New Orleans: Jazz Dinner Cruise & Mississippi River with Open Bar

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.76 (901 reviews) 88% rated it 5 stars

Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/17

Duration3h

GroupUp to 20

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Gliding past the French Quarter on a paddle-wheel boat with live jazz and a full Louisiana dinner

You board early for front-row seating to live jazz, take a private tour of the paddle-wheel boat, and settle into a reserved table for a Louisiana dinner buffet with champagne and shrimp cocktail included. The 2-hour cruise glides along the Mississippi River with the option to add an open bar. You leave with a souvenir photo, a CD, and a pin — all included before you step off in the French Quarter.

Step-by-step itinerary

VIP Jazz Dinner Cruise Experience

Arrive by 5:35pm for early boarding
Pose for souvenir photo on board
Receive Champagne cocktail greeting
Take private guided boat tour
Enjoy live Dukes of Dixieland jazz
Eat shrimp cocktail and dinner buffet
Optionally upgrade to open bar
Relax and cruise Mississippi River
Receive commemorative pin and CD

The Experience

You step aboard the Steamboat Natchez by 5:45pm and a uniformed staff member hands you a champagne cocktail before you've even found your footing. The boat's already humming — crew moving, guests settling in, the Mississippi just beyond the railings. Your guide takes you through the vessel first, pointing out the details most people miss: the mechanics of the paddle wheel, the way the boat sits in the water, the view from different decks. It's a private tour, so you can ask questions without feeling rushed, and you get to take photos without someone waiting behind you.

Then you move to your reserved seat in the dining room, and the Dukes of Dixieland — a Grammy-nominated group — start playing. The live jazz on the Mississippi River is the kind of thing that sounds like a cliché until it's actually happening. You're eating shrimp cocktail and then moving through a buffet of Louisiana favorites: chicken and sausage gumbo, creole vegetarian jambalaya, baked chicken, bayou seafood pasta, herb-garlic fingerling potatoes, white chocolate bread pudding, bananas foster. The food is real, not the kind of thing that sits under heat lamps all night. If you upgrade to the open bar option, you can order call brand cocktails, beer, or house wine for the entire 2-hour cruise without thinking about it.

The boat moves for two hours along the Mississippi, and you're watching New Orleans slide past — the French Quarter, the lights, the water. Some people dance a little. Most people just sit and listen and eat. Before you dock back in the French Quarter, you get a commemorative Steamboat Natchez pin and a Dukes of Dixieland CD, plus a print of the boarding photo they took when you arrived. It's the kind of souvenir that actually means something because you were there.

What’s included

Your evening includes early boarding and reserved seating, a complimentary champagne cocktail upon arrival, a private tour of the Steamboat Natchez led by the first mate, front-row access to the live Dukes of Dixieland jazz band, a Louisiana-style dinner buffet with shrimp cocktail, a 2-hour paddle-wheel cruise along the Mississippi River, a souvenir boarding photo, a Dukes of Dixieland CD, and a commemorative Steamboat Natchez pin.
If you choose the open bar upgrade, call brand cocktails, beer, and house wine are included for the duration of the cruise.
Restrooms are available on board, and the dining areas are climate controlled.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleStroller friendlyPublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Gray Line New Orleans

Is this one for you?Book this if you want live jazz and a full dinner without arranging separate reservations at a restaurant — the VIP boarding and reserved seating mean you skip the line and get the best view of the band from the start.