Overall, the stay was great. We booked a 2 bedroom room for a week in september.

The hostel is in a mostly polish neighbourhood but it seemed very safe.

The staff at the desk arnt that helpful but we only needed to deal with them the day you get there, every morning for your breakfast tickets and when you are leaving. Breakfast was in a dinner just a short walk away. You order from a set menu. Service isnt great but what do you really expect. It is american breakfast food, fills you up with a lovely sugar rush!

As for the room itself, its a hostel. The tv had a terrible signal but was watchable, there was dust in corners but it wasnt flithy and our air conditioning worked great (which was essential in september). We only spent a few hours in the room a day anyway which is what most people do.

We had to either go up or down one floor to get to the showers/toliets but it wasnt much of a problem. They were clean, and never overly that busy. My only problem was that the water had chlorine in it and you could smell it off your hair.

We had no problem getting into manhattan on the subway, a G line station is just 2 minutes walk away. we took that every morning and changed to a A or C line (I think) train at Hoyt. & Schermerhorn. Only took a maximum of 10 or 15minutes. The full week subway pass cost around $24 for unlimited travel.

If you think its too far away from manhattan remember that manhattan isnt the only place in new york. it was good seeing other parts of the city and the price was great. Taking the subway was just as easy as getting into a cab. Plus it was easy to get back to JFK from there.

I had a 28-day stay here in November 2007. I'm no stranger to budget accommodations having stayed in NYC Ys before as well as the Bowery Whitehouse Hostel, which is essentially a flophouse. I wasn't expecting much, but the Greenpoint Y was still disappointing.
I booked a "deluxe" room and ended up in 412. There’s no elevator in this building and the 4 flights can be brutal with luggage. Upon entering the room, there was an overpowering chemical smell like fresh paint, roach spray, or maybe both? I kept the window wide open, even in 30 degree temps, to avoid headaches and feeling foggy. The decor was definitely terrible – light blue walls and a forest green paisley wallpaper border. The ceiling was erupting and leaking in one corner. The TV got perhaps 5 channels but was hopelessly blurry and had an irremovable box over the screen controls. At the window, there was only a sheer curtain. I quickly replaced it with one of the bed sheets. Speaking of the sheets, they had graffiti on them! Someone had taken a Sharpie and drawn on them. Two old, dark colored towels with an odd, musty scent were provided. They left dark colored lint balls all over my body when I used them after showering and I ended up buying my own towel. Wash clothes are not provided. The doors do not have deadbolts or chains - just terribly flimsy locks.
The closest women's bathroom was one floor down so I often popped into the unlocked men's room nearly across the hall if it was vacant. I rarely found the bathrooms grubby but in the 3rd floor women’s bathroom, there is only one stall in which the door closes and locks. Unfortunately, that toilet overflows so much that a plunger is kept next to it.
One morning, I woke to the sight of a mouse darting across my floor. I later found that one had chewed through a plastic bag and the plastic packaging of some shortbread cookies in a closed drawer. It ate half of the cookies. You cannot keep any food in the rooms here for this reason. They will get to it before you do. There was another occasion on which I had just eaten some take out Thai food. I tied the plastic bag I put the garbage in and put it on my desk. A few minutes later, I saw lettuce flying out of the bag and the bag moving around on the desk!
I traveled into Lower Manhattan daily. To do so, you would take the G train from Nassau Avenue and step across the platform at Hoyt-Schermerhorn to transfer to the A train. Altogether, it took about 30 minutes to get to Fulton Street station.
Housekeeping does not appear to keep a regular schedule. I want to say that they come every other day, but there were days when they cleaned daily and there were spans of days when they didn't clean at all. When they do come, sometimes they restock what you use (towels, plastic cups, etc.) and sometimes they don’t.
You have to pay for WiFi and it’s relatively expensive.
The type of people staying here varied but there generally weren't any really scary types. The front desk is manned 24/7 and there are small globe cameras in most of the halls and common areas.
Many of the residence’s common areas (e.g., 3rd floor WiFi area) are quite grubby and/or smelly.
There really aren't many pluses about the facilities themselves, but Greenpoint is a nice, safe Brooklyn neighborhood. It’s predominantly Polish. There's a police station across the street. Everything you could need is within a block or 2. The complementary breakfast from a local diner is quite good. There are a lot of Thai take out places in this area. Erb and Thai Cafe are good.
If I popped my head out of my window, there was a great view of midtown and the Empire State Building.

I just returned from a week long stay at the Greenpoint YMCA beginning late October, 2007. I had stayed there a year earlier and after reading the two most recent posts on this forum, I was wondering if the place had gone downhill since last year's stay.

My experience was different from those two posters.

All the hallways have recently been painted and there is new carpeting on the third and fourth floors in the hallways. My economy room, room 428, had also recently been repainted and rewired (with three outlets). There was a new ceiling light that was strong enough to read by. However the old carpeting had not been replaced in the room.

The room was very basic with a bed, chair, lamp, fan, and chest of drawers. The room was quiet with little noise from the hallway. Some nights I had to open my window because the room was too hot and since my room faced Manhattan Avenue, there was a bit of traffic noise but ear plugs solved that problem.

There were still some negatives. When I arrived the carpet in my room had not been vacuumed. The towels were never replaced during my stay. The only sign of housekeeping in my room for the entire week was the trash was removed twice. The smoke detector was missing and there was no chain on the door (however there was a peep hole so you could look out).

A men's and women's bathroom is on the 2nd floor. A women's bathroom only is on the third floor. A men's bathroom only is on the fourth floor. Bathrooms are shared facilities. There was always hot water in the bathroom and the bathrooms were cleaned daily (though by the end of the day they could get a bit grungy).

Deluxe rooms ($322/week for a single vs. $259/week for an economy room) are on all the floors. Deluxe rooms are just economy rooms with a TV and alarm clock and since I just wanted a place to sleep, I got the economy room.

There is no elevator in the building. Front desk staff buzz you into the section containing the rooms so it is secure.

Breakfast is still at the Manhattan Diner a block away and is included in the price of the room. In the morning you get a voucher from the front desk. You have your choice of five breakfasts, e.g., one choice is French toast, orange juice, coffee or tea, and sausage or bacon. The diner is great and has a real Brooklyn feel. Be sure and leave a tip.

Location is still one of the best parts of staying here. Greenpoint is in the Polish part of Brooklyn; the Y is across from the police station. I always felt safe in the neighborhood though the neighborhood closes down early in the evening.

Access to Manhattan is terrific – 6 subway stops to Union Square via subway lines G and L (with a transfer at Lorimer/Metropolitan) or 6 subway stops via subway lines G and V to 42nd Street/Bryant Park with a transfer at Courtyard Square.

I did not use the pool or fitness room. The Y was booked up when I was there so you should make reservations a bit in advance.

Bottom line: at a price of $259/week with breakfast for an economy room, I find it to be a bargain for New York. It's not a place to go to if you want to meet people or plan on spending any time in your room. I would leave at 7 in the morning and get back around 9 at night. I just wanted a safe, quiet, reasonably clean place to sleep and for me, the Greenpoint YMCA still works fine.

I am not a stranger to budget accommodation, and I knew Greenpoint YMCA was cheap and therefore didn't expect any sort of luxury, but this place is just really awful. The room was dirty - inches of dust piled in the corners, under the bed and under the radiator, and the carpet was greasy and full of stains. There were no curtains and I had to go down one storey to get to the bathroom. This was a "deluxe" room, and I'd hate to know what the economy rooms look like. The staff was apathetic bordering on aversive in a way that I only thought existed in movies. I spent one night there and decided I'd had enough of cheap. The only worse place to sleep would be in the subway!