"A really nice tour,very organized,we …"

A really nice tour,very organized,we had a great day.Our tourist guide Frank for the 1st 3days was very good,he explained very well ..And also our last 2 days guide ,Eddie was very also ,he is very helpful ..Good job guys,hope to see you again for our next tours..

"Our guide Rachel was wonderful"

Our guide Rachel was wonderful. She managed a big crowd to show different places in the scheduled time. The hotel was good as well.

But the time to have food was simply inadequate and the bus could have taken pitstops at places where there are atleast 3-4 options to have food.

"Taketour 4 days 3 nights"

We took a Taketour 4 days 3 nights tour option from 10 th August 2017 to 13 th August 2017 for visit to Washington, Niagara Falls, Philadelphia, Corning, Thousand Islands, Buffalo, Hershey, Watkins Glen. 

If you choose to book with them be ready to expect a cheap and low grade service since the tour is offered at pretty low price.

The tour guide in our case was Eric Lee who could barely speak English. Basically it's wrong to call him a guide in the first place since he was just a program coordinator. He would drop us at places of visit and sit back in the bus to chat with the driver.
He had no knowledge of the place we were visiting.The first thing he did on boarding the bus was to collect his tip of $ 8 per day in advance.

The buses for the tour are pathetic most uncomfortable , considering the fact that during the tour you will mostly be confined to the bus . The Volvo buses in India are 1000 times more comfortable.

Our pickup point was Edison in New Jersey at 09:00AM from a weird parking lot. The bus arrived at 10:20 , keeping us stranded in the parking lot. No one from the tour company bothered to inform us of the delay however once boarded , Eric was prompt in threatening us that if we don't return to bus on time he will be leaving us behind. He didn't find it necessary to offer any apology for their delayed arrival either.

I advise Taketour only If you can guide yourself and are OK with travelling for long hours
in a bad seat and can cope up with any food that's offered at the joints that the driver chooses to stop , you can consider these tours.

My personal opinion is to either choose 1or 2 days tours with a days rest in between or travel by yourself between the cities and choose hop in - hop off buses for local sight seeing.

I don't think shall ever travel by take tour or any such travel option in US ever again.

"Beware of their admission fees!"

Hi All,

It seems that this tour is quite a cheap option to visit Niagara Fall from NYC, however please take extra caution about admission fees. The tour guide asks you to pay the admission fees upfront from the beginning of the tour for cash payment without providing you a receipt!

I found that the tour guide changed the scheduled itinerary without notification and charge admission fee which doesn't exist. For example, on the Hershey's Chocolate Tour, she removed "create your own chocolate experience", substituted with Hershey Town Tour without notification. She got a guy from Hershey's Chocolate Factory site onto the bus, took us around Hershey town, which was not mentioned on its website. There was no price listed even on her own price list! Hershey Chocolate Factory ride is FREE, however we had been charged for $15 per adult and $10 per child.

Again for Watkins Glen National Park, there was no admission fee. However, she charged $10 for each person, which she claimed that they need to pay for bus parking fee for the national park. On the day we were there, the car park was under construction, the bus stopped at a gas station for FREE!

I would strongly suggest you check its website on admission fee in advanced before you make any cash payment to your tour guide on the bus at the beginning of the tour!

It is a typical Chinese organised bus tour without much interpretation! The way they make money is via admission fees!

Good luck!

"Ruined our trip! No customer service to respond!"

Terrible! Tour guide left us with two INVALID tickets for the only attraction of a day-long trip. We've been stopped by the entrance gate and asked to pay again for tickets! We couldn't reach out to the tour guide (as he left us for his other tour), and ran out of time before solving the issue and returned without ever seeing the only attraction that we took the tour for!
After 5 weeks of persistently asking for refund for the INVALID tickets they gave us, I still have not received a single meaningful response from Taketours! TERRIBLE customer service, nonexistent to be exact. Stay away and save yourself time, money, and peace of mind.

"Ok Tour, but horrible Customer Service"

Ok tour, but horrible customer service. Take tours is simply a "middle man" that books you with local tour companies. I booked 2 tours for my father-in-law visiting from China. One tour was a 10 day US East Coast Tour (New England Leisure). The second was an 11 day US West Coast tour.

Pros: The tours went reasonably ok (nobody died or got lost). Assuming you read the fine print of extra charges ($7-9 per day per person), the tour will visit the sites as planned. The East Coast tour was reasonably well managed. Better hotels and restaurants than West Coast. If not for the bad experience with the West Coast Tour (see below), my score would have been a 4 star.

Cons:
(1) Their 24 hour/7 day per week customer service is a lie. If you call during normal business hours, it takes a long time for them to answer. At night, they simple don't answer the phone. If you need their help at night for some reason, you're in big trouble.
(2). Taketour's local West Coast Tour Operator (CTOUR Holiday) cheated my father-in-law. They demanded a $4 fee at pick up at the airport even though the contract says free pick-up. They also asked for $5 extra at the Grand Canyon. Not big money, but not in the agreement. I complained to Taketour on 1-Aug and got no response. My wife then visited their office on 11-Aug at about 1:00PM in Cambridge Ma (we live nearby). A Chinese woman refused to talk to her and indicated that she was on lunch break. My wife had to wait for help. Totally rude. When Taketour finally spoke to her, they had the nerve to say that they were still trying to answer complaint emails from June.

"DONT FORGET $7 PER PERSON THEY CHARGE …"

DONT FORGET $7 PER PERSON THEY CHARGE ADD GRATUITY WHICH IS MANDATORY. WHEN YOU ASK THEM WHERE IN UR WEB SITE OF THE CONFIRMATION DOES THAT SAY . THEY POINT YOU TOWARDS Q&A (FAQ) SERIOUSLY????? THESE STUFF SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE PRICE OR THE INFORMATION BE PROVIDED BEFORE YOU BOOK THE TOURS.. THE PROBLEM IS HERE IS NOT THAT I DONT WANA PAY... JUST DONT MISLEAD PEOPLE AND ASK FOR MONEY....

"DO NOT BOOK! NON-EXISTENT CUSTOMER SERVICE!"

Specifically with Ctours Bus Tours, the tour guides and company don't really care about customers, just money making scheme! The whole trip was stressful and inconvenient, company did not book hotel rooms prior to arrival, and tour guides changed every day without notice. Buses were late too!

I complained with TakeTours themselves about Ctours but Live Chat does not work for customer service! Someone comes in to chat with you and takes an hour to respond. Sending an email to customer support is useless. They say you get a response in 2-3 days but I still haven't received a response to my complaint with CTours 2 weeks after I raised it.

NEVER BOOK WITH THEM! CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NON-EXISTENT!

"If i could give a zero I would"

If i could give a zero I would. Take tours has the worst customer service ever.. My friend booked a trip and had a tragic death in the family. Tried to reschedule and was left with nothing. Worst customer service ever.

"Do not use TAKE TOURS!"

Do not use TAKE TOURS!! A SCAM

Take Tours and their tour contractor, 'West Coast Holidays' are deceptive and misleading.
They turned a vacation of a lifetime into a nightmare
Email me anytime to verify how horrible we were treated. pablorob@eftel.