Steamboat jazz cruise: how to pick

What the ticket is

The ticket is a sightseeing cruise on the Mississippi River that lasts about two hours and sails in the evening. A captain narrates the history of New Orleans as the city and the river slide past, a band plays live New Orleans jazz, and there are full-service bars on every deck. Dinner is an optional extra that you add at booking. The activity provider is Gray Line New Orleans, and the cruise sails aboard the Steamboat Natchez or the Riverboat City of New Orleans, two vessels of the New Orleans Steamboat Company. Seating is indoors and outdoors. The ticket lists live captain's narration, photo opportunities and a seasonal cocktail menu among its highlights, and guests on the booking page describe a relaxed evening rather than a rowdy one.

Evening, daytime or brunch

The company runs the same two-hour format at other times of day, and that is the first choice to make. There is a daytime sailing with an optional plated Creole lunch, a calliope concert before boarding and live jazz by the Steamboat Stompers, and there are weekend brunch sailings with their own buffet. The evening ticket names the Dukes of Dixieland instead and offers a dinner buffet. Choose the evening for dinner and the city after the working day, and the daytime sailing for daylight views or when the evenings are full.

• Evening: live jazz by the Dukes of Dixieland and an optional dinner buffet.
• Daytime: live jazz by the Steamboat Stompers and an optional plated lunch.
• Weekend brunch: a separate sailing with its own buffet.

Read next: Congo Square and where jazz began

Sunset and the light

Sunset falls at a different hour through the year, so the sailing you choose decides how much daylight you get. The booking calendar shows the start time of each sailing for your date, and it is worth comparing it with a sunset table for your travel days if the last light on the water matters to you. A sailing that starts in daylight can end in the dark, and the other way round, so the lit riverfront is a bonus rather than a promise. Guests on the booking page praise the skyline views as well as the music, and some who sailed on an earlier evening departure describe catching the sunset, so look at the earliest sailing offered for your date if the sunset is your priority.

Cruise only: what you get

Without dinner you still get the cruise, the live music and the narration. Seating is indoors and in covered areas on the deck, there are open-air decks for the view, and cocktails, beer and wine are bought on board, with a seasonal cocktail menu. The boat is non-smoking inside and out. Cruise only suits a night when you have a restaurant booked ashore, since the two-hour sailing leaves time for it, and it is also the simplest option for a group in which people want different things for dinner. You can add dinner when you pick the date, so the decision does not have to be made in advance.

Adding dinner

The optional dinner is a buffet of Creole dishes prepared on board, with coffee and iced tea included. The menu is subject to change by season and availability. All menu items are prepared in a common kitchen, and the company says it cannot prepare separate individual meals for dietary needs, and it does not recommend the menu for guests with gluten-sensitive disorders. Anyone with a serious allergy should contact the company before booking. The company suggests dressy casual for the dinner jazz cruise, which is a gentle nudge rather than a rule. Choose dinner for the evening rather than for a particular dish, because the ticket says menu items are subject to change.

Read next: The Creole buffet on board

The two boats

The Steamboat Natchez was launched in 1975 and is a steam-powered sternwheeler with a 32-note steam calliope and an engine room guests can explore. The Riverboat City of New Orleans is a sister vessel that began as a casino riverboat before the company remodelled her for New Orleans. She has four decks. The booking page shows the vessel and the meeting point for the date and option you choose, and the company is the one to ask if the boat matters to you, for steam or for step-free access. Neither vessel is better in every way: the Natchez brings the steam and the calliope, while the City of New Orleans brings an elevator to the lower decks.

Read next: Steamboats on the Mississippi

The band

The ticket names the Dukes of Dixieland. The company's timeline records that they became house band for its dinner jazz cruises in 1994. The name goes back to 1948, when brothers Frank and Fred Assunto and their father formed a New Orleans Dixieland revival band, and the line-up has changed many times since. The ticket describes the music as live New Orleans swing-style jazz. Dixieland bands typically put a trumpet or cornet, a trombone and a clarinet in front of a rhythm section, with the front line improvising around one another.

Read next: Dixieland and the Dukes explained

Seats, stairs and access

Access depends on the boat. On the Steamboat Natchez the top and bottom decks are reached by stairs only. On the Riverboat City of New Orleans the lower three decks have elevator access and the rooftop deck is stairs only. The ticket says the vessel is handicap accessible but that the top deck is reached by stairs. If someone in your group relies on a wheelchair or struggles with stairs, call the company before you book, and ask which vessel runs on your date.

• Natchez: the top and bottom decks are stairs only.
• City of New Orleans: elevator to the lower three decks, stairs to the rooftop.

Before you book: five questions

Five short questions decide most evenings, and each takes under a minute with the booking calendar open. Answer them in order and the rest of this guide tells you what each answer means for your evening. If your answers point to a daytime sailing or a walking tour instead, the cards on the home page link to both, and the options are described in the sections above and below.

• Do you want to eat aboard, or have you booked a table ashore?
• Does anyone in your party need a special diet or step-free access?
• Do you want daylight, or the evening with the lit riverfront?
• Is the steam engine room a reason to go, or is any boat fine?
• Is your group ten or more, so that physical tickets are needed?

Who this isn't for

The cruise is a seated sightseeing sailing with music, not a nightclub, and a few kinds of traveller will be happier elsewhere. If any of these describes you, a different evening will suit better, and the walking tour on the home page is one alternative. None of these is a criticism of the cruise. They are the mismatches that guests most often meet at the wharf, and each one is easier to settle at the booking stage than on the dock.

• Guests who need step-free access to every deck on the Natchez, where the top and bottom decks are stairs only.
• Guests who need a certified gluten-free, vegan or kosher dinner, because the kitchen is shared.
• Anyone expecting a dance floor or a late night, since the sailing is about two hours.
• Guests under 21 who want to drink, because alcohol is sold to guests 21 and over.

Booking in practice

Open the booking calendar, choose your date and see the sailing times, then add dinner if you want it. GetYourGuide marks this ticket as one that often sells out, which makes weekend and busy-season sailings worth securing early. Booked through GetYourGuide, the sailing can be cancelled free until 24 hours ahead, and payment can wait until later. Read the meeting point in your confirmation, because it can vary with the option you choose, and arrive at the wharf at least half an hour before the boat leaves. A party of ten or more needs physical tickets to board, collected at the Lighthouse Ticket Office behind Jax Brewery, so allow extra time for the check-in.

• Choose a date and a sailing.
• Add dinner if you want it.
• Keep the confirmation and its meeting point.
• Arrive at least 30 minutes before departure.