I wish I could score this trip higher I guess I just had a bad experience although Marcus the tour guide and Fernando the driver were great (at times). It started off fine until we were stranded in DC with a flat tire and did not return to New York until the following day. Viator, TripAdvisor and Tour America we’re no help and would not accept any responsibility.
The bus was extremely cold the 4 hour ride from NYC to DC and if the passenger in front of you reclined their seat the leg room completely disappeared which made it an uncomfortable ride. Once we arrived to DC our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery which was breathtaking, the downside to this being the first stop meant we only got around 20 minutes here, none was free time and we only got to see an extremely small portion of the cemetery. I would have loved to have spent at least an hour or more looking round... I know it is time restricted due to the nature of the trip but the best parts were rushed.
The next stop was the Lincoln Memorial which was also great. But once again you were only allowed 30 minutes of free time to wander the area. It would be great if you were allowed longer as there are a countless amount of veterans willing to tell you stories about themselves and stories of all those on the wall who’s memories they are keeping alive. Next was the White House and Capitol Hill. After that we were given 75 minutes to look round a space museum which was pretty boring and most exhibits were closed for refurbishment. Like I mentioned earlier, those 75 minutes spent at a museum could have been used for the Arlington cemetery.
So the trouble began just as we left the Arlington National Cemetery, there was a bang but it was ignored.. Turns out we had burst a tire. Nothing was done until the tour had ended around 4pm, we were told to kill time until 5pm until the museums closed and hopefully it would be fixed. Once all museums closed we were literally kicked out into the torrential rain to wait. It was not fixed by 5pm and we ended up sitting soaked on the coach until 7pm... both Marcus and Fernando stayed silent the whole time and it was only until other passengers on the tour demanded answers we were told the repair truck should have been here over 3 hours ago. After sitting on a freezing coach in the pitch black for almost 3 hours with no food, water or toilet we were finally taken to Washington Union Station. The coach was fixed around an hour later at around 8pm (should have been an hour from arriving back in NYC at this point) and we were back on the road and made it back to NYC around 1am the next day.
During the trouble Viator told me it was not their problem and Tour America’s number did not work. TripAdvisor were not much help either as their 24hr help line replied to me THE NEXT DAY. If anything happens during your trip you are very limited as to who you can ask for help and it seems as if Fernando and Marcus were as much in the dark as we were but their lack of communication was very unsettling.