NOLA to Memphis or vice versa in December

[Seaspray8]

Hi,  

Travelling from Australia to do our first USA river cruise. Not sure about the weather/wind conditions during December along the Mississippi.

Which direction would be the most prudent, starting Memphis or New Orleans?

COVID has us questioning lots that we would have never given a thought. Thanks

[NavyVeteran]

The weather would be the same in both directions. the water levels and accessibility to ports will be the same.

 

However, the two directions are very different:

• Memphis to New Orleans is down river with the current. You will have a lot more time in port with ports every day, many of them all day.
• New Orleans to Memphis is up river against the current. You will have more river time during the day and less time in ports. Some of the ports will be half day instead of all day. You will probably have one day on the river with no ports.

 

There is a strong current on the lower Mississippi, so the ship makes much better time going down river with the current.

 

The river has many bends where large barges (possibly one tug pushing seven barges) require the entire width of the river to go around the bend. Down-river traffic has the right of way over up-river traffic, since boats going against the current are much more maneuverable. The boat sailing up-river may have to wait at some bends for down-river barges to go around the bend first, delaying the up-river boat even more.

 

Neither direction is necessarily better. It depends on what you are looking for. If you want the maximum time in ports (so you may be able to do both a premium excursion and the included hop-on hop-off excursion, for example), then choose to sail down river from Memphis. If you enjoy sailing on the river during the day, then choose to sail up river from New Orleans.

 

We did a back-to-back - two weeks round trip from Memphis - so we got to see both directions. Even though we had mostly the same ports, we had plenty to do in most of them to stop in them twice. We took several premium excursions and still had time for the included hop-on hop-off excursions. We also had plenty of time at stops on the hop-on hop-off without having to hurry (an advantage since my wife has some mobility issues).

[adstz]

As far as weather goes it would be good to look on a weather app. I use "The Weather Channel" here in the US to check the average weather at any time of year for any US city. Check your ports and you will see what to expect.

[ericosmith]

Navy Veteran has a great analysis.  Personally I love the time cruising the river and although we went from Memphis to New Orleans, I would have liked to have more time cruising during daylight.  

 

It will get warmer as you go south or cooler as you go north, if that makes a difference.  

 

Consider what you want to see on either end and how much time you want to spend.  Memphis and New Orleans both have many interesting things to see and do.  Personally I prefer the pre cruise hotel location in Memphis over the one in New Orleans.  The New Orleans Hilton is basically a convention hotel which although on the river, is removed from the main sites in the city.  In Memphis you're right on the trolley line and easy transportation.  

[NavyVeteran]

Our pre-cruise hotel in Memphis was the Peabody. It's a great hotel for one night because of the history and atmosphere. I wouldn't want it for a long stay because it's an old building and the rooms are small. The greatest part was the ducks.

 

However, our cruise was pre-pandemic and I don't know what hotel they use today.

[Seaspray8]

Thank you all so much for the helpful information - really appreciated your time in describing the varying flavors of the two cruises. It made it easy for us to decide that down stream is probably best for us as the ports are of great interest. Happy travelling to all.

[njhoo]

Seaspray, we sailed the Queen upstream once in March, fought a heavy current the entire trip.  We are actually sailing the Countess from Memphis to NO in early December and our hotel is the Peabody.  

[mreasier]

We cruised last month from New Orleans to Memphis.  As others have mentioned, it does go very slowly upstream but we found we had enough time in the ports and enjoyed the extra on board cruise time.  The primary reason we chose New Orleans to Memphis was the "free"  hotel night in New Orleans rather than in Memphis.  They use the Intercontinental which was quite nice and only a few block walk to the French Quarter.