What an absolute waste of money. We’ve spent in excess of £700 for these so called access everything passes and managed in an exhaustive 3 days of chaos in NYC to get to 3 attractions.
NYC is an amazing place but at busy times, the word busy is a vast understatement. Millions of visitors people converging to see the same attractions make using the passes physically impossible.
These are not ‘scan and go’ type passes and they do not give you ANY additional quick access to anything. This is one of many different agencies that effectively must bulk buy access to the main attractions and then package this up into an access code. Your challenge is to try and get round as many sites as possible in your time frame.
What’s also important to note is that there are a lot of so called ‘New York multi site passes’. When you’re in New York, you will be pestered on every street corner adjacent to the main attractions, by agent touts trying to sell tickets.
So how does the New York Pass actually work?
Like many of the reviews on here, what is really not clear is how many of these attractions are actually accessed. How do you get into them?
So a good example from our experience over the last two days, would be getting on to a very famous bus tour called ‘The Ride’. This is perhaps one of the best bus tours in NYC. You have to use their (The Ride) website to book a tour slot...so there’s absolutely no just turning up with your New York Pass, scan, then getting on. You must prebook, in advance before getting on. But The Ride website does not have a very logical booking system where your pass redemption is concerned. So there we all are, in the crazy rain, standing next to a queue of people (who had purchased tickets in advance) trying our hardest to try and book ’The Ride’ on our phones...but to no avail. We even had a street representative of The Ride trying to help us.
We were very aware that she didn't really want to as she already had paying customers, but did her best. Eventually she did tell us that it’s best just to buy tickets next time. According to the website, no slots were available at any time for at least 3 days ahead.
This want the case however as we watched one bus take on some people but it certainly wasn’t at all full. So the website just doesn’t work at all regardless of us trying for a good few days to get on it.
My absolute honest advice is that unless you know
exactly where your going in the city, have a very good working knowledge of the public transport systems/Metro or a big amount of cash to take taxis, absolutely do not waste your money on a pass. It is so much easier to directly buy tickets, not passes, to each attraction you wish to see. And if you can book your tickets on line IN ADVANCE of visit to each attraction, which is easy by the way, then absolutely do so! Only the will you avoid the huge queues for the ticket offices for these attractions. Oh, and quite a lot of so called New York Pass attractions are actually free. Read the small print and do the research.
Does this review seem like I’m just an angry
complainant who’s having a vent, you’re absolutely
right. I’ve travelling with 3 other adults and 1 11 yr old and we’ve totally wasted £700. We’re all so much wiser for our next visit to NYC. We won’t be recommending the passes at all to anyone.
If you’re still compelled by this pass, take the gamble and buy it by all means. It’s always on the same offer, 30% off, and the app is pretty simple. But the free download guide is not much use, I deleted it after a day and used google maps and google to get all the right info, it’s much, much easier.
Finally, do buy a unlimited metro pass. They’re invaluable in the city and that’s where you will definitely save money.
Réponse de l'hôte
Jan 2020
Thank you for taking the time to review The New York Pass. We value your feedback, as it used to help identify gaps and improve service. On average, customers are able to visit approximately 3-4 attractions per day, depending on how early in the day the pass is started. Unfortunately during peak season in NYC, wait times can be longer than normal, especially at some of the top attractions. Some, but not all attractions included on the pass do require advance reservations as mentioned on our website. The Ride is one of them, and there are a certain amount of seats available for New York Pass holders for each departure. We are terribly sorry that you were unhappy with your purchase.