Things to do in New Orleans

Savor the beauty and romance of New Orleans on a cruise aboard the Sternwheeler Steamboat Natchez, the only authentic steamboat in New Orleans. Cruise along the Mississippi River, listen to live jazz music, and enjoy an optional lunch of local fare. Your cruise from the heart of the French Quarter and takes you back to a time when life was as slow and graceful as the current on the Mississippi. Set out to see New Orleans from the Mississippi River, one of the world's most active ports. While on board, visit the museum-quality engine room to learn how steam powers this magnificent boat through the "Mighty Mississippi." Add an optional Creole lunch to your cruise, prepared fresh on board and served with your choice of coffee and iced tea. Savor the tastes of New Orleans before docking back where you started the tour. Sample Menu Lunch (subject to season and availability) • Southern fried fish• Red beans and rice• Jambalaya• Salad du jour

Journey back in time aboard the newly renovated Riverboat City of New Orleans. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the New Orleans atmosphere as the smooth jazz of the Dukes Trio fills your ears on this two-hour cruise on the mighty Mississippi, enjoying craft cocktails, and the sites. Depart from the heart of the French Quarter and experience breathtaking views of New Orleans as the city skyline slips away. Seating is available indoors and on the outdoor decks for the very best views of the Mississippi River and New Orleans. Make sure you check out all four decks as the top deck view is a sight to see.  Choose the dinner buffet option for a dinner menu including: Tossed salad, chicken and sausage gumbo, baked chicken with a mushroom ragout, Bayou seafood pasta, herb-garlic fingerling potatoes, pasta primavera, green beans, white chocolate bread pudding, Bananas Foster dessert, and garlic rolls. 

Step back into the glamour and romance of the riverboat era with a cruise on the Paddlewheeler Creole Queen boat. Tuck into a delicious dinner or simply sit back and relax with a cocktail in your hand, marveling at the views and enjoying the live jazz music. On this river cruise, experience the vibrant and lively jazz notes of the amazing Sullivan Dabney Jr. and the Muzik Jazz Band while enjoying a Creole-style dinner (if the option is selected). There will be some time to dance to the music after dinner in the gorgeous dining hall.  After dinner, enjoy a classic New Orleans cocktail on the promenade deck looking out over the Mississippi River as the city slips past. On the way back to dock where you began your tour, pass by Jackson Square and see the city lights under a starry sky.  SAMPLE DINNER MENU: • Cajun Caesar Salad • Chicken & Andouille Sausage Gumbo • Louisiana Creole Jambalaya • Cajun Baked Chicken • Roast Beef Debris • Garlic Mashed Potatoes • Cajun Seafood Pasta • Red Beans & Rice • Corn Mac Choux • Fresh Roasted Vegetables • Paddlewheeler White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce (best in New Orleans!) • French Bread Rolls & Cornbread (Menu items are subject to change by season and availability)

Experience the spooky side of New Orleans on a tour of the city and one of its most haunted cemeteries. Listen to chilling tales from your local guide and learn about the darker parts of the city's history. See how an EMF reader is used in real life. First, grab a cocktail or beer at your meeting location before the tour. Then your tour guide will lead the way with an EMF Reader and explain how to use them to search for paranormal activity. Then, travel to two different locations and explore haunted New Orleans cemeteries at night. Our guides will have EMF readers to help locate any spirits or paranormal phenomena.  Finally, see the videos of documented ghosts and spirits that haunt several locations from your tour. Conclude your tour by following your guide to a burial ground of spirits who met their unfortunate fate in a tragic pandemic event.

Sit back and enjoy the views or a drink at the bar while journeying down the Mississippi river. Learn about New Orleans' complex, but interesting story, focusing on the critical Battle of New Orleans. Join a cruise narrated by a local guide and embark on a journey into the past as you head downriver to the Chalmette Battlefield at the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. As you travel to the battlefield, learn about the settlement of New Orleans, its river, and the historical landmarks that line the banks of the Mississippi River. As you cruise, treat yourself to a traditional lunch on board. (If relevant option selected.) Stop at the battlefield and hear about the legacy of the area on a 1-hour guided tour along the shore with a talk by National Park Rangers. After, return to the starting point where your tour will end. SAMPLE MENU LUNCH: • New Orleans Style Shrimp Pasta • 10” Roast Beef Po-Boy • Creole Jambalaya • Crawfish Bread • Caesar Salad • Red Beans & Rice • Fresh Baked Cookies • Zapps Potato Chips (Menu items are subject to change by season and availability)

Get an introduction to the sites of New Orleans on a 2.5-hour guided bus tour. Benefit from pickup at your hotel in the French Quarter and visit the Garden District, the 9th Ward, and more. Travel through the beautiful French Quarter, and make your way down lively Frenchmen Street, where live music pours from every venue. Arrive at the alternative Marigny district as you make your way towards the 9th Ward. Enter the Musicians' Village and continue to Tremé. Travel down Esplanade Avenue to City Park and Lake Pontchartrain, and then learn about Creole culture at Saint Roch Cemetery #1 and St. Louis Cemetery #3. See the oldest streetcar in the world on St. Charles Avenue as you move on to Tulane and Loyola universities. Enter the Garden District to look at some of the celebrity homes. Continue along Magazine Street to arrive at the Warehouse District and Arts District before getting dropped off at your hotel.

Visit haunted New Orleans — famous for its spooky sightings, as well as its beautiful and elaborately ornate cemeteries. Learn from your guide the stories of ghosts, past and present, which will chill you to the core, as you wander the grounds with EMF readers and dowsing rods. This cemetery tour is offered under the cover of night. You'll leave the French Quarter behind as your bus creeps along Esplanade Avenue to what used to be the edge of town, but is now the bustling neighborhoods of Mid-City and City Park. There are 42 cemeteries in the New Orleans area, and throughout this experience you will visit several of them. Your guides will discuss the unique burial rituals and practices during the stroll, as you are offered an up-close and personal look at some of the most popular cemeteries.

Step back in time as you visit the Whitney Plantation on this bus day trip from New Orleans. Gain a unique perspective on the enslaved people who lived and worked here through museum exhibits, memorial artwork, restored buildings, and hundreds of first-person slave narratives. In 2014, Whitney Plantation opened its doors to the public for the first time in its 262-year history, as the only plantation museum in Louisiana with a focus on slavery.  The early owners of Habitation Haydel, later known as the Whitney Plantation, became wealthy producing indigo before the plantation transitioned to sugar in the early 1800s.  Whitney is also significant because of the number of historic outbuildings which were added to the site over the years, thus providing a unique perspective on the evolution of the Louisiana working plantation. The Big House is one of the finest surviving examples of Spanish Creole architecture and one of the earliest raised Creole cottages in Louisiana.  The Whitney Plantation Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places. As a site of memory and consciousness, this site pays homage to the slaves on the plantation itself and to all of those who lived elsewhere in the United States.

Discover the French Quarter of New Orleans on a traditional mule-drawn carriage ride. Admire sights like Napoleon House, the French Market, and Bourbon Street. Hear about local culture and facinating historical anecdotes from your guide. Learn the basics of New Orleans's history as you travel in style around its vibrant streets. Discover fascinating anecdotes about the people and places that have contributed to making New Orleans truly unique and unforgettable from your licensed local guide. See French Quarter sights like the Saint Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square, Napoleon House, the French Market, and Bourbon Street. Ride through the Faubourg Marigny with its unique architecture and live music venues. Enjoy peace of mind knowing that group carriage tours travel at a leisurely pace. Choose from a private or shared carriage tour depending on which option you book as you enjoy a day out to remember in a horse and cart.

Discover Louisiana on a guided day trip from New Orleans to the historical Oak Alley Plantation, with entry tickets included, and a bayou airboat ride. Benefit from round-trip transportation from your New Orleans hotel. Start your experience with hotel pickup, and relax on the drive to Oak Alley Plantation. Enjoy a guided tour of the plantation home by guides in period dress while you hear and learn about the times of slavery.  Take in the house's Greek Revival architecture, the antique farm equipment exhibits, and walk around the grounds where 28 evenly spaced, huge oak trees grow. Browse the blacksmith shop and souvenir shop, or stop for a snack (at your own expense) in the restaurant. Continue onto Barataria Basin for an airboat tour of the bayou swamplands, where your local captain will guide you through the swamps, marshes, and lakes. Travel at high speeds for an exciting ride, then slow down to spot local wildlife on this exciting airboat experience. Look out for alligators, birds, and other animals. Every airboat tour is unique, so you never know what you’ll see. Even in winter — when alligators hibernate — you’ll have a good chance of spotting these reptiles.  Back on dry land, return to the bus for the drive back to New Orleans, where you’ll finish off your trip with a convenient drop-off back at your hotel.