ok, how much is too much

[jazncruiser]

Jade13, I didn't know where to check but frommers, trip advisor and on CC, so we opted for Murray Hill, only reason we'd getting shared bath is due to a Friday night prior to leaving, during the week they had reg rooms with baths. We have never done a shared bath before... I'll let everyone know how it was when we return. I plan on taking better notes, impressions this time around. I will have a journal with me or maybe I'll use the ships exploration cafe

[jazncruiser]

really!!!! where was it, I'm hoping we can get less than that, might just have to eat "hotdogs" from the wagon on the street if that is the case and enjoy a wonderful dinner for 3 nights? Anyone have any suggestions for reasonable food for lunch? we normally spend 15-20 for both.

[ekerr19]

Food is pretty pricey in NYC - even fast food costs more than what you are probably used to.

 

I remember once we stopped for burgers in Vail when our kids were little and our McDonalds bill was $40 - this was years ago, and two of the meals were Happy Meals, lol!

 

Our company's per diem for meals in NYC is $150 per person and it can be tough to meet that. You might find deli meals (such as Sail did for lunch) but I'd still plan on $75 -$100 per day for both of you; without alcohol or extras... jmho.

[JohnQ]

Patti,

Does that include daily tips for 11 days of $220 recomm in your $1,100? It sounds high to me but I'm afraid to check ours. As a budget analyst, that sounds too much like work!!!

[peaches from georgia]

Double post. Sorry

[peaches from georgia]

I'm afraid you'll be in for a shock in NYC. Not only the cost of food, but taxis, fees for sightseeing and all kinds of incidentals. It costs an arm and a leg just to breath in NY. Evidently you have not been there before? It's great, but expensive.

[mamaofami]

Well, there's always a diner for breakfast or lunch. Pizza, hot dogs, hamburger, eggs, pancakes, etc. Depends on what you're willing to eat. Good luck with the food budget. Let us know how you did when you return.

[babyher]

OK the way I am reading this is that the $175 per person per day is for your cruise, the excursions you have booked for the cruise and your hotel stay in NYC. Which is a pretty freakin' good per diem :)

 

However you have not factored the in the cost of three days of breakfast, lunches and dinners in NYC, sightseeing, shopping and if you were planning on seeing a play, get a home equity loan before you leave.

 

Plus you don't mention your airfare from Cali to NYC.

[jtopicz1]

JazN,

 

This may not be your thing, but have you tried Priceline for your NYC hotel. We bid 4* and got the Grand Hyatt Times Square last year for $125. I've had good luck using the site "IF" you have the flexibility to stay anywhere within a given area. Subway stops are so frequent in New York, just about anywhere Midtown or Times Square is convienient. I'd look into it for sure....

 

If you happen to have the dates you need the room in NYC, I'd be happy to check what you may be able to get a 3 or 4* room for on PL, if nothing else but for a comparison. I have a little "hidden" method that works pretty good for checking what prices priceline will accept without actually bidding all the way through....

 

Jim

[agabbymama]

Last year my friend and I travelled to NYC 2 days pre-cruise for our New England/Canada cruise. We stayed at the Edison Hotel for $210 per night.

 

We ate a quick breakfast in the Hotel cafe. The cost was something like $5.95 for a quick starter with 1 egg, 1 bacon, toast and coffee.

 

We then went on the Greyline loop tour around NYC. We got off at Battery Park and took the boat over to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. They have a very nice cafeteria in the Ellis Island Building, that was pretty reasonable. I had a hamburger with fries and soda for $9.00.

 

Next door was a deli (sorry I don't remember the name), but they were very reasonable on their prices. I got a ham sandwich and she had a reuben with a soda each for about $9 each.

 

Then for dinner we went to Lindy's (I think it's on 7th) because my friend wanted their cheesecake. They also had reasonable prices for a sitdown dinner. I had open-faced turkey with all the fixings for $14.95 and my friend had a large salad. Then we took the cheesecake to go as we were too full to eat it immediately. Now I'm not saying this was an elegant fabulous restaurant, it's more of a home-style diner. But the food was sure good, and the cheesecake was to die for.

 

I don't go to restaurants that cost $50 pp in Los Angeles, and I really didn't want to do that in NYC. Because everyone kept saying meals were so expensive there, I budgeted $100 per day, but only spent around $50.

 

I think you've done an excellent job of keeping costs low. Only one word of caution, have a reserve just in case, you never know what might happen. My travel agent told me many years ago, to take the cost of your trip and that amount is what you should take to spend. I never do, I only take half of that amount, and I've always had plenty. Sometimes I even come home with money left over to pay for the photos.

 

Have a fabulous time! New York City is a city to behold!

[peaches from georgia]

OK the way I am reading this is that the $175 per person per day is for your cruise, the excursions you have booked for the cruise and your hotel stay in NYC. Which is a pretty freakin' good per diem :)

 

However you have not factored the in the cost of three days of breakfast, lunches and dinners in NYC, sightseeing, shopping and if you were planning on seeing a play, get a home equity loan before you leave.

 

Plus you don't mention your airfare from Cali to NYC.

 

Read Post #16. Everything is in the 175/day including food etc. in NYC.

[jazncruiser]

JohnQ, forgot about the tips :( But maybe this trip, We'll tell HAL to not charge us and we will just tip the staff who made us very welcome!! probably not though...oh well, ovetime does come in handy!

 

Patti

[jazncruiser]

Thanks for the tips, we are not afraid of diners, some of our best homemeals were in them. We are also looking at a citypass for new york, which I believe costs a little over 60 pp and gets you into 6 major attractions: Museum of Natural History, Empire State Bldg, Intrepid Sea-Air-Space museum, the Guggenheim, Museum of Modern Art and a 2hr Circle line harbor cruise

[jazncruiser]

last post from me was reply to agabbymamma....

[ekerr19]

JohnQ, forgot about the tips :( But maybe this trip, We'll tell HAL to not charge us and we will just tip the staff who made us very welcome!! probably not though...oh well, ovetime does come in handy!

 

Patti

 

Patti -

 

I hope you think twice about removing your auto-tip. I can understand doing so if you have an issue related to the specific service you receive, but to do so to save a few dollars doesn't seem fair to the staff onboard who really do work so hard. :confused:

 

In our experience, the gratuity is worth every penny, and then some. :)

[babyher]

Read Post #16. Everything is in the 175/day including food etc. in NYC.

 

 

Ok didn't catch that.

 

That just sounds really low

[Scrumpy]

Patti,

I think you've done a lot to keep costs low. While you may have costs you don't anticipate, I think you're in the ballpark. I hope that you have a great time. Along with others, I would recommend having some funds in reserve, either via cash or a credit card - just another few hundred might come in very handy and enhance your trip. We have done NYC for a very low per diem also, but it helped that the weather was so very cold and miserable one day that we lingered every place we went and didn't try to do a whole lot in the first place!!! My advice would be to pre-pay for as much as possible, if you haven't already. You can go ahead and pay for onboard credits if that will help you budget for your expenses. If you want to do anything special in NY, you may also be able to get tickets in advance or you can get theater tickets at deep discounts while there - unfortunately, I don't recall where you can go to get them. Sorry! We saw the Christmas Spectacular at Rockefeller Center (no, I think it's Radio City Music Hall) and LOVED it, but I don't remember where/when we got those tickets either.

Have fun,

Susan

[jazncruiser]

jtopicz1, sure check prices, 10-31 thru 11-2, everywhere I've check is not accepting reservations....let us know, we'd like to stay mid town area if possible;)

 

Patti

[Scrumpy]

Patti,

I think you've done a lot to keep costs low. While you may have costs you don't anticipate, I think you're in the ballpark. I hope that you have a great time. Along with others, I would recommend having some funds in reserve, either via cash or a credit card - just another few hundred might come in very handy and enhance your trip. We have done NYC for a very low per diem also, but it helped that the weather was so very cold and miserable one day that we lingered every place we went and didn't try to do a whole lot in the first place!!! My advice would be to pre-pay for as much as possible, if you haven't already. You can go ahead and pay for onboard credits if that will help you budget for your expenses. If you want to do anything special in NY, you may also be able to get tickets in advance or you can get theater tickets at deep discounts while there - unfortunately, I don't recall where you can go to get them. Sorry! We saw the Christmas Spectacular at Rockefeller Center (Or is it Radio City Music Hall? Man, I'm getting old) and LOVED it, but I don't remember where/when we got those tickets either.

Have fun,

Susan

[jazncruiser]

Scrumpy,

 

Thanks for the advise, most of our trip is pre-paid except for the hotel and we will be bringing traveler's checks with us for our onboard account and other incidentals..Hopefully, we can catch a matinee on broadway at last minute while we are there, need to check it out yet since we will be there from Wed-Friday....any other suggestions would be helpful:D

 

Patti

[jazncruiser]

ekerr19,

 

Never Never do we not tip while on board!!! I just like the old way better instead of the $10 pp per day per cabin..Let's NOT get into a thread about this. We usually tip more than that and we still tip extra to those who gave us extra throughout the cruise. I used to waitress so I know how it feels when you don't get a good tip when you've given good service and how it feels when you get an even better tip when you do :) I wasn't trying to imply that we wouldn't tip just to save a few bucks, after all, this is our only vacation this year and our 32nd anniversary so we will be doing some splurging!!!!

[Scrumpy]

-sorry for the double post-

 

Got so worked up over messing up part of my other post that I forgot to address the facilities issue. We've dealt with that in the UK and Europe and it has not been a big problem. Unless people are a lot different here, I think one night of shared bathrooms wouldn't necessarily be a bad experience. You may want to bring some disinfectant wipes. Our experience overseas was that cleaning products were supplied, but I've no idea how it works here. To be safe, you'll want to give the toilet a wipe and also the tub/shower, if you use it. Another, possibly better idea might be to wait to bathe until you're actually on the ship.

 

Hope you will post when you come back and let us know how it went and whether your per diem was significantly different than you anticipated. I haven't had any problem with the occasional meal from a street vendor or a storefront pizza-by-the-slice place and what better time to indulge in that than on vacation? You might save enough for a nice evening meal which would be great!

[ekerr19]

ekerr19,

 

Never Never do we not tip while on board!!! I just like the old way better instead of the $10 pp per day per cabin..Let's NOT get into a thread about this. We usually tip more than that and we still tip extra to those who gave us extra throughout the cruise. I used to waitress so I know how it feels when you don't get a good tip when you've given good service and how it feels when you get an even better tip when you do :) I wasn't trying to imply that we wouldn't tip just to save a few bucks, after all, this is our only vacation this year and our 32nd anniversary so we will be doing some splurging!!!!

 

No problem - we liked it better the old way too. I've seen people who do remove it just because they can.

 

Sounds like you are going to have a great Anniversary and the Noordam is a beautiful ship - ENJOY!!!!

[jazncruiser]

No problem - we liked it better the old way too. I've seen people who do remove it just because they can.

 

Sounds like you are going to have a great Anniversary and the Noordam is a beautiful ship - ENJOY!!!!

We haven't been on this type of ship before, Maasdam, Volendam and the old MS Niew Amsterdam. Am looking forward as we have sailed twice on Ma and VO. Thanks!

 

Patti

[madelinerose]

I've had my mouth hanging open while reading this thread and trying to grasp the $175 pp/pd concept for the cruise and Manhattan hotel!

 

Amazing, is allI can say! We visit NYC twice a year, so I'm quite familiar with the hotel rates.

 

I am not familiar with the Murray Hill Inn, so I checked TripAdvisor (my first line of research for hotels). Murray Hill, the neighborhood is a very nice residential area.

 

Here's the TripAdvisor link:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60763-d80093-Reviews-Murray_Hill_Inn-New_York_City_New_York.html

 

Enjoy your cruise and your NY stay! ;)

 

 

Karen