First Time Visitor needs advice

Hi, I am new to all this so I hope I wont make too many mistakes. My wife and I will be in New York for 4 nights in 2 weeks time. I have gone through most of the forum but so much detail is out there I was hoping for some personal hints.

Suggested Itinerary for New York

Monday afternoon arrive at Newark 1.45

Book into hotel (Fitzpatrick Grand Central)

Circle Line Harbour Lights Tour (6pm) then dinner ???

Empire State Building, before closing?

Back to hotel.

Tuesday

buy 48 hour Hop on Hop off Bus tour,

Sightseeing / shopping

Lunch

Maybe walk back from Brooklyn over Bridge

Night Tour

Wednesday

Bus Tour / Shopping / Sights

Take Staten Island Ferry instead of Liberty and Ellis Island tour

Dinner at The View ? or somewhere else? (Wife鈥檚 Birthday)

Thursday

What ever is left

Top of The Rock

Night 鈥?Meal Broadway show 鈥?Chicago, Mama Mia??

Friday last minute shopping leave for Airport early evening

Need to fit in buying Diamond coloured stone ring and digital camera at B%26amp;H

Any suggestions for getting from Newark to Fitzpatrick and any help on order of seeing sights and eating or just go with the flow? Any help would be grateful. Thanks

First Time Visitor needs advice

Wow, Thursday%26#39;s gonna be busy ';whatever else is left';!!!

A few thoughts.

Day One.

You will have been up since the crack of dawn if your plane arrives from Belfast at 1.45 so you may be wilting by the time you%26#39;ve finished dinner. Be prepared to bail out and do ESB another day (if at all if you%26#39;re also doing TOTR).

Day Two

';Maybe'; walk back over Brooklyn Bridge??? Don%26#39;t you realise it%26#39;s compulsory?

Day Three

After the ferry, a walk around Battery Park and up Broadway taking in the Bull, the ';canyons';, Trinity Church, Ground Zero, St Paul%26#39;s Chapel and Wall Street would be possible

Is dinner a surprise for your wife? If not, in my experience it pays to include them in the decision making process ;-) Find out what she%26#39;d enjoy and come back for some suggestions.

Day Four

As above! Actually, I see no museums on your itinerary?

Day Five

Another day to fit in a fair amount if you%26#39;re not flying %26#39;till the evening. Central Park?

Would suggest, if it%26#39;s for you, buy the camera on Day One although you might one to gen up on it before you leave. Nothing worse than taking a whole load of photos then discovering you%26#39;re on the wrong setting!

Transportation from Newark to hotel? have a look here for options: panynj.gov/CommutingTravel/airports/html/ewr鈥?/a>

First Time Visitor needs advice

Thanks for prompt reply, dinner is not a surprise for my wife - I learnt early on not to do that! I have read / heard various reports about the View restaurant ,some say food ok but overpriced others say food and view fantastic. Something special was what I had in mind, I also thought about Rise and Rainbow Grill - also told of an Asian restaurant with great views but my friend had forgotten the name. With so many things to see and do thought we would skip museums, unless we pass them en route, did a couple in Amsterdam and the time just disappeared!

Opinion here seems to be that good view and good food are mutually exclusive. Apart that is from River Caf茅 which seems to have both in spades.

If not museums, a walk through SoHo and Greenwich Village can throw up some lovely sites (and shops and bars).

Compliments to you on your research.

Re: food - tell us what you like to eat and your budget and we can give you recos. There are so many good pre-theater prix-fixe offerings out there.

Hi, I recognise the names from browsing, regarding food we both like Italian, Chinese / Asian, French ,European / American. My wife prefers chicken to steaks - however I will eat most things neither of us have tried Japanese so might give that a go. As for price special occasions I suppose $200 - $300 or so for two ( can be more depending on surroundings) , I have noticed that wine etc is more expensive than here and also some places have a surcharge. Any advice is a great help. Many Thanks.

I think it%26#39;s a bit redundant to do both ESB and Top of the Rock. Do one or the other -- yes, it%26#39;s a fantastic skyline, but no point in taking all that time just to see it from two spots 20 blocks apart! :-)

I had the same thought as Nic regarding getting the camera right away. It would be a shame to miss out on all of the photo ops during your stay.

While most on this forum plan detailed itineraries, I am one who prefers to ';go with the flow'; as you mentioned. That way, if something doesn%26#39;t happen as planned, it won%26#39;t ruin the trip. We were in NYC during the transit strike in Dec. %26#39;05 and had a great time because it was easier to adjust our plans. We do plan out several ';musts'; and work them in during the stay. Only suggestion I will make regarding ESB or TOTR is to time it to be there at sunset. Get up there before sunset to see the sights and then the amazing views of the sunset and how it changes the way the city looks - AMAZING!!!

For transportation from Newark, I have used Carmel several times and had good experiences - carmellimo.com.

I%26#39;m a big fan of the River Cafe, but I%26#39;ll also recommend Asiate. It%26#39;s in the 35th floor lobby of the Mandarin Oriental. The divine food is French-Asian, and the views of Central Park are gorgeous! You should make reservations now! You can use opentable.com instead of phoning.

You should also buy your theater tickets now. Go to broadwaybox.com and click on the show titles on the left side of their home page. Then follow the directions for discount tickets. I recommend you phone the ticket agent rather than buy tickets online. It%26#39;s easier to deal with a live agent. And they%26#39;ll have your tickets held at the box office so you can pick them up on your way into the show. I sent friends yesterday to see ';Hairspray,'; and they can%26#39;t stop talking about how fabulous it was!

Then, after you%26#39;ve sorted out your theater, you%26#39;ll need to make dining reservations if you want to eat pre-theater in the area.

Overall, the Top of the Rock is a much better experience that the Empire State Building.

Agree with Nic that your first day is overly ambitious. I%26#39;d go so far as to say save the Harbor Light cruise for another night and maybe consider a dinner cruise for your special night instead. To get to your hotel, you could easily take the coachusa express bus from Newark and get off at Grand Central stop which is right near your hotel. $14/person.

http://sales.coachusa.com/index.php?pid=2

You could also order a car service.

carmellimo.com

dial7.com

Do NOT make a mistake and take Super Shuttle. It%26#39;s terrible.

Check into the hotel, have a walk to Rockefeller Center and perhaps go up to Top of the Rock, check out a bit more of Fifth ave. and have some dinner and get a good night%26#39;s sleep.

Consider doing a tour with kingofnyc.com or nypartyshuttle.com instead of the hop on/off. You%26#39;ll get more info, spend just a day or half day touring and will get more out of it, imo. If you do use the hop on/off, you better think in advance about where you%26#39;re going to get off and what you intend on seeing, otherwise you may be walking around aimlessly.

Agree with comments on view restaurants. Don%26#39;t eat at the View. River Cafe or maybe the Bateaux NY cruise.

I don%26#39;t know what you mean by a diamond colored stone ring. I%26#39;ve seen a lot of white topaz in a catalog I get

rosssimons.com

that does have the clear/white look of a diamond but it doesn%26#39;t have the sparkle. Unfortunately, they don%26#39;t have a store in Manhattan. If you see something you like online, you could possibly order it and have it delivered to your hotel. OR, there are fake diamonds (cubic zirconia) in good solid gold setting. Irwin Pearl has some beautiful cubic zirconia jewelry.

http://erwinpearl.com/store_rings.htm

They have 4 locations in Manhattan, one across the street from your hotel inside Grand Central, but that branch may not carry all these items.

New York City 鈥?697 Madison Avenue 鈥?(212) 753-3155

New York City 鈥?70 West 50th St (Rockefeller Center) (212) 977-9088

New York City 鈥?Grand Central Station聽 (Forever Silver) 鈥?(212) 922-1106

New York City 鈥?3 World Financial Center 鈥?(212) 227-3400

If you intend on getting this for your wife without her present, you need to know her ring size.

Thanks Guys for all the info, I will revise my plans. Asiate sounds interesting - I%26#39;ll look on the websites for menus etc. As for the diamond colored stone ring -it should have been diamond AND colored stone - my mistake, I have looked at Fortunoff web page and also IDJewelry plus Tiffanys. The bus looks good option if it stops at Grand Central, we can drag the luggage around the corner to Hotel and save the limo for trip home. Any more suggestions are welcome