| Rating |
Date Attended [^] |
Reviewer |
Gender |
Age |
Where From? |
Group Type? |
|
Fun, very personal and festive!
|
| Sat, Dec 1, 07 6:00 PM |
apriljoy |
Female |
30-39 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Family Without Children |
| Our tour guide, Steve, (who happened to be the owner of Marvelous Manhattan Tours), was a lot of fun! He made extra stops upon request and took our pictures for us. Our tour ran an hour over, we did not even realize it, as we were having such a blast! There were only 4 of us in a regular size van, along with the tour guide, which made it wonderful for driving to places that we probably could not have gone in a large bus and Steve was able to pull over to the side of the road so we could hop out and take pictures. There is no way a big bus could have done this nor would a big, impersonable tour line had done all of these things. Matter of fact, we stopped in Little Italy to get a treat at a bakery and Steve actually waited for us for about 30 minutes! He also stopped in the middle of the road, let us hop out to get our picture taken with the famous bull near Wall Street--this was not a scheduled stop, either. We did neat things such as view the tree at South Street Seaport, we went inside of the World Financial Center to see the Winter Garden, we saw the Christmas show at Grand Central Terminal, also went to Rockefeller to see the tree, we viewed the lights in the shopping district as well as the giant snowflake at 57th and 5th. We did a ton of things. This man knows a lot about New York, and I have been to the city 16 times now and I still heard and saw some neat and new things. And there is nothing like New York City at Christmas time and nothing will get you in the mood more than a great Christmas lights tour!! We had FUN!!!! |
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This tour is GREAT!
|
| Wed, Dec 5, 07 6:00 PM |
chellydev |
Female |
30-39 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Family Without Children |
| My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our tour with Steve to see the NYC holiday lights. The great thing about this tour is that not only do you get to see the lights... but you get some very interesting and rich history along the way. It was a great tour to take the first night of our vacation, as it gave us several ideas for interesting things to do and see over the next several days :) Thanks again to Steve and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for something festive to do!!! |
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First trip to New York City
|
| Sat, Dec 15, 07 6:00 PM |
puttsc |
Female |
50-59 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Group of Friends |
| It was our first trip to NYC so we booked several tours and we really enjoyed this one. Our guide, Steve, was fun and gave a great tour. He was knowledgable but helpful and gave us a lot of info about what we were seeing and we had a great time with him. I would use this group again when I return in the future. It is a great city to visit at Christmas. |
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Fun Holiday Tour
|
| Sat, Dec 15, 07 6:00 PM |
riccmar |
Female |
40-49 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Family With Children |
| Our family greatly enjoyed this holiday light tour. Our guide, Steve, was as entertaining as the sights. He made this tour personal and spent time at each stop answering any questions we had. He also modified the stops to whatever our preferences were. We all had a great time on this tour. |
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|
Loved It!
|
| Fri, Dec 21, 07 6:00 PM |
conwaytravel |
Male |
20-29 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Other |
| Best Tour in New York by far... |
|
Christmas lights tour
|
| Sat, Nov 22, 08 6:30 PM |
julian53 |
Male |
50-59 |
International Tourist(s) |
Other |
| The tour turned out to be a tour of the city, as most of the Christmas lights had still to be turned on. The host tried to make the tour as interesting as possible, but we did book to see the lights, so were very disapointed that they were not available. The tour is obviously being marketed far too early, a point that the host himself admitted. We arrived in plenty of time at the meeting place to find the 'clearly marked' tour bus. There were no 'clearly marked' tour buses. Furthermore, there were no buses with notes in the window either, so we waited around in the cold. When the driver of a small unmarked bus that was parked eventually returned to the vehicle, we approached him to discover that he was the host in a clearly unmarked vehicle. Perhaps someone could make up a note to leave in the window of the vehicle to advise that this is the tour vehicle. Considering the cost of the tour, overall it was a big disapointment and not value for money. |
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|
Too early for holidays, but great tour
|
| Sat, Nov 22, 08 6:30 PM |
Stephoosh |
Female |
30-39 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Group of Friends |
| We got off to a rocky start -- the van pulled up right on time, I think, but the driver immediately fled for a potty break and returned 10 minutes late. Ten minutes when we, the paying customers, were waiting in the freezing cold. The van was unmarked, so we didn't know which one it was. A note would have been helpful. The van by now surely is marked as it was new at the time, but one customer was so upset it put a damper on the tour.
Then the first thing our tour guide said was that it was too early to see lots of holiday lights. (It was the first--or one of the first--holiday lights tours in 2008, on Nov. 22.) This is something that the company needs to work out--don't have the "holiday lights" tour available before the lights are up! (A good start date might be when they light the Rockefeller tree.) There were some lights, but we already knew from a day of touring that there wouldn't be many. We still got a great tour out of it, saw beautiful skylines at night, and covered a lot of ground because the traffic was much lighter at night than during the daytime tours (I assume). I was happy I hadn't been able to sign up for the daytime tour as well; that would have been redundant (and expensive!). As it was, we really enjoyed the tour and were very happy we took it, despite the lack of lights. |
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What lights? Disappointing!
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| Mon, Nov 24, 08 6:30 PM |
susanboey |
Female |
Unspecified |
International Tourist(s) |
Group of Friends |
| Not recommended as the tour was premature (before Thanksgiving). Very disappointing as the lights were not on yet. Suggest that tours only commence when lights are on. Otherwise no value for money as it's not a cheap tour. |
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Well Worth It !!!!!!
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| Sat, Nov 29, 08 6:30 PM |
micamica2 |
Female |
50-59 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Family With Children |
| As luck would have it, my teenage daughters and I were the only ones on the tour with Steven the evening we went. Even though there weren't alot of holiday lights up yet, he made the tour interesting and fun and I am so glad we did it. We discovered things about NYC we never would have learned on any of the other tours.
Steven was enthusiastic, polite, fun and really knows the city. This is his family business, so he puts his whole heart into it. It was interesting to get his perspective on things and there was no such thing as a stupid question.
I highly recommend this tour. We all had a great time. You won't be sorry!! |
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Fun Tour!
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| Fri, Dec 5, 08 6:30 PM |
rgjaynes |
Female |
40-49 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Family Without Children |
| I booked the holiday lights tour because of the reviews we read. My husband and I were not disappointed. The tour group was small with only 6 tourists and our tour guide, Jared, was awesome. We met at the appointed place and the tour started right on time. We covered a lot of territory. The stop near the World Trade Center site was so moving. Jared shared so many details with us and photos, too. We visited the building complex right next to the WTC site and the decorations were beautiful along with a very moving memorial to 6 employees from that business who died on 9/11. We also stopped at Wall Street to see and photograph the Christmas tree and lights there. We were scheduled to stop at a pastry shop in Little Italy, but the line of customers was so long that Jared recommended another pastry shop in Little Italy so we stopped there instead. We drove down Fifth Avenue to see the store windows and, of course, the tree at Rockefeller Center. We saw lots of lights and learned a lot of NYC history. The tour was scheduled for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, but lasted 4. |
