New York

[AussieTink]

Hi everyone!

We are arriving at JFK Airport end of November, was wondering if anyone has used a car service for transportation to their hotel, or have you just relied on a taxi?

Thanks for any help

 

[LivingforDisney]

We just went to the taxi line, when you get to the front to the person asks where you are going, and they write down how much the fare is on a piece of paper and give it to you, and then you just add the tip . It's good , so you dont get ripped off lol.
As there were 4 of us, she called a minivan down to take us.
Going back I pre booked a car service, because I didn't want to be late getting to the airport.

 

[AussieTink]

Thanks so much for your reply LivingforDisney, really appreciate your insight!
Any tips from your time in New York?

 

[haverchuck]

When I went to NY in Dec 2013 we took a taxi from JFK to our hotel in Manhattan. It was horrible! The driver spoke on his mobile for the entire trip (which took about an hour and a half due to traffic), and pretended he couldn't speak English when we asked him to stop. But worst was the way he drove. He would get a tiny bit of space to move forward and jam his foot on the accelerator and then slam on the brake. I swear I thought I would get whiplash. I never get carsick either, but that nearly did it.

We took three more trips to and from airports in NY that trip, using Wirolimo for all of them. Can't speak highly enough of them. Always on time, kept in touch via SMS, beautiful and clean cars, friendly. Can't remember if it was expensive, but if it was then it was definitely worth it.

Sorry If it scares you regarding taxis, but thought you might want to hear another opinion.

 

[LivingforDisney]

Yeh, I guess it's just luck of the draw who you get for a taxi driver, like anywhere really.
The one we had was fine, though he did get on his phone.
We arrived at 6am , red eye from LAX, so didn't hit any traffic going into the city.
Any tips ? Lol.
Well we had 4 full days, saw everything I wanted, but of course so much there to see.
First up we checked in, room wasn't ready ,of course this was only around 7am.
Had got tickets on line for Top of the Rock, so went there first , think it opened at 8am. Fantastic views of NY, we went here because you can take photos of the Empire State Building. We did go into the Empire State Building later, but didn't do the elevator up to the top.
After this we had booked the Circle Line boat , I think it was called, was good about 3 hours and we had a nice relaxing boat ride to see Statue of Liberty ect.
What else lol.
Shopping, saw Wicked , excellent!
911 memorial. I suggest you go online to the 911 memorial site , you can book a tour. You go into the museum and then tour the site. When we went only the small museum was open, we had 2 guides and we skipped the lines, yes lines everywhere! You have to go through security like the airport. Anyhow the man tour guide was actually a firefighter who was in one of the buildings when it collapsed, he was lucky to survive, most of his guys from his fire station was killed. I can say when he was telling us about that day, he got quite emotional , and so did everyone listening. I really recommend the tour than just turning up yourself. We were there in Sept.
Make sure you go to the church near 911 site, beautiful tribute.
Grand Central station was beautiful.
Met up with my American cousin for a few hours.
Caught the subway one stop up to the Dakota Building and then walked through Central Park.
We were staying right in Times Square, pretty crazy, at night so many people, it was fun.
Go to Ellen's Diner, the servers get up on the tables and sing. Google it. Enjoyed that.
We caught the train out to Coney Island, took about 40 mins, I knew the rides ect were closed, but there were some shops on the Boardwalk, we got Nathan's famous hotdogs ( awful) and sat and looked at the Atlantic Ocean,
It was actually nice to get out of the hustle and bustle.
Found the subway good, used it a bit, but walked a lot and a lot lol.
Did get lost a few times, twice on the subway. Couldn't get my head around where I was..... Uptown or Downtown lol.
We just picked out a few main things we had to do, and whatever else we came across , all good.
All in all I enjoyed it, found it expensive, found most people nice, but was just a big, noisy city to me and I am from Sydney.
How long are u staying?
Hope I haven't rambled on too much.

 

[AussieTink]

When I went to NY in Dec 2013 we took a taxi from JFK to our hotel in Manhattan. It was horrible! The driver spoke on his mobile for the entire trip (which took about an hour and a half due to traffic), and pretended he couldn't speak English when we asked him to stop. But worst was the way he drove. He would get a tiny bit of space to move forward and jam his foot on the accelerator and then slam on the brake. I swear I thought I would get whiplash. I never get carsick either, but that nearly did it.

We took three more trips to and from airports in NY that trip, using Wirolimo for all of them. Can't speak highly enough of them. Always on time, kept in touch via SMS, beautiful and clean cars, friendly. Can't remember if it was expensive, but if it was then it was definitely worth it.

Sorry If it scares you regarding taxis, but thought you might want to hear another opinion.

Hi haverchuck,
Thanks for reply with your experience, gives me something to think about.

 

[AussieTink]

Yeh, I guess it's just luck of the draw who you get for a taxi driver, like anywhere really.
The one we had was fine, though he did get on his phone.
We arrived at 6am , red eye from LAX, so didn't hit any traffic going into the city.
Any tips ? Lol.
Well we had 4 full days, saw everything I wanted, but of course so much there to see.
First up we checked in, room wasn't ready ,of course this was only around 7am.
Had got tickets on line for Top of the Rock, so went there first , think it opened at 8am. Fantastic views of NY, we went here because you can take photos of the Empire State Building. We did go into the Empire State Building later, but didn't do the elevator up to the top.
After this we had booked the Circle Line boat , I think it was called, was good about 3 hours and we had a nice relaxing boat ride to see Statue of Liberty ect.
What else lol.
Shopping, saw Wicked , excellent!
911 memorial. I suggest you go online to the 911 memorial site , you can book a tour. You go into the museum and then tour the site. When we went only the small museum was open, we had 2 guides and we skipped the lines, yes lines everywhere! You have to go through security like the airport. Anyhow the man tour guide was actually a firefighter who was in one of the buildings when it collapsed, he was lucky to survive, most of his guys from his fire station was killed. I can say when he was telling us about that day, he got quite emotional , and so did everyone listening. I really recommend the tour than just turning up yourself. We were there in Sept.
Make sure you go to the church near 911 site, beautiful tribute.
Grand Central station was beautiful.
Met up with my American cousin for a few hours.
Caught the subway one stop up to the Dakota Building and then walked through Central Park.
We were staying right in Times Square, pretty crazy, at night so many people, it was fun.
Go to Ellen's Diner, the servers get up on the tables and sing. Google it. Enjoyed that.
We caught the train out to Coney Island, took about 40 mins, I knew the rides ect were closed, but there were some shops on the Boardwalk, we got Nathan's famous hotdogs ( awful) and sat and looked at the Atlantic Ocean,
It was actually nice to get out of the hustle and bustle.
Found the subway good, used it a bit, but walked a lot and a lot lol.
Did get lost a few times, twice on the subway. Couldn't get my head around where I was..... Uptown or Downtown lol.
We just picked out a few main things we had to do, and whatever else we came across , all good.
All in all I enjoyed it, found it expensive, found most people nice, but was just a big, noisy city to me and I am from Sydney.
How long are u staying?
Hope I haven't rambled on too much.

Hi LivingforDisney,
Thanks very much for your reply of your NY experience. We will be in NY for 4 days, then on to Universal Orlando and Disney World (the main reason for the trip!!). Definitely have a list going of what we want to see and do in NY while there.

 

[becpee]

We got a cab from LaGuardia, our driver was just like one you'd get in Melbourne (and the traffic was the same as well LOL).

We also got a cab to JFK when we flew out.

We did the hop on/hop off bus but the weather was horrendous and it rained just about the whole time we used it.

Most of the hosts on the tour guides on the hop on/hop off were fantastic, just so much knowledge but one was so bloody arrogant we didn't tip him, he treated some of the tourists like idiots (not justified either).

We were only in NY for 4 nights, I think i'd need 4 weeks

 

[AussieTink]

Thanks becpee for your reply. Think we will be so jetlagged coming off the flight that we just didn't know whether to line up for a taxi, or have a car pre-ordered for us. It is great getting experiences from every one. There is so much to do and see in NY that's for sure!

 

[Karin1984]

I'm using Supershuttle for years in the US, except my last trip when I took the train & subway. If you are looking for cheaper ways than a taxi, but like the comfort to be dropped off at your hotel doorstep, it's a great option.

 

[LeanneDownUnder]

We booked a Car service when we went in 2013. It was recommended by the people we were staying with. Carmels I think it was. I also looked on line and got a coupon it was really easy just called them when we landed and then they picked us up and had it pre booked when we left.

We had 12 days in NYC and it was the best time of our lives we walked that city like you would not believe!! If your after something a little different take the arial Tramway over to Roosevelt Island you get some wonderful views of the east river and that side of the city, its part of the regular Metro card system so you can just use your Metro card.

We had planned being back in NYC this winter but my eldest had other plans when she got herself engaged

 

[ehsmum]

New York is fantastic, one of my most favourite cities . 4 days isn't long so I would definitely have a list of what you want to see and do.

We got a car service from JFK into Manhattan. I can't remember the name of it but could look it up if you want. It was great, we called a number when we landed and they told us where to wait, a minute later he pulled up and we were off. I didn't want to risk a taxi because there are 5 of us plus luggage, I wanted to be sure to have a large enough vehicle waiting. Also, we landed at 4pm on a Friday and I didn't want to risk a huge taxi fare if we were sitting in traffic for hours. So it was definitely worth it for us .

 

[elphaba91]

We flew into Newark (and used Super Shuttle, which was awful), so no help there. But we flew out of JFK and took a cab - it should be a set fare of $52 plus tolls and tip, which should come to around $66. We took a few cabs in New York and always had good drivers. There are other options like the Air Train and subway or the NYC Airporter shuttle bus, but I don't know much about them, apart from the fact that they're there (and that I don't think I'd fancy taking my luggage on the subway!).

As for advice for New York itself, I'd highly recommend looking into the New York Pass. It saved us a heap of money and we ended up doing a lot of things that we might not have done otherwise (e.g. we did both Top of the Rock and the Empire State Building - the ESB is open very late and we were able to do it after a show without any lines). The Soho/Little Italy/Chinatown tour was a real highlight and we will definitely be doing more of the neighbourhood tours next time. The 9/11 Memorial is a must. The official museum wasn't on the NY Pass when we went (but it is now) so we did the Tribute Center instead, which was fantastic, albeit smaller than the museum. At that time of year I would also recommend the Radio City Music Hall tour - it is all decked out for Christmas and if you go at a show time you'll even get to watch a bit of the Christmas Spectacular from a booth at the back, plus you get to meet a Rockette. I think seeing the Statue of Liberty is a must - whether it be on the free Staten Island ferry, an island cruise (we did the full island, but I think a half one would be fine) or the Liberty/Ellis Island tour.

If you're planning on seeing a show without booking tickets in advance, I'd recommend using the TodayTix app. You can buy discounted tickets a few days in advance. You won't know your exact seats at the time of purchasing, but you will see what other people who booked in the same section got. You can also get a further discount off your first purchase with a code - go to the broadway.com forums and you will find a thread where people are giving out their codes (as they get reward points when people use them). You can also get cheap tickets by going to the TKTS booth in Times Square the afternoon of the show, but I personally didn't want to have to waste time doing that. Most shows also have rush tickets or lottery tickets, but again that means queuing up and is often a matter of chance (and often that's very slim - e.g. the Hamilton lottery can have hundreds of people).

If you are there for Thanksgiving the parade is definitely a unique experience, however you do have to get there very early to get a good spot. Try to find one near somewhere that sells drinks and, if possible, a bathroom (fyi the Starbucks on 47th near 6th does NOT have a bathroom, but does have fast service!). The Rock Center Cafe did a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner.

And last, but most definitely not least...it will likely be FREEZING! We were there the last week of November and the majority of the time it was seriously cold, almost unbearably so. My dreams of walking around New York in my cute grey beret were eventually dashed and I bought a touristy beanie with an amazing fleecy lining - I looked like a tourist, but felt so much better! That being said, the night we arrived (after long delays at LAX) we were in Times Square at midnight in very light shirts, so it can be unexpectedly warm. But make sure you are prepared - we even had snow!

 

[AussieTink]

I'm using Supershuttle for years in the US, except my last trip when I took the train & subway. If you are looking for cheaper ways than a taxi, but like the comfort to be dropped off at your hotel doorstep, it's a great option.

Thanks Karin1984 for your reply

We booked a Car service when we went in 2013. It was recommended by the people we were staying with. Carmels I think it was. I also looked on line and got a coupon it was really easy just called them when we landed and then they picked us up and had it pre booked when we left.

We had 12 days in NYC and it was the best time of our lives we walked that city like you would not believe!! If your after something a little different take the arial Tramway over to Roosevelt Island you get some wonderful views of the east river and that side of the city, its part of the regular Metro card system so you can just use your Metro card.

We had planned being back in NYC this winter but my eldest had other plans when she got herself engaged

Thanks LeanneDownUnder, 12 days in NYC wow how fantastic!! There is just so much to see isn't there.

New York is fantastic, one of my most favourite cities . 4 days isn't long so I would definitely have a list of what you want to see and do.

We got a car service from JFK into Manhattan. I can't remember the name of it but could look it up if you want. It was great, we called a number when we landed and they told us where to wait, a minute later he pulled up and we were off. I didn't want to risk a taxi because there are 5 of us plus luggage, I wanted to be sure to have a large enough vehicle waiting. Also, we landed at 4pm on a Friday and I didn't want to risk a huge taxi fare if we were sitting in traffic for hours. So it was definitely worth it for us .

Thanks ehsmum for your reply. We will definitely have a list of what we want to see and do, and lots of shopping hehe! The car services are sounding like a better option, I love that all you had to do was wait a little and they arrived to pick you up.

We flew into Newark (and used Super Shuttle, which was awful), so no help there. But we flew out of JFK and took a cab - it should be a set fare of $52 plus tolls and tip, which should come to around $66. We took a few cabs in New York and always had good drivers. There are other options like the Air Train and subway or the NYC Airporter shuttle bus, but I don't know much about them, apart from the fact that they're there (and that I don't think I'd fancy taking my luggage on the subway!).

As for advice for New York itself, I'd highly recommend looking into the New York Pass. It saved us a heap of money and we ended up doing a lot of things that we might not have done otherwise (e.g. we did both Top of the Rock and the Empire State Building - the ESB is open very late and we were able to do it after a show without any lines). The Soho/Little Italy/Chinatown tour was a real highlight and we will definitely be doing more of the neighbourhood tours next time. The 9/11 Memorial is a must. The official museum wasn't on the NY Pass when we went (but it is now) so we did the Tribute Center instead, which was fantastic, albeit smaller than the museum. At that time of year I would also recommend the Radio City Music Hall tour - it is all decked out for Christmas and if you go at a show time you'll even get to watch a bit of the Christmas Spectacular from a booth at the back, plus you get to meet a Rockette. I think seeing the Statue of Liberty is a must - whether it be on the free Staten Island ferry, an island cruise (we did the full island, but I think a half one would be fine) or the Liberty/Ellis Island tour.

If you're planning on seeing a show without booking tickets in advance, I'd recommend using the TodayTix app. You can buy discounted tickets a few days in advance. You won't know your exact seats at the time of purchasing, but you will see what other people who booked in the same section got. You can also get a further discount off your first purchase with a code - go to the broadway.com forums and you will find a thread where people are giving out their codes (as they get reward points when people use them). You can also get cheap tickets by going to the TKTS booth in Times Square the afternoon of the show, but I personally didn't want to have to waste time doing that. Most shows also have rush tickets or lottery tickets, but again that means queuing up and is often a matter of chance (and often that's very slim - e.g. the Hamilton lottery can have hundreds of people).

If you are there for Thanksgiving the parade is definitely a unique experience, however you do have to get there very early to get a good spot. Try to find one near somewhere that sells drinks and, if possible, a bathroom (fyi the Starbucks on 47th near 6th does NOT have a bathroom, but does have fast service!). The Rock Center Cafe did a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner.

And last, but most definitely not least...it will likely be FREEZING! We were there the last week of November and the majority of the time it was seriously cold, almost unbearably so. My dreams of walking around New York in my cute grey beret were eventually dashed and I bought a touristy beanie with an amazing fleecy lining - I looked like a tourist, but felt so much better! That being said, the night we arrived (after long delays at LAX) we were in Times Square at midnight in very light shirts, so it can be unexpectedly warm. But make sure you are prepared - we even had snow!

Thanks for your reply elphaba91 - some great information there. We have booked in to see Wicked, so that should be fantastic. 9/11 Memorial & Tour is on our list as well. Hehe yes I think I need to brace myself for the freezing cold temperatures! It's hard to dress for when the stores are warm so you have to take all your coats off, and then all on again when venture back outside! Hopefully when we hit Orlando it'll be a bit warmer!!

 

[LivingforDisney]

Wicked was fantastic!

 

[dancemonkey]

In New York there are so many wonderful restaurants. If you'll have Internet service download open table. It's my favorite way to check out restaurants. There's a really fun tour called The Ride. It tours sites in midtown and you get a show too! Juniors is really good too! Another piece of advice the Marriott marquis has great bathrooms in their lobby on the 8th floor. Where are you staying? And I'd probably take the air train from JFK.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I have used WiroLimo for airport pick up and drop off at JFK - great service, nice cars.

 

[AussieTink]

In New York there are so many wonderful restaurants. If you'll have Internet service download open table. It's my favorite way to check out restaurants. There's a really fun tour called The Ride. It tours sites in midtown and you get a show too! Juniors is really good too! Another piece of advice the Marriott marquis has great bathrooms in their lobby on the 8th floor. Where are you staying? And I'd probably take the air train from JFK.

Hi dancemonkey thanks for your reply! Currently looking into getting a sim card for overseas so can have data to use when out and about. I will look into the Open Table app you said thanks for the tips! I've downloaded another app recently to find Gluten Free foods, and have been looking up Wholefoods Market etc. We are staying at the Residence Inn Manhattan/Midtown East.

I have used WiroLimo for airport pick up and drop off at JFK - great service, nice cars.

Thanks lost*in*cyberspace for your reply, will have a look at them

 

[dancemonkey]

You'll want to go Freidmans for gluten free. Bryant Park Grille is a fabulous restaurant too though not known for gluten free

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

Not gluten free, but well worth a look and a stop for a bite to eat - Eataly on Broadway.

If you are going to walk the Highline, make sure you take the time to check out the Chelsea Markets and the Meat packing district.