Gray Line New York Sightseeing

I bought tickets for my daughter and niece to see all the sights, hop on and off. Well, the sharks who sold us the 2-day tix at Times Sq said the bus passed every 20 minutes. We got in line and waited an HOUR during which time NO BUSSES CAME. The lines were very long. Finally got on. At the Seaport had to wait about 30 mins and then as a result missed the 'night tour' by about 15 mins. The next day waited 1.5 hours for the Uptown Loop at a designated stop while FOUR busses passed without stopping but there were empty seats on them. What's going on Grayline? They were so eager to push the tickets on us, but could not deliver what they promised. It was not easy. We never used the tix on the second day. Tried calling their office, waited on hold 45 mins, and was told to submit a complaint in writing and MAYBE they'd issue a partial credit. I say this is a RIP OFF. BEWARE. You can take the subway or taxi's and walk - just use their map!! While it looks like fun, the reality, especially in baking heat of summer in NYC, is more like biting into a bad apple that looks good on the outside.

I read other reviews before posing my review.And I have to say, the tours to me are what I expected.But one thing you must do,and that's ask questions,but not when a tour guide is conducting the tour,as I experienced during my trip. Also, I have a comment to the person about some of the buses leaving half empty. The reason for that is to accomodate other passengers at other stops.The Grayline company is pretty big,and sometimes tourist coming to NYC are overwelming,especially during the summer months.And also around the Independence Day Holiday. And also, NYC is a big city.And in a big city,you have traffic.Something I experienced during my tour. The rush hour here is nothing compared to other cities.I couldn't believe the tour guide when she told me that close to 5 million people travel to NYC for work,from the outer boroughs and NYC. Now that's alot of people. There is another tour bus company with similar type of buses,but those buses didn't have a downstairs like Grayline. And it looked like those buses don't offer air conditioning like our bus. ANd if it rains where could you go on those buses. Anyway,my favorite tour was the Uptown Loop. ANd I also saw that all the tour guides are different. But luckily,I had the good ones on all my loops. The best part, I got to ride on a double-decker bus,and didn't have to go all the way to London to do it.

If you have time to do several of the "loop tours" I would highly recommend it. We purchased the "all loops" tour, which allows 3 days to take them at your leisure. A great value for the money. We found it to be an easy way to scope out the city without pounding the pavement and thus saving our feet. The hop-on / hop-off work out well for us too. We would start the tour, get off for shopping, museums etc... and then hop back on and pick-up the rest of the tour. The tours were fun, relaxing and the guides informative. In addition to the general information given, each guide had their own tidbits of little known facts. Also, the tour guides would tell you when the best photo opportunities were coming up and to "get your cameras "ready!" Best seats are up top.

For a first time visit to New York - a tour seems to be a good bet to get acquainted with a very busy city. This line offered "hop on hop off" service - hitting all the major tourist spots and allowing you to get on and off the bus at your leisure. For $37 pp, we were able to see Times Square, Wall Street, portions of Central Park, The Village, Chinatown, Little Italy, and Rockefellar Center. I would not do it again - as once you are familiar with the city you can utilize the subway to go anywhere you'd like for substantially less money - but it was worth it for our induction to New York.

The New York sightseeing tours are great.The guides are interesting and helpful.Relaxing rides and great views of the city.The only bad things are the lines.

If you plan your stops the Gray Line bus can be a fun and informative way of getting around the city. The tour guides were all very interesting and knowledgeable and helpful in answering questions. The street vendors are not really helpful....they are more concerned with selling tickets than answering questions about sold products. The lines were reasonable and the commentary informative. We loved it and found it to be of value.

First, buy your tickets from your hotel. The street guys use wireless credit card systems that are vulnerable to sniffing and stealing your id. Second, ask questions about detours, such as the fact you have to walk 5 blocks from the drop off at the Statue of Liberty because of construction. Third, They don't fully load the gray line buses so you can expect to watch a half empty bus pull away from the curb after you have been standing in line for 45 minutes. Finally, the rude tour guides will ask you for a tip after a couple has spent as much as a private car service charged me for a 2 hour trip. I did not that the City Tour bus group buses had more open seats when there buses passed us. I did not check out their prices. I will not use nor recomend, Gray Line in New York to any friends. I may recomend that my neigbors and his snooty wife use it though.

BEWARE of many things first of all really weigh what you want to see before choosing which tours you would like to get booked on. We paid for the "all loop tour" this tour includes tickets to Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and a museum we only got to do the upper west side we had to get off in Harlem @ 3:00 pm and take the subway down to Battery Park to catch the last boat (last one departs at 4:00pm) to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island... please note we barely made it! I also recommend (no matter what the weather is like) sitting on top you can not see anything below in the bus. We returned to catch one of the last buses at 7:00ish to catch the 2nd half of the downtown loop.

Don't like waiting for the bus. Too many people on the bus. Felt like I was being herded through cattle cars.

The Style
Sitting above the fray provides a new perspective on the Big Apple. After passengers settle in and relax, they can safely gawk at pedestrians or take snapshots of architecture without having to navigate through the aggressive crowds. And since your ticket allows you to hop on and off the bus at will (and lasts 48 hours), you can stop to explore any of the sights on foot.

The Substance
Looping through Brooklyn, downtown, midtown and uptown, visitors will glimpse many of the city's major landmarks, such as Museum Mile, the Chrysler Building and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. A non-stop loop circling the theater district and Brooklyn Heights offers a sparkling nighttime view. Throughout, a knowledgeable, good-humored tour guide is on hand to point out sites and explain their fascinating histories--while periodically informing you of insider info, like when's the best time to visit the Empire State Building.

Uptown tour - The first guide was 15 minutes late and told us little about the city, its history - mainly Seinfeld references and rental prices. The second guide (once the bus showed half an hour late) was rude, took us off the tour (we missed the second half of it, and ended up at Bloomingdale's instead) and refused to answer questions like: what is the next stop? The driver got off the bus and was gone for 15 minutes, and thought leaving a bus full of tourists to deliver a pie to her mother was a commendable thing to do. To top it off, I have yet to receive a response from Customer Service.

Took the downtown tour. Guide was very knowledgable and had interesting things to say. Definitely sit on top; you can't see anything from below. Last couple of miles (i.e. past Chinatown on the way back north) is not very interesting, so you could skip that part if you're pressed for time. The hop on - hop off is good, but buses are full late in the day, so you may not be able to hop back on then. And you may wait 30 minutes to catch a bus late in the day, versus 5-10 minutes earlier in the day.