"This is my fifth time booking with…"

This is my fifth time booking with TakeTours, yet unfortunately it’s a 2 star rating for me given the following reasons (I will elaborate in detail below): (a) the Tour Leader; and (b) we did not get the “Deluxe” package we paid for.
(1) In all fairness, this is not my first experience traveling within a tour with a Tour Leader and I have traveled a lot to many times with TakeTours. This was my worst experience yet. We chose the "6-Day US East Coast, Niagara Falls Vacation Package from New York with Airport Transfers tour departing from NYC” by JUPITER LEGEND and had TANA CAIREN as our Tour Leader. In short, she was rude.

(2) Our Tour Leader did not respect our choice of not joining the optional tours. When we booked this tour, we were fully aware that the itinerary we picked have some optional tours in it (which fee is not included in the package) and we are okay with it as it gives us room to choose more flexible as it is what it is, an OPTION. Since it is clearly written as ‘optional’, we felt it would be a normal thing should we refuse to join. Yet, every time we conveyed to our Tour Leader, TANA, that we will not join the optional tour, she gave us a hard time – every single time. It would be understandable if she seeks for confirmation from us whether we’re sure on not joining since we will be missing out for example. Instead, she would badger us with these questions like (1) why are you joining this tour then? (2) Is it because of budget reasons? - which we found very offensive. Considering every day has an optional tour, sometimes even multiple ones, we felt very uncomfortable and her attitude made the trip less enjoyable.

(3) In our previous experiences with TakeTours, same where the tour has optional tours in it, usually what was done is that the Tour Leader would prior explain to us the itinerary of that day, including the optional ones and their respective fees. Then, he/she would offer us if we would join the said optional tour. Yes, we were being offered. Instead, what our Tour Leader did on the first day of the tour was handling us an amount that we need to pay to her – which amount is to include all optional tours and optional meals. She did this in a manner as if the optional tours were compulsory. Given this was not our first experience with TakeTours, we found her way of things very strange. We believe that by doing so, the information she gave was misleading especially to first-timers, or even people with special diet who can’t eat a certain food (I will elaborate my reason below).

(4) Every time it is time for the optional tour, she would give us an attitude, instead of advising us what we can do or where we can wait. At some point, we even felt like she took it to a personal level to make us miserable. There was this one time where we stopped at a museum (optional) where she went out of her way to prohibit us to enter the lobby, saying that we can’t enter the building if we are not joining the museum tour (we went during the colder months so it was freezing outside). We find this very odd so we checked with the security and were told we could enter albeit not joining the museum tour since there is a gift shop should we fancy some shopping. To us, what she did was downright rude.

(5) In our last tour day, we had an optional meal i.e lobster lunch. We saw 2 (two) untouched lobsters being tossed to garbage by 2 (two) members of our tour, despite having paid for it. I bet if they knew the lunch was optional, they would not have paid for the lobsters since we saw them grabbed pizza afterward. This calls for misleading and/or inadequate information on the optional tour/meal by our Tour Leader.

(6) In truth, we believe we don’t need to explain to ourselves why we refused to join some of the optional tours, as it is “OPTIONAL” – we have the “OPTION”. We denied most of the optional tours as some of us have been on the same itinerary and some of the activities in the optional tour are something we have similarly enjoyed before. Our decision to join or not to join is a matter of personal preference and we believe it should be respected.

(7) Choosing the DELUXE hotel while booking at TakeTours will be ultimately the same as choosing the STANDARD and the only thing that is different is that the tour will take more money out of the customer without reasonable reason and explanation.

"This tour has so many flaws"

This tour has so many flaws, not sure where to begin.

First of all, it is completelly and I mean completelly adjusted for Chinese tourists. If that information somewhere does exist, we missed it.

Tour guide - William, barely spoke English and 70% of the stuff he was saying in English was not understandable.

Next, there are hidden costs. When we booked the tour, cost was 216$. However, since we didn't want any additional tours, apart from going to Vegas, we had to pay penalty of 50$ per person!!! We also had to pay 10$ service fee per day per person, which means total of 160$ in addition to what you pay when you reserve.

Next, even though we said we don't want to go to Grand Canyon the second day, phone in the room still rang, which was alarm, in 4:30 AM! And we said we didn't want to go.

We would never recommend this tour to anyway, as it's so unproffesional.

"If there was an option I would have given 0 stars"

If you are planning any tour with take tours it's my warning and personal advice to please don't go with them. I went for 6 days Los Angeles-Vegas trip and felt like spending my 6 days in hell.They have very poor customer service.After buying their package the tour guy will sell another package in bus. Don't waste your money and time by booking tour with them.

"This company gets very bad reviews"

This company gets very bad reviews, as a general rule, so we were a bit concerned.
Firstly, we did a 6 day Pearl Harbour, Big Island and Maui Tour and generally the tour ran as advertised. The guides were on time and sometimes early, one had very poor English (almost not understandable) but the other 2 guides were excellent.
The hotels were as advertised and adequate (we dont like spending extra money on hotels given the Australian exchange rate)
The biggest issue was poor communication. Before booking I tried to get more information and despite sending emails and even phoning, I was unable to get any useful reply. The itinerary as advertised changed 3 times (not that it really mattered), except we were had to stay on an extra day as they couldn't tell us when our final flight from one island would arrive back in Honolulu - and as that was the day we would fly home - that posed a risk.
On the first day, we were not told when the guide would pick us up - so had to phone the emergency contact number and found it was 0615. Just as well we rang!
Overall, we were okay with the tour. Just be aware it is an online Chinese company catering primarily to the Chinese ,, but we had 1/2 and 1/2 on all our trips which was nice.

"Worst Tour Operator I ever met!"

No way I could recommend this tour to anyone! The tour guide was very rude throughout the whole tour – Rebecca! Very unprofessional services provided, neither proper description of the places, no interesting facts and very bad spoken English language. South Rim Canyon, the driving took 5-6 hours back and forth but only 1 hour to see one point – Mother point, nothing else! In additional we have been told that the driver has limited hours to drive, so we better harry up on a way back to the bus (why would you bother to provide this tour at all if you rush things out and there is no much can be seeing anyway?)
The drivers don’t speak English and very ignorant! If you think you paid for entire tour and everything set and ready to go, it is NOT; be prepared to pay additional charges + daily service fee (actual tips), which will come to the doubled amount paid in the end as minimum. The lunch provided was a peace of joke really! We paid for Chinees breakfast as well, but it was just cooked rice, 1 whole egg and steamed bread.
Also, Double check if your hotels are confirmed for pick up and drop off as even if you book through their website it is not guaranteed to be free of charge, they will make money out of you by any possible way!
I have never met such rude Chinese people as I met in the last couple of days! The tour providers are very poor quality company and customer services are completely incompetent to provide such a services!
If you ever will need to call to the customer services of the taketours.com, be prepared to be on the line with them at least for 30 minutes, as they useless! First, they won’t understand you; then, they won’t be able to find your booking in their system and finally, the answer will be – yes it is an additional charge which you will have to pay, because they don’t provide this services even though you booked it through their website and there is not a single mention on your confirmation that transfer to chosen accommodation booked on their website on your final day of the drip is not free of charge! And they won’t assist you in anyway in this case, so useless!
Places visited were fantastic, especially Antelope Canyon, BUT tour operators are very unprofessional, unpleasant and disappointing (MINIMUM I COULD SAY) Very bad quality service! Will NOT recommend this tour operators ever!
Take tours - Complete rip off!

"Boat tour from Orlando to Miami"

We booked our tour from home, before we arrived in Orlando. After three days of no confirmation of our tour, I called them. They had canceled our tour with out telling us. Then they rescheduled us for five days later, guaranteeing us a spot on the tour. After another four days of not receiving a confirmation, I called again. Once again they had canceled our tour....without notification, and wanted to reschedule us again. Two days after we leave for home. Never again TakeTours! And all our friends will know about this too.

"Поездка в Гранд Каньон с 20-22 января…"

Поездка 20-22 января 2019 из Лос-Анджелеса в Лас Вегас с экскурсией в Гранд Каньон с West Coast Tour. Код тура (Tour Code): 189-2344. Нашего гида звали Вейд. Мы очень пожалели, что ввязались в это путешествие. Я подумала, что если напишу на русском отзыв, то смогу предостеречь русскоговорящих туристов от лишних беспокойств.

1) Помимо основной платы нас заставили заплатить еще 200$ наличными сверху. В билете это указано не будет. Сложно предугадать сколько и с кого они захотят снять денег. Но мы как напуганные туристы побоялись, что нас где-то оставят в пустыне, если мы не заплатим. Мы все время нервничали, так как не знали, когда нас снова попросят за что-нибудь заплатить. Это было ужасно.

2) Дискриминация по национальному признаку. Наш гид был китайцем и посадил всех китайцев вперед автобуса, а всех остальных назад. Во второй половине автобуса сильно трясло.

3) Сандвичи, которые давали в качестве завтрака на экскурсии были мокрые и со вкусом плесени, очевидно испорчены. Мы есть не стали, соответственно без еды остались.

4) С нами ехала семья с младенцем 3 месяцев. Они доставляли нам неудобства. Никаких ограничений для экскурсии в Лас Вегас нет, но это абсурд. К тому же они тоже были не китайцами и сидели в конце автобуса рядом с нами. См. пункт 2.

5) Прежде чем писать отзыв я написала в компанию, чтобы получить извинения или объяснения, они не стали отвечать и отзыв реальный на сайте публиковать тоже не стали.

Гид сказал, что он работает уже 7 лет так, то есть эта кантора цветет и пахнет. К сожалению из-за того, что на сайте у них только положительные отзывы.

Я бы не рекомендовала эту компанию. И если в хотите сэкономить, то в данном случае все равно не получится с учетом скрытых платежей. Реальная цена около 600 $ на двоих.

"They are really bad"

They are really bad! I've made a tour with them to Quebec and the tour guide didnt gave us any info about the city AND left us in a place where we were waiting for her sitting on the couch and she didnt even look for us. Due to that, we lost 1 hour that we could have done something else in the city.

"A very bad service and attention to the customer, NEVER MORE"

I'm very disappointed with the 1 Day Boston City Sightseeing tour booked with Take tours. I have received the departure time information in advance, than, one day before I have received another email confirming that the departure will occur: Departure: 8:45am 81 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02111 (Boston-81 Harrison) (In Front of Hong Kong Eatery). This spot is just a open parking place. I, my wife and my mother in law that is 86-year-old arrived at 8:00am and have stayed in this open place in a chilly morning until 08:45. There aren't chairs or sit benches. No bus has arrived at 08:45am, so I decided to call Take Tours in order to know what was going on regarding this delay. They have contacted the local operator and after 15 minutes waiting online, Take tours has informed that the new departure time will be at 09:30am. I have asked why nobody has sent me an email informing this change and delay, and the lady at the phone, just sad, that if I want I can cancel the tour, or open a claim. In my opinion, a total unprofessional behavior.
After staying for over 1.5 hour the driver of a van, without any identification, has arrived and the driver asked us if we are taking part of the Boston city sightseeing 1-day tour. We have embarked, and the driver has tried to begin with the explanations using a portable microphone and speaker system that doesn't has worked well all time. He explained that in reality the one-day tour would last only half a day. When we have arrived at Harvard the driver guide sad that for a inside explained tour each person must pay additional $ 20 for him. At 1PM he leaves us at Quincy Market for lunch at our expenses and after the lunch they take us to the port to take a trip on a boat tour also not included and after this 1,5-hour boat tour the city sightseeing was finished. Resuming, the duration of the tour was less of 4 hours, and I must pay additional charges for the tour inside Harvard.
At Take tours website page the information that the Harvard University In-Depth Tour cost $ 12 per adulta, but the driver guide has charged me in $ 20,00 pp. I have asked and the driver sad taht this proce is wrong. For 3 person I have paid $ 24,00 more than expected and I want to know when this $ 24,00 will be refund at my credit card.
The Hop bus travels through the same places, has better explanations, the stops are on safe places and you can choice what you will see in more details with a much cheaper price.
I do not recommend this tour because incorrect departure information, and that the meeting point is in a open and unsafe area.
After staying for over 1,5 hours in the cold weather my mother in law got a flu, a nice remember until today of this bad tour experience.
I wrote to Take tours and after 2 months, nobody was able to give me a solution, ore refunding the extra $ 24,00 that I have paid, just writing to me:
Thank you for your email.
We are still waiting for the reply from tour company.
We will get back to you as soon as possible.
Thanks for your understanding.
Should you have any further questions,please feel free to contact us via email.

Best Regards,

Vince W
Customer Support Team

The problem with the operator isn't mine problem, that's for Take tours has received a commission over sales, to solve these problems directly with his operators, and not reviewing the cost of incompetence and dishonesty of the tourist guide to the customer.

"7 days in hell!"

This tour is your worst nightmare! I was on a 7 day trip from Chicago to New Orleans and back.
- be ready to pay CASH to driver for all attractions your want to visit. Our guide never told us what those attractions are about. If you want to buy your own tickets online or at the place, expect to be yelled as that against their policy. In addition you have to tip driver every day, who never told us about places we visit.
- optional but NOT optional. On web it says that certain exhibits are optional to pay. In my group only 3 people went to Gracelend tour, and the rest of group (90%) was just sitting near entrance for 3 hours!
- be ready to STARVE! Our driver stopped every day only at McDonald's and everything like that. We had vegetarians in a group, imagine find something without meat in a fast food place! The rest group ate burgers every single day during 7 days trip!
- pay for NOTHING. We paid 20$ for night tour and our driver just dropped us off at downtown! No tour at all, as he said if I refuse to pay he won't take me back to the hotel, which is 2 hour away from the city!