New York excursions 2 days Sapphire

[PAMJP]

Cruising in September from Southampton to Canada and New England.  Arrive in New York and are docked there for 2 days. On our voyage personaliser excursions are showing but only for our first day.  Spoken to Princess, first time was told second day excursions would be available when they are finalised in due course, rang again and was told no excursions would be available on second day as passengers would prefer to do their own thing!  Would Princess really not want to provide excursions for 2nd day?  We don't leave until 7pm.  I am now waiting to hear from Princess after sending an email. Anyone have experience of being on a New York 2 day port of call.  Thanks for any info. Pam

[Coral]

I can't answer that specific question but I have stopped in NYC as a port stop and Princess offered very little for excursions for 1 day. I would probably plan on organizing something on your own. The ones they planned were pathetic such as "Walk the Brooklyn Bridge".

[LXdad]

I grew up in Manhattan and only left NYC 2 years ago. If you have questions I would be happy to help. NYC is very easy to visit on your own and contrary to movies and TV it is exteremly safe. 

[Colo Cruiser]

Just book a private tour.

[AF-1]

Suggest you book a private tour like Colo Cruiser mentioned.  There are a lot of travel sites and also suggest you go over to ports of call or east coast departure board for more info on NY.

[skynight]

Easy to explore on your own. Easy to get around either by bus, subway or Uber. Bring lots of one and five dollar bills. For this cruise I think you may be docking in Manhattan, not Brooklyn. I would check this out with Princess. They will know, but it may be difficult to find out. They have to check with ship operations.

Some popular places to tour:

Rockefeller Center

Times Square

Greenwich Village

Chinatown, Canal Street

Ground Zero & 9/11 museum

Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island

Art Museum and Natural History Museum

City Hall area

HoHo tour buses, you can find them on line.

 

Basically with some planning its pretty easy to do on your own. I would start arranging groups and tours on your roll call.

Also remember tipping is common in the U.S.. Typical meal tip is 15 to 20% of the bill. You also tip taxi/Uber drivers. You do not tip public transportation drivers. You do tip tour guides.

 

Edited January 23, 2019 by skynight

[2theship]

With New York City, the hard part is deciding what to do, not how to do it. There is so much to choose from and, if your ship is docked in Manhattan, it will all be pretty easy to do. There are mountains of tour books available to give you some idea of your options.

 

If you want an overview, a hop on, hop off bus might be a good starting point. "There's the Empire State Building, here's Chinatown, now we're in SoHo", etc., etc. If you're a museum fan, there are plenty of options and some are so big, they take most of a day to experience so you might want to decide which one you most want to see and focus on that.

 

If you want to see a Broadway show, now is your chance but I would not risk buying tickets in advance. I remember reading about a similar cruise last year being delayed by a day getting to NYC due to weather. People who had pre-purchased tickets were left with expensive pieces of paper. Once you're in the city, go to TKTS. I think that there are several locations but we usually use the one in Times Square and see what's available. You won't get to see this year's hottest show but you might see last year's big hit. You could also trying going directly to the theatre's box office.

 

Overall, we are very comfortable using public transportation in the city. However, if you see an evening show or have dinner late at night ashore, you might want to grab a taxi back to the ship.

[BarbinMich]

We've been to NYC many times, often in conjunction with a trip to somewhere else so only in the city for a day or two.  But we've also spent longer periods of time there when it was the destination.  With only two days in NYC, you do need to plan ahead and research what there is to do so you can concentrate on what's of most interest to you.  There are many art museums (Metropolitan--comprehensive, Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim, etc.); this website has the top 15 https://foursquare.com/top-places/new-york-city/best-places-art-museums.  Then there's the American Museum of Natural History.  But if you only have 2 days there, I'm not sure if you would want to spend all your time in museums unless it's raining.  Go to the top of the Empire State Bldg to get a view of all of Manhattan etc.  Wander around Rockefeller Center.  A HOHO ride around the city will give you an overview.  Visiting the Statue of Liberty will probably take half a day in all--you have to take a boat from lower Manhattan so that takes some time.  So much to do, so little time.  Enjoy!

[lolane1]

7 hours ago, 2theship said:

With New York City, the hard part is deciding what to do, not how to do it. There is so much to choose from and, if your ship is docked in Manhattan, it will all be pretty easy to do. There are mountains of tour books available to give you some idea of your options.

 

If you want an overview, a hop on, hop off bus might be a good starting point. "There's the Empire State Building, here's Chinatown, now we're in SoHo", etc., etc. If you're a museum fan, there are plenty of options and some are so big, they take most of a day to experience so you might want to decide which one you most want to see and focus on that.

 

Overall, we are very comfortable using public transportation in the city. However, if you see an evening show or have dinner late at night ashore, you might want to grab a taxi back to the ship.

 

 

As a native New Yorker, I totally agree with 2the ship. New York City is so easy to navigate.  You should decide what you want to see first and you can plan a strategy in advance. There really is so much to do and I never get tired of exploring the city.   An MTA bus and subway map is available online.    I rarely take a taxi or Uber unless it's absolutely necessary.  Getting stuck in traffic can lead to ridiculous fares.  Subways are fast and safe - and I travel on them at all hours. Yes NYC is a city that doesn't sleep. However, they can be very overcrowded during rush hour.    

 

And as for "Walking the Brooklyn Bridge" mentioned by a poster, it's not lame but very iconic and beautiful.  However, it might not be my first choice on a visit to NYC.

 

If you want an overview, go for the HOHO bus.  You then can choose which sites you may want to explore in depth.

 

 

[Coral]

53 minutes ago, lolane1 said:

 

 

And as for "Walking the Brooklyn Bridge" mentioned by a poster, it's not lame but very iconic and beautiful.  However, it might not be my first choice on a visit to NYC.

 

 

I am the one that mentioned this. We docked in Red Hook. I was appalled at the few excursions listed and I think that was the only excursion listed. It doesn't sound like they are now having a lot of excursions. At least when I was there, there were very few taxis outside at the pier and I wasn't thrilled with the "area around the Red Hook pier". I would be prepared for a car service or something if you dock in Red Hook. Manhattan would be the ideal pier to dock at.

 

What dates are you going - we can look up the pier schedule.

 

-------

 

Just looked it up and it does appear you will be in Manhattan. There will be plenty of taxis. Now just plan what to do - so much to do in 2 days there. I would make a list.

Edited January 24, 2019 by Coral

[PAMJP]

Thank you all for your replies, very helpful and it gives us the confidence to maybe do our own thing.  I'll have to start searching what we'd like to see and do.  The hoho will be on the list as said, gives an overview of so much we'd like to see. Thank you Pam

[lolane1]

7 hours ago, PAMJP said:

Thank you all for your replies, very helpful and it gives us the confidence to maybe do our own thing.  I'll have to start searching what we'd like to see and do.  The hoho will be on the list as said, gives an overview of so much we'd like to see. Thank you Pam

It’s totally understandable that NYC can be daunting. Given so many choices can lead to immobility. Decisions-decisions and FOMO.(fear of missing out). Good idea to take the HOHO if you can’t decide. Best of luck and by all means have fun. 

[richsea]

On 1/23/2019 at 7:11 AM, Coral said:

I can't answer that specific question but I have stopped in NYC as a port stop and Princess offered very little for excursions for 1 day. I would probably plan on organizing something on your own. The ones they planned were pathetic such as "Walk the Brooklyn Bridge".

Have you ever walked the Brooklyn Bridge? I did it with my Grandson’s class and thought it was awesome. We started in lower Manhattan where NYC basically originated, and the walk across offers fantastic views of Manhattan & downtown Brooklyn, along with views of the Statue of Liberty. The walk across includes stops along tge way explaining the effort that went into buliding this most iconic bridge. 

Edited January 24, 2019 by richsea

[Coral]

7 minutes ago, richsea said:

Have you ever walked the Brooklyn Bridge? I did it with my Grandson’s class and thought it was awesome. We started in lower Manhattan where NYC basically originated, and the walk across offers fantastic views of Manhattan & downtown Brooklyn, along with views of the Statue of Liberty. The walk across includes stops along tge way explaining the effort that went into buliding this most iconic bridge. 

 

Honestly - I don't live any where NYC. So when I am in NYC - there are far higher priorities that I have than the bridge. Maybe if I lived there or near there like you do and had seen quite a bit of the City - I would do it. But no, it is not at the top of my list. Add to that, one of the days I was there the weather was not the best so walking across a bridge in rain would not have been my choice as opposed to many world class art museums I had never seen. I probably will never walk across it unless I have been to NYC dozens of times as while I have been there many times, there is still a huge list of things that interest me more that I have not been to. Again, there is a difference between living near there and going frequently and not living anywhere close and only going once or twice over several years and for a minimal time. The cost of hotels is NYC is cost prohibitive for many of us to visit often. 

[mcrcruiser]

On 1/23/2019 at 5:39 AM, skynight said:

Easy to explore on your own. Easy to get around either by bus, subway or Uber. Bring lots of one and five dollar bills. For this cruise I think you may be docking in Manhattan, not Brooklyn. I would check this out with Princess. They will know, but it may be difficult to find out. They have to check with ship operations.

Some popular places to tour:

Rockefeller Center

Times Square

Greenwich Village

Chinatown, Canal Street

Ground Zero & 9/11 museum

Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island

Art Museum and Natural History Museum

City Hall area

HoHo tour buses, you can find them on line.

 

Basically with some planning its pretty easy to do on your own. I would start arranging groups and tours on your roll call.

Also remember tipping is common in the U.S.. Typical meal tip is 15 to 20% of the bill. You also tip taxi/Uber drivers. You do not tip public transportation drivers. You do tip tour guides.

 

Every thing you point out id great . One thing though  is the HOHO bus ,traffic is so congested it can waste too much time .Walking & subway is the best imo . I am also a ex New Yorker 

[richsea]

30 minutes ago, Coral said:

 

Honestly - I don't live any where NYC. So when I am in NYC - there are far higher priorities that I have than the bridge. Maybe if I lived there or near there like you do and had seen quite a bit of the City - I would do it. But no, it is not at the top of my list. Add to that, one of the days I was there the weather was not the best so walking across a bridge in rain would not have been my choice as opposed to many world class art museums I had never seen. I probably will never walk across it unless I have been to NYC dozens of times as while I have been there many times, there is still a huge list of things that interest me more that I have not been to. Again, there is a difference between living near there and going frequently and not living anywhere close and only going once or twice over several years and for a minimal time. The cost of hotels is NYC is cost prohibitive for many of us to visit often. 

Totally agree with your points. I only responded because you described the walk as “pathetic”, which is not how I would describe it. Granted, there is so much to see in the City, and a walk across the bridge would not be high on the list of most, and as you said, not something to plan in the rain, lol! 

[ZandZ]

Walking the Brooklyn Bride is almost a must in my opinion...  

[BarbinMich]

As I noted earlier we have been to NYC many times and once we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge on a day we were spending in lower Manhattan.  We then spent some time walking around over there including visiting Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden--think we rode the subway back to Manhattan.  I wouldn't say the bridge should/could be a high priority for a first-time visitor--there are so many other things to see/do in Manhattan.