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When we were in New York City, we bought the New York Pass since it includes so many attractions for free or at discount prices. We went on a cruise to see the Statue of Liberty and the Immigration Museum on Ellis Island, which was free with the New York Pass. The New York Pass allows a visit to Liberty Island. If you want to go up to the crown, you pay extra, and these tickets apparently sell out quickly, so you have to go early!
If you are looking for accommodation in New York, I can recommend the Pod 39 Hotel where we stayed. It is central and affordable. For other accommodation options in New York, see what is available on Booking.com, Agoda or Tripadvisor.
The first stop on the State Cruises trip is Liberty Island featuring the Statue of Liberty. Liberty Island was about 25 minutes away from Battery Park. When we neared Liberty Island, we could see the long, long lines of people waiting to get to the Statue of Liberty. We didn’t want to go inside and see the view from the top, so we decided not to get off on Liberty Island.
We stayed on the boat until we got to the second stop on the cruise, which is Ellis Island.
The Ellis Island Immigration Museum
From Liberty Island to Ellis Island only took about 20 minutes by boat. Ellis Island houses the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.
Upon entry into the Museum, they give you a handset with headphones. This is educational as you can walk from exhibit to exhibit and listen to the commentary on each of them. I found the whole museum fascinating – it covered every aspect of immigration you can think of and also covers the history of immigrants to the USA. Listening to all the commentary and finishing every exhibit would take at least 3-4 hours. We did not have that much time since the last boat back to New York City was leaving around 17:15. Therefore, we had to select the exhibits we found most interesting and wanted to learn about more.
Inside the museum there are toilets and outside there is a little restaurant/kiosk selling food. You can also buy souvenirs from a shop.
Adults will probably enjoy this museum more than children because of the topic. One can easily spend a whole day here if you are not in a hurry.
Getting back to New York
Unfortunately, after finishing browsing the exhibits, the line to get on a boat to get back to New York was super long. And to make matters worse, none of the boats stopped at Ellis Island. Everyone was getting more and more restless and eventually, after a 90-minute wait, a boat finally stopped at Ellis Island. It was full, but at least we got back safe and sound after a short 10-minute cruise back to Battery Park.
Despite the long wait to get back on a boat and back to New York, I enjoyed the short ferry ride to Ellis Island and back, and visiting the Museum. The displays were very informative and comprehensive and I left knowing much more than before.
By reading your blog I found you had amazing time in Ellis Island. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I wished that the blog was little longer with more detail. Other than that I enjoyed it and surely looking forward to visit with my friends one day.
I am happy that you found my blog post useful! I will be sure to add more detail in future blog posts!
Thanks for sharing this. We also visited here with my family. Amazing history and a great tour. A must see if you’re in the area. It’s amazing to witness such an American icon of course! It was also cool to learn about how Lady Liberty was built. The real surprise was the museum though! There was really interesting stuff there and we really didn’t have as much time there as I would have liked. Definitely give yourself a few hours here to see the movies, pictures, take the free tour, and visit the gift shop. The ferry service was really good too. Always right on time and tasty snacks too.
I agree! A good way to spend at least half a day!
Thanks for sharing the post. Keep up the good work. By Far, Ellis Island is the amazing island in NY
Ellis Island is pretty amazing if one is interested in the history of immigration to the USA!
It looks like a great place! So sad that I missed it during my visit to New York.
Hopefully, you will visit New York again!