Everything & Anything New York City

bb69

LadyL2013 wrote: »

We are looking at heading to NYC in the last week of March 2014 before the prices rise for the spring and summer. Our budget it about £650 all in per person.

At the moment we're looking at about £650 for 5 nights with direct flights LHR -JFK with Virgin, staying in a 3 star hotel in a good location.

I've ran the flights through flightcheckers and stuff like Kayak to see when the best price to buy is. They are generally saying buy now or approx. 60 days before departure. We cannot afford to buy now.

My questions are:

1) Is this a good deal or could we get cheaper nearer the time do you think?
2) Is it worth waiting until Virgin and other airlines have their New Years sales and are things like New years sales factored into flight price info on sites such as Kayak.
3) From experience when do you get the best deals?
4) Is there a discount diners card for NY, like we have a Taste card here?

Hi ya What hotel have you seen?
And what dates are you looking at?

greenface

LadyL2013 wrote: »

We are looking at heading to NYC in the last week of March 2014 before the prices rise for the spring and summer. Our budget it about £650 all in per person.

At the moment we're looking at about £650 for 5 nights with direct flights LHR -JFK with Virgin, staying in a 3 star hotel in a good location.

I've ran the flights through flightcheckers and stuff like Kayak to see when the best price to buy is. They are generally saying buy now or approx. 60 days before departure. We cannot afford to buy now.

My questions are:

1) Is this a good deal or could we get cheaper nearer the time do you think?
2) Is it worth waiting until Virgin and other airlines have their New Years sales and are things like New years sales factored into flight price info on sites such as Kayak.
3) From experience when do you get the best deals?
4) Is there a discount diners card for NY, like we have a Taste card here?

Jump on it like a tramp on chips . How many are going ?

M4RKM

LadyL2013 wrote: »

We are looking at heading to NYC in the last week of March 2014 before the prices rise for the spring and summer. Our budget it about £650 all in per person.

At the moment we're looking at about £650 for 5 nights with direct flights LHR -JFK with Virgin, staying in a 3 star hotel in a good location.

I've ran the flights through flightcheckers and stuff like Kayak to see when the best price to buy is. They are generally saying buy now or approx. 60 days before departure. We cannot afford to buy now.

My questions are:

1) Is this a good deal or could we get cheaper nearer the time do you think?
2) Is it worth waiting until Virgin and other airlines have their New Years sales and are things like New years sales factored into flight price info on sites such as Kayak.
3) From experience when do you get the best deals?
4) Is there a discount diners card for NY, like we have a Taste card here?

Dates dates dates. End Of March isn't precise enough. I need to know exact dates you're looking at to find out what is a good deal or not. Also, I need to know how many people and what beds you need.

Now, I'm unsure why there is this limitation of having to fly Virgin Atlantic, especially when on such a tight budget. Delta have flights for £400, Virgin are £440 (20th - 25th March).

I'm assuming 2 people in a normal hotel room. Therefore we have £500 for a hotel room. Hotels in NYC are always sold on a room basis, so having a per person budget, doesn't really apply. This means you're looking at £100 or $155 per night including taxes. Tight, but doable I think.

Looking online - New Yorker is $205 before tax on a prepaid rate.
Pod 51 is $167 before tax on a cancellable rate.
Wellington Hotel - $164 prepaid before tax.

Onto your questions.

1) I normally look at booking around 3 months - 6 weeks out. I've got my hotel booked already for my next break, but it is a cancellable rate, but I'm paying $179 before taxes a night for a hotel in Williamsburg Brooklyn for 7 nights from the 22nd Feb, and that's a decent rate. Without knowing what flights times you've seen, and what hotel you've seen (star ratings mean nothing in NYC, the hotel itself could offer the required services to be a 4* hotel, and still be awful).

2) No. But I wouldn't limit myself to Virgin or BA. All Transatlantic flights offer the same kind of level of service (apart from United, who charge for alcoholic drinks), so I'd look at convenience and price. Also, Delta codeshare with Virgin now too, so always double check the flight number to ensure you know who you're flying with. Why pay virgin prices and fly Delta. Then again, the legroom Delta offer is better than virgin (only by 1-2" but it makes all the difference).

3) 3 months - 6 weeks on flights. Deals for hotels start appearing end of December / beginning of Jan. Probably more the latter for the last week of March, though I have that sneaking suspicion you may not get the bargains you really want.

4) not that I know of, but not that you need one. Eating out can be as cheap or expensive as you want. Just remember the price you see is only for the food. It doesn't include taxes, nor service (15-20%). So if you're going in for a meal with only $20 to your name, you can't order that $20 entree.

M

Vikki_74

Just saw this posted on Holiday Pirates, thought it might be of use to somebody on here:

British Airways just started a promotion for free vouchers: Get a 15% discount voucher for flights from London Heathrow to the USA and Canada.

The voucher is valid for travel between 1st November 2013 and 14th April 2014. You have to use the voucher by 14th November 2013.

You have to spend a minimum of £450 to participate.

Offer code: ShellnovZHH

Beautiful-Moose

Hi Guys

Me and the BF are heading out to New York on 3rd Dec for a week. We booked 10 months ago so managed to do hotel and flights for £700pp which I think is a good deal. We are staying in Hotel 91 in Chinatown/Litte Italy. I have a few questions before I go that I am hoping you lovely ppl can help me with.

1) Is it worth upgrading our seats on Delta for £43pp to Economy Comfort?

2) We want to do Empire State Building and/or Top of The Rock. Is it worth doing both?

3) Any recommendations for Xmasy things to do while we are there besides shopping and seeing the Tree at Rockafeller centre.

4) I will want to use my mobile out there. I am currently on Vodafone and they don't work in USA. Is there a SIM I can buy out there or before I go that I can use for texting/facebooking etc.

5) How easy is it to find the memorial to John Lennon in Central Park? My bf is a massive Beatles fan so he really wants to go and visit it.

Any other general advice would be welcome! Good cheap places to eat or any places that do Man v Food challenges (bf is a fan of the show)

Thanks in advance guys!

LadyL2013

BB69 - Seton Hotel or King & Grove quote around that price for 2 people.

M4RKM - Thanks for your detailed answer.

We are happy to fly Virgin, BA or AA as OH has a loyalty scheme through his work, so would prefer to fly with those 3. Although Virgin gives us the most reward points by far.

We were specifically looking at March 24th - 29th, but we can be completely flexible with dates, but we would like a minimum of 4 nights, preferably 5. We went for that date because it's just before the April price boom, so we get out of the bitterness of January and February, without the prices of Spring. We can theoretically go at any time of year except for August - October. We would like to avoid the worst of the weather.

Virgin have said to us we can go instore and they will go through day by day to see what is going to give us the cheapest option and see what they can for us within our budget.

The best price we have found is through Expedia offering the same package as Virgin where offering, but for £50 cheaper each. Would we be getting the same thing or does Expedia exclude airline charges etc?

M4RKM

Beautiful-Moose wrote: »

Hi Guys


1) Is it worth upgrading our seats on Delta for £43pp to Economy Comfort?

2) We want to do Empire State Building and/or Top of The Rock. Is it worth doing both?

3) Any recommendations for Xmasy things to do while we are there besides shopping and seeing the Tree at Rockafeller centre.

4) I will want to use my mobile out there. I am currently on Vodafone and they don't work in USA. Is there a SIM I can buy out there or before I go that I can use for texting/facebooking etc.

5) How easy is it to find the memorial to John Lennon in Central Park? My bf is a massive Beatles fan so he really wants to go and visit it.

Any other general advice would be welcome! Good cheap places to eat or any places that do Man v Food challenges (bf is a fan of the show)

Thanks in advance guys!

1) do you want extra legroom and free spirits
In flight? Do you want to be one of the first off therefore getting through immigration quicker. If yes. Then yes.

2) your call but is there a need to see NYC from HIGH twice?

4) yes but your device needs to be unlocked. Vodafone does roam in NYC but it's prohibitively expensive. What phone do you have? Is it unlocked?

5) easy. it's on the map. Have you looked at the map of Central Park?

Loads of places that are affordable. Though the man vs food challenges not so much. What do you class as affordable and what food Do you want

Finally. There is no real little Italy in Manhattan now. You're in Chinatown.

bb69

Hello all
Quick poll re hotels

Do you prefer staying in the same hotel or do you like trying new hotels every trip?

Thanks

phatbear

personally i always stay in different hotels but thats due to pricing, for example i got a great deal staying in hotel mela a couple of years ago but when im going for thanks giving this year it was stupidly expensive so im staying else where

bb69

phatbear wrote: »

personally i always stay in different hotels but thats due to pricing, for example i got a great deal staying in hotel mela a couple of years ago but when im going for thanks giving this year it was stupidly expensive so im staying else where

Thanks - because I like a particular area I really have got used to it, but am running out of hotels ha ha

Do I venture further into Manhattan? Decisions Decisions