We traveled to NYC for the 4th of July for the first time ever this year. To be honest I was a bit concerned with the crowd watching the fireworks so I wanted a solution that would give is a great view without having to deal with the massive crowd. \r
I read some reviews of the Circle Line tours but couldn't find on specifically about the 4th of July cruise (which is quite a bit more expensive than the standard tour) thought the reviews I did read were mostly favorable so I went ahead and bit the bullet and got tickets for me, my husband, our German exchange student, her family, and our best friends. There were 7 of us in total, a large group and an even larger bill! \r
We were able to walk from our hotel which was in midtown. Bring your voucher with you! The cops blocked off 12th avenue and they weren't going to allow us through with our backpacks but I showed him our voucher and off we went. We had a couple bottles of wine in the backpack so we were really gonna be upset if we couldn't bring it to the boat. So then we waited in line in the blistering heat for about half an hour (which was not all that bad) and they even had Uncle Sam on stilts come by to entertain (and squirt us with his umbrella that made it's own rain). \r
Snap snap took our picture (which didn't turn out that well, but no big deal). Snap snap through security and there we were on the boat!\r
My husband cleaverly scoped out a spot on the back of the boat that if we sat was protected from the sun (I, and some others in our party are EXTREMELY pale). The captain then came on and announced the best place to see the fireworks would be the back of the boat (horray us, having the front row). So we camped our little row for the next couple of hours with our wine (lots of jealous looks on peoples faces when we popped out those bad boys) and friendship and photo taking and enjoying the sights. They even drove us by Lady Liberty. \r
We did have some opposition from the (smaller) crowd on the boat, people trying to squeeze into our spot...the people that sat inside in the air conditioning until night and then tried to come out and get a good spot but we felt like we'd been there the whole time sweating in the sun and we deserved our spot so we held our ground (which became increasingly more difficult as the time got closer to blastoff of course) but we did and it was well worth the effort and it was some of the most amazintg fireworks we've ever seen. Germany has nothing like it, so it was an awesome true American experience for our exhcnage student and her family.\r
The onboard snacks and drinks provided were expensive but the staff was mostly nice.\r
Recommend: sunscreen, staking out your spot well, bring a bottle or 2 of wine, have a great time! Well worth the high price tag!
Pros: everything!
Cons: pricy food & drink on board
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