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]

We are heading UPTOWN today as we typically head DOWNTOWN on the other days as most of the activities are south of us but today we are going north as that’s where Central Park is.

 

The Subway ride north wasn’t very popular/crowded.  Just a short ride and you can find a seat to sit

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

The Globe Structure at Columbus Circle is at the southwest corner entrance of Central Park.

 

Behind it is the Trump International Hotel

 

 

[harryfat1]

So today’s tour is to see the highlights of the Southern part of Central Park.  The park itself is huge.  You can easily spend 2 days at the park but we only have 2/3 of the day dedicated to it so we only saw some of the big-name areas.

 

The park itself is manmade.  It was created in 1858.  You can watch YouTube history on the park. Per Wiki, it’s the most visited urban park in the US – although I wonder how they calculate that number as it’s a free park with multiple entrances so how do they do the count?

 

Anyway,  I will take their word for it as many people know the park through movies and songs.  If you are a native New Yorker, you may not have visited tourist traps like the Empire State Building or Statue of Liberty, but you will likely have visited Central Park at least once.

 

Of the 4 tours we took on this trip, I would rank this as a MUST.  You can do your own thing at SoHo or Brooklyn Bridge or Wall Street, but Central Park is big and full of trees.  It would be much more work on your end as a first-time visitor navigating through the park.

 

There are kiosks where they give away free maps of the park but unless you know what spots you want to see, I would go with a guide on a walking tour.

 

We booked ours with the Guruwalk and paid $20/pp.  If you want to go with another tour, Central Park web page offers tours for $35/pp

 

https://www.centralpark.com/tours/walking/central-park-tour/

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Here’s our tour info:

 

https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/50384-connect-with-central-park-s-soul-dive-into-an-exclusive-nature-tour

 

We are going to stop at many places but even then, you can see we will have only see the southern part of the park

 

Here’s our tour info:

 

https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/50384-connect-with-central-park-s-soul-dive-into-an-exclusive-nature-tour

 

We are going to stop at many places but even then, you can see we will have only visited the southern part of the park

 

 

There's an entire middle and upper part not covered by the tour

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Being a fan of the TV show, Law and Order, which was filmed in NYC for an astonishing 24 seasons, I have a certain tainted view/bias on NYC. 

 

Since the show is about crime, somebody always dies at the beginning of the show from foul play.  So my expectation of NYC and Central Park is that you will get robbed/mugged/killed on any given day. 

 

It’s like walking across the street in the red light.  One of these days, you will draw a short straw and get smacked by a car. 

 

I envisioned there were hundreds of murderers hiding in the bushes of Central Park who would come and chop your head off as they kill every 100th tourist and take your money and phone and then you become a chalk outline on the floor as the TV show starts…

 

Yeah, that’s my images of NYC/Central Park.

 

But as the commercial says - Not Exactly....

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

I will be the first to admit I don’t know all the names/sites listed so if my pictures don’t match my description, you will know it as someone will point out my error

 

Our tour guide is on the left with a baseball cap.  Very nice man from Latin America.  Knows the area well.

 

 

Not a fan of the horse-drawn carriages.  More cruelty to animals to make them do this in the heat but many people enjoy their rides

 

 

Nice clean public bathrooms to use before the tour starts

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

I have never seen such tall and yet narrow buildings until visiting NYC.

 

 

Wolloman Rink.  During the winter months, this becomes another ice skating rink in addition to the most famous one at Rockefeller Center. During the summer, they use the area for the ever-more popular Pickle Ball Courts

 

 

[perfect match]

Harry, with regards to your question about whether you should do London first or Paris first what I like to do is research what major events will or maybe will not be going on at the time you plan to be there as that might make a big difference in what you’ll be able to do there. 
 

I’m not at all familiar with London or Paris these days so I’ll use a more local to me example. We were planning a trip to Daytona Beach a few years back. Before we booked I made sure that we would not be there during the Daytona 500 or any of the other major race weeks, Bike Week, or Spring Break weeks. It’s one thing if you’re going to participate in one of those events, but that was not our plan. I was glad I checked because we would have picked the wrong week to go.

[NHProud]

I’ll be the contrarian , here . If it were me , I would visit in two separate trips.  There is lots to see in Paris and I would include Versailles and the Loire Valley. We visited trois chateaux in the Loire Valley . Paris is a cosmopolitan city and they speak English.

 

On a separate trip , after visiting London take the train to Scotland. Visit Edinburgh, the castle and Holyrood , Then rent a car and drive around the highlands. It is just gorgeous. 
 

Your itinerary sounds exhausting and too much . Pause and smell the flowers . You’re young and you have plenty of time , God willing. 
 

My friend used Rick Steves recommendations for Paris and London . She lucked out in Paris and though arriving at the London hotel late at night she found it unacceptable. 

[KmomChicago]

On 7/29/2024 at 2:58 PM, harryfat1 said:

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...

I benefit greatly from promoting @harryfat1 in my trip reports as I always tell the Royal Caribbean crew members that we are working together.

 

Without fail they offer me free lemonade, coffee and tea in the Windjammer whenever I mention this! 
 

I’m not sure how far this association will go to get me similar freebies next time I make it to the Big Apple, but every little bit helps us fellow cheapos. 
 

 

[harryfat1]

20 hours ago, perfect match said:

Harry, with regards to your question about whether you should do London first or Paris first what I like to do is research what major events will or maybe will not be going on at the time you plan to be there as that might make a big difference in what you’ll be able to do there. 
 

I’m not at all familiar with London or Paris these days so I’ll use a more local to me example. We were planning a trip to Daytona Beach a few years back. Before we booked I made sure that we would not be there during the Daytona 500 or any of the other major race weeks, Bike Week, or Spring Break weeks. It’s one thing if you’re going to participate in one of those events, but that was not our plan. I was glad I checked because we would have picked the wrong week to go.

Thanks for the tip.  I will keep an eye out for any events happening during the time we will be in town but since it’s almost 11 months out, not all the events will be published online.

 

We were in Osaka Japan back in 2019 the same week they had the G7 meetings of world leaders there and they closed many of the tourist venues in the area we wanted to visit for security reasons but by then, it was too late to change our plans.

 

My window to vacation is very narrow in trying to align the boys school and my work schedule – it has to be in late June or early August and the one week of Christmas.  That’s it.  I can’t vacation any other time of the year as you always read that people say “The best time to visit this place is Spring and Fall to avoid the Tourists”. 

 

Nope, can’t do that. 

 

I am part of the thousands/millions of tourists that people are trying to avoid. I also have to pay a premium in terms of airfare/cruises/hotel to travel in these popular times.

[harryfat1]

18 hours ago, NHProud said:

I’ll be the contrarian , here . If it were me , I would visit in two separate trips.  There is lots to see in Paris and I would include Versailles and the Loire Valley. We visited trois chateaux in the Loire Valley . Paris is a cosmopolitan city and they speak English.

 

On a separate trip , after visiting London take the train to Scotland. Visit Edinburgh, the castle and Holyrood , Then rent a car and drive around the highlands. It is just gorgeous. 
 

Your itinerary sounds exhausting and too much . Pause and smell the flowers . You’re young and you have plenty of time , God willing. 
 

My friend used Rick Steves recommendations for Paris and London . She lucked out in Paris and though arriving at the London hotel late at night she found it unacceptable. 

Thanks for the contrarian suggestion.  Yes, we actually have thought about making 2 separte trips but as we get older, the bucket list gets longer and the window to vacation is shorter. 

 

I don’t think I will have the strength to walk 8 to 10 miles daily 20 years from now so I need to hit as many of the bucket list areas while I still can walk.

 

The top item list is visiting all the Disney parks in the world in the order they are built.

 

Besides London/Paris, we still need to visit Greece and other parts of Meditererian - probably a B2B cruise somewhere down the road next few year. 

 

Then there’s Asian countries like Korea/Singapore/Taiwan on top of going to Hong Kong and Shanghai to see the Disney parks there.

 

Then there’s Australia/New Zealand area along with Thailand/Malayasia and Iceland and Norwegian Fjords.  Haven’t even talked about Egypt or South America and Africa. 

 

I will be long dead before all the items on the bucket list is checked off.

 

Here’s our tentative high level schedule for 2 weeks as that’s the max time I can be away from work. This schedule has us flying into London first but in theory we can switch between the 2 cities if necessary, it will depend on the cost of the airfare.

 

One advantage of going to Paris earlier is their school kids are out by early July and Disneyland would be crowded so it might make sense to got to Paris first.

 

We might shortchange London by a day and give it to Paris as we might go back to London later on for cruises out of Southampton so we can catch whatever we missed this time around. But Paris may not be a repeat visit for any foreseeable future giving the long bucket list.

 

 

[harryfat1]

So we were at Central Park:

 

 

 

As I said, most of the Central Park was man made but this hill area is from the old days.

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

There’s a Central Park Zoo.

 

 

So let’s try to connect back to a cruise theme once more – as most of you remembered that years ago, RCI had a partnership with DreamWorks to use the characters on their cruise ship shows/parades.

 

The movie series from DreamWorks, Madagascar, was based on the animals from the Central Park Zoo.  In fact, if you watch the beginning of the movie, you will see Central Park Zoo as where all the animals lived and the clock tower striking at 9 AM to signify the opening of the zoo.

 

Maybe some boring people on CC don’t like having characters on the cruises but personally speaking, I loved having the parades and activities related to the DreamWorks.  Remember what I strive for on my vacation – Entertainment (fun) and not relaxation.

 

I missed these parades/shows on the Royal Promenade/Aqua Theater/ Studio B…

 

Let's toss in few old DreamWorks pics for nostalgia sake:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Anyway, I digress way too much.  Back to the Central Park walking tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

We move on after the zoo and you see entertainers under the bridge

 

 

Balto the dog statue and his story here

 

 

[harryfat1]

Quick water break as we approach “The Mall”. 

 

 

Many parts of Central Park consist of smaller trails but this portion of the Central Park is wide open with lots of room. In the old days, wealthy folks would ride their horse carriages down this main pathway, the Mall.

 

Lots of shades in this part as the trees are tall and mature

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Bethesda Terrace and Fountain

 

It was in the Dustin Hoffman movie, Running Man as well as in the Marvels movie, The Avengers.

 

Need to look up to check out the tiled ceilings

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Bethesda Fountain

 

Supposedly if you come here in the dead of winter, the water fountain won’t be running as it’s too cold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

You can rent rowboats here

 

 

 

Even the tour guide is taking pictures...

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

[harryfat1]

The Hans Christian Andersen statue

 

 

Statue of Alice in Wonderland

 

Be VERY CAREFUL when approaching this statue in the summer as it’s VERY HOT being out in the sun all day long.  Lots of kids tried to climb on top of it to take a picture and they all screamed when their bare skin touched the statue.

 

 

 

It’s better to be IN FRONT of the statue than sitting on it during sunny days

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

For those who want solitude from the hustle/bustle of Manhattan, the tour guide took us into an area where you can’t see/hear any of the noise of NYC.

 

Which can be a good or bad thing as if you can’t hear others – chances are other people can’t hear you.

 

Call me paranoid if you will, but this could be a perfect spot to murder someone and you end up being in the opening scene of the next episode of Law and Order…😜

 

 

[harryfat1]