July 4 post cruise, tour Manhattan for a few hours?

[Middleager]

We'll get off Carnival cruise on Sat. July 4, and will put luggage in our van that's parked at the cruise terminal. We have 2 adults and 3 children (boys 16, 14, and girl 12) I've been to NYC, others haven't.

 

We'll be driving the van out of the cruise terminal before 3pm, so can drive around in the afternoon, before heading to Westin Jersey city Newport to stay the night and watch fireworks.

 

So we have about 10am to 3pm, to walk or take transit to tour. Thinking of Time Square, and maybe Central Park. Might like to go to some famous buildings/sites (Rockefellow, Empire State, Chrysler, Ground zero), but not necessarily go to to top of building (probably no time). I know we can't do them all, but what can we do realistically.

 

We can get some fastfood, so not planning for long sit-down lunch.

 

After getting the van, we can drive maybe to Ground zero, and Brooklyn Bridge, or other places you suggest.

 

Please give us some recommendations.

 

Thanks.

[BlueHerons]

We'll get off Carnival cruise on Sat. July 4, and will put luggage in our van that's parked at the cruise terminal. We have 2 adults and 3 children (boys 16, 14, and girl 12) I've been to NYC, others haven't.

 

We'll be driving the van out of the cruise terminal before 3pm, so can drive around in the afternoon, before heading to Westin Jersey city Newport to stay the night and watch fireworks.

 

So we have about 10am to 3pm, to walk or take transit to tour. Thinking of Time Square, and maybe Central Park. Might like to go to some famous buildings/sites (Rockefellow, Empire State, Chrysler, Ground zero), but not necessarily go to to top of building (probably no time). I know we can't do them all, but what can we do realistically.

 

We can get some fastfood, so not planning for long sit-down lunch.

 

After getting the van, we can drive maybe to Ground zero, and Brooklyn Bridge, or other places you suggest.

 

Please give us some recommendations.

 

Thanks.

 

In my opinion, I would immediately hop in the van and drive to Jersey City Westin, park, and hop on the path back into Manhattan.

 

That will drop you off downtown and you can see The Brooklyn Bridge, World Trade Center, and walk up to Chinatown for lunch. Afterwards you can hit all your other Midtown sites.

 

Parking a van to see the World Trade Center (not GZ) or anywhere in Manhattan will be expensive and a PIA. I'd personally want parking the van over with and not worrying about deadlines.

[138east]

Blueherons - we're on the same wavelength. I suggested the same thing to the OP on another post. If they feel they must drive a bit in Manhattan, they could get off the ship as soon as possible, drive down the west side to Canal St., go across through Chinatown to the Bowery, down Park Row past the Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall, then down Broadway past Wall St. to the Battery to see the Statue of Liberty, then come back up West St. or Church St. past Ground Zero to the Holland Tunnel to NJ. It's a Saturday, so that shouldn't be too bad early in the morning. Once they get rid of the car at the the hotel, they could go to 33rd St on Path, walk through Macy's (fast food lunch in the Cellar??), up Broadway to Times Square, across to Rockefeller Center, and up 5th Avenue to Central Park. Take the 5th Avenue bus downtown to 34 St. (Empire State) and back to Path. This would be $5.50/pp for Path and NY bus.

 

Middleager - You really want to make all your walking in NY count. IMO walking from the pier across town is 4 long uninteresting avenues just to get to the corner of Central Park at Columbus Circle. And then you have to get back again. There is a bus on 57th/58th St., but it's $10 for your group.

[BlueHerons]

Blueherons - we're on the same wavelength. I suggested the same thing to the OP on another post. If they feel they must drive a bit in Manhattan, they could get off the ship as soon as possible, drive down the west side to Canal St., go across through Chinatown to the Bowery, down Park Row past the Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall, then down Broadway past Wall St. to the Battery to see the Statue of Liberty, then come back up West St. or Church St. past Ground Zero to the Holland Tunnel to NJ. It's a Saturday, so that shouldn't be too bad early in the morning. Once they get rid of the car at the the hotel, they could go to 33rd St on Path, walk through Macy's (fast food lunch in the Cellar??), up Broadway to Times Square, across to Rockefeller Center, and up 5th Avenue to Central Park. Take the 5th Avenue bus downtown to 34 St. (Empire State) and back to Path. This would be $5.50/pp for Path and NY bus.

 

Middleager - You really want to make all your walking in NY count. IMO walking from the pier across town is 4 long uninteresting avenues just to get to the corner of Central Park at Columbus Circle. And then you have to get back again. There is a bus on 57th/58th St., but it's $10 for your group.

 

This is exactly what I'd do.

 

Traffic will only get worse as the day goes on being that it is a holiday.

[nuttyprofessor]

hey -- I'm a New Yorker and one of the occupational hazards of living in Manhattan is trying to soothe frazzled tourists. I've seen too many families wandering around Times Square with one child crying and the other running off to the East River and the parents determined to make it crosstown in five minutes to the top of the Empire State Building.....or whatever. You get the picture. Pick a few places, figure out how to get there, give yourself time to stop. New York is the greatest city in the world and there's a reason for that -- everything is here, 24/7, and the people are from all over and of all types. You simply cannot grasp it all in a few hours, especially with a whole family in tow. Personally, I'd skip Times Square. It is nothing but tourists wall-to-wall and nothing to do unless you have planned on a show. Real amateur hour.

[138east]

Well, the OP gets back tomorrow - hopefully the cruise was wonderful, the day in NY will go well for them, and the fireworks are spectacular. I hope they let us know how it went.

[Got2Cruise]

eeks I wish I would have seen this. There is the huge Macys fireworks show on the 4th. This year is it over the Hudson River. The first time in several years. I am sure lots of streets will be closed off. Plus the traffic is going to be tremendous, for people coming to see it. Lots of viewing in Jersey. My advice is that you NEVER drive around. You just can't do it. Even if it wasn't the 4th of July. My advice would have been to either walk or take the subway to one or two of the things you really want to see, and call it a day. lol

[138east]

Got2Cruise - they should be OK if they take our advice and get the car out of NY on Saturday morning as soon as they disembark - they have a room at the Westin in Jersey City - they have to pay for parking there anyway and they would be sure to have a space. They kept talking about leaving the car at the cruiseport until 3 pm and then driving around Manhattan, which we thought was a really bad idea - puts a limit on their time in NY and gets them involved in traffic and street closings. They seemed to have a need to drive in NY so I suggested a circle through lower Manhattan first thing, which should not be awful on a Saturday morning.

 

If they get off the ship promptly, they should be at the Westin no later than 11 am - then it's an easy trip on Path to 33rd St. and they have the whole day to explore. Fireworks won't start until at least 9 pm. The reason they are staying in NY is to see the fireworks - they originally were going to stay in Edgewater, but we suggested Jersey City because of the easy transportation - going up to Hoboken on Path is an option. They got a good deal on Priceline for the Westin and they also arranged a room with two beds. Hopefully, they will let us know how it worked out for them.

[Got2Cruise]

Oh, they want to see the fireworks? I missed that, sorry.:) I hope they report back, because I have a feeling if the weather is nice it is going to be a zoo. :) Especially because it is the first time in a long time that people from the Jersey side can see the fireworks from that side. If the fireworks begin at 9 people will start lining up for good spots by noon.:D

[Middleager]

Hi. Thanks for all the advise.

 

We did drive out right away after disembarking. Drove around a few places, saw a few things, then Brooklyn Bridge and turned right to see a nice park - Cadman Plaza Park. Parked at the street, 25c for each 20 min. Relaxed and ate lunch at the park. Then drove more in Manhattan before going to the hotel.

 

It was 3:30pm when I finally got my family out of the hotel room to get on PATH to 33rd. After they got in the hotel room, they got "glued". We walked by Madison Square Garden, Empire State Building, then the NY Public Library (nice looking from outside). Wife and 3 kids each bought a NY T-shirt, all 4 shirts for $5.

 

We then walked in Grand Central, by Chrysler Building, then to the UN. The boys and I also walked further to Trump Tower and the Hammarskjold Plaza. After that we took a cab ($5+tip) to Time Square. Looked around, took a pic with the police (they seem to enjoy tourists taking pics with them), before taking the subway (red 2) to Wall St.

 

From Wall St., walked by NYSE and the Federal Hall and to Trinity Church (didn't find any treasurer;)). Then to the WTC. At first, I had a sinking eerie feeling. But then seeing the big cranes and all the construction around, it shows life goes on and America is still strong and re-building.

 

We walked to see a bit of the Battery Park, before taking PATH from there back to the hotel at 8:45pm. Drank some refreshment before heading back out to see the fireworks, to start at 9:15pm.

 

Lots of crowd lined up near the water, mostly looking toward Hudson River, toward New York side. When the firework started, it was to the south Jersey side, blocked by tall buildings, except for a hole between 2 tall buildings. We didn't have a good view. Everyone was disappointed. I think most of the people we expectign to see it, when looking toward Manhattan side.

 

Well, at least we got to see what we could of the firework, from a distance. It definitely wasn't as good as the one at Quebec City, from Plains of Abraham (big open field by St. Lawrence river). But the hotel had a swimming pool and hot tub that opened till midnight. The Westin Newport is a nice hotel and the kids really enjoyed the pool while wife and I enjoyed the whirlpool. That made it a very nice, tiring day.

[BlueHerons]

Thanks for following up! Sounds like a nice day.

[138east]

Sounds like you really got to do NY. I was exhausted hearing about all the places you got to. I'm sorry the view of the fireworks wasn't better - it sounds like you needed to be further north on the river towards Hoboken.

[Middleager]

Sounds like you really got to do NY. I was exhausted hearing about all the places you got to. I'm sorry the view of the fireworks wasn't better - it sounds like you needed to be further north on the river towards Hoboken.

It sure was a lot of walking, to be able to see Manhattan.

 

We were south of Hoboken. To see the fireworks people needed to be much further south. Well, we did see the fireworks, but it looked far away.