New Orleans Cruise Port Guide

A historic Mississippi River homeport for Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean sailings to Mexico and the Western Caribbean. Louisiana, US.

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Two terminals sit side by side on the Mississippi riverfront: Erato Street, Carnival's terminal, and Julia Street, used by Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. Both are on the riverfront streetcar line, about five minutes from the French Quarter.

Louis Armstrong International Airport (MSY) is about 16 miles from the terminals, at least a 20-minute drive outside of rush hour.

Cruise parking at the Port of New Orleans

Carnival passengers park in the Erato Street garage on top of the terminal, at 1100 Port of New Orleans Place, which has more than 1,000 covered spaces and opens at 9am. The port's published rate is $25 a day, charged for the full length of the cruise; its Carnival rate table lists $120 for a 4-day cruise and $180 for 7 days, with a $1-a-day fee if you reserve online.

Norwegian and Royal Caribbean passengers park at the 100 Poydras garage, 100 Poydras Street, with more than 500 covered spaces, opening at 9am, for $25 a day, or $25 plus $1 a day with a reservation. The maximum vehicle height is 6 ft 6 in. Qualified disabled Louisiana veterans can park free for up to 7 days with the required documents.

Getting to the New Orleans cruise terminals

The terminals are downtown, next to the Riverwalk Outlet Collection and minutes from I-10. The Port warns drivers not to try to reach them through the Port of New Orleans Place entrances at Julia or Poydras Street: follow the signs past the bridge pier instead. Erato Street comes first and Julia Street is just beyond it.

At Erato Street, the garage's first level is the drop-off, where porters take checked bags straight to the ship. The riverfront streetcar and taxis link both terminals to French Quarter hotels.

Sources, checked September 2026: Port of New Orleans, cruise parking and directions and FAQs (portnola.com).

New Orleans map

A sourced sailing schedule for New Orleans isn't published on this site yet. We add a port's schedule once we have one pulled from an official or reliable source, rather than estimate one. Check upcoming sailings for the ports we do cover, or see the full ports index.