Big Bus New York: Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing Tour by Open-top Bus

Posted By : Amanda_L
The bus was too crowded with no air conditioner on lower level. Tour was a recording and not even informative. Drivers and assistants on roadside were hard to understand. Although it is hop on/off, there is poor seating, poor visibility, poor communication.
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Posted On : 2024-05-20

Posted By : Navigate50457144059
We have been on other hip on/hop off buses and it was a great way to learn about and see the city in a short time. The recorded commentary was a joke and was mostly music, some of the outlets were broken so you couldn’t hear. Our first bus had a tire blowout so we had to wait for a second bus (totally understandable). We were then told to get off of that bus and get on to a different bus. I had lost my receipt from earlier in the morning but still had my voucher showing active for the day and they weren’t going to let me on the bus. It took going to 3 people and getting upset for them to let us on the bus. I was really disappointed as this was my in laws first time to NY and I had told them how great this bus would be. We will never do it again.
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Posted On : 2024-05-20

Posted By : CatharineZG
If you buy 4 tickets for a Family you must all travel together. My husband and I split up from Our girls to do Our own thing and we were not able to use the service because we only had one ticket. Also the ticket is only good until 5 pm
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Posted On : 2024-05-19

Posted By : loonietunes123
Disappointed with this. The commentary is very basic and didn't mention many of the landmarks which is what I wanted the tour for, mainly it was repetitive music. You can't see much if you are downstairs as the windows are covered so no opportunity for pictures. You will need to be upstairs but this isn't always possible as it does get busy especially in the second half of the day. I woukd say it's just a bus, not a tour
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Posted On : 2024-05-19

Posted By : PermanentTourist75
This is a great way to get your bearings and see all the ‘must see’ places. I’ve used Big Bus hop on hop off in several cities and its usefulness is great. Especially in New York where there’s a distance between attractions and tourist places (midtown to downtown). We caught the bus at stop 2 and did a full loop listening to the commentary and learning some cool stuff before starting the ‘hop on hop off’ facility on our second go round. We used the first go around to decide where we wanted to get off and visit. It was better when previously there was live commentary and so each time you got on a bus, you’d find different things out as different tour guides mentioned different things, but I understand that a benefit of going to an audio tour is that you can cater for different languages. Really great way to see the city and all it has to offer.
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Posted On : 2024-05-19

Posted By : Laurie S
We had the best experience with Big Bus. Abraham, the supervisor by The World Trade Center, went above and beyond helping us maneuver around New York City. We would have not been able to see all that we did without his help and other workers from the company. Thank you, Tom and Leslie Sarauer
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Posted On : 2024-05-18

Posted By : kirstyfortnam
There are good and bad things to say about this tour . Firstly the good , the drivers are excellent. All of which helped and made sure my disabled husband had a seat . One driver in particular, her name was Santana . Her commentary was far better than the pre recorded audio version, she interacted with us a lot and made sure we didn’t miss anything . The audio commentary could do with some work , you are just being told the bare minimum with far Too much repetitive music and what I think are supposed to be jokes but it’s not overly funny and a little tedious. Sitting up stairs is brilliant but if you are disabled and do have to sit down stairs you can’t really take photos as there is film on the down stairs windows. We had this as part of our go city pass so didn’t pay separately for it but in general dis enjoy the tour . I would say better announcements for what the stops are is needed . Santana was excellent in doing this but not all drivers are .
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Posted On : 2024-05-18

Posted By : lular
Took a 2 day pass. The audio on this tour is truly awful. They don’t point out most of the major landmarks, historic buildings and buildings of interest. Unless you’ve been to new York before and know what they are then this tour is pointless. The narrative is silly and focused on movie trivia- mainly where ghostbusters was filmed. Drivers were not friendly and people loading the bus miserable. The tour audio also did not point out all the stops when the bus pulled in. Don’t bother wasting your money here.
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Posted On : 2024-05-17

Posted By : S6009TEsallyg
We spent many hours on the big bus yesterday. There was little to no commentary we found out more information by googling as we went and fellow travellers with their maps open. Have done this in many city’s of the world to get a feel for the lay of the land. Sorry NYC you are not up to scratch.
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Posted On : 2024-05-15

Posted By : Experience768024
I enjoyed the trip as a means to getting a general feel of New York on our first day in the city, however you don't actually see many landmarks from the bus. The staff at the stops weren't particularly friendly and didn't interact with the passengers. We didn't use the on bus commentary due to the poor volume. There is a hard sell by the Big Bus staff everywhere you go in Times Square.
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Posted On : 2024-05-15