New Orleans Mississippi times.

This is a technical question for serious travel geeks. When a ship leaves the terminal in New Orleans it is about 100 miles down the mighty Mississippi River to the open sea. The ship is supposed to leave the dock at 4:30. If anybody has actual experience, not just calculated cruising time, how long does it take to get to the sea? Something about sitting on the balcony watching the river and other ships going by is fascinating the hell out of me. I don't even want to go to dinner and miss it. Do they have room service dinner the first night? It's a guy thing I know. I will probably also get up early on the last day to watch the approach.

Not a crazy question at all! We're cruising out of NOLA in March--our first time there--and we, too, want to watch the scenery of the Mississippi before it gets dark. I'll be checking back for responses!:)

It's about an eight hour trip down the Mississippi. I've cruised three times out of New Orleans. I enjoy that part of the trip, as well.

This is a technical question for serious travel geeks. When a ship leaves the terminal in New Orleans it is about 100 miles down the mighty Mississippi River to the open sea. The ship is supposed to leave the dock at 4:30. If anybody has actual experience, not just calculated cruising time, how long does it take to get to the sea? Something about sitting on the balcony watching the river and other ships going by is fascinating the hell out of me. I don't even want to go to dinner and miss it. Do they have room service dinner the first night? It's a guy thing I know. I will probably also get up early on the last day to watch the approach.

It's a 7-8 hour trip from NOLA to the Gulf. It depends on the time of the year as to what you'll see. In winter it will be dark by 5 pm, so you won't see much except twinkling lights. The views of New Orleans from the ship (port side) are great. If your balcony is on the starboard side you won't see too many ships because the ship will be on the right side of the river. I do think there is room service on the first night. Enjoy your cruise.

The views of New Orleans from the ship (port side) are great.

The views are great - but interestingly you see NOLA from both sides of the ship - the port side as you start off, but not too much later, after English Turn, it's off starboard. (If you look at the map you'll see that the river makes a 180 just past town) It's amusing to watch the newbie's confusion as they rush to the other side of the ship for the view...

The views are great - but interestingly you see NOLA from both sides of the ship - the port side as you start off, but not too much later, after English Turn, it's off starboard. (If you look at the map you'll see that the river makes a 180 just past town) It's amusing to watch the newbie's confusion as they rush to the other side of the ship for the view...

I was thinking more about the close views of the French Quarter and riverfront as you leave port, but the further views at the turns are definitely very interesting.

This is great and a great question as well as replies. We are sailing a B2B out of Nola in November and also wondered how long we would be on the Mississippi!

Thanks for the great info!

We are really really excited!

At 8 hours I will have plenty of time to go eat and still see a lot.

We do this trip every year in December. Since the ship leave New Orleans on the other side of the river, the view of downtown NO is not very close. In less than 5 minutes you take the first turn in the river and NO fades away. Since the OP is sailing early Jan it will be dark within the first 45 minutes and the view becomes pretty minimal. You will pass a couple of small towns in the dark and see some street lights. Quite a few anchored boats/ships and a couple of refineries in the dark. On the return you need to be up about 4-5 am if you want to do some river sight seeing.

Yes, you will be completely out of the city of New Orleans (French Quarter area, then 9th ward) within 5 to 10 minutes, then you will pass the Chalmette Battlefield in St. Bernard Parish, and will then quickly be in Plaquemines Parish (Parish is "Louisiana" for county). It is Plaquemines Parish that will be on both sides of the river for hours (Referred to the East Bank and West Bank by locals - you can read the details about that at http://www.neworleanspropertylady.com/there-is-an-east-bank-and-there-is-a-west-bank-of-new-orleans-la/

You will be in Plaquemines Parish until you enter the gulf. You will pass through neighborhoods such as Buras, Boothville, Venice, all with very interesting histories (can read about online). At some places, you will be so close to the levee that you can practically see inside the homes of people if there lights are on. You will definitely see cars on the road that is closest to the levees in some places (Again, I guess this could depend on the river level because you will be higher than the neighborhood since the towns are all below sea level.) To make it more interesting, I suggest reading a little bit about the history of Plaquemines.

Here is a map that shows the Mississippi River as it runs through Plaquemines:

My dad and I are cruising on the Sunshine in December and we are really looking forward to this cruise because we have never cruised out of New Orleans. We can't wait to see all the oil rigs and such along the way :)

World Gallery thank you so much for sharing this information!! We are so excited to visit and sail out of NOLA!

Yes, you will be completely out of the city of New Orleans (French Quarter area, then 9th ward) within 5 to 10 minutes, then you will pass the Chalmette Battlefield in St. Bernard Parish, and will then quickly be in Plaquemines Parish (Parish is "Louisiana" for county). It is Plaquemines Parish that will be on both sides of the river for hours (Referred to the East Bank and West Bank by locals - you can read the details about that at http://www.neworleanspropertylady.com/there-is-an-east-bank-and-there-is-a-west-bank-of-new-orleans-la/

You will be in Plaquemines Parish until you enter the gulf. You will pass through neighborhoods such as Buras, Boothville, Venice, all with very interesting histories (can read about online). At some places, you will be so close to the levee that you can practically see inside the homes of people if there lights are on. You will definitely see cars on the road that is closest to the levees in some places (Again, I guess this could depend on the river level because you will be higher than the neighborhood since the towns are all below sea level.) To make it more interesting, I suggest reading a little bit about the history of Plaquemines.

Here is a map that shows the Mississippi River as it runs through Plaquemines:

Fantastic info! Thanks so much, we will check it out..... :D

You're welcome. I have lived here my whole life and never really understood just how "complicated" the New Orleans metropolitan area could sound to someone that is not from the area until I would tried to give directions to people new to the area or tried to explain things using "local terms".

We have sailed out of NOLA many times and our family never gets tired of the "uniqueness" of sailing down the river. With a little background knowledge, you will notice things others may not.

If you are really into history, read Beautiful Crescent: A History of New Orleans by Joan Garvey and Mary Widmer. A great read!

On another note, basically all of Plaquemines Parish on the East Bank and all of St. Bernard Parish (which comes right before Plaquemines) was completely flooded during Katrina, every single house and business. These are probably places you were seeing on the news at that time, though most of the coverage focused on the 9th Ward of New Orleans.

Thanks a lot for the great info. I am a machinist and history nut (mostly WWII) and often see things from a different angle than others. My two adult sons will be with me and we are looking forward to seeing the industry and waterway infrastructure.

We are cruising out of NOLA on NCL Jewel October 13. I had no idea that the port was so far up river and I'm from STL! We will have our 3 children with us, so thank you for the opportunity to give my middle schoolers a history and geography lesson on the ride down to the Gulf. I am so excited about this trip that I feel like a middle-schooler myself.

This is a thread from 2010 but is packed full of information about the things you will see going down the Mississippi river out of New Orleans. It is so worth the read....I have also printed it to take with me on our cruise. ;)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1211622

This is a thread from 2010 but is packed full of information about the things you will see going down the Mississippi river out of New Orleans. It is so worth the read....I have also printed it to take with me on our cruise. ;)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1211622

This is a great list!

Just keep in mind that you will pass through this list within the first hour or less. The majority of your time will be passing through Plaquemines Parish, which is smaller communities. The first part of Plaquemines, the communities will be on the Eastbank then the majority of the time, the small communities will be on the Westbank (opposite side of New Orleans French Quarter).

Also, depending on river levels, you may not be able to see everything on the list or only the tops of things. You can't see the actual Chalmette Battlefield but you can see the top of the Malus-Beauregard House in front of the battlefield. The levee may block your view since NOLA, St. Bernard and Plaquemines are all varying in feet below sea level.

Have done about 6 cruises from N.O and really enjoy the cruise down the mighty Miss river. On one cruise, the boat decided to tilt over as it hit the water of the Gulf. This woke me up, later found out that it caused stuff in the shops to crash.

The trip down the river is very peaceful. If it gets dark, then you will see the glows from some of the refineries. There are also a lot of other ships on the river that are either docked in the river or which will pass you as you glide down the river. I love to see the other ships especially the tankers and container ships.

I am going on a cruise on Oct 20th from N.O and can't wait. In April, they were having the Jazz Festival going on in the FQ. We could hear the music and see the people enjoying this festival from the boat as we left N.O.

Have fun.

A time lapse video posted by someone, on CC, on a recent Conquest cruise, going down the Miss. River from port.

A time lapse video posted by someone, on CC, on a recent Conquest cruise, going down the Miss. River from port.

 

 

Yeah, just remember, this is not what you will see in December, that's the cruise the OP is asking about. The first 10-15 seconds of this is what you will see while it is twilight, after that, dark!!!!

Also, this is not the side you want to be on for the first hour. This is the "Westbank" side. You will not see any of the things listed on the list that was posted a few posts ago.

Yes, you will be completely out of the city of New Orleans (French Quarter area, then 9th ward) within 5 to 10 minutes, then you will pass the Chalmette Battlefield in St. Bernard Parish, and will then quickly be in Plaquemines Parish (Parish is "Louisiana" for county). It is Plaquemines Parish that will be on both sides of the river for hours (Referred to the East Bank and West Bank by locals - you can read the details about that at http://www.neworleanspropertylady.com/there-is-an-east-bank-and-there-is-a-west-bank-of-new-orleans-la/

You will be in Plaquemines Parish until you enter the gulf. You will pass through neighborhoods such as Buras, Boothville, Venice, all with very interesting histories (can read about online). At some places, you will be so close to the levee that you can practically see inside the homes of people if there lights are on. You will definitely see cars on the road that is closest to the levees in some places (Again, I guess this could depend on the river level because you will be higher than the neighborhood since the towns are all below sea level.) To make it more interesting, I suggest reading a little bit about the history of Plaquemines.

Here is a map that shows the Mississippi River as it runs through Plaquemines:

Thank you for this very interesting bit of information. Really excites me even more for my next cruise,

We cruised from New Orleans for the first time this past March, a 7-day on the Conquest. Saturday night (the last night) as we were heading back up the river, we had just settled in to bed and started hearing something that sounded like a party. My 12-year-old daughter and I jumped out of bed and out to the balcony...we were passing the Carnival Elation right there in the Mississippi River, it was so fun!! People were whooping and hollering. About 20 minutes later we passed a RC ship and they were not near as loud or as much fun, so trust me when I say "Ain't no party like a Carnival party!!" lol!!! :D

Also, I found a post on here regarding landmarks that you pass in the river as you leave New Orleans. I will try to go back and find that and post the link here!!

Thanks a lot for the great info. I am a machinist and history nut (mostly WWII) and often see things from a different angle than others. My two adult sons will be with me and we are looking forward to seeing the industry and waterway infrastructure.

If you have the time be sure to visit the WWII Museum, did this last summer stayed for 3-4 hours could have spent all day.