TakeToursReviews of taketours.com

Friendly tour guide that kept to a good timing schedule. Good knowledge of area and held a flag up high so we could easily spot him. His English was a little hard to understand at times due to his accent but otherwise a friendly and knowledgeable guy. The tour in general was a little rushed but considering the travel time and amount of things we did that's okay. I also had some issues at the start of the tour with the pick up time not being clear and being told 7:30am on the booking site but the coach turned up at 8:30. If we hadn't waited as long we would've drove off and missed it just based on not being told clear information. Even when we did make it to the coach it wasn't clear if it was the right tour and multiple messages and phone calls had to be made to make sure it was correct. Overall the tour was great but the lack of clear information prior to the tour was a let down.

The hotel is not very good, and you can only expect to have a sleep over there. But actually we did not expect something fantastic since the price is very low. Luckliy, we went to a lot of places. It is a good recommendations for travelers not local and want to save times on driving. We paid for some “optional fee” to go to some places on tour. The attractions are free tho. But the tour guide provided us a lot of stories and history about those attractions and my family knew a lot after those paid activities. Seem worth. Just read the extra fee on the itinerary before the booking so you can expect how much you will need to pay.

PS: I wrote this review at their website (taketours.com) but they didn't display it. It looks like they display only the sweet review about them. Tour guy and driver are friendly and good. Bus is clean and comfortable. We are paying for the bus and service fee + tips but they are collecting money for everything though many of them are included as part of Itinerary. We need to come back to Flushing, NY but they asked us to move us to different bus at Niagara which was going to Corning Glass museum but we already visited Corning Glass museum while coming to Niagara and we would be missing visit of Watkins Glen Park more over we need to sit on the bus another 2 and Half hours to Corning. We said we can’t move but on-way back to New York they moved us to different bus at a rest area which was really disappointing. I don’t understand why are charging for non-ticketed places which are already included in the itinerary. 1. DC Tour: They showed couple of memorials and pentagon building while going on the high way but they charged $20 which is worth less. DON’T BUY 2. Niagara Falls Night Tour: This is part of itinerary, its not a tour (everyone get off from the bus and watch the falls) and It’s not ticketed so everyone can go and see irrespective of paid/unpaid. some people didn’t pay but they also visited this night view. so DON’T PAY for this. 3. Touching Niagara Fall (Maid of Mist + Wind Cave + Whirlpool State Park + Niagara Power Vista): In these you need to get ticket only for Maid of Mist and Cave of Wind which cost $49.25 (Adult) and $33.5 (Kid) in total but they charged $75 (adult) and $73 (Kid). • This is too expensive I would suggest you to get tickets at Niagara Falls itself instead of buying from the tour person. • You are going to see the river and no other activities here. No tickets for Whirlpool state park so everyone can go and see the river 😊 • Niagara Power Vista: they just show the building from a mile distance so you won’t see anything. Everyone can see irrespective of paid/unpaid. 4. Timing was insufficient: We need to drive and go for three hours to see a place but we get only 30-45 mins to visit which is barely enough time to explore the place but we spent many hours for coming/going on the bus. 5. No entertainment in the bus. They should put some movies for kids. 6. Unable to reach customer service for any queries/clarification after booking. 7. Charged for Included activities: They charged for everything and everyone went for everything irrespective of paid/unpaid. 8. Their website showed one amount and charged different amount. TIPs: • Ask him if it’s ticketed and Don’t pay for non-ticketed so you can watch them for free. • Buy Niagara Falls tickets at the counter instead of buying them from the tour guy. • If you are coming back to Flushing, NY, strictly inform to the tour guy that your destination would be Flushing, NY before you leave otherwise you need to make an alternate plan.

My family took the 3-Day Los Angeles, Las Veges, and Grand Canyon Tour So, for starters....like many have said, THIS IS A CHINESE TOUR!! Not only is this a Chinese tour, most of the tourists attending are Non-English speakers. The Tour Guide is also Chinese and speaks very broken English. Me personally, I didnt have a huge issue with this. My issue is that there is nowhere on their website that indicates this is a tour for Non-English speaking Chinese tourists. So if you can imagine...my family and I were a taken aback when we finally realized this. While I love to travel and mingle with tourist of all cultures and nationalities, I will admit that it is a little intimidating to be only 1 out of 3 Americans on a tour bus with 50 other Chinese people who speak little to no English. This situation was not preferable or ideal. Also the bus that picked us up from our pickup spot was only there to take us to ANOTHER pick up spot. At our initial location, we were given a piece of paper telling us which bus to get on once we arrived at the second location. Imagine our frustrations after having to wait for our bus, just for that bus to drop us off at yet another crowded location filled with more Chinese tourists running around in a bunch of confusion. As we proceeded to our second bus, the tour guide was not there. We waited for him for about 20 min before he came to the bus. Apparently, he was inside the hotel making sure everyone was accounted for. Ohh...kaay....but why not be at your designated bus accounting for ppl as they step onto the bus?,instead of forcing ppl to have to come find you, which could possibly lead to ppl being left behind. If your co-worker tells me to look for your bus at the second pick-up location and you are not out in front of the bus checking names, how am I supposed to know to come look for you inside a hotel...while you dont have a nametag on? Mind you there were 6 other buses out in this parking lot with other tour guides and tourists running around looking for their respective buses and tour groups. They need to organize this better. I should not need to take 2 different buses, with 2 different tour guides just for the tour to begin. Tourists should all meet at one meeting spot with their correct bus already waiting on them...that way when the tourists arepicked up, tourists are already on their correct bus and the tour can begin. This part was so un-organized that many ppl were confused; running around in panic because they didnt know where to go. I watched an Asian tour guide yell at an Indian tourist because the Indian didnt know where to go. He had a piece of paper in his hand but like us, he couldnt find his tour guide and panicked. As a tour guide, you cant get mad at an innocent tourist that is simply trying to ask questions. Not to mention, the tour guides were NOT. IN. FRONT. OF .THEIR. BUSES!! TOURIST SHOULD NOT HAVE TO TRACK DOWN THEIR TOUR GUIDES!! This is not "Tour Guide Scavenger Hunt" Another aspect of the tour ppl need to be aware of is the fact that during the bus rides, they dont stop enough for rest stops, food stops, or bathroom breaks. On the 1st day, we didnt eat lunch until 2 or 3. Mind you, we had been on the bus since 8am..why not stop for a mid-morning breakfast or actually stop to have lunch at 11 or 12?? I also feel like they tricked us when it finally was time for lunch. We stopped and ate lunch at a Chinese buffet. Ok cool, but then we get into the buffet and realize the options are severely limited. This was not a full service buffet. The buffet only had like 7 items. For 15 dollars, I feel we should've had a broader spread of food. I also find it peculiar that this Chinese buffet was not located near ANY OTHER FOOD VENUE. It's as if, this was done purposely to force you to eat there. They probably get a commission or maybe they have Chinese friends who own the place. We finish eating and get on the bus...only to realize we were only 15 min from hotel. Let me put something into perspective for you all. Once we arrived at the hotel, we were free to be on our own for the remainder of the night, unless we signed up for an optional night show or night tour. So if we were able to be on our own for the rest of the night, why have us pay for a meal when we were 15 min from the Las Vegas Strip? When we got to the hotel, we could of easily found our own food for the evening...WE WERE RIGHT ON THE VEGAS STRIP. Plenty of food options. I can see if we ate at the buffet and we still had a couple of hours until we reached Vegas...but this was not the case. It was just weird how the tour guide said NOTHING about the buffet only being 15 min from hotel. He didn't mention this until AFTER we paid and ate at the skimpy buffet. So we felt cheated and forced to eat at their best friends' buffet. They made it feel as if we had no choice. I read plenty of reviews that stated that the tour guide forced ppl to pay for ALL of the OPTIONAL excursions. This didnt happen to us but I dont doubt it because they lie about the cost of excursions. For example...the Grand Canyon entrance fee is only 35 bucks per vehicle...soooo why were we charged 105 bucks PER PERSON?! Also, I noticed that they overcharged for shows. They were charging 125 for Cirque de Soliel..when tickets were only 60 bucks. ok, granted a front row seat may have been 125 BUT you are not gonna convince me that you got front row seats for a group of 50 ppl. Doubt it. So when ppl say they were forced to pay for OPTIONAL shows...I believe it, this company has some shady ways. On the last day, we ate "brunch" at the same buffet we stopped at on the 1st day. Again, this convinced me that these ppl receive a commission and these people are friends and family of each other. Also, it was NOT brunch....it was all Chinese LUNCH/DINNER food being served at 10am...oh! and they only gave us 40 min to eat. Again, this buffet is not near any other food places. So you either eat there, or STARVE for the next 5-6 hours. See the theme here? They dropped us off at an outlet but only gave us 2 hrs to explore an outlet with about 30 stores...and eat. They wanted us to shop and eat in only 2 hrs! As other reviewers have mentioned, this day was extremely rushed. After our short time at the Outlet mall, it is time to return back to L.A. Since they had tourist who came from different pickup points, we returned to L.A on a different bus than the bus that we had been with for the last 3 days. We get on our bus to L.A, to realize that the company miscounted the amount of ppl returning to L.A. ALL THE SEATS WERE FULL. We had to wait 15 min in the hot Nevada sun (115 Degrees) while the tour guides scrambled to figure out how they booked 55 people on a bus with only 50 seats. Eventually, the company figured it out and we were on our way to L.A. Overall though, the trip was fine. My family had fun in Vegas and We had a blast at the Grand Canyon. Our experience was not as bad as the other reviews on this forum...hence, this review gets a 3-star rating. But it was only by the grace of God that we had a decent experience. We got lucky! Lesson Learned: Do NOT trust website reviews if they are all 5 star reviews. Google the company and find reviews elsewhere.

I took the 1 day Trip from Montreal to Montmorency Waterfall and Quebec City. Before booking I read the reviews on the internet. So I was aware of the risk, but I was willing to take it since they were so much cheaper than any other agency and even regular bus Lines. And I‘m glad I did. Yes, the guide spoke English poorly and offered next to no information. But that wasn‘t what I was looking for - I just wanted to get to these places and then explore them myself. To my surprise, there was no pressure whatsoever to take any of the extra activities to be paid for in Addition to the tour price beyond what is marked as „mandatory“ in the Tour description. So no extra costs I had Not been aware of. The only catch is that two of These extra activities take Place in the middle of nowhere so there‘s nothing to do in the meantime. Finally, I find it odd that the bus for such a tour would not have safety belts. However - fair value for money.

This tour was operated by a Chinese company/bus. The tour itself was well executed. I had taken up Niagara falls tour from NewYork city and the fact you don't have to drive is a blessing! Though the overall experience is good, they make you pay for a lot of things that are not apparent at the beginning. Things like, Hey we want to show you something. If you are interested to join pay us $30/person guide fee. If you don't want to pay, you just need to sit in the bus while everyone is out there. These things were not worth it because it was more like showing something that doesn't even have a entry ticket. The feeling of sitting in the bus waiting for everyone to finish the trip isn't great either. So you end up paying! They definitely need to up the hygiene of the bathroom in the bus. I understand that its a toilet in the bus and can't expect it to be great but this definitely needed an improvement. MOST IMPORTANT POINT : After taking this tour the amount of Chinese robo calls increased. The fact that I never used to receive chinese calls before this trip and sudden influx of these was a clear indication that they sold my phone number to these telemarketing companies!

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.

First off my tour did not start out on the right footing. Partly to do with the tour and with the subway system. I checked online two days before the trip to make sure there is no weekend train work scheduled on my line. I printed it out. When I got to the train station there were no trains going into Manhattan to my surprise. So this cost me a lot of time to go around then get to 47 Chrystie Street in Chinatown. I still happened to arrive for 8 AM but my bus was gone. Also I was told they had me scheduled to meet the bus in Flushing. The night before they sent me an email to confirm pickup is at 47 Chrystie Street. However I got lucky. Another bus heading to NJ took me there and dropped me at Target in Jersey City to meet my bus. I found out that the restroom on the bus would be closed because they claim that with the A/C running the interior of the bus will smell. I smell a rat when I heard that. I've been on long distance buses and the restrooms are made for that purpose. So the deal is we would stop every two hours to use a restroom. That was never true. When I was a young boy in school I could probably go most of the day without having to pee. But as I'm older my physiology changed. I need to pee more often. The guide gave us a total for the optional attractions. Only problem is some of what he mentioned were not on the list I printed for the tour. Also they are optional so who says I need to go on all the tours he read out? I should mention that this was a 2-day tour to Niagara Falls. The Maid of the Mist was supposed to be the first day but changed to the 2nd day. We stopped at the food court building near the Rainbow Bridge after stopping a museum that was not on my list. The food court prices are ridiculously expensive. I paid with tax over $19 for a small piece of grilled fish with rice and about four small pieces of pita bread and salad. That place is so crowded that they make enough money there that there is no need to rip people off. The hotel we stayed at was Quality Inn way out in Batavia about 40 miles away from the Falls. No water in the room so be sure to buy your water and bring if you need to drink bottled water because there is none in the room. The saving grace was there was a buffet breakfast in the morning at the hotel. I did the Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds tours. Be mindful because the tour guide said if you're late the bus will leave you. Going home our first stop was for lunch along the interstate more than two hours later. After that it was about close to three hours before the bus stopped at a rest stop that has only vending machines. And no urinals for men. So the line was long for the men. And the line was about three to four times longer for ladies. It's the worst stop and I told the tour guide that. He said that is the only stop but I told him I saw Burger King and Denny's back up the road. That stop took us about 50 minutes. A waste of time. It would have been better spent at a regular food stop with restaurants and regular restrooms without the long lines. You have to wonder what are these people thinking? The next stop was at Target where they had to drop off passengers in Jersey City. I wrote a review on their website but I doubt they would print it so I came here where I am free to write a review without it being left not printed. I also complained about the driver, who is a good driver, but did a lot of talking on the phone, sometimes in agitated conversations and speaking loudly in Chinese. And at night on that dark highway he did more talking. I take driving seriously where the driver most pay attention. If someone on the other end makes you angry you could easily run off the road and kill many of the people on your bus. So they need to clean up their act. Have a short conversation on the phone but not a long, laborious one. I gave a 3-star rating because I accomplished what I needed to see and the pictures and videos I needed to take. Other than that without rehashing what I already said they need to clean up their act. And they should not be confused thinking the meeting point is in another borough and not where the customer stated. Don't waste your time posting a review on TakeTours website if you have some complaints and you give them less than 4 stars. Two weeks later since I reviewed and posted a comment with 3 stars they never posted my comments. I stand by what I said. You could never trust the reviews on their website. It's always good to put the name of the company into a search engine then + reviews and you will get a website like Trustpilot to give you reviews that TakeTours or other companies will never post on their site.