building as embarkation and debarkation, so you just take an elevator up to your level.  We park there every time we cruise from New Orleans.

[Saint Greg]

2 hours ago, TNcruising02 said:

We parked in the garage at the port.  Even though we arrived fairly early, we had to park on the top floor.  I guess there might be a second garage onsite, but I am not sure.  When we first pulled into the garage, the staff took our luggage.  I thought that was great because I figured we would have to carry those to the terminal area ourselves.

If you arrive outside of your appointment time, be ready for a very long wait in the early/late line.  That's probably the longest I have ever waited to check in.  We arrived early because we weren't sure how long it would take us to park.  Then when you get inside the terminal to check in, it's like a cluster and very disorganized.  The worst part of cruising out of NO was our arrival.  After that, we had a wonderful cruise.  Getting off of the ship was much easier.  It was so nice that we were able to get to our car quickly and get back on the road.

Curious when the last time you cruised out of New Orleans was? The last couple for me have been pretty quick embarkations. In August I had an 11:30 arrival time. I arrived at 11 and was on the ship at 11:25.

 

 

Edited October 5, 2019 by Saint Greg

[TNcruising02]

5 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

Curious when the last time you cruised out of New Orleans was? The last couple for me have been pretty quick embarkations. In August I had an 11:30 arrival time. I arrived at 11 and was on the ship at 11:25.

 

 

It was in January of this year.  I think we parked our car around noon. By the time we got to the early/late line it was packed and very slow.  I think the way they have the booths to check in is very disorganized too compared to every other port we have cruised from.  The cruise was very good though.  Checking in was our only ordeal.

[Saint Greg]

3 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

It was in January of this year.  I think we parked our car around noon. By the time we got to the early/late line it was packed and very slow.  I think the way they have the booths to check in is very disorganized too compared to every other port we have cruised from.  The cruise was very good though.  Checking in was our only ordeal.

Maybe just bad luck for you. I’ve done it three times in the last year and a half with no problems. 20-30 minutes from shuttle to ship each time.

[TNcruising02]

4 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

Maybe just bad luck for you. I’ve done it three times in the last year and a half with no problems. 20-30 minutes from shuttle to ship each time.

Yes, I probably arrived at a bad time.  I think if I had arrived earlier, it wouldn't have been so bad.  I had a late check-in time, so going through the early/late line doomed me.  I've been through early/late lines before, but never one this long. 

[Saint Greg]

15 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

Yes, I probably arrived at a bad time.  I think if I had arrived earlier, it wouldn't have been so bad.  I had a late check-in time, so going through the early/late line doomed me.  I've been through early/late lines before, but never one this long. 

Well two of my three were around noon. In December they didn’t have an early arrival line. They had priority and non-priority so we had a pretty long line but it moved fast. That was my longest of the three....32 minutes from shuttle arrival to being on the ship. 

[TNcruising02]

2 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

Well two of my three were around noon. In December they didn’t have an early arrival line. They had priority and non-priority so we had a pretty long line but it moved fast. That was my longest of the three....32 minutes from shuttle arrival to being on the ship. 

Nice!  It sounds like I was just unlucky for that cruise and it's not the norm.

Edited October 5, 2019 by TNcruising02

[Saint Greg]

1 minute ago, TNcruising02 said:

Nice!  It sounds like I was just unlucky for cruise and it's not the norm.

or I’ve just been lucky but it sounds like @canes20 had a good experience as well.

[desiree741]

After looking around I think the difference between port and Fulton was less than $20 so I think we will do the port this time. However I did like how you can prepay at Fulton and get it out of the way.

[BTromboneFrack]

We just cruised out of NOLA in July.   Drove down from Michigan, and haven't been to NO in a long time.   I followed the instructions given by Carnival on their website.   There was also a Youtube of someone driving into town to the Fulton garage.   I watched it several times and then Google Earthed the trip so I could get the lay of the land.   Getting into Fulton takes you down some one way streets.  I'm glad I knew what it all looked like before we actually did it.   If you miss the exit, you end up across the river and have to turn around and come back.  Be prepared for a big traffic jam.   It was really crowded getting into the downtown area both times we got into town (the second time was a bus ride from Mobile -- the NOLA port was closed due to a hurricane.   

[themnms]

I am sailing with my Grandmother so will park at the port as I have to get her mobility scooter out. Does anyone know if they have handicapped parking. Will it be easy for me to get to the terminal with her. Last time we sailed from Nola she did not have mobility issues.

 

thanks in advance

[RoperDK]

We haven't cruised out of NOLA in several years.  We are platinum and will park at the port. What is the earliest time we should expect to be let in the terminal? Also, we leave on Thursday. How bad is the traffic?  We will be coming from Biloxi and would like to hit the "sweet" spot. Thanks!    

[canes20]

They let us start entering terminal at 10:25 last Saturday. Had a wedding party then called Diamond/Plat at 11:15. We caught up to the father of the bride and were on board at 11:25. Don't have a clue as to how traffic will be. Maybe Saint Greg can have info on that.

[BTromboneFrack]

On 10/5/2019 at 2:27 AM, themnms said:

I am sailing with my Grandmother so will park at the port as I have to get her mobility scooter out. Does anyone know if they have handicapped parking. Will it be easy for me to get to the terminal with her. Last time we sailed from Nola she did not have mobility issues.

 

thanks in advance

My wife has mobility issues too.   They do have handicapped parking right next to the elevators, however, they were already filled up when we got there.   It was easy to get to another parking spot and do a short walk.  Carnival is great at getting handicapped people into the right lines and through the system.