Help with New Orleans Trip
 

A group of four families, with children ranging in age from 12 to 17, have planned a trip along the Missisippi Delta during our February vacation. We end up in New Orleans the week-end before Mardi-Gras. We didn't realize this when the trip was planned and we are all getting a bit concerned about what to expect. We are staying at the Clarion downtown. What will the atmosphere in the city be like? Are there any areas we should avoid for safety reasons? Any suggestions for daytime or nightime activities?

We are from NYC area so we can deal with crowds and obnoxious behavior!!

The good thing is you'll get to enjoy some parades prior to the big Mardi Gras party itself. I will actually be there the weekend prior & can not think of a better time. The drunken revelers won't be in until the next weekend. As far as the kids go, you may want to steer clear of Bourbon St. at night. There is a great aquarium & Imax on the river & the zoo is pretty good too. Take a ride on the trolley. As long as you stay in the Quarter it is safe + the police will be more visible as well. Not sure what you are specifically looking for but if you are from NYC you will have little problem adapting. Acme Oyster house is good food & entertaining as well. Of course you can't beat the food & music.

If you stay in the Quarter, you will miss the Garden District. And Magazine Street with its interesting antique stores. As well as some great restaurants. And there is nothing dangerous about the Garden District (which is where you'll end up when you take the boat ride to the zoo). So be sure to include it on your list as its a really beautiful place of gardens and opulence -- I think there are tours of artist and writers houses that take you into the Garden District (where Anne Rice for instance lives).

While in the Quarter, don't neglect Cafe du Monde. The kids will love the pastries, and it's a good place to sit and watch the people. There are always interesting street performers in the square across the street -- musicians and mimes. You can have your palm read (I don't know why but kids would probably like it). The French Market just down the street will keep you busy for awhile shopping all the kitschy stuff. Be sure to work your way to the back street area where artists often sell.

There's a voodoo museum. And walking tours of those above-ground cemeteries (are those crypts?).

The parades that go on before THE BIG ONE are smaller, more intimate. They are all over the city.

We had a reunion there -- we went to NOLA restaurant in shifts because there were too many of us for a reservation. So you might want to pick a restaurant and book it early.

I did a trip report recently on a similar trip in reverse, although with no Mardi Gras complications in NO - here's the link: http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34460759

When you return home, please post a trip report. I had not been to NO in ten years and was frankly shocked at the graphic t-shirts hung prominently in French Quarter shop windows. Of course, I have not been to NYC in a few years also so maybe it is status quo for large cities?

wsoxrebel: There will be offensive shirts. And its not limited to big cities anymore. We crossed the border at Brownsville TX and went to Progresso where there were shirts with offensive sayings AND pictures. I had to keep distracting my 6 year old cousin who is beginning to read!

Unfortunately, we are witnessing the demise of civilization. You do not want to take your children to Tampa's January Gasparilla parade either, especially the Night Parade in Ybor City, or the Invasion Boat Parade from the Tampa Yacht Club. We only wish they would wear the tee-shirts instead of nothing.

On the other hand, I took my 6-year-old to Miami for a wedding about ten years ago. The Europeans were starting to go topless there, as they do at home. We stayed at a hotel in Coral Gables. When we went to the pool, my son did not even notice the topless woman swimming and sunning. Maybe we are making a big deal out of nothing.

I am considered to be one of the more liberal moms in our crowd and I can only imagine my kids telling in great detail everything they saw to our more conservative friends' kids. We were spared this potential embarassment because our kids were not with us on the trip.

We take the kids ages 11-17 almost everywhere with us, even to Las Vegas, and I think they benefit from seeing other places and other people. I am very interested in the reaction to New Orleans of more cosmopolitan families not residing in the bible belt.

Other than Bourbon Street at night, the rest of the FQ should be fine for the kids. The problem with Bourbon St is that there are several strip clubs with women in lingerie in the doorways trying to get people to come in and some interesting things going on in some of the clubs. Plus the general drunken people stumbling around. You might be faced with some questions from the kids you aren't prepared to answer - LOL. The offensive t-shirts are around, being from NYC your kids probably know enough to chuckle or roll their eyes, but not be shocked or anything.

There is a bad neighborhood which borders the FQ - just on the other side of Rampart - but there isn't really any reason you would go there anyway. Just use general common sense.

The Garden District is great. The streets can be deserted at night though, so again, use general common sense.

I don't want to be one to throw cold water on someones plans, but I don't think all the previous posters clearly read Redwood27's post. Redwood says they will be in N.O. the weekend before Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is Feb. 24, that would make the weekend before Mardi Gras Feb. 20-22. Contrary to everyone else's post that will be the biggest party weekend all year long in N.O. On Feb. 20 Hermes and Krewe d'Etat will be rolling down St. Charles to Canal. On Feb. 21, you will have Iris, Tucks and the granddadday of all parades Endymion. And on Feb. 22, you will have Okeanos, Thoth, Mid City and Baachus. There will be tens of thousands lining the parade routes, and in the CBD and Canal Street area, many of them drunk off their asses. The French Quarter will be wall to wall. Bourbon Street will be impassable. I have literally seen people lifted off their feet and carried by the crowd surging down Bourbon because it is so packed. That weekend the Quarter will also be closed to steet parking, even for residents. With all the parades rolling down St. Charles, the streetcar is practically useless. In fact it won't run while all the parades are rolling. The Magazine bus runs but I wouldn't want to rely on it during that time. Taxi's are available but with the traffic and road closures its best to hoof it everywhere. Even if you have a car, good luck finding a parking space in the Garden District. With tens of thousands of bead hungry parade goers parking everywhere you can spend hours trying to find a spot. And remember, the ubiquitous Parking Nazi's will be in force ticketing anything not moving, especially if it has out of town plates. Also, I don't think I would take a 12 to 15 year old into the Quarter, or to see the parades, at least once they get into downtown and on to Canal Street. Even though the kids would love it, it is not what you would call family entertainment. Just remember that the N.O. police do not arrest for showing tits and there will be a veritable sea of boobs. It's amazing what people will do for a sting of cheap plastic. They will however arrest you in a New York second if you drop your drawers or pee in a doorway (which people do with amazing regularity, i.e. due to lack of bathrooms, acutally no bathrooms). The Mardi Gras spectacle is a sight to behold and I can't wait for the parades to start, but don't want the uninitiated out of towners to come into town thinking it is just a block party before the main event. FYI, they have already started building the grandstands on Lee Circle and down St. Charles. Tis the season to "throw me something mister".

Oops.

You might want to ask Clarion what they think as I'm sure they deal with this every year. I notice that they have many hotels in the Clarion chain in New Orleans. Maybe they would agree to give you a room elsewhere in the city if it doesn't sound like you'll like staying there.

Even more reason to check out the Garden District!

What do you think Cajunboy? Do you think they can get away from the raunch if they head away from the Quarter?

Redwood, how long will you be in New Orleans?

CajunBoy hit it our dates on the nose. We arrive on Friday the 20th and depart Sunday morning the 22nd. The atmosphere he describes confirms what someone is our group had been told by a friend who went to college in NO. I posted the message to get a reality check from knowledgeable people!

Should our group leave the city and take a plantation tour, a swamp tour (weather conditions?)? Any suggestions? Any parts of the city that would be less raunchy?

Tandoori Girl..I will take your suggestion and talk to someone at the Clarion for ideas. We won't have cars..we have rented a bus to take us on our trip from Memphis to New Orleans along the Delta.

Our group is thinking about a final dinner on Saturday the 21st at Commader's Palace. Any feedback on that idea?

THANKS!!!!

Redwood27, Commanders Palace is our favorite New Orleans restaurant so I think you are in for a treat. I suggest you call them ASAP to make reservations or you probably won't get in that weekend as it is the favorite of lots of other people, too.

Cajunboy, is the parade in Metaire still family friendly? Would you recommend they visit that one?

I just found this website for all the Mardi Gras parades:
http://neworleanswebsites.com/cat/tr/mg/kr/kr.html

The Metairie parade is billed as family friendly, something I remember from Southern Living magazine. Metairie is a New Orleans suburb.

I don't live in NOLA anymore, and I will agree that the crowds have gotten much more into flashing in recent years, but I grew up there, and I will tell you that for locals, taking children out to the main parades is normal, and quite the family event. (There is a REASON for the invention of the parade ladder!) However, for the big parades, it is understood that if you don't want children to be dealing with great numbers of raucous drunken tourists, you view the parades in the Garden District, or at very least, in the outer reaches of the CBD. (My personal favorite spot for Endymion is opposite the JCC on St. Charles.)

The local way goes like this: Mom bakes large numbers of cowboy cookies, you load up the red wagons with Popeye's chicken, and you try to make sure the kids don't drink too much so that you don't have to deal with a Jonny-on-the-Spot any more often than you can help it. Then you find a good spot on the neutral ground for a picnic while you wait for the parade to roll.

The "children" mentioned by the OP are the same age as most of the kids who are marching in the parades. I started marching at age 9, and did it straight on through college; every year, every major parade. As long as you stay off Bourbon, they should be able to deal with anything they see. (Do note that pickpockets are out in force in the Quarter during carnival weekends; be especially careful of how you carry your money in those crowds.) If you pick just one parade to experience, do Endymion. A good spot that is usually not too bad without going all the way to the GD is on the far side of Poydras in the CBD, near the Boggs federal bldg.

If you want to get out of town during any of those days, time it carefully. Send for a Arthur Hardy Mardi Gras Guide and note the parade times and the street closures; you might not be able to get your bus out from the Clarion if a parade is rolling when you want to leave. (Only emergency vehicles are allowed to cross the routes after the barriers go up.)

The Clarion is on Canal near Rampart so you'll be "hemmed in" by parades most of the weekend. In fact, sometimes it's a challenge just to cross Canal!

I'd recommend another hotel if at all possible.

A warning per Dan's suggestion: if you want to change hotels, don't cancel your reservation at the Clarion until you are SURE that you have something else nailed down first. Most hotels in the FQ/CBD area have 5 night minimums from Friday thru Tuesday that week, so if you plan to leave Sunday you could have a lot of trouble getting something for just 2 nights. Add to that that most properties are already booked for that weekend, and your only choice may be to stay put. However, if you are touring the Delta, I'm guessing that you will want to be able to explore the musical heritage of the city, and that will be easier to do if you are someplace where you can get a cab if you need to.

Since you will not have vehicles, my recommendation for the best area would be the hotels near the convention center. It's a long walk from there to the attractions in and near the Quarter, but it *can* be walked, which is not the case if you choose to stay out in the burbs. (As you might guess, walking is really the best way to go anywhere in the FQ/CBD area that weekend; wheels become a liability.) The convention center area also gives access to I-10 without crossing the parade routes, so vehicles can get in and out of the area without extreme difficulty (there will be heavy traffic, of course, but nothing like the gridlock that will exist 24/7 on Canal.)

Ryn's suggestions are very good. I agree 100%. I am unsure what your cancellation policy is at the Clarion, too, so they may not even let you cancel.

Do keep in mind that Mardi Gras is not the huge event it was just a few years ago for local hotels. There are 10,000+ more rooms in the New Orleans market and last year's Mardi Gras filled only 85% of the rooms.