We booked the Brooklyn Tour for 27th Aug starting at Battery Park. We were about to get the subway but I asked a member of staff based outside our hotel (Sheraton, Times Square - 7th Avenue & 52nd Street) and they told us to get their bus at 46th Street. We walked there and were then told by another member of staff that we should catch the bus at 42nd Street as it would be quicker. When we got to 42nd Street another member of staff said that their bus would not get us there in time and we should get the subway!!!
When we got to Battery Park (with 10 minutes to spare) we were told where to wait with other customers. A bus then pulled up on the opposite side of the road and we were all told to dash across the road and board it, which we all did only to find that the bus was already almost full. It must have started at a different stop to that published.
Despite that we enjoyed that tour and, at the end, disembarked and walked to Chinatown and Little Italy. We then got on a South Side Tour bus which was due to terminate at Times Square. Two stops from Times Square the driver came upstairs and said to all the passengers " there's good news and bad news. I'm finished for the day so you're all gonna have to get off the bus now". We were all stunned but the driver couldn't care less so we had to get off the bus and walk all the way back to our hotel. We had booked the Night Tour for that evening but decided to give it a miss.
There are two issues:
1. Improve staff knowledge of timetables and journey times.
2. Improve customer care attitudes.
If we go back to New York we will avoid this company like the plague. Also, it is extremely expensive for what it provides - $252 for 2 people over 3 days.
Stan Johnstone