what do you recommend for ghost/haunted tours and riverboat tours in January?

We did the Haunted History Tour during the day. It was nice. We walked around the French Quarter/Market area, and our guide provided us with history of the area. They also have a night vampire tour that takes you to a local cemetary. We weren't able to make that one.

We went on the Creole Queen Riverboat dinner cruise and had a nice time. We thought the food was fine. The Natchez River Boat offers a day cruise. I think it last 2 hours.

Ditto the Haunted History tours, have done them a few times. I especially enjoyed the graveyard tours as well as the haunted French Quarter and Garden District walking tours. The favorite would have to be the FQ, lots of good, spooky, and sometimes very true stories about NOLA's past. Be sure to check the visitor guides as there are usually coupons for discounts.

Did the day Nanchez tour , about 1 hr or so, also very nice.

There are discount coupons to both on the Good Times Guide site.

I'm a big fan of Historic New Orleans Walking Tours--tourneworleans.com Did a lot of research before we went and they were consistantly rated the most historically accurate. We did the cemetery/voodoo one and the haunted one. Really enjoyed them both. We found coupons at the tourist info place on Jackson Square.

I can't speak for the ghost/haunted tours, but I would steer clear of the Natchez steamboat cruise. It is long, and it is dull. We tried to stay outside, but it was so cold on the river we had to go inside. I suspect January would be frigid. Also, there are no stops along the way. And the view? Not romantic or exciting at all - you see the backside of every run down riverfront warehouse in NOLA. I went on this thing as an impulse, and it was the one thing that I truly regretted I did in NOLA.

I think the Creole Queen or the Cajun Queen might be better. They at least stop at the site of the Battle of New Orleans, giving passengers a chance to see some greenery and something other than those horrid warves and warehouses. And if you take the dinner cruise, you won't even know those horrors are there!