We checked a Christmas trip to NYC off of the bucket list! We decided to do a mom/daughter trip with two of my daughter's friends and their mothers. It was such an amazing experience to share these memories with them. I picked a budget friendly package deal on Allegiant, with a direct flight to EWR and staying at The Sheraton Lincoln Harbor in Weehawken, NJ. The Sheraton was about a half hour from the airport and just a few steps away from the ferry, with the ferry being a quick 15-20 minute ride to the Big Apple! I arranged for private transportation from the airport which consisted of 2 separate vans for our group, unfortunately one ride got cancelled due to a tire issue, so they had to take a cab. Things happen! I was very pleased with our stay at The Sheraton. The hotel's restaurant, Beneci's D'Italia Cucina was a true treasure. We enjoyed breakfast, lunch, and dinner there during our 3-night stay—not all in one day, of course! The hotel staff were helpful and warmly welcoming! This will be a go-to hotel for any of my clients looking to visit NYC but hoping to stay outside of the city and looking for a great rate! The NY Ferry recently changed apps and you are required to buy/show your tickets on the app. Keep those phones charged! I will say the app was a bit confusing having to use it in a hurry. I had a question on if a 10-pack ride pass could be used with multiple people on one ride(you can) and the first ferry attendant could care less to help me by simply answering the question and actually yelled at us to get off the ramp. The ferry runs about every 20 mins and they take their schedule very seriously. Have your tickets ready! A one way trip is $10 per person or 10-rides for $93. There was a holiday special that allowed children under 12 to ride for free through January 2nd.
Day one, we took the ferry over with no specific destination in mind. We walked to Times Square and checked out several stores. A cannoli at Carlo's Bake Shop is worth the wait! Headed back to the hotel and ordered burgers from 7th Street Burger Hoboken. They were fantastic and burgers in bed has officially become a tradition for us!
Since it was a short, 3-night trip, we decided to do a bus tour on days two and three to cover as much of the city as we could. We went with TopView hop-on hop-off 48-hour tour pass. The pass included both uptown and downtown routes with stops at many key places. You can get on and off as much as you'd like in 48 hours. I did notice that there were many employees promoting the tour in the streets. Some of the stops were much busier than others, and space was limited. Some of the buses had covered tops, and some did not. We did the downtown route on Saturday as we had fewer scheduled events for the day, and that route is longer and busier. It runs daily from 8 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., but we got a late start on it since the ferry doesn't start until 9:55 a.m. on the weekend. The nearest stop from the ferry port is about a 15-18 minute walk, with a bus about every 15 minutes, give or take. There is an interactive map in the app, and you can click each stop to see the approximate arrival time of the next bus. The busiest stops were near Times Square and other stops included Bryant Park, Empire State Building, Flatiron Building, 9/11 memorial & museum, Hudson Yards, Skyscraper Museum(admission included), and a cruise to the Statue of Liberty. Sadly, we did not have time to take the cruise or visit the museum.
The 9/11 Memorial was truly something. I vividly remember where I was the day the twin towers collapsed, and to be standing in the very spot with each person's name who lost their life that day inscribed on a beautiful memorial is something I cannot describe.
Sunday, our last day in the city that never sleeps. We caught the ferry at around 10:30am and made our way to the closest stop for the uptown tour, the route that runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The bus on the uptown route only hits each stop once every hour. Uptown circles Central Park, with stops at The American Museum of Natural History, Museum of Modern Art, Carnegie Hall, Central Park Zoo, and a few others. Both routes meet near Midtown between Rockefeller Center and Times Square. Both Rockefeller Center and Times Square were absolutely nuts, packed from corner to corner with people and vendors lining the curbs of each block. We hopped off of the bus about midway past Central Park(near The American Museum of Natural History stop) and decided to walk through the park and start walking back towards Midtown. We walked past The Plaza Hotel but unfortunately you are not allowed to enter unless you are staying there. We got to see the Louise Vuitton store and the giant suitcase, Rockefeller Center and so many other sites! From there it was time to head to dinner.
Dinner reservations are a must if you want to sit down to eat, especially during this time of year and with a large group. There were ten of us, we did break off from each other a few times over the weekend but had planned to all eat dinner together on Sunday, before we caught the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Hall. Tickets were for 6pm, and recommended to arrive 1hr before. It is mentioned that if you arrive later than half an hour before you may miss part of the show. I made reservations for "dinner" at 3pm at Hard Rock Cafe as it was one of the only places that could get us In before the show. They recommend to allow for about 2 hrs at dinner and with it being a 15 minute walk to Radio City, it worked out perfectly. Food was ok at Hard Rock, nothing to write home about yet here I am writing about it. Pretty reasonable, my bill for 5 was about $165. The service was excellent, our waiter was friendly, attentive and even went about and beyond when we asked for a group pic. Quickly cleaning the dishes from the table and taking multiple angles of the group. He knew what he was doing! There are food vendors all over NYC for a quick bite to eat. I would always suggest a slice of pizza or a hotdog! Sometimes the shadiest looking cart or truck is the best bite of food you can get!
The main highlight of our trip, for me, was The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular! I was so absolutely excited for this show, and they did not disappoint. I bought the tickets in advance on Ticketmaster, but you may opt to do the "day of, half price line" ticket kiosk for this show or many other Broadway shows. The price is not always half off, but you can find big discounts and savings utilizing the site or a physical ticket booths for shows that have last minute availability, as a full house is the best house.
There were so many more things I had on my radar to visit, I knew that we would be winging some of it. All in all, we knocked out quite a bit of our list. One thing to know is that it will take time to get to where you are going. Plan on doing a ton of walking in between tons of alternative ways of transportation. From ferries to buses or cabs to subways! HotHands were a life saver. A great winter coat is a must, dress in layers and take in as much as you can! Thank you NYC for the amazing memories!
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