First, I’ve read prior reviews and I know the owner will bash my review. It should have reflected this more prior to booking. I’m sure mine will too instead of met with trying to understand how to improve.
Hotel pickup? Only if you stay at select hotels or you will be directed to walk upwards to half a mile at 6 am in the morning. If you call to ask for some place closer a rude person may pick up and tell you that they pick up at 30 hotels but none of which are apparently are between the both / west end where a lot of hotels are located. Probably the rudest person I encountered on a 10 day trip to Boston / east coast.
Next, they cram the bus full which is fine, except when they don’t ask single riders to sit together so you and your wife have to sit in different areas of the bus. Happy anniversary, you go sit by this stranger. Oh and while trying to get a seat the driver just takes off leaving you grasping for bars trying to hold on and starts telling important details of the trip about what cards in an envelope mean and where to meet for our next excursion. We had over an hour ride. She didn’t need to talk about those while speeding off while we were trying to grab a seat.
No respect to time. If you say the bus will be back at a certain time you may want to arrive close to that time. We arrived back over an hour after we were directed. We had to rush and pay extra money to get to dinner on time. Oh and we had to walk the half mile extra back to our hotel we weren’t planning on. Good thing walking wasn’t a problem for us.
The optional tour was informative. If you want and to hear about random people’s houses and someone taking just to fill the time. Don’t get me wrong I had fun and the guide did a good job with the sites they were supposed to go and the time they had to fill. You are put on an old bus for this trip with no Ac and are fairly rushed through things. More time spent driving that exploring. You drive for what felt like 1.5 hours to go see a small lighthouse on the far side a Martha’s Vineyard. Not worth it although it is very pretty.
All in all, not a bad day. Things were pretty well arranged. I just can’t get over the few bug missteps that can cause you to be thrown off for the day.
Réponse de l'hôte
Aug 2019
Hello and thank you for taking the time to write this review. I wouldn't call my responses bashing, the same way I wouldn't call your review bashing. You certainly are entitled to write your review in a public forum and I am entitled to respond. Sounds fair to me! I clearly remember our conversations (yes, conversations regarding hotel pickup) and saw this review coming before you ever stepped foot on our bus. I actually was expecting 1 star so you really must have enjoyed the trip. I remember you being very concerned about walking to the Bostonian in the dark at 630 AM from a few blocks away and me assuring you it would not be dark out. There are certainly quite a few expected exaggerations in your review that I could rebut but won't bother to. Thank you for saying that things were pretty well arranged and I'm actually glad that you had fun.
Sincerely,
Stephen M. Belcastro
President
New England Trips Inc.