The New York Aquarium Reviews

It's a small aquarium with few penguins, small sharks and few coral reef fish. The best is the lion seas' show. There are a couple of large turtles which are beautiful. Staff is friendly and helpful.

Excellent and knowledgeable staff training sea lions!

A very complete aquarium, very good to spend a day learning.

So we got tickets online. Definitely a better idea than waiting soooo long on real LINES.. Went there when it opened...the sea lion show was amazing as usual... The shark exhibition was beautiful... Everything else was quick and "eh". If my children were over 5 it would have been a lot better. Also, there were a million camps that came... So happy we went early!!! We even parked in the street so didn't have to waste money on parking. Left after 1 1/2 hours.

Took my little siblings here on Holiday Vacation, it was very crowded but they loved it. Especially the Sea Lion show.

I've been 3 times within 1 month and still hope to go back.... Yup, it's that good

Fun for the entire family. All age and stages.

Tips

1. unless you hope to wait super long on line for the shark exhibit. DON'T go on the weekend.

2. The shark exhibit is awesome.... You'll appreciate it more with less people around. Avoid the crowd. Wednesday is usually the least traffic.

3. The sea lion shows are amaze balls... Be there from at least 30 minutes before start so you get a seat upfront, the kiddos will love it! Wear sun block /sunscreen and a hat though, if the weather is great that day, you will literally melt (despite the fans that blow a cool mist on the crowd)

4. The touching pool closes early.... Be sure to use your time wisely so you can do everything in one visit.

5. Do the 4D. Pay the extra few bucks. You'll be happy you did. Depending on how young your kiddos are, they may hang on to you for dear life the entire time though.

6. Chow down on some eats either at the trucks/stands (fish tacos are small but to die for) OR the rooftop restaurant. From here you'll have a spectacular view of the ocean.... It overlooks Coney Island :Boardwalk, rides and the beach.

Not bad, we went right when they were fixing several things. He was very young, just to hang out ...

I went here a lot as a kid and it s definitely nicer than it used to be. Still not quite comparable to other larger aquariums. Work in progress?

I hate to give a bad review, but seriously this was a disaster. With some capital improvements clearly underway there just was not a lot to see. What was open, some of the few interactive exhibits were fair at best. The one with video you could not hear the audio parts and was a waste of time. For the price, it was not worth in. New York you need to up your game.

Not enough to see, most of it's closed for renovations

The spectacular sea lion show gets obscured by the simplicity and lack of originality. Overall, the place needs to pay more attention to cleanliness, which is unacceptable for a marine life captivity center. I appreciate the good will and mission of this aquarium, but it definitely should take note on things that can be improved. I advice the visitor to go on the free entry times and donate a little in order to improve the aquarium.

Would be nice to finally make some changes and add some new exhibits. I love these kind of places but it's outdated

Nothing I've ever seen it was amazing good family experience

Had a great time even though it was under construction

Awesome staff for an awesome place. Great for family, close to the beach.

The aquarium is not very large in size, but you can have a good time. We were probably lucky, we were in rainy weather and there were few visitors. A huge hall with sharks, for children created an interesting glass tunnel, crawling through which, you find yourself under water, and huge fish and slopes float above you. In general, the impressions are positive, especially the little penguins pleased. Young children will be very interested, you can touch the artificial shark, see the huge underwater world

Most of the exhibits were still under construction. However the 4D show was totally cute that's where most of the Stars in this review come from

Small place, no to many animals and the price it's little expensive

Went at a bad time I'm guessing, most to everything was closed off.....they might as well kept the place close then have a huge reopen

The displays they have are great but I feel like it's too small

It is small and some of the displays are still under development as of August 2018 but it is still nice to visit at least once.

This place really fun .. especially for families .. I like the seal show

Dont go on a Saturday in the summer!! Especially when its above 85!!!

Will be great when construction finishes, a bit cramped until then

Never again. The admission for place should be free.

Don't miss seal show at 3pm,worth visiting when you watch the show. Staff are awesome.

The tanks need to be bigger. Sharks are all cramped. Turtle tank needs to be cleaned. But thank you for conservation

it was good but i wish that there would be dolphins but it was great

Despite the short attractions due too renovations it is a wonderful place too bring your family for an hour or less.

Very expensive for what it is .. But I loved it. They need to put more things for children

A favorite of mine since childhood!! I've been enjoying watching the progress on their rebuild/revamp after Sandy.

It s overpriced for what they have seen the entire aquarium in 30 min not much expected more

Part of the facility is still under construction. Destroyed by super storm Sandy. UPDATE New shark exhibit is done and open to the public, but I think the is still some construction going on.

Not big but enough to enjoy. Very clean. Animals there are so cute.

The hours on the website should be updated. I traveled for 2 hours in the pouring rain with my three children to find out that they close early on Fridays. What a waste of time .

Great memories and good time with my family!Place to visit!!!

Staff was nice and very well informed. The animals were well kept and clean. And the 5pm show with trainer Stacy and the seals was awesome. A must-see attraction. Plus, the beach, boardwalk and carnival right next door was a perk.

The NYC Aquarium is an institution but was been badly ruined by Sandy a few years back. Reconstruction was still happening as of March '16 and there isn't much to see (for the admission price).

Good for a visit if you have membership to the NYC Zoos.

All very nice and well organized. It is recommended to arrive with the tickets purchased to avoid lines.

Small aquarium, not much to it. The seal show is cute. And the new shark tanks are ok, could be better.

Amazing place for kids. But too many people in weekends.

Great job renovating it! Loved the tunnel with sharks

I came with a friend in a wheelchair
there is some kind of show on top of the gift shop, so I went in to the gift shop and asked if there is an elevator, so the lady contacted security to come assist us because we are not allowed to use the elevator by our self and she asked us to wait outside near the stair case. So we went out and waited for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes I went back inside and asked the lady to please ask security again to come and she did after another 10 minutes I went back and asked her to ask.security how long it will take. s contented security and they told her that they are to busy and they have no time to help wheelchair accessible people

Spend some nice time with my 3.5year old son watching fishes and other ocean animals.

Very short trip so its best to go when its free or get tickets online as it's cheaper but if you choose to go during the free time get there an hour early as the line can be very long and can take 30-40 minutes to finally get in. What saved the short trip from being a total bust, was the shark exhibit. It was amazing!

Had fun, will be better once finished with more exhibits.really wanted to buy the pink octopus! Unable to go see cliff exhibits from below ground this time.missed the walrus,dolphins,and belugas.

Great place to visit with kids, they will love it and you too. Must visit for sea lion show, its treat to watch it

Badly there are almost no animals, it takes 45 minutes or less to give the route and very expensive to get it ... for a child and an adult, pay 54 dollars

Nice place to go to see fish and other animal. Place is small but they are making improvement. They have a nice 3D movie to see here.