New Orleans sailing

[Chipmunkmaniac]

I would like to hear some experiences on he New Orleans sailings:
- were they full ship or how were crowds?
- how busy were characterlines?
- did they have many opportunities with the New Orleans costumes or only the first night?
- How easy is it to get from the airport to the city center and then onto the cruise terminal?

 

[NephieRN]

We were on the 3/3 6 night sailing out of NOLA. The ship was full but it didn’t seem overly crowded to me. Although my last cruise was on the Wish so my threshold for crowds is pretty high. I never saw any characters in New Orleans costumes any day. The lines for characters weren’t too bad. Much shorter than when we sailed on the Wish. The marvel characters did have very long lines so you need to get there early. Overall our cruise was one of the top 5 of my 13 Disney cruises. Staff was on point. Activities were great. Weather was fantastic. My only complaint was port arrival but as soon as I was on the ship all was forgotten.

 

[vakamalua]

We are on the 3/3 NOLA sailing.
--The ship was FULL. Cruise Director told us there were almost 2,700 people on board; 1,100 children. Felt very crowded especially on the pool deck. The dining rooms were incredibly loud, could barely hear in the Tangled one.
--Characters were VERY busy; the line for Spiderman was the longest we saw, wrapping all the way around the atrium
--Maybe missed them but never saw any characters in NOLA costumes
--Easy 30 minute ride from the airport. Lots of Taxis with flat rate. Had 1:30 PAT, arrived at 12:50 & was on the ship by 1:20.
Had a fantastic week in NOLA beforehand but this was our least favorite DCL cruise out of 14 (including a horrible DCL excursion in Grand Cayman).

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

So weird you all havent seen the costumes cause a friend who is a cm on the ship has posted quite a few pics. They are the old celebrate a dream come true parade costumes: very carnaval like costumes Mickey in white and purple, Minnie pink with side way bow, Donald and pluto clown like outfits, chipmunks in green and Goofy in purple…

 

[NephieRN]

So weird you all havent seen the costumes cause a friend who is a cm on the ship has posted quite a few pics. They are the old celebrate a dream come true parade costumes: very carnaval like costumes Mickey in white and purple, Minnie pink with side way bow, Donald and pluto clown like outfits, chipmunks in green and Goofy in purple…

Probably for cruises during Mardi Gras. Definitely didn’t see any of those on our sailing and we saw characters every day.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

Probably for cruises during Mardi Gras. Definitely didn’t see any of those on our sailing and we saw characters every day.

I just asked my friend and they were all out on embark night on March 3…

 

[NephieRN]

I just asked my friend and they were all out on embark night on March 3…

Interesting. We must have missed them during dinner or something. Too bad because I would have loved pics with them.

 

[supergirl04]

We were on the 3/3 6 night sailing out of NOLA. The ship was full but it didn’t seem overly crowded to me. Although my last cruise was on the Wish so my threshold for crowds is pretty high. I never saw any characters in New Orleans costumes any day. The lines for characters weren’t too bad. Much shorter than when we sailed on the Wish. The marvel characters did have very long lines so you need to get there early. Overall our cruise was one of the top 5 of my 13 Disney cruises. Staff was on point. Activities were great. Weather was fantastic. My only complaint was port arrival but as soon as I was on the ship all was forgotten.

Cruising out of New Orleans in a few weeks. Will you elaborate on the port arrival issues? I want to be prepared. Thanks!

 

[NephieRN]

Cruising out of New Orleans in a few weeks. Will you elaborate on the port arrival issues? I want to be prepared. Thanks!

Not being able to park in the parking garage at the port was a pain. You have to drop off your luggage at the port and then drive over to the gravel lot to park and then take a shuttle back to the port. When we arrived back at the port there were people everywhere and a super long line which we got in as there was no one advising what to do. It was moving very slowly so one of us got out to see what was going on. Turns out the line was people who had later PAT. Apparently they were calling PATs up at the entrance but you couldn’t hear at the back of the line where there shuttle drops off. We had the earliest PAT of 11 and once we realized what was happening they were already calling 1130. Again, not a huge deal. Just an annoying inconvenience. We still were inside the terminal before any boarding started and on the ship by 1145/12.

 

[supergirl04]

Not being able to park in the parking garage at the port was a pain. You have to drop off your luggage at the port and then drive over to the gravel lot to park and then take a shuttle back to the port. When we arrived back at the port there were people everywhere and a super long line which we got in as there was no one advising what to do. It was moving very slowly so one of us got out to see what was going on. Turns out the line was people who had later PAT. Apparently they were calling PATs up at the entrance but you couldn’t hear at the back of the line where there shuttle drops off. We had the earliest PAT of 11 and once we realized what was happening they were already calling 1130. Again, not a huge deal. Just an annoying inconvenience. We still were inside the terminal before any boarding started and on the ship by 1145/12.

Ok. That is good to know. Thank you!

 

[BarbSutto]

We were on the 3/9 cruise. If you’re driving, I suggest parking in Fulton Place parking garage. You prepay in cash when you go in and they have a shuttle to take you to the port terminal. There is no point in showing up to the terminal prior to your PAT as they will make you wait. They are constantly hollering what PATs they are allowing to go in so you have to make your way through the crowd.

We did see characters dressed up for New Orleans for the first day only. The character lines were insane. For our formal night the line for Mickey was past the elevators.

So many people! On deck 10 for the pirate party, it was stifling.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

Dream and Fantasy were full ship for MdAS and Pixar too… guess disney+ promotion did its job to full the ships but the lines were insane at times as well. Ariel on the Dream the last late afternoon was a complete U past shutters when she was on the balcony. I love the classics but full ship on the classics seem to bother me more than full ship on dream/fantasy. So thanks everyone for the heads up…

 

[angelbaby129]

We were on the 3/9 cruise. If you’re driving, I suggest parking in Fulton Place parking garage. You prepay in cash when you go in and they have a shuttle to take you to the port terminal. There is no point in showing up to the terminal prior to your PAT as they will make you wait. They are constantly hollering what PATs they are allowing to go in so you have to make your way through the crowd.

We did see characters dressed up for New Orleans for the first day only. The character lines were insane. For our formal night the line for Mickey was past the elevators.

So many people! On deck 10 for the pirate party, it was stifling.

Did you park at the Fulton Place parking garage? Their website specifically says they only provide a shuttle for ncl, royal caribbean, and carnival passengers so we were trying to figure out something else.

 

[MushuHill]

Currently on the boat and disembark tomorrow.
We had a FULL ship. Someone I know tried to get a last minute room and none were available ( her daughter works on the ship).
Never saw Mardi Gras themed characters. People started lining up for meet and greets about 30 minutes before they started.
The parking is crazy to get on ship!! Drive into port and drop off luggage. When we came out no one could tell us where our parking area was. It was parking H-as you drive back out of port when you are about to get on the main road there is a merman statue drive directly across the street and you are in H. Don’t drive all around like we did. They will shuttle you back to the port.
There is still no pirate buffet.

 

[BarbSutto]

Did you park at the Fulton Place parking garage? Their website specifically says they only provide a shuttle for ncl, royal caribbean, and carnival passengers so we were trying to figure out something else.

Yes, we parked there and they shuttled us to the Disney drop off.

 

[angelbaby129]

Yes, we parked there and they shuttled us to the Disney drop off.

Hmm, thank you! I will have to give them a call!

 

[ambula603]

Yes, we parked there and they shuttled us to the Disney drop off

We have a PAT of 11:15. So what time do we need to plan to arrive at the Fulton Place Garage? For all other cruises, we took Disney transportation so we have no idea how long it all will take.

I am looking to book online and all I can find is from a random website - is there an official one you used?

Thanks!

 

[ambula603]

Just wanted to come back and update our experience sailing out of NOLA on the Disney Magic!

I had purchased parking from Fulton Place garage before we left and had my paper printed and ready to go. Purchased here The attendant scanned it and we headed to the 6th floor to park in the covered lot. We parked right near the elevator and another attendant helped us with our bags (small tip). From there we took the elevator down to the street level and got on a shuttle bus that was waiting (with more people helping). We waited/rode no time at all and were dropped off right at the port terminal. We left our bags on the street with the worker, tipped the people handling our stuff, and got in line to enter the terminal. There were bathrooms on the street level before going into the terminal. Our PAT was 11:15 and it was about 11:30 so we walked right in (well, we made our way through the queue without stopping!) It was SUCH an easy experience... honestly, I couldn't believe there were no waits or hiccups!

We decided to do Express Walk Off on Debarkation Day and WOW was it fast and easy! We didn't set our begs out at night and just took them to Cabanas for one last breakfast at 6:30. There weren't many families there when we went so space wasn't an issue. I believe we were finished with breakfast around 7 and just waited for the call to be made that we could leave the ship. Once that was made, we rolled our suitcases out with us and never once stopped for anything - I think we were off by 7:30? No wait for the shuttle back to the parking garage (even though it only had 2 families on the bus. I was afraid they would wait until it was full) and back to Fulton Place to get our car. I had heard stories about break-ins so I was happy to find our car safe and sound.

In the past, we have waited hours in line to get through customs, get our bags, etc at Port Canaveral. This was LEAPS and BOUNDS easier and faster, even if it did mean we had to handle our own luggage for a little bit and get off the ship earlier. We preferred breakfast at Cabanas over the MDR, so wins all around!

We sailed the week before Easter on a full-capacity ship and still had such a great experience. I hope to cruise from NOLA again in the future since it is closer than PC for us. Hope this was helpful!