We traveled to New York a day early and stayed at the Beekman Towers Hotel, at 1st and 50th Street by the UN. This was a great place to take a few hours and visit some of the better known spots in New York.
We originally made reservations through a car service (Carmel Car Service) that ended up being almost an hour late to pick us up at the airport even though our flight arrived on time and we called the car service within 20 minutes of arrival. The next morning we attempted to call them for three hours (during their listed open hours) before they finally returned our call. The Concierge at Beekman Towers arranged a new car service for us, making all the arrangements for our pick up at the hotel, pick up at the cruise terminal and return to the hotel and then to the airport the next day. They did a fantastic job.
Boarding the Queen Mary 2 was pretty effortless. Yes, there were lines but they moved quickly and everyone involved seemed to know what they were doing and did it efficiently.