There is nothing more impressive than sailing into New York City. The cruise vacationer fortunate enough to make this port of call will get to take the same route that so many millions of immigrants took. Pass by the Statue of Liberty and remember its heartwarming message: "give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses". But unlike those huddled masses, the happy cruise vacationer enjoys a place in the lap of luxury.

Indeed, there is no need to stop at Ellis Island, the famous immigration center has now since been turned into a fascinating museum, and an excellent stop on any New York City itinerary. By booking your travel with Carefree Travel and Cruises, you can enjoy this site and countless others on the vacation cruise of a lifetime.

New York is the city with so many "must dos" that it can be difficult to decide where to begin. One obvious place is the Statue of Liberty (boats leave Battery Park on Manhattan's southern tip every half hour or so). Seeing this enormous symbol of America - originally a gift tugged over from France - can inspire thoughts of what it must have been like for people coming to America in search of the gold-paved streets and plentiful work, even in the most jaded of travelers.

The South Street Sea Port Museum, also near the southern tip of Manhattan, provides a wealth of information about New York City as a harbor, but if it's a museum that you want, the only stop you really need to make is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (5th Ave between 77th and 81st). This museum houses an enormous array of art, both ancient and more recent, including an Egyptian Room complete with tomb, a Chinese Garden that, due to ingenious indirect lighting, feels moonlit in the evening, and an array of paintings, photographs, and sculptures. Insider's tip: check out the roof garden during the summer, there are often changing exhibitions by world famous sculptors, and great views over central park as well.

If Modern Art (with a capital M) is more your speed, check out both the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA: located at 11 W 53rd St), resplendent in its new building designed by Yoshio Tanaguchi, and PS1, the oldest and second largest nonprofit devoted to furthering contemporary art (7 train to Courthouse Sq., walk one block south). PS1, located in Long Island City, Queens, is actually a renovated Romanesque school (Public School 1). The changing exhibitions are some of the more exciting in the city, and combined with the site itself make for an amazing few hours. Insider's tip for the MoMA: check out the movie theaters located underground. Sometimes they show movies that won't come out for months or even years in wide release, and the price of your museum admission will get you in for free.

If history is what you're after, New York is the place. A visit to Ground Zero, in the south of Manhattan near city hall, will show you ancient churches and graveyards that still stand even after being blasted by falling debris, and an in depth look at one of the more tragic incidents in modern history, the former site of the World Trade Center towers. The hole in the ground itself, and the visions of a future tower that will rise in its place are both haunting sights that will stay with you for a long time.

For more early history, an excursion out to the boroughs to explore some of the region's Dutch heritage makes for a fun trip. Both the Onderdonk House (at the corner of Metropolitan and Flushing Aves in Ridgewood Queens: L Train to Jefferson St., walk 3 blocks North on Flushing), and the Lefferts House (a Dutch colonial home located in Brooklyn's magnificent Prospect Park) are worth a visit.

With all these amazing things to do, it may be hard to find time for a stroll in Central Park, a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, or a free ferry ride out to Staten Island to visit the Chinese-style Scholar's Gardens - but these are all worthwhile activities as well. And for music lovers the list goes on and on. Think Carnegie Hall, the New York Philharmonic, the near-historical punk and Indie clubs on the Lower East Side, the famed Broadway shows, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Indeed, finding the time to take it all in can be an extraordinary task in and of itself.

Whether you're looking for theater, museums, music or history, booking your travel to New York City with Carefree Travel and Cruises is one of the best ways to see it all and do it all.