As we prepare for our journey down to New Orleans (and for many of us in New England, not a day too soon), one of the things on our preparation checklist is transportation between the airport and the pier (or hotel, for those who are arriving a day or more early) .
If you’re arriving on the day of the sailing, January 20th, and your flight is arriving later than 11am, we strongly recommend signing up for Carnival’s Airport to Pier transfers using your Carnival.com account. By using Carnival’s transfer service, you guarantee that in the event of ground traffic, delayed airplane arrival, or other delay, Carnival will know you are en route and will be looking for you upon your arrival. If you would like to sign up for these transfers, the final date to do so is January 19, 2018. After this date, you will no longer be able to access the sailing and/or add services using your Carnival.com account. Please note, these transfers only operate nonstop between the airport and the pier (and vice versa).
If you are arriving prior to the sail date and staying in a hotel in New Orleans, there is the possibility that you may be able to take advantage of a courtesy shuttle service to the pier on the day of sailing, if one is offered by your hotel. You can check on the availability, any cost to you, and reserve space by contacting your hotel concierge in advance of your arrival.
If you wish to make your own transportation arrangements, via Taxi, from the airport to the pier, or from the airport to a downtown hotel, the average cost from the airport to the pier or downtown hotel is $36 for up to two people, and $15 per person for three or more people. However, we have taken the liberty of negotiating a special rate for you with Elks Elite Transportation*, a local Taxi service in New Orleans. You can make these arrangements and qualify for this special rate by contacting the service directly: Call (504) 333-3307 and say you need transportation from the airport to the cruise ship terminal (or your downtown hotel), and tell them you’re part of the “Slovak Zion Synod Group”. The rate you should be receiving for transportation to the pier/downtown hotel from the airport will be $28.00 for up to two people, and $13.00 per person for three or more people. This is a savings of over 22% from the taxi average. You may also contact them ahead of time to reserve transportation from the pier to the airport when we return. Be prepared to give them your flight number and arrival information, so they can be waiting for you at the airport when you arrive.
Even if you’re planning on using Carnival’s transfer system to get to the pier on the day of arrival in New Orleans, you may wish to keep this information available when scheduling your transportation back to the airport on the day of return, January 25th. If your flight back home is departing New Orleans earlier than 12 noon on the 25th, we’d still recommend signing up for Carnival’s transfer service to guarantee your arrival back to the airport in a timely manner. However, if time and schedule permits, the taxi service will come out cheaper, especially if you are traveling with one or more additional people.
If you have any questions regarding ground transportation in New Orleans, please contact the Synod Office or Assembly Registrars.
See you soon!
*Cab numbers you’ll see for pickup are #0424, #0935, #1101, and #1590
P.S. If you’re a frequent cruiser, or a frequent participant of our Synod Assemblies at sea, you may be interested in these reusable luggage tag holders, available from Amazon.
