This tour we booked rather than taking train from New York to Boston as we knew little about the City. When we got to Boston, it was an amazing city so full of history. It is a city I would love to go back to and explore further. Now the tour... The mini-bus ended up being a tour bus with 53 passengers. Not what was expected from booking. The tour was ran by two guides- one English speaking and one Italian. They were both lovely people, but the guidance was very unprofessional. The English guide was always forgetting the relevance of landmarks and mixing up significant historical figures names. He got things wromg on so many occasdions which i wad aware of, i had no confidence in what he was telling me was correct. The time at Cambridge Common after lunch did not occur as advised in the itinerary. At 1 point the other guide decided to stand in the middle of the group while smoking. On the way to Boston 8 bottles of oil were pumped into the bus as it was losing oil. We were advised it would get to Boston where it could then be looked at further. Luckily it did. The bus was in very poor shape with broken AC, arm rests etc. The windows were filthy preventing picture opportunities. Now the bad part. After travelling back from Boston for twenty minutes the bus breaks down. We were stranded for the next five hours waiting for a replacement bus. Management who the tour guides were in constant contact with obviously didn't care much. The guides tried their best. My advice... Take the train and get the hop-on and hop- off bus. Definitely the worst tour experience I have had.
This is the second time I've done this tour in a year (last time with my husband) as my best friend really wanted to see Boston and after doing research it seemed to be the best option for a day trip.
Some things were better this time such as the guide (he didn't wander off and lose half the people). He was funny and made sure the group could listen.
Unfortunately though the trip was mostly disappointing. The bus was 45 minutes late in the morning and it would seem that they just cut our boston time short to make up for it. We had hardly any time at Harvard and it was VERY rushed. My friend was especially disappointed as Harvard was the main part of this trip she was looking forward to.
I am regretting booking this trip a second time (especially as the first time wasn't amazing either). Yes we were in and out in 1 day but it just wasn't worth it. For anyone interested in going to Boston I would suggest not trying to do it in one day. It would be best to actually stay in Boston at least overnight and taking the time to enjoy this very beautiful and interesting city.
Long trip which didn't start well with the bus over half hour late arriving. Guide was very knowledgeable and made the trip interesting. Not enough time yo ourselves in Boston. Only had about 90 mins free time in which to have lunch and explore the city - this wasn't enough! We got caught up in rush hour traffic on the way back and when we stopped for the drivers break it was at a place that didn't have any food outlets.