Cruiser Formerly Known As Cheapo Dad's Trip Report on Odyssey of the Seas Sailing to A Minus B Plus C Plus H Islands

[harryfat1]

Major tourist stop at Ess-A-Bagel as many people lined up daily for the NYC bagel. Line out the door at 10 AM as we passed it on the way to the subway station.

 

 

Including walking and the subway ride on the E train (the same one that takes Dani from the airport) down to the SoHo district.

 

 

The tour started in front of the bakery and some people grabbed breakfast pasty there while waiting for the tour to start but we weren’t hungry after the hotel breakfast.

 

 

I like how they cut a hole for the tree to come out

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Today’s group was much bigger and the tour guide didn’t have a microphone/speaker, so it was hard to hear what she had to say as she wasn’t very loud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

The SoHo district is famous for its buildings and art galleries.  The first one she took us to was Parkwest. This name might sound familiar to many cruisers as this is the same art gallery that has contracts with the cruise lines.  The same art auction dealers you see on cruise ships.

 

 

Just as I mentioned shopping and shipboard photography is seldom discussed in cruise reports here on CC, I seldom see anyone talking about art auctions while on the cruise. 

 

Yes, I know they are overpriced but there are always people at the art auctions who never reported art auctions on trip reports?  I typically don’t go to them as we cruise as a family and the kids would have been bored to tears.

 

I guess one of these days if it’s just my wife and I cruising and she’s out shopping at the stores on a sea day, I would rather attend an art auction than sit at the solarium reading a book.  But that’s just me…

 

Of all the cruises, I have only attended one art auction.  That was when the boys were in Camp Carnival when they were young and my wife was shopping so I dropped by the art auction next door.  Got a free glass of champagne and sat in the back just chilling.  After that, for the rest of the cruise, the art gallery folks kept sending me art auction flyers in the cabin – you have to give your name and cabin number to sit in the art auction so they know who attended.

 

It's well established I know nada about art but at least at the art auction, they talk a little bit about the history of the artist/artwork and it’s interesting to see how a “meh” painting can be that expensive.

 

I cruise/vacation for new experiences so at least that qualifies as something new whereas sitting in the solarium looking at the same ocean/staring down my own belly button doesn’t rank a “new experience” to me…🤪

[harryfat1]

Anyway, I digress way too much.  During the Art Gallery visit, we lost a few families as their teenage daughters were complaining about being stuck in the 2.5-hour tour. The girls rather do something “fun” so they just left the tour.

 

 

That’s the advantage of these walking tours in that if in the beginning, you feel this tour isn’t for you, just leave and owe nothing as you pay at the end.  Obviously don’t be a jerk and walk out at the 90% completion and not pay at the back end. 

 

I saw some people doing just that.  That seems very uncool to me.  Either leave early and pay nothing to do your own thing or if you stay more than halfway with the guide, you should tip/pay and then leave if you have something else to do…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Typical SoHo area buildings.  A very unique style.

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Another gallery stop.  As I said above, this tour guide loves galleries more than food as we didn’t stop at the food places as described in the web page but took us to galleries instead that weren’t on the agenda.

 

To steal Forrest Gump’s famous line – Walking tour is like a box of chocolate, you never know how good of a tour guide you will get…

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure if this artwork or a personal life statement - I guess it could be both...

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

As it's not easy to have some greenery in NYC with all the buildings next to each other, you see some buildings have rooftop gardens

 

 

 

 

 

Tour bus

 

 

[harryfat1]

We went inside this church.  The old man in me had forgotten the significance of this church after the tour guide told us – maybe it was the first Catholic church in NYC?   It’s not listed on the description so not sure why it was important for us to visit.

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Then we were pretty done with SoHo as we ventured into Little Italy. 

 

If you like the sidewalk eatery scene, this could be a place for you as you can dine outside as with Covid, many restaurants took over the sidewalks to have outdoor seating.  But I’m not a fan of having hundreds/thousands of fellow tourists walking within 2 feet of my meal and looking at what I am eating.

 

It's a personal preference thing.

 

Per YouTubers, the Little Italy area is supposedly is mostly for tourists as better Italian food can be had elsewhere in NYC for lower prices but tourists flock to it.

 

 

 

 

Check out this ATM machine – would you feel comfortable trying to get cash from here?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

Christmas store that runs 365 days a year.  You can order personal Christmas ornaments here

 

 

Yeah, no privacy on your meal here

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

After a quick walkthrough of Little Italy, it was Chinatown next.  It’s just literally on the “other side of the street” dividing the two famous neighborhoods.

 

 

 

 

Street vendors selling fruits by the sidewalk

 

 

 

 

Lots of seniors hanging out at the Chinatown park speaking only Chinese.

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Ok.  The “meh” tour is over.  Time to pay/tip and we are on our own.  After walking around for a bit, it was time for lunch at 1:20.

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

I saw this Chinese restaurant (Sun Hop Lee) on Youtube/online with a great weekday lunch special menu so that’s where we headed for lunch.

 

Check this out, $8.25 per dish and that includes rice and soup. We ordered 4 dishes.  We probably could have ordered a fifth one if we really wanted to stuff ourselves but we were more hot/thirsty from the walk than hungry as after the rain storm blew out from yesterday, it was a hot sunny/humid day

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the whole meal for the 4 of us was $33. NYC does not charge sales tax on restaurant food as it was $8.25/dish X 4 = $33. 

 

 

Gave them $40 (including tip) out the door.  Remember to bring cash as they don’t take credit cards.

 

Dirt cheap to feed a family of 4 for lunch for $40 in a sit-down restaurant.  We can't find that in the bay area. Highly recommend this place

[harryfat1]

Across the street was the Pink Lady Japanese-style mini Cheese Tarts.  We bought 6 of them to eat for the rest of the vacation.

 

 

 

 

[perfect match]

On 7/26/2024 at 7:53 PM, harryfat1 said:

Now this wouldn’t be a Cheapo Dad’s trip report (supplemental or not) if there wasn’t a Line picture in here somewhere.

I was hoping there would be a mooring line picture at some point during the NYC portion of your travels! You did not disappoint! There aren’t many mooring line shots like the one where you are able to stand right next to the guy working the line!

 

I love that your touring plan took you out into so many different parts of the city. You got to see a lot of the city using your plan. 😀

[Badatz2]

7 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the whole meal for the 4 of us was $33. NYC does not charge sales tax on restaurant food as it was $8.25/dish X 4 = $33. 

 

 

 

 

There is sales tax for restaurant meals in New York City. It is 8.875%.  It was probably included in the price.  Normally it is added to the advertised price.

Any way you look at it you got a great price. 

[dani negreanu]

15 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Did the captain announce to everyone prior to sailing that y'all will be getting a special treat so you can all gather at the bow?

 

I know (from the roll call) that people have asked the captain to make the detour. When be boarded, the captain announced that he'll do his best, according to tides and weather conditions.

 

We lucked out 😎

[mikayla73]

On 7/28/2024 at 12:45 PM, harryfat1 said:

Meeting the tour guide at SoHo area.  New Yorkers like acronyms. SoHo stands for South of Houston Street.  And to the rest of the world, the word Houston is pronounced HUGHS-TON, as in Houston (the city), we have a problem.  But New Yorkers being different, pronounce Houston as HOW-STON after a person.

There's a county in middle GA named Houston. They too pronounce it HOW-STON. But it's the South, so we have lots of different pronunciations for things. 

 

I've read a couple of your trip reports and I am enjoying them. I found your reports because someone else mentioned you in their trip report. Looking forward to hearing about your Jubilee cruise later this year. Thanks for all the work and info you put in them.

[rncruiser]

If a restaurant is not charging sales tax and only accepting cash they are probably illegally not paying taxes. 

[Badatz2]

38 minutes ago, rncruiser said:

If a restaurant is not charging sales tax and only accepting cash they are probably illegally not paying taxes. 

I thought of that too but why would they advertise the fact so publicly.  There are tax inspectors checking restaurants all the time.

[harryfat1]

12 hours ago, Badatz2 said:

There is sales tax for restaurant meals in New York City. It is 8.875%.  It was probably included in the price.  Normally it is added to the advertised price.

Any way you look at it you got a great price. 

 

53 minutes ago, rncruiser said:

If a restaurant is not charging sales tax and only accepting cash they are probably illegally not paying taxes. 

 

12 minutes ago, Badatz2 said:

I thought of that too but why would they advertise the fact so publicly.  There are tax inspectors checking restaurants all the time.

Haha, the biggest reaction so far from the NYC supplemental report is related to sales tax...

 

Working backward, if the final price is $8.25 with a sales tax of 8.875% embedded, that implies the food before tax was $7.60 or so a plate.  That's dirt cheap...

 

I have to imagine they are submitting sales tax as they issue each table a bill with a sequential number on it. 

 

Our ticket number is 102085. The sales tax auditor can easily request a listing of all the sales bill in sequential order to see.

 

What they get away with is the people not reporting some of the tips in their wages as it's all cash.

 

[harryfat1]

14 hours ago, perfect match said:

I was hoping there would be a mooring line picture at some point during the NYC portion of your travels! You did not disappoint! There aren’t many mooring line shots like the one where you are able to stand right next to the guy working the line!

 

I love that your touring plan took you out into so many different parts of the city. You got to see a lot of the city using your plan. 😀

Thanks.  Yeah, we only went on one ferry excursion and just lucked out in being next to the dude.  In all his years of working with the ferry, he probably never had anyone taking a picture of him working the line until now...

 

The advantage of being in a city for multiple days is seeing more of the neighborhoods.  If we were just there for 7 days, we would have to skip some or be in a rush to try and squeeze in everything.

[harryfat1]

10 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

I know (from the roll call) that people have asked the captain to make the detour. When be boarded, the captain announced that he'll do his best, according to tides and weather conditions.

 

We lucked out 😎

Very nice of the captain to accommodate.

 

How do you request for the captain to make the detour? Do they have an email alias at RCI to make such a request?

 

What do you write? 

 

Like "Dear Captain (Santa), I have been a very good cruiser (person) this year and for the upcoming cruise (Christmas), I would like to see the Statue of Liberty from the cruise ship as I am too cheap to pay $25 to ride the ferry that takes me to the island.  It would mean so much to me if you could just take the ship close by the statue for me to take 37 pictures so I can post them on CC that nobody cares about..."

 

[Badatz2]

Haha, the biggest reaction so far from the NYC supplemental report is related to sales tax...

 

Just goes to show that we are reading your posts all the time and are following along.  Keep up the good work.

 

Adding the tax in addition to the posted price or label is what makes shopping a shock in NY and other areas.  You think you are paying one price and end up paying a lot more.  You never get over it

 

[harryfat1]

1 hour ago, mikayla73 said:

There's a county in middle GA named Houston. They too pronounce it HOW-STON. But it's the South, so we have lots of different pronunciations for things. 

 

I've read a couple of your trip reports and I am enjoying them. I found your reports because someone else mentioned you in their trip report. Looking forward to hearing about your Jubilee cruise later this year. Thanks for all the work and info you put in them.

Yeah, y'all are different down south.

 

As I need to start talking with a Chinese Southern Accent to be ready for the upcoming Texas cruise...🤪

 

It was nice of others to mention me in their reports.  Most likely it was @KmomChicago as I have a referral agreement with her such that she gets 10% of whatever CC pays me as a referral fee.  As soon as CC pays me for all these trip reports, I will Zelle her the money...