Yeah, that photo sums up the underwater viewing at Sea Cliffs. Shame they haven't fixed the scratched glass and dirt with around a decade between Sandy and the reopening of the exhibit. The Sea Cliffs as a whole haven't been updated since the 90's except in losing species like Walrus and fur seals and neither has Conservation Hall/Glover's Reef or pretty much the entire front of the aquarium.
Ocean Wonders and Alien Stingers are great, but the rest is unchanged for decades and pretty dated and for a fairly small facility that acts as NYCs only aquarium is that enough? Most modern aquariums at least supplement the fishtank displays with rainforest/herp exhibits, ray/shark/sturgeon touchtanks or even aviaries to broaden their appeal. NYA is old school and skips that, which is fine but it shows its age in many areas and I think it has much less to offer than many other aquariums I've been to, especially at its price.
Your comments seem to echo a few thoughts that I had in regard to the Bronx Zoo and how there's been very little change there for 17 years. Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo and Central Park Zoo have all not received nearly as much funding as the New York Aquarium (which I think is still a very good facility), but I get your point about how certain parts of the aquarium have been stagnant for decades. The Sea Cliffs area was renovated post-Hurricane Sandy, but none of the glass was ever replaced as it's scratched all over at each exhibit.
