PHOTO: Courtesy of Sami99tr / Wikipedia.

The only thing that may rival a land vacation in New Orleans is visiting the destination by cruise ship, and New Orleans has made it easy for cruisers to enjoy the city and its myriad historical attractions.

“One of the wonderful things about New Orleans is how easy it is to visit all of the attractions when you’re cruising,” says Leslie Straughan, sales manager at the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau, adding that the French Quarter is less than a mile from the cruise ship terminal – and parking at the terminal costs just $16 a day. “Cruisers can take the riverfront trolley right outside the cruise terminal and it brings you into the heart of the French Quarter. It’s such easy access to enjoy a day or two in New Orleans before or after a cruise.”

Also, cruisers will find the Riverwalk outlet mall right outside the cruise terminal. “We’re the only metropolitan city with an outlet mall right in the downtown area,” says Straughan.

Approximately 88 percent of cruise passengers who cruise from New Orleans spend at least one or more nights pre- or post-cruise in the city, according to the New Orleans CVB. “The majority of the people who cruise out of New Orleans do come from the regional market, which is great because they can stay a few days in the city and take advantage of great packages that offer them parking opportunities at our hotels,” says Straughan.

New Orleans hotels that offer pre- and post-cruise packages can be found in the travel agent section of the New Orleans CVB website. “They are all commissionable packages and they all give something a little extra,” says Straughan.

The New Orleans CVB also has a cruise coupon program that provides discounts on local attractions. “This is a program only available to the travel professional,” says Straughan. “We have a printed version and an electronic version of a coupon that they can give to their clients with their cruise documents.”

For its part, the CVB wants agents to capture a larger share of business to the city. To help them become experts on the destination, it offers an agent certification program, which can be found at neworleans4agents.com. One of the courses is on cruising. “The course gives them a lot of great information,” says Straughan.

Additionally, the CVB is offering agents fam rates, starting at $79 per night, from Dec. 8 to 28. More information is available at neworleanscvb.com/decfamregister. Straughan says agents can sign up for VIP cards, which offer a variety of complimentary perks, such as free admission to New Orleans attractions and restaurant discounts.

Straughan, whose mission at the CVB is to help agents sell New Orleans, says travel agents should feel free to contact her with any questions they may have on New Orleans. “They can contact me for anything they need. I want to make sure that they know my job here is to help the travel professional be successful in selling New Orleans,” she says. “If they need help with groups, I’m here. I can send out RPs and save them a lot of time.”

PHOTO: New Orleans has made it easy for cruisers to enjoy the city and its myriad historical attractions.

All things considered, New Orleans has much to recommend cruise passengers. For starters, as the Festival Capital of the World, New Orleans features dozens of festivals that celebrate its one-of-a-kind food, music and multicultural heritage all year long.

Although New Orleans is arguably best known for Mardi Gras, what some travelers may not be aware of is that the city features a vibrant array of festivals celebrating the city’s food, culture, music and film. Festivals are not only extremely important to the economy of New Orleans but also to the locals who celebrate the rich culture of the city.

The most popular of the city’s attractions, of course, are found in the French Quarter and include the iconic Saint Louis Cathedral, the oldest Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the U.S., and Jackson Square, which provides a bird’s-eye view of artists and their work. Once known as the Place d’Armes, the square was later renamed to commemorate Andrew Jackson, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans

One way to experience the French Quarter is to take a carriage ride, with boarding at Jackson Square. Travelers ride down Bourbon Street, which is another must-see attraction with its ubiquitous bars and music venues. The ride also takes in the city’s picturesque courtyards with their wrought-iron balconies and historic buildings.

Visitors meandering through the Big Easy’s streets will also find myriad antique shops and European-style boutiques. Travelers can also browse through the French Market, a farmers market and flea market combined, where they’ll also find Café du Monde, known for its café au lait and powdered sugar-covered beignets.

Travelers can also walk to the Mississippi River side of Washington Artillery Park to the Moonwalk to catch sight of paddlewheelers cruising by.

Another way in which to take in the sights and sounds of the city is on the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar. The streetcar will take tourists to the Garden District and its historic mansions. It will also transport travelers to the Audubon Park and Audubon Zoo, featuring more than 2,000 animals.

A visit to City Park is also recommended. Set on more than 1,300 acres, it is home to the New Orleans Museum of Art and the free outdoor Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, the Amusement Park and the Botanical Gardens. The park is appointed with 100-year-old oak trees, walking and jogging paths and a lagoon for canoe and paddlewheel boat rides.

Boasting 1,300 restaurants, travelers to New Orleans will never have to worry about finding the right dining venue. In addition to quantity, there’s quality. New Orleans is routinely recognized with James Beard nominations and was dubbed as one of America’s top five restaurant cities by Bon Appétit magazine. Creole, Cajun and French influences result in such perennial favorite dishes as gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish étouffée and po-boys.

The French Quarter alone offers travelers a robust array of culinary choices. Travelers can have breakfast at Brennan’s on Royal Street or opt for a jazz brunch at Court of Two Sisters.

After-dinner options are equally as plentiful. Travelers can hoist a Pimm’s Cup at the Napoleon House or sample a Hurricane, the famed house drink at Pat O’Brien’s.

For music, visitors should consider sampling the House of Blues, Tipitina’s or the Davenport Lounge at The Ritz Carlton New Orleans.

More nocturnal visitors will find plenty going on well into the night at Irvin Mayfield’s in the Royal Sonesta Hotel. For those travelers who want to visit establishments frequented by locals, Frenchman Street just outside the French Quarter proffers up a robust array of jazz and blues venues.