New England Cruise and Stay in New York

New England and New York on Anthem of the Seas. Family holiday to New York for 4 nights, followed by a 10 night cruise on Anthem of the Seas out of New Jersey. Although I have been to New York before, my 2 boys have never been, so we made the most of the 3 full days we had (4 nights) and visited as many of the sights as we could. Top Tip : book an Explorer Pass (bookable via Travel Counsellors) with a choice of the number of tours / entry for best value. We included : Day 1 : Empire State Building & Ground Zero Museum Day 2 : Statue of Liberty / Superheroes Tour (Boys Choice!) Day 3 : Bike hire around Central Park & Top of the Rock at night We also walked the High Line and around Little Italy, China Town & Times Square Our hotel was the 5 star Kimpton Event1 at Avenue of the Americas and 30th Street, which had a great location one block away from the Empire State Building and walking distance to the buzzing Times Square. Flights were with Delta Airlines direct from Heathrow. No complaints and on time. Once we arrived at JFK airport customs was a breeze and we just joined a short queue for a taxi (very easy) to Manhattan (cost approx $80). Then the Cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas. I pre-booked the transfer to Cape Liberty, New Jersey with Holiday Taxis (approx £100 one way) and pick up was on time and took approximately an hour. Arrived in plenty of time for boarding which went very smoothly and boarded the Anthem. We had an outside cabin which had a double sofa bed for the third passenger and we found this perfectly adequate. If we had a balcony the 3rd bed would have been an upper Pullman unless we had upgraded to a larger cabin but the outside suited us fine as we didn’t spend too much time in the cabin itself. New England was lovely to see and we made the most of it by booking a tour in each destination. Boston : Salem and Witch Museum / Scenic Boston Portland : Bike and Hike Bar Harbour : Haunted Bar Harbor tour Halifax : Duck Tour (which had to be a coach tour due to weather) St John : Zip Line Adventure The entertainment on board was absolutely brilliant………main show was We Will Rock You and I made sure we had front row seats! Other shows including an excellent comedian. I challenged myself on the Escape Room on board and the boys did the RipCord by iFly experience. There was roller skating and bumper cars on this ship to enjoy too. Drinks Package. I did purchase this but find it is more for the convenience and knowing no surprise bill at the end of the cruise (cost approx us$60 pppd and non alcoholic for the boys (approx us$40 pppd). All in all a great trip. New England is interesting and picturesque contrasting with the hussle and bussle of New York. Doing the stay in New York was ideal as we could relax after a tiring but enjoyable few days in the Big Apple. So please do get in touch if you need help or ideas and want some first-hand knowledge of the destination.