This was a birthday excursion for my Mom's birthday. All in all, this was a memorable excursion - the ride was peaceful and beautiful and a great activity to mark a special occasion. Highly recommend this excursion and I hope the company can receive and appreciate my honest review.
Positives:
The crew on the ground were nice, organized and informative. I always felt like we had enough instruction about how the excursion was going to go and what they needed from us at certain times. They were also very helpful making sure my Mom was able to get in and out of the basket safely as that was all of our concern and priority.
The ride itself was beautiful - about half of our group was very anxious due to their fear of heights and everyone agreed at the end it wasn't triggering for them and they enjoyed the ride. I had to look at the ground several times just to see if we were even moving as it is so still and peaceful once you are up in the air.
The champagne event at the end was lovely and they are generous with the pour and don't rush the group as everyone sits to enjoy some food, drink and share about their experience and what brought them here. That was a really nice way to top off such a big life event for so many as many were there to celebrate birthdays, etc.
Constructive criticism:
Our particular pilot, Mike E., wasn't friendly. Well, not until we landed and it was time to drink champagne and some needed to settle up their bills. From a customer perspective, this is a once in a lifetime experience for many and the pilot at the very least should be friendly and upbeat.
When they suggest you bring a jacket and a hat...do. It's not for sun, or weather, but from the insane heat that comes off of the balloon when they add heat (and on our particular day it was a warm day so that had to add lots of heat to get the balloon to rise). The heat was so intense on our heads and shoulders that we were cowering and covering each other to protect our skin and heads. A little more information from the company on this would have been helpful as I am from Florida and have no issues with intense sun and natural heat but wasn't anticipating that kind of intensity coming from the balloon. Just bring cover and do yourself a world of good. A lot of people were wearing festive outfits (off shoulder shirts and dresses, dressed up, etc). I would recommend wearing or bringing something that covers your shoulders and your head at the very least. Also there is a lot of desert dust both on the basket and just around in the environment, so plan on your clothes/shoes getting some dirt/dust on them if you are not used to the area and environment.
Space in the balloon. The balloon basket we were in has compartments. They put three of us adults in the compartment and we were so jammed in there we couldn't turn around or adjust to see different views once we were in there. To be truly comfortable I would recommend two adults per compartment or possibly two adults and a child or two per compartment.
Thank you for a very memorable birthday excursion for my Mom and a beautiful ride.