Ramada Plaza - Newark (New York tours/Shuttle)

[midwestchick]

Hi, yes, I would be happy to tell you what we did.

We too, were like you, very intimidated. We are small town folks, so New York City was very scary....

But, I will tell you this. We felt extremely comfortable in the big city.

We took the train from our hotel in Newark, over to the Newark airport, from the airport we took the train into the city. It was a bit overwhelming, but you know what, we were there, and we wanted to "do it" so we did.

 

We were there the first time during Christmas last year, so we got to see all the decorated windows, we saw Times Square and the big Christmas tree.. There is a skating rink, and all the sights and sounds and hustle and bustle of New York. We walked and walked and took in as much as we could. (I would recommend a hop on hop off tour bus to see even more) My dh and I didn't really know what to do, where to go our first time into NY.

The city was so friendly too, which took us off guard. Everyone was so welcoming and so ready to help us get to where we wanted to go.

This was the first trip in....

 

the next trip was last May, and we again stayed in Newark at the Ramada, and we made friends on our first cruise, and they lived in New Jersey, so they met us at our hotel and took us to Staten Island where we rode the free ferry.... yes, the Staten Island Ferry is FREE!!!!!! Which is a fantastic thing to do. I highly recommend this.

 

And, then they gave us a personal tour of the 9/11 memorial, and being with our new cruising buddies, it gave us such a touching tour. It literally brought tears to us, to hear first hand the stories....

Then we went to Chinatown, then Little Italy, it was so much fun to spend the day with our friends.

 

I can't say enough about New York city, and all the surrounding places. There is so much to see!!!

And, even right now, we would drop everything to go for the weekend..( we would stay in Newark, or somewhere in New Jersey, or even in Staten Island (that ferry was fantastic!!!! it runs around the clock -I think) it takes you from Staten Island -right past the Statue of Liberty, to the city down near 9/11 ..

 

There are many buses that offer tours. There is many many more things to see and do, it would takes weeks to see it all... but we saw enough to know we enjoyed it there. and will return again!

There is so much to see, and do... I say go for it.

 

I know our hotel in Newark New Jersey (the Ramada Plaza- is located by a jail-which didn't bother us at all) they now do a shuttle into the city right from there. I believe its $25..

 

There are many many more knowledgeable people here on the forums, me and my dh are very simple non fancy small town people, who have discovered cruising... we have chose to go out of Bayonne .. and now the next 3 cruises are out of Baltimore.

 

We live in Ontario Canada, so the drive is around 8-9 hours, to either area.

 

Like i said, there are many people here who know much more than me..but I wanted to reply so you can hear it from me... that it can be done.

 

Thank you for replying, Chris. How fortunate that you knew someone to take you around. The Staten Island ferry sounds wonderful. Do you know if there is another way to get to the ferry?

Do you know where the bus drops you in NY and how close you are to the major sites? I know NY is huge and so many things to see and do.

I have not booked the New England/Canada cruise yet but am doing some research to see if it is truly something we will do, even though the itinerary is one that I've thought we would like to do.

 

[mapleleafvoyage]

I am sure can get to the Ferry many ways, someone here would surely know. I can't really tell you, because that was when we went with our friends. I do know that we could easily get on in New York and go to Staten Island and then back to New York (reverse that how we did it originally)

 

I think the hop on hop off stops at many of the main attractions.

 

Here is a couple of links I have saved... hopefully someone else can pop in and also give you advice.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attractions-g60763-Activities-New_York_City_New_York.html

 

http://www.nycgo.com/

 

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/new-york-city/things-to-do/top-things-to-do-in-new-york-city

 

http://www.hop-on-hop-off-bus.com/new-york-bus-tours

 

http://www.newyorkpass.com/En/bus-tour-packages/

[midwestchick]

Thank you. I just put them in my favorites and will look at them later. Great information.

I believe there is a Country Inn & Suites close to the airport in NJ...I think we have enough points for at least one free night. I'll have to see if they offer any type of bus tour.