Three Day Cruise Call to New York as a First Visit

[tring]

 

We are sailing from the UK next September for a thirty night round trip cruise to Canada and the US, including a three day cruise call into New York.  We have never been there before and have no real knowledge of the city, so feel I need to gain some basic knowledge to help decide what to do.  According to this link  https://nycruise.com/schedule/  we will be docking at MCT, which I think is probably Manhatten, but I cannot find a key on the schedule. 

 

We are in our seventies and have no wish to rush around places trying to see/do lots of things, though we are able bodied and can get around OK.  A relatively easy way of seeing/doing just a few things is fine for us as we have a lot of other ports which we are very interested to experience whilst over that side of the Atlantic.  I am thinking a basic guide book for NY may be the best way for us to gain an overview about the city initially, but what we do also depends on how easy it would be to get to various places from the cruise ship.  Hence, if someone could kindly make a couple of suggestions about what is perhaps worth considering, or perhaps an information source, (possibly a guide book), which gives an overview of the city to help point me in the right direction, I would be very appreciative.  Using ferries or a small boat trip around the harbour is something we may be interested in for one day at least, but we tend to punctuate our days with a few stops for drinks, snacks or possibly a meal, so would not want a very tight schedule.

 

Barbara

[princeton123211]

23 minutes ago, tring said:

According to this link  https://nycruise.com/schedule/  we will be docking at MCT, which I think is probably Manhatten, but I cannot find a key on the schedule. 

MCT is Manhattan Cruise Terminal and will put you right in the middle of Midtown Manhattan-- an excellent jumping off point for touring and seeing the main sites. 

 

25 minutes ago, tring said:

I am thinking a basic guide book for NY may be the best way for us to gain an overview about the city initially, but what we do also depends on how easy it would be to get to various places from the cruise ship. 

Its a bewilderingly large city, not unlike London, and you could spend your entire life there and not do the same thing twice. What interests you? I'm sure a few of us can make a few recommendations as to what would fit within that and what would be a good way to get to and from. 

 

28 minutes ago, tring said:

Hence, if someone could kindly make a couple of suggestions about what is perhaps worth considering, or perhaps an information source, (possibly a guide book), which gives an overview of the city to help point me in the right direction, I would be very appreciative.

I generally have used the Fodors guide in the past but there are also plenty of resources available online. 

 

29 minutes ago, tring said:

Using ferries or a small boat trip around the harbour is something we may be interested in for one day at least, but we tend to punctuate our days with a few stops for drinks, snacks or possibly a meal, so would not want a very tight schedule.

You can take the Circle Line for a tour all the way around the island of Manhattan and the dock for that is essentially adjacent to the MCT. A "hop on hop off" bus might be another way to get an overview of things without spending a ton of time doing so. 

 

Manhattan has some of the great restaurants (and bars) of the world so plenty of options for popping in and out as you tour. Again if you could share what sort of things interest you it would be helpful in making some recs. 

[markeb]

I think the key is what interests you. Manhattan is very much like London. It's on the go constantly, offers amazing museums, great live theater, and world class restaurants. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for instance, is amazing, but it's also huge (and not free). Central Park is huge, and a fun place to just wander. And of course there are the observation decks at Top of the Rock and the Empire State Building. Lots to do, not a huge amount of time.

 

The Circle Line and a HOHO bus would give you a great overview of the city. Like London, the HOHO is not a great means of transportation, but is a great overview of the city. There are good neighborhood restaurants and bars around the city, and there are world class restaurants and bars, if you're so inclined. Not quite as simple as popping into the local pub, but certainly possible.

 

Fodors is a great start. One thing about Fodors is it is (or was last I looked) organized by neighborhood, so sometimes there are attractions that cross neighborhood lines but are only blocks apart, so it helps to look at an actual map.

 

And as stated, share your interests a bit and we'll give you some things to consider!

[Got2Cruise]

Three days you have lots of options. Most first timers to NYC like to hit the iconic sights. Statue of Liberty, 9/11 Memorial and Museum, Top of the Empire State Building or Top of the Rock. Central Park and a Museum. Walk go to Times Square at dark to see it lit up. There are various ways to see these things from DIY to tours. Go to Viator.com to see all the options  

 

I also like to go to Pinterest or YouTube channels to see where others have gone and done and get ideas

 

. Once you have a short list we can help you plan how to do it. 

[George C]

Two of my favorite places for lunch that are really close is Becco on 46st between 8 ave and 9. Excellent itilian food you can have two nice two course lunch with a bottle of wine for about a hundred. The other is Ellen’s stardust diner , it’s your basic dinner , but waiters are singers who will be dancing and singing through out the day , that is on 51 st and broadway. Can get half price broadway tickets at tkts in Times Square there are shows in early afternoon on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. 

[tring]

17 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

MCT is Manhattan Cruise Terminal and will put you right in the middle of Midtown Manhattan-- an excellent jumping off point for touring and seeing the main sites. 

 

Its a bewilderingly large city, not unlike London, and you could spend your entire life there and not do the same thing twice. What interests you? I'm sure a few of us can make a few recommendations as to what would fit within that and what would be a good way to get to and from. 

 

I generally have used the Fodors guide in the past but there are also plenty of resources available online. 

 

You can take the Circle Line for a tour all the way around the island of Manhattan and the dock for that is essentially adjacent to the MCT. A "hop on hop off" bus might be another way to get an overview of things without spending a ton of time doing so. 

 

Manhattan has some of the great restaurants (and bars) of the world so plenty of options for popping in and out as you tour. Again if you could share what sort of things interest you it would be helpful in making some recs. 

 

11 hours ago, markeb said:

I think the key is what interests you. Manhattan is very much like London. It's on the go constantly, offers amazing museums, great live theater, and world class restaurants. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for instance, is amazing, but it's also huge (and not free). Central Park is huge, and a fun place to just wander. And of course there are the observation decks at Top of the Rock and the Empire State Building. Lots to do, not a huge amount of time.

 

The Circle Line and a HOHO bus would give you a great overview of the city. Like London, the HOHO is not a great means of transportation, but is a great overview of the city. There are good neighborhood restaurants and bars around the city, and there are world class restaurants and bars, if you're so inclined. Not quite as simple as popping into the local pub, but certainly possible.

 

Fodors is a great start. One thing about Fodors is it is (or was last I looked) organized by neighborhood, so sometimes there are attractions that cross neighborhood lines but are only blocks apart, so it helps to look at an actual map.

 

And as stated, share your interests a bit and we'll give you some things to consider!

 

54 minutes ago, Got2Cruise said:

Three days you have lots of options. Most first timers to NYC like to hit the iconic sights. Statue of Liberty, 9/11 Memorial and Museum, Top of the Empire State Building or Top of the Rock. Central Park and a Museum. Walk go to Times Square at dark to see it lit up. There are various ways to see these things from DIY to tours. Go to Viator.com to see all the options  

 

I also like to go to Pinterest or YouTube channels to see where others have gone and done and get ideas

 

. Once you have a short list we can help you plan how to do it. 

 

Thank you all very much for the suggestions/information.  The website for the Circle Line is great, even showing the time of departures during our stay in Sept.  We will definitely do the round trip one, as well as the Harbor Lights night one.  We will also head into the city a couple of nights during our stay, perhaps taking in different areas, mainly just for a stroll and couple of drink stops - we love overnight stays because of the ability to do that.  We will also likely head to Central Park, which was inspired by Birkenhead Park, which is a few miles from us and was the first publicly funded park in England.

 

I have also been looking at Google Earth, which I regularly use if going somewhere for the first time.  I was pleased to see so much green around, which I had not expected and I noticed Ellis Island.  My Great grandparents landed in NY in September 1869, when emigrating to Canada (York, Toronto).  They returned within two years, I think because of the Canadian winter climate, considering stories my mum had retold about how cold it was and that milk was supplied in blocks rather than bottles!  Sadly they lost a child when there, though another was born - so a difficult time for them.  My Great Grandfather's mother and her younger family had gone over there a number of years prior to that and stayed on in the Toronto, so I have a number of DNA matches in N. America from that link.  So Ellis Island Museum is a must, even though the use of that site post dates my ancestor's arrival.  We will also be able to meet up with my brother SIL in St John's on our way home, so interesting to have a family connection.

 

I have just had a complete change of heart about our NY visit, from feeling a bit daunted about going to such a big city, (which is not really our thing), and feeling confused about what to do, to feeling quite excited about things we can see/do there.  As you have all said, lots of options, we will pick up a book to browse through and then check on the net for updates of anything relevant, but that seems to have taken care of much of our time there,

 

Cheers and thanks again,

 

Barbara

 

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by tring

[lenquixote66]

In 2007 I organized a school reunion for graduates of a NYC school.However,most of the people who came had not been in NYC for at least 40 years.Some came from the UK and Japan.

Among the places that we went to was the Empire State Building,Statue of Liberty,Ellis Island,Coney Island ,South Street Seaport,an off Broadway play and 3 restaurants each day for 3 days.

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, tring said:

 

 

 

Thank you all very much for the suggestions/information.  The website for the Circle Line is great, even showing the time of departures during our stay in Sept.  We will definitely do the round trip one, as well as the Harbor Lights night one.  We will also head into the city a couple of nights during our stay, perhaps taking in different areas, mainly just for a stroll and couple of drink stops - we love overnight stays because of the ability to do that.  We will also likely head to Central Park, which was inspired by Birkenhead Park, which is a few miles from us and was the first publicly funded park in England.

 

I have also been looking at Google Earth, which I regularly use if going somewhere for the first time.  I was pleased to see so much green around, which I had not expected and I noticed Ellis Island.  My Great grandparents landed in NY in September 1869, when emigrating to Canada (York, Toronto).  They returned within two years, I think because of the Canadian winter climate, considering stories my mum had retold about how cold it was and that milk was supplied in blocks rather than bottles!  Sadly they lost a child when there, though another was born - so a difficult time for them.  My Great Grandfather's mother and her younger family had gone over there a number of years prior to that and stayed on in the Toronto, so I have a number of DNA matches in N. America from that link.  So Ellis Island Museum is a must, even though the use of that site post dates my ancestor's arrival.  We will also be able to meet up with my brother SIL in St John's on our way home, so interesting to have a family connection.

 

I have just had a complete change of heart about our NY visit, from feeling a bit daunted about going to such a big city, (which is not really our thing), and feeling confused about what to do, to feeling quite excited about things we can see/do there.  As you have all said, lots of options, we will pick up a book to browse through and then check on the net for updates of anything relevant, but that seems to have taken care of much of our time there,

 

Cheers and thanks again,

 

Barbara

 

 

Ellis island is great, all of my ancestors came through and settled locally. The only way to get there is using statue cruises, ferries will take you to the Statue of Liberty (worth it to get off and book either a pedestal or crown ticket, in advance) and Ellis island. They have headsets for the tour. They are timed tickets and you need to arrive early to go through security.

 

Central park is remarkable, vast green space in the middle of an urban jungle. You can spend hours and not see everything. 

[tring]

20 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

Ellis island is great, all of my ancestors came through and settled locally. The only way to get there is using statue cruises, ferries will take you to the Statue of Liberty (worth it to get off and book either a pedestal or crown ticket, in advance) and Ellis island. They have headsets for the tour. They are timed tickets and you need to arrive early to go through security.

 

Central park is remarkable, vast green space in the middle of an urban jungle. You can spend hours and not see everything. 

 

Thanks a lot for that.  I have saved down links to the ferry from Battery Park (where my ancestor's would have arrived) and to Ellis Island Immigration Museum.  The website seems to say if we get a ferry ticket  for $18 we also get entrance to both Islands (Ellis + Statue of Liberty), though I thought it would have been more expensive than that, given how touristy it will be.  You seem to mention types of ticket, so do we have to get a more expensive ticket to get full access to the Ellis Island museum?  We are not concerned about entry to The Statue of Liberty and would probably prefer to stay longer on Ellis Island, so are hoping the stay will not be for a limited time. 

 

Looks like we can get a bus or a train to Battery Park - can we get on one of those near Manhattan Cruise Terminal?  Also, do we need to book the ferry tickets in advance, we will probably be looking at Tuesday 19th September, which is the middle day we are there.

 

The island and Central Park seem good places to skip the hustle and bustle of the city which we may well want to opt out of, but would perhaps have felt different about that in our younger days 🙂

 

Barbara

 

 

[princeton123211]

13 minutes ago, tring said:

The website seems to say if we get a ferry ticket  for $18 we also get entrance to both Islands (Ellis + Statue of Liberty), though I thought it would have been more expensive than that, given how touristy it will be.  You seem to mention types of ticket, so do we have to get a more expensive ticket to get full access to the Ellis Island museum?

Both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are administered by the National Park Service and admission is free-- you're just paying for the transportation to and from both islands. You can upgrade the Ellis Island experience to a hard hat tour which will take you to the other side of the island which isn't open to the general public-- this is where the island's hospital complex is which is in slight ruin having been abandoned for decades. 

 

Frankly the Statue of Liberty is more impressive from the outside than inside and, from a time savings perspective, might not be worth getting off the ferry there. 

 

I know you had mentioned doing both the normal Circle Line tour, their evening cruise, and also now Ellis Island-- all of these will be very redundant. If I were considering all three, and wanted to physically go to Ellis Island, I would drop the evening tour and head into the city and grab drinks or dinner instead. You'll end up getting great views of lower Manhattan on both the normal Circle Line trip and ferry to Ellis Island. 

 

23 minutes ago, tring said:

Looks like we can get a bus or a train to Battery Park - can we get on one of those near Manhattan Cruise Terminal?  Also, do we need to book the ferry tickets in advance, we will probably be looking at Tuesday 19th September, which is the middle day we are there.

You could but just grabbing a taxi or an Uber will be faster and a bit easier. I would book tickets in advance just in case, although there usually is decent last minute availability. 

[mjkacmom]

19 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are administered by the National Park Service and admission is free-- you're just paying for the transportation to and from both islands. You can upgrade the Ellis Island experience to a hard hat tour which will take you to the other side of the island which isn't open to the general public-- this is where the island's hospital complex is which is in slight ruin having been abandoned for decades. 

 

Frankly the Statue of Liberty is more impressive from the outside than inside and, from a time savings perspective, might not be worth getting off the ferry there. 

 

I know you had mentioned doing both the normal Circle Line tour, their evening cruise, and also now Ellis Island-- all of these will be very redundant. If I were considering all three, and wanted to physically go to Ellis Island, I would drop the evening tour and head into the city and grab drinks or dinner instead. You'll end up getting great views of lower Manhattan on both the normal Circle Line trip and ferry to Ellis Island. 

 

You could but just grabbing a taxi or an Uber will be faster and a bit easier. I would book tickets in advance just in case, although there usually is decent last minute availability. 

I agree with ditching the night boat tour. I’ve been to Ellis island several times (I remember going as a child and you could go into the hospital areas before they did a lot of work on it, it was chilling). The last tie was the first time I got off of the ferry at the SOL, I was so impressed at the inside (I do think they moved most of the museum upside of the base). The views were incredible, plus it was a July weekend so it was nice to come into the a/c with little crowds. You do need to book in advance if you want to go in, and I’d book morning ferry tickets due to lines at security. OP you can spend as much time as you like.

[Brighton Line]

Circle Line Harbor Lights cruise in the summer months sometime even ends before the harbor lights appear. Took some family visitors on the cruise and it ended before sunset. 

I then took them to the East River and took the last east river ferry from 34th St. down to Wall St. for (then) $2.75 each (now $4) and it was at 9:30p departure so they experience at least the East Side of Manhattan the lights of the city. While not the Hudson River they enjoyed the trip.

YMMV, but this was my experience. 

[tring]

51 minutes ago, Brighton Line said:

Circle Line Harbor Lights cruise in the summer months sometime even ends before the harbor lights appear. Took some family visitors on the cruise and it ended before sunset. 

I then took them to the East River and took the last east river ferry from 34th St. down to Wall St. for (then) $2.75 each (now $4) and it was at 9:30p departure so they experience at least the East Side of Manhattan the lights of the city. While not the Hudson River they enjoyed the trip.

YMMV, but this was my experience. 

 

Very good point.  Just checked sunset on our first day (18/9/23) and sunset is 19.01.  The evening cruise leaves at 19.00, so will not be dark until later in the two hour cruise, which does make it look a good idea to forget it, but catching a standard ferry is always good instead of the tourist routes anyway.  In midsummer the evening cruise will be in much lighter conditions, so very badly described.  It would be illegal to describe it as such in the UK.

 

Using ferries after dark reminded me of hoping on a ferry at Cochin, India at night in Feb 2020, when we passed our cruise ship which was all lit up (the ferry was not particularly full and we were the only tourists on it).  I moved to the side of the ferry away from our ship and took some good pictures of the locals huddled round the ferry windows taking pictures of our ship as we passed 🙂

 

[tring]

3 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are administered by the National Park Service and admission is free-- you're just paying for the transportation to and from both islands. You can upgrade the Ellis Island experience to a hard hat tour which will take you to the other side of the island which isn't open to the general public-- this is where the island's hospital complex is which is in slight ruin having been abandoned for decades. 

 

Frankly the Statue of Liberty is more impressive from the outside than inside and, from a time savings perspective, might not be worth getting off the ferry there. 

 

I know you had mentioned doing both the normal Circle Line tour, their evening cruise, and also now Ellis Island-- all of these will be very redundant. If I were considering all three, and wanted to physically go to Ellis Island, I would drop the evening tour and head into the city and grab drinks or dinner instead. You'll end up getting great views of lower Manhattan on both the normal Circle Line trip and ferry to Ellis Island. 

 

You could but just grabbing a taxi or an Uber will be faster and a bit easier. I would book tickets in advance just in case, although there usually is decent last minute availability. 

 

3 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

I agree with ditching the night boat tour. I’ve been to Ellis island several times (I remember going as a child and you could go into the hospital areas before they did a lot of work on it, it was chilling). The last tie was the first time I got off of the ferry at the SOL, I was so impressed at the inside (I do think they moved most of the museum upside of the base). The views were incredible, plus it was a July weekend so it was nice to come into the a/c with little crowds. You do need to book in advance if you want to go in, and I’d book morning ferry tickets due to lines at security. OP you can spend as much time as you like.

 

Thanks again to both of you.  I have just been reading a number of reviews about Ellis Island and some other places.  I think we will probably skip the Hard Hat tour as we would be time restricted and the facility post dated my ancestors, but looks like I could look up records of arrivals.  I need to find out what details I may find though as I already have a saved copy of their arrival records on my ancestry tree.  It shows the ship they had arrived on, date and where they were heading as well as a mention they were in steerage, as I would have expected.  The departure records from here and arrival back have been lost in a fire many years ago, which is a shame.  Inside the SOL looked fairly interesting, but as it obviously means climbing those stairs, it is a non starter for me and perhaps not worth spending the time.  I would not have been daunted by it ten years ago in my early sixties, but just have to accept what I can do now. 

 

Must get some sleep now and return to more research in the future.  DH will pick up a guide book in a couple of days which we can peruse.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by tring

[mjkacmom]

15 hours ago, tring said:

 

 

Thanks again to both of you.  I have just been reading a number of reviews about Ellis Island and some other places.  I think we will probably skip the Hard Hat tour as we would be time restricted and the facility post dated my ancestors, but looks like I could look up records of arrivals.  I need to find out what details I may find though as I already have a saved copy of their arrival records on my ancestry tree.  It shows the ship they had arrived on, date and where they were heading as well as a mention they were in steerage, as I would have expected.  The departure records from here and arrival back have been lost in a fire many years ago, which is a shame.  Inside the SOL looked fairly interesting, but as it obviously means climbing those stairs, it is a non starter for me and perhaps not worth spending the time.  I would not have been daunted by it ten years ago in my early sixties, but just have to accept what I can do now. 

 

Must get some sleep now and return to more research in the future.  DH will pick up a guide book in a couple of days which we can peruse.

 

 

 

 

Just so you know, those stairs lead to the crown, the pedestal has stairs and elevators (my kids hiked up to the crown while my husband and I just explored downstairs).

[shipssailing]

On 2/7/2023 at 11:32 AM, George C said:

Two of my favorite places for lunch that are really close is Becco on 46st between 8 ave and 9. Excellent itilian food you can have two nice two course lunch with a bottle of wine for about a hundred. The other is Ellen’s stardust diner , it’s your basic dinner , but waiters are singers who will be dancing and singing through out the day , that is on 51 st and broadway. Can get half price broadway tickets at tkts in Times Square there are shows in early afternoon on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. 

LOVE, LOVE Becco!