New Orleans Cruise Port Rental Car Guide

No company returns cars at either cruise terminal that we could find, and the Port of New Orleans’ cruise pages talk about parking, directions and terminals without a mention of rentals.

That makes the Hilton Riverside counter, at the foot of Poydras Street, the closest you’ll get. You reach it through the Outlet Collection at Riverwalk, and its own listing ties it to the ships — Budget writes “services Cruise Ship Port” beside the address, and Avis calls it “New Orleans Hilton Cruise Ship.”

It still isn’t a shuttle desk — nobody there says it will drive you. From the lobby it’s a short cab, and the city sets that fare at $14 for a single rider, $8 per rider once there are two or more, or the meter if it reads higher.

Other downtown options start with a second Avis and Budget counter at 1317 Canal St (8 to 6 on weekdays, 8 to 2 Saturday, 8 to 1 Sunday). Sixt works out of the Hyatt Regency at 601 Loyola Ave (9 to 5 weekdays, 9 to 1 weekends), and Enterprise has a branch at 1019 Baronne St as well as Canal. National and Alamo rent only at the airport.

Avis and Budget will collect you downtown with 24 hours’ notice, and both Enterprise branches list “Pick-Up Service Available” — that’s for starting a rental, not for a ride to the ship.

The port publishes no rule about leaving a rental in its garage while you sail — that part is between you and the rental company.

Unless you drive off the ship and straight onto the road, give the car back before boarding and rent again after.

A week of parked rental plus the garage runs past $500 at our assumed rate — before the car has moved an inch.

Tall vehicles, check the clearance first. Erato Street’s garage allows 7 feet 6 inches (8 feet 4 inches in one limited area), but the 100 Poydras garage that serves Julia Street stops at 6 feet 6 inches — low enough that a tall SUV or a van wearing a roof box may not fit.

Run Sunday at 11, then 1:30. The Hilton Riverside desk locks up at 1 on Sunday and 2 on Saturday, and Hertz on Convention Center Boulevard is dark all Sunday, so a weekend sailing wants a morning drop.

There is a key drop at the Hilton — just not one we’d lean on before a cruise. Budget’s page says the car and any charges remain yours “until the contract can be closed on the following business day,” which before a cruise means the next morning the counter opens — with you already at sea.

We’d rather hand the keys to a person, not a slot.

At an identical base rate, MSY costs about $16 a day more in charges and tax — every day of the rental, not just the first.

If you’re sleeping downtown before the ship, the $36 flat cab in from the airport and a one-day rental from the Hilton Riverside or Canal Street comes out ahead of an airport pickup at our assumed rates, as long as the downtown rate holds.

It may not — the downtown desks keep shorter hours, and their daily rate can come in higher, so price both for your dates before you choose.

The shuttles come every 5 minutes, but the ride is part of the trip, so budget half an hour or more from the bag belt to the driver’s seat.

The Crescent City Connection, the bridge over the river downtown, stopped charging in March 2013. MSY, River Road, the swamp tours, the Mississippi coast — you won’t meet a toll on any of those drives.

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway charges southbound only, toward the city: $6 cash or card (a card adds 3%), or $3.40 with a toll tag. Northbound is free.

A transponder from home is no use here. Louisiana’s state toll bridges don’t read out-of-state tags, and Louisiana is missing from the coverage lists for both Avis e-Toll and Enterprise’s TollPass.

Paying at the Causeway booth sidesteps the question — cash or card, not a tag.

Heading for Grand Isle, the LA 1 bridge at Leeville costs $4.50 southbound with a GeauxPass and 90 cents more without one. It’s all-electronic, with no cash lane, so ask at the counter how a plate-billed toll gets charged to you.

On the new Belle Chasse bridge, tolls have been suspended since October 2025.

With our assumed $50 day, the car comes to about $75 for a trip the city’s cab covers for $36 — and the car still strands you at a counter, one more cab from the terminal.

For the transfer, the taxi wins. Rent for River Road or the road trip afterwards, not for the ride in from the airport.

Discover Cars’ New Orleans listings include the Hilton Riverside and Canal Street counters alongside MSY, so you can price an airport pickup with a downtown return in one search.

What it can’t show is whether that counter will be staffed at your hour — check the weekend times above against your boarding window before you pay.

Louisiana’s statute (R.S. 32:295) lays it out stage by stage: under 2, rear-facing; from 2, a harness seat until it’s outgrown; from 4, a booster; then the adult belt at 9, or sooner if the booster no longer fits.

Under 13, the back seat, wherever the car has one.

American, Delta, Southwest and JetBlue each check a car seat free, their pages say — cheaper than renting one at the counter, and it’s a seat your child already fits.

For sizing the car, Enterprise’s US capacities: five seats and three bags in a midsize, five and five in a standard SUV.

The full-size SUV seats 7 with just 3 bags listed, while a 7-passenger minivan takes 7 and 5 — check the class on your quote, not the photo.