[THREAD CLOSED - SEE PART 2] Anything & Everything New York

Spirit wrote: »

Are the helicopter rides worth it, and are they best booked in UK or in NY?

Thanks

Worth every penny imo. Manhatten skyline has to been seen by air to be believed. We booked ours with the travel agents in the UK so can't comment if it is better to do it here or there.

short_of_a_shilling! wrote: »

Hello all,
A few pages back someone was asking about cheap hostel hotels in NY. I stayed at The Chelsea Star a year ago and it was great ~ basic but clean, friendly and in a great location. It might be worth checking it out if you are on a tight budget. http://starhotelny.com/index.php
I am off to NY later today and because this is a big celebration for me I am staying in style this time, but wouldn't hesitate to go back to The Chelsea Star on another occasion. :T

Thanks for that! I like the themed rooms and the price is quite good. I have booked it for a couple of nights and booked my flights too! Now am really excited again and only got the spending money to worry about !

Hi everyone! I guess everyone on here does some research before going on a trip but you might not believe the levels of geekiness I reached. I read every single post on this forum and read lots from tripadvisor too, then made a programme. Anyway, I just wanted to thank all the posters on here for their advice and tips. I had the time of my life.
We stayed in the Colonial House inn in Chelsea. I would highly recommend both the Inn and Chelsea as an area.
We went to Wicked at the Gershwin and a basketball game at Madison Square gardens (Knicks versus Boston celtics) where we saw LL Cool J!! To be honest, the seats at the Gershwin were a little disappointing despite paying a fair whack, but the show was great, as was the game.
Thanks to those who posted about the Boathouse in Central park; probably the highlight of the trip. We went for lunch and the food and the views were top! Another highlight was drinks in the revolving Mariott Marquis. We went at around five o'clock, before it was too busy, and after two yummy cocktails, it was dark and looked great. It didn't open til 4pm so no point in going any earlier than that.
The horse and carriage ride in Central park was good, but remember the carriage only gets to go on the road-like parts of the park (ie. not very much and not the prettiest bits) so I guess it's one of the only things that we did that I wouldn't recommend strongly. Another thing to possibly miss is Canal Street. Honestly, even if you do like fakes, it's not that impressive. If you do want to see their good stuff I think you have to go behind the counter which is bound to be a stressful experience and remember if you do buy anything, you'll get a bin liner to carry it away. Not very glamourous!
Thanks also to the posters who recommended the Rockerfeller Centre over Empire State. There were virtually no queues and it was a lovely experience with superb views. We didn't book in advance.
We sure got our value out of the tour Bus. We spent two days touring Uptown, Downtown, night tours....... It helped get an idea of where everything was. We used City Sights but the Gray line is probably better to be honest as they seemed to have more buses so less waiting time for you. As guides go, I think it's the luck of the draw. We had some who were superb, some who were less so.
Don't miss walking over the Brooklyn Bridge and the Staten Island Ferry for cool free experiences! I'm sure someone will contradict me but we walked around Staten Island for about 40 minutes looking for somewhere to eat, without success. I'm sorry to say the neighbourhood where the ferry brings you into is a bit of a dump so unless you're going to get the bus further along, just come straight back again.
Ellis Island is great, but since the ferry that takes you there also takes people to the Statue of Liberty, the queues can be really long, so that's one activity you'll have to get there to Battery park early for (or pre-book). you'll see the Statue really well on both the Staten Island ferry and on the way to Ellis Island so, as other posters have said, in my opinion, it's not worth getting off at the Statue itself.
Shopping-wise, I've heard many people love Abercrombie. I don't really and I hated the shop too! I'm only 28 but it's dark, the sales people dance and the music is really loud....I felt sorry for all the poor people, some a lot older than me being dragged around by their teenage children. Having said that, the sales people are all model-like so if you want to ogle some beautiful people, you might like it. I thought Tiffanys would be more exciting too...
I think what you can get in NYC is designer bargains in shops such as Century 21, Filene's Basement, Loehmann's and Burlington Coat Factory. I loved them all but the best buys can still be pricey....thery're just loads cheaper than in the U.K. So if you need a new coat or jeans, you could get a less than half-price on makes such as DKNY, True Religion, Seven Jeans, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren. Don't know about you but I don't tend to shop in such places here in the U.K. so that was a novelty.
Finally, a word about duty free. I saved 400 dollars to spend on products such as Clinique, mac, Bobbi Brown...basically make-up and beauty stuff, in the airport. But I travelled with Delta and it turns out that each airline has its own duty free section. So depsite it being JFK, I've seen better shopping in places such as Belfast city or Leeds Bradford! I was very disapponited. I still managed to buy some stuff but the choice was really poor. It might be worth checking out what your duty free will be like.
Thanks again to everyone who has helped me have the best trip ever. Good luck to anyone going!

Briggers your trip sounds very similar to mine

We got out of JFK early evening and the highway according to the taxi driver was absolutely choka so ended up being driven through neighbourhoods in Queens which was an experience.

For $49 I thought the City Sights tours were good value. We were staying in Times Sq so there was always a bus but did hop off at Greenwich on one of the days and walked all the way down to Ground Zero and Battery Park as couldn’t see our buses or where a pick-up point was. The night tour was absolutely freezing but that didn‘t matter. Best guide we had over the 3 days too. Staten Island Ferry was worth doing if you didn’t want to pay/queue for Statue of Liberty - felt like Working Girl. We just got off and came straight back again mind.

Went to see Phantom at the Majestic. Booked seats over here through a royalties account which was cheaper (I think) and also right under the chandelier. Some of the others queued for half price Grease tickets at the booth.

Central Park was amazing. We got lost a few times and my friend got sunburnt. Took some lovely photographs. There was also some sort of dog fair - hilarious. Boathouse was stunning, the horse and carriage was ride fun, although I think I already walked most of the route. Zoo was a bit random. The ice rink looked to be a few days away. A couple of us went to the Natural History Museum one morning. Could’ve stayed there the entire day, although my friend thought the London one was more exciting.

To be honest I would never have known about Top of the Rock if it had not been for this forum - thank you everybody. The observation deck is superior to Empire State (which seems to still be undergoing major renovation work as is big number of buildings in Manhattan). We did both last Sunday and were fortunate there were no queues for one and approx 30 mins for the other. I would do either one again although at night next time. We definitely scored with the weather. I could imagine low lying cloud would be a bit of a nightmare.

Shopping was fabulous - I loved it all. Century 21, Orchard Street, 125th Street, Schwarz, Apple, Tiffanys, Macys, Bloomingdales, 5th Avenue, Times Sq.

Next time I think we’ll stay somewhere a bit cheaper and chance the subway and do the less touristy things. My friends mother wasn’t keen as we’d heard it’s not as good as the underground and trains don’t stop at every station. I’m not sure how it works. Buses, taxis and walking were fine for photos. Grand Central Station though is quite something.

Anyway I thought London was brilliant but New York is something special. Got back Friday and I’ve been knackered since. All good.

I wanted to ask where the stairs were that the pram bounced down, but DH wouldn't let me ...

Do you mean in 'The Untouchables'?
I believe that film was set in Chicago