Drive or fly to New Orleans

Haven't cruise from New Orleans before so trying to decide which is better. Drive is 11.5 hours and flight is $630 for two people. Not sure if we would need to rent a car to get anywhere flying in day before cruise. Are shuttle/taxi cost pretty high or would it be worth it to drive?

If Staying in the French Quarter the night before you will have a parking fee at the hotel averaging about $35.00 per night. the Taxi to downtown from the airport is about the same as parking. taking a taxi the next morning to the pier is a flat rate of $8.00. walking around the French Quarter to sight see if Very doable.so no cab needed

I live in Fort Worth and have always driven. It's an 8-9 drive for me and I usually find a hotel with a cruise parking package. Last time we stayed in the Garden District at the Prytania Park and loved it. Parking was free with two nights hotel stay. So I think it ended up being just shy of $300 for two nights. Port parking would have been $17 a day (so $120) and Uber/Lyft work very well but expect $8-10 each way for the quarter or the port. During the day the street cars work okay so you can save a little money but they are borderline useless at night because they get so packed.

We always make the 8 hour drive and stay just outside NOLA the night before then park at Fulton Parking

Haven't cruise from New Orleans before so trying to decide which is better. Drive is 11.5 hours and flight is $630 for two people. Not sure if we would need to rent a car to get anywhere flying in day before cruise. Are shuttle/taxi cost pretty high or would it be worth it to drive?

You will definitely want to walk in the French Quarter. No reason to drive at all. Most of the rest of downtown New Orleans is easy walking too. Your only real need for a car would be if you wanted to get out of New Orleans and do some tours, but since you'll only have the one day, I doubt you'd have time for that.

My choice would be to fly, so as not to have to deal with parking a car during the cruise. But that's not too hard either, if you decide you want to drive.