Looking for options of places to stay during Mardi Gras (8+ people)
August 12, 2010 8:29 AM Subscribe
Coming down the New Orleans for Mardi Gras and was looking for recommendations on the best option for a group of 6-8+ on where to stay. I've been to Mardi Gras in the past, but always stayed local with friends - while this is clearly an optimal/cheaper option, it's not available to me for the coming Carnival season.
Prior years have been spent uptown near parade routes for the family fun and a nice easy day of throws and floats ... travelling limitedly down towards the Quarter for ... whatever purposes were of group interest later in the evenings.
I'm not opposed to just booking some hotel room down by Canal/St. Charles as it's pretty far out timewise at this point and the rooms are averaging around $200-350 a night and I'm assuming that'll comfortably sleep 4. But what to do with a crew of 8+? More rooms? Rentals?
Any recommended sites/links would be greatly appreciated.
Prior years have been spent uptown near parade routes for the family fun and a nice easy day of throws and floats ... travelling limitedly down towards the Quarter for ... whatever purposes were of group interest later in the evenings.
I'm not opposed to just booking some hotel room down by Canal/St. Charles as it's pretty far out timewise at this point and the rooms are averaging around $200-350 a night and I'm assuming that'll comfortably sleep 4. But what to do with a crew of 8+? More rooms? Rentals?
Any recommended sites/links would be greatly appreciated.
We stayed at the Frenchman hotel for our honeymoon. We liked it for the fact that it was off Bourbon street, VERY economical, and we got free parking. We booked it through bookit.com, and got it for about $59/night (but that was the single guestroom price). Looks like you could get one of the suites or lofts - website says it holds 2-5 guests.
HOWEVER. If you are wanting a posh, nice place with lots of extras, the Frenchman may not be for you. The accommodations were pretty basic, but that's what we were wanting. It allowed us to spend WAY more on eating, drinking, nightlife.
Hope that helps!
posted by elisebeth at 9:02 AM on August 12, 2010
HOWEVER. If you are wanting a posh, nice place with lots of extras, the Frenchman may not be for you. The accommodations were pretty basic, but that's what we were wanting. It allowed us to spend WAY more on eating, drinking, nightlife.
Hope that helps!
posted by elisebeth at 9:02 AM on August 12, 2010
+1 everything honeydew said. If you're going to do the hotel thing, book immediately. Don't forget to check B&Bs and guesthouses, which are not necessarily more expensive than hotels. Carnival prices for lodging are going to be at least 50% higher than normal, if not more.
bedandbreakfst.com lists lots of places in New Orleans.
I see you live in DC - maybe you could even look into a house trade, although to be frank I probably wouldn't offer my house to a group of 6-8 during Mardi Gras if I didn't personally know them. And do post your request on New Orleans Craigslist. It's very common for people to go away and rent their places, as honeydew mentioned. Maybe you could separate into two smaller groups and find places nearby.
Don't discount the idea of staying in Metairie. Although somewhat of a pain if you wait until thirty minutes before parade time, you can certainly drive in in the mornings, park, do your thing all day, and take a cab back to your car later. Cabs are pretty readily available outside the parade route during most of Carnival, less so the closer you get to Fat Tuesday, less so late at night, and you'll definitely wait a long time on the day itself. Also, crunch the numbers and see if staying in the suburbs plus the price of taking a cab in AND out daily would still be cheaper than staying in town. Or, enough cheaper to make it worth the hassle, anyway. It would be easier than driving and parking.
Also keep in mind that with 6-8 of you, you're not going to be moving about in one large group the whole time, so it would probably be much handier to have a centrally located sleep/downtime spot than running back and forth to Metairie every day.
Most importantly, have a great time! Feel free to memail me if you have any other specific questions about locations or whatever. And maybe we can have a Carnival Time meetup on the parade route!
posted by CheeseLouise at 9:45 AM on August 12, 2010
bedandbreakfst.com lists lots of places in New Orleans.
I see you live in DC - maybe you could even look into a house trade, although to be frank I probably wouldn't offer my house to a group of 6-8 during Mardi Gras if I didn't personally know them. And do post your request on New Orleans Craigslist. It's very common for people to go away and rent their places, as honeydew mentioned. Maybe you could separate into two smaller groups and find places nearby.
Don't discount the idea of staying in Metairie. Although somewhat of a pain if you wait until thirty minutes before parade time, you can certainly drive in in the mornings, park, do your thing all day, and take a cab back to your car later. Cabs are pretty readily available outside the parade route during most of Carnival, less so the closer you get to Fat Tuesday, less so late at night, and you'll definitely wait a long time on the day itself. Also, crunch the numbers and see if staying in the suburbs plus the price of taking a cab in AND out daily would still be cheaper than staying in town. Or, enough cheaper to make it worth the hassle, anyway. It would be easier than driving and parking.
Also keep in mind that with 6-8 of you, you're not going to be moving about in one large group the whole time, so it would probably be much handier to have a centrally located sleep/downtime spot than running back and forth to Metairie every day.
Most importantly, have a great time! Feel free to memail me if you have any other specific questions about locations or whatever. And maybe we can have a Carnival Time meetup on the parade route!
posted by CheeseLouise at 9:45 AM on August 12, 2010
Just for shits and giggles I did a quick search on VRBO and found this which seems to be unboooked as of yet.
http://www.vrbo.com/203015
Might be tight but these kinds of things are sometimes a nice option.
posted by bitdamaged at 10:05 AM on August 12, 2010
http://www.vrbo.com/203015
Might be tight but these kinds of things are sometimes a nice option.
posted by bitdamaged at 10:05 AM on August 12, 2010
Have you checked the Royal Sonesta on Bourbon? We were just there in February.
posted by jerseygirl at 11:29 AM on August 12, 2010
posted by jerseygirl at 11:29 AM on August 12, 2010
Response by poster: So far I've been browsing:
* www.vrbo.com
* www.homeaway.com
Craigslist postings are a little spotty since most of the ads are still posting for the summer rentals or early fall? but I'm looking under the vacation rentals section: http://neworleans.craigslist.org/vac/
Hotels are still showing a fair amount of vacancies for me. It's true that splitting up into smaller groups would be doable too and agreed, we probably won't be rolling around with a dozen people the whole time we're there.
FYI - the plan is to roll in some time during the week before Mardi Gras and then taking in the weekend through Tuesday/Wednesday or so.
RE: Staying further out towards Metairie, most of the parades that the group was interested in seeing again were around uptown/garden district/cbd/quarter areas so I think those were the areas they wanted to be in.
posted by a11an at 11:48 AM on August 12, 2010
* www.vrbo.com
* www.homeaway.com
Craigslist postings are a little spotty since most of the ads are still posting for the summer rentals or early fall? but I'm looking under the vacation rentals section: http://neworleans.craigslist.org/vac/
Hotels are still showing a fair amount of vacancies for me. It's true that splitting up into smaller groups would be doable too and agreed, we probably won't be rolling around with a dozen people the whole time we're there.
FYI - the plan is to roll in some time during the week before Mardi Gras and then taking in the weekend through Tuesday/Wednesday or so.
RE: Staying further out towards Metairie, most of the parades that the group was interested in seeing again were around uptown/garden district/cbd/quarter areas so I think those were the areas they wanted to be in.
posted by a11an at 11:48 AM on August 12, 2010
I should have been more clear - I meant that maybe you could post a "housing wanted" description for what you're looking for on New Orleans Craigslist, rather than surfing for current availabilities. But yes, closer to time there will be many more Carnival availabilities.
And I was not suggesting that you catch the Metairie parades, but that you drive or otherwise transport yourself in to town from Metairie every day if you find cheap enough lodging out there to make it worth it. I would never suggest coming for Mardi Gras and staying in Metairie the whole time...
posted by CheeseLouise at 12:16 PM on August 12, 2010
And I was not suggesting that you catch the Metairie parades, but that you drive or otherwise transport yourself in to town from Metairie every day if you find cheap enough lodging out there to make it worth it. I would never suggest coming for Mardi Gras and staying in Metairie the whole time...
posted by CheeseLouise at 12:16 PM on August 12, 2010
Keep your eyes open on VRBO or Craigslist for properties in Algiers Point. It's just across the river from the French Quarter (a free ferry ride) and the Canal Street parades, and the streetcar is just a few blocks away.
I know we used to have some bed and breakfasts in the neighborhood, this is the only one I can find a website for, though.
posted by pyjammy at 12:52 PM on August 12, 2010
I know we used to have some bed and breakfasts in the neighborhood, this is the only one I can find a website for, though.
posted by pyjammy at 12:52 PM on August 12, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
That said, there are parades all over: Metairie, Gretna, even the other side of the lake. Hotels will be cheaper, and it's possible (if not quite pleasant) to drive in from the suburbs. You're going to have to walk a lot no matter what.
My neighbors rent out their apartment every Mardi Gras and go stay with family in Mississippi. A lot of people do this, and you can find them on Craigslist. It might be the best option this close to the season and with so many people. Be warned that those apartments probably won't have reliable parking, at least not in the quarter/marigny.
Don't take my comment as discouragement! We welcome the masses! Please eat the seafood!
posted by honeydew at 8:54 AM on August 12, 2010