new orleans? can you book now for Dec? WHERE

We are scheduled to go out of New Orleans for our Christmas 2006 cruise, since it will be christmas time I figured I need to start looking now for a hotel. My problem is that I am not positive the Norweigan Sun will actually be back there- when I called norweigan they said they are planning on it but make your reservation cancellable. Also how do I know what hotels are ok or back up and running? Where is a nice REASONABLY priced hotel for one or two nights before our cruise?

You'll know which hotels are open because they are the ones that will take your reservation and you can call them when you make your reservation and ask them if they are open. That way you will know they are open because you are talking to them and they are telling you they are open.

In past years there were always good prices during the Christmas season. There was a city wide promotion which I believe was called Pere Noel. Probably way too early for anyone to be able to tell you much about what will be in December, but try http://www.nola.com Use some of the booking engines to see what they spit out and you might get some idea of where prices are right now for December.

I'm arriving in New Orleans in early December after a repositioning cruise, and I'm not even thinking about a hotel room now. Maybe towards the end of the summer, I will start looking into it. More rooms will have reopened by then and you will have seen news about how the city is recovering, how Mardi Gras came off, whether Jazz Fest takes place, etc.

Is price or location important to you. In general hotels near the Airport are cheaper than in the FQ or CBD, but are much further from the cruise piers. Hampton Inns are usually reliable and reasonably priced. That might be a good place to start.

thanks for the link on nola, it is very intersting, I have saved it in my favorites. I guess I won't worry about booking a room yet, my main concern was because we are leaving Christmas eve they would book up fast.