I purchased four Salem Night Tour tickets in advance for my wife, my son and his fiancé, and myself. It was our first time visiting Salem. We were really looking forward to our Salem Night Tour, and arrived 30 minutes early as requested. Upon attempting to check in, I approached the outdoor booth, politely said “hello” and introduced myself, and after a moment I offered my digital “ticket” for confirmation. The attendant….a middle-aged male….flat ignored me while facing me, and continued to carry on his conversation with coworkers. I waited a moment, and then finally closed my phone and walked away. Only THEN did he ask if I wanted to purchase tickets. I walked back and showed him my digital “ticket”, and without looking at my screen, he rudely repeated, “DO YOU WANT TO PURCHASE TICKETS??”. I said that “I already purchased tickets”, and he talked over me telling me to “stand in line”. VERY RUDE, putting it politely….and I have a fairly thick skin. If I hadn’t already purchased tickets, I would’ve turned, walked away, and spent my money elsewhere. This particular employee doesn’t deserve MY money.
Lastly, our tour guide Elaine was a bit dull. While seemingly knowledgeable, and with adequate delivery, she was dismissive and rude to a few of our fellow tour group PATRONS…..”I just pointed to THAT building….can you not see??!”. Additionally, we stood in a few spots for lengthy amounts of time while she talked about other interesting spots nearby, but we didn’t actually get to visit those spots. Quite disappointing…..this tour was scheduled as part of a celebratory weekend gift for my son and his fiancé….he proposed in Salem on Saturday. While they were appreciative of our efforts, all four of us left quite disappointed, and ended our evening re-walking the route, and filling in the blanks with ACTUAL visits to the historic landmarks. If I had it to do over…..and next year we WILL, with even more family members…..we’ll skip your tour, do our own research, and spend quality time visiting key spots ourselves.
I will not recommend Salem Night Tour to any of our friends or family members.