I have been waiting to write this review because my blood has been boiling. My mother, sister, and I decided to do the Muir Woods and Wine Country tour in June. I DO NOT recommend anyone waste their money on this tour!
Our driver showed up to our hotel for pick up 15 minutes before the agreed pick up time. When we came downstairs, we were applauded and humiliated by the bus full of people because the driver had told them we were running late and to shame us when we got on.
We get to the Muir Woods which was beautiful and our driver changes into running clothes and takes off into the wilderness himself. He told us to be back by a certain time or else he will leave us behind. We were all back a few minutes early because we were afraid of this happening and then the bus broke down. We were stuck in the parking lot for about 45 minutes while another bus driver and ours worked on the back of the bus. We were told absolutely nothing other than that we were now behind and would have to change around the schedule.
We get to the first wine stop and he again threatens to leave us if we do not make it out to the bus in time. When a few people walked to the bus earlier, he yelled at them and told them to go back inside. By the time we were allowed to leave it was lunch time, and our driver said we were too far behind schedule to eat lunch at that time. So instead we stopped at some farmers stand and were told to buy nuts or snacks to hold us over.
We get to the second wine tour and same thing happens. We are rushed through the tour and back into the bus and the winery told us that the driver had not let them know we were showing up and they were not prepared to have us. They said this is a common occurrence with this driver and they do not like working with him.
Then we were allowed to have lunch. We were finally taken to the square in Sonoma at around 4pm. We were starving and dehydrated from being dragged all over and the AC in the bus was broken. We were given 45 minutes and threatened again.
When we were picked up again after “lunch” (really dinner) our driver told us that all wineries in Sonoma/Napa were now closed so we would have to go somewhere else. He took us to Trek Wine in Novato. The owner there was kind, but this was more of a brewery than a winery and they were not in Sonoma/Napa. We begged the driver to let us stay there as late as possible because we were dreading getting back on the bus in the heat with no air. As we left, the owner gave the driver a few bottles of wine for taking us there. The driver said “he pays me in wine.”
On the way back to the hotel, we were all exhausted as we had been out for about 11 hours at this point. We were about to cross the Golden Gate Bridge again when the driver pulled over to have us take pictures. Before we were allowed to get off the bus to take pictures, the driver said “Do you think I took you here to take pictures of the bridge when I have seen it a million times? No, it’s to talk about tipping me.” And gave us a lecture about how he needs to be tipped when we get off the bus and how $20 would not suffice, only $40 or more would.
After we were finally loaded back on the bus and going back to the hotel, he tells us he is not going to take us to the front of our hotel (even though we had agreed to this) because it was out of the way of the other hotels/drop offs. As we got off the bus, he told us the incorrect way to walk back to our hotel.
This whole trip ended up taking about 14 hours start to finish and was hardly enjoyable. The Muir Woods was beautiful, and the wine was just okay. The driver also never changed out of his running gear which was just uncomfortable and unprofessional. He was extremely rude and disrespectful. I don’t remember his name, just that he kept mentioning that he was German.
PLEASE DO NOT BOOK THIS TOUR. It is a complete waste of a day and time. Unless you enjoy faulty equipment and bad attitudes.
Réponse de l'hôte
Sep 2021
We were all very disappointed to hear about your experience, the details of which are things we've never heard before. We have already informed Viator that we will honor any agreement they make with you about tour charges--we stand by our Satisfaction Guarantee. We have spoken with Roman about your experience and how to improve future guest experiences.