Future New York Visit

[Guest]

Hi All

I will be visiting new York in April 2008 and have been considering the Harbour Cruises that are on offer. I am looking at the 3 hour tour ad am wondering if it is going to be worth spending that amount of time when perhaps a shorter tour would suffice.
Anyone out there been on the 3 hour tour - is it worth it from the perspective of spotting Ships?

Any tips on where to see ships in NY would also be appreciated, so that I can then work on getting time off from my wife's plans for the visit :lol:

Regards

Steve Ellwood

[GordonC]

The 'Circle Line' tour is well worth it, taking you around the Manhatten island, or take the free ferry to Staten Island and back again. Unfortunately not much shipping on either trip, like London Docks all now trendy flats or acres of derelict land. Gordon

[Guest]

Hi Gordon

Thanks for the reply - looks like a 3 hour tour wouldn't bring many Ships int my camera lens so may forget about that one.
Tom Turners fine photographs from New York had perhaps made me think that it was a busy Port :-(

Regards

Steve Ellwood

[Admin Account]

[Nathan]

Good luck Steve, New York of all places!
Talk about global spotting mate.
Hope it all goes well next year, why not have a look on google maps/earth see if you can spot some vantage points.

[Guest]

Hi Nathan

The Ships Spotting side of the trip is purely incidental, believe me I would have to build it into a tour of the sights to avoid any grief from the other half  :lol:

Good idea about using Google Earth, I'll give it a try.

Regards

Steve Ellwood

[Nathan]

New York, is it a specific type of port?
Like, just container or crude etc? Or is it Multi like Teesport, Rotterdam, Hull etc.

[Robert J Smith]

Hi Steve,

I've been to NY a few times on business and like Gordon says above, not much in the way of shipping although I found the cruise terminal on the west side (Hudson River) busy at weekends with three or four ships sailing each day around about 4:30pm, all sailing one after the other. The South Street Maritime Museum is also worth visiting on the east side (East River). I found the Circle Line excursion quite interesting seeing the above plus any passing tug/barge traffic and local ferries. They run from the west side just south of the Cruise Terminal and you also get a good view of most of the NY attactions.
The free Staten Island ferry gives views of the anchorages in NY bay plus Staten Island gives a good view af all commercial traffic in & out of the ports in New Jersey. The crossing also gives good views of the Statue of Liberty.
The USS INTREPID museum is/was worth a visit but I believe she has been moved for restoration work.
If you get mobile then a trip down to Bayonne (by the Bayonne Bridge) is worth a trip to seen ships moored on the Jersey container port and any passing traffic.

Have a good trip.

Bob

[David Harrison]

Hi  The Cunard/Carnival terminal is at Red Hook Pier 12 in Brooklyn. You can see the ships from Pier 17 or take a taxi to Red Hook for a close up. I believe Royal Carribean have a terminal further round from Cunard (possibly Pier 6)
Have a look on www.Cruise.co.uk. Some fab pictures of New York shipping.
Have a fab time.

[Guest]

Hi David

Thanks for the tips - appears from the photographs on www.Cruise.co.uk that some of the Piers are enclosed on three sides, s perhaps the 3 hour 'around Manhattan' cruise will be the best idea thus far.
One of my major disappointments is that the USS Intrepid will not be in New York during my visit  :-(

Regards

Steve Ellwood