Description: The main reason we chose City Sights NY over Gray Line tours for our group of six was that we were visiting the city in early March while the weather was still cold. City Sights NY's website prominently advertised top deck seating that was both covered and heated. Gray Line only had open decks. However, none of the buses we took during the daylight had covered tops. We had to wear scarves and earmuffs and were still very cold and uncomfortable throughout the day. We feel that we were mislead by their advertising. None of the personnel we asked could explain why open top buses were running on such a cold day, only that they hadn't been used much so far.
Another issue did not become clear until after we had purchased tickets for the All Around Town tour. Although our hotel was a tour stop, we could not begin the tour there. We had to take our confirmation number to the downtown office in Times Square, receive our paper tickets (which were never checked or asked for by anyone) and then walk about 10 blocks to get to the beginning of the tour. At the end of the uptown loop, we had to disembark and then walk another 7 blocks to board the nighttime tour. This was tiring, uncomfortable, and inconvenient. Nothing in the advertising indicated that so much travel between stops was required from passengers.
We took the Night tour after the Uptown Tour. Thankfully, this bus was covered because we had agreed among our group not to take it if it were open-topped. However, we had to wait in Times Square about an hour for it to arrive. Although the tickets listed three departure times, the first bus did not arrive at all, the second bus was open-topped, and the third bus was covered. The company reps at the boarding site kept assuring us that the third time slot would have a covered bus but they also said that the departure times were just a suggestion and that there was no way to predict when a bus would arrive during the 90 minute time period. Also, the night tour did not allow "hop-on, hop-off" privileges, another fact which was not advertised. We asked to get off at our hotel and we were not allowed to do so.
We enjoyed the commentary from the guides, who were all knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and friendly. We appreciated having the overview of the city. However, having taken similar tours in many other cities around the world, I must say that I was very disappointed in their service.
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