Firstly, unbeknownst to us, our tour was booked for a day that all the Heads of State were visiting the UN so the roads were blocked off for security reasons and traffic was a nightmare! Why oh why did this tour company then decide to start the tour from just beside Grand Central Station when even the guide said the traffic is always hell every year on this day of the sitting of the UN??
The bus apparently came from New Jersey so it was nearly an hour after the appointed time that the tour guide finally made it to the rendezvous point, through the awful traffic. Then, she had to go looking all round the block several times for the bus because the bus driver had left his mobile phone behind - so she didn’t know where he had managed to park the bus!!
Eventually, now well over 1 hour 30 mins after the expected departure time, we were allowed by a kindly NYPD officer to get onto the bus, even though it had pulled over in a restricted zone.
Off we crawled through the awful traffic but eventually made it into the first borough way after schedule. The guide had tried her hardest to manage the situation but the driver forgetting his mobile phone had not helped her in the least.
She was knowledgeable on the history and current trends in the boroughs but we felt hurried at each stop because obviously they were trying to make up for lost time. Although billed as a tour taking us to some of the great sporting venues in NY we only got brief glimpses of the outside of the stadiums. I had been particularly looking forward to Flushing Meadow tennis location but the closest we got was a photocall at the globe’s fountain in a park several hundred yards from any sort of entrance. No time to even glance in the museum! Very disappointing.
On we went with interesting commentary from our guide but, although not Jewish, we felt decidedly uncomfortable as the tour went through the Jewish area of Brooklyn with the tour guide particularly drawing attention to the garments and old fashioned Nokia mobile phones of the many inhabitants. This felt wrong, especially when others on the bus started to stare at and take photos of individuals on the street. This isn’t a freak show, this is people’s homes and neighbourhoods!
Coney Island was fun but insufficient time because of the late start.
To cap it off, instead of taking us back to the Grand Central Station pick up point, we were dumped off the bus by the World Trade Centre - a long way from our hotel near to Bryant Park/Grand Central Station. The driver had said it would take hours from there to Grand Central and he was obviously in a hurry to get home himself without getting chewed up in traffic.
I don’t blame the tour guide - she did everything she could to resolve the early morning disaster but this was incredibly bad planning by the tour operator who must have know the traffic situation when Heads of State visit the UN and for that reason I am giving it only 1 star.