Background: We're a couple in our late 30's with 3 kids (who stayed home w/ grandma). We travel quite a bit as my husband works in the airline industry, but this was our first cruise.
Hotel: We flew to New Orleans a day early (our online deal included a one night stay at a NOLA hotel). Our hotel - Holiday Inn Superdome - was okay. It was a convenient walk to the French Qtr. during the daytime. However, when we called for the shuttle to pick us up that night, they said no (the hotel claims that the shuttle drops guests off and picks them up within a 2-mile radius, and we were within the 2 miles). We also found a previous guest's underwear in a corner of the room and it was VERY noisy at night.
Embarkation: We arrived at the port around 10:00. We went to the holding area where they serve cookies and water/juice. We went through the very easy check-in process and then waited until about 11:30 to get on the ship. They'd announced while we were waiting that our staterooms wouldn't be ready; however, they were ready as soon as we boarded.
We were in an inside cabin on deck 11 aft. It was in a very convenient location - one floor up was the pool and buffet. The only problem was around 5am when we could hear loungers in the pool area being moved.