First time to the US - comments on itinerary

[rock86]

My personal view is too many cities in too short a time.

SF 4 nights would be fun, I stay in Union Square and love to walk and ride the MUNI, the F line even runs Melbourne Trams. the last cable car of the night back from the Gold Dust and Buena Vista bars to Union Square. The Buena Vista

3 night in Vegas is also good, there are plenty of shows and silly stuff to be seen. Take you sugar dose in the morning for all that walking energy for the strip.

New Orleans, I would have split those three nights over all the other places and made it and LA a separate trip.

NY, they don't call it the big apple for nothing. Plenty to do including jump a fast train to the Smithsonian in DC.

Fair enough, but given Mrs Rock was pushing us to spend only 2 nights in some places I am happy with the outcome.

In regards to NOLA, next trip will be with 2 boys so very different priorities - NOLA probably isn't one of them on that trip

 

[Buzzard]

I enjoyed a few "half price" shows on Broadway. You just need to go to Times Square around 2 or 3 in the arvo and see what's available for that evening. Staying at any Hilton will be a disappointment. Half the guests are Diamond, status means zip in the US.

 

[rock86]

I enjoyed a few "half price" shows on Broadway. You just need to go to Times Square around 2 or 3 in the arvo and see what's available for that evening. Staying at any Hilton will be a disappointment. Half the guests are Diamond, status means zip in the US.

Is that the TKTS booths buzzard? I have read about purchasing at those booths at a discount, do they sell the remaining seats to all shows, or only select shows?

Speaking about hotels, started looking at San Fran hotels last night and was gobsmacked, a heap of them were fully booked and even average ones started at USD600 a night - chain hotels were averaging around a USD1,000/night & even hostels were USD450/night!! I did a bit of digging and our arrival coincided with the largest Cloud & SAAS Conference in the US hosted by Salesforce - thanks a lot, not only does theb company cost us enough at work, now they're going cost me astronomical amounts just to get a room on holidays!!

So what to do, that's right IHG & Hyatt currently have a point sale on. I wasn't expecting any of the hotels to have award rooms available, but what is there to lose. My suspicions were confirmed when I first searched Hyatt, no rooms on points for Wed/Thurs which were the nights pushing prices up (Fri/Sat rates dropped back to under USD200/night). Next up IHG, bingo both IC's had award nights and at 65% bonus (I'm only a nee member so no 100%) those nights would cost USD420, much more palatable!!

Thought I'd give Hyatt another try and include the Saturday as well, not sure why it would make a difference, but low and behold it did. Grand Hyatt 3 nights for total 60k points, had 4k points in my account so for the 3 nights it cost USD320/night. Winning, geez I love the points game!!

 

[NoName]

There is a TKTS app you can use too. No need to stand in line in Times Square any more. You meet the person for your show outside the theatre and they give the tickets to you.

 

[Buzzard]

Correct, the TKTS booths.
My understanding is that it is only for shows that have unsold tickets.
I saw 3 shows on 3 different nights and never waited more than minute or two (idle at all) at the ticket window. I would prefer to do this than try and find someone at a crowded theatre entrance. YMMV.

 

[rock86]

Now the fun of deciding on hotels for the rest of the trip (SF & majority of NYC already sorted).

Vegas, we're probably leaning towards The Cosmopolitan or Waldorf Astoria.

But for NOLA, unsure whether it makes a difference if we stay in the CBD or French Quarter? It doesn't look like too long a walk from CBD hotels to the French Quarter for exploring, or do we just stay in one of the classical French Quarter hotels?

 

[Lynda2475]

But for NOLA, unsure whether it makes a difference if we stay in the CBD or French Quarter? It doesn't look like too long a walk from CBD hotels to the French Quarter for exploring, or do we just stay in one of the classical French Quarter hotels?

I stayed in the CBD (finance district), as the hotels are generally newer and less expensive. It is just across the road from the French Quarter and NOLA is very walkable. Guess you need to decide based on the property, but i don't think I missed out, especially WRT it being nice and quiet when one is ready to sleep.

That said a friend stayed at Bourbon Orleans Hotel in the FQ recently and loved the vibe.