Gray Line New York Tours

I had booked tickets online and some how got charged for 4 instead of 2. I was given the run around and had to go to 3 different places, found out that I had to call customer service.
Instead of refunding me half, they said they had to cancel my entire order and I would have to book again.
Ok, so when we tried to book again, they now said instead of $ 68 it was going to be $ 90. I told them what happened, they said oh well there is nothing they can do. I explained about the problem again and they said nothing they can do if I want to go it would be $ 90.

We bought night bus tours from travelzoo. When we went to redeem them the two guys there were slow, slow, slow. The employees didnt seem to know how to work the systems. Needed to email them. Email was slow. Then my husband had to come around the counter and login into his acct to print the travelzoo vouchers. It was weird and awkward. The actual tour itself was horrible. The earbuds they provide are not comfortable and the sound quality is awful. The tour guide was nice but he was not enthusiastic at all. It felt like he was bored giving the tour. Would not recommend for anyone.

I’m not sure how this activity doesn’t have more stars. We got reeled in by a tour guide in Time Square and I was skeptical at first our first tour guide was hilarious. Such an awesome guy. We bought the entire package which is every borough, the Statue of Liberty cruise and a comedy club. We loved it all. There were a few tour guides that were veryyyyy hard to understand and not very active but for the most part, if you want to see all of NY in a small amount of time, this is a no brainer. We had a lot of fun.

THE PROMOTERS OF THESE TOURS NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED BY UPPER MANAGEMENT! I would never even consider giving my money to this company for the single fact that their promoters are the most rude and UNPROFESSIONAL people ever. They stand around and make flirtatious comments to females and curse with each other. As someone who visits Times Square frequently I have grown accustomed to ignore their sell tactics and keep it moving. Today, one of the promoters with a gray line vest stated «look at this b**ch running like she scared.» Please do something upper management because these scumbags in the trenches are giving your company a bad name!

Try one of the other services. They advertise a lot of stops and and a full route but then make you walk to other stops because of buses not running. The buses are usually full which means you have to wait a long time to get on. We waited more than an hour before giving up. We will try one of the newer services next time.

I had a great experience with this company. We paid 60 for the all inclusive which included a tour through the city, ferry through the Statue of Liberty and comedy club tickets. I thought it was a great deal. I’d recommend doing the all inclusive if you do this!

Terrific and affordable hop-​on-​hop off tours of all the NY neighborhoods. Great way to see the city. The service at the Graylines office in the Theater District is fantastic! The manager, Daniel, was particularly helpful and kind! Our family highly recommends this tour line.

We saw that we could buy tickets online for $ 39/​Adults & $ 29/​Children for the Downtown Tour, so we bought them. Then we discovered that you can’t use your voucher to walk right on to the bus. The Grey Line associates kept referring us down 47^th street at Times Square. Then one wise employee said, no – just go around the corner at 55^th Street and have the Wellington Hotel ticket office print them out. Turns out, they are a Grey Line ticket agent — however again, in the ticket office they referred us to start at Times Square /​47^th St. We decided to just board the bus, which was empty, around 54^th street, and were thankful we did. The line was so long at Times Square to board a Grey Line bus. By boarding at an earlier stop or two, we had our prime pick of seats.

My wife and I were approached by a tall black man whom I believe was from Jamaica, at Times Square. He was selling tour tickets for Gray Line New York Tours. My wife and I were wondering what we would do with our afternoon that day, and decided to go on the tour. The very nice gentleman who sold us our tickets, escorted us to the bus stop for that tour. He made it very clear we could exit and re board the bus at points of interest; that was the case. During our 2 hour tour seated on top of the bus we were able to get clear view of everything. The tour guide on the bus was another black man I believe to be from South Africa. That man had a wealth of information about every site on the tour. He was good natured and funny. I will treasure that tour of New York city for ever. Thank you Gray Line tours for making my visit to New York city such a memorable one.

Total scam– purchased a voucher at hotel and the grey line had us on a wild goose chase around city and wouldn’t redeem voucher

Pro: Tour is 3 hour long with a lot of story, myth and legend. Very useful and convenient for first time visitor. Price is reasonable. Bus stops are at major New York landmarks.
Con: you have to time yourself Precisely. If you miss the bus, you do not have to wait long. But if you miss a boat tour, you wait for at least one hour. Most of time, it is save time just to take taxi. It is not recommend if you already know New York enough. Just take taxi, metro or Subway. Save you a lot of time.

I would skip this. First off, we bought a groupon for this place and was directed to go to the main visitor center to redeem our coupon, it was a mad house.
After waiting in line, the guy who was ringing me up was mad at me for using a groupon instead of buying the tour straight out. Then when I was confused by the groupon’s wording he yelled at me to pick the uptown or downtown route and I politely asked to see a map.
Once he started yelling at me more I simple told the guy «listen you do not need to yell at me» and he started changing his tude.
I should have skipped this company at the New York location. The buses were over sold, I wasn’t able to hop on and off like I wanted to for fear that there wouldn’t be room for me to get back on. Also, almost at every stop the tour guide would ask us to give him tips (this was the same in San Francisco.) I am ok if you just mention it but they would say stuff like «you tip your waitress, your bartender, etc, you should tip me if you liked the tour. They only pay us minimum wage!»
I would opt for one of the other busses they were less crowded.

Just booked a trip to the Woodbury Common Outlet online.
The one star is for the successful transportation to Woodbury. This was the only positive thing about our experience with Gray Line.
Service was horrible. We couldn’t print our voucher but were told we only have to write down the reservation number as you can see in the picture.
At the visitor center we lined up and when we were next the man at the front desk told us we had to print the voucher and showed us a computer to do it. The connection was very, very slow and we had to pay every two seconds. It took us minutes to just open the homepage to open the email. When I tried to print there wasn’t any paper inside the printer so we had to look for the man of the front desk again who was disappeard meanwhile. Of course we were still paying for internet access.
After this we had to line up again and wait for being next. When we finally had the turn the woman who had to give us the boarding pass told us the reservation number would have been enough.
We did not only waste money but also a lot of time, so we missed the bus (we were 2 minutes too late) and had to wait 1,5 hours for the next one although we arrived early at the visitor center.
Furthermore I have to mention that the man at the front desk not only gave us wrong informations but also was extremly unfriendly.
I really can’t recommend Gray Line.

What a colossal waste of money. I treated a friend on her first visit to NYC. The bus started a Penn Station and was going downtown. I purchased both the uptown and downtown tours figuring we would drive around the city and she could get an overview. The guide had almost no information to impart and a lot of what she did say was wrong. In between the dribbles, she prattled on endlessly about the other gray line tours. In Battery Park we got off to use the bathroom and caught another bus. This time the guides mic didn’t work so there was no tour. At on point, I looked back and saw his lips moving soundlessly.
Every stop consisted of a long wait. It wasn’t a matter of stop, hop on hop off. It was more stop and sit ten minutes. Awful awful awful.

Still waiting to hear about the lawsuit pending. I’m not surprise that we still have heard nothing further.
My past comments remain the same:
The reality of Gray Line New York tours:
I continue to see the new reviews and Gray Line headquarters needs to review their customer service and how they do business. There is definitely room for improvement and provide better for all their customers.
Origninally, the experience with dealing with customer service was awful. I repeat my review for you:
Customer service was awful when we complained of the VIP pass the same day and they just gave the run around week after week; and said they will try better and thanks you. So you are just SH@# out of luck.
***DO NOT SIGN UP FOR UPGRADE OF VIP PASS!**** a total waste of money.
We will not ever use Grayline again, their customer service stinks and they will not return calls or help you. Their slogan is: «Your satisfaction is our priority»…NOT
They said their policy is NO REFUNDS, but the sales guys failed to disclose all information, but he was good in selling you this upgrade.
***DO NOT SIGN UP FOR VIP UPGRADE PASS*****
***DO NOT SIGN UP FOR VIP UPGRADE PASS*****
***DO NOT SIGN UP FOR VIP UPGRADE PASS*****

NO AC ON OUR GRAY LINE TOURS
THIS IS A FOLLOW UP OF MY REVIEW OF JULY 20, 2015. In that review I told how Gray Line lied to us about having air conditioned buses before we purchased our tickets. Please read that review if possible. We complained and filled out a complaint form with another couple about how we were misled about the ac on the buses. This is the lame response I got in an email. It appears that they are still not telling the truth about their buses, still claiming ac. THE LAME RESPONSE FROM GRAY LINE IS AS FOLLOWS: «Good Morning Mr. Arena,
Thank you for taking the time to contact Grayline Sightseeing NY. We appreciate you as a valued customer and are grateful you brought your concerns to our attention. We’re sorry that you received service that prompted you to contact us with a complaint, and we regret any inconvenience or frustration that your experience has caused you.
We strive to provide you with the best possible service, and when you feel that it fails to meet your expectations, it’s important for us to know. Please rest assured your comments were treated with the utmost importance and attention.
You have stated in your complaint that you did not receive accurate information about our tours. We do apologize for this inconvenience. We do want our guest to be informed. We do our best to provide you with information through our agents, brochures, and customer service representative. The information concerning each scheduled time is provided to our customers through varies channels.
You have also stated that the tour buses you entered were uncomfortable and extremely hot and this made for a unpleasant experience. We would like to apologize that the tour did not met your satisfaction. Our buses are equipped with air conditions but like every vehicle on the road the level of comfort will differ from one person to the next. As the buses are open top it is a bit more difficult to regulate the temperature. If on that particular day that you toured with us we experienced high temperatures or high humidity in New York than normal this would affect the comfort level of the bus.
The feedback you have provided about your experience was sent to our Grayline manager to help us improve our services.
We consider you a most valued customer and hope that you can appreciate our position in this matter .Your patronage is important to us, and we hope that you’ll continue to give us opportunities to serve you.
Thank you,
Jeffrey Prado
Quality Control Representative
1430 Broadway Suite # 507
New York, NY 10 018»
WHAT BS FROM GRAY LINE. SHAME ON THEM !!!

Before I booked the Brooklyn tour, I went online and read the reviews, which seemed to coalesce around confusion on how to actually get on the tour. I called their booking number, and after a 10 minute wait I was instructed that the Brooklyn tours depart at 17 Park Row in Manhattan (which is different than the online version which says Battery Park departures), but that if I bought a ticket online I would have to go to their office to get a paper voucher — and that office is on Vesey Street and not within walking distance of 17 Park Row.
So – long story short – rather than waste an hour or two wandering around Manhattan trying to figure out how to get on the bus, we instead just did a self-​tour ourselves on the subway.
Call me old-​fashioned – but when I try to give a company money in exchange for a good or service I expect for them to let me.

Terrible experience. The sidewalk personnel were super brusque and rude, our bus guide had ZERO personality and gave the minimum possible information on the various landmarks and the bus itself was not well upkept.
Never again.

My family and I were vacationing NYC for 5 days. We spent 3 of them hopping on and off the Gray Line Bus.
Everything was as expected! We never once had to wait more than 15 minutes for a bus and we were able to hit up all the routes except Brooklyn.
The Tour Guides are entertaining, however a little inconsistent. Some were extremely knowledgeable of the area and others seemed to tell random stories just to talk. So its definitely hit or miss when it comes to an exceptional tour experience. The busses are also hit or miss. One of our busses had horrible audio.
The buses themselves were clean and served their purpose.
Overall we enjoyed Gray Line Tours. We were able to save money on cab fare and were able to see all the famous NYC attractions we came to see.
Big props to our favorite guides, check out my pictures attached.
Quicktips
*Shop the rates, you can find deals for the hopper on
or
.
*Bring your own headset if you don’t want to use their disposable headset.
*Bring a coat if you plan to sit on deck! And you will want to sit on deck, inside you won’t be able to see much. These busses are covered with ads and you can barely see out of the window.
*Each loop is about 2 to 3 hours. With NYC traffic, sometimes its faster to walk to where you want to go.
*READ! The bus stops are clearly posted. Also bring the map provided to you!

On Tour.
My friend and I purchased an all day tour, the Manhattan Experience, thru
. The bus tour was billed/​advertised as an 8-​hour all inclusive tour of Manhattan making its way from Harlem all the way to Battery Park.
Included in the tour was lunch in Little Italy at well known restaurant, Grotta Azzura, a midtown cruise, as well as admission to the Top of the Rock observation deck at Rockefeller Center. Tours operate daily and depart 9am from the Gray Line Visitors Center. The cost of the tour was $ 99/​person, and the bus used was air-​conditioned and fully enclosed.
The guides/​staff for the the tour included our tour guide, Serg, and our bus driver, Reynaldo. From the start, Serg was friendly, polite, considerate, extremely humorous (his back up career could be a stand-​up comedian), and very knowledgeable. He shared a wealth of invaluable facts and information during the entire tour as he pointed out NYC landmarks, popular tourist sites/​attractions, and movie locales. Reynaldo, though not as vocal as Serg, was quite friendly as he always smiled and acknowledged his passengers whenever we entered or disembarked the bus.
The bus departed the gray line terminal on time and we made our way to Harlem passing thru the upper west side, and then began our way towards lower Manhattan via the upper east side. We drove past popular museums, thru times square, past the flat iron building, empire state building, madison square garden, Macy’s, and along Fifth avenue as well. And all the while, Serg was constantly pointing out stores, buildings, or sites of interest to our group. His wealth of knowledge never seemed to to run dry as he always had some tidbit of information and/​or historical aspect/​fact to share with the group.
During the tour, we had stops at the conservatory garden at central park, lunch in Little Italy, and a brief stop at a souvenir shop in midtown Manhattan. The ferry cruise lasted nearly one hour as we made our way on the Hudson, past lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center, towards the east river and Brooklyn Bridge. Our final «stop» was just off of Liberty Island to view Lady Liberty herself.
The last destination was the Top of the Rock observation deck at Rockefeller Center. Unfortunately, the weather was overcast with light showers thru parts of the day. The rain was partly the reason why our tour skipped the ⁹⁄₁₁ memorial that day as well. Serg politely suggested that views from the observation deck may not be the best due to the weather, but he ultimately left the decision to us if we wanted to go up or not. In the end, we decided to go up and thankfully the weather had cleared up enough to experience the breathtaking views of Manhattan.
Lastly, one of the best aspects of this tour was that lunch, tickets for the ferry and Top of the Rock, were all included. I truly liked the fact that I didn’t have to worry about buying lunch or purchasing any tickets separately for the ferry or observation deck. At all of these places, Serg took charge and directed us on where to go or sit, as well as distributing tickets.
NOTE: Make sure to be on time and show up at least half hour before departure.
side NOTE: Free wifi available on the bus!
BOTTOM LINE: This bus tour was a terrific way to view and experience different neighborhoods/​parts of Manhattan, as I don’t think I would have gotten to see as much on my own. Tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable. Time and money well spent.

Die 3 Tage Bus und 3 Sehenswürdigkeiten ‘freestyle’ Tour war ihr Geld wert. Die hop on hop off Busse sind leider häufig so voll das man nicht zusteigen kann. Ich empfehle daher wenn dann nur hop on und off dann erst am Ende der Tour. Wir hatten zwei richtig gute und einen richtig schlechten Reiseführer. Ist also Glücksspiel, ob man interessantes über dies Stadt oder nur Geschichten aus der Nachbarschaft und die Baseball Teams erfährt.
Um einen Eindruck aller Viertel in Manhatten zu bekommen ist so eine Bustour sehr gut geeignet. Die Downtown Tour (grün) würde ich auslassen. Downtown kann man auch ohne Bus gut erkunden. Die Bronx Tour (blau) kann man sich auch sparen wenn man nicht gerade ein Yankees Fan ist.

Wir haben die Karten zusammen mit der Nyc card bereits in Deutschland gekauft. Dann im Shop abgeholt. Alles ging gut. Der Bus fährt alles wichtige ab. Leider oft voll, aber es kommt meistens gleich einige nach, sodass man selten lang warten muss. Auch die Nachtfahrten war tolle. Ich kann diese fährt sehr empfehlen. Man kann sie 24,48,72 Stunden kaufen. Es lohnt sich auf jedem Fall.

Um sich einen Überblick zu verschaffen ist in manchen Städten eine gemeine Stadtrundfahrt angesagt. Ich buchte die deutschsprachige New York Stadtrundfahrt mit vier Stunden Dauer im Internet von Deutschland aus bei
, was direkt gesagt vollkommen unnötig ist jeder, der nach Tourist aussieht wird in der Stadt ständig von freien Verkäufern angequatscht, die einem Produkte von Gray Line oder diesem anderen Sightseeing Tour anbieten. Der Internetgutschein musste im Gray Line Office an der 8. Avenue eingelöst werden gegen den Tourgutschein. Danach rottet sich dann die deutsche Touristengemeinschaft zusammen, mein persönlicher Au-​Weia-​Punkt des Tages.
Die Tour wurde dann kombiniert in deutscher und französischer Sprache durchgeführt. Ich fand es mit meinem noch vorhandenen Schulfranzösisch ganz erfrischend, denn ich verstand dann aus jedem Teil etwas. Die Fahrt geht in der 8^th Avenue bis in die Bronx hoch und dann die 5^th Avenue runter bis zum Battery Park danach ganz im Osten wieder bis auf die Höhe der 42^nd Street und dann war es vorbei. Die Erklärungen des Reiseführers waren gut, wenngleich mir etwas zuviel das kostete soviel Miete und soviel nochmehr Kaufpreis oder Durchschnittseinkommen eines Investmentbankers war 2011 xxx.yyy.zzz US$ dabei war, das muss ich nicht wissen.
Die Tour verschaffte aber einen guten Überblick und danach wusste man, wo man hingehen sollte. Der Guide war sonst O.K. Bei Sonne sollte man allerdings eine Basecap tragen, sonst trocknet die Murmel etwas aus.

Ich rate ab. Wir sassen bei der Rundfahrt hinten, neben dem Klo. Sicht dadurch nur zu einer Seite. Die deutsche Führung machte ein Franzose. Der rannte durch NY. Wir kamen kaum nach und verstanden nix. Geld sparen und NY selbst erkunden.

Gute, und auch nicht zu teure Möglichkeit, NYC näher kennenzulernen.
Man hat die Möglichkeit, an unterschiedlichen Stationen auszusteigen und auch wieder einzusteigen (Hop on– Hop off). Die Karte hatte 48 Stunden Gültigkeit.
Wir haben ein Kombiticket bei einem der zahlreichen Straßenhändler erworben. Dieses inkludierte 4 verschiedene Loops (Rundfahrten nicht nur durch Downtown, sondern auch Brooklyn und Uptown), eine Fahrt auf das Empire State Building (mit dem Aufzug und nicht dem Bus ;-)) und eine ca. 1– stündige Schiffsfahrt bis zur Statue of Liberty (da konnte man in Ruhe Fotos von der Skyline und der Statue machen, allerdings ohne an Land zu gehen). War nicht ganz billig, hat sich aber auf jeden Fall gelohnt. Die Erklärungen des Guides waren auch hilfreich (allerdings sollte man schon ganz gut Englisch verstehen, da die Akkustik nicht so toll ist und manche Guides ziemlich viel Slang sprechen ;-))