New Orleans to the Gulf

[coysdad]

Can anyone who has sailed out of New Orleans tell me about the route from the port to the gulf. I have been told that it is a several hour cruise down the Mississippi. Would be facinating if true.

[Host Kat]

Yes, it was true back in 1996 on Commodore's Enchanted Isle. And since gambling is legal in LA, the ship's casino was open during the trip down the Mississippi and out into the Gulf too.

 

Enjoy!

 

Kat

[yst347]

We sailed the Carnival Conquest from New Orleans in 2003. We left the Julia street pier at 4:30. We were still on the river but near the mouth at 11:30 pm. On the return trip we entered the river around 10:00 pm and arrived in New Orleans at 6:00 am next morning.

[coysdad]

Thanks, I was hoping that was true. I think I'm looking forward to that as much as the rest of the cruise.

[momsoftwins]

oh coysdad!!! you are looking forward to that as much as the rest of the cruise? and i thought it was me that you and patty couldnt wait to see!!!! have a good one

[wwinfl91]

The problem is that the trip in is almost always done at night and the trip out is done in the evening so depending on the time of year you may have some daylight or very little.

 

Sorry to remind you of that.

 

Have a great next cruise anyway.

[kingfish78734]

I have never sailed from New Orleans, but I was born and raised there. If you depart during daylight hours, you will be able to see a couple of really cool places but I would think you'll have to go up to the Verandah to be able to see over the levies.

 

One will be on the port side and that is Chalmette National Battlefield and Cemetary where a major battle of the Civil War was fought and should be (just estimating here) about an hour or less after leaving the pier. Another one is Fort Jackson, (named after Andrew), where the British attacked and were fired upon as they tried to make their way upriver to New Orleans. Numerous surviving 18th century cannon and the cannon ports should be able to be seen, especially if you bring binoculars. Fort Jackson is near the mouth of the river and I used to go fishing here ALOT because you can catch both freshwater (bass and crappie) as well as saltwater (redfish, speckled trout and flounder) fish in this one place because of the mixing of salt water from the gulf and fresh water from the bayous (creating brackish water).

 

Good luck and have a great trip.:)

[selucrey]

I have never sailed from New Orleans, but I was born and raised there. If you depart during daylight hours, you will be able to see a couple of really cool places but I would think you'll have to go up to the Verandah to be able to see over the levies.

 

One will be on the port side and that is Chalmette National Battlefield and Cemetary where a major battle of the Civil War was fought and should be (just estimating here) about an hour or less after leaving the pier. Another one is Fort Jackson, (named after Andrew), where the British attacked and were fired upon as they tried to make their way upriver to New Orleans. Numerous surviving 18th century cannon and the cannon ports should be able to be seen, especially if you bring binoculars. Fort Jackson is near the mouth of the river and I used to go fishing here ALOT because you can catch both freshwater (bass and crappie) as well as saltwater (redfish, speckled trout and flounder) fish in this one place because of the mixing of salt water from the gulf and fresh water from the bayous (creating brackish water).

 

Good luck and have a great trip.:)

 

It was the war of 1812.

[yst347]

It was the war of 1812.

 

You are correct, it is the site of the Battle of New Orleans fought in 1815, some two weeks after the Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812.

 

The Cemetary however is a Civil War cemetary so the National park honors both wars.

[kingfish78734]

It was the war of 1812.

 

My gosh, my mistake. In that case, I wouldn't even leave my cabin :) .

[LHP]

It takes about 8 hours to go all the way down to the mouth of the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico.

 

We would LOVE to do it on a cruise that had daylight the entire time. Sadly, when you leave at 4pm...you only get a few hours before darkness sets in.

 

We are cruising out there again in December and (with daylight savings time) we hope to get an extra hour of viewing. Not certain exactly what Katrina did to that area...especially to little towns like Venice.

[mexicobob]

We were on the Holiday in June a few years back. At that time of the year it stayed light for many hours after we left port so were able to see the sights of the River. Very enjoyable. Even after it got dark you could still things as many places had lights. Much of it is oil related. We were on the River when we went back to the cabin to get ready for bed.

The ship will make sharp turns on the River. This will make some people woozy.

 

MexicoBob

[crazycruzer68]

I don't understand, isn't New Orleans on the coast, why do you travel on the Mississippi River?

[jetskier]

New Orleans is nowhere near the coast. It is however sided by the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. It takes several hours to make the passage down the MS River. When we sailed two weeks ago on the Fantasy, we had about 1 1/2 hours of daylight. It also didnt help that the ship sailed away from the dock in the middle of the muster drill. We were almost around the first bend before we were released.

 

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&cat=&address=&city=new+orleans+&state=la&zipcode=

 

Dave

[crazycruzer68]

Continue to call me stupid, but how did they have so much damage from Katrina if they are not on the coast?

[jetskier]

Continue to call me stupid, but how did they have so much damage from Katrina if they are not on the coast?

 

No such thing as a stupid question. Katrina was such a large hurricane that even though the eye was in Waveland, MS, the width of the storm still covered part of the coast of LA, AL and FL with hurricane force winds. Also most of the damage in NOLA was caused by the failure of the levee system which allowed flooding. NOLA did have some wind damage but it was not as severe as MS got. The damage on the MS coast was caused by a mixture of wind damage (120mph) and storm surge (27').

 

Here is a sat photo of the storm before landfall

http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/index.cgi?page=items&ser=109665

 

Katrina was still a Cat 1 hurricane when it went past Meridian, MS.

 

Dave

[Host Kat]

The way I understand it, New Orleans is below sea level and sits in a "bowl". Therefore, the levee system failure created most of the destruction because the water could not drain out for such a long period of time.

 

Kat

[selucrey]

The way I understand it' date=' New Orleans is below sea level and sits in a "bowl". Therefore, the levee system failure created most of the destruction because the water could not drain out for such a long period of time.

 

Kat

That's exactly what happened.:(

I also want to point out that the "damage" was much worse in Mississippi. New Orleans flooded but the coastal towns in Mississippi were destroyed by wind and water.:(

[crazycruzer68]

Thanks everyone!!

[crusingici]

The ship will make sharp turns on the River. This will make some people woozy.

 

 

oooo- does this = nausea? sea sickness?

 

Just want to be prepared!!!

[jetskier]

oooo- does this = nausea? sea sickness?

 

Just want to be prepared!!!

 

GiCi,

It is not too bad, you will feel the ship lean to the left or to the right. Now if you are cruising in the winter there is a good chance of having to go through a cold front. We just went through one yesterday and ended up having 12 foot seas. Luckily I am not bothered by it but there were many folks missing from dinner. When you get close to the mouth of the river, it gets calm as the water is pretty smooth from being protected.

Dave

[crusingici]

Thanks for the explanation - I remember our first cruise last Feb from Galveston - we hit 12 ft seas and since we were on the 7th floor, midship we did fine - just could not walk straight up! But our buddies on the forward 2nd deck all spent the afternoon and evening hugging the bowl - poor dears.

 

I have my wrist bands and bonine and ginger all ready to pack.

 

Hope you had a great cruise - I will be ready after the holidays to just do a bit of nothing for a week!

[mexicobob]

Some people are bothered more by the sharp turns on the River than by the rocking caused by 12 foot seas after you get out in the open water. Did not affect me and thought it was fun.

 

If you are prone to seasickness it would be good to take something from the start. I take bonine.

 

MexicoBob