We have booked this trip after reading the positive reviews. However, we beg to differ after our experience today.
After booking our trip on the website, we received an email from Viator Tour America indicating specifically that the meeting point for our trip has been changed to ROW NYC. attached
We reached ROW NYC at 6.10am as meeting time was 6.30am. There were many groups of people waiting for their pickup but we did not see any Viator employee by 6:30am. Hence, we proceeded to call the number stated in the email. The employee answered with a sleepy voice which was understandable and I explained our situation. He insisted that we had waited at the wrong location while I have repeatedly told him about the email that was sent to us. He told us to hold the line while he subsequently arranged someone to pick us up at another location- 46th street at Broadway. I even reiterated the location to him before we ended the call.
As tourists, we had to rely on google map and it showed along Times Square Hotel when we searched for 46 street Broadway. After reaching the location, we could not find the tour bus nor the Viator employee. We called him again and he answered with frustration that he had asked us to wait at the corner of 46th street and Broadway. Eventually we managed to meet one of his colleagues who tried to drive us to the meeting point but was delayed by the busy traffic. He had to get us out of his van and told us to run to our coach which was just around the corner.
When we reached, we were definitely not met by the friendliest guide, driver nor the other passengers since we were late for almost 25 mins.
Even when we tried to explain to the guide about the email, he simply shrugged and said that the email must have been sent wrongly.
We are extremely disappointed with the error and the way Viator Tour America had managed the tour as we appeared to be the ones delaying the trip. We definitely do not deserve this kind of humiliation as we respect the other passengers and punctuality. We did arrived 20 mins earlier at Row NYC to ensure punctuality. This is definitely not the kind of service that we expect from Viator, an established company.
My 2 stars rating was for the Guide and the Driver, who did well taking care of the entire group of tourists in the bus and for the driver who drove 8 hours in total.
Time was limited but everything seemed to be good. Nice and helpful tour guide. It is recommended to spend more than 1 day in Washington DC :
Laura did a great job of providing tid bits of information along the way. You don’t have a lot of time at each stop to really see everything but you get to see it all. One recommendation I have is add Tomb if the Unknown Soldier to Arlington Cemetery stop. Veterans will appreciate this!