This was our family's second cruise with the prior being a 5 day Carnival Cruise.
We drove to the day before cruising to enjoy what New Orleans had to offer... some shopping, trip to WW2 Museum, some cajun food and some night life. It would be nice if there were more cruise options out of New Orleans.
We boarded the ship quickly around 12:30 and went right to the Windows dining hall since our rooms were not ready. The food and service was good at this very large ship restaurant.