Everything & Anything New York City

thatsfabulous · 21 February 2012 at 8:41PM

Raymondo111 wrote: »

Hi thatsfabulous,

Not been to NYC before but interested in Jersey Gardens Shopping Mall, how easy is it to get there from say the Port Authority Bus terminal? and then obviously back again. Like the other poster we were interested in Woodbury Common but at $42 a head through Gray Line this looks a cheaper option as long as the connections are ok.

Thanks

Raymondo111

Very easy no problems at all.
When we went last 09 it was the first stop then bus went onto Ikea however just looked and it now goes to Union city prior to Jersey Gadens. Even with this stop before JG, it's showing a total bus time of 40mins.
The Buses have never been that busy when I have been ( not as busy as the woodbury common ones)
Going back it comes from Ikea so you have a few people on it already but again never busy more people get on at Jersey Gardens.
Last time we left when mall closed, we went to the bus stop and had to get in line. We had to wait for the 2nd bus as there wasnt enough room on the 1st one, that was a bit of a pain as it was raining but next time we will make sure we leave earlier to avoid the queues.
If you do decide on WC it will be the same there, people waiting for the 2nd/3rd bus but like JG if you leave 1 1/2-2 hours before the shops close queues are much shorter.

Heres the link: http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0111.pdf

M4RKM · 22 February 2012 at 8:50AM

paulfoel wrote: »

He got even more miserable when I gave him zero tip even borderline aggressive.

Well, if you're not going to tip at all, then of course people are going to be grumpy. Thanks for keeping the stereotype of british people being tight, and not tipping. tipping 15% - 20% is customary, and because of a misunderstanding with a coupon doesn't mean you should reduce the tip to 0%. Didn't you think that english might not be his first language.

CupcakeLisa · 22 February 2012 at 11:24AM

paulfoel wrote: »

Just got back. A few comments on things :-

Big Apple Greeter (highly recommended)
Trump Soho hotel (highly recommended)

Subway - great easy to use
Taxis - hard to find one!

Georgios restaurant - hells kitchen well nice.

Dial 7 cars- crap indeed. Rude drivers who have a bad attitude, try to overcharge and moan at low tip when they do. also beware of these drivers stopping as if they're a taxi and tryng to rip you off (one stopped once and offered us fare of $20 - it cost $8 in a proper cab)

I have always had amazing service from dial 7 and will be using them for my wedding. Maybe you just got a driver on an off day, we all have them

paulfoel · 22 February 2012 at 1:05PM

M4RKM wrote: »

Well, if you're not going to tip at all, then of course people are going to be grumpy. Thanks for keeping the stereotype of british people being tight, and not tipping. tipping 15% - 20% is customary, and because of a misunderstanding with a coupon doesn't mean you should reduce the tip to 0%. Didn't you think that english might not be his first language.

Fine. If you want to tip people when the service is below par then feel free. I refuse to do so. His tip was reduced to zero because :-

1. He was unfriendly.
2. He told me the coupon was no good and was not interested in sorting it out.
3. He charged me the cash rate for tolls even though he had an Ez-Pass. From what I gather he tried to tell me that was allowed.
4. Not sure if it was a language problem but I expect to have a driver who speaks the local language at least. If I go to Rome, then I assume they speak Italian, English is a bonus.

Thanks for the stereotyping me as the average British person. I think you will find that the average American will not tip if they feel they've been provided with a poor service.

rossobianchi85 · 22 February 2012 at 2:31PM

Hi everyone, great thread.

Could you take a look at the following and let me know if you have any advice? I'm planning my honeymoon for New York from Tues 27 March to Tues 3 April. My wife-to-be and I have never been to NY before, to say we're looking forward to it is an understatement!

So... flights... not booked yet, seen some that work out around £380 each through Skyscanner and they're a concoction of economy BA and AA flights (Manchester to JFK)

Accommodation, also not booked yet... I have a Word document with various hotels we like, marked down all the TripAdvisor ratings and amenities etc... probably procrastinating too much! The two that have taken my eye, and which I think my fiancee will love, are two boutique hotels -

1) Ink48 hotel - Expedia quoted price £1,550 for City View Studio

and

2) Distrikt Hotel - Email from the hotel offering us a King Deluxe at £1,420

I think we're edging towards Ink48 even if it is a bit of a walk, we don't mind that, we get to see a bit more of the 'real' New York I guess. Has anyone got experience of either hotel? Also, how would you go about securing an upgraded room, potentially?

I'll have a proper look through this thread and Trip Advisor too but if there are any must-not-miss attractions apart from the obvious, please do say

I notice PaulFoel above mentioning the Big Apple Greeter, things like that I have never heard of!

Kind regards.

M4RKM · 22 February 2012 at 5:17PM

paulfoel wrote: »

Fine. If you want to tip people when the service is below par then feel free. I refuse to do so. His tip was reduced to zero because :-

1. He was unfriendly.
2. He told me the coupon was no good and was not interested in sorting it out.
3. He charged me the cash rate for tolls even though he had an Ez-Pass. From what I gather he tried to tell me that was allowed.
4. Not sure if it was a language problem but I expect to have a driver who speaks the local language at least. If I go to Rome, then I assume they speak Italian, English is a bonus.

Thanks for the stereotyping me as the average British person. I think you will find that the average American will not tip if they feel they've been provided with a poor service.

1 - You're paying for a car service, they need to drive you safely to your destination, You're not paying for friendliness.

2 - Did you complain to Dial 7 afterwards? You should have called dial 7 when in his car.

3 - OK, that's poor service. In that case you have a reason to complain. Tips are based on the base fare, and not the tolls, the couple of dollars difference should have been taken off the TIP.

4 - Again, you're in one of the most multicultural cities in the world. You're paying for a car to take you to your destination, as long as they're doing that, it's acceptable.

Americans tip for acceptable service, which you received. You feel you didn't even get that because of no tip.

Lets look at it this way. $50fare, with 20% tip gives you $10

He overcharged you on the tolls, deduct the $2 difference, $8 tip, he refused to take a $4 discount coupon, $4 tip. That would have shut him up, and you can't be accused of not tipping, but actually being clever, and p**sing him off, and making a point that you know what you're on about.

If it was drastically wrong, like he took you to the wrong destination or an accident happened, I still feel you should have tipped something at least. Taking it down to around 10% would have been acceptable, and by tipping nothing, and not complaining really does paint you as a stereotypical British tourist who doesn't tip.

Next time, take the train, it's cheaper and quicker!

Dave1979 · 22 February 2012 at 5:22PM

Anyone got any recommendations for walking tours?

M4RKM · 22 February 2012 at 9:43PM

Dave1979 wrote: »

Anyone got any recommendations for walking tours?

I can wholeheartedly recomment Stan O Connor for walking tours. Get in touch with him, and let him know that it was me that mentioned it to you..

http://www.oconnorgreentoursnyc.com/

M

Dave1979 · 22 February 2012 at 9:48PM

Thanks - they look really good. I love walking tours!

Jazzy_B · 22 February 2012 at 9:59PM

paulfoel wrote: »

Thanks for the stereotyping me as the average British person. I think you will find that the average American will not tip if they feel they've been provided with a poor service.

I understand what you're saying, but I think the "average" American has a completely different view to tipping. I have several American friends, none of whom would ever dream of not tipping at all. If they're not happy,they'd certainly complain vociferously, but they'd still tip at least 10%.There's a massive cultural difference about it, which plenty of Brits don't get. I know I'm generalising, but "When in Rome" and all that.
What's done's done, but I hope prospective visitors realise the huge difference in attitudes between UK and US to tipping.

Everything & Anything New York City

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free