empire vacations day tours

Although I researched tours to Niagara Falls from New York online, I booked this one by telephone. My reservation was handled efficiently and accurately. Whenever I phoned in to ask questions about the tour, I was treated courteously and professionally. This tour offered more than I expected in terms of sightseeing, information, tour guide services, and bus driver skills. Totally professional throughout. With so much to cover in a short time, we kept moving, but at a manageable pace. The hotels were great. It was a beautiful trip. Nothing on the itinerary was omitted. This is the tour to take if you want to see Niagara Falls NY and Niagara Falls Canada plus Toronto. You will love the two boat rides inc. the 1000 Islands tour and Watkins Glen State Park. Great value, even for a single supplement, which is what I booked. Thank you, Empire Vacations, for a beautiful experience I will always remember!

we did the Boston in a day trip in April. At the best it was a nice bus drive . As far as being a tour it certainly was not.Problems:1. Guide with minimal knowledge or tour skills or at least not interested in sharing.2. multiple language tour which is fine but poorly organized as to who would talk when and marked difference in amount of interaction between guide and passengers dependant on language spoken.3. windows of bus not clean.4. no response from travel company or viator when feedback given.5. poor practice from guide to get tips.6. guide had too many personal views on politics and university preferences that did not need to be shared.to elaborate. This trip had english ( largest number of passengers) and german and Spanish.The intention had been that the english commentry would be given then that guide would speak to German passengers and the other guide to the Spanish. The Spanish guide spoke endlessly to his clients even when other guide was speaking. He rarely drew breath and unfortunately we were sitting close to this group though it could be heard throughout the bus. He had no respect what so ever for the other passengers. On top of this the english guide gave bare minimum commentry. Nil onway back and on way to Boston rare comments. The English passengers around us were definately wondering what we were missing out on while the Spanish guide was clearly guiding the Spanish passengers well.When asked questions once we arrived in Boston the english guide showed little interest and in fact appeared to not have adequate knowledge re subject. Many of us passengers laughingly bought a guide book in Boston as otherwise we had no idea what we were seeing ( or missing). Even on the way home when 2 movies ( one with questionable content and language) were shown the last 40 minutes the Spanish guide began talking again making it very unpleasant for all other passengers. The English guide gave the tip talk at the end and i do not believe it is appropriate or necessary to tell passengers about the financial trouble of the drivers and herself to get tips. If a service is good tips will follow.positivesthe other passengers we spoke to were very friendly.the stops on the way there and back were of high standard and time was adequate.I did not feel we were rushed to get back when traffic was bad , nothing seemed to be missed from the proposed itinerary we were just very late back.The movies filled in time.The drivers were fabulous.On return home I was sufficiently upset about the quality of the guide I wrote to the company at midnight ! I have yet to get any response especially as I did say we had not tipped and I mentioned that we would be very pleased to tip the drivers if our money does not go to the guide and asked how we could do this , clearly this company cares just as little for staff as passengers. We also sent our letter of concern to viator and not no response either. asdwe book with viator all the time this is very poor form. Please note we did not hate the day the drive was ok and we saw some countryside but it was NOT value for money and we have taken tours all around the world and this would be the worst I can remember.My advice is to take the train and use hop on hop off bus as day would be much more informative and just as easy from NYC. Sadly we neglected to read reviews before booking but note they by and large back up the experience we had. GIVE THIS COMPANY A MISS.

Avoid it like the plague. If you really want to see Boston at least stay overnight - it is simply too far away from New York to contemplate doing it in 1 day.The staff are helpful and nice enough (although one of the guides spent the day trying to pick up a young single woman that was on the tour).We spent a total of 3 hours in a:) a roadside truck-stop (who needs 45 mins for coffee) and b:) an over-priced touristy market in Boston (again, who needs 2 hours for lunch). Given there is 8 hours of travel time in the day already I do not want to be sitting around waiting for food.The stop at Harvard was good, as was the Freedom Trail itself, but again they were rushed and only 30 minutes at each place. The stop at the USS Constitution was disappointing as it is closed weekdays and we could only see it through the fence.

My wife and I had an unforgettable experience. We joined the tour in Los Angeles for five days, the tour included San Francisco, Vegas and more impressive places. There was very positive dynamics in the group, we enjoyed very much from the trip. I would like to commend and thank wholeheartedly to Michael our guide and especially Dorit, fabulous instructor who did all she could and was able to give us this magical experience. You are a model for imitation, very well done! I am sure I will use your services again. Yakov David

Dear Mr XXX, Thank you for your review of the Western Deserts Tour on Oct 01, 2013. This was the first day of the shutdown of the government. Due to the shutdown all of the parks and sites in this tour were closed. Our company had prepared an alternate itinerary for this situation. We offered you the option to cancel your booking and receive a full refund or to travel with us on the alternate itinerary. Your response was to demand a discount on the new itinerary. I advised you that this is not an option. You elected to travel on the alternate itinerary and during the tour you were very happy, we did not hear from you throughout the three days of the tour. Upon return of the tour you demanded a full refund to which we advised you that since you had chosen the option of going on the tour this will not be possible. We are sorry you feel the way you do and hope that you did enjoy the amazing sites that you did visit during the tour.Thank you for Travelling Empire Vacations Jonathan Zuk

My parents came back two weeks ago from a trip in the West, under the direction of Eli and Dorit. We would like to thank you for a wonderful trip and a great experience. The training was professional and warm all the way through and the itinerary was fascinating and beautifully organized. My parents, who do not speak English at all, just "felt at home". Congratulations!!A.S

Went on our much anticipated day trip to Washington today and have to say we were bitterly disappointed. The main issue was our tour guide Emmanuel. He was totally disengaged, poorly prepared and had no personality. I have read other reviews and perhaps our disappointment was caused by our tour guide. We also heard other people discussing his lack of subject knowledge. He only told us his name at the end of the tour, while giving out the review forms. Incidentally, the forms ran out before they got to us. Probably a good thing for Emmanuel. I was gobsmacked when he said that Pocohantas married "some English guy". For goodness sake, do some research. Not to mention his constant referal to Abraham Lincolnin. We have just spent three days on hop on hop off buses and those guys would have eaten him for breakfast. Check out Darius sometime and see how its done. The only people he did engage with we're some people that he was speaking to in a different language. One of these people gave him a $20 tip before the trip ended which he put it in his wallet. Aren't they meant to split the tips with the drivers. Classy!OK, about the tour itself. I have to say that we felt that the 4 plus hours bus ride each way wasn't worth it. I think that they could cut Madam Tussaud's and the space museum and add more history and general information. We were certainly left wanting. Not to mention the drop off at the gift store where we could get 20% discount! Did I hear someone say kickback!On a positive note, the bus was clean, on time and the drivers were efficient.

I took a day trip with Empire Vacations from New York to Washington DC, We like the trip very much and specially the Tour guide that translated everything to us. we had wifi at the bus which was very Convenient.we will sure come back and travel with this company. thank you very muchSnir

Dear Mr George JK1, Thank you for your review. Unfortunately you did not post your name so I cannot verify that the confirmation was sent to you, this is done automatically from our system and sometimes if your email is not set to receive an attachment the confirmation gets sent to the junk folder.You have stated that we promised to return to New York City by 07:00 pm.Please see the following paragraph that appears on our website regarding the return time of tours:Return / End of Tour Time: All tours are schedule to end approximately between 07:00 - 08:00 pm. This time is estimated only. Actual return time varies based upon weather, Traffic and circumstances beyond our control. It is not recommended to schedule evening activities and / or flights on the same day of your tour.In your review you did not mention the guide, the bus, the itinerary and the sites you visited so I can only assume that those were perfect.Thank you for Travelling Empire Vacations Amir Dvir - General Manager

To whom it may concern,This week we participated in a 5 days trip to the West Coast. Beforehand I had a few concerns such as: who are the instructors? how would the Group be? - Luckily we won! Starting from the amazing guide Eli Gabay who was professional and extremely pleasant!!!! Continued with our driver, Shay, who took us to Las Vegas, our guide in Las Vegas who guide us through a very pleasant evening and last but not least one our fabulous instructor Cochava who gave us Service from her heart and beyond!!! Of course we also hung out with a highly qualified group. There is no doubt that we recommend this trip to all our friends. Thank you sincerely Revital Ze’evi

We booked this tour through Viator. We knew beforehand that there would be 8 hours of travelling on the bus there and back....so that was not an issue. In fact it's worth doing early on your New York stay as sleeping on the bus helped us get over jetlag!My main issue with the tour was the organisation at the start....it wasn't clear where to assemble and who was organising the tour. Also lunch at the "biggest foodcourt in the world" at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum was a huge disappointment...it's just a McDonald's!!!I'd rather spend more time seeing other sights.....the Native American Museum for example!

Dear Mr Tony B, Thank you for your review, Our departure is scheduled for 07:00 am from a central location in Manhattan (Across the street from Grand Central Station). This is not where our offices are nor do we advertise them to be there. Our dispatch team arrives to the location at 06:20 - 06:30 and sets up the buses and signs directing you where to go. Based upon your review this is what happened.All of our tours are multilingual we offer 7 different languages and each tour is guided in 2 languages. This is to provide you the traveler with as many options to depart on the tours according to your schedule. We apologize for the flat tire on the trip however this something that is beyond our control.We managed to fix this issue very quickly and made sure it did take too much time out of the day.All of the visits that were scheduled fro that day were done and more.The hotel we use in Niagara Falls is a superior tourist class hotel and has been accommodating our groups for over 5 years with no complaints. The hotel does have air conditioning, there may have been a problem in your room specifically, and if the tour guide would have been advised he would have acted immediately to fix that.The time in the outlet is based upon the time it takes to cross the border and the amount of traffic there is during the day. Sometimes it is 2 1/2 hours and sometimes less. the highlight of this tour is the falls and not the shopping outlet. I am happy to read that the falls were fantastic and you enjoyed them.thank you for travelling Empire VacationsAmis Dvir General Manager

The tour is great if you quickly want to snap some pictures of the major landmarks. You have no time to stop and enjoy things though. We ran through some areas like the wax museum because they give you barely anytime. I was disappointed that the air and space museum was the longest time because its not as interesting as the actual sites. The tour guide was charismatic but full of lies. I checked some of his facts when I got back home and it was half wrong. He also gave barely any info because he spoke Spanish half the time. He also spoke in Spanish but did not translate in English on several occasions. His assistants were also very unprofessional and lacked any knowledge of the sites. They should also work on getting people back to the bus on time. We lost so much valuable time waiting for people instead of enjoying the sites.

We participated in your trip to Hampton-Sag Harbor - we were two people from Israel in a group which included tourist from Germany and Australia . We had 2 guides one English speaker and one German speaker and an Israeli guide who was added especialy for us!! I would like to highly commend the professional guidance and the pleasant atmosphere during the whole time of the trip. this was due to the guide tour Natasha and the israeli guide Emanuel. I think I shell go to the trip to New England at the comming fall in same way . Aviva blass Israel (age 69)

I booked this tour via Viator. booking was easy. the staff were outstanding with their knowledge of local sites, had friendly and helpful nature (especially Michael tour leader). I have been on various other tours with other companies in various parts of the world. the quality of the tour exceeded my expectation.