Booked on the Dream...new question now!

Thanks to the great advice here on CC, we booked the Dream on January 3rd out of NOLA! So stoked! Now new question for you...... Should we arrive in New Orleans in time for New Year's Eve, or should wait and arrive on January 1st? My thoughts..... both days will be super busy (the 1st for the Sugar Bowl) so that is a non-issue, but will the night of the 31st be a bit "too wild" for us? We are a young, early 50s couple- and enjoy drinking, but our hard core days are behind us. Will we feel out of place? I see the hotel prices are consistent for both the 31st and 1st, so money is not a tipping point.

Also, looking for a great hotel in the center of the action with a balcony that will rock for people watching....any ideas?

Thank you!!!

Google up The Olivier House.

If you can get a balcony on the front of the building you can see Bourbon Street and still be in a quieter area.

But if you are looking for a chain hotel experience, this ain't it.:)

No- I would rather not be in a chain hotel for this city. Thank you!

I am guessing that you may already be too late to get a decent hotel room anywhere near the quarter! NOLA is a party town and they tend to fill the hotels early. Good luck finding a place!

We are also on the Jan 3rd Dream Journey and are very excited! We will drive down on the 3rd and avoid all the new year partying!

I def agree with you.....time is of the essence for this decision! This ole Libra must make this choice quickly!! This will be our first "real" Carnival cruise....we took a three-day a few years back...since then we have cruised on other lines. But the "Journeys" itinerary was interesting to us and we generally select cruises based on itinerary- so we are very excited to go! Have you been on the Dream before?

5 times.....we really enjoyed her. But we have found another favorite, SUNSHINE!! We were cruising on the Dream out of NO this week but canceled and rebooked on the Sunshine for thus week. My DH HAS ANOTHER WONEN!!!!

HaHa- that is funny! How come you like the Sunshine more?

personally if it were me. I would still come in on the 1st and then perhaps tack on a day or two after the cruise is over.. Wouldn't be such a madhouse. However you would def not feel out of place.. That city caters to all!

She's been dried docked recently, she has all the new 2.0 upgrades. Great live music in Ocean Plaza and the Red Frog Pub. More choices for eating lunch and dinner. The lobby area/bar seems to be bigger. Some of the areas are a little crowded but aren't all ships? The Serenity area is beautiful, the waterfall is very relaxing if you want to get away form the chaos for a few minutes to regroup. Just love it more overall.

JKBellaCC, we've stayed numerous times in NO. If you stay across the river and take the fairy downtown the rooms are a bit cheaper. Taxi, fairy and boom, your downtown. We stayed one street off Bourbon Street one year, the rooms were tiny the cost was a bit much. Oh the hotel started with a Mon, something, something, cant think of it right now. Have you every been to NO, BS???

I love this conversation! So many interesting tidbits of info! I like the idea of saving a little money on the hotel, but for this first trip to NO, we def want to be in the center of the action rather than across the river. But, I thank you for that tip and it would be a consideration for future trips to the area.

The Sunshine does sound amazing- and I was looking at the itinerary that is sailing out of Charleston. I would love to visit Charleston and it sounded like a nice cruise. Guess that will be one to watch!

The thing about this cruise, is it is one way, so we won't be back to NO to stay an extra day- so it is all before the cruise, or not at all. We end up in San Juan. I am leaning toward arriving for NYE.....sounds like an adventure should not pass up. ;)

For sure.....San Juan is very old and historic. They have a beautiful fort you shouldn't miss, great photo spot. There is also a beautiful churches in old San Juan. If I'm not mistaken J-Lo, in one of her earlier marriages, got married in one of the churches we drove by in our tour. Problem is the 2 times we were there it was dusk, and couldn't really see a lot in the light, that was a bummer. I DO remember the streets were sooooo narrow and cobblestone. My DH, a retired Assistant Battalion Chief with the Chattanooga Fire Dept, said that they would probably have to use cranes to fight fires, because of the streets.

I love this conversation! So many interesting tidbits of info! I like the idea of saving a little money on the hotel, but for this first trip to NO, we def want to be in the center of the action rather than across the river. But, I thank you for that tip and it would be a consideration for future trips to the area.

 

The Sunshine does sound amazing- and I was looking at the itinerary that is sailing out of Charleston. I would love to visit Charleston and it sounded like a nice cruise. Guess that will be one to watch!

 

The thing about this cruise, is it is one way, so we won't be back to NO to stay an extra day- so it is all before the cruise, or not at all. We end up in San Juan. I am leaning toward arriving for NYE.....sounds like an adventure should not pass up. ;)

Have you joined the Jan 3 roll call? You will find a ton of info on New Orleans and San Juan on the roll call.

If it were me, I would go down on the 1st.

Was recommended to this thread on another discussion board. Hubs and I will be in NO for the first time over NYE this year. I am totally confused on where to stay. I would like to be super close to Bourbon and/or Jackson Square. I understand the Canal Street end of Bourbon is the touristy section- don't know if that makes it more or less desirable of an area. My budget happy place is 400 and under per night- though I could be persuaded to go a tad higher if the place seemed perfect- or if I could get a balcony with great people watching. I currently have a booking that I can cancel at Hotel Monteleone. Also have looked at Royal Sonesta, Bourbon Orleans and Oliver House. So many choices and with our dates- I think I should move fast. Help!

 

The Sunshine does sound amazing- and I was looking at the itinerary that is sailing out of Charleston. I would love to visit Charleston and it sounded like a nice cruise. Guess that will be one to watch!

 

Can't do much watching on this one; it's been very popular. Unless you want an Ocean View on Deck 1 or an interior with just a few deck choices left, you'll have to take a different cruise out of Charleston.

You sure are right about the Sunshine out of Charleston! The Carnival site shows there are no balcony cabins available...... although some other sites have some high dollar balconies. But, worse than that- the date will not work for us as we can only cruise December - Mid-April! :)

Try the Holiday Inn French Quarter - NOT a chain experience at all.

And join our roll calls.

Was recommended to this thread on another discussion board. Hubs and I will be in NO for the first time over NYE this year. I am totally confused on where to stay. I would like to be super close to Bourbon and/or Jackson Square. I understand the Canal Street end of Bourbon is the touristy section- don't know if that makes it more or less desirable of an area. My budget happy place is 400 and under per night- though I could be persuaded to go a tad higher if the place seemed perfect- or if I could get a balcony with great people watching. I currently have a booking that I can cancel at Hotel Monteleone. Also have looked at Royal Sonesta, Bourbon Orleans and Oliver House. So many choices and with our dates- I think I should move fast. Help!

We stayed there a couple of years ago. It's an older hotel and the rooms were really small. But it is about a block and a half from bourbon street, that's a plus. We did spend a lot of time there (BS) and did make it back to the room on our own, if you know what I mean. I really don't think we'd stay there again. When we go back I would love to have a balcony room over bourbon street. People watching is something I love to do, and on BS you can see it all!! Good luck..

We going to NOLA on News Years Eve. The downtown and french quater hotels were way too expensive for New Years weekend so we are staying at Comfort Suites out in Kenner by the airport. I 'm renting a car through Alamo. Its costing me 20.00 a day. We have found parking lots for 12.00 for all night near the french Quarter and we can pay in advance.Looking forward to meeting all of you.

Now that we have our hotel(s)- we still have two booked, heehee.... we are thinking about what we will do on NYE. We thought about booking a party somewhere....but we don't think we want to fly in and then get all gussied up- then thought about the Natchez, but seems there are many reviews that point to an excursion that may not be as much fun as it sounds. We are pretty good at just taking an evening as it unfolds, but I think we should at least plan where we will eat and have a general idea of what happens in Jackson Sq, plus where we will be able to see the fireworks- which I heard I might be able to see from our Place d'Armes balcony... Otherwise, we will just enjoy the extraordinary fact that we are in NOLA on NYE on the first day of vacation (we are boarding a cruise on Sunday) and take in the sights and sounds!