New York City Package Deals for Families: New York New York Tours

New York New York Tours is the best kept secret of package deals. In 2005 my three friends and I took a trip to New York City. My friend, Kelly, found the best package deal after all four of us had been searching for a few months. The online company is called New York New York Tours. The package deal is for a family of two, three, or four. We were able to use this for ourselves, too, even though we are not a family per se.

The package deals are for one night, two nights, three nights or four nights. You can upgrade to a deluxe package as we did. You can add extended days to your package. Having at least four people in your room saves you even more money. The prices are listed on the website.

Hotel
You will not know which hotel you will be staying at until the date of your departure gets closer. That was a little scary, but you were guaranteed at least a three out of five star quality hotel. Knowing that "quality" was used and we checked online what a three star hotel exactly was, that gave us peace of mind. The hotel is also located in the heart of Times Square. It was fabulous to be in Times Square to walk to a lot of our destinations. We were given the Best Western President Hotel. I highly recommend this hotel for your family. Friendly staff, clean, and nice rooms. Considering we were in New York where a lot of hotel rooms are boxes, we had a nice large room with two queen size beds.

Breakfast
For every morning you are booked at your hotel, you get a free breakfast included with your package. There is a separate menu for this type of deal. Don't worry, it doesn't matter. You still get a huge plate of pancakes, eggs, toast, hash browns, bacon, sausage, oj, milk, coffee, tea or whichever you order. You are not only given a donuts and coffee or a bowl of oatmeal. All of our breakfasts felt like home cooking at the AppleJack Diner. Although the waitress we seemed to get each morning but one, wasn't very friendly. Of the three out of four mornings we saw her, she only smiled at us once on our last day there. Tips are included but if you get extra-friendly service you may tip your waiter or waitress a bonus. AppleJack Diner was walking distance from our hotel. Each package deal gets a voucher to a different restaurant for breakfast. I am thinking they give the restaurant that participates in this package deal that is located as close as possible to your hotel. Enjoy a warm breakfast to start off the day with your family.

Lunch
Lunches are not included in your package deal. In a way this is a good thing. Sample one of the sidewalk vendor's hot dogs or giant pretzels on a push cart or go to a deli and have a real delicious New York sandwich. We went to the Majestic Deli. I had the best sandwich ever due to the meat being so much better than anywhere else I've ever been. I bought a pastrami on rye. My friend, Kelly, looked up what pastrami actually is, and it's smoked corned beef. My three friends, Dani, Mel, and Kelly split a charcoal chicken panini. By not including lunches in your daily schedule, it makes it easier for you to grab a bite to eat wherever your location at lunch time for the day may be. We ate inexpensively as we had such a big breakfast.

Dinner
Dinners are included in your package deal. You get to choose from a restaurant to eat at on Restaurant Row. You have quality selections. Each restaurant is listed on the Restaurants Row website. One of the vouchers you get to chose to eat at is Sardi's or the fancy Tavern on the Green. We chose Tavern on the Green. Gorgeous with magnificent food. The trees outside all have white lights on. Bushes are shaped like animals. Paper mache lighting. Inside Tavern on the Green there are many themed rooms to eat at. The hostess seats you in the room that is given to you. The room we were given was the Chestnut Room. Beautiful with glass mirrors and rich woods. The staff was very friendly and attentive to your every need. We started with a variety of rolls and butter. We had gourmet appetizers. I highly suggest the smoked salmon carpaccio. I need to go back to New York just to have another bite of that. For my meal I had the filet mignon, piped scallion mashed potatoes, string beans that were really thin, glazed, and perfectly done. For dessert I had warm chocolate cake that literally melted in my mouth. Simply divine. A photographer takes your photo at your dinner table. It is available for purchase at the end of your dinner.

Afterward, we shopped at one of their shops. I bought a t-shirt which was not too expensive and a post card of each of their beautiful rooms to dine in. Then we headed upstairs to the bar area for an after dinner drink which we paid for on our own. A margarita was $12.00. We enjoyed each other's company and friendly bartender. The large tiger stained glass picture behind the bar is thought to be a picture from the Wizard of Oz the bartender shared with us as I thought it was quite unique and had asked about it.

Bus Tour
In your package you get a bus tour. We could use the bus tour in the daytime or evening. You can break up your trips as we did. We used some of our bus tour in the daytime and some in the evening. Double Decker Tour bus is narrated and very informational. The first tour guide was excellent. The second tour guide I must say was difficult to understand. We saw many areas of New York which included Times Square, Fifth Avenue, Greenwich Village, Empire State Building, Little Italy, Chinatown, Macy's, and many more buildings with so much history behind them. You can get off and on at different stops of your choice.

Boat Cruise
We took a very neat boat cruise around lower Manhattan. The narrator gave us so much information on each area we passed. We saw each area such as Brooklyn, Manhattan, a close up view to the Statue of Liberty for phenomenal photos, Ellis Island, and more. A book is offered to purchase for a souvenir. I bought one and keep it with my photo album as it has beautiful pictures and history.

Bus Pass/Subway Pass
We had a one day pass to the buses and subway to use at our desire. It was fun to try out each of the cities transportation modes. Of course, I was terrified being on the subway for the first time. Afterward I realized it wasn't that bad. It actually felt pretty good to sit down and get to our next destination very quick. The bus was clean and comfortable, too. You will feel safe with your family on either of these transportation modes.

Empire State Building or Top of the Rock
We went to the Empire State Building Observatory to see the view of the city. (I ended up sick from the Sky-Ride offered to us while in line waiting. It is a movie that you sit down and hang onto a bar over your lap. The movie moves fast and makes you feel like you are moving while your seats are jerked all over the place. All of us felt ill.) The photos my friends took turned out amazing.

Or you can choose the new "Top of the Rock" observatory at Rockefeller Center. This wasn't available when I was there so I cannot comment on this.

Broadway Show
We saw Hairspray for our Broadway show. We had a list to choose from and all agreed that we wanted to see this one. It was a one hundred dollar ticket had we purchased this separately. Afterward we even met most of the cast including the main characters. I got my photo with one of them which I will treasure. I do see on the website now some of the Broadway shows are free and some you have to add a little money to. Who knows, maybe your child will dream of becoming a Broadway star one day.

Miscellaneous Items Added
As the website for New York, New York Tours states you can have a free pass into the "Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History including the Rose Center for Earth & Space and Hayden Planetarium, the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art on the Vacation package."

We actually ran out of time to do any of these. Be sure to allow yourself plenty of days in New York to see as many sites, shop, and eat at their fabulous restaurants.

We called travel agents to see if they could match this deal. No. We asked family and friends who flew to New York what they paid for their trip. We asked strangers while in New York what they paid and told them about our trip. Not one person's price matched ours even close. We got the best deal for our money. Also, it was nice not grabbing our wallet for everything. It was fun knowing so much was paid for in advance and we enjoyed our trip to Manhattan even more.

This trip has so much rich history for you to share with your children.

Review
All four of us gave this package deal a five out of five star rating. Everything went smooth. We could not have planned or asked for a better trip. The website has reviews posted, too. My friend, Kelly, who booked our trip gave them a review in 2005. New York New York Tours must get a lot of compliments as her review is gone and fresh dated ones are posted. Kelly spoke to one of the staff members and he was always very helpful and courteous to her questions and needs.

Toll-Free Phone Number
1-800-301-4211 Plan your family trip in a New York minute!