To see the city of New Orleans from both sides now you’ve got to get out on the mighty Mississippi, preferably on a paddle wheeler. There are at least a couple of ways to do that: via the Creole Queen (our featured image by prayitno) or the Steamboat Natchez.
The former vessel sports outer decks replete with authentically patterned wrought iron trim. The interior is lush: Victorian style draperies, soft period lighting and wooden parquet dance floors upon which to promenade.
Book the Queen for a three-hour Dinner Jazz Cruise. $69 per person gets you a Creole Buffet, the lights of the city and plenty of New Orleans jazz. There’s also a cash bar.
Creole Queen departs the Riverwalk/Canal Street Dock at 7 p.m. and arrives back in port at 10 p.m.
Steamboat Natchez gives you an Evening Jazz Cruise and Dinner for $70. Again, it’s a cash bar. The jazz issues from the instruments of the Grammy-nominated Dukes of Dixieland, and the meals are prepared fresh on board. Dinner is served up buffet style.
Natchez leaves the Toulouse Street Warf behind Jax Brewery at 7 p.m. She nudges up to the warf two hours later, at about 9 p.m.
Either way, you get a taste – a tantalizing hint – of life out on the river from the decks of these two vessels as they parade by the banks of the Big Easy.
Back on land, the city itself awaits you. No town in America comes close to capturing the atmosphere generated by New Orleans and its people. The French Quarter, Jackson Square, the Garden District. All are there for the taking.
