New Year in New York

[Paddybare]

We'll be spending New Year's Eve in New York this year before joining a cruise. We have never been before so will no doubt visit the usual spots but are stuck when it comes to New Year's Eve itself and what to do.

Has anyone been then, if so- any hints/tips/recommendations would be greatly received. Thanks.

The iconic thing to do is to go to Times Square. It is not really a square, more a road junction with big screens of adverts, but it is a well known gathering place for New Years Eve. It can be very, very, cold in NY at this time! I would check out as many web sites as you can about where to go, what is on and where to eat. There won't be any shortage of info.

gonyc.about.com has loads of info.

It might be iconic to go to Times Sq, but when we went we were told we'd have to start queuing to get in from about 3pm. Once in you couldn't get leave (ie to go to the loo) and automatically go back in, you had to rejoin the queue, so no guarantee you'd get back in. Couldn't take any booze in. Quite frankly it all sounded a bit shit just to watch a ball drop!!! So instead we got tickets to 230 Fifth, which included booze and food (was about $130 all in iirc) and spent most of the night on the fabulous roof terrace wrapped in their red dressing gowns, overlooking the Empire State and admiring the rest of the skyline. It was bloody marvellous.

I've done NYE in NY a couple of times but didn't go to Times Square.

We went to Central Park - you can see the ball dropping from there. They have all kinds of entertainment going on and have a huge firework display at midnight.