NYC Megathread Archive 1 (to 13/03/08)

Ponster

car wrote:

http://www.hotelcarter.com/index.shtml

Check out these reviews

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60763-d93421-Reviews-Hotel_Carter-New_York_City_New_York.html

Hippo

Has anyone done a helicopter tour of Manhattan? The trip advisor reviews are to say the least, mixed. Any personal experiences?

hshortt

Been on the Liberty Helicoptor tour. Night time as we thought that would be the best. It was very windy though so a bit rocky, but we flew out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, then back down the Hudson towards Central Park. It lasted about 10 minutes (fly time), there was a safety briefing before hand too. More info - http://www.libertyhelicopters.com/

While I thought it was a nice thing to do, I wouldn't be rushing back to do it again, this is mostly due to there being 8 people in the helicopter and feeling a little cramped and not wanting to look past people to get a view from the opposite side of the helicopter.

Cheerio
Howard

Hippo

That seems to fit with most recorded experiences alright; thanks a mill for the info, sounds more or less avoidable for the money.

Ponster

Took the Liberty Helicoptor tour in April (10 mins). Great fun but again, something I wouldn't do again.
Was a little pricey for only 10 minutes and once we accepted and paid had to wait an hour in their building while waiting for our turn.

storka

hey all,heading to NY in a week i'm booked into the statue of liberty for the 8.45-11.45 slot then it says my time (for timepass i presume?) is 8.45? Does this mean I am going in at 8.45 and therefore need to be there around 7.30 or is it as it says I can go anytime? Thanks for the help!

cold_filter

Guys heading to NY with a good friend of mine on 25th october for 5 nights.
I ahve been twice before with a GF and he has never been. We plan on cramming a smuch into each day as possible and haveing a good night life too, I know there are some wild bars can anyone recommend some really good ones??

jo.king

This place looks great - im off in three weeks - its gotten great reviews... http://www.rodeobar.com/

Ms Inquisitive

A great Irish bar in NYC is McCormacks, thinks its on 3rd Avenue and 29th Street! Spent Thanksgiving there last year and a great day was had by all!

PaulyB63

Having been to Rodeo Bar I can highly recommend.... I mentioned that spot in an earlier post.... There's a great Irish chef working at the back of a pub caled Cillian's... It's just off time square (Somewhere!)... great Irish Fusion food..... Whatever that is!!

cupthehand

Could anyone recommend a good place in NYC (either Manhattan or outlets) where I can buy a decent watch ~€500-600. Also anyone know if haggling is acceptable in shops (JR's, BHPhoto, jewellers etc)

hshortt

cupthehand wrote:

Could anyone recommend a good place in NYC (either Manhattan or outlets) where I can buy a decent watch ~€500-600. Also anyone know if haggling is acceptable in shops (JR's, BHPhoto, jewellers etc)

Macy's have good selections and you'll get an extra 11% off (bring your passport to the customer services desk). I wouldn't expect to see haggling in there though.

neacy69

Anto McC wrote:

Right so, i have it booked. 5 days, 3rd-8th December. I have a big obsession with all things Mafia so a trip to little Italy is deffo in order,is it safe enough during the day? Also will be heading for Hells Kitchen,which is really unsafe apparently but is that even at 1 in the afternoon?

Anto McC: you might be interested in this then so
http://www.sceneontv.com/tour.php/sopranos/

friend of mine was on it and said it was brilliant

PaulyB63

New York is the safest city in the world bar none. There is a cop or 2 on EVERY corner!! Hell's kitchen is great in the evening... We walked through the strawberry beds in Central park at 8PM in November and it was well lit and well patrolled. The subways have their own dedicated police force...

Don't know about anyone else, but Little Italy was kind of disappointing... Wasn't very much to it!?!?!?

I can't comment about safety anywhere off Manhattan island! (Broooklyn, Queens etc.)

Anto McC

Cheers for the tips lads.

cobijones

Has anyone ever stayed in the latham hotel in New York? ( more of a hostel but with private rooms and bathroom) Can anyone recommend any others?

quickstitch.ie

storka wrote:

Hey guys looking for some advice on booking the Statue of Liberty.Ellis Island tour. Going to NY in 2 weeks, was there years ago but because of security and that you now have to book time slots and such.

I'm looking at the 8.45-11-45 slot. If I book this does it mean I can et on a boat over at any time during this period? It says something about arriving 2 hours before your tour but I can't see whether they give you a specific time?

Anyone done this trip recently with advice would be much appreciated!! Thanks

Also any advice on booking the Empire State Building would be good too!!

Just arrive early, think I was there about 8.30am last year and ticket office wasn't open yet, bit of a rush to get tickets to go out first of all.. queues form quickly, but it's a pain in the ass waiting for the boat to come back, you'll have no problem getting a slot there tho at that time... they only let so many in per hour, and you only get brought into the base of the statue now by the way since 9-11.
If you were there at 8 you'd pretty much be up the top of the q, but you'd still have to wait an hour for it open, but at least you'd be out to the islands and back a little bit quicker to to more touristy things :
things in that area to see ground zero, century 21 store, wall st, little italy & chinatown, south st sea port

re empire state I think someone said to book tickets in a net cafe around the corner on the website and go straight up

Dodge

For those going in December, the queues for Empire State building arne't bad at all. I've been up at both night and daytime and never queued more than 10 minutes.

Ponster

cobijones wrote:

Has anyone ever stayed in the latham hotel in New York? ( more of a hostel but with private rooms and bathroom) Can anyone recommend any others?

When are you traveling?

I'm staying at the "Hotel 17" this September...Looks clean and basic, located in East Village.

cobijones

Mid September - I really need to book somewhere - the only thing putting me off is the pictures on trip advisor - is your hotel central?

Ponster

The Latham seems to be one of those places that you either get lucky with or you don't but you still need to treat it as a bed for the night as opposed to a hotel with all the trimings.

After a few days I started looking at B&B's and guest housts. All were booked up but this place looked good :

http://www.bblodges.com/

The Hotel 17 is is south of midtown, east of broadway. I've stayed in midtown 3 times before so no need to stay exactly around there again.

http://www.hotel17ny.com/location_east_village_hotels.asp

Close to Chelsea and Greenwich Village which is where I was looking for.

The Pod looks like a cool place if again it's just a bed for the night you need.

youcancallmeal

Does anyone have any experience of the red roof inn Manhattan? I vaguely remember reading some positive comments about it here on boards a good while back. Anyway I booked it for me and the missus for 6 nights in November. The reviews here on tripadvisor seem ok and I'm happy enough. Unfortunately though I met up with a friend on Last night and told her off hand where I was staying. She has been to New York many times and starting tell me all the horror stories she heard about the place. She hasn't actually been to the hotel just heard second hand stories. I'm tempted to book somewhere else now considering were going to be paying around $260 a night?

Stephen P

Has anyone ever booked a package with lastminute.ie? How did you find them? I'm booking a package to New York with them later this evening. Going to book the Crown Plaza in Times Square, anyone got any experience of this hotel? It has a lot of good reviews on Trip Advisor.

Cheers!

Pythia

youcancallme>al wrote:

Does anyone have any experience of the red roof inn Manhattan?

I was there in January and am going again with my boyf next January.
It's great. Low prices, we had a double bed each (myself and a girl friend), a yummy breakfast included in the price (bagels, donuts, cereal, beverages etc), it was very clean, nice bathroom, large room, right beside the subway station, beside the Empire State, beside Macy's, shop that sold drinks beside it, internet cafe beside it, helpful staff. Basically I can't fault it at all.

As I said, I'm going back so I suppose that in itself says a lot.
My friend also stayed there and recommended it to me, so another satisfied customer there.

Also, if you don't wanna go to the RRI, search google for apple core hotels, they're all part of a group and are generally around the same price.

It's not fancy but excellent for what you pay for and absolutely nothing wrong with it.

cobijones

Ponster wrote:

The Latham seems to be one of those places that you either get lucky with or you don't but you still need to treat it as a bed for the night as opposed to a hotel with all the trimings.

After a few days I started looking at B&B's and guest housts. All were booked up but this place looked good :

http://www.bblodges.com/

The Hotel 17 is is south of midtown, east of broadway. I've stayed in midtown 3 times before so no need to stay exactly around there again.

http://www.hotel17ny.com/location_east_village_hotels.asp

Close to Chelsea and Greenwich Village which is where I was looking for.

The Pod looks like a cool place if again it's just a bed for the night you need.

Thanks for the information - the pod looks good. I tried hotel 17 but its gone for mid september.

Ponster

Pod seems fine. rooms are small (sink in room in front of bed) but honestly it's NY. If you spend more than 8 hours per day in your room then you shouldn't be going

cobijones

Ponster wrote:

Pod seems fine. rooms are small (sink in room in front of bed) but honestly it's NY. If you spend more than 8 hours per day in your room then you shouldn't be going

haha 8 maximum!

youcancallmeal

Pythia wrote:

I was there in January and am going again with my boyf next January.
It's great. Low prices, we had a double bed each (myself and a girl friend), a yummy breakfast included in the price (bagels, donuts, cereal, beverages etc), it was very clean, nice bathroom, large room, right beside the subway station, beside the Empire State, beside Macy's, shop that sold drinks beside it, internet cafe beside it, helpful staff. Basically I can't fault it at all.

As I said, I'm going back so I suppose that in itself says a lot.
My friend also stayed there and recommended it to me, so another satisfied customer there.

Also, if you don't wanna go to the RRI, search google for apple core hotels, they're all part of a group and are generally around the same price.

It's not fancy but excellent for what you pay for and absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Excellent cheers for this. I reckon we'll stick with the red roof inn. I'd trust a 1st hand account over third hand any day. Sure like everyone says its just a place to sleep

ateam

I got my passport in May 2003 and can't figure out if it's machine readable. Does anyone know if passports made then were machine readable and the right ones to get into America?

Also, what is the Aer Lingus flight to New York like?

brettmirl

ateam wrote:

I got my passport in May 2003 and can't figure out if it's machine readable. Does anyone know if passports made then were machine readable and the right ones to get into America?

LINKY

ateam wrote:

Also, what is the Aer Lingus flight to New York like?

I was on the DUB - JFK flight a few weeks back and the flight was grand. Every seat had the little screen in the head rest so you could pick what movie or tv show you wanted to watch.

Food is still s**t though.