Gray Line Tickets in NYC
 

Has anyone recently purchased Gray Line double-decker tour tickets thru a hotel?

I seem to recall that some hotels offer these tickets, but when I called Gray Line I was told I would have to go downtown to their office to make the purchase. This sounded funny to me, so I thought I'd ask you all about your experiences. We hope to buy the All Loops package, and I certainly don't mind popping over to a hotel on the Upper East Side or Midtown East to get the tickets. Going to the Gray Line office would take a special trip. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

I personally have not purchased the Gray Line tickets at a hotel, but I do know that some hotels do sell them. If you specific hotel does not, then you can buy them at the Port Authority Bus Terminal or the Gray Line Visitor Center on 8th Ave. between 47th and 48th Streets.

http://graylinenewyork.com/

You can also pick up a Gray Line brochure at nearly any hotel, then just look at the route map and head for one of the stops. At many of the stops, there will be reps selling tickets (they have credit card machines too), the Central Park stop, Rockefeller Center stop, etc. I don't know if you can still do this, but once we hopped on at a stop where no one was selling tickets and rode to the Visitor's Office, hopped off, bought tickets, hopped back on.

I bought tickets a couple of weeks ago for the All-Loops Grayline Tour through www.shop.viator.com because they offered a $10 promotional discount. I printed out a "voucher" from their site which I had to redeem at the Grayline Visitor Center on 8th Ave. between 47th and 48th. Grayline also sells online but requires that the actual tickets be picked up at either the Port Authority Terminal at 42nd and 8th Ave or the Visitors Center. I did see hotels advertising the tours for sale, but it's probably also a voucher you must exchange. The only reps I saw selling tickets were on the streets near the Visitors Center.
We used the buses a lot over the 2 days but were disgruntled on Saturday because the buses were so crowded. We could not get a seat upstairs until late in the day, after riding around for three hours. We kept hopping off hoping to get on a bus with empty seats. Several times I had people next to me standing in the aisle holding on to a strap-- blocking my view and with their armpit in my face. The capacity was not a problem Friday evening or Sunday. I also found the constant soliciatation of tips by a number of the guides annoying.

We bought them at The Plaza Hotel and caught the bus right out front of the hotel on the Central Park side of the street.

Now that you mention it, last time (April) my husband purchased tickets at the Marriott Marquis, which turned out to be vouchers. We headed for the nearest stop where, sure enough, there was a rep with a credit card machine.

When the buses are full on top, the trick is to wait for a stop where many get off, NOT to get off yourself and hope for a bus with empty seats up top.