New York New York

[craig1912]

Greendubber said:

Yep, it's a minefield. We always pick hotels that don't charge it.

Sadly getting few and far between.

[djsmith74]

How is anyone doing in NYC at the moment, with the flash floods? Looks pretty serious from the footage I’ve seen. Really freaky weather considering the heatwave a couple of weeks ago.

[ollie plymsoles]

We just got back last week after a 4 night stay. One day was a lovely temperature , the next few were pi**ing it down

Stayed at the hard rock, room was clean , view was terrible! Round the back looking over some run down buildings with plastic sheets on the roof
This was even after the travel agent told them it was my wife's 40th birthday whilst we stayed there and our 12year wedding anniversary. The guy at check in had it on his notes as he said happy birthday. Not even a free glass of wine lol.

It was our first time in NY and we didn't get to do everything due to the weather so I'm sure we'll be back in the future at some point. We all enjoyed it, everyone was friendly enough, food was mostly good. The sights we did see were very impressive and the skip the line tickets were a must for some of them. Took in a Broadway show which was very good.

I'm not overly fussed about going back, the costs are the main reason, nearly 7k for the 2 adults and one 9 year old. Then the resort fee on top, then the extortionate price of food and drinks ( $15 for a fresh orange!!), crazy compared to our usual city breaks or summer holidays.

[Roman Moroni]

djsmith74 said:

How is anyone doing in NYC at the moment, with the flash floods? Looks pretty serious from the footage I’ve seen. Really freaky weather considering the heatwave a couple of weeks ago.

I spoke to my friend, who lives on the Upper East Side, on Friday following the flash flood that morning. He said that it was crazy when if first happened but it sorted itself out pretty quickly. He WFH, but his Wife works near Grand Central Station and his Daughter goes to school a couple of blocks from their apartment. They didn't have any problems.

Not sure if that helps or not?

[The Gauge]

Not sure what it's actually like in NY currently, but the news shown in the UK of the migrants looks quite horrific with them swamping all the hotels. Glad we were there in August and not now, or is the news making it look worse than it actually is?

[GCH]

The Gauge said:

Not sure what it's actually like in NY currently, but the news shown in the UK of the migrants looks quite horrific with them swamping all the hotels. Glad we were there in August and not now, or is the news making it look worse than it actually is?

No, the news is absolutely on point, and it is nothing new, as it has been the case for some time - certainly during August it was exactly like that, you just didn't see it.

Certain blocks - from recent memory walking past, parts of west 59th, west 33rd, and east 42nd - look exactly like that, 24/7, with masses of people (men) sleeping on the sidewalk. Loads of hotels on the UWS like that too.
It's a mess, and a crisis.

[Prohibiting]

New to this thread, really great stuff.

I went to NY with my partner in December 2022 (which I really enjoyed) and have booked Chicago for this December. Other than the generic articles on the web, any recommendations for things to see in Chicago?

[NowWatchThisDrive]

New to the thread, we're off for the first week of Oct half term. First visit as a family, and for me/Mrs since 2014 (2006 if you strip out work trips!) so will be interesting to see what's changed and what's stayed the same.

Got a rough itinerary for the 5 full days we have, encompassing most of the usual tourist stuff (SoL/Ellis Island; Top of the Rock; Central Park; American Museum of Natural History; 9/11 Memorial; helicopter tour; Nets game; Wicked on Broadway) with the potential to squeeze one or two more bits in depending how much general sauntering/soaking it all up we want to do.

A few possibilities, none of which I've done before but all of which interest me:
- Governor's Island day trip
- Coney Island (probably an evening would be best?)
- Bronx Zoo

...any thoughts/recent experiences of any of these (or anything else to add?)

[bongo96]

We're also going in half term (me, wife, teenage kids)

I'm taking my son to USS Intrepid- just so we can see a Space shuttle, an F14 and an A12 (similar to the SR71 Blackbird)

Helicopter tour sounds awesome but for 4 of us it will be well over $1000 and with the NYON doors off tours there's a significant chance of it being cancelled with no refund. Despite all that, still thinking of risking it!

[InitialDave]

Why is it possible the helicopter flight could be cancelled without refund?

[raceboy]

InitialDave said:

Why is it possible the helicopter flight could be cancelled without refund?

Usually weather, when I was reading the T&C's they do offer alternative days/times but if you are going home the next day 'Copter Credit' is not a lot of use.
We had a helicopter flight in Vegas cancelled due to extreme wind and didn't have any spare time to reschedule, apparently the wedding was more important but luckily they did offer a full refund.

[speedchick]

bongo96 said:

We're also going in half term (me, wife, teenage kids)

I'm taking my son to USS Intrepid- just so we can see a Space shuttle, an F14 and an A12 (similar to the SR71 Blackbird)

Helicopter tour sounds awesome but for 4 of us it will be well over $1000 and with the NYON doors off tours there's a significant chance of it being cancelled with no refund. Despite all that, still thinking of risking it!

Intrepid is good, Concorde isn't there at the moment, she's gone for a bit of tlc (to be honest, she was a right mess when we went in January), the sub was interesting too. We stayed around the area, had something to eat then did the night light cruise

[raceboy]

speedchick said:

...did the night light cruise

We though this was really good, if I was doing it again I'd upgrade to 'Premium' as it was a bit of bun fight for the best seats on the 'Economy' deck and then you'd get people standing up in front of you taking that all important selfie. 'Upstairs' seemed a bit more civilised.
Tour guides commentary was quite amusing in relation to he thoroughly believed America to already be great, be the best at everything, and inverted everything.

[bongo96]

InitialDave said:

Why is it possible the helicopter flight could be cancelled without refund?

they can also cancel for a million other reasons some of which are seemingly at whim- e.g. if they need to reposition one of the their fleet, if the airspace is restricted by the local authorities to allow a VIP through, police/ military operations etc. If you go on tripadvisor and filter on the many negative reviews you will see these are exclusively due to cancellations without refunds.

[speedchick]

raceboy said:

We though this was really good, if I was doing it again I'd upgrade to 'Premium' as it was a bit of bun fight for the best seats on the 'Economy' deck and then you'd get people standing up in front of you taking that all important selfie. 'Upstairs' seemed a bit more civilised.
Tour guides commentary was quite amusing in relation to he thoroughly believed America to already be great, be the best at everything, and inverted everything.

Our guide wasn't working the say Sully landed his plane in the Hudson, he also wasn't working 9/11, then went on to say he wasn't working the night Titanic was supposed to dock, so weren't we lucky he was working 'tonight'. . To be honest though he did seem to have the right mix of history, local knowledge and humour.

[Greendubber]

speedchick said:

raceboy said:

We though this was really good, if I was doing it again I'd upgrade to 'Premium' as it was a bit of bun fight for the best seats on the 'Economy' deck and then you'd get people standing up in front of you taking that all important selfie. 'Upstairs' seemed a bit more civilised.
Tour guides commentary was quite amusing in relation to he thoroughly believed America to already be great, be the best at everything, and inverted everything.

Our guide wasn't working the say Sully landed his plane in the Hudson, he also wasn't working 9/11, then went on to say he wasn't working the night Titanic was supposed to dock, so weren't we lucky he was working 'tonight'. . To be honest though he did seem to have the right mix of history, local knowledge and humour.

Are these the Circle Line cruises? We've been on 2, the round Manhatten Island one and more recently the Christmas Harbour Lights cruise, both times the guide was fantastic. A good mix of knowledge and humour and was really entertaining.

[speedchick]

Greendubber said:

Are these the Circle Line cruises? We've been on 2, the round Manhatten Island one and more recently the Christmas Harbour Lights cruise, both times the guide was fantastic. A good mix of knowledge and humour and was really entertaining.

Yep ours was a Circle Line

[soupdragon1]

Greendubber said:

speedchick said:

raceboy said:

We though this was really good, if I was doing it again I'd upgrade to 'Premium' as it was a bit of bun fight for the best seats on the 'Economy' deck and then you'd get people standing up in front of you taking that all important selfie. 'Upstairs' seemed a bit more civilised.
Tour guides commentary was quite amusing in relation to he thoroughly believed America to already be great, be the best at everything, and inverted everything.

Our guide wasn't working the say Sully landed his plane in the Hudson, he also wasn't working 9/11, then went on to say he wasn't working the night Titanic was supposed to dock, so weren't we lucky he was working 'tonight'. . To be honest though he did seem to have the right mix of history, local knowledge and humour.

Are these the Circle Line cruises? We've been on 2, the round Manhatten Island one and more recently the Christmas Harbour Lights cruise, both times the guide was fantastic. A good mix of knowledge and humour and was really entertaining.

When does 'Christmas harbour lights cruise' start? We're going early November and kind of hoping they'll at least have started with some Christmas decorations...or is that too early?

[Greendubber]

soupdragon1 said:

Greendubber said:

speedchick said:

raceboy said:

We though this was really good, if I was doing it again I'd upgrade to 'Premium' as it was a bit of bun fight for the best seats on the 'Economy' deck and then you'd get people standing up in front of you taking that all important selfie. 'Upstairs' seemed a bit more civilised.
Tour guides commentary was quite amusing in relation to he thoroughly believed America to already be great, be the best at everything, and inverted everything.

Our guide wasn't working the say Sully landed his plane in the Hudson, he also wasn't working 9/11, then went on to say he wasn't working the night Titanic was supposed to dock, so weren't we lucky he was working 'tonight'. . To be honest though he did seem to have the right mix of history, local knowledge and humour.

Are these the Circle Line cruises? We've been on 2, the round Manhatten Island one and more recently the Christmas Harbour Lights cruise, both times the guide was fantastic. A good mix of knowledge and humour and was really entertaining.

When does 'Christmas harbour lights cruise' start? We're going early November and kind of hoping they'll at least have started with some Christmas decorations...or is that too early?

I'm not too sure I'm afraid, we were there at the start of Dec and Christmas was in full effect. I think it normally starts to kick in after Thanks Giving.

[ollie plymsoles]

We used the classic harbour line where we had a cruise up to see the statue of liberty, choice of wine, beer etc on-board, also booked the nibbles plate. Best of all you get your own table so no fighting for seats. It probably only held 50 people max so was a nice chilled experience.

Did intrepid and went round the growler. That was really good. Space shuttle was awesome.
Check before you go to the intrepid as when we went for the first time the electric was down and they couldn't open, so nipped in a cab to the 911 memorial.