Sally and Edgar were so informative, helpful and personable. Enjoyed seeing the highlights of DC comfortably and engagingly with much of the context and historical anecdotes thrown in. Perfect first-time visitor introduction!
This is a great tour if you just want an overview of the many DC landmarks.
Dwayne, our tour guide, was very informative and made every effort to keep us on time to see everything promised. He spewed facts and historical significance like he'd been tour guide forever. Great sense of humor, but lost on many non-American tourists. Our bus driver maneuvered the bus like it was a compact car, managing all the dense traffic and tourist spots without skipping a beat!
The tour itself was mostly quick-stops at the various landmarks never more than 15-20 minutes, usually 10-12, and it all felt rushed. If you really want to experience anything you saw, you'd have to do it on your own on another day. The Potomac River cruise could have been skipped in favor of visiting Arlington Cemetery, instead of driving by.
Helpful hints I think for future tour-takers: A little pricey for a trip with the only paid admission being the boat ride. I've taken many bus tours over the years, and the tourist have been much more friendly than this group of 35. Trying to find the bus at National Archives to start the tour was challenging no signs or directions. People taking a 3-hour tour ended up on the 6-hour bus and then the delay and big commotion to make the switches. No point saving your admission to your Apple Wallet the person checking tickets wants to see your e-mail or hard-copy printout. The 35-40 minute lunch break is plenty, but came over 3-1/2 hrs into the trip around 2:15, just before the boat ride. The length of the tour might be 6 hours, but don't plan anything following the tour until at least 5:30, adding travel time accordingly.
This was a very crowded trip with 40 of us in a bus. The guide was reasonably informative but with so many people it was often difficult to get to him at any given stop before he had to start the commentary as there wasn't a lot of time at each stop - too rushed really. Because there wasn't enough space on the other smaller bus for the half-day tour which we had booked, we were on the full-day bus and left at lunch. By our reckoning, the group was paying 3,500 for a driver, a guide and a basic bus. It felt pretty expensive for what it was.