Construction at cruise port.........warning.......

[creel5857]

Just a simple warning for those who are going out of New Orleans for the first time and are not familiar with the port nor the parking areas.  We had directions from travel agent and even had GPS and even asked the concierge at the hotel about directions..........all just to verify things since I am a little obsessive compulsive.       But we still had problems as there was a lot of road construction going on and some lanes were closed and 1 street closed temporarily and no major signs like in other ports and very few port officials anywhere.  As a result we didnt even get parked in the cruise port deck and ended up in Fulton garage by accident.......I know you are shaking your head but it was stressful to get parked.  Yes it is a bit cheaper than the port authority parking but by the time you pay tips to shuttles you dont come out that much ahead.......but we got parked so just be forewarned .......its a mess if you dont know for sure what to do........

[Saint Greg]

Fulton is normally cheaper. They seasonally raised their prices until like May.

[creel5857]

Yes we got that message.  Either way, the parking and driving around cruise port is crappy right now.  We thought it was just us but we heard from several people who are used to the port complain throughout our cruise and now today we hear from friends who said several almost missed ship on Saturday due to problems at port with parking and closed lanes.  Maybe they will get it straighted out soon and it will be great looking but we wont be going back there anytime soon

[zabnee]

From the research I've been doing, seems that the major project along Convention Way is going to be done in two parts.  The one right now has the lanes on the port side of the road closed and under construction, which probably causes a lot of the issues.  This is expected to be done by April or May, where they will then be opened, and the lanes closest to the convention centre will be closed.  There won't be a Taxi/Uber/Bus/Ride share lane anymore, because they are creating a specific parking lot for buses, and drop offs for the others seem to be going there when all is said and done, and the walking bridge over the street is built. 

 

Thankfully, it'll at least be to the second stage by the time I'm there, in February of next year.

[senoragilbert]

@Saint Greg, you have always gone above and beyond for us out-of-towners who know nothing about NOLA! Thank you! I know you're currently recommending the terminal parking since Fulton's prices have gone up (seasonally) so high. However, is there any way to avoid this construction traffic by say, parking at Fulton and walking to port? Or is even the walking affected by the construction?

[Saint Greg]

15 minutes ago, senoragilbert said:

@Saint Greg, you have always gone above and beyond for us out-of-towners who know nothing about NOLA! Thank you! I know you're currently recommending the terminal parking since Fulton's prices have gone up (seasonally) so high. However, is there any way to avoid this construction traffic by say, parking at Fulton and walking to port? Or is even the walking affected by the construction?

 

You can park there. You can walk. You can take the shuttle...no problem. The shuttle can go around the construction. The reason I don't recommend it now is because the savings isn't really there until the prices go back down which I believe is May. I'll be parking there for my cruise in August. But if I were going to park offsite right now I would go with Machu Picchu which is $110 cash or $115 credit for 7 days.

Edited January 23, 2019 by Saint Greg

[hkbragg]

We are on the Dream heading out on Feb. 17 and have been planning to park at the port. We will be coming in from a hotel in Slidell - so taking 10W to 90 Bus W. Our directions say to take Tchoupitoulas St. to Henderson St. to Port Orleans PL to get to the port parking. Will the construction impact this route? I'm not familiar with the area, so I'm not sure how to circumvent the road closures. TIA!

[senoragilbert]

16 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

You can park there. You can walk. You can take the shuttle...no problem. The shuttle can go around the construction.

So in your opinion, the reports of construction traffic at disembarkation/embarkation time are overblown? I completely agree that the value for money isn't there (wish I would have booked back in September when it was regular price!) and so I was planning to use the port parking unless there's a reason to do so. Our hotel is the Residence Inn downtown, and the original plan was Fulton for 8 days. If you were me, @Saint Greg, what would you do?

[Saint Greg]

12 hours ago, hkbragg said:

We are on the Dream heading out on Feb. 17 and have been planning to park at the port. We will be coming in from a hotel in Slidell - so taking 10W to 90 Bus W. Our directions say to take Tchoupitoulas St. to Henderson St. to Port Orleans PL to get to the port parking. Will the construction impact this route? I'm not familiar with the area, so I'm not sure how to circumvent the road closures. TIA!

 

You should be good there. I took that route from the other direction last month.

[mafig]

We're on Celebrity Reflection who will be docked there for Mardi Gras.  

 

How will the walking areas around the ship be?

[Saint Greg]

4 hours ago, mafig said:

We're on Celebrity Reflection who will be docked there for Mardi Gras.  

 

How will the walking areas around the ship be?

 

You'll be fine. Even the road that's under construction, the sidewalks and crosswalks are open.

[Saint Greg]

5 hours ago, senoragilbert said:

So in your opinion, the reports of construction traffic at disembarkation/embarkation time are overblown? I completely agree that the value for money isn't there (wish I would have booked back in September when it was regular price!) and so I was planning to use the port parking unless there's a reason to do so. Our hotel is the Residence Inn downtown, and the original plan was Fulton for 8 days. If you were me, @Saint Greg, what would you do?

 

Yes that's my opinion and I'll tell you what it's based on. I cruised in December but I didn't use Fulton. I took a shuttle from Metairie which got off on Tchoupitoulas. I can say there were no traffic issues around that area at that time. The last sunday of december I stayed at the Marriott Convention Center. This was a CCL Dream and NCL Breakaway day. The Marriott is right in the middle of the construction. I drove in, parked, checked-in with around 10:30-11am with no problems. The next morning was a CCL Triumph morning and it was the day President Trump was speaking at the convention center. No problems. I went and checked out Fulton Garage. They were parking people on the back side of the garage. No line to get in. No traffic problems. Shuttle was leaving on the opposite side of the building due to a road closure for the presidential trip. But it was running no problem. I left town around 11am..no problems getting out. There have been a couple other times the past couple months where I'll be in town and walk over to the port in the morning. One day there was a...German ship (i think) in with the Dream. I just haven't witnessed any serious traffic issues.

[senoragilbert]

3 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

I just haven't witnessed any serious traffic issues.

This is very helpful. It sounds like we should just go with the plan. For the Breakaway (Julia St), I'm thinking the Fulton Place parking garage is still the best choice (considering we have the extra night at the hotel as well). Thanks, as always, for detailed and patient advice!

[Saint Greg]

14 minutes ago, senoragilbert said:

This is very helpful. It sounds like we should just go with the plan. For the Breakaway (Julia St), I'm thinking the Fulton Place parking garage is still the best choice (considering we have the extra night at the hotel as well). Thanks, as always, for detailed and patient advice!

 

Another thing you may want to consider if you're parking at Fulton. Fulton is only a couple blocks from your hotel. It looks like you're going to have to pay $40 to park at your hotel. You could book one night of hotel parking at Fulton which is $25 after taxes/fees. Then book your cruise parking with them. When you get into town drop off passengers and just the luggage you need for that night at the hotel. Park the car at Fulton. Then the next morning you don't even have to worry about waiting in line at the garage to park the car. You just walk over to the garage, collect the rest of your luggage, and catch the shuttle to the port. I've done this before.

Edited January 24, 2019 by Saint Greg

[senoragilbert]

6 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

You just walk over to the garage, collect the rest of your luggage, and catch the shuttle to the port. 

This was exactly the plan until they raised their prices so much! I think I'll go ahead and stick with that plan. 🙂

[saltshell]

Not driving in and will take a taxi or uber to port from hotel ( Le Pavillion ). Should I plan extra time? Will there be any problem getting from point A to point B?

[Saint Greg]

22 hours ago, saltshell said:

Not driving in and will take a taxi or uber to port from hotel ( Le Pavillion ). Should I plan extra time? Will there be any problem getting from point A to point B?

 

Nah. No problem. Eat a jelly sandwich for me.

[saltshell]

Thanks Greg. Last time I stayed there I was too tired to go downstairs for the late night snack. I plan to try again this time after breakfast at Mothers and late lunch at Willie Maes.