Bus tours are just line flights. The staff make all the difference.
On the 3rd I took the 8.06 bus from stop 6. On the upper deck was Baynes giving us a running commentary as we drove along. He was good. Had a great knowledge of the buildings, knew when they were built and was able to answer questions too.
totally a great tour.
On the 4th I did the tour that included Central park etc. The tour guide was an African American chap. His commentary was totally absurd.
He told us to look Left, "There is a man walking two dogs, look right, there is a delivery truck double parked".
Gosh, is this what a tour guide should be telling us??
Only at a very few buildings did he tell us about the building. This included Trump tower.
He went on to say that shops sold things that we could not afford. "Oh look at this shop, you cannot afford to buy things there.".
How does he know if we can afford or not? Perhaps he could not afford to shop in these places but a tour guide should not insult the passengers by saying they could not afford to buy at these shops. I was glad he had not noticed my Swiss timepiece or he may have said "Look at the 6th Row, we have a millionaire on this bus" LOL. What a dingbat.
Big Bus will do well to put in a monitor person, incognito, on their buses to check out the skill of their guides. Guides can make or break the business.
3 stars only, but 5 stars for Baynes.