Oh, and sea? Get used to a few realities regardless of where you stay in NYC, especially Manhattan:
Rooms are overpriced (think $300-plus a night. PLUS tax.)
Rooms are small (the one Scoobie and I stayed in was MAYBE 12X12, INCLUDING the bathroom.)
Accept walking or taking a subway. It's not that hard to get around, and unless the weather sucks, you'll enjoy the walk.
"Happy Hour" ain't. Not when you're paying $5 for a pint of beer. Normal price will run you about $6-7, unless you're at a nice place, then it's $8-10, depending. I got Scoobs a drink at the steak place we went to and it was $22. However, a lot of little places are nice to pop into just to check out the atmosphere and have AWESOME food (I'm still thinking about this one place that had beer-marinated wings.)
Driving might be cheaper than a bus/plane/train, but parking, even with coupon/Internet deals, will pretty much kill that ($40-45/day.) And Scoobie, while normally comfortable with my driving, absolutely HATED it in Midtown Manhattan. Hey, what can I say? When in Rome, etc., etc.
And longview--while winter is not the best time to find the Naked Cowboy, who knows if he'll be back come spring. While not my bag, she might like that. Who knows?