Leaving from New Orleans

[Beebearlvr]

We are taking a group on Caranival out of New Orleans in October. Where is a good place to stay the night before? Parking near pier? Must do things while there?

 

Thanks,

Renee

[nhraformula00]

The Hilton New Orleans Riverside is very nice and is right on the river very close to the cruise terminal. You can walk to the terminal if you want to its that close. Not sure on parking as we always fly in.

[jbethel11]

10 minutes ago, Beebearlvr said:

We are taking a group on Caranival out of New Orleans in October. Where is a good place to stay the night before? Parking near pier? Must do things while there?

 

Thanks,

Renee

For our August cruise, we stayed in Residence Inn by Marriott New Orleans Downtown, which was about 7-minutes from the port.

[Saint Greg]

you definitely want to check out my New Orleans parking guide.

 

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

 

maybe my whole New Orleans directory

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/new-orleans

 

Hilton Riverside is a great option as mentioned the downside is you’re going to pay about $50/night if you want to park there. 
 

All hotel parking is expensive downtown. 

You can always park offsite like at Fulton then make your way to Riverside and walk through the mall to the port. I have a walking to the port guide in that directory as well. 
 

There are several good hotels surrounding Fulton parking garage. You can park at Fulton and stay at one of those hotels. 
 

If you check out the stuff rom my glory Cruise last year I actually booked two nights of hotel parking at Fulton. Then a week of cruise parking. I left my suitcase in the car. Took my backpack with me. Stayed one night right next to the garage. Then one night in the French quarter. Took an uber back to the garage, collected my suitcase and dropped dirty clothes off in my car, and took the free Fulton shuttle to the port.

 

Any questions feel free to ask. I’ve stayed literally 100+ nights in New Orleans hotels and I have 8 cruises out of the port of New Orleans.

 

[JerseyGirlJen]

I also recommend Hilton Riverside, it will be my first choice when I cruise out of NOLA next time.  It's right on the river, and it connects to the mall so you can walk through the mall to the port.  I did this, and I will do the same next time.  I did see people from my room window walking to/from the port on the street that parallels the river...I don't know the name of it.  No need for an Uber unless you have a lot of luggage, etc. but Mall is probably easier since I don't think there are sidewalks on that street.  I arrived about 11am, and took the $25 upgrade for a room that was ready and riverfront.

 

The streetcar also has a stop right at the hotel.  Hint:  the streetcars don't give change, so do yourself a favor and download the RTA app to to your phone and purchase a "Jazzy Pass", I believe one day unlimited rides was $3.  But they also have multiple day passes as well. Then you just show your pass to your driver and hop on.  

 

I awoke very early the morning of the cruise embarkation and of course couldn't get back to sleep after looking out the window 100 times 🤣 to the Dream and the NCL ship in port, so I got dressed and walked up to Cafe' duMonde, it's about a 15 minute walk up the riverfront, and there were only 3 other tables in there besides me.  I got there about 7:40am.  Great way to get your fix without waiting in the super long lines during the day.

[cgladin]

On 3/11/2020 at 7:04 PM, Saint Greg said:

you definitely want to check out my New Orleans parking guide.

 

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

 

maybe my whole New Orleans directory

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/new-orleans

 

Hilton Riverside is a great option as mentioned the downside is you’re going to pay about $50/night if you want to park there. 
 

All hotel parking is expensive downtown. 

You can always park offsite like at Fulton then make your way to Riverside and walk through the mall to the port. I have a walking to the port guide in that directory as well. 
 

There are several good hotels surrounding Fulton parking garage. You can park at Fulton and stay at one of those hotels. 
 

If you check out the stuff rom my glory Cruise last year I actually booked two nights of hotel parking at Fulton. Then a week of cruise parking. I left my suitcase in the car. Took my backpack with me. Stayed one night right next to the garage. Then one night in the French quarter. Took an uber back to the garage, collected my suitcase and dropped dirty clothes off in my car, and took the free Fulton shuttle to the port.

 

Any questions feel free to ask. I’ve stayed literally 100+ nights in New Orleans hotels and I have 8 cruises out of the port of New Orleans.

 

I have a reservation at the Hilton Garden Inn. Do you still recommend booking two separate rates for the Fulton garage? The booking site seems to allow me to reserve all the days I would need at the cruise rate. I need one night pre-cruise and then the length of the cruise. I haven’t booked anything yet. My cruise is in January. How far in advance should I make a reservation for the garage?  And, thank you. Your content has been super helpful.

[Saint Greg]

31 minutes ago, cgladin said:

I have a reservation at the Hilton Garden Inn. Do you still recommend booking two separate rates for the Fulton garage? The booking site seems to allow me to reserve all the days I would need at the cruise rate. I need one night pre-cruise and then the length of the cruise. I haven’t booked anything yet. My cruise is in January. How far in advance should I make a reservation for the garage?  And, thank you. Your content has been super helpful.

The problem with booking the cruise rate for the entire trip is you have to give that receipt to someone at the garage and from my experience, they know when cruises are leaving.

I tried it on my first cruise in 2014. It was elation 5 day. I booked it for 6 days. They looked at it and assumed I was on a 7 day and made me pay for a 7th day. I wasn’t even going to be there that day but I just went with it because adding the 7th day at the cruise price was going to be about the same as if I had paid the hotel rate for the 6th day. You could always try. I just don’t want any problems so I book the hotel rate and the cruise rate.

 

Here is my write up on Hilton Garden Inn

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/new-orleans-hotel-review-hilton-garden-inn-convention-center/

 

 

Edited September 15, 2021 by Saint Greg

[cgladin]

16 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

The problem with booking the cruise rate for the entire trip is you have to give that receipt to someone at the garage and from my experience, they know when cruises are leaving.

I tried it on my first cruise in 2014. It was elation 5 day. I booked it for 6 days. They looked at it and assumed I was on a 7 day and made me pay for a 7th day. I wasn’t even going to be there that day but I just went with it because adding the 7th day at the cruise price was going to be about the same as if I had paid the hotel rate for the 6th day. You could always try. I just don’t want any problems so I book the hotel rate and the cruise rate.

 

Here is my write up on Hilton Garden Inn

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/new-orleans-hotel-review-hilton-garden-inn-convention-center/

 

 

That makes sense. I don’t want any issues over $10.

How far in advance do you normally reserve this location?

[Saint Greg]

5 hours ago, cgladin said:

That makes sense. I don’t want any issues over $10.

How far in advance do you normally reserve this location?

It’s nothing that has to be done far in advance. I’ve never seen it full.

[Plmkrze]

https://airportparkingreservations.com/lot_new_orleans_parking_msz?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_fiLBhDOARIsAF4khR3onsNtd4O2Aw4PuoNJZlCRmMrcxbJOYp5KX7qxQDa8HYvADWLF3hQaAvSpEALw_wcB

I was going to use this link to pay in advance for parking at fulton street garage and I do not see if a different rate for cruise versus non cruise days. We are staying in a hotel the night before our cruise departs. Do I need to book two different reservations?