Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

We used the pass during the week of 21st august. We did 7 attractions, and with most of them the pass was really a advantage. Intrepid, Hudson-Cruise, Top of the Rock, Museum of Natural history, Guggenheim: no waiting at all. For Bike and Roll hiring and the Circle Line Harlem bus tour we had to go to the main office to get tickets with the pass, while the start of the tours was somewhere else, that was a disadvantage! But it was nice to have it anyway.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

Each member of my family of four bought the ten-attraction, NY Explorer Pass for our nine-day trip to Manhattan. We could easily have used a fifteen event pass, as there were so many choices. There were absolutely no problems. Plan ahead, but keep a flexible schedule. Learn to use the subway system to get from one attraction to the next faster. Try the Hop on-Hop off Tour early in your stay. We hopped off at the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, and Chinatown/Little Italy.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

My boyfriend and I bought the explorer pass before our 5 day trip to NYC in December. It saved us a great deal of money as the destinations that are available with this pass are ones that we had already planned on visiting. Most activities range from about $25-30 a piece if you were to visit them without using the explorer pass. We bought the 7 destination pass, but only ended up using 5. Even though we missed out on 2 destinations I still feel we got our money's worth or at least broke even. Make sure you are going to be able to hit all of your destinations before purchasing. There was only one destination that I felt was inconvenient and that was the tour of the statue of liberty museum. We first had to go to Madame Tussaud's to pick up our vouchers, then had to take the Subway down to South Ferry, get off the subway and find the man selling City Tour tickets, exchange our vouchers for hard copy tickets and then make our way to where the ferry was departing but first waiting in security for about an hour before we boarded. I definitely recommend visiting the Ground Zero Museum Workshop, it's within the meatpacking district which we didn't enjoy very much, but the museum itself is definitely a must see. Overall, very happy with our purchased of the explorer pass.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

I bought two 5-Attraction New York Explorer Cards for me and my wife when we visited NYC from Oct 3-6. Spent [$] per card. (By the way, pick up of card in Times Square Area is now at the Ripley's Museum, not at Madame Tussauds.)We used the card for the following attractions:King Tut Exhibition ($29.50)City Sights All Around Tour ($42)Top of the Rock ($20)Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum ($35.50)NY Waterway Twilight Tour ($26)That comes to $153 per person. Therefore we saved more than $50 each using this card!

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

While picking the passes up yourself (with your printed voucher - don't forget it !) is listed as a con, its really not a big deal. Besides, if you pick it up at Rockefeller Center, you can profit by making a reservation to go to Top of the Rock, a real "must" and actually a much better attraction than the Empire State Building.

We felt the passes worked great, I was somewhat hesitant as I had seen mixed reviews, but our experience was great. There's alot to do in NY and you need to choose wisely, but there are enough choices with the Explorer that you can pretty well fill up a 5 day visit without any trouble. For families, the bike tours, museum and view at the top of Rockefeller Center and Empire State are particularly attractive.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

It was our first time in New York City. My girlfrineds and I planned what we would like to do and found the explorer card online. We ordered our cards and picked them up from the friendly staff at Madame Tussauds. We saved bucks ordering the explorer cards online compared to buying tickets to the attractions individually. I'll definitely recommend the explorer card to all my friends.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

Our party of four chose to each individually purchase a 5 day Explorer Pass. Although in the end, we did ultimately save at least about $20 each, this did not come without a degree of difficulty and some added stress to go along with it. But, before I get into that, I first want to mention that the overall savings is primarily due to the bus tour being so overpriced to begin with. For all other attractions (like museums, cruises, etc.) the prices are actually quite comparable at or around $20 a piece. Therefore, unless you plan on choosing a bus tour as one of your attractions (this is why you can only choose ONE bus tour), I would not recommend the Explorer Pass as the savings would be very minimal if any. Plus, the added stress and no guarantee (see below) is not worth it. Regarding the difficulties that we encountered with use of the card, it all started at Madame Tussaud's. Of course, we didn't know this at the time. The cashier there must've swiped one of the cards 3-4 times. We didn't realize this until we tried to use the card at the Empire State Building and the cashier there told us that there was nothing left on one of the cards. However, she was able to kindly let us through. This caused a little stress as we now knew that future use of the cards would undoubtedly cause some problems. But the next museum that we went to didn't mention a word about one of the cards being depleted, so we thankfully had no problems there. However, the Skyline Cruise cashier (our last attraction) would only initially give us three tickets when he noticed that nothing was left on one of the cards. It took a great deal of haggling to convince him to just give us the extra ticket. Even showing him receipts of past uses (with accurate counts on each receipt) did nothing to convince him as he said that there was nothing he could do since the card was depleted. So, although you do purchase the Explorer Pass in advance for a discounted price, there is no guarantee that 1) The correct number of attractions was programmed into your card to begin with (there is absolutely no way of knowing this), or 2) The partnering companies who contract with the Explorer Pass will not make an error in swiping the card multiple times. To improve the quality of this service and make the purchase satisfaction guaranteed, I would recommend that instead of programming a set number of uses into any singular card, that the customer instead be given multiple attraction tickets (cheap paper tickets would suffice)to be redeemed at each attraction. That way, if you lose it, it's your own fault. You can't rely on any of the contracted partners to use the card correctly and there is no way to check the balance on the card.On a side note, the information in the booklet regarding the Twilight Cruise needs to be updated. The book implies (or it is not clear) that the FIRST Twilight Cruise departs at 6:30pm. This really is the LAST and ONLY twilight cruise departure. The cruise times in the ticket window also differ from the booklet. Customers should be alerted in bold print to check the times by calling the office ahead of time. I take partial responsiblity for this and should have doublechecked anyway, but still. We walked all the way to the attraction and back, only to go again the next day at the right time.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

The Explorer Pass guidebook enabled me to plan ahead and choose the most visits for a short two-day stay. The VIP express entry made sure time was not wasted queueing. Detailed information regarding hours of opening, means of getting to places, specific road details all contributed to making the most of the time available. All-round excellent! Would certainly use it again.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

This small museum doesn't apologize for being small. In fact Mr. Suson explains that it is part of the atmosphere. Many victim's families come here and are allowed to grieve in a safe environment and the public is allowed to feel the haunting memories of nearly ten years ago first hand. Well done, Mr. Suson. Well done.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

We choose the 7 item pass. It was great! We did all 7 things! It was wonderful to pass by people waiting in line to buy tickets for statue of liberty, The Met, and the Guggenheim. We also found it convenient to have the attractions already paid for, not to mention the savings. Would use it again.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

I really enjoyed using your pass. I saved money and did some things I probably wouldn't have. I'll buy it again!

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

its great when you pick up your passes you get an explorer book which gives you page by page about all the attractions, lots of info exp:- where to find the attraction, what offers you get at each attraction. when you go to an attraction straight in, scans your pass gives you your tickets and off you go.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

Despite the promo, this will not get you through lines faster. We waited for 1+hrs at the Statue of Liberty to get on the ferry. And this was at 9am. Likewise, the Empire State Building, at 8:30 was a good 30+ minutes.

On the plus side, you will save some $$, but on the balance, I'm not sure I'd do it again.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

purchased a 3 attraction pass for 3 family members on saturday night. on tuesday noticed on line that there was a sale from [$] to [$] per person . They would not price adjust. Plus 1 of the attractions that I wanted to do that was a value of [$]. didnt start until a week after we were there so we arnt able to get the value of the pass.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

We thought based on the reviews that it would be great to use this pass for our first family trip to NY. Maybe the angry people just wanted to forget how much money they lost and did not bother warning their fellow consumers. This was NOT worth it. Lots of fine print about when and how one can use it. Several restaurants were surprised that we were supposed to get a discount. My favorite one was not being able to use my discount to rent bikes at Central Park. Why would the discount be valid only in certain locations? Then to top it all off, I tried to call to get my money back and I end up in phone tree hell, get put on hold for 20 minutes and then get hung up on. SAVE your money. Don't do this.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

[...] Keep a lot of time and its alot cheaper then buy tickets when you in front of the sightseeings.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

The cards are not worth the money...The place you pick them up in is so loud and you can't hear what there saying or understand them. Most don't speak clear english. [$] per ticketWe felt ripped off!!!

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

WE USED IT FOR THE NY WATER TAXI AND GOT A FREE PASS FOR THE NIGHT TOUR.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

When to New York this past weekend we saved alot of money with this pass. is $10 cheaper at ripley's location if you're in NYC.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

We spent 3 full days in NY city last week and used this. [$] Very pleased with our trip and this pass, would highly reccomend.

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

My teen daughters and I were able to relax and choose 3 activities depending on our mood, from the Top of the Rock and NBC Studio Tour to an evening cruise. The guide and website were full of great information. We got to see the best of New York City, skip lines and save a little money along the way. Highly recommended!
(Review by A.W. from Atlanta, GA transferred by admin)

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

Thanks for the great reponsiveness! As I said previously we love the Explorer Pass! In fact we are in the initial planning stages for yet another visit to NY in October and I've already told my step-daughter that we should get the Explorer Pass since some of the things they want to do are pass options.
I have directed them to the website so they can explore all the sites that the pass offers. The website is a very useful planning tool and I appreciate that it includes all of the infomration found in the guidebook.
Thanks again for the great customer service.
(Customer review transferred by admin)

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

Please note that we found purchasing the Explorer Pass very beneficial and will definitely recommend it to friends and family.
(Review by Fe M. transferred by admin)

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

My wife and I don't like to overwhelm ourselves on vacation, so the New York City Explorer Pass was the perfect fit. With the Choose 5 Pass, we were able to structure our activities to make sure we got the most out of our short trip to New York. I'd definitely recommend the card and will look into buying one in other cities.
(Review by A.R. from Newport News transferred by admin)

Comments about Smart Destinations New York Explorer Pass:

The Explorer Passes that were purchased were everything that was advertised. They were easy to use at each event and saved us time and money in NYC. I ordered 7 Explorer Passes for my 38th Vietnam reunion in NYC.
(Review by Edward N. transferred by admin)