New Orleans jazz cruise options

What the ticket is

The ticket is a seat on an evening cruise aboard the Paddlewheeler Creole Queen. It covers a cruise on the Mississippi, a live jazz band and, only if you pick that option, a dinner. Alcoholic drinks are sold on board. The ticket gives the length as two hours, while the operator's own page says two and a half, so allow the longer time and read the sailing time in your confirmation. This site is an independent guide, so questions about a refund, a seat or the boat go to the booking page and the operator, not to us. The same listing carries both the cruise-only and the dinner versions, so open the option list in the booking calendar before you pay.

Cruise only or with dinner

Both versions sail the same river with the same band. With dinner you eat a Creole-style meal in the dining hall, and the ticket says there is time to dance to the band afterwards. Without it you board for the music, the view and a drink on the deck. The operator's page adds a useful rule: if dinner is missing from the options for your date, the dinner places for that date are sold out. Dinner therefore fills before the cruise-only places do, so choose the date first and the option second. Compare the two versions for the same date in one calendar before you commit.

What the dinner is like

The operator calls it a Creole buffet, and the ticket calls it a Creole-style dinner. The menu changes with the season and with availability, so this page does not list dishes. Guests on the booking page are split in a way worth knowing: some praise a large hot buffet and lovely food, while others say the quality and variety could be better. Treat the dinner as part of a lively evening on a boat, not as a restaurant booking. Guests also describe friendly, attentive staff, and one says the drinks at the bar were really nice. Creole cooking itself is worth a few minutes of reading before you sail.

Read next: Creole dinner on the river

The band and the dancing

A live jazz band plays through the evening. Guests describe traditional jazz standards played on the top deck, a good band and a friendly crowd. The ticket names a bandleader, but the operator's page names no band, and lineups change, so expect the style and not a particular name. On the dinner option the ticket promises time to dance after the meal in the dining hall. One guest suggests sitting toward the front of the boat for a better view of the river, which is sensible advice on any open deck. The music belongs to a long local tradition, which the history guide traces back to the Streckfus steamers of the 1910s.

Read next: Riverboat jazz: the history

Drinks on board

Alcoholic drinks are available for purchase on board, and the ticket pictures a classic New Orleans cocktail on the promenade deck. Outside food and drink are not allowed. One guest found the bar service limited on the night, so queue early rather than waiting for the band's best number. The operator describes the bar as a cash bar, so it is worth carrying some cash as well as a card. If you skip the dinner, a guest who sailed without the meal suggests eating in the city or at a jazz bar beforehand, which is a fair plan because the ticket does not promise food on the cruise-only option.

Boarding at the Riverwalk dock

Collect your ticket at the booth beside the boat, on the Poydras Street Dock at the Riverwalk. The operator gives its address as 1 Poydras Street. Boarding opens before the boat sails, and your confirmation gives the hour for your date, so this page repeats no clock time that can change. The operator's page shows boarding running for a limited window before the sailing, so aim to arrive early. Arriving early also gives you the pick of the deck. The guide to boarding walks through the dock and what to carry.

Read next: Jazz cruise boarding and dock

Weather and the river

Weather and safety can shift the sailing time or cancel the cruise, and the boat may stay moored when conditions on the river are poor. The operator's page and the ticket both say so. The GetYourGuide ticket includes free cancellation until a day before the cruise and a book-now, pay-later option, which removes some of the risk of booking early. A sensible habit is to check your email and the booking page on the day for any message about the sailing. Read the cancellation terms on your own confirmation before you travel, because they govern what happens on the night.

Children, access and house rules

Under-sixes (aged five and younger) sail free on the ticket, which also carries a wheelchair-accessible mark. Weapons or sharp objects, pets and smoking indoors are not allowed, though assistance dogs are welcome. The operator asks for advance notice of a service animal, about a day ahead, but does not require it. Families should check how the booking calendar counts a child's place and a child's dinner, because the figures are set there and can differ from the free-child rule. If a wheelchair user is in your party, mention it to the operator through the booking page in advance, because the ticket's accessibility mark does not describe each deck.

Other ways to hear jazz that evening

A boat gives you one band, seated, with the river for scenery. A club night gives you several rooms and standing space. Frenchmen Street is the best-known street of live-music venues, and the guided walk on the cards below visits some of them. Preservation Hall is a jazz venue on St Peter Street in the French Quarter. The daytime Creole Queen cruise is a different product: a narrated history cruise to Chalmette Battlefield, with no band. The last guide on this site suggests how to add a club to your cruise evening.

Read next: After the cruise: jazz on foot

Evening cruise or daytime cruise

The same operator runs a daytime cruise on the same paddlewheeler, and it is a different product. It is narrated, takes about two and a half hours, and sails downriver to Chalmette Battlefield, where National Park Rangers lead a one-hour guided tour on shore; lunch is an option. The boat is wheelchair accessible, but the battlefield park is not. There is no band. Choose the evening cruise for the music and the lights, and the daytime cruise for the history of the river and the Battle of New Orleans. Both appear as cards on the home page.

Who this isn't for

Skip it if you want a late night of standing and dancing in clubs, because this is a seated cruise of about two hours that ends back at the dock. Skip it if a named artist is your reason to go, because the lineup is not promised. Skip the dinner option if a fine meal is the point; guests are mixed on the food. And if you dislike the idea of a boat that can be held at the dock for weather, book a club night instead.