Recent Spirit Cruisers...Port Parking?

[BayouGirlUSA]

I am looking for cruisers who have parked at the port recently and was wondering how was your experience. I was reading a few threads and it seems something has changed for Spirit cruisers as far as parking goes. Can someone please shed some light for me?

[cruisinmeme]

I am looking for cruisers who have parked at the port recently and was wondering how was your experience. I was reading a few threads and it seems something has changed for Spirit cruisers as far as parking goes. Can someone please shed some light for me?

 

 

I have not cruised ncl at all, but have two cruises booked so have been doing research. We have sailed royal carribean and carnival out of new Orleans- pre Katrina and post Katrina. I actually spoke with the guy that is over the cruise section at the port. They very recently opened the newly done Julia terminal. Once you get to the port area there will be 3 lanes. The far left lane will be for ncl. You will by pass the Erato terminal and go on to Julia terminal. They have a contract with that big center for 700 cars. Did not ask what happens after that, but I believe it may be that we have to go down to the whale lot. We were in new Orleans in April with carnival and it was a freaking mess. Nobody directing traffic and people going nuts, waiting in wrong lines and the such. Tis guy said they will be directing traffic now. We sale early January and our edocs had Erato and our agent was clueless about the change.

I had gotten my info in the baton rouge advocate, then the portno.com site then spoke to the man in charge, so I feel pretty prepared now.

Hope this helps some.

[BayouGirlUSA]

I have not cruised ncl at all, but have two cruises booked so have been doing research. We have sailed royal carribean and carnival out of new Orleans- pre Katrina and post Katrina. I actually spoke with the guy that is over the cruise section at the port. They very recently opened the newly done Julia terminal. Once you get to the port area there will be 3 lanes. The far left lane will be for ncl. You will by pass the Erato terminal and go on to Julia terminal. They have a contract with that big center for 700 cars. Did not ask what happens after that, but I believe it may be that we have to go down to the whale lot. We were in new Orleans in April with carnival and it was a freaking mess. Nobody directing traffic and people going nuts, waiting in wrong lines and the such. Tis guy said they will be directing traffic now. We sale early January and our edocs had Erato and our agent was clueless about the change.

I had gotten my info in the baton rouge advocate, then the portno.com site then spoke to the man in charge, so I feel pretty prepared now.

Hope this helps some.

 

Thanks MeMe for the info. I did read something about someone having to go to another lot; that's what I was kind of wondering about. I guess once you get to the Julia Street terminal they take your luggage, then the driver would park the vehicle and have to walk back to the terminal if it's in the "whale lot" or do they have a shuttle going?

 

Maybe someone who has recently gone in the last few weeks will answser our question. I think we'll plan on getting there early so we can get into the 700 car lot.

[thescot123]

Hopefully you will get an answer soon since I am considering a Jan cruise from N.O. Was on the Spirit on Oct 22nd, this is before all those extra cruise ships arrived. NCL was then using the covered parking garage at Erato Street. Had been reading that both NCL and RCL share an open parking area near some whale picture. I looked on google earth and not happy what I see as it exposes you and your car to the elements and also does not look too big. If you can no longer park at the safer Erato Street parking area, then I would consider Fulton Garage as I prefer the car to be under cover. All these parking issues and extra ships are starting to make be reconsider cruising from N.O again.

 

On the Spirit, the cruise consultant told me that she believes that N.O officials had not thought out on how to handle all these extra ships.

[garycarla]

Keep in mind the limits of the lot. This is one case of arriving later in the morning is better than earlier. You need to give the people getting off time to get their cars and get out, leaving you lots of parking spaces.

[PreciousCruiser]

BayouGirlUSA, thought we were going to park and leave our car, but turns out a friend is going to drop us off and pick us up. Can someone tell me any details on where they need to drop us off.

 

Don't mean to hijack your thread... :), but thought I could get a quick answer here. Thanks.

[roger001]

BayouGirlUSA, thought we were going to park and leave our car, but turns out a friend is going to drop us off and pick us up. Can someone tell me any details on where they need to drop us off.

 

Don't mean to hijack your thread... :), but thought I could get a quick answer here. Thanks.

 

Every port we've boarded from, including New Orleans, has had large signs identifying which dock has which ship. Just watch for those signs. There will also be numeous porters standing out near the street lanes from whom you can double check.

[mastrip]

We sailed on the NCL Spirit on Thanksgiving week. The ship was leaving from the new Julia Street terminal. The parking was a nightmare. It took over an hour to go the one mile to get to the parking. No one was directing traffic at all and cars were cutting in line from all the side streets. We got there early and still had to park in the open lot which I guess people are calling the whale lot. After sitting in the traffic for an hour and getting to the point where you drop the luggage, no one directed you any further. I actually passed up the lot and stopped and rolled down a window to ask a security person where the entrance was. He said I passed it up and would need to go back around, but then I told him I had been sitting in that traffic an hour so he directed me and allowed me to back up to the entrance. Hopefully it is better now.

[margaretevanescence]

I am going on a cruise on the Spirit December 18th for a week. I found out that the parking lot for the port charges $16 per car per day, plus tax. So I did some research and read a lot of posts on CC and found out about Fulton Place. They are having a sale right now. It is only a block or so away from the port. You can reserve a parking space now and pay now and it cost a lot less. It cost me $12 per day and no tax! So it is $84 for the entire week. They will drive you to the port at not cost and when you come back they will drive you to your car at no cost. You do not have to worry about traffic and you don't have to worry about whether or not there will be parking because you reserved a spot ahead of time. This is the cheapest parking I found so far without staying at a hotel.

[ann1bell]

The Fulton was great! The shuttles were great both coming and going. Good luck and have fun!

[BayouGirlUSA]

I am going on a cruise on the Spirit December 18th for a week. I found out that the parking lot for the port charges $16 per car per day, plus tax. So I did some research and read a lot of posts on CC and found out about Fulton Place. They are having a sale right now. It is only a block or so away from the port. You can reserve a parking space now and pay now and it cost a lot less. It cost me $12 per day and no tax! So it is $84 for the entire week. They will drive you to the port at not cost and when you come back they will drive you to your car at no cost. You do not have to worry about traffic and you don't have to worry about whether or not there will be parking because you reserved a spot ahead of time. This is the cheapest parking I found so far without staying at a hotel.

 

Margaret, thanks so much for the info. I think I will look into Fulton Street Parking. I guess since they do shuttles every 3-5 minutes to the port; luggage shouldn't be a problem!

 

Happy Cruising and let us all know how you enjoyed it!

[PreciousCruiser]

Thanks all. I too heard about the Fulton St. Parking, but since a friend offered to drop us off and pick us up, decided to take up that offer. Hopefully the shuttles from other lots and private drop offs (taxis/cars/trucks), do not have to wait in major lines to be dropped off... I'm sure the efficiency of it all will improve in time... :) Let's hope so...

[leennp]

Does anyone have a suggestion for how to handle driving to port and parking on 1/1/2012 when the saints play at 1200 and traffic getting to port will be a problem, then port and parking backup to deal with for Conquest and Spirit? Will be driving in from I-10 east, which I think means we have to exit on US 90 at the Superdome exit, then proceed to port, knowing this, would traffic access be easier to Fultan Street garage or the Machu Picchu lot on Jackson Ave or the whale lot for port?

[BayouGirlUSA]

Does anyone have a suggestion for how to handle driving to port and parking on 1/1/2012 when the saints play at 1200 and traffic getting to port will be a problem, then port and parking backup to deal with for Conquest and Spirit? Will be driving in from I-10 east, which I think means we have to exit on US 90 at the Superdome exit, then proceed to port, knowing this, would traffic access be easier to Fultan Street garage or the Machu Picchu lot on Jackson Ave or the whale lot for port?

 

Hi Leennp,

 

When we go to the city from Baton Rouge, we never take the Superdome exit. We take the South Peters Exit past the Superdome exit. Take the exit all the way till you get to Convention Center Blvd which is about 1/2 mile down. Take a left on Convention Center Blvd and the Fulton Street Parking will be on your left maybe a quarter of a mile down if that far. We were recently in New Orleans on embarkation day for the Spirit and the Conquest. I didn't find the traffic too bad but the Saints game was, I think, at 7:30 that Sunday night...it wasn't at noon, I know that for sure!

 

We are planning on making reservations at the Fulton Parking Garage for our March Spirit cruise. If you would do this, you would be assured a place to park when you get there if you are detained a bit by traffic.

[Travelicious]

Parking for NCL is a large, flat, uncovered lot. $112 for the week. There is really no way to pull over and drop your luggage before parking, but the lot is not too far, so if your luggage is on wheels and you are in reasonably good shape, it is not too difficult to schlep it up to the terminal. You drop it just outside the terminal, then head inside.

 

If you are unable to schlep your luggage to the terminal, there are several people on golf carts who can assist.

 

The only real bad part, as others have mentioned, is getting to the lot. Took us well over an hour also. I'm not sure being shuttled over from Fulton avoids that, but maybe someone can enlighten us further on that.

[WolfpackFan]

So in summary, it kind of sounds like if you wait a while before heading to the terminal you would be better off. Wait until say noon? It's not like there are things we couldn't be doing in New Orleans that morning.