Sherman's Travel

With so many talented singers, actors, and writers congregating in New York City, odds are good you’ll rub elbows with a celebrity or star-in-the-making during your stay. However, why not increase your odds by attending these haute happenings at two of the city’s finest hotels?

The Paramount Hotel is capitalizing on its prime location at Times Square and Broadway with a series of happy hours with Broadway cast members in the hotel’s Paramount Bar. Throughout 2012, on the second Tuesday of every month (next event May 8) the party features actors from the musical adaptation of Ghost, while the last Thursday of the month (starting May 31) it’s the cast of One Man, Two Guvnors. Later this year, join Matthew Broderick and the rest of the cast from Nice Work If You Can Get It (stay tuned for details).

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Start spreading the news, the Wellington Hotel is offering rates as low as $129 per night in March. Located in Times Square, this New York icon is perfect for travelers who want to take advantage of all there is to see and do in the city: spend the day shopping on 5th Avenue, roam through Central Park, catch a show on Broadway, view the city from the Empire State Building, and more! Best of all, book 3 nights or more and receive a $50 Broadway Theatre credit!

THE VALUE: Save up to 26% when using Bookit.com!

THE CATCH:  In order to qualify for the theatre credit you must travel before March 31.

THE DETAILS: To book, visit Bookit.com.

WE’VE GOT MORE: Use our Travel Search price comparison tool to find low rates on flights to New York City.

Check out our NYC Travel Guide and find out what else you can do while in the Big Apple!

New York‘s not known as the city that never sleeps for nothing. Fresh off the announcement of a record-breaking 48.7 million visitors in 2010, Mayor Bloomberg has upped the ante to 50 million by 2012. With an appealing slate of winter promotions that are valuable to both tourists and locals alike, it’s a goal that we can’t help but imagine being realized. 2011 is certainly off to a strong start!

Theater queens, this one’s for you: NYC’s first-ever Broadway Week, takes a bow on the Great White Way January 24–February 10, offering up two-for-one tickets to 18 popular shows. That’s right, free tickets, especially for massive crowd-pleasing musicals like Chicago, American Idiot, and The Lion King. So if you want to see the oh-la-la of the La Cage revival or kick heels with Billy Elliot, it’s best to book early (code BW2011), because like Restaurant Week – which also begins January 24 and features three-course prix fixe meals at over 300 top restaurants – these deals are bound to go fast. If you’re feeling lucky, enter to win a pair of tickets per month for a year as well, through February 9. Visit NYCgo.com/GetMoreNYC for the full list of shows, terms and sweepstakes. Read more

Just when we thought the Allure of the Seas was going to make a nonchalant entrance into the industry without the fanfare and red carpet that was rolled out for her sister ship, the Oasis, Royal Caribbean has announced a spotlight-stealing secret. When the new Allure debuts this December, the headline show will be none other than the long-time Broadway sensation, “Chicago.” Productions will take place in the massive 1,380-seat Amber Theater – which holds more people in one room than the total passenger capacity of many cruise ships. Although the show will be slightly condensed to 90 minutes, it will still feature the same infamous musical numbers that bring the Prohibition-era to life.

With the Cirque du Soleil dinner show appearing on the new, Norwegian Epic, the well-received “Hairspray” on the Oasis, and now the addition of “Chicago” on the Allure, are these new mega-vessels setting the standard for cruise ship entertainment? Will the high seas become the new stage for rising stars?