Niagara Tour Company — Attraction in City of Niagara Falls

We had a really bad experience.

We arrived 15mins early to the pickup location, when the driver arrived we gave her our party name and she told us we weren’t on her bus and to step aside for others to get on.

We continued to wait as other companies came to pick up their groups. Then we started calling the main phone number to ask when our ride would be there as they were now over 25mins late. We got hung up on a few times by the operator after they said they would “check”. Finally one of the other tour guide’s came rushing back to get us, we finally met up with the group.

There was no apology from our Tour Guide, I’m not sure if she was playing dumb or really didn’t even know it was us whom she told wasn’t in her group at pickup.

As the tour proceeds, she has us waiting for every attraction for her to buy tickets. (You would think she’d have tickets already for these attractions, no?)

Then, to top it off, at one of the destinations she only gave my group 1 ticket (we were 2 adults & 1 child) she tried to get us more tickets but the ticket booth wouldn’t issue anymore. The people who worked there then gave us a hard time to let us through because we didn’t have enough tickets (our guide had disappeared by then so we couldn’t even have her verify our story).

At every stop she just told us which way to head and how long we had until we had to meet up at the bus again. It was a really poor overall experience from the Niagara Tour Guide Company.

While on the tour bus apparently there weren’t even enough seats. On the ride back to our drop off at the end of the tour, I had two teenager boys sitting on one another’s lap in the seat next to me. How is that safe? Also, if it were me I would of demanded a seat of my own, you paid all of this money!

Would...

We had a 4-day visit from CA to NYC to visit our daughter studying in NY and wanted to make the most of our time so added a tour of Niagara Falls. The tour was planned for the 3rd day of our visit and we would be returning to CA the next day. We booked the full package with cave tour etc. for 3 people and the total was $478.77.

When we arrived at the airport for our flight to NYC to Buffalo, our flight was cancelled due to weather and any later flights would not make it to any other tour that day. ($100 round trip from Manhattan to the airport for a canceled flight). I called to explain the issue and was offered a reschedule. That might sound simple enough but I would need to plan another trip to NY, which I needed time to do. I tried calling back that afternoon but could not reach the person who assisted me. After returning to CA I tried several more times with no success. Part of the reason is the 3-hour time difference and I tried on different days. By the time I finally reached my contact, I was advised that it was too late and that had I rescheduled on the day of the scheduled event, they would have been able to reschedule. It seemed like the agent no longer recalled our original conversation so I decided to drop it.

I recommend staying in Buffalo the day before the tour to avoid flight cancellations or other unanticipated factors. The tour company will confirm the day before if you will be taking the tour. The 1-star is only based on my experience with the booking agent and not the tour itself and I hope this information is helpful to anyone planning to fly in for the day. Hopefully, our family will be back soon and be able to experience the falls. If we use this company, I’ll be sure to update the review....

Barb was our tour guide and a wonderful hostess for our small group of 12! She picked us up at the meeting point on the American side. She was funny and delightful, always giving us details about the history of the falls. She grew up in Niagara Falls and had interesting stories related to the tour. She took us to the maid of the mist on the American side first, which was an adventure since I’d only been on the Canadian side. I was thrilled that the American falls were just as delightful as the others. We toured around the edges of the falls where the rushing waters began. She even made a stop at a delicious local bakery where we purchased Italian pastries and gelato, which we could eat on the bus. She gave us plenty of time at each location, which included Goat Island, Three Sisters and Horseshoe Falls, then we went through the cave to climb the wooden stairs to experience the hurricane. Barb advised us to save our rain ponchos for this part. There was a small yet interesting museum which explains who bought the ‘ditch’ and how it all came to be with a short 5-7 minute film with benches. We went to a gift shop for the typical tourist falls attire and could take more pictures our by the rushing waters. The most convenient portion of the trip for us was when she offered to drop us as close to the border since we had to return to the Canadian side!!! What a treat and a definite must ~ you get a lot for your Canadian dollar...