This is a disappointing tour. Hector our guide was very nice, but signs seems to be able to understand English very well a(he did try, it was just difficult).
The tour organizer called me the day before our a tour and asked if we could change the tour to the current day, or if we couldnāt could we do it at 6pm instead of 4pm on the originally scheduled day. We opted for the latter as we already had plans for the day she called.
When we arrived at the meeting spot for the tour, we were met by 2 other groups of two ho confirmed we were in the right place (Iām assuming they called the tour group to confirm, because it was in front of a closed business with no signage or anything).
A few minutes later, someone said āthe tour bus is hereāā¦. Looking around I saw no bus, so I said āwhere? I donāt see a busā and she pointed across the street to a suburban and said āI guess thatās itā. This was our first disappointment. All 6 of us, plus hector, were to pile into this truck for our ātourā.
Granted, the description of this tour does not say what type of vehicle we would be in, but we mistakenly assumed it would be an actual bus of some sort.
Begrudgingly, we all piled in, masks on (except for Hector), and got reluctantly cozy.
If youāve never been in a suburban, itās pretty snug. Three rows: driver and passenger up front, middle row of two single seats, and back bench row. Tight for 7 adults. Not a great comfort during a pandemic.
One note, anywhere you go in Manhattan at the current moment, you are required to show proof of vaccination. We were not asked for proof for this tour.
So, we get going in rush hour traffic, and realize that your literally canāt see ANYTHING from the back bench seat (where HALF of the people on this tour are seated).
We slowly moved through traffic to the Hudson Yards to see the lights on the Vessel, where we stopped and were encouraged by Hector to get out of the truck and take photos.
We then drove past the Little Island, where Hector offered to stop so people could walk around on it (it was dark, and there were no Christmas lights there), which everyone declined.
We then went via tunnel to Brooklyn and our to Dyker Heights. We drove around a few blocks, and Hector kept asking if anyone wanted to get out for photos, which we did a couple times, but there really seemed to be no route in mind for us to see specific lights etc, just randomly driving around different blocks.
Finally, Hector seemed to realize our group was pretty disappointed, so he said he was going to bring us somewhere he would āguarantee ā we would love.
He ended up taking us to a hotel in Dumbo, parked in an empty parking lot, had us all get out of the car, and follow him into the hotel, up and elevator, and into a bathroom. Apparently he was showing us the view, but it was all sooooooo weird! Lol!
The hostess at the lounge was completely obviously confused about us, and I heard her asking Hector about our vaccine status (of course, he didnāt know what that was) and I didnāt hear what he said, but he directed us to the rooftop of the hotel.
I have to admit, the view was stunning, and I would have never known about it had it not been for Hector bringing us there. But WOW it was all so odd!
We were then driven to 5th ave near Saks, and offering to wait 10 minutes for us to see the lights and then take us back to where he picked us up, or to leave us there.
We stayed and took the subway back to our hotel after a walk about the area.
Overall, I think this would be good as a private tour. NOT as a group tour, especially not right now, with Covid and all, unless they were actually going to have more room in their vehicle.
It felt weirdly like we were taken hostage for a few hours!
Response from Host
Jan 2022
First of all we never specified the kind of transportation to be used in our tours because it depends on the amount of passengers, but we are really careful to have comfortable cars, in this case you were in a suburban 2021 for 6 passengers and you were 6 passengers.
Our guide Hector is one of our best guides, he is Hispanic so he speaks English with an accent but in this company we don't discriminate for skin color, race nor nationally we require our guides to be professional, respectful and speak the language of the tour.
the route you describe is the same other describe with 5 stars but we respect your opinion.
Our tour ends in that Dumbo Hotel with that stunning view that you describe as something random, that view you will not see it in any other tour, you can only see it in our Christmas lights tour!