Gray Line Tours of Southern Nevada

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Ground transportation was provided by Grayline Tours for a tour I booked to the Grand Canyon. My pick-​up was prompt at 5:40am with a few additional hotel pick-​ups. All the passengers were transferred to Grayline Tours’ customer center where the check-​in process, upgrades and groups were split based on individual tours (South Rim/​West Rim). I opted to upgrade my tour to include the Pink Jeep Private Tour. The charter did not depart the customer center until approximately 6:45am. So much wasted time! The first stop was at the Hoover Dam. Another waste of time to stop there for pictures. The bus was boarded again and we were en route only to make yet another stop. This time it was for a bathroom/​snack break at a McDonalds. In my opinion, another unnecessary stop! From this point we traveled non-​stop the Grand Canyon.
Sadly, upon arrival at the National Geographic Center, we wasted another 2-​hours (1 hour lunch; 30 minutes in IMAX movie; 30 minutes to meet with the assigned tour guide and board the jeep). Once we were off it was great! We stopped at five view points, but NOT enough time to enjoy what we paid for. I’m absolutely certain everyone in the group felt equally disappointed. The silver lining was that our tour guide was a really nice person. He shared lots of background on the Grand Canyon and some very unique stories. In retrospect, I regret upgrading from the basic tour. Two hours passed and the group was transferred back to the National Geographic Center. Within 15 minutes of our arrival, we boarded the bus for our transfer back to Las Vegas. We stopped to fuel. Apparently, it’s illegal to refuel the bus with passengers on board. Like a herd, we unboard the bus. All the passengers took this as an opportunity to purchase snacks, beverages to tie us over. It was only about a 20 minute wait in the COLD. After that it was straight to Las Vegas. I was elated to be the first drop-​off. Next time, I’ll drive myself and so should you! Only then will be able to experience the majestic Grand Canyon!
Please don’t review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you’re connected in any way to the owner or employees.

If I could give negative star I would. Went to South rim 2 days ago saw nothing the weather conditions were horrible and the Grand Canyon was enveloped with thick white fog. We wasted $ 700 with the whole tour and came all the way from Canada to see nothing except snow and trees! Nothing we haven’t seen before! They should have gave an option to change to another date or refund. They have people working on the other side and they would know the conditions to cancel also I just found out there is a live Web cam of Grand Canyon so they had no excuse. Not only waste of money but waste of precious holiday time. The bus ride was 12hrs in total wasted my whole day and only have 20 minutes per stop not even enough time to pee because each stop had 4 busses full of people and only an average of 4 restrooms per stop. The lunch was a joke. Probably get better food in a prison cell. Not that I would’ve wanted more of that pig scrap. I WANT MY MONEY BACK! SCAM ARTISTS! Started at 4 in the morning and wasted about 1hr and a half at their dingy office to line up and pay. Other families had their helicopter ride and pink jeep tours canceled as well. Basically paid $ 700 for a 12hr bus ride and saw nothing. They should have refunded us! The buses were cramped and the heat was on maximum! Too hot and was super drying my eyes were super dry! Thank God I didn’t wear my contact lenses I’d likely go blind. The tour guide and bus driver was the same guy and had a very thick Spanish accent very difficult to understand especially for foreigners. They also played 2 old films to kill time. Crocodile Dundee and Taxi… Poor options as well. Also everyone who works at the company seems to be stuck in the 50s making old school jokes that are totally racist and sexist… Not that I complained cause that’s what I expected… Apparently their «free WiFi at their office is great for calling family back in China» and there’s some great «retail therapy for the ladies» in their office so «husbands should not have to worry»!
This is my first Unilocal review I created this account because I was so annoyed. I normally would just suck it up and let it go in these situations but this tour was so horrible that I’m still unbelievably angry about it.

I’m not sure if they deserve even a single star. This is absolutely waste of time and money. Rent a car and drive instead. Started at 6AM and at 3:15 PM still waiting to reach at Grand Canyon. So here is how they (MIS)TREAT and Rip off their customers:
1. They tell you to be at a pick up location at 6AM and they don’t start the bus until 6:30.
2. Then they take you to so called terminal for the actual tour bus. Here you witness rude staff and first rip off. They try to sell everything including crappy food.
3. They don’t leave the terminal (Still in Vegas) until 8AM.
4. They stop at 2PM at a food joint from where GC is 15 – 30 minutes away. They encourage people to watch some stupid documentary at IMAX.
5. They don’t leave until 3:30PM for GC.
6. Then the driver keeps on reminding that it gets dark early so we have to be back in bus in timely manner.
7. They claim that they will allow 3 hours at Grand Canyon but you end up getting less than 1.5 hrs including both locations.
8. They stop for restroom break while in way to GC at McDonalds and which is not equipped to handle that many people. They stop at a subway for the same while returning and the situation is not any better.
9. It seems that the tour company owns all those businesses and promotes them. All the staff at these places was rude and obnoxious
10. Upon return there is another exchange in the bus for drop offs.
11. The only good thing was that the driver was a safe driver although he was very rude.
There are almost 10 buses which leave at the same time. So you can imagine 400 plus people get at every stop at the same time. Result– big time chaos at each stop.
Rates Outrageous
Service HORRIBLE
Outcome Frustration
Action. AVOID

I booked a bus tour to the South Rim Grand Canyon through Papillon Helicopter Tours having no idea they farmed their bus tours out to Gray Line Tours until I called them after not seeing a Papillon bus during pick up time. The day starts at 6 am. First we picked up people for at least an hour at various hotels. Then surprisingly we were taken to Gray Line’s Transit Center for additional tour upsells. This lasted for at least another hour where hundreds of people were split into groups and put in lines to finalize the upsell tours. Finally we got on the road only to make another 20 minute pit stop at a McDonalds of all places. Then another stop at the very commercial National Geographic Center for a crappy 1.5 hours lunch! It took a half hour to eat lunch. All this was wasted time we could have been enjoying the most amazing site I have ever seen. We finally got to the GC at around 2 pm. We had a mere two hours there… amazing but not enough time at all. I was under the impression we would have 3 hours there at minimum. We then took the 5 hour drive back to Vegas only to spend another 1.5 hours dropping people off at their hotels. I was in utter physical agony having to sit it small seats with minimum leg room for so long. I could hardly walk off the bus. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND JUST DRIVE IT YOURSELF! The drive was easy… no one on the road. You will have 4 – 5 hours at the GC, stop when and where you wish and feel so much better physically. Or take an overnight tour… OR go with Red Rock Canyon Tours where there is one central pick up for a small group of 20 and you get at least 4 – 5 hours at the GC without long and unnecessary commercial stops. I tried to get on that tour to no avail after extensive research but it was all booked so plan ahead and whatever you do AVOID GRAY LINE TOURS! It was cheap but you really get what you pay for. I looked at the reviews on Trip Advisor for this company. It’s shocking that they are relatively decent for the Grand Canyon South Rim Tour. I have no idea what planet or drugs these reviewers are on and it makes me distrust Trip Advisor. Obviously their expectations and travel experience are very limited. My 11 day trip to Vegas would have been perfect had I not taken this horrendous tour.

Haven’t gone on the tour yet and already frustrated with the company. There were hidden fuel surcharges that are charged miraculously to your credit card after you have booked. It is NOT shown in ANY screen before you actually make the payment (not in the page before you finalize payment or even in the confirmation email that is sent). The website is highly misleading and upon calling the company, they said that I was suppose to call them for them to inform me 1) whether there is going to be any surcharge at all and 2) what the price was going to be. It is not stated anywhere in the website that you had to call them to find the real price that you have to pay. I feel really cheated and I can only hope that this is not foreboding the trip itself.

If I could give this tour a negative one star I would. I will start off by saying that you can drive out to the Indian reservation and buy tickets to any attraction that this company offers without the hassle and waste of money. If you buy the WR, HELI, and BOAT package you will mostly likely not do all the activities plan due to the HELICOPTER company having long wait times. The Grand Canyon Tours company knows this yet they will still sell you a ticket. If you don’t get to do all that is planned and ask for a reimbursement they will tell you no. I would suggest you choose another company that will stand by their product and own up to any false claims. The Grand Canyon is beautiful and for most of us it’s a once and a lifetime opportunity to see it so choose wisely or just drive out to the ridge yourself. I wish I would have.
Sean

Do NOT torture yourself with this company’s tours! First they take an hour + to pick everyone up at their hotels on the strip just to take to you to their main station, transfer buses, and make you listen to a big speech trying to sell more stuff. It’s so obnoxious. It will be hours before you are even heading to Hoover Dam. You will be so frustrated by the time you get to Hoover Dam that it’s not even worth it. Over priced. Outrageous that they call this tour Hoover Dam «Express.» Torture!

First, let it be known that this is my first Unilocal post — written solely to help others avoid this tour company.
Short and sweet version: AVOID if you want to really enjoy the Grand Canyon (if you like long bus rides with subpar service and gimmicks galore, this tour is for you).
Details:
My family and I used this tour company (booked via papillon tours) to visit the south rim of the Grand Canyon on July 8, 2015. There multiple reasons that I believe this tour deserves a single star, but here are a few of the highlights:
First and foremost, the major issue with this company is the lack of transparency and constant sales pitches.
— we were told that we would be picked up at 6:05am and be heading out on time and to not be late, however the bus was 30 minutes late to the Bellagio and the driver informed us that we needed to go back to headquarters to change buses (this was never disclosed beforehand). Once arriving at headquarters (20 minutes later) they funneled hundreds of us from several busses into a holding room like cattle, where they informed us that we needed to be «checked in» but first had to listen to a 15 min sales pitch encouraging us all to add on jeep or helicopter tour options. Finally at 7:45 we left the Greyline bus depot.
— constant long lines at each stop — from the very start
— once on the bus, we were met with the drivers snarky sense of humor and unprofessional attitude
— the driver put on several out dated DVDs to give us information as we drove around, all of which skipped and would stop playing making the viewing experience impossible… Turns out the DVDs were very scratched and old — I would know since I was asked by the driver to reload and remove the DVDs when they got stuck.
— our bus was dated and didn’t even have cup holders (and no wifi)
— lunch vouchers allowed for cafeteria food that was fairly edible, but not without a 30 minute line before eating.
Overall: 17 hour day with only 2 hours allowed for time to see/​hike the south rim. The representative on the phone told us that this would be a rolling bus tour and allotted 3 hours of walking/​hiking time at the Grand Canyon, which our bus driver later confirmed was actually only two hours and that they consider the hour lunch break before entering the national park as a part of being «at the canyon» and to «call the office if we have a problem.»
The south rim was magnificent and was truly breath taking, we just wish we had more time to experience it and weren’t misled by Greyline tours. I highly suggest visiting the south rim, just with another company.

I took a helicopter, boat trip to West Rim of grandCanyon through Gray Line. I had booked the package through viator not knowing that Gray Line is the facilitator. Anyhow the tour started off at 6:00am itself with a hotel pickup. Then there was a brief stop at Gray line’s office where they tried us to sell souvenirs, purchase skywalk tours n also pay additional 20 – 30 $ under helicopter fuel expenses et al. Anyhow after a coach ride of 2,3 hrs we reached the point near canyon. We were divided into two groups segregating people who had opted for helicopter rides and who had not.
Immediately on arrival, we were rushed to the Helicopter line as because of the heat in the valley they operate till 1:00pm only. After a brief weight check and a safety video, we were sent to board the chopper. The helicopters were in good shape n the pilots were trained well. The aerial view was amazing. They took us down to the surface of the valley where we had a boat ride. It was really short (5,6) mins. Then we were again bought up and were loaded in bus again to cover the eagle point n take a skywalk.
We literally rushed against time to grab out inclusive lunch n take a skywalk. The experience of skywalk is underwhelming n overrated. Plus the lunch provided on top was horrible. Due to lack of time (as our guide had asked us to return back by 2:15pm) we cudn’t cover rest of the two points of the canyon.
On our way back, our guide gave us a small drive around the Hoover dam which was quite stunning. However on our way back, it took us 2 extra hours to reach our hotel as we were dropped the last. Overall, u need to look carefully before taking this tour about the timing restrictions n all.

I saw ad in Las Vegas magazine for an express Hoover Dam tour for $ 42 a person. The ad stated tours by Sightseeing Tours Unlimited. I called to get more information and was told they had several seats available for $ 29 a person if I booked that morning. I had called Wednesday for a possible Friday AM departure. I told them I would call back as needed to see how many people in my party wanted to go. After checking I called back and booked 2 people for a Friday pickup at 8:45AM.
Friday morning (7AM) I get a call stating that they had a mechanical problem with the pickup bus causing them to cancel to morning tour and could we go on the afternoon tour. This one would pickup at noon. I said sure. I wondered if perhaps they didn’t have enough people to go but you never know.
The bus arrived at our hotel at 12:10. At first I was a bit put off by the driver as he got out and yelled out everyone’s name and then told us to get on the damn bus. But then of course I realized we were going to Hoover Dam so we were really getting on the «dam» bus. We made several stops at other strip resorts and then headed to their tour company office about 10 minutes away to pay and hear about upgrades, etc. Turns out this was a Grayline tour. Not sure why this has to be a secret.
After paying we got on a different bus for the trip. This bus was larger and very comfortable. We had a very nice trip and arrived at the dam a little after 2:00. Our driver (Ylonda) stated that we needed to be back to leave no later than 4:10. This gave us 2 hours to see the dam. This tour included a visit to the power plant too. Really 2 hours is plenty of time to see everything unless you are a slow walker. We had time to get some drinks from the snack shop and even visited the gift shop to pickup a few souvenirs.
After leaving the dam the driver detoured slightly to take us the see the famous Vegas sign. We were dropped back at our hotel at 6:00. All in all I really enjoyed this tour and for what we paid I think it was the best value of anything we had done while in Vegas. I would recommend it and would do it again.

I booked the south rim Grand Canyon tour with Canyon tours — it turned out to be Grey Line which had plenty of bad reviews
Very bad experience — spent 17 hours on the trip — to only get 2 hours at the Grand Canyon which is what we wanted to see.
–Hotel pu was 25 min late
–We spent a combined 4 hours at stops where they kept selling us stuff
— 1.5 hr waiting at the bus station waiting to get on the road!!!
— The driver was constantly pushing everyone — making jokes in poor taste and was even threatening when some passengers called the office to complain.
— the bus passenger controls — air vent /​light /​shade were not controlable by each passenger
— at the end the driver said he would have another driver and bus take us to our hotel — but he informed us that we should each give him a $ 5 or $ 10 tip.
Conclusion: This is not a trip to enjoy the Grand Canyon — this is a trip where the company is constantly putting you in place to sell you more tour– more food — more souvenirs. I felt like a prisoner of the tour company!!!

Paid for an express Hoover dam tour. It was! Bus was late picking up, bus left late for tour, had only 1 ½ hours there. We were gone for for 5 ½ hours. Bus driver left people off on the Blvd — not at their hotels. We got off early so we didn’t have to sit on the bus any longer! We hardly saw anything at the dam. Bus driver was a bit snippy but certainly accepted tips. We paid $ 80 some people on the bus paid $ 49!
NOT WORTH IT!

The trip was pretty fun. Had Thomas as our driver, and he was really great. He has a really good personality, Informational and funny. First we took a ride to the Hoover Damn. Gave us about 15 mins to take pics and whatnot. That was nice. Then went about 2.5 hours to the magical Grand Canyon, the west area to be exact. We had 4 hours to explore and enjoy. So beautiful. In the price we paid it included food voucher and the wonderful skywalk. There are 3 points/​stops of the whole west area. I had a great time with my family there. We ate the food at point 3 with bbq beef (Guano Point).
The reason I’m not giving 5 stars is because the morning start was pretty slow and frustrating. The transportation bus was suppose to arrive at 6, yet came at 6:15am, and it’s cold on a desert morning. Then we go pick up other people for the tour, and finally end at a building were you have to get in line to check in, get your wrist band, and pay an extra $ 10-​$ 15 for I think gas or something.
There’s a breakfast station there too but many items are over priced. After you finish, you load the bus. If there are late comers, the bus driver WILL figure out how to keep families together, which might mean you may have to move seats, but still be by the people you came with. After you have those seats when the bus starts moving, those are your seats for the whole day. The ride wasn’t bad as stated before.
In our trip, when it was time to go back to the strip, we had a couple of late people, but 1 – 2 people were over 15 mins late therefore messing up our time schedule. The bus driver notified the grand canyon security. The missing people were not found. The bus driver cannot leave those who are missing unless the bus company approves. Long story short, the company must’ve approved because they were left. So please people, be on time.
On the ride back, you sleep, and that was great. He did make a bathroom stop which was cool. Then he drops you off at the front of your hotel. Overall, I’m satisfied with the trip

Overall, the tour was pretty good, but I think some of the info was misrepresented in the description.
I did the Hoover Dam Deluxe Tour which lists highlights of self guided tour of chocolate factory, buffet lunch at Fiesta, photo stop at Las Vegas sign, and guided tour inside Hoover Dam.
The shuttle picked me up at my hotel at 9am and brought me and others to their terminal location where we were briefed, signed in, etc and then we would go out to our respective tour locations. We got to the Hoover Dam probably around 11am. We stopped at the air bridge along the way which was really cool to see, but the driver gave us only 15 minutes! That was enough to get up there, take a few quick photos, and come back down. The Hoover Dam was great and we were there for just over 2 hours. The powerplant tour was really interesting and I’m glad that I came for this. I had plenty of time to walk around and take my own pics, explore the shop, etc. Great experience at the dam.
From the dam, we went to Fiesta Henderson for lunch. We were told nothing about being there for anything other than lunch. We get to Fiesta at 2pm and the driver tells us he’ll be back to pick us up at 4:30pm! WHAT? 2.5 hours for lunch? Basically the driver had to take all the Express tour people back to their hotels. This seemed pretty mismanaged and I really think there should’ve been another vehicle to take them back. I was stuck in a casino for 2.5 hours with nothing to do. I didn’t go on this tour to gamble. Not to mention, they told us we’d be back at hotels by 5pm so I had scheduled dinner plans.
We were all confused because we knew there was another stop at a chocolate factory — was it at the casino? Was that why we were given 2.5 hours? Nope. Driver comes back and we head to chocolate factory after that which would have been interesting if it was actually during business hours when people were working. But all we saw was «look, here’s where they make chocolate» but not any of the process or anything. The cactus garden was pretty cool though.
I was back at my hotel at 6pm and missed my dinner plans. Also, we did not stop at the Last Vegas sign at all. I don’t really care, but don’t say you’re stopping somewhere and then don’t.
Overall, the Hoover Dam portion made it worth it. Had I known I was spending 2.5 hours stuck in a casino, I would’ve opted for the Express tour and saved the rest of my afternoon. The audio tour on the bus was interesting along the way as well.
My advice — don’t waste your time on the Deluxe tour unless you want to spend a decent amount of time at another casino.

We purchased the trip from Las Vegas to the West Rim in advance through Viator (note: in addition to what you pay online in advance, there is an additional $ 20/​person fee that you pay when you check in with the tour operator). We had purchased both extras: the helicopter + boat ride, and the SkyWalk. Early pickup, and long line to check in with Gray Line. On the drive out, the driver kept repeating how we would have exactly 4 hours to do everything, and it would be rushed, and we should not be late. We assumed that since they sold us these activities, there would be time for it all, as long as we moved quickly.
We followed the instructions to the letter and raced from one activity to the next. First there was a looong line for the helicopter + boat ride. Computer glitch. But finally we were on our way, and that part was awesome.
Then we took the shuttle bus to the SkyWalk, and the disaster started. First, there was a very, very long and disorganized line (with some people cutting). They told us the hold up was due to an insufficient number of lockers (as no packs or cameras are allowed). That turned out not to be true. The long line was due to a big crowd combined to many staff members taking lunch break at the same time. After about an hour in a first line, they let us through to a waiting area with the lockers. From there, more lining up: they would call people by numbers. Except, we had not been given a number. There was a lot of confusion and many groups went ahead of us. After about 30 minutes, we realized there was a problem. The staff in charge had gone to lunch and a bunch of people had been let into this area without number. There were about 50 – 100 people in our situation. It was very chaotic. We asked to be given a number, and they said no – had to wait for a supervisor. With a lot of begging and waiting, finally a supervisor arrived, but he was completely unhelpful. The easy solution would have been to let the people without a number go through. Rather then apologizing and believing 50 people in front of him, he said he would give us a number that would get us to the Skywalk after about another 20 minutes («to make sure we did not get ahead of anyone else»!), or we could get a refund. Many, like us, opted for refund, but when we went to the cashier, they refused to reimburse us because, although we had our tickets, we did not have the receipt for them (since we were given the tickets by Gray Line). It was infuriating!
In the meanwhile we were hungry (no time to eat), our daughter was crying from hunger and everyone’s frustration, and it was past time to be back at the bus for the ride home. We rushed back to the bus (after waiting for the shuttle) and asked the driver to wait while we would at least grab some food with the lunch coupons (which were part of the package) to eat on the ride back. But when we went into the store to grab our lunches, they had closed the register! Not only they would not take our coupons, but they would not even sell us food, unless a manager signed our coupons to approve the exception. We had to run to another building, find the manager, who finally signed the coupons and helped us get our food. We were late to the bus, the driver scolded us, and all passengers were upset thinking it was our fault that we were late. It was humiliating.
In summary: Skywalk is severely mismanaged, but Gray Line oversells activities without allowing enough time to enjoy them. Four hours should be enough without huge lines, but it is absolutely not enough when one spends 3 of those hours in lines due to crowds, glitches, silly rules, and mismanagement. Gray Line knows this very well, and still they push to sell those activities.
Result: A beautiful day with the family at the Grand Canyon turned into a nightmare.

Bus ride = Long and grueling. On the way up, you will stop a couple times which nicely breaks up the 4 hour (one-​way) trip. Hover dam, Mcdonalds, and national geographic cafeteria /​visitors center. Be cautioned, you will get Mcdonalds on the way up, Pizza hut on the way up, and Mcdonalds on the way back. Bring healthy snacks for the bus ride, and 2 bottles of water minimum. Our bus driver, Felix, was a smooth talking manager, knowledgable, and fun to ride with.
Grand Canyon itself = awesome. You will have around 2.5 hours total there. 1 hour at Vista point 1, 1 hour at Vista point 2. Our bus driver recommended that we take the 2.5 mile walk between the two vista points, which was beautiful.
HOWEVER
Be cautioned on this walk. Its easy to loose track of time, and you tend to feel rushed since you have 2 hours to walk 2.5 miles. You have to walk at a brisk pace, stop to take photos, while the sun is setting and you are questioning how long you have and where you need to stop. Take a note of the final resting place, and DO NOT panic if your bus driver is a bit late. I would visually tag 2 – 3 small groups of people on your same bus and try to spot them on the walk to keep yourself sane.
Honestly, as nice as the walk was, I would just stop at the 2 points. You can walk for 20 – 40 minutes at each point, then enjoy the visitor centers they have, without having the rush or pressure.
You leave at 6 am and get back around 9 to 10pm. The bus ride back is what will kill you. But they show two movies which is nice. Stop at Mcdonalds, (again, yuck), and it takes like 5 hours to get back.
Overall… I am really at odds. The Grand Canyon was spectacular, but it really is a long long long excursion. We knew this coming in, but it drains you. I don’t just recommend, I almost say its a requirement to show up well-​rested and not hungover, at all.

I think this was well worth the money. They picked you up at a location close to your hotel. Drove you to the terminal to check in. Offered upgrades and other tours. We captilized on the Big bus tour. Umcle Russell was our tour guide and he took care of us. Super friendly, funny, took us to the best spots and gave us all sorts of tips and fun facts. Enjoy the west rim of the geand canyon. Get the skywalk upgrade! Eat your lunch ant guano point. Enjoy the views and take lots of pictures.

There is ALWAYS a silver lining.
I just want to say first that though Amy P.‘s experience wasn’t the best, you can always make lemons out if lemonade.
My bus yesterday had it worse off but ultimately had the best experience of everyone who had taken their buses earlier than me.
We arrived around 7:30am at the Info Center and the men who instructed us where to go did it in such a nice, humorous and very detailed manner that you couldn’t get lost unless you didn’t pay attention. After grabbing our wristbands and buying some water we headed out to our bus which acts on a first come, first serve basis.
My mom and I had decided to take the tour to Grand Canyon’s South Rim and were actually the first bus to go. Everything was smooth sailing from our narrator to Hoover Dam to even our stop at Mickey D’s. Everything was so pleasant until 2.5 hours into the bus ride.
Lemme tell you now that I have always had bad luck follow me, on this particular day it was supposed to rain for a start.
Our bus’ computer broke down and had to be re-​started; a process which took a little less than an hour yet yielded no results. One backup bus was called which later had to be moved back on it’s course so the company sent another bus. The bus was going to arrive in an hour. By the time it arrived we had sat in the bus for 2.5 hours.
Everyone in the bus could have been irate and complained bitterly, but we didn’t. The reason? Ryan, our amazing, superb and wonderful bus driver. Our bus driver was so calm, so collected that the mood of everyone in the bus was of great patience. He made our terrible predicament into an enjoyable time.
After we switched buses, our hero, Ryan, told us that we were going to make lemons our of lemonade. He didn’t lie about that. Sure, some people were not able to make their tours, but the pink jeep and the helicopter tours cancelled all their torus all day due to the bad weather. People who had booked these tours were actually okay with that. Everyone realized that it was the bus that broke down, not the fault of a single man and the company had been punctual to dispatch another bus for us.
We got to the Grand Canyon and before we reached the first viewpoint he told the bus that since we are the last bus arriving, we get 100% visibility. Apparently the buses before who arrived on time got 0% visibility due to the rain. We got there, it was 70 degrees, sunny and the clouds were clearing over a MAJESTIC scene. It was SO WORTH IT. Everything which had led up to seeing the Grand Canyon– the commentary, the scenery, the bus breaking down; it made finally seeing the Grand Canyon the most worth it sight.
We were able to see the Grand Canyon at sunset, the most beautiful time of the day and yes, you can’t beat seeing it for yourself.
Our ride back consisted of a 4 – 5 hour journey where pretty much everyone slept aside from the movie time. The only part I didn’t like was our replacement driver, Mike who gave Ryan a break half way so he could go home. He should; it was already 12:08am and we arrived at our hotel around 1:30am. Mike was alright, but lacked the humor and patience that Ryan had. (This is probably why he drove the night bus since we’re all sleeping.)
It was a crazy day. Like they say, life is about the journey, not the destination.

This is going to be a long one…
I used Grayline twice during my Vegas Vacation. First, as transportation to and from the airport.. .tip.. DO NOT BOOK ONLINE AHEAD OF TIME. Just get your tickets at the airport — I was charged $ 2 extra because I pre-​booked (price online $ 16 price at airport $ 14). The shuttle to the hotel was very hot, sweat stains were visible on every seat – very appealing.. . The return trip was better, but was cooler and they were prompt for pick up.
The second time I used Gray Line was for the «Deluxe» tour of the Hoover Dam.. . there is NOTHING deluxe about this tour. The reason I am giving 2 stars instead of one is that Tony was my driver and he was awesome! He made the day fun. Gray Line uses the same shuttle to pick up at every strip hotel (over 50 people, this alone took over an hour). Then, you are shuffled off of your bus and in to a building about 10 minutes away from the strip. Here you wait in a line to hear a short presentation.…then you wait inline to check in.. .then you wait in line to board the same bus you came to the building you just exited 30 minutes ago. You are encouraged to stock up on snacks, water and junk in their gift shop at this spot because their prices are «much better» than the Dam. Hey, I already bought my ticket, just give me my tour — stop trying to sell me junk.
I was traveling alone so I sat in the first seat on the bus. I could see the «check engine» light was lit. I asked the driver if the bus was safe and he assured me all was well. After pulling on to the highway, the driver had to pull over, turn the bus off and turn it on again (It appeared to be getting stuck in gear). 3 times we stopped to restart the bus, on the highway, I felt like we were destine to be hit by oncoming traffic. Each time, our driver called Gray Line and reported the troubles but nothing was done. About 10 minutes from Boulder City, our bus just stopped working. Stopped, stranded in the middle of the dessert – in a dangerous part of town. The driver said that we would have a new bus in 20 minutes. After and hour of sitting and waiting for our bus, I called Gray Line directly to ask what was going on. They informed me that they would have a bus there in about 30 minutes but could not guarantee the time. They were extremely rude and unhelpful on the phone – shuffled me around to 3 different people. They just kept telling me things happen (you are in the tour guide business, you should have a plan for things like this… especially if you knew the bus was in trouble before we left — i’m no expert but «Check Engine» in usually and important problem). After approximately 90 minutes, sitting in the middle of the hot desert (temp was 103 degrees) another bus arrived. This bus looked to be about 20 years older – there was duck tape on multiple places on the roof, it looked like it was falling apart). After this fiasco, I was hot, tired, and stressed. It was difficult to enjoy any aspect of the tour from this point on.
–I was picked up from my hotel at 9am.. .I arrived at the Hoover Dam around 12:30. 3 and ½ hours…on a bus to go a few miles.. . interesting
The driver was informative along the way and very funny. I really enjoyed spending the afternoon with Tony (our guide/​driver). He remained, calm, friendly and helpful even through our break down. I heard him pleading with Gray Line to help.
After that, the tour was enjoyable. I can’t really speak to the Hoover Dam tour here because tour guides at the Dam took over, not a Gray Line employee.
After the Dam, you are taking to a «deluxe» buffet lunch in Henderson.. .the price tag advertised for this «deluxe» lunch was $ 7.00 in a low budget hotel. The lunch consisted of hamburgers, hot dogs, tacos and other fast foodish items. Most items reminded me of TV Dinners.
My advice to Gray Line:
–Run multiple shuttles for strip pick up.
–Cut out the pointless check in stop.. .just pick us up and head to the Dam.. .I know you want to try to sell us your snacks, water and tacky souvenirs but please, spar us.
–Update your busses. Do not let busses go out that are unsafe. We knew the bus was broken before we boarded. Breaking down was inevitable, unsafe and irresponsible on your part. We were in a bad part of town, we were lucky nothing happened – a bunch of stranded, unarmed (no weapons allowed at the Dam) tourist is a great target for criminals.
–Take us to a better lunch or don’t take us at all. The $ 7 buffet was an insult.
–Offer some type of compensation when errors on your end occur. I asked for some type of compensation for my troubles and horrible experience and was basically told to eat dirt.
–Work on your customer service skills. Everyone I spoke with (excluding the awesome driver) was rude and unhelpful.
I hope you pay your drivers well, they are the best thing you have going for yo

Grand Canyon South Rim Bus Tour — Operated by Gray Line
The list of cons:
1) The hotel pick up — it was 30 minutes late. The bus was supposed to pick us up at 6:15 am, instead they came in at 6:45 am while we waited outside in the cold in temperatures of 29F
2) The check-​in process — we traveled during Rodeo week. This is a week when tourism to the canyons is at the lowest. But the check in process took forever. We were just made to sit inside the pick-​up bus waiting for someone inside to call for us and let us in.
3) Overbooking — they had overbooked and when every one turned up for the south rim tour they gave out freebies to a a few of the tourists and pushed them to the west rim tour even then there was no place for us.
4) The people — extremely rude and unfriendly. My sister and I were the last to get on the bus and they did not have adjacent seats. They were very rude to us and asked us to sit in the last two single seats that were available. I mean come on! Really? It wasn’t a short journey, 5 hours each way. It was actually the someone in the trip who was kind enough to give us his seat and move away from his family so that we could sit together.
5) The bus — We traveled in December and the bus did not even have a hook for coats or scarves or a holder for cups. Again, this was a long journey how can you not have the basic features in the shuttle?
The one good factor was the driver. I think his name was Ron. He tried quite hard to be gracious.
I did tip him but would definitely never use this service again. They almost ruined the experience for us.