09/30/09

Worst Tour Guide I have ever seen

by Karen L

Took the Muir Woods/Sausillto bus tour on September 17th. Our tour guide "John" was a bald, obnoxious, insulting horrible tour guide! I can't believe he hasn't been fired! There are other reviews complaining about him, how many do you need to get to realize this man is not what your company wants representing you. He started out by telling us to all be quiet and not talk when he is talking ( or more like mumbling in his microphone about women he sees jogging or walking along the way! ) He actually pulled off the side of the road to get out and come to stand in front of us to tell us not to talk! Specifically scolded a man and his wife from France who spoke little English. EVERYONE on the bus was appalled by this rude man! Then because of road construction on the way to Muir Woods he took another road back to Sausallito and drove like a maniac without saying a word! The best part was riding the ferry back to San Fransisco so we didn't have to get back on the bus with him! We would never have spent one of our 4 days we had on our 25th anniversary trip taking this tour had my husband and I known we were going to be so appalled by this man! Wasted $102....Truly ,could not believe it!

• Pros: Bus was clean, Muir Woods/ Sausillto tour
• Cons: The tour guide

08/25/09

Tower Tours - Avoid in January

by Liyhann

Copied here from my travel diary of a year ago.

Jul 19, 2008 6:46 PM

It is almost eight months after our January trip to San Francisco from the East Coast. I'm still seething, but have calmed down enough to write about the one thing that really had me boiling mad. We booked three tours with Tower Tours in Ghiradelli Square through Expedia. The first two tours were fine. We had a run of bad weather since we were in SF during January (rainy season) but we were inside most of the time for the wine tours the first day and the Muir Woods tour though cold, was still open the second day, i.e. the park was not closed. However, even early on in the week, the weather reports were talking about really severe storms (worse than usual) expected for the end of week. I called Tower Tours every morning to see if they were going to cancel the third tour (our last day in SF) - which was to be to Carmel, Monterrey and the 17 miles scenic coastal drive. Tower Tours insisted to me that they would not cancel. I was a little worried since that seemed a bit reckless in view of the weather reports. But if not a good view, it must at the very least be safe. After all, the Tower Tours people were in business not to lose customers, right? Well, the day of the tour was AWFUL. Hardly anyone had signed up for this tour so Tower Tours combined their handful of people and another tour company's handful of customers and put us on a long eleven hour bus ride in the rain to do absolutely nothing except return to our starting point! We were dumped off and left by the bus driver to visit a Monterrey that had lost electrical power forcing most all the shops to close; the few restaurants that could open had no way to serve anything but salads, and leaving us few warm places to wait, so we spent a good part of the time trying to get out of the rain while standing around waiting for the bus to return. Then the bus picked us up and drove to Carmel which was totally closed off with road blocks. The driver called the state police only to find out that they weren't opening the town due to the storm reporting that Carmel’s lights were all out causing their businesses to close, too. We still blindly drove on to the "scenic" drive - the culminating and high point of the tour. When we arrived, we see that the state police closed 17 mile drive!!! So much for assuming Tower Tours was in the least bit concerned about customer safety if not customer enjoyment! Tower Tours was sending us there come hell OR high water! I couldn't believe that these people were charging us for this absolute disgrace of a service. I would have absolutely preferred either a cancellation and credit for another day (even if we never used our credit) or a choice of a city tour despite the lower value of substituting the price of the city tour (nearly half the price of this 11 hour loser tour). But as it was, we were essentially robbed of not only the fee paid, but also an entire day of our vacation. We couldn't see out the window of the bus and it was clear the driver was trying to think of things that he could drive us to - we ended up at a country store that specialized in garlic and tried some garlic ice cream....EQUALLY yucky.... MORAL - If you go to San Francisco during the rainy season in January, DO NOT book any tours at San Francisco Tower Tours @ Ghiradelli Square until the day of the tour. I think the customers of Tower Tours should rather that Tower Tours have to "sweat it out" that they might get no sales at all any given day, than risk giving their money to a company who literally steals it from them if they can't deliver. I really feel as if they pulled a partial Dire Straits: I gave them money for nothin....

• Pros: We did not die
• Cons: We wasted money and our last vacation day

08/20/09

Muir Woods Tour

by BrendaFiarito

My son and best friend went on the tour to Muir Woods and Sausalito. The Woods were beautiful and Sausalito was nice. The only thing that really upset me was the bus driver. I don't remember his name but he was bald and a very obnoxious and rude to everyone. We were told not to talk on the bus and all he keep doing was making up poems and reciting them to us. There was a little girl on the bus who was sitting up front with her Dad and he made her go to the back of the bus and sit so she wouldn't make any noise. I would have liked to have heard more about the history of Muir Woods and surrounding areas. I would recommend this tour to anyone but not the Driver!!!!

• Pros: Tour was nice
• Cons: Terrible bus driver