Pros:
- Nice clean bus with cup holders and USB/wall outlets with plenty of space to sit
- Interesting stops, definitely wouldn’t have known about a couple.
- Tour guide was nice and very informative, for the most part
Cons:
- Bus was *air-conditioned*
- Tour guide was always on you about time. Always “don’t be late. Let’s hurry up. Let’s go.” He was not very good about directing you where things were. Spoke way too fast. Wasn’t super entertaining. He also talked about knowledge like most of the bus wasn’t from the US. There were some international travelers, but some of the stuff he told were like 3rd grade history level stuff. Also he kept talking about the gentrification and poverty of NYC. I get it, it’s important to address, but not on a $100/person tour. Save it for the school trip. People are paying to learn about the culture of NYC that most visitors don’t know about.
- The stops were: Apollo theater in Harlem, YANKEE Stadium in Bronx, Breakfast in Bronx (ew), DUMBO, Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, Coney Island (45 minutes for lunch - barely okay). They could definitely lengthen this tour by 2-3 hours, add a couple of more interesting spots, and people would still come AND would get more for their money.
- There were about 30 of us. 10 minutes for breakfast at bodega in Bronx is not a good idea. The bodega was gross and small; the parts of Bronx they showed us were gross, even compared to the rest of NYC. Bronx should have been a drive-thru after Yankee Stadium. Breakfast could have been done in a better way in Queens or what not.
- We had a 1 hour long drive from Coney Island back to Manhattan. In complete silence. While the a/c was mildly on. I understand that they can’t do anything about the traffic, but they can change how we react to it. They could have provided some from of entertainment like trivia, an information video, a movie (on the screens provided on the bus), a Q&A. Something, just ridiculous
- In general, this tour would be great for those who have never been to NYC before and just want a cursory tour of everything, a “Chevy Chase” tour, if you will. Besides, Malba and Flushing Park, you barely seen anything of Queens. Definitely not worth $70/person.