My friends and I were visiting Sedona for the week and made this tour a top priority. We were very excited to go and had high expectations due to glowing reviews and pictures posted on the website.
PROS:
-Our tour leaders were knowledgeable and willing to answer any questions.
-Check in/parking/overall logistics were organized and easy to follow.
CONS:
-Quality of the images through telescope was not much different from what you see through the naked eye. We saw some star clusters and galaxies which looked like a blurry haze.
-The imagery on the website is completely misleading and not what we saw at all. We saw blurry white dots (very similar to what you see with the naked eye).
-We had one set of binoculars to share with 6 people. For the price we each paid, we should each have had our own to use.
-Overall, it was not a very comfortable experience. We sat in mismatched lawn chairs that weren’t conducive for stargazing. Our necks were hurting within the first 15 minutes of the tour from looking up. For the price we paid, we would expect comfortable chairs at the least.
-The tour guides gave a lot of information but it was difficult to follow throughout. It was difficult to hear (no microphones/amplifiers) and there was nothing to take home showing/describing what we saw. We ended up using a free stargazing app to locate the constellations, as that was much easier.
-The cancellation policy is not flexible at all. Also, the confirmation email states that if someone has a bad experience to call them to discuss it rather than leave a critical review. Both of these are red flags for any business, especially one as personal and expensive as this.
Overall, this experience was very overpriced for what we got. For $120, we expected to be comfortable and see more through the telescopes. I would pay $20-30 to do this again, but next time will go to Lowell Observatory or star gaze alone with binoculars and an app.