Best time to board the ship in New Orleans

I know many people are anxious to get on the ship ASAP so they can 'start their vacation'. I see our vacation starting as soon as we enter New Orleans early that morning. We are thinking about strolling around the French Quarters area and taking in the atmosphere a bit before getting on board. Just curious as to pros and cons about waiting to get on until more early afternoon. When do the crowds start to increase or does that vary a lot? One concern is parking if we wait. Just wanting some input from you please.

What ship?

Carnival Dream. In January if that would make any difference.

We disembarked on 9/14 around 9:30am and there were already people checking in. We checked in on 9/7 around 11:15am and were on board by 11:30am (priority boarding - would have been zone 19 otherwise).

10:30 am will put you on as the first group.

Do the lines get longer for boarding the ship as the early afternoon goes along? Or do most people try to board the first couple hours? And when is the latest you can board?

Do the lines get longer for boarding the ship as the early afternoon goes along? Or do most people try to board the first couple hours? And when is the latest you can board?

It will be less crowded at, say, 1:30 than at 11:30. From Carnival:

Note: You must check in at least 1 ½ hours prior to departure or risk cancellation of your reservation.

Thank you so much for that information. I didn't think about the risk of cancellation. I am thinking we will probably shoot for between noon and 1:00.

And if this is a Sunday departure, NO is kinda slow starting on Sunday mornings. You can do some walking around, Jackson Square will be going early, but many business's don't start early.

Walking about is primarily what we intend to do. Maybe stop for a brunch of beignets and browse the open market.

We just returned from the Dream 9/21-9/8 and stayed at the Marriott Springhill Suites (convention center area) on St Joseph Saturday night before cruise. We "checked" out of the hotel about 9:00 am. They held our luggage for us while we went to the French Market and ate lunch (about 5 block walk to streetcar). We returned about 1:30 and took a taxi to the cruise ship ($14.00 for 2). There was still a short line took us about 45 minutes to board. Parking around the French Market is expensive. If you are parking for the week and its fairly close to streetcar I would park early and use the streetcar to go to French Market.

You can check in and board then get off and walk around until closer to sail away time. Not sure if it is something that is just generally allowed but if you think about it, if you boarded and left something in your car, they would let you off to get it. So this way all the check in would be done and you would just have to get through security to get back onboard.

Many people doing back to backs would do this all the time. Get off on turnaround day.

We drop off our luggage at the port. Then jump on the street car to take us into the FQ. You have to walk a little along the street car rail to catch the rail. Sometimes they don't go all the way to the port. There are many cruise members going into the FQ so follow them. That's what I did the 1st time. :D

When we got back I checked in and walked straight thru. It was about 2ish. I just had to get on more po' boy and chargrilled oysters. Yummy!!!