Great trip. Mayan hope I spelled that correctly? was an excellent tourguide, and Mario was a smooth driver. Lovely stop-offs along the way, comfortable bed at night and lots of nice places to eat. Niagara itself was stunning on both sides of the border.
Our tour guide explained everything very clearly and made sure our trip was enjoyable. Would do it again.
The tour guide rushed everything, especially in Watkins Glen state park. We barely had any time to explore, he at a fast pace rushed us through the park. He also knew that people did not have proper paperwork and tried to sneak them past the border of Canada. That resulted in us wasting over an hour standing on the bus while the issue was being resolved. That hour could of been spent exploring Canada.
Day 1: The bus ride was comfortable and a/c worked perfectly. We visited Watkins Glen, an awesomely beautiful place with waterfalls and 250 odd steps. Having said that, wish we'd more time to spend time allocated 25mins instead of just coming down the steps. Since i stayed on the american side of Niagara falls, we had a great deal of time to spend un-attended which worked perfectly well for me. The hotel was close to the falls 2 mins which gave us access at all times. Our guide Joseph was super regimented, often on the border line of being rude and not so informative. All the information he provided was basic and could have been looked up on the internet.
Day 2: The boat ride Maid of the Mist begins at 9am, we were all hauled up at the entrance at 8am which was absolutely unnecessary and not coordinated. We were waiting nearly an hour for the ride to begin. The ride was exhilarating and fun. Listening to the sounds of the water and being up close with nature, one can feel the power of it.
We had a 2 hrs halt at an outlet mall to shop and eat lunch, once again absolutely a waste of our time, which could be well managed to include some more nature reserves on our way back to the city. Gratitudes were meant to be optional in case we were satisfied with the service of the guide and driver, instead Joseph announced about it and made it seem like a compulsion, which was a great disappointment.
The trip was a fantastic experience to meet some amazing people.
in the future please include more of nature reserves, etc rather than outlet malls experiences which one can find even in the city.