Everything & Anything New York City

ghdgirl

Sorry for asking again but has znyone stayed at the WArwick hotel? Looks good but could do with more info. Thanks

beeza

Finally booked :j £1200 for MAN - JFK with KLM and 4 nights at the Crowne Plaza Times Square for 2 in Jan

The wife likes the idea of dinner on a cruise. This thread mentions "Worldyacht" anyone got experience of any others? WY won't allow bookings for the weekend we are there

whatmichaelsays

A belated review:

After a night in London, my brother and I were up early for the Hoppa bus to Heathrow for the 9:40 Delta flight to JFK. Flight left on time, landed early and was trouble free. Security was noticeably more visible at the Delta check-in area in T4, although it was just a few days since the UPS ink toner incident so we expected it to an extent.
Flight attendants left us alone unless we wanted them, which is how I prefer it.
Got through passport control at JFK within a matter of minutes (was surprised how quickly things went) picked up bags and it was outside for a cab to the hotel.

Arrived at The Pod Hotel on 2nd Av / 51st St at around 3pm local time. The hotel was great. The rooms were small (where in Manhattan isn't?) but the space was very cleverly utilised. For a very modern, youth orientated hotel, we were surprised with how much we got for relatively little money. After dumping the bags, we headed to Times Sq to pick up our New York passes and got our bearings. Went out for a few beers locally before having a relatively early night.

Next morning, we were met with grey skies and pouring rain which never really left. It knackered our plans somewhat as we'd planned to take in the ESB / ToTR that day and they had to be rescheduled. We did manage to take in Radio City, which was very good, NBC, which wasn't so good but it kept us out of the rain, and a few other general bits and pieces (mainly spots of shopping along Broadway) but other than that, the rain didn't really help things.

Day three and it was another early start, taking the subway downtown to Battery Park for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The ferry / Liberty Island was great for photo opportunities and Ellis Island was very interesting.
We headed back to the mainland and onto Wall Street and the financial district. If anybody is considering the WTC as a visiting point, I wouldn't lose too much sleep if I missed it to be honest. Now that construction is underway, there is very little to see at the actual site. There is a visitor centre which we didn't bother with, partly because of time and partly because we couldn't imagine it telling us much more than we already knew.
We made one quick stop to the NBA store on 5th Av before heading on to Madison Square Garden for the NY Knicks vs Washington Wizards game (my personal highlight). There was a great atmosphere, some celebrities on show (faces in the crowd included Jay-Z, Chris Rock, Thierry Henry, Mike D from the Beastie Boys and Matthew Modine) and even my non-sports fan brother really got into it. Would definitely recommend taking in a game to anybody. Had a bit of a session after the game and have no idea what time we made it back to the hotel.

The morning after, it was time to cram in what we couldn't do in day two, namely the ESB, Top of the Rock along with what we had planned - including Central Park and a spot of shopping. The weather was fantastic, giving us some great views of the city. Personally, I think ToTR trumps the ESB. The views of Central Park are better and you can actually get the tallest building in NY in your photos. I wouldn't advise against the ESB, I just think that the views are better from Top of the Rock.

Tackily, we grabbed some lunch in Hooters (I know, I know) and then wandered into Central Park. We managed to take in the zoo and Strawberry Fields (I wanted to see the Lennon memorial) and generally had a bit of a wander. I was great just to switch off for a little while and do some people watching.

On the final day, I saw my brother to the airport in the morning (he was flying on to see a friend in California) and headed back to Manhattan to catch a glimpse at the New York Marathon - an event which certainly carries a certain feel-good factor about it in the city as plenty of natives were keen to talk about it. After sampling that, I headed down 5th Ave to fill up whatever space I had left in my suitcase - mission accomplished on that one.

Caught the subway / airtrain to the airport and found that Delta had deliberately delayed our flight back to London. Long story short, the tail winds were so strong that they would have cut our flight time to barely over six hours. Because of the congestion around London, Heathrow don't take too kindly to planes showing up early so, rather than having us circle Middlesex for close to an hour, Delta decided to let us watch the NFL in the terminal and took off a little later. Landed on time, bags picked up quickly, through UK Border Agency within a matter of seconds (Leeds Bradford Airport, take note) and after a quick coffee, it was onto the tube to Kings Cross and the train back to Leeds.

Today was the first day back at work, where my colleagues seemed to appreciate the stash of Jolly Ranchers that I managed to smuggle back.

987654

beeza wrote: »

Finally booked :j £1200 for MAN - JFK with KLM and 4 nights at the Crowne Plaza Times Square for 2 in Jan

The wife likes the idea of dinner on a cruise. This thread mentions "Worldyacht" anyone got experience of any others? WY won't allow bookings for the weekend we are there

We stayed at this hotel last month - lovely! 34th floor overlooking the Hudson & TS.

Register for Groupon New York as they have had World Yacht deals on before. You may be lucky.

beeza

987654 wrote: »

We stayed at this hotel last month - lovely! 34th floor overlooking the Hudson & TS.

Register for Groupon New York as they have had World Yacht deals on before. You may be lucky.

Hope so, tripadvisor rep was ok and my wife picked it so she could have a swim in the gym if she wanted. We know its lively at TS but we might like that.

The trouble with worldyacht is they only have Saturday dates in January and not takings booking on the saturday we are there

Hope its just a case of being a bit in advance but will probably have to look elsewhere. Seen a couple more but no reivews or mention of them.

mariebar1970

beeza wrote: »

Hope so, tripadvisor rep was ok and my wife picked it so she could have a swim in the gym if she wanted. We know its lively at TS but we might like that.

The trouble with worldyacht is they only have Saturday dates in January and not takings booking on the saturday we are there

Hope its just a case of being a bit in advance but will probably have to look elsewhere. Seen a couple more but no reivews or mention of them.

What about these for dinner cruises http://www.spiritofnewyork.com/

reviews here http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d424157-Reviews-Spirit_Cruises-New_York_City_New_York.html

willstewart

Just come back from NYC myself.
Lovely time what with the rain and wind but the weekend was better

$27 for a Metro card for 7 days. Did find if you swipe it and don't get through the turnstiles in time, it locks it out. Discovered this Columbus Circle when I was trying to get through one with a travel bag and small suitcase and it slowed me down. Naturally no MTA staff about so had to walk in the rain to another station as I've no idea how long the card is locked out for. Probably best just to use the alarmed gate for luggage.

Went up the Rock on Saturday night - lovely views of the city and the ESB although Central Park is very dark so you won't see much of that.

Walked over the Brooklyn Bridge. I would suggest Brooklyn to Manhattan as there are metal fences up at the Brooklyn end at present for construction and the subway stations aren't easy to find in my opinion. At least walking into Manhattan, you're near China Town and the WTC area. On the other hand, there's a popular pizza place to the side of the bridge in Brooklyn - begins with "G" I think and there was a queue down the road at 3pm when I went past it.
Photo of the fences at the Brooklyn end that are too tall to see over.
http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/2665/p1000064re.jpg

The WTC site is pointless now for views. There are solid and wire fences all around it so unless you're high up, you get so see nothing.
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/9866/p1000081m.jpg


The Staten Island ferry is still good. Went on that twice. Some of the boats are smaller than others and space outside for photos is very limited. The John F Kennedy for example has 3-4 floors and ample space. Some god long distance photos of Manhattan from outside the ferry terminal on SI although a few things in the water and loads of container ships do tend to obscure your view.

Was going to go ice skating in Central Park or at the Rock but not cheap. You're looking at around $28+ at the Rock ($18 to skate, $9 for skate hire) or something like that.

At the Wollman rink in Central Park, Fri-Sun:
Adults $15, Kids under 12 $5.75
Skate rental $6.25
Locker Rental $10.50 ($6 refundable)
Possibly 1.5 hour sessions. Few $ less other other days and $5 or so to spectate.

If you're thinking of visiting the Intrepid (is it still open as it may close over winter?), the flight deck tower is closed for rennovations so the bridge is off limits. You can still walk on the deck and see the aircraft and visit the hangar etc.
Concorde has all the seats blocked off with perspex covers to save them from wear and tear, the back half is blocked off, and the cockpit is sealed off too.

Nice bagels at Murrays on 13th St / 6th Ave. Around $2.50 a cinnamon raisin one with half a tub of Philadelphia type cream cheese.

M4RKM

willstewart wrote: »

$27 for a Metro card for 7 days. Did find if you swipe it and don't get through the turnstiles in time, it locks it out....I've no idea how long the card is locked out for.

18 Minutes.

Easiest thing would have been to buy a $2.25 single trip

The WTC site is pointless now for views. There are solid and wire fences all around it so unless you're high up, you get so see nothing.
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/9866/p1000081m.jpg

2 more years there will be parts completed, for now, it is a building site. The memorial is at the church nearby

greenface

If ou want to visit a building site but cant afford the airfare come and visit us here NOW !!!!
morning M4rk hope your good

pinksteven

Hi,

I've been to NYC before with my ex and fell in love with the City, I want to go back and will probably be by myself, does anyone know of a cheap site that caters for this?

The single supplements are killing me at the moment.

Thanks in advance guys.

Pinky