What happened to the NOLA cruises?

[lilouisianagal]

I was so excited to see some cruises out of New Orleans over Mardi Gras (February 22-29) on the advanced booking page (https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/featured/2020-advance-booking/). One was listed as a 6 night leaving the 21st or a 4night leaving the 27th. Now I’m on the actual book a cruise page and I don’t see either. Did the both fill up completely the day it opened to the public by 9am?

ETA I can see the 6 night cruise if I take my two small children off the booking.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

Sounds like it's a matter of room availability for your party size then. I see a bunch for a party of 2.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I was so excited to see some cruises out of New Orleans over Mardi Gras (February 22-29) on the advanced booking page (https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/featured/2020-advance-booking/). One was listed as a 6 night leaving the 21st or a 4night leaving the 27th. Now I’m on the actual book a cruise page and I don’t see either. Did the both fill up completely the day it opened to the public by 9am?

ETA I can see the 6 night cruise if I take my two small children off the booking.

That would be your clue. It appears the available club space for kids is full for those cruises. So, when you do a search with kids on the reservation, they won't show.

 

[lanejudy]

Looks like the new embarkation port was popular.

The 7-night Bahamas cruise (2/7) is GTY for all inside and oceanview categories, and most verandahs; no concierge rooms left.
The 7-night Caribbean (2/14) appears to have availability in all categories, including concierge, with no GTY yet.
The 6-night Caribbean (2/21) is GTY for all inside and oceanview categories, and most verandahs; no concierge rooms left.
The 4-night Caribbean (2/27) has GTY oceanview and verandah, sold out inside and concierge. (and as I was checking, this cruise popped in and then out again)
And the WBPC on 3/6 has a GTY inside but regular room-selection available for oceanview, verandah and concierge. I didn't look at how many rooms, though.

**disclaimer, I realized I had a party of 3 (2 adults 1 teen) in my search.

So, OP, it must be the kids club(s) are full for the ages of your kids. Keep watching, some may be on "hold" and fall back into inventory.

 

[mickey0930]

I was able to book yesterday as a silver member and the selection was limited at that time as well. I expect rooms to be released here and there in the next few days as people will not pay the required deposit by the deadlines. Wishing all of you the best of luck getting on the cruise you desire.

 

[lilouisianagal]

So does this increase the chances of having them cruise out of NOLA for summer 2020? Dealing with school schedule, but I loved not having to drive or fly.

 

[Time4disney]

When I booked the 2/21/20 cruise on Monday as platinum, category 7 was already completely booked. I'm thinking these cruises are selling out rather quickly. Look at how much the prices have already risen for the cruises leaving out of NOLA. I've been telling the captains on the Disney ships for the past few years that they REALLY need to sail out of New Orleans.

 

[ScooterScott44]

So does this increase the chances of having them cruise out of NOLA for summer 2020? Dealing with school schedule, but I loved not having to drive or fly.

Given that the Wonder will leave NOLA for WBPC, that ship will be in the Pacific and some of that schedule is out. It likely will be doing the usual routine until the EBPC in the fall or early winter. It doesn’t seem likely that DCL will pull the Dream or Fantasy from their typical routes to NOLA in the summer. That leaves the Magic and best guess is it will probably be off to Europe again. DCL can always change but until the new ships are sailing it doesn’t seem likely for summer.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Many have been waiting for NOLA cruises which probably is why there is a sell-out now. Give it a year or two and there probably will be more availability, although I do not know if prices will decrease... We had planned to cruise from NO but were not able to reserve our desired cruise/stateroom. Oh well, another year maybe...

 

[mickey0930]

Anyone thinks maybe this is a test run for possibly when one of the new ships come out?

 

[Keels]

Anyone thinks maybe this is a test run for possibly when one of the new ships come out?

Doubtful. Because of the port and the river, it will always have to be a smaller ship. But it could see and expanded schedule when the new ships come out and they need to relocate the Classics.

The biggest ship to sail out of NOLA will be the Norwegian Breakaway in 2019.

 

[Quellman]

So does this increase the chances of having them cruise out of NOLA for summer 2020? Dealing with school schedule, but I loved not having to drive or fly.

Not for summer, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more sailings from New Orleans in the fall of 2020 and even into 2021. I would suspect that the port requires some sort of agreement for number of passengers and dates in order to ensure available berths. The recent Miami expansion indicated that Disney was on the hook for something like 3500 passengers per cruise, which means that the Dream or Fantasy has to reposition there since the classic ships don't cary that many folks.