First time Norwegian Dawn cruiser

[Pressinger]

Got a lot of questions about NCL and the Dawn out of New Orleans in particular. Some background: My wife and I cruised several times after we were married but had gotten away from it raising kids and living lives. Over the last five years though we have been on Princess for seven cruises.

 

We are now booked on the Dawn out of New Orleans on December 28 and it seems like a totally different experience (that's not bad). So here I go (and yes I have looked through a number of threads already).

 

We are planning on driving to New Orleans on the 27th and staying in the French Quarter. What time should we arrive at the cruise terminal (ship sails at 4:00 pm) for least waiting time for embarkation?

 

It looks like parking at the Port of New Orleans is $16 per day. Is this a safe place to leave a vehicle?

 

We are looking at purchasing the specialty dining package at $119 per person. Our thoughts as of now are to try the main venues and pay the cover charge if we want something different (eight folks on this cruise and don't know if we would ever agree to the same thing every night). Thoughts on this?

 

How long does it take to get to sea from the port? It looks like it is a long way down the Mississippi River.

 

I'm assuming the casino will not open the first night as we will still be in US territorial waters most of the time. Is this correct?

 

We've got three mini-suites in a row. Are the balconies connecting like they are on Princess?

 

On Princess we register a credit card before departure for on board purchases. NCL has not asked for mine for this purpose. Do you register it on board?

 

That's probably more than enough for now but please let me pick your brain as we think of more questions.

 

Thanks,

 

John

[FitchburgWIFamily]

We did this cruise in March of 2013 and are going to do it again in 2015. We arrived at port around 10:00 and were able to drop off our luggage curbside. We took the trolley from the pier downtown and got begets at cafe during monde and a hurricane and back to the mall by the pier. By the time we got to the pier it was probably about 2:00 and there were very short lines.

 

This time we are going to try to board earlier, just because all of us are excited about getting back on the boat and enjoying all it has to offer.

 

We gave credit cards at check in to allow us to use our keyboards to charge to our room.

 

Between the two MDRs and the one day after a looking diary ashore, we only had time to try two of the surcharge restaurants. So the dining package would Not be a good value for us.

 

We parked at the pier and had no issues with the car...it seemed pretty safe and secure.

 

I don't know exactly how long it took us to get to sea. We were still in the Mississippi long after I went to bed and we were at sea when I woke up in the morning.

 

I don't believe they let you connect the balconies there's some safety regulation about it...but others may know more about that.

 

Have fun.

[Doughboy139]

It takes around 10-12 hours to cruise down the mississippi to the gulf.

 

The casino will be open during the evening.

[bumble12]

pessinger join the dawn roll call we started there is 26 of us goin on the same cruise so far go to roll calls forum

[pisenor]

There is a parking garage a little more than a block away that charges $8 per day and includes a shuttles service to and from the pier. Here is a link ...

 

http://www.airportparkingreservations.com/lot_new_orleans_parking_rooftop_port_of_new_orleans

[Pressinger]

Thanks everyone for their replies!

 

John