need hotel for post cruise pre flight home

[elbodans]

greetings!

 

i'm currently trying to nail down my lodging for pre- and post-cruise at the end of this month. i'm flying in to new orleans three days early and am planning on doing a lot of sightseeing. i'll likely stay somewhere in the french quarter because, well, that seems to make sense to me (i'm traveling solo and so like the idea of being in the touristy area--safety in numbers and all.) however, the ship returns on a saturday and i'm not flying out until EARLY sunday morning--it's a 6 am flight (that's all i could get with my air miles--so i'm dealing with it!)

 

the question is, where should i stay that night? i'll be getting off the ship fairly early i imagine, and i'll have my suitcase with me. i realize there's some sort of service that will take your bag from the cruise terminal to the airport for you, but i'm not sure if that's my best bet. because then the suitcase would be at the airport, not at the hotel NEAR the airport (does that make sense?) should i instead just stay somewhere near the port and hope that i can get a cab at, what, four in the morning? thoughts on this? thanks!!!