Reviews of City Sightseeing New York (Travel Agency)

Olga Clark

The tours were good, but the tour guides - hmm, some quite odd! The night tour could stop in more places. Overally, I am happy with the experience.

Nadia Medina

Too crowded went on July 5th--waited almost one hour to get on bus!!!

Rushaine Brown

WAS SUPER AWESOME I WANNA DO IT AGAIN.

Cynthia Fraase

Waited forever for a bus. Then they got down to the end of the island and the driver made us all get off because he was going off shift. We could have waited again, but gave up and took a cab. Don't use them.

Angela Correa

Pick another tour bus this one makes you wait and wait while you see passing by the Big Bus and Open View 3 or 4 times this one pases only once. Called back customer service several times and nobody answered. People have to stand up on the stairs horrible.

IT Professional

No air conditioning within bus despite near 90-degree air temperature outside with an obnoxious and extremely unprofessional driver who was verbally rude to various passengers including yelling “cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap” to those persons who opted not to tip him after his childish behavior. Would avoid this company at all costs!

Erin McCall

Not a great experience. Pretty sure they were short on buses and employee's to work that day. We waited 30+ minutes for a bus to get us and not even at the stops listed on their map so we had to guess on where they'd go. No times were easily found as to when they'd run and what the loop times were. The buses stayed crowded which again led me to believe they were short on buses and drivers. We only had two live guides on the few buses we took and the driver on one went to fast for the recorded audio to keep up. Very disappointed because I took this same company's tour in New Orleans and had a wonderful experience. The reason I gave this a two star review is because the guides were hysterical and informative.

Maureen Mennealy

We were disappointed with this company compared to others we have used in other states. No one seemed to know what was going on. Every time we asked questions on time, location pick ups or other perks with the package we got different answers. The site didn't fully explain that you didn't get shuttled to the ferry pick up unless you had the VIP package. One driver kicked us off at 5:30 and said night tour starts at 6. He didn't speak good English so you had no idea what or where you were supposed to go to get another shuttle. The tour itself was a good way to see the highlights. The uptown your was great and the night tour was amazing in time square.

Vanessa Lefler-Larned

Unclear directions. Expensive bus ride not recommended for New York. We could have seen everything cheaper by using other forms of transportation. Dirty busses. Tour guides either spoke to fast..or too much about themselves. Did this in San Francisco it was delightful. But not in New York.

Jennifer Blakeman

Was awesome. My only complaint was when we stopped at the second dock, too many people boarded. It was too crowded at that point.

Andrew Wright

Well worth the money - huge savings to be made

Sandra Pinzon

Terrible!!! Don’t have frequent stops!!! We have to walk to the boat because the person give to us bad directions and the person in the boat was so rude

Patricia C

I have taken hop-on hop-off buses in Vancouver, Ottawa, San Francisco, and Paris. I didn't hesitate to buy 3 day pass in New York City but I wish I hadn't. The ads claimed that the buses were air conditioned but only some were outfitted with AC. The buses were dirty: floors and seats had food and muck on them. And if you chose to sit inside, you can't see anything because ALL the windows are covered with advertising on the outside. Some buses had live guides. Some of them kept begging for tips, and others enjoyed talking about themselves instead of the sites. Speaking of begging, salespeople were harassing us even after we told them we had tickets. Customer service employees, "terminal managers" and bus drivers tended to be polite, but a fight did break out between one driver and a "sidewalk terminal manager". Not only were they cussing each other over my family's heads (we were descending the bus), once we were out of the way, it got physical! The hop-on hop-off boat only had two stops. I would call that a shuttle. But here's the really bad part: none of the hop-on hop-off bus City Sightseeing routes take you to the pier. The closest stop is about a 20-25 minute walk away from the pier. Enjoy New York for a different hop-on hop-off bus.

Sophia Sheikh

It was the best experience to get onto the hop on and off tour of NYC for both day and night time. It's best to buy it here in the city and we got a better deal with ferry ride included in this. It's best if accompanied by kids as well

Dunia Sanchez

the company only lies, the buses of the limea of the broklyn is every hour, the workers of the buses do not have good treatment with the passengers. I do not patch this tour for anyone. too expensive and my bad treatment

Marshall Milinazzo

The worst bus tour in any city I’ve visited, 90 degree day in the city no A/C on buses. All were packed solid couldn’t even go on top floor . The uptown route ran 3 buses on a Saturday in June . What is wrong with the management of this company ?

Trista Robinson-Ashley

The tour itself was okay. Great view of Ellis Island, cute facts about the island and some of the sites we saw. The downsides were the boat was extremely overcrowded, possibly because everyone wanted to be on the top deck despite it being full and the staff didn't do anything to redirect people or prevent over crowding. the bathrooms were hideous...I mean hideous....the drinks are extremely overpriced. Do yourself a favor and spend a few extra bucks to go on the Circle Line. But if you're on a budget and just want a quick tour, here you go.

Tatyana Nikolaeva

We took boat tour from CitySightSeeingNY. It was worst boat expirience ever. The only good part in all this mess is price - really cheap. Everything else was unreasonably bad: 1. There is no any air conditioning on the boat, so lower deck was like a hell without air. We were there on Aug19, it was around 90F outside. 2. Upper deck didn;t have any cover so it felt like a broil under the sun. 3. Women's restroom out of order, so only one disabled/family room available with 120F inside. 4. Not enough sitting, so be prepaired to stand all the time or sit on the floor.

Baris C

Kept us waiting for 45 minutes on the bus stop. Not enough buses, no sync between junctions.

Karolis Radiun

Rip off. You can find same service for a lower price. We were promised we would make it to 2:30 boat, but the bus for it was late and the boat did not wait. Had to wait 2 extra hours for another one. Same thing happened to a British couple, but they had a plane to catch and didn’t have much time, it looked like their day in NY was ruined

Danielle Barratt

Do not use this service it’s a rip off!!!!!!!!! We paid for the Flexi Pass online, this is where you choose how many attractions you would like to see and have 30 days to use your pass. We paid $119 for 4 attractions. We used the pass for the Guggenheim and Observatory, upon using it on the 3rd attraction we were told it was invalid. I phoned City Sightseeing and they explained that I had used up all 4 attractions. I explained I had only seen 2 attractions, this couldn’t be the case. The lady at City Sightseeing advised that the hop on hop off bus journey itself is classed as an ‘attraction’. So we had used the bus to take us downtown to Observatory and used the bus to go uptown to Guggenheim. This is a rip off and very misleading. I explained we had bought the same pass in May 2018 and this wasn’t the case and that the hop on hop off bus was the TRANSPORT to take you to the attraction. I wouldn’t recommend using this company, a bus is a form of transport, it’s not an attraction. City Sight Seeing claimed the ‘Bus Journey’ was a ‘tour experience’.... it really isn’t. Some buses have a tour guide on (which you can’t hear) some buses don’t have a tour guide on. If your on the bus for 1 stop, that’s 1 of your attractions you have paid for, that stop might be 5 minutes away. The headphones don’t always work and sometimes you don’t even get a seat to sit in. Last year the bus would pick you up from so many different stops to take you uptown or downtown. This time around you have to walk to particular bus stops- Time Square for Uptown and Empire State for downtown. If you are elderly, or difficulty waking, this isn’t the greatest for you. We paid $119, the 2 attractions we went to cost £60 all together if bought separate. This means the bus journeys (we could 2 buses) cost us $60.... scandalous!!! Avoid!!!! It would be cheaper, more comfortable and quicker to get a taxi and pay separate for the attractions. They also state in there leaflets they offer the Empire State... they don’t. The Empire Stare have cut contract with City Sightseeing and they have not update the flyers. We were refused entry, very embarrassing.

India Priem

Thank you for the great tour! The staff Gary(who stands next so the one world center) helped me with my creditcard. He was brilliant and fantastic!

L You

I highly recommend using other tour operators. While we were waiting for uptown bus for 40mins, we saw topview bus passing by three times. Utter waste of time waiting. When it arrived it was completely full upstairs AND downstairs. Really wish I didn’t waste my money in this.

E. A.

Pretty good sightseeing bus tour in NYC, although I think some of the bus tour guides were either drunk or homeless.... still fun as each stop gives you many things to do.

Esteban Alonso Ramírez

This was a great service and a good experience. The guides were kind and very knowledgeable. The night tour is totally a plus the I hope more people can use. And the ferry trip is among the best I got in the city. I will surely recommend it and use it again when I come back to NYC!

Fraser Stewart

Fantastic way to See New York. Tour guides were very informative and real characters

Kyuwon Lee

I purchased 48-hour bus pass for my guests who are visiting me in New York and I really wish I hadn't done that. The buses do not come often and even if one does, the experience on the bus is not that pleasing. The staffs running the agency are irresponsible and unsystematic. The longest waiting time for my guests and me was 1 hour and 20 minutes without knowing when/whether the bus actually comes.

Veronica Long

Easiest way to see lots of sights in one day.

Linda Mcc

I booked the 48 hour Hop on Hop off Bus tour for NYC with a free Hop on Hop ferry around Manhattan, from pier 78. Booked online. $40 each. You have to print out the email you receive, then go to 8th Ave to collect your tickets from the rather rude and disinterested staff. The buses takes ages to arrive, we waited about 20-30 mins for each bus. They definitely need more of them. Buses are dirty, unkept. Tour guide on the Down town tour cracked jokes instead of giving us info about the sights, which was amusing, but not what we were there for. The Uptown tour along Central Park had a speaker tour instead of a person, which was much more informative. The best by far was the ferry. Rachel, the tour guide, was full of interesting info and very enthusiastic about her job. Try to get her for the ferry ride, skip the buses.

Altrex Raouli

Convenient and cheaper than buying tickets everywhere

Lorraine Acosta

The best time for only $10. Its about 1hr ride

Angela Fernandez

Great fun, but seriously you need to operate evening shuttles to uptown/Central Park area. Harlem area as well... It would be great to see all of that in the evening as well.

Alejandra Ramirez

There's a lot of pros and cons when buying this pass. It is very worth your money, however it's a bit difficult to understand in the beginning and the people who are out in the streets won't help you much. The first question they will ask you is if you have a ticket. If you say yes, they won't want to help you and they'll move on to the next person. I understand since I'm sure the amount of tickets they sale depends on their income, but come on... NYC is VERY crowded. There's a lot of traffic and a lot of people so don't expect to get to your destinations quick and if you wait by a bus stop don't expect the bus to get there in 15 minutes like they promise. The buses are clean and people get on to sale you cold water once in a while. The tour guides were nice and informative. It's worth buying if you intend on visiting many different attractions. I don't recommend it during summer time since the bus has no working AC and you will be burning out there. Overall, the service could be better and there's a lot of things the company could do to make tourist more comfortable.

Amanda Leemon

My mother ended up in a wheelchair for our trip to N.Y. The crew took such great care of her and treated her like she was their own family. I can not express how greatful I am to them. Thank you so much for making our experience so special!!!

MOTO SEGURA

The worst experience in a sightseeing tour the buses are more old than my grand mother. The plastic windows is white and u can not see nothing and no make pictures. And some guided are nice but others very awful. NOT RECOMMEND THIS CITY TOUR COMPANY

abhay gupta

Very poor service. Has a bus breakdown. Driver despite asking dropped us a stop before and we have to walk all the way to empire tower Frequency is less and doesn't cover stops like intrepid air space museum and call center said just walk to next stop around 1 km

Michel John

Explore Uptown and Downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn with our all-inclusive 2-day double-decker tour. Four unique bus loops and a ferry tour feature iconic sights and the freedom to hop on and off at your leisure. Unlimited Hop-on, Hop-off access for 24 Hours • 4 Loops - Downtown, Uptown, Brooklyn & Night Tour Loops • Includes free Night Tour and CitySightseeing New York© Hop-on, Hop-off Ferry Tour

Rakesh Shah

It is kind of pricey for packages, but it is worth it if you start early and want to see a lot of things. The buses are fun and you do get to see a lot of Manhattan but if you know how to get around, the subway is quicker and cheaper. The good thing about these packages is that they include a lot of admissions for most of the tourist attractions. Good for people who haven't been to Manhattan before.

Suze Kaduz

Always have discounts! Give you great time around the city!

Brian Banghart

Showed up 10 minutes early to get on the 10am boat only to find the ticket line to get a boarding pass was out the door. The boarding pass is apparently required when you buy the sightseeing package. The boat left without us and a room full of people. The next boat isn't for 2 hours. Very disappointing

mclaren guy

When riding the bus for sight seeing you get to see lots of things. Here are 369 photos out of probably a few thousand I took. Its a must do while in newyork because it covers so much ground that otherwise would he seen in a weeks time if you had to walk or take a taxi. Its cost only 100 for my entire family which was a deal from the midtown hilton.

Premjee Sasidharan

Bad experience with the customer service at the boarding at Pier 78...initially formed a line after scanning our tickets and have been waiting for more than 30 min under sun...then new line was formed by another employee after which we have to go all the way back of the line and wait again for 30 min to board....the employees involved were Aaron and Teneshaa (?)...going through the mess with kids was not at all a good experience..

Muthu Mv

Worst ever bus service.. choose topview or bigbus

Jake Balmer

Very hard to get into the busses they are usually full. Talked to a couple that were waiting for 1.5 hours for a bus. Have made 3 stops and had to tell people there was no room. Once we got on we were afraid to get off in fear of not getting another bus. Tour guide is a little bit obnoxious as well

Derek Hou

I would give zero star If I could. I booked 72 hours trip with City sightseeing bus in NYC. First day, no bus at all, but I saw many buses form the other company. I called the customer service. The guy said that it can't be returned or refunded and he could extend the days, but the point is that I just stayed in NYC for 3 days and it had no point to do so. Waste $260 on this. So sad!

Rebecca Goodall

Taken the money three times from my account but still no tickets, extremely unhelpful on the phone too

RJsPosse .

So this bus tour was horrible. We went the Downtown route. There was only a driver and no tour guide. They give you earphones but the automated audio tour guide is so glitchy the sound is constantly squeaking loudly. There was no on bus WiFi as advertised. The audio tour guide gave some good info and historical tidbits but would play elevator music in between checkpoints that made it less enjoyable to listen. Due to the traffic pace the audio would cut off and start the next checkpoint so you wouldn’t hear the whole thing. Overall this was very boring and disappointing.

David Grundy

We found our “Freestyle” passes to be really good value. Access to the open top bus and boat trip was great and offered a great way of getting around the city, whilst easily “hopping on and hopping off” to see whichever sights we wanted to see. We took advantage of discounted tickets to 3, out of a choice of nearly 100, attractions. All in all, really good value, at just over $100, and we would use this option again when in New York

Brian Wilkins

It was really crowded and really loud, if I didn't have the kids then I may have enjoyed it more. I found myself more interested in the people around me than the sights to see. Being able to jump on and jump off was nice, but I think I'll stay in Texas. Worth the money, Just not my cup o tea

Jennifer Walker

Do not choose this company. Rude tour guides, buses have no air conditioning. When raining they have no ponchos. They clearly oversell tickets every day as there are never seats on top. Please choose a different tour company.

Martyn Becker

Highly recommended for first time visitors to new york

Paula Jackson

Very busy company but they have better routes

Chiera Cominotto

We had a horrible time. Manhattan is not a good city for a bus tour! There’s too much traffic, so we didn’t get far after riding several hours. We should’ve walked! I thoroughly enjoyed my previous experience while in Italy with this bus company.

Kristen Coote

We were lied to about all details of the trip and assisted onto a bus from the Staten Island Ferry station to go to the boat. We were told it would be a 1-hour round trip that left at 11 and returned at 12. At the boat station we found out we were sold tickets to a 2-hour boat leaving at 12:30. No city sightseeing employees were there to assist us. The bus attendant was rude and unhelpful and repeatedly asking for tips. I will never use this company again

Rick Ahern

Beware. The picture you see on the website is not the boat we took. The one we we were on was old and very loud. The seats were behind the stack and for some reason there were no speakers. We ended up getting off at the first drop off and uber home. If you want to learn about the skyline don't waste your time or $.

Francesco Cimorosi

Once in a lifetime must see

Pheenix Dave

Horrendous experience. Avoid.

robert buell

This was great! Our guide was really super. Very knowledgeable and good communicator.

Lee Johnston

Do not use this company. Bought two 24h tickets online to see New York on last day of US holiday with my girlfriend. Awful. Dirty bus. Audio tour doesn’t work. Can’t see out of the bus windows due to advertising. Driver doesn’t speak English and didn’t want to know. no customer service. No rainproof ponchos left so customers are using the plastic rubbish bags that are lying around. Customer service says no refund for 5-15 working days when we’re long gone from new york. See pictures and beware.

Tori Moore

This was BY FAR THE BEST TOUR EVER!! Ms. Phyllis WAS AN AMAZING TOUR GUIDE ! Petter was An Awesome Driver! Ms. Phyllis Has A GREAT PERSONALITY! She explained important monuments and was very detailed! We will definitely use City Sights Again And REQUEST MS. Phyllis!

Jacqui Roberts

A waste of money and time in NY. We have done this tour in other cities and it was great but in NY it's a waste of time. They oversell tickets (salesman on almost every NY corner) and can't cater for the demand of passengers. The buses definitely don't run as frequent as they should and when they do eventually come around after waiting over an hour in the heat and sun, you can't get on the bus because they're full. We ended up stranded and having to abandon it and get the subway instead. Don't waste your money!

Kevin Cleary

Awesome sight seeing tour. George, the God says the world is only 6,000 years old. You being a Evangelical Christian, (whether or not you are a geologist) should believe God.

Robert Jackway

Great views at night time, staff were friendly. The boat was quite big so there was plenty of viewing areas. Guide spoke the whole time, pretty informative. I found him to be a bit weird so I didn't listen much

Teresa King

We bought the 48 hour hop on and off. We found this was not useful for the whole 48 hours. The stops were not very convenient to the places we were going and ended up walking most of where we were going. Also, it was very disappointing that the guides were pre-recorded tours and on the first hop on the tour wasn't working correctly so we heard nothing about the area we were riding past. The 2nd hop on was better but it still isn't as good as a live person do the guides and I wish we had paid more to have that!

Jess Powell-Allbright

The buses were good, the tour guides were both knowledgeable and both dealt with different but equally as challenging customers with professionalism. We had a great time, but I will say the A/C as advertised was not good. The A/C seats were dark and the A/C was not blowing cold air.

Vincent Ali can Bekar

Very useful for getting around the city,would recommend buying a package deal as entering some of the attractions work out to be cheaper this way.however some of the buses do not have AC on the bottom level and depending on were you are getting on the bus ,you might need to wait for 5min or so to get a seat on the top floor;other than that it is worth it.

jodi livingood

I am not sure why the negative comments. We ordered our passes online, walked to the nearest stop and yes there were a lot of people but also a lot of buses. We waited until we got a bus with open seats upstairs and I think it was less than 20mn. We could have got on much sooner if we would ride below. Our tour guide an Asian lady was hysterical and very informative. We also did the night tour, again no issues getting on a bus. Has to wait less than 20mn again. This time our tour guide was not as good but the lights through the city in the dark made up for it. I do think your tour guide has a lot to do with your experience. But even the time we had the pre recorded coming back from China town was full of history and information.

David Greenberg

THE TOUR GUIDE THAT MY COUSIN AND I HAD WAS GREAT. SOME OF THE LISTING PORTS WERE NOT WORKING.SO SWITCHED SEATS.OTHER WISE THE TOUR WAS FABULOUS.

Carlos Guzman

I love NYC!

Peter Paton

Overall a good time. Buses are a little slower than in other cities that i have used. Employees on the bus need to stop scanning each ticket. It's printed on the ticket when you can use it and you have to get it before you can get on so why scan it and take up everyone's time. Also, some of the guides are awesome, others talk way to fast and point things out blocks before you get there. Overall a good time, but they could use some improvement.

Sveom Family

Summary: 1.5 hour wait times for buses. Event passes didn't work correctly. No partial refunds for services they weren't able to provide. Rude customer service.

Rick Jewell

We bought a three day pass which included Buses for uptown, downtown, Brooklyn tours, Night Tour and Hop-on, Hop off cruise as well as a ticket to the Museum of New York City. We added the Statue of Liberty Tour, Top of the Rock and the Museum of Natural History. We went early September and there were hardly any queuing for any tour or attraction. It was straightforward to exchange the voucher for tickets and every Grayline operative we met was helpful, friendly and professional. The bus guides vary in the way they conduct their tour and the headphone jacks do not always make a good connection, meaning a change of seats, if there was a space. Overall it is an excellent way of getting a three day introduction to New York. We would highly recommend it if you are visiting for the first time. Well worth the savings on buying the individual tickets for attractions.

Erica Paul

I have used the City Sightseeing Company in multiple cities, including New York twice before, and this was by far the WORST experience. The New York aspect of the company has very clearly gone down hill. We purchased tickets online, went to the hub/pick up center and waited 30 mins in line. I asked the rep who printed our physical tickets how the process works and his response was "you stand at the spots listed here and a bus picks you up." There is MUCH more information to know about how to use this service appropriately and he did not explain any of it. The website would display certain times on the bus routes, (for the ferry, for example) and we would show up and these times were incorrect. There were addresses for stops listed on the brochure that was given to us by the rude rep, that were different than the addresses listed online. I called customer service and they told us to follow the brochure addresses and times as these were most up to date. Nice try-the brochure did not list any times. Almost every tour guide was a flop-some barely spoke at all or literally just yelled directions into the microphone to the driver and that was it. The Brooklyn tour guide was great and the only saving grace to the company. I will never use this service again and would not recommend it to anyone.

Mike D

Possibly one of the worst experience I have ever suffered in NYC. The ticket sales people at the south ferry street sold my family and I on something that was completely fake. We were promised to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, we drove by them on the boat while crammed on one boat with no room. We were then taken back to the last stop and left stranded with no bus services at their 12th street location. This is a completely shameful Organization that charged me $140.00 for a ride from 911 memorial to 12th street. I forgot to mention we had to walk from south ferry to 911 memorial and then stand in a line for 1.5 hrs to validate our ticket and check in. If at all possible avoid these asshats like the plague!!!!

Arjun Shrivastava

Reasonably priced cruise but the boat didn't have much seating, the top deck was overcrowded, the bar didn't have a price list displayed and the guide was mediocre.

Matt Sterling

Great boat tour. We got the deal half price at $15 with Groupon. Certainly worth the price. Tour guide, although obviously well rehearsed, is informative and entertaining. If you're not local to NY, this is well worth doing

Beth Staudenmaier

The sound system is poor. You actually get electric shocks in your ears. The guide gave us us little information we couldn’t have learned from following along on a map. When I left without tipping Cary verbally shamed me. I don’t recommend this company.

Tracey Glynn

We had a fantastic time in New York and used the buses as our main source of transport. Great value for money. Loved the night tour of Brooklyn. What an amazing sight of the night skyline.Cannot recommend highly enough.

Just Chill My Dog

I Was in City Line Cruise Sightseeing , lots of places covered , nice experience, Guide was also explaining in detail about those places, no bevereges provided on the cruise, I Have shared vlog n vdo on zoo / cruise on my youtube channel ' Just Chill My Dog' do watch out

Ver Santzskie

Ripped off!!! If I could give them ZERO stars, I would! Charged me 35 dollars for each adult. Could've told me buying online would only be 15 dollars each! These guys are crooks.

Carey Kennedy

Horrible experience in NYC, which is disappointing as we’ve used them in other cities. Poorly timed recorded track instead of a live tour guide, except for the employee who kept walking up and down screaming at passengers that they needed to tip while holding out a plastic bag. This went on for the entire 2 hours. The lower windows are covered in advertising mesh and the upper glass is nearly opaque, so you can’t see anything. We really regret paying for this instead of one of the other companies. Ruined our one day in the city.

Deepak Naniwadekar

Famous tourist place. Patriotic place for Americans.

Sha_K

I have visited many cities and have I’ve been on many tours. This, by far has been the worst! There is a lack of organization. There are no announcers on the buses. The staff was very rude, particularly for the boat tour. I would not recommend this tour to anyone.

Richard Grumm

Ferry to pier 11. Battery Park, World Trade Center Memorial, Trinity Church, Wall Street, Brooklyn bridge. Great walk.

CAMERON TAYLOR

Enjoyed the Harbor Cruise and the sites we saw!!!

Olodu Collins

OK, I have tried other buses like Grey Line and it wasn't as awesome as Top view Sightseeing , its cheap, its spacious, the bus is clean, the drivers are kind, the A. C is incredible, what more can I get from a bus, its super awesome.

N V

I truly enjoyed seeing New York via the double decker bus. There was a live tour guide. It ensured I saw many of the exciting areas New York and Brooklyn has to offer. Hop on hop off is a great feature. Friendly tour guide and driver.

Ahmed Shahin

It is a must visit sight in New York City. I went on a guided tour through Viator and had a fantastic time exploring the ELLIS island and the Statue of Liberty and the museum. Mark was a fantastic and informative tour guide

Lucci Chira

They used to be good but not anymore . I give them 4 stars because of the guides! Waiting 45 min for a bus was too much and then we waited another 5 min to open the doors, meanwhile 8 buses from Top View past us.You Need More Buses fast!!!! Make sure you get to the ferry, it's just an amazing experience, they simply take you to the Hudson river to see the New York city and New Jersey side too. You'll see a quick water tour of the statue of Liberty. Damien, one of the crew officers was simply amazing and helpful with everyone, speaking Italian French English and a little bit of Japanese.

Jenny Loyola

Did the Statue of Liberty cruise. Our tour guide is entertaining!

martin diedrich

Nice view of New York and New Jersey from the water. Very informative tour.

Lindsay

The busses were really run down, the narrator was telling at passengers, and the driver stopped to get coffee and left the bus sitting there for 30+ minutes. I say the + because that's when we finally gave up and left. Not sure when he came back. The tour route was good and interesting but not wrll-executed.

Heidi Jokiniemi

I bought the tickets online few days earlier. When we arrived, came clear that company had sold it's business for another company. Our tickets were valid, but cruise schedule had changed without further notice. Also the boat and tour route were different. We didn't see all we had planned.

A Z

We are on the red bus line and this bus has been so slow that 6 other of the same company's busses have overtaken us. When we asked tour guide why, the guide went on a full rant! 15 min wait at stop 10 and next bus just went passed. Bus 71323. We just got off and the guide said "I hope you get lost and run over by a bus" VERY DISAPPOINTED as we use this bus company in most travels 6 countries now.

Emma Swan

Don’t do it. The bus tour left a lot to be desired. The buses were very dirty and slow to go at each stop. They were not as frequent as advertised. The queue to get on was rarely respected. The guide which was not a live person was inaccurate 9/10 times. The pass into the city sites worked but did not include the most iconic site in NY, the Empire State building. Overall if you can spare an extra 10 dollars to get the better service do. Or get the subway.

Shurouq

As part of my "All Around Town 72 Hour Tour & Ferry Tour" pass I took the Uptown Tour at 11am on Wednesday Oct 31, 2018 and since I am wearing Hijab on my head being a Muslim, I guess the tour guide had a problem with that. I approached to ask him how I can get to a certain place. and if I will be able to get there on time or something of this sort, he charged at me saying sarcastically of course "Well I guess we will try to turn back time for you" and kept ignoring my questions after that pretending he doesn't hear me!! He obviously did not understand the questions, and had a really serious attitude and racism problem. I hope they can teach their tour guides to be nicer to tourists whether they like them or not. I consider this behavior to be very immature, unprofessional and condescending.

Martha Portilla

The best way to see the different areas in NY and Brooklyn if you only have a few days. Lines can be pretty long to catch the bus by Time Square though, so keep that in mind.

joan duca

Was good to have this tour bus with Hop on and Hop off access, but the tour bus we were on for the Night Lights the audio was not working so we had no clue what buildings or landmarks we were passing.

Brazilian Ninja01

Share experience for what? I would give 1/2 start for this service.

Mr XP

Super long wait for its slow service.

Denise M Branch

Enjoyed the sightseeing tour of NYC. Tour guide was knowledgeable of the city and shared interesting facts. It was fun and exciting! Can't wait to do it again!

Rich Palmer

Took the bus tour for 24 hrs. Bought tickets direct form Grayline via telephone and it was far cheaper than any street vendor or web site plus got a discount. Worth the phone call.

Wendy Wilde

Love the experience BUT Little Italy should not be a drop off. There is nothing there.

Dawn Bullock

Very smooth use and great experience. Would have given 5 had the Empire State Building been an option...

anshul kumar

They will give you prices cheaper than anywhere else but do not fall prey to their tricks, they do not have that many buses. During weekend you will end up waiting over 30 mins and their sales agent will give preferential boarding to people who they sell ticket on spot. They ruined our vacation. Highly NOT recommended

Arockia Hilton

Do not buy unlimited hop off and on, you may not even use it

umair bhatti

You can stay on the ferry as long as you want

Arjun Chopra

Extremely rude staff and drivers. Have always gone with big bus but chose these guys bcz of the river cruise. Te cruise was great, they cover the usual route. The staff was disinterested to talk. Huge turn-off

Andrew ama

TERRIBLE SERVICE!!!! Had to wait 45 minutes for a bus twice on the same day... they made us leave the bus twice as well to wait for the next bus... USE THE OTHER COMPANIES FOR YOUR OWN SAKE... this visit should have been a pleasant one, however city sightseeing is a NIGHTMARE!!!

Alfredo Motta

Definitely the best way to see New York City. Buses were clean, staff was good. I sincerely recommend it.

Lorena Guillen

This was the perfect experience for my family and I to get to know New York. We did the Night Tour, which was super affordable and we highly recommend it to everyone!

Ferdinand Lopez

Do not purchase tickets from this place. The little bit of money you save on a 2 or 3 day pass is not worth it. 9/11 memorial still requires you to stand at the ticket line before getting in the line to go in. The sales rep told us that this was our ticket and we could get straight into the line. Much better to buy the ticket online and not waste time in 2 lines. Save yourself from the headaches we and many others are facing.

Dorian Falk

This unethical company has its aggressive ticket salesmen hang out at rail station exits near the ferry to intercept unknowing tourists and tell them flat out LIES to sell tickets to their scam operation. Today my family was accosted by some of these jerks, who had the audacity to tell us this whopper about how Liberty Island was “sold out” for the day due to a large soccer team meet buying up all the tickets and the closest we could get to the Statue of Liberty was to board one of their tour boats and sail around it. My cousin immediately could smell their BS and declined, informing them that she was going to ask the staff at Clinton Castle herself if the tickets were truly sold out for the day (they weren’t, of course, and we had a lovely day visiting both Liberty and Ellis Island). One of City Sightseeing salesmen then got really hostile with my cousin, following us to yell in her face. He accused her of “being racist and acting like Trump” in front of her children and that she was “raising them to be like him,” all because she told him she’d see for herself if official tour tickets were really sold out! I then interjected with a “haha, guess we’ll get them red hats then” and he yelled at me that the Statue of Liberty is a black woman and we need to “stop being racist.” Unbelievable! The city needs to shut this whack business down!!

Leland Mcgee

Awesome just very dirty city

Gaurav Saxena

One of the worst Hop-on-Hop-off Bus service..Its complete waste of money. I would recommend not to go with City Sightseeing NewYork bus Hop-on-hop-off . I booked online for 24 hr service, i asked staff on the street about pass, they asked me to go to their office to collect pass, where i had to wait for 45 minutes in queue, than staff informed me that i don't need pass :(. Then i had to wait in queue for bus arrival for around one hour time and finally when people started shouting on staff, they got one bus. Again at every stop, if you need to onboard the bus, you have to wait in long queue for around 45 mint. Overall very bad experience and i could use only 2-3 hours max :(. Total waste of money for me and my family. Please go with other hop-n-hop-off services as those buses were having higher frequency and were not over crowded.

Chrystal Garrett

We bought the sightseeing pass for NYC, and it included the use of the Gray Line sightseeing hop on hop off bus. We looked at options for these tours and found a night tour that had a starting point near our hotel and decided to go for it. We ended up with Debbie (? - she was from Jamaica) as our tour guide. She was excellent. She gave a lot of recommendations for restaurants and places to check out on top of a ton of information about sights as we passed them. This was a great way to start off our first trip to NYC! Thank you Gray line for hiring an amazing guide!

Amy Daunt

Way cheaper to just buy your tickets at the individual places, we paid 50% more buying through them.

laura reynoso garcia

BEWARE - RIP OFFS Salesman DO NOT inform you that tickets are final. We were unhappy with the tour in the first 10 minutes. They had no room on the top deck so we had to sit in the lower deck. It was crowded and I had to sit apart from my kid. You cannot see the sights very well on the lower deck. Plus the tour guide was hard to understand. Then we were told that we can wait for another bus but it would be 20 min and there was no guarantee that there would be room on the top deck . We spent $147 for 3 tickets and they refused to give us a refund! sales are FINAL but they don’t tell you that beforehand

Martina Matulova

It's a SCAM. Bought a FlexiPass specifically asking if it works on Top Of The Rock. After being reassured 4 times that it does work, we got told it doesn't so we wasted money for nothing. Never buy anything from this company. Customer service is horrible, we didn't get any compensation neither did we see what we wanted.

Marnix Jansen

Nice tour. The whole hop on hop off thing is't really necessary but still a nice option to have. Anyway the route they go is perfect, and you have plenty of time to take great pictures.

Soufiane el allam

On the 25th of March , the city sightseeing sales man charged me wrongly for 2 tickets to Woodbury mall , then claimed he cancelled them , and again charged me for another ticket for 1 person . After returning to home country , I found out that no cancellation was made to the first transaction. Very disappointed of this indecent manners. I sent a complaint to the company , and stlll waiting for their answer and resolution. Be careful when you get asked by those sales men in the street offering you tickets !!!!!

Aditya Gaurav

Really poor service. We waited for more than an hour waiting at the spot. None of the the city sightseeing agents knew what was going on or when the next bus will come.

Lior Yes

Do not use this company and Hornblower cruises, the cruise was 25 minutes instead of an hour, we see only the statue of liberty and come back. No wind and water were all calm. When they sell us the tickets they said 5 stops in front of the Brooklyn bridge , Manhattan bridge and all Ilands. Scam!

Bindu Loke

If I could give 0 stars, I would. This was a terrible experience and the worst customer service I've encountered. We were in the line 2 hours with NO updates from anyone. Turns out, CitySightseeing agents were just on the other side of the road and they could not come over and have the common courtesy to share what was going on. Yes, no one controls that traffic and yes, unforseen circumstances happen. The traffic WAS especially bad that day. All that was expected from them was an update on where their bus was and what they could share about an ETA. When I walked over to ask them what was going on, the guy said "Lady, you can decide to not get on the bus. But there's nothing I can do. I don't want to come over and explain to 300 upset people why the bus is not here yet." Guess what - you'd not have 300 upset people if you had better customer service. Once we got on the bus there wan't any guide. I wouldn't call it a tour.

Chris Bailey

Good experience, buses were very busy but we managed to get on at each stop we hoped for. Especially one bus had wonderful tour guide and provided great information. One bus had earphone jack that didnt work but changed seats at next stop and it was okay after that. Overall good experience, good way to take a break from walking and see the city.

rishi wankhade

All the busses don't run A.C in summer. They switch it off. You have to wait for 45 min for AC bus.

Jessica U

We bought the 48 hour hop on and off pass. We used the bus to get us to specific parts of town that we wanted to explore. So we ended up getting on the downtown bus at least 3 times. Once to ride it all the way through. Once to get off at 9/11 stop and once to get off close to the High Line. It saved us a lot of wear and tear on our feet. The only thing I would suggest is to Bring Your Own Headphones because sometimes the free ones they give you just didn’t get loud enough. All of the tour guides were very nice and seemed to enjoy their job. We did have one guy that didn’t hold his microphone close enough to his mouth so he was a little hard to hear. But wow we had one guy that was absolutely FABULOUS. So, my advice would be if you have a 9 out of 10 guide then I bet your next one will be a 10 out of 10.

Jaidev Mulakkal

It is a good way to know the history of the city. Very good tour and frequency. The only reason to give just 2 stars is that we paid for an additional attraction as Empire Estate and the pass didn't work. Neither the call center answered the call nor the agent through whom we bought the ticket answered the call. Had to purchase the full price ticket again :( Avoid additional attraction with this tour

Safa Hamdi

Very nice boat ride

Linda Connolly

What a con!!! The touts just wanted people on the buses & kept stopping to pile folk on. the buses did not have any air con and us passengers were really suffering on a 100degree day. Somebody said it was the 4th bus they had been on and none of them had a/c, people were getting off because they could not stand the heat. Also nobody was given headphones to hear the commentary

Desiree Holliday

Nice boat tour.

John Angeloni

We took the bus top tour got great pictures they took us to all the spots empire state ground zero times square. We got the two day pass that included a boat tour of the shoreline of New York and includes the Statue of Liberty they sell snacks and drinks aboard for a price including beer and wine. Your allowed to get off at times square spend some time and get back on latter. We did not get to see harlem or central park as rain and time took its toll. Plan a extra day to see everything.

Camilo Morales Delgado

Don't buy the ticket from the people wearing a red shirt. They liars

Carla Howa

The day passes paid for themselves in one day. Free admission into everything and the hop on hop off narration was great. A good way to see things.

Ali Qamer

The hornblower cruise leaving from 78th pier is dirty, old, most of the ship doesn't have ac, makes a long stop at world trade center. Not worth $15 that I paid

Patricia Turner

Good tour, very poor handling of the tour. We took the circle cruise to see the Statue of Liberty. The tour itself was great. The handling of the tour was terrible. The street hustler who roped us in to this supposed one hour cruise, told us we could wait awhile for the next shuttle to take us to the pier or, if we wanted to walk, it was just a couple of blocks. In fact, it was about 4 miles and an hour walk. My boyfriend and I are 70. Once we got to pier 78, we had to wait in line for more than 30 minutes. Then they announced that people in wheelchairs and the elderly would board first. Great again, we told the gal in charge that we're 70. She said, "No, you're not." So we showed her our ID, both of us born in 1949. She said, "Oh," and walked away. We were second in line, so we didn't think it would be all that bad until they pointed out that a tour group of well over 100 people would be boarding before the rest of us. What the heck?! By the time we boarded there were barely any seats left. We found one seat on the side of the boat, but there were no speakers there and we couldn't hear the tour guide. Also, the boat was over-packed with people--way more than was comfortable for anyone. If that wasn't bad enough, there was a stop on the way back to the pier that they didn't mention to us. We had to ask someone why we had stopped. He said to drop off and pick up more passengers and then he assured us the stop would be no more than 15 minutes. In fact, it was 45 minutes plus the 15 min. ride back to pier 78. We never expected this "one hour cruise" would take up a huge portion of our day. We were very disappointed in having wasted so much time walking (one hour), then waiting in line and boarding (one hour), then the unexpected stop (one hour). Plus the cruise, the whole thing took about 4 hours and we were not happy about this.

Biju Gopinath

This service seems to be past its prime. The only positive thing about the Grey Line Service was the excellent live tour guides which is way better than any recording. The negatives were so many that I would need to give this a one start. Most of the buses were run down and dirty and the air conditioning does not work in many of them in the lower deck. On a 90+ degree day it is a torture. The schedules of the buses seem to be erratic since at some times we had to wait more than 30 minutes to catch a bus and suddenly more than one appear simultaneously. We couldn't ride one of their most expensive tours the night time tour cause the customer service said the tour closes at 8 PM and we cancelled our plans as the sun has still not set at 8 PM and there is no point in calling it a night tour. Then we saw ticket agents selling tickets for the night tour and on asking them it was told that the tour runs till 10PM. Since we had just 2 hours between the tour and a scheduled visit to the Top of the Rock we thought we could just squeeze in the tour, but it appears that the ticket agents had sold more tickets than what could be reasonably accommodated and this is resulting in very long queues lasting more than an hour.

ravindra gaonkar

I Love This. ..

Ramasharan Laxminarayan

Good coverage of the city. Night tour bus frequency is also good. Hi to the staying point to get a good seat. Harbor cruise was painful. It is only on the afternoon. We visited on peak summer. So could not enjoy the tour on the deck. It was too hot. It is printed and a bit boring. You get a very good view of statue of liberty. We had Rockefeller center entry. This was well worth. Redeeming tickets was easy.

Manikandapandian pandiaraj

Poor service. If you dont buy tickets from onsite ticket sales agent, there are not giving guidance and giving wrong direction. I had bad experience with onsite ticket sales guys. Please choose other service.i never ever go this again. Most of the buses dont have AC.

Kristi W

I would use a different tour bus company, it seems like they do not have enough buses for the amount of tickets they are selling.

Damien C

This may be the worst sightseeing company out. Use Top View if your looking for a sightseeing company. Besides the shady guys they have at the drop off locations. The buses DO NOT come every 15 minutes. I was stuck at stop 11 where you board the ferry to the statue of liberty. The guys they have out there tried to hustle my family to board the ferry at $29 a piece even tho it was free. On top of waiting for the bus to pick us up amd it came an hour and 25 minutes later. The conversation with the companies call center ended with her telling me to cath the train back. Ummm im visiting from Arizona how would I know where a train is. $150 later it was a waste. I called to speak to an individual from the actual company and was told no. They would forward my complaint. Was in New York for one day and entrusted this company to provide a great experience.. That did not happen. Next time Im in town I will try Top View as they seem to have their stuff together. Beware this company is not where its at. The guides they have on each drop off will try to get over on you as well.

Christina H

It was ok. To many stops on the route to enjoy the tour. Audio was broken on our bus.

Michele Haidar

Ok, this used to be a great experience. I used to take friends who have never been to NYC on the night tour. This time, I bring a friend...do we get a live guide that knows the city and all the fun facts? No, we get headphones to plug in and listen to a pre-recorded message that doesn’t take into account traffic and isn’t nearly as entertaining. I bragged on the knowledge and entertainment of the live guides and my friend got something the sounds like a National Geographic show. Very disappointed and no longer worth the money. You should have never fixed what wasn’t broke.

Patty J

Amazing! A must see in person!

Bharath Sudar

Amazing experience... 30$ for bus service and 35$ for boat servuces

Eran Koren

Actually very nice way to see the city and hear a local chat about what you are seeing. Probably best to go on the first stop and do the full tour, or you may not have a spot on top or at all. Or you might get lucky. Depends if its a busy day/hour. I enjoyed the rides. Thanks guys.

Christian Goulet

It was our third time using this tour company to visit New York. I still think that it is one of the best ways to visit NYC and would take a tour again with them but I felt a bit disappointed with the service they offer now compared to the previous tours we did with them a few years ago. Loops are shorter (ex : Downtown loop used to go in Greenwich, Uptown tour used to pass by Grant's Tomb, etc.), less stops (ex: there used to be a stop at City Hall, Lincoln Center, etc.). Besides, I don't know if it was a mistake by our bus driver or they just don't go there anymore even though it is still on the map, but during the night tour, in the Brooklyn part of the loop we didn't go on Furman St. to get a view of Manhattan. We just got off Manhattan Bridge and got back on almost right away! As for the guides, most of the ones we got were good. Some are better than others. But telling the story of your life and how you got out of drugs and unemployment (kudos to you!) during a tourist tour may not be the best place for that when people want to hear about NYC! Still, thank you to all tour guides for your job and showing us NYC in your own way! Also have to mention that after booking my tickets online, I had a problem and they fixed it rapidly!

Sivan Grodsky

We took the hop on hop off cruise. Cruise itself is very nice. The way back from downtown is more interesting and had a guide. Toilet on the boat is in horrible condition. The boats left on different times than they indicated on the website. The last boat of the day was cancelled with no warning so we were very lucky that we decided to go back early otherwise we would have missed our way back and also the most interesting part of the tour. Be there early because the boats leave every hour and a half and they fill them up completely so that you might not have a place to sit.

Tara Sacchetti

If I could give 0 stars I would. It's supposed to be a guided tour. They're we're plenty of seats wrapped all around the boat. We chose seats in the front. When the tour started. I could here a muffled voice coming from behind me. The one speaker they had was so far away you couldn't hear any of the tour. When we get back to the pier I will be asking for a refund

Vinay Kawade

This is the worst tour organization so far. Waste of money.

Andrea Smith

Amazing, if your from NY or a tourist its good go! Great views and informational. Rachel the tour guide was awesome!

Richard Walsham

I enjoyed our 3 day freestyle pass which cost $109 a person. The only reason I am quoting the price was to demonstrate the excellent value. We managed Top of the Rock $33 a person, the Intrepid museum $33 a person. Both the Uptown and Downtown Tours as well as the Night Tour even if you value each tour at $20 the value at $126 is a conservative 20% saving. Points to consider are that all attractions have lines and going earlier is easier, however cues are unavoidable as most are very popular Researching and planning are a must to improve your experience. The only reason City Sightseeing NYC gets 4 stars because we were on a bus and the sound system was not working we were all told to leave the bus 3 stops down on the Downtown tour and the next bus was full so had to wait 30 mins for the 2nd bus to arrive City Sightseeing NYC could improve by checking all equipment before commencing the tour. Last point could be possible blanket use for sitting upstairs during cold weather.

Kristina Heck

The hop on/hop off bus was a waste of time while in New York. We waited a long time for the bus to get to the stop...and it was full. So we waited again. Finally get on the bus and the second level had a plastic ceiling over part of it and you could hardly see anything through it. They provided headphones so you could listen to an automated guide give details about the city attractions, but it was off by several blocks. They would be talking about an attraction we weren’t even to yet because of the traffic. After spending a good portion of the day at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island we waited on the bus for quite awhile, and when it finally arrived only several people were able to get on. They said the bus was suppose to run every 20 minutes but it didn’t. The next bus had mechanical issues and we couldn’t get on it. Save yourself some time and take the subway

Jacqueline Hawkins

Highly recommend the Hop on Hop off Bus. Take a 3 day pass has loads of inclusions to show you New York at it's best

M Dietrick

We took the Uptown and Downtown routes. We had no audio service for the Downtown route, so we didn't know where we were. The Uptown bus was fabulous and we also enjoyed seeing the NY skyline on the ferry. We would recommend this company.

Michael Xiujian Huang

New York! It's really a great city, where people who are from all over the world could enjoy ~