Night panoramic shots

I must admit that my worst photography is night photography.  I am so used to daytime and uI'm not a fan of starburstsing ISO100 or 200 for almost everything that my night pictures either appear a tad blurry, grainy or lights are to to bright.  Since it is my worst type of photography, I decided to focus mainly on night photography to overcome it.

The other day I took some panoramic shots of the city skyline from across the river.  I made many shots and stitched some together but a majority of them were just not print worthy.



I am not a fan of starbursts but these have a distracting glare as well.

Notice the red neon on the building just appears as a blob and the rest of the picture if not sharp.

This might have been my only descent one.

I went out the next night and was able to tone down the starburst but neon like the Sheraton and Westin signs appear to reflect.  Still not that great of a shot either.

Sadly, this might be might best shot from both nights, even though a ferry just passed by.

This pano took 4 pictures stitched in Photoshop.  The neon and other lights stand out way to much and it appears to orange to me.  I also need more clarity and focus.

I used a wired shutter release on a tripod.  Most all of the shots were made using ISO 100 and 20-120 seconds on Bulb mode.  The first night I used about F22 and the second night about F8.

Any suggestions for my next attempt to get these better?  Is 20 seconds a good enough time to keep the shutter open for panos?  I was mixing up the pictures between a 18-135mm and 18-55mm.  My camera is a Canon 60D.

Thank you.