I am very, Very, VERY disappointed in the Boroughs of NYC: Harlem, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn & Coney Island tour operated by Amigo Tours USA.
First, the brochure said we would leave Grand Central Terminal promptly at 8:30am. Although, we boarded on time we did not leave until 8:50am, and this only began a very lengthy, very depressing day.
Second, it also said in the brochure that English was to be the PRIMARY language. SO when our Tour Guide first got on the bus, and the tour began, her first statement to the group was- “How many people on the bus were fluent in Spanish😳! “ That was a big shock as the bus contained all types of ethnic groups, but everyone primary language was English.
Besides this, when you include her extremely heavy accent while wearing the face mask it gives you the rendition of Charlie Brown’s teacher because all you hear is “Wonk wonk, wonk- wonk- wonk!” So we had a very difficult language barrier to deal with.
Third, on the tour through Harlem and Brooklyn all our tour guide spoke about was crime & gangs, crime & gangs, and more crime & gangs. I particularly hated the reference of the ethnic group in Harlem when she said, “Those people would walk around with needles in their arms and die on the streets!” in reference to the crime of decades past🤭.
Fourth, in Brooklyn we were told of two instances of children/young adults being killed. So in the first two boroughs we learned nothing about the colleges, the businesses, or the area architecture, or the history of the boroughs- except recent crime sprees that ended in people’s deaths.
Sadly, several people had to lead the tour guide in giving us the information we needed to hear. It was so bad that one of the tourist said “Is there anything positive that you can share with us about this borough?”
Fifth, when we toured the Jewish community she finally gave us background on the area, but she concluded by saying that she felt the people of that community was “Crazy” for their religious beliefs. This was shocking and I’m thankful that their weren’t anyone of Jewish descent on the bus.
Sixth, we left several people at the Brooklyn bridge. I understand that the Tour Guide was probably confused because 5-10 folks got off the bus to walk the Brooklyn bridge- (I personally believe they couldn’t stomach the tour anymore so they left). Ultimately, I don’t know how she miscounted the number of people on the tour but leaving someone is not a good thing- nor the vile argument on the bus that continued until we ended up in Coney Island.
How we got here was simple. When she counted the people on the bus a certain gentleman- who eventually cussed the Tour guide out for several minutes- said that everyone wasn’t on the bus. In retrospect she must have assumed that it was one group that left the bus.
After we left the Brooklyn bridge about five minutes later she was made aware by the gentlemen that used the colorful metaphors that she had left them. Now she did not curse at him although she did antagonize him somewhat with a few snide remarks before she said she would pay for his Uber to caught up with the Tour in Coney Island.
As I said the argument was long and lengthy to the point that my wife and I ended our tour at Coney Island. We did not continue back to the hotel. They additional hour or riding with this group was untenable.
And finally, I must say this trip was terrible, our Tour Guide was ill prepared, but I also believe she was thrown into the deep end of the pool. Why do I say the deep end of the pool? Because she could not identify major landmarks. For instance she called one site a “large prison”, but one of the passengers said “That’s Rikers island!” And we missed it, we couldn’t take any photos because her terminology is wrong. No one wants to see a large prison, but when you say, “Rikers Island”- and you follow that up with it’s unique history from creation, to changes throughout the years, to current status- it would have been a blessing to learn.
Now that I’ve said all of that let me conclude with this… We want a full refund.