First time cruiser here and I'll be honest that I didn't really know what to expect while on the cruise. Our cruise left on 1-9-05 so it was kind a weird time to cruise I thought. It was cold in New Orleans but the weather down south was nice. The whole trip was windy on deck and the last few nights we had rough seas but overall the weather was good.
My wife and I did a little research but we only knew a hand full of people that had ever been on a cruise and then it was a high school thing or something equivalent. I wish I would have been a little more inquisitive before setting sail because we wasted a good bit of time figuring out "how to cruise!" Namely, how the dining worked, excursions, shows, the fact that you could order seconds at dinner, etc. Actually, we are planning our second cruise right now and I just so happened upon this site and I think it's wonderful; anyhow I'll get on with it.
First of all, I live in Louisiana and had been to New Orleans several times, never been impressed and I will say that the absolute worst part of the trip was parking, what a nightmare. I would highly suggest researching where you are going to park and getting very good directions there because the terminal people are generally mad at you because you are going on a cruise and they aren't.