“We really enjoyed our half day tour of Bucharest. The guide was helpful, knowledgeable and funny and the minibus was clean and on time. We saw all of the most interesting sites and learned a lot about the history of the city and the country. If we had had more time, we would have booked the full day trip to Transylvania with Mr Tripp as well.”
“Wonderful half day tour. Elena was our guide and did a wonderful job. We learned a lot about Romania as well as religious history. We were able to see all the highlights of the town as well as take pictures. I would recommend this tour.”
“Our guide Monica, was very knowledgeable about the city, its history and places of interest. It was a lovely and memorable introduction to Romania and definitely set the right mood for our vacation. Thanks again to Grayline/Mr. Tripp and the excellent service we have come to expect from their amazing staff!”
“The half day tour is indeed interesting, there is a lot of walking, all up about 12,000 steps, but this is balanced by sitting down in a couple of places to eat and drink. Bogdan Obor was a knowledgeable and thoughtful guide who was intent on making the walking tour a worthwhile event for everyone. This was my last tour in Bucharest, before I flew out, and it certainly left me with a warm and enlightened feeling of Bucharest.”
“I was really looking forward to this 1/2 day trip but it turned out to be a horrible afternoon. Our guide was quite a bit older, red haired lady. She wore a black dress, cut to the belly button both front and back. Every time she lifted her arm or twisted we saw her full breast (no bra). Not appropriate for a tour guide.
Secondly, the tour was supposed to be in English. There were several French people (8 of us on the bus) and only 2 English. We didn't get much in the way of explanation. I kept asking her to repeat in English. She wasn't really interested in anything but her newspaper (I have pictures) and chatting with the driver.
After we visited the chapel of bones, she stopped at the butcher (left 8 of us standing in the middle of the sidewalk wondering where she went) and came out with a hunk of some kind of meat similar to head cheese - approx 6"x5" x 5". She held it in a piece of paper and proceeded to eat it as we walked to the bus and then while on the bus (have pictures), We then stopped at another chapel and wandered around. The group wandered separately; she finally decided to talk to me. She invited me for a lemonade down the way - where the washrooms were. We walked about a block when another lady from the group joined us. She didn't stop to count the number of passengers or tell the others where we were. I used the facilities and she had ordered herself a meal. We were not told how much time we had or if we too were able to eat.
The thing was that there were only six out of 8 of us. She'd left and not told a French Canadian couple where we were going to. Her phone rang and it was her office informing her that 2 people were lost (they had called Expedia). A few of us offered to go back to the church to help her look, but she just stood and yelled (yodeled?) from where we were. It was like she didn't have the energy to walk back to the cathedral. They were not there and so she announced that some people just can't follow directions. I was aghast, I had been with her and there were no directions.
On the trip back to Bucharest she chatted lively with the driver. She didn't say a word to us.
I'd been traveling Europe for 8 weeks already and doing tours in many countries - some good, some great. This, in my opinion, didn't count as a tour.
I emailed the company and Sara Jenkins got back to me immediately asking for time to look into this then I got a "get lost" letter stating because I booked with Expedia I had to deal with them.
This was my 2nd tour with Grayline. The first, to "Dracula's" castle was not great.”
