Embarking at the New Orleans cruise terminal

[1city@atime]

We will be cruising Carnival Valor in October from NO. We will be driving from the area and parking our car. How has the experience been recently? Any tips or recommendations. We plan on having an early check in time, Platinum.

[starstruck05]

No real tips needed. If you are planning on parking at the port, know that it's behind the convention center. Looks like you are going nowhere but I promise it's back there. Stay to the right for the parking garage. No prepay, you pay at the gate when you pull in. Other closest parking is at the Fulton St. Garage. It's just on the other side of the convention center and they have a shuttle to bring you to the port. Slightly cheaper there than the port. It's $25 a day at the port. I think Fulton is somewhere between $15-20 a day. I live 10 minutes away so we take an Uber now Instead of parking.

[Purvis1231]

Embarking is fairly smooth especially for platinum. We park at the port garage. They usually open it around 9am. People will be lining up outside the terminal but around 9:45 staff will begin calling for priority passengers to enter the terminal to check in. After checking in you will be directed to wait in the priority area. Hopefully, around 10:45 you will be invited to board the ship. We did the lifeboat drill, took our luggage to the cabin and found a spot-on Lido until cabin were ready around 1:30.   

[LHARTWICK]

I thought RCCL did away with priority embarkation for Platinum?? We noticed it on our Allure sailing in November 2022, which was our first RCCL cruise after the restart.  I asked the Crown & Anchor rep about it - she confirmed it had been discontinued. We are platinum and our check-in opened last night for our October cruise out of NOLA.  Earliest time slot available for boarding was 12:30 PM. 

[mikayla73]

They're on the Carnival Valor. Carnival still has priority embarking for Platinum.

Edited August 28 by mikayla73

[LHARTWICK]

2 minutes ago, mikayla73 said:

They're on the Carnival Valor. Carnival still has priority embarking for Platinum.

Thank you - my bad!!!  Can you tell I've had a VERY long day at work and shouldn't be reading anything???? I guess I just need a cruise!!! 

[woodman6703]

On 7/27/2024 at 4:10 PM, starstruck05 said:

No real tips needed. If you are planning on parking at the port, know that it's behind the convention center. Looks like you are going nowhere but I promise it's back there. Stay to the right for the parking garage. No prepay, you pay at the gate when you pull in. Other closest parking is at the Fulton St. Garage. It's just on the other side of the convention center and they have a shuttle to bring you to the port. Slightly cheaper there than the port. It's $25 a day at the port. I think Fulton is somewhere between $15-20 a day. I live 10 minutes away so we take an Uber now Instead of parking.

The port parking and Fulton St, garage parking are those just for Carnival cruisers. We are on the NCL Getaway in December. Do any hotels offer park and stay like they use to. I’ve looked but so far unable to find any,  

[starstruck05]

4 minutes ago, woodman6703 said:

The port parking and Fulton St, garage parking are those just for Carnival cruisers. We are on the NCL Getaway in December. Do any hotels offer park and stay like they use to. I’ve looked but so far unable to find any,  

The parking garage at the Port is just for Carnival. NCL/Disney/Royal use the flat Whale lot next to the Riverwalk Mall, other end of the Convention Center. It's right next to the port those lines use but it's also a public lot for the Riverwalk. Fulton St. Is also a public lot but all cruise passengers can park there. Not too many Hotels offer park and Stay. I can say the Holiday Inn Superdome does. I'm sorry I don't know the rates. December is a hard time because it's Football Season so there may not be many rooms available there if it's a home game weekend.

[mikayla73]

I read recently that the whale lot is no longer used for the other cruise lines. From the Port of NOLA website https://portnola.com/cruise/parking-directions. There's other info on there too. 

 

Parking for Norwegian and Royal Caribbean Passengers

PLEASE NOTE, THE HILTON “WHALE LOT” IS NO LONGER BEING UTILIZED BY THE PORT FOR CRUISE PASSENGERS.

 

• Parking is available at the 100 Poydras Garage, located at 100 Poydras St. New Orleans, LA 70130. The 100 Poydras Garage opens at 9:00am (CST) and has over 500 covered and secured parking spaces.

[simplelife]

On 8/28/2024 at 11:00 PM, starstruck05 said:

The parking garage at the Port is just for Carnival. NCL/Disney/Royal use the flat Whale lot next to the Riverwalk Mall, other end of the Convention Center. It's right next to the port those lines use but it's also a public lot for the Riverwalk. Fulton St. Is also a public lot but all cruise passengers can park there. Not too many Hotels offer park and Stay. I can say the Holiday Inn Superdome does. I'm sorry I don't know the rates. December is a hard time because it's Football Season so there may not be many rooms available there if it's a home game weekend.

Some motels in Metairie and Gretna Harvey do as well, is you don't mind staying in suburban areas. 

[starstruck05]

On 8/29/2024 at 11:53 AM, mikayla73 said:

I read recently that the whale lot is no longer used for the other cruise lines. From the Port of NOLA website https://portnola.com/cruise/parking-directions. There's other info on there too. 

 

Parking for Norwegian and Royal Caribbean Passengers

PLEASE NOTE, THE HILTON “WHALE LOT” IS NO LONGER BEING UTILIZED BY THE PORT FOR CRUISE PASSENGERS.

 

• Parking is available at the 100 Poydras Garage, located at 100 Poydras St. New Orleans, LA 70130. The 100 Poydras Garage opens at 9:00am (CST) and has over 500 covered and secured parking spaces.

That's probably for the best. I never liked that it was used for cruise passengers because it was an open public lot for the entire surrounding area. 100 Poydras is just down the street and not in an area where alot of people are walking around.

[wolft927]

On 8/28/2024 at 10:50 PM, woodman6703 said:

The port parking and Fulton St, garage parking are those just for Carnival cruisers. We are on the NCL Getaway in December. Do any hotels offer park and stay like they use to. I’ve looked but so far unable to find any,  

I have cruised many times out of new orleans and always on NCL, and always park at the Fulton Garage. I park my car the day before we cruise, stay the night and return without any issues.