Springtime on the Mississippi and the Gulf Coast

Fly to New Orleans to embark the Yorktown. Overnight aboard the ship.

Discover New Orleans, described by some as the “most unique” city in America, with a walking tour of the French Quarter, or Vieux Carré, the 80-block area that is the geographical and spiritual heart of the city.

Sailing the spacious Mobile Bay, Yorktown will dock in the graceful city of Mobile. Tour Mobile’s historic landmarks and sites, which include Fort Condé, originally built in 1711, the Condé-Charlotte Museum, the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion, one of the city’s finest antebellum homes, and the Bellingrath Gardens and Home, beautifully set along the Fowl River.

Pensacola is a beautiful Deep South city with a rich historic past. Visit the 19th century buildings of Historic Pensacola Village and the Naval Aviation Museum, one of the largest in the world with over 150 restored aircraft including an A1 Triad (1911), the U.S. Navy’s first aircraft. Alternatively, travel to Fort Barrancas, with fortifications dating to 1797 and trails overlooking Pensacola Bay.

Considered the jewel of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, Horn Island is a 13-mile-long isle with lagoons that attract over 280 bird species as well as pine and palmetto forests. Ship Island is the most historic of these barrier islands.

The only plantation that retains its original slave cabins, the Laura Plantation was the location where Alcée Fortier recorded the tales of Br’er Rabbit in the 1870s. Explore the homes of the owners and the slaves, as well as the lovely grounds. Continue to Oak Alley Plantation, with its breathtaking onequarter-mile canopy of live oaks that lead from the Mississippi to the entrance of the elaborate Greek Revival mansion.

From the capital city of Baton Rouge, visit at tranquil St. Francisville, set on a hill overlooking the Mississippi River. Founded by Spanish Capuchin monks, the town retains more than one hundred of its 18th- and 19th-century houses and buildings, including grand and small plantations. Visit some of these sites while exploring this quaint town then return to Baton Rouge for a tour of the Old State Capitol Museum.

Natchez, the oldest city on the Mississippi River, is set on a high bluff overlooking the river. Originally occupied by the Natchez Indians, it was settled by the French in the early 1700s, and later the British and Spanish. Initially, tobacco and indigo were the crops of choice, but the advent of the cotton gin in 1795, along with slavery and its busy slave market, made Natchez one of the wealthiest towns in the United States prior to the Civil War. Today, Natchez boasts numerous Antebellum structures, with more than 1,000 buildings on the National Register. Visit some of its magnificent buildings and explore its fascinating history.

As Yorktown continues along the Mississippi, explore historic Vicksburg. Its position on a bend in the Mississippi River made Vicksburg a bustling trade port and a prime target during the Civil War. Tour the Vicksburg National Military Park and see the USS Cairo, the first of the City class ironclad gunboats from the Civil War.

Spend a relaxing day on the Mississippi enjoying Yorktown’s amenities.

Disembark in New Orleans and transfer to the airport for return flights home.