Couple days in NY, stay in Manhattan or close to port?

[Zephanor]

Wife and I are traveling up to NYC a few days before our cruise to do the whole tourist thing. Any thought or concerns with staying in Manhattan instead of just outside the port?

[zekekelso]

As a former resident of both Manhattan and the NJ county where Bayonne is located... I gotta give the nod to Manhattan. It’s one of if not the most exciting city in the world with tens of millions of tourist every year. While Bayonne is, um, a city essentially nobody goes to visit. 

[Jimbo]

Main concern.............hotel price, what month?

[cruiserking]

New York City is definitely the place you want to stay pre-cruise from Bayonne. The city has started to awaken from it's COVID sleep, the restaurants are busy, the bars are buzzing and Broadway lifts its curtains in September. 

 

There are a wide assortment of affordable hotels in town and the cab ride to Cape Liberty is just about 30 minutes tops. There's nothing like the energy and excitement of New York to get  you revved up for your cruise. 

 

Happy Cruising. 

 

Jonathan

[barbels]

If you want to see NYC stay in Manhattan or Brooklyn.  It is not easy to get from Bayonne to Manhattan by public transportation and taxis and Ubers are very expensive.  If cost is an issue there are BandBs in Brooklyn near public transportation that is 30 minutes to Times Square.

[1025cruise]

You might want to post on the East Coast Departures board.

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, Zephanor said:

Wife and I are traveling up to NYC a few days before our cruise to do the whole tourist thing. Any thought or concerns with staying in Manhattan instead of just outside the port?

What year and month ?

[songbird1329]

I wouldn’t stay in Bayonneif you want to do any NYC site seeing unless you have a love affair with commuter transportation or unlimited cash to spend on an Uber.

[matj2000]

 

NY is way to touristy and cliche.

 

You should stay in Banyonne.

 

Great hotels,  Great restaurants,  Great nightlife.

 

Next year I am spending 10 days there..

[John&LaLa]

5 minutes ago, matj2000 said:

 

NY is way to touristy and cliche.

 

You should stay in Banyonne.

 

Great hotels,  Great restaurants,  Great nightlife.

 

Next year I am spending 10 days there..

 

Hi Matt,

 

I only checked in because I noticed your avatar. Always enjoy your advice. Makes me smile.

[Zephanor]

We’ll be going in September this year providing all moves forward. My wife loves NYC and wants to see some of the sights.

Thanks for the good info!

[Crazy planning mom]

Definitely stay in Manhattan.  If you are looking for more bang for your buck, book a hotel in lower Manhattan.

[YankeesFan4Life]

Nothing to do in Bayonne. I’d stay in Hoboken or Weehawken if you want to stay on this side of the river. You can catch a ferry from Edgewater right to downtown and midtown 

[mjkacmom]

23 hours ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

Nothing to do in Bayonne. I’d stay in Hoboken or Weehawken if you want to stay on this side of the river. You can catch a ferry from Edgewater right to downtown and midtown 

Or jersey city waterfront, I believe one subway stop from Manhattan.

[YankeesFan4Life]

3 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

Or jersey city waterfront, I believe one subway stop from Manhattan.

It's not the Subway, the Subway only runs in NYC.  From the Jersey side of the river, there's a few different options.  Either take the Ferry from Edgewater, or you can pick up the PATH from Jersey City or Hoboken  to 33rd St or even down to Wall St.  You can also take NJ Transit from Hoboken into Penn Station, which is not far from the 33rd St PATH Station.  

 

Jersey City is REALLY built up nicely with some AMAZING restaurants and nightlife.  Any one of those waterfront areas are nice, Hoboken, Weehawken, JC and Edgewater.  Stay away from places like Cliffside Park, Leonia, Ft Lee and and you'll be fine. Not saying those towns are unsafe or anything like that, but staying in Hudson County you'll have a much better experience with food/drinks and nightlife.

[meadowlander]

Despite one previous poster referring to Bayonne as "beautiful and gorgeous", it should not be your base for visiting NYC. If you do stay in Jersey for ease to transit to the cruise port, as pointed out, Jersey City for its proximity to NYC via PATH and its stunning views of lower Manhattan would be a good choice. Besides hotels along the waterfront, Residence Inn & Canopy are located very close to Grove Street PATH station for transit to NYC.

[mjkacmom]

2 hours ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

It's not the Subway, the Subway only runs in NYC.  From the Jersey side of the river, there's a few different options.  Either take the Ferry from Edgewater, or you can pick up the PATH from Jersey City or Hoboken  to 33rd St or even down to Wall St.  You can also take NJ Transit from Hoboken into Penn Station, which is not far from the 33rd St PATH Station.  

 

Jersey City is REALLY built up nicely with some AMAZING restaurants and nightlife.  Any one of those waterfront areas are nice, Hoboken, Weehawken, JC and Edgewater.  Stay away from places like Cliffside Park, Leonia, Ft Lee and and you'll be fine. Not saying those towns are unsafe or anything like that, but staying in Hudson County you'll have a much better experience with food/drinks and nightlife.

Total brain fart with the subway reference, long time NE NJ resident.

[navybankerteacher]

On 6/14/2021 at 10:10 PM, matj2000 said:

 

NY is way to touristy and cliche.

 

You should stay in Banyonne.

 

Great hotels,  Great restaurants,  Great nightlife.

 

Next year I am spending 10 days there..

Perhaps for someone from Klein, TX Bayonne is the cat's meow -- but....................

[navybankerteacher]

3 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

Total brain fart with the subway reference, long time NE NJ resident.

Are you suggesting NJ residence does that to one?

[YankeesFan4Life]

47 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Are you suggesting NJ residence does that to one?

Hey! I resemble that remark! 🙂

 

[navybankerteacher]

9 minutes ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

Hey! I resemble that remark! 🙂

 

I was simply following up on a theme introduced by someone claiming to be a New Jerseyite (or is the correct term New Jerseyist?  - it is a far away region of which I know little) and I was neither challenging nor endorsing his interesting conjecture.

[YankeesFan4Life]

34 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

I was simply following up on a theme introduced by someone claiming to be a New Jerseyite (or is the correct term New Jerseyist?  - it is a far away region of which I know little) and I was neither challenging nor endorsing his interesting conjecture.

Neither. We just say we’re From Jersey!🤣🤣🤣

[navybankerteacher]

30 minutes ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

Neither. We just say we’re From Jersey!🤣🤣🤣

Clever —- those unfamiliar with the VERY different accents might think you mean one of Britain’s Channel Islands.

[George C]

On 6/14/2021 at 5:30 PM, Zephanor said:

Wife and I are traveling up to NYC a few days before our cruise to do the whole tourist thing. Any thought or concerns with staying in Manhattan instead of just outside the port?

We always stay midtown Manhattan, our favorite hotel is michealanglo located on 51st and 7th , walking distance to broadway theater, Rockefeller center, Central Park. 

[GTJ]

If the intent is to do the Manhattan "tourist thing," then staying in Manhattan is most convenient, and the issue is simply balancing the convenience against the cost of staying in Manhattan. Cost not being an issue, stay at one of the expensive hotels well-located in midtown Manhattan. Yes, there's a number of tourist sights in lower Manhattan, but by evening much of lower Manhattan (meaning, below Canal Street) shuts down, and so if you're going to pay the premium price for staying in Manhattan, then stay where the city is 24/7. (The Upper East Side and Upper West Side have some activity at night, but midtown remains the center.) If cost is a greater factor, then a good alternative is staying in Long Island City, in Queens. There's a number of hotels that offer quite a bit more value compared to Manhattan, yet are very convenient to Manhattan if you're willing to spend a few minutes on the subway crossing the East River. One can even walk across the Queensborough Bridge (though not the most scenic walk). Just be careful to chose a hotel in or near Queensborough Plaza, or some other good subway station, as there are a handful of hotels that advertise as being in Long Island City but are distant from the subway (even if there is a hotel "shuttle" to the shuttle, not that good). Not much going on at night in many parts of Long Island City. The same things are true with staying in either Brooklyn or Hoboken (the further south and closer to the former Lackawanna station the better), or even parts of Jersey City (Exchange Place, Harborside Newport Center, Journal Square). Further out might be even less expensive, but transportation then becomes a greater issue, especially the need to rely on bus or train schedules. Places like Secaucus come to mind. Bayonne, itself, is accessible, but it requires using either a scheduled bus (NJT route 119) into Port Authority, or an NJT light rail train connecting to a PATH rapid transit train . . . and besides, Bayonne does not really have any respectable hotels. I may as well give a plug as well to my home town, Flushing, in Queens. A large number of hotels have been building here, many of which offer good value, and it is rather convenient to LaGuardia Airport. The subway is convenient, as it, the no. 7 train (as indicated by my avatar)  goes direct to 42nd Street in midtown, but the trip takes about half an hour; the Long Island Rail Road is a bit quicker, at 19 minutes to Pennsylvania Station, but at best it operates only every half hour. Flushing is a lively and active community itself, filled with many of Chinese and Korean descent (and restaurants that surpass in quality the Chinatown in lower Manhattan).