About Curt Felch Expertise If you want to know where to stay, where to eat, what to do, deals you can find - that kind of stuff, let me know, and I should be able to help.
Experience basically, i've spent a LOT of time in new orleans, both on business and as a tourist. i can honestly say it's my favorite town in the entire world.
i also have a lot of friends in the area, so if i don't know something, i can get the info pretty quick.
Expert: Curt Felch Date: 5/19/2004 Subject: trip to Mardi gras
Question Me and my buddies are planning a trip to finally go to Mardi
Gras after all of these years. However, we are all from CA and
have never been to New Orleans and have no clue as to where to
start looking to stay. We understand that the trip is going to
cost plenty of money. The one thing that we DO want is a hotel
that has a balcony overlooking bourbon street. I'm guessing
these are mostly small privately owned bed and breakfast type
places that are in extreme demand. And not run by big chain
hotels. Were looking to spend 3-4 days there. Where would you
recommend? The last thing we want is to spend thousands
upon thousands of dollars, arrive, and be in a place or room that
does not have us overlooking the crowd....
Answer of all the things i've done and seen there, i've never stayed in a hotel with a room right on Bourbon St. that being said, i'll try to help you out here.
first, here's a few questions:
how many of you are going?
any women or all guys?
what specifically are you looking to do? throw beads, show tits, or just watch? it makes a difference.
there's really only a few hotels that actually face bourbon street. the main ones, in order from Canal St. into the Quarter, include the Crowne Plaza, the Chateau Sonesta, the Royal Sonesta, and the Ramada Plaza. the Royal Sonesta is really ground zero for throwing beads, but all would work really well for that. i'd start with them first, though they might be taken by now.
i don't know specifically of any hotel rooms available with a balcony. what they usually do is rent the rooms out one of two ways:
by the room, in which you can stay there, but have a limit as to how many people you can have up there [they want to limit the number of people on the balcony for safety reasons.]
by the person, in which you just get a wristband to gain access to the balcony, and you share it with others.
i know some people that might be able to help me; i'll ask around.
one option a lot of guys go for is to get a room a block away [i reccommend the Omni Royal Orleans], and then get personal passes, or go in with a larger group to get a room on bourbon. that way you can actually get some sleep when you want to and have some privacy if you need it.
most of these rooms aren't really B+B type "quaint" kind of rooms. they're usually pretty lousy rooms. you're paying for the balcony. if you're a small group, and can snag a room[s] in the Royal Sonesta, that's where you want to be.
on your last comment, while you will spend a lot for a room right on Bourbon, it's not that expensive off Bourbon. my Mardi Gras Strategy is to rent a room [let's say the omni] for roughly $150 a night now, then wait until december 31st. you check to see if there are still rooms available then [there usually are], then cancel it, and after the 1st, the rates go down to about $99/night. all the hotels are different, but in general, they all go down in price after the 1st of the year. you just risk that rooms are no longer available.
one other thing to keep in mind is that if you want to hang in your own balcony, you're gonna need a LOT of throws. the only thing worse than paying a lot for a balcony is standing up here without any throws. and that can be costly as well.
