NY: Empire State Building, Liberty Cruise, & Hop-on Hop-off Tour

We missed our Statue of Liberty tour because the bus and staff said it was at pier 16, which it wasn’t . Our tour was at a completely different pier. My daughter and I were really disappointed. We should get a refund for that part of the tour!

It was a great tour around the big 🍎 city. My cousin and I really enjoyed watching the beautiful buildings and the many stores. The drivers were very pleasant and courteous. They even remembered the person who asked to be reminded of the stop to get off for a destination. The drivers were safe drivers and we felt safe on the tour..keep up the great work.

It was convenient to bundle these activities to sightsee. I liked hearing the background recorded tour on the bus but the earbuds were cheap and did not stay in my ears and only worked to plug in at some seats. The staff know what they are doing to get you on the bus but don’t troubleshoot booking issues. I swear the tour description says there’s an express tour of the Empire State Building but we got general admission tickets. There was barely any wait so that was fine. If it was a crowded day that would have really sucked. Getting on the water was cool. The narrated tour was interesting but the boat is middle of the road with old chairs lined up in rows. They weren’t uncomfortable and it was great that there were a few wall outlets to recharge phones. Look for those seats if your battery is drained by day’s end. Also make time to stop for food. There’s decent concessions on the boat but limited staff. We felt bad for them. There was a huge line-up that moved crazy slow. If you wait until later in the tour the line moves way faster or there’s no wait. You can see the Statue of Liberty from the boat and get some good pictures. Just don’t expect to get super close. Having a real camera, SLR or something with quality zoom would be better than relying on a cell phone for the best pics. Overall the tour got us to all the sites at a pretty good price. I looked for a better quality bus tour and just couldn’t find that or narrow options easily. They are probably all about the same.

My niece wasn’t a fan of the height but she did come around once she got to the 86th floor. The staff was so friendly.

Did this type of tour years ago in NYC and never had issue. This time, buses are extremely slow and do not run as advertised. The app is useless in tracking and finding bus stops. Would not do again. Missed the add ons Empire tour and boat tour bc how slow the bus was and the bus needs to run past 4-4:30 pm, also needs to start earlier. Waste of time. Also bring back the actual tour guides instead of a recording on headphones.

Hop on hop off bus is great. Stops are easy to find and the audio tour was nice to listen to. If you ride on the top deck of the bus for the blue line make sure to duck because there are some low branches that will hit you when you go by Central Park. The Empire State Building was great as well! You have to pick your date and time through the big bus tours app. It was easy to redeem the tickets, however the ticket doesn’t show the date/time you selected. The City Cruise was very informative. There was a tour guide that talked throughout the cruise giving some history and facts about certain city landmarks. The date and time for tickets are also picked through the big bus app and don’t show the date/time you selected.

This was a fabulous boat trip/ cruise. A very informative tour with a knowledgeable former professor as the audio guide. Very satisfying.

You get to see so many things. The hop on/ hop off feature is amazing to stop at little shops or grab a quick bite to eat. Would absolutely recommend the boat tour, was so awesome!

Great Value! Family visiting from Australia. The combo tour allowed them to see so much over their time! Highly recommend!

Unfortunately, our family had a terrible experience due to extremely poor logistics and organization, and I strongly advise others not to book this trip, as you may end up having the same experience we did. We booked this tour because the website stated that the timing was based on “availability,” which was very unclear. To clarify, we contacted the online assistant and were told that the last cruise was at 5:00 PM. Based on this information, we arrived at the Empire State Building at 5:00 PM, expecting to start our tour there. Instead, we were informed that our actual time slot was 7:45 PM. After that, we tried to join the Big Bus Tour. We stood outside in line on the street for 30–40 minutes in the cold. When our tickets were finally checked, we were told that this bus was for night-tour bookings only, and that we had missed our tour, despite never being given a clear time anywhere in our booking details. We then attempted to go on the Circle Line Cruise, only to find out that we had also missed that tour as well, again due to the lack of any clearly stated time information. Although we arrived based on the instructions we were given, both tours were considered “missed.” In the end, the only activity we were able to do was the Empire State Building at 7:45 PM. That was the sole availability offered to us. We paid $498 (almost $500) for this family package and received only one attraction instead of three. We spent a long time standing outside in the cold, became sick, and were left confused and frustrated. No staff member approached us to explain how the tour actually works, and there was no guidance or support provided on site. This experience was extremely disappointing and poorly managed. We are still trying to understand how to get a refund, but overall, this was a very frustrating experience. Please be very careful when booking this tour.