Disembarkation/transfer time from NCL Breakaway, Port of New Orleans to airport?

[Lottosal65]

Hi all,

I'm traveling with my husband, inlaws, daughter and her boyfriend on the NCL Breakaway from 1/28/24 to 2/4/24 out of Port of New Orleans. We just got notice that our 5 pm departure flight has been moved up to 11:45 am. We're scheduled to arrive in NOLA at 8 am. My inlaws have physical challenges, so we booked nonstop flights for each leg. I'm looking for info on the port and disembarkation there. Is it well organized, and how long it will take us to depart the ship and get to the airport? American has few options in the afternoon to get us out of NOLA and back to Chicago, but I'll sort that out if we really need to change our flight. Sharing any experience you've had with the NOLA port and NCL would be appreciated. (We've sailed with NCL multiple times out of Tampa and Miami on smaller ships but never NOLA on an NCL as large as the Breakaway). Thanks in advance. 🙂

[pandncruisers]

11:45 departure is cutting it close especially with your in-laws.  We would not do anything sooner than a 2pm flight.

[cruisinmeme]

Looking back at the schedule we had for the breakaway the first call for people with flights is color red at 8:15. I could swear you can leave earlier with a very early flight.  
we have sailed out of New Orleans probably 15 times and debarking starts usually by 7:30

[IAcruising]

Being a Sunday helps. Worst case you're on a shuttle at 9:00, with a worst case 45-minutes to the airport, you're at the terminal with 2-hours to your flight.

 

Works in theory.

 

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by IAcruising

[MeHeartCruising]

25 minutes ago, cruisinmeme said:

Looking back at the schedule we had for the breakaway the first call for people with flights is color red at 8:15. I could swear you can leave earlier with a very early flight.  
we have sailed out of New Orleans probably 15 times and debarking starts usually by 7:30

Was your scheduled arrival in port 8:00 am like the OP’s cruise?

[IAcruising]

25 minutes ago, MeHeartCruising said:

Was your scheduled arrival in port 8:00 am like the OP’s cruise?

 

The itinerary says 8:00 disembark. That's the website.  Her confirmation should show the arrival time. I'm not sure which she's referring to.

 

[Lottosal65]

Confirmation says 8 am arrival. 

[mexicobob]

We were in New Orleans this past weekend (not cruise related) and left on Sunday. Some of the Interstate on the way to the airport was at a standstill for about 45 minutes, maybe due to construction???? I personally would not plan to fly out before mid afternoon. 

[NW Pacific]

Our experience disembarking from NOLA on the Breakaway and Getaway was twice efficient. the third time was the complete opposite.   As said above in "theory" you could make your flight, but I would have a Plan B in place.  Foggy conditions can cause a delay docking also to consider. 

[IAcruising]

2 hours ago, Lottosal65 said:

Confirmation says 8 am arrival. 

 

Yeah, that leaves zero wiggle room.

 

[Lottosal65]

Yes. After reading these responses, I'm going to watch flights on American to see if I can book something later. It sounds like this could work if everything goes smoothly... but we'll be up a creek without a paddle if it doesn't. Thanks to everyone for weighing in, I really appreciate the help. ❤️

[Lottosal65]

I've canceled my tickets on American and rebooked on United. American just did not offer any flights out of NOLA in the afternoon or evening without overnight layovers or short connection times - untenable for us when we're traveling with my in-laws. So, our new flight is out a little after 2 pm, very doable for us. Thanks again everyone! 😘 

[www3traveler]

Enjoy your cruise

If it is not too cold, try to be outside as She leaves the pier.  When The Breakaway docks for disembarkation and embarkation, She will be facing UP River.  As She pulls away from the pier and the Carnival ship docked ahead of Her, She will  make a "U" turn in The River and will head downstream past the downtown area of New Orleans before making a wide turn South toward the Gulf of Mexico.  Depending on the weather conditions it will take between 8 and 9 hours to reach the mouth of Gulf (or a little longer).

Even in late January, there should be lots of river traffic and lots of brightly lit activities along the shoreline of the Mississippi River.

[Lottosal65]

This sounds wonderful, thank you for sharing this information - we absolutely will do this. ❤️

[cruisinmeme]

On 10/9/2023 at 7:32 PM, MeHeartCruising said:

Was your scheduled arrival in port 8:00 am like the OP’s cruise?

It may say 8:00 but out of approx 15 cruises out of New Orleans we arrived much earlier and they start clearing the ship by 7:303

[mexicobob]

9 hours ago, www3traveler said:

Enjoy your cruise

If it is not too cold, try to be outside as She leaves the pier.  When The Breakaway docks for disembarkation and embarkation, She will be facing UP River.  As She pulls away from the pier and the Carnival ship docked ahead of Her, She will  make a "U" turn in The River and will head downstream past the downtown area of New Orleans before making a wide turn South toward the Gulf of Mexico.  Depending on the weather conditions it will take between 8 and 9 hours to reach the mouth of Gulf (or a little longer).

Even in late January, there should be lots of river traffic and lots of brightly lit activities along the shoreline of the Mississippi River.

Going down the River is the best part of the cruise for us and one of the main reasons we booked it. Interesting even down towards the mouth of the River. The huge ship goes through the channel at a very past pace with many sharp turns. You can almost reach out and touch the channel markers, while sailing past the hundreds of oil rigs in the distance. Some people find these sharp turns cause motion sickness.

[The Traveling Man]

We have managed to get to the airport from the port by 9:00 AM a couple of times, and have never encountered any problems.  Sometimes, though, ships are delayed coming up the river from the Gulf, and some have had delays in debarkation.  I wouldn’t recommend a flight before noon.

[WineandSea]

@Lottosal65we are on the same cruise and my daughter is in a wheelchair.  what transfers dud you book to get from the airport to the ship and back? 

[Lottosal65]

We did not book a transfer when we arrive, as we're coming in the day before. I will be looking into this, but

my FIL has some mobility and can walk short distances and get himself in and out of vehicles. We booked NCL's bus transfer from Port to the airport on disembarkation day. Sorry I'm not more helpful. 😞