This was the place that my husband wanted to see the most during our US trip so we thought we would go all out and book this tour, I wouldn't make that decision again.
I would like to say Grey Lines coaches, driver & tour guide were fantastic. They picked us up from our hotel, took us to their head office where we were sorted into our specific tours whether it be West Rim or South Rim, loaded us back onto the coach and had a very pleasant trip to Hoover Dam & Grand Canyon. Our guide, Dwayne was hilarious which made the trip even more pleasant.
It was when we arrived at the Grand Canyon that it all fell apart!
We arrived at 11am and as we had booked the Helicopter & Boat part of the tour, were taken straight to the office to book in, along with six others from our coach. Our guide told us as he left us there, to be back at the coach to return to Las Vegas, at 3pm. We though this would give us plenty of time to do what was included in the tour and have a bit of spare time to look around as there was a second lookout area we were aware of. Boy, were we wrong!
After checking in, we were taken to the area to board the helicopter and waited until it was our turn. We watched as people who had arrived after us, were taken to the helicopter before us. Finally, it was our turn. To cut a long story short...the 20 minute helicopter ride to the base of the canyon and back plus the 15 minute Colorado River ride took 3 hours. We had one hour left to catch the shuttle to Eagle Point lookout and have the lunch that was included as part of the tour. We arrived at Eagle Point and found the place to get our lunch. We had three Chinese meals to choose from, served with overcooked rice, cold vegetables, a piece of fruit & a warm bottle of water. The orange I received, was rotten. After eating, we had a quick look from Eagle Point lookout and caught the shuttle back to where our bus was waiting for us as it was after 3pm. Hence, we didn't get to go to the other lookout.
Of the six others that did the helicopter & boat ride, all of them did the Skywalk so they were much later than us getting back to the coach, three of them didn't even get to have their lunch.
The disappointing part about this is that the cost of this tour for one of us was more expensive than our 4 nights accommodation at the Excalibur for both of us.