yhh

Hello,

We are booked on the Regal Princess New England cruise leaving NY on 9/29. We're flying in on the 27th so we can do two days of sightseeing before we get on our ship since this our first time in NY.

On the 27th, we want to see the 9/11 Memorial, Empire State Building, a bus tour of the city. On the 28th, we want to see a the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and a museum (not sure which one yet).

Would it be worth it for us to get the Pass? Is it worth the price?

And is our schedule doable?

Thanks!

You might want to check out the Hotel New Yorker. It's not Times Square, but a few blocks south, near Penn Station. It's a huge hotel with a convenient 14 hour diner in the lobby, near the Empire State Bldg, walkable to Times Square/Broadway and near the Penn Station subway stops to practically anywhere.

There are usually large discounts in the usual places and it often comes up for Priceline & Hotwire bids.

Mark, thank you so much for this suggestion.

Hotel Mela Times Square is showing good rates those days also. You do realize you probably won’t see the lights if you book a lower priced room. There are other areas where you can get a nice room in nice areas if you’re not married to the Times Square idea. Also Sept starts getting very expensive because conventions start up again from the summer lull.

 

 

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Thanks for this. I just checked their website and they are having really good rates. YIPEE!!!! I better book while the getting is good. Thanks again. I LOVE THIS BOARD!!!

Where are you flying in from? How do you plan to get from the airport to your hotel? The usual suggestion is to arrange some sort of fixed price transportation so there are no surprises. NYC cab from JFK to Manhattan is fixed price. We also recommend Dial7 and Carmellimo for any of the airport transfers. When you book a flight, consider the transportation price as well.

 

Having said that, there are pluses and minuses to each of the airports. Arrival time affects how bad the traffic could be. LGA is closest to Manhattan, but you have to take a shuttle bus to get to the car service pickup area. It is also under construction. JFK is the furthest airport. EWR is in NJ, so you have to go through the Holland or Lincoln Tunnel or even the George Washington Bridge to get into Manhattan.

 

Airport buses from LGA, JFK, and EWR as well as Airtrain + regular train from JFK and EWR are also options to get to midtown Manhattan.

I haven't decided on which airport to fly into. Your airport pluses and minuses list will help me make a more informed decision. Thank you. Thanks for the car service recommendation.

Look at lastminutetravel.com - join for better rates. Your budget is reasonable, but I'd stay away from the $250 hotels. What kind of bed setup do you need? That could be a deal breaker. LMT has the Crowne Plaza Times Square for $317 plus tax.

I'm open to bed setups. For a few nights, my mom and I can share a bed, if we had to. I will check out the Crowne Plaza and I will stay away from the $250 hotels. Thank you.

Hello,

We're sailing on the Regal Princess on the 29th on their New England cruise. This will be our first time in NYC and we are sailing out a few days early to catch the sights like, 9/11 Memorial, Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Empire State Building... It will be just my mom and I, we haven't booked our flight yet. I'm looking to spend somewhere between $250-$400 on a room.

Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Thanks for posting this. It will help narrow down my ideas of what to do for my first time in NYC this September before our New England cruise.

Perfect, thanks, Connie! And thanks for posting your experience and opening my eyes to something I'd read about in the paper, but now I get to do. I'm so excited!!!

Connie, we had a FANTASTIC time at OGO Rotorua. For sure, my son will never forget New Zealand. It was great spending the whole day with him traveling there, experiencing the ball with him, and then we had lunch a park. It was a perfect day, an experience he and I will cherish forever thanks to your awesome post about your travels on the Diamond Princess.

Thanks again. Have a Happy New Year!

Yes, that is exactly correct. You will find it easy as we did I'm sure and have a fantastic day.

 

Connie

Perfect, thanks, Connie! And thanks for posting your experience and opening my eyes to something I'd read about in the paper, but now I get to do. I'm so excited!!!

For cojuqui or whomever can answer. Cojuqui, your excursion to Ogo in Rotorua, NZ looks fantastic. I just want to make sure I have the right directions to get there from the ship (I contacted the company but they couldn't give me the bus route).

Exit the ship and walk down to Salisbury Avenue to the bus stop. From there, take the Twin City Express bus over to Rotorua for about $11 NZD.* Arrive at Rotorua CBD and transfer over to the Route 1 bus and ride to Skyline Rotorua for a Gondola/Luge ride. (I was told Ogo is within walking distance of Skyline.)

Walk back down the road to the bus stop near the Gondola and ride back to Rotorua CBD. Take the Twin City Express bus to Tauranga and walk back to the ship.

Are those directions accurate? Or where can I get directions?

Thank you,

Yash

We sailed on this cruise and had a great time. Excellent decorations; carols on Christmas Eve and balloon drop New Year's Eve.

There was a fair number of children on board, but we didn't find them intrusive or too noisy. They thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas celebrations and visit from Santa (although you had to be there early for that!).

Staff were up to Princess standards but food was sometimes a little disappointing in main dining room.

Thanks for the info.

18 to 21 December in Sydney you might get as low as 22 (Idoubt it) or it could easily get to mid 30s. Those are Maximums, un fact at that time of year you may not drop below 20 as an overnight low.

 

I'd bring clothes that can be layered.

Thank you so much.

Has anyone taken their kids on the Diamond Princess? If so, did their kids enjoy it. At Christmas 2007, we sailed on Princess from LA to Hawaii and the kids' program was excellent. I'm hoping it remained as great.

Were there a lot of kids on the cruise?

What type of weather should I expect in mid to late December? We land in Sydney on December 18 and our ship, the Diamond Princess sets sail on December 21. I was told we should expect the weather to be around 22C. I was then told to expect the ports around NZ to be around 13C. The ship sails to Fiordland National Park, Port Chalmers, Akaroa, Picton, Tauranga, Auckland, and the Bay of Islands.

I just want to make sure I pack correctly.

Based on the prices you quoted, I assume you are flying coach. In coach, you will find far more similarities than differences from airline to airline. You aren't going to find an airline that has seats that are 3 or 4 inches wider than everyone else, or an airline with 4 or 5 more inches of legroom than everyone else, etc. Most will have similar baggage policies, all will serve meals on a flight of that length and so forth. Other than considering price and schedule, my main question would be, is there an airline frequent flyer program that you belong to? If so, do you fly that airline enough to make the membership benefits worthwhile? If so, then perhaps consider an airline that is in the same airline alliance.

I don't belong to any frequent flyer programs. More alike at coach price, gotcha. Thanks for that.

You're in one of the most vibrant and exciting cities in the world and you're wondering what there is to do to fill in the time? :confused:

 

(Assuming you're referring to Sydney, you don't list)

I was referring to Sydney. I meant with dealing with your luggage and such.

Hello,

I'm looking at purchasing our tickets (myself, my mother, and three kids - 10, 8 & 7). We want to leave LA on the 16th so we can do some sightseeing, before we board the Diamond Princess leaving on the 21st.

I keep seeing these airlines as the most affordable. This is the order I keep seeing them in: China Eastern Airlines, China Southern, Singapore, Qantas, Fiji Airlines.

I've heard rave reviews about Qantas, but I haven't heard anything about any of the others. Does anyone have opinions on the other airlines? Are there any American based airlines you would suggest?

The prices are ranging from $1800 - $2500. Is that the average range for me being able to spend Christmas in the part of the world experiencing summer?

I was advised by Princess not to book my return flight until after 12:15PM. Some of the flights I'm seeing leave around 6:30 and later. Has anyone had a long wait post-cruise and what did you do to fill the time?

Thanks.

Thanks for all the suggestions. We went with the Swissotel. We got a good deal on expedia.

The airline with the best price, fastest time and largest seats! No airline is really "friendly" to anyone nowadays.

Bring them books...they are reading, aren't they? Coloring books...snacks...if the plane offers a movie, buy it!

Thanks.

Does anyone have any suggestions on places to stay? We'll be in Sydney on the 18th of December and staying until our ship leaves on the 21st.

I would love a place that included breakfast. But we definitely need a place with a pool. My three love the water so it's a great way to keep them occupied after doing some sight seeing.

Hello,

I'm looking at leaving on 12/16/15 from LAX flying to Sydney with my 11-year-old son, eight and seven-year-old daughters. Is there one airline that you liked better than others?

Any tips on how to keep the kids occupied while we're traveling? I don't want to bring a lot of electronic stuff because then I'd have to keep up with all of it. We're staying three days in Sydney before our cruise takes off.