Dixie Tours New Orleans

Covered much of New Orleans, disappointed overall. We saw interesting points around New Orleans, but the problem was that we didn’t get to see much because the van’s windows were too small to see anything other than things close to curbside. Most of the interesting architectural features and the details of the homes were totally lost. Also, because it was a van, it rode like the truck it was. Very rough. It seemed like we were touring every pothole in the city of New Orleans. The van is extremely difficult to enter and exit. We had a couple on our tour who were older, and it was extremely difficult for them to handle. Do yourself a favor, and check out the vehicle for your tour. Ensure that it is a motor-​coach, not a van. Motor coaches have a large windows and they will ride like a coach not a truck. I have to say shame on the Westin’s concierge for recommending this tour.

Okay, I can’t really review the tour… however, I just called here to set up a group tour for 20 people and was immediately asked if I was trying to sell THEM something. After a confused couple of seconds, I said no and that I just wanted some information on setting up a private group tour for 20 people.
I was immediately told I had to do the work to find a mini bus (with attitude, not that I so much minded the task) and just left it at that… if they can’t pretend to be accommodating for out-​of-​town folks, then I’ll just call around and find someone who is.

I was traveling with my 83 year old mom, who had never been to New Orleans before. I knew she would want to see as much as she could during our short stay. I investigated many of the city tours via internet and choose Dixie Tours because of the good reviews and I am so glad I did. Dominick, our driver, was a New Orleans native. He was prompt to pick us up, very knowledgable and able to answer all our questions. I learned so much about New Orleans and was so glad that we extended out visit outside the French Quarter. The van was the perfect way to go, seating only 9 – 10 people, and the cool air conditioning was a HUGE plus on a very hot day. I will definitely use Dixie Tours New Orleans for any site seeing excursions when I return to the Big Easy.

Perfect tour of the city. Our guide Gene was excellent, welcoming, fun, informative and a real native.
The tour is well paced and you get a good understanding of the city/​history.
Groups are small making it a more personable experience.
I recommend taking at the very beginning of your trip as you will get great recommendations for places to visit and eat.
Thank you Gene for a great New Orleans experience, highly recommend it.

Honestly, this isn’t a terrible tour but I think you have so many better options in New Orleans if you do a little extra work. I don’t think it’s worth paying $ 50 to sit in a van with 8 other people. It just feels uncomfortable, not «private». The tour guide was knowledgeable though.
If you do some research, you can get on a city tour that’s on a small bus. Although there are more people, they have larger windows and the tour guides are just as friendly and knowledgeable. And honestly, there aren’t that many more people.

We had the same tour guide that AMA N. had, who thoroughly did NOT enjoy her tour. From a different perspective, I have to say that I appreciated our elderly, more wise New Orleans’ native driver/​guide Mike, who talked A LOT (and yes, he did talk a lot about his family, but I didn’t find it bothersome at all).
This was a last minute reservation for us on Christmas day, as we had to cancel our bike tour for the next day because of the weather. I called their office on Christmas day to see about scheduling a tour, expecting no one to answer, but I got a friendly voice on the other line and he scheduled us for a 2 0’clock tour, with a 1:35 pickup. Booking on the internet, the price was something like 42 – 43 dollars for a comprehensive 3-​hour tour.
Mike called before 1:30, a little early, but he said he was outside and to come out when we were ready. We were, so we left. From the moment we got on the van, he chatted us up and cracked jokes, while we drove around the french quarter, picked up the other two people on the tour, and heard about new orleans history.
From the FQ, we ventured out through downtown to the garden district (he told us that we were getting the tour backwards because people always complained that it was too dark to see the houses by the time they got to the garden district at the end). It didn’t matter to us what direction the tour was going in…
We had a bathroom/​refreshment break after the garden district, then headed out to mid-​city, with a stop at a cemetery to take pictures. Then we began heading by the lake to start learning (and seeing) about the damage of Katrina. The last areas we went to were the upper and lower ninth ward… still looks like a war zone, even over six years later… so sad.
The tour ran a little over three hours. This was a tour that we stumbled on by accident when our plans had changed at the last minute that turned out to be perfect for us.

We had a city tour with John first thing Friday morning. He was early to pick us up and was a complete gentleman the entire time. He was a wealth of information and was very entertaining. He also gave us lots of native suggestions for food and entertainment. Which were all wonderful! My group of 4 friends and I thoroughly enjoyed our tour and would do it again!

Our tour guide began by telling us that some folks have said he is the worst tour guide they have ever had. «You can’t please everyone,» he said. He was indeed the worst tour guide. He rattled on and on about his wife and his autistic son. He made the tour about himself and his life, not about New Orleans. He was reading, in a very stilted voice, from a paper and couldn’t answer basic questions about New Orleans. He did, however, tell us all about Walgreens, his wife who is ‘tough love’, his grandchildren and his autistic 37-​year old son. He also repeated himself so many times that, as a joke, one customer asked him to repeat «how many siblings he had» because the tour guide told us seven times how many siblings he had. At times, I had to interrupt his monologue about himself to ask basic questions about New Orleans, like «what neighborhood are we in now?» He was forgetful, not that knowledgeable and totally stuck to whatever script and schtick he had developed. The worst part is that when we called to complain, the manager essentially told us we should lower our expectations for tours and that this was the best they had to offer. He was in no way apologetic or interested in raising their caliber of service. Now, that says a lot. Skip it, miss it. Do the Haunted History tour instead.

I much prefer small tour groups, which is one of the main reasons I chose to do this tour. Another big plus for this company is that they use a smallish van which can go through the French Quarter, unlike the large buses a lot of the other companies had. I decided to do this tour as the very first thing I did to get a feel for the city and to get an idea of where to visit during my first visit. Our tour guide (Gene) was great! He was funny, knowledgeable, and since the group was so small (just 7 of us), he was easily able to answer questions or provide commentary given our interests. I would highly recommend everyone looking for a tour of New Orleans to take a look at this company!