Post cruise NY tour

[scamper01]

I am looking for a car service to pick us up at the New York pier probably in Red Hook and take us on a 5 hour tour of the city before we fly out of JFK that evening. Any suggestions of which car service would be best and reasonable? Thanks

[Jane110]

I don't think any car service will do that. At best, you can hire a car service for 5 hours, but you'd better know where you want to go, and not expect any tour info or commentary.

 

I think you're better off with a tour company, and not a car service.

 

If you want to try the car services, here are some phone numbers:

 

ALLSTATE = 800-453-4099 Hourly rates: sedan/$37, minivan/$47, Van/$57, Limo/85 http://www.allstatelimo.com

DIAL4 LIMO - 800- 484-4444 http://www.dial4limo.com

DIAL 7 - 212-777-7777 http://www.dial7.com

 

 

I use Allstate for airport service.

[mrspjotter]

scamper01 - I am looking into this too for next month - I have e-mailed a few private tour companies and have been quoted anything from $160 - $200 per hour for a group of 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:confused:

[mrspjotter]

Best quote so far is $495 for 5 hours picking up from Newark Hotel and returning after sightseeing in NYC

 

http://www.newyorkluxurylimo.com/

 

if anyone has any experience of these please let me know

[138east]

If I didn't have my mom, I'd offer my services for that kind of money! Have you considered just taking a cab to NY, taking a tour like the hop on hop off and taking a cab back to your hotel? Give us your timing once again. I know you're on the Explorer with us (and Mom and I are looking forward to meeting you). I know you're taking a day room at Newark (Sheraton??). But I've forgotten just how much time you have before your flight home to the UK.

[mrspjotter]

Hi that's a lovely offer but I wouldn't expect you to your advice on here has been invaluable so far - we've kind of ruled out trying to see NYC on the day we arrive - don't land till 1.30 and then we have to get through customs and as I said before i'm guessing the kids will be shattered after an 8 hour flight - they've never flown before so it's all new to them.

 

So we're planning to leave it until the day we get back - then we'll still have something to look forward to after we get off the ship. Transfer is included from port to Sheraton Newark - says we will be back at the hotel by 11 and then we are being picked up to go to the airport at 6pm. We don't really want to see much - empire state, central park, the kids want to go to toys r us in times square and of course I would love to do a dept store - it's just with such short time we don't want to waste time by doing it on our own!:D

[Cracker Ken]

We are going to be doing a back to back cruise to Canada from NYC in the last half of July on Carnival Triumph. On our turn-around day, we were thinking of doing a tour of downtown Manhattan. Gray Line tours has some very nice offerings. Price isn't bad either. Tour is a little less than 3 hours if you don't get off of the bus anywhere. You can get on/off the bus at several locations of interest, or stay on for the tour. This is on those open top double decker busses.

 

QUESTION: We have to go to Time Square to get on the tour, as far as I know. How far is it from the Carnival ship to Time Square? What's the cheapest and most reliable was to go to/from Time Square? Needless to say, if we foul up and don't get back to the ship in time, we will be in a fix.

 

Thanks.

[smeyer418]

carmel at their website also shows between $40-60 per hour....

 

 

http://www.carmellimo.com

[niborHS]

The one thing on your list that doesn't make sense, or won't work with your timing most likely, is the Empire State Building. The lines are long, and it would take you a long time to get in and up to the top. There is little point in trying to look at it from street level. You can drive through Central Park, in front of the Plaza Hotel, then down 5th Avenue to Rockefeller Center, which is nice to see, then over to Times Square to the Toys R Us. Do you want high end department store or Macy's? There are so many places that you can drive by that are nice to look at, everything from the 42nd Street Library, to St. Patrick's Cathedral. What about driving down to view the Statue of Liberty?

[mrspjotter]

Robinsilver - thanks for your reply - it's DH who wants to do Empire State - i've been told "Top of the Rock" is better are the queues there as bad as the Empire State? Macy's would be fine, we are also thinking about Statue of Liberty as I doubt we will see much of it cruising in/out - also just found FAO Schwarz which is a must for the kids!:)

[Roadpossum]

Robinsilver - thanks for your reply - it's DH who wants to do Empire State - i've been told "Top of the Rock" is better are the queues there as bad as the Empire State? Macy's would be fine, we are also thinking about Statue of Liberty as I doubt we will see much of it cruising in/out - also just found FAO Schwarz which is a must for the kids!:)

 

 

We did Top of the Rock at about 9:00AM on a Saturday in November. The line was very short that day. I'm not sure what you'll find. Also, don't waste your time or money on either Top of the Rock or Empire State Bldg. if it's not a clear day. I'd do TOR instead of ESB. From TOR you can take pictures of ESB and you also get a view of Central Park.

 

The day we were going to do the Statue of Liberty tour we heard the wait was at least 2 hours due to long lines at both security checkpoints you need to go through. We ended up taking a short harbor cruise and got some nice pics of the SOL from the boat.