TopView — Attraction in New York

This company does not even deserve one star!! They are crooks and one look at their BBB score and comments on their Facebook Page is enough to keep anyone away. Don't be fooled by the "reviews" on here.

At around 10:15AM on 5/4/24 we were approached in Times Square by a TopView salesman wanting to sell us tickets for the Hop On, Hop Off Bus Tour. We explained that we were interested but since we couldn't start until the afternoon we would like to get a 2 day pass with the Liberty Boat Cruise. He assured us he would get us the best deal for this and we would be able to use it both that day and the next day. We paid the man $188 total for the two tickets (which are only $81 a piece on the website) - this was the "discounted rate and best deal available". He then had us download the app and register our tickets right there with him. It wasn't until later that afternoon when we went to board the bus that we realized he not only sold us a 24 hour ticket but by making us register our tickets right there with him at 10:25AM the tickets were only good until the same time the following morning. We attempted to speak with the other employees by stop 1 in Times Square before boarding, expressing our frustration in not getting what we were told, but they were unable to help. We decided we would make the most of the remaining afternoon and boarded the bus. We got off at stop 7 to do some exploring and then head over by foot to stop 11, which is the stop for the Liberty Cruise, according to both the map that we were handed and the company's website. When we got to stop 11 at our reserved cruise time we saw red TopView signs stating that that was the pier for the cruise, so we again assumed we were in the correct location. When we began boarding the boat we were told that TopView had relocated their cruise to a pier on the other side of Manhattan earlier in the week, which would take over an hour to get to. The owner of the boat we boarded told us and some others there from TopView that they had something worked out to where we could pay to sail with them and then get a refund from TopView for the Liberty Cruise that week only. We chose to do that because we would not have time to make it across town and changing our reservation time to the later cruise would result in us missing our show we had tickets for. When that cruise ended we had to walk to another bus stop, since the bus was no longer picking up at stop 11 due to not using that pier. By the time we finally made it to another bus stop location it was past the time to even ride the bus anymore. So not only did we not get any of the things we asked for when we initially bought the tickets, we also only got to ride the bus one time.

On 5/6/24 I called the customer support number and spoke with someone named Bradford who stated he was a supervisor. I explained our situation to him and expressed our severe displeasure in the entire experience. He refused to refund our Liberty Cruise or any other part of our purchase. He informed me that when purchasing the tickets we agreed to no cash refund, which was not mentioned to us a single time by the salesman. We signed for our purchase but he did not say anything about any contracts or agreements regarding our tickets. Bradford did offer us a new set of tickets that we could use sometime over the next year, however this is our first trip to NYC in 7 years. We won't be coming back anytime soon and even if we were we certainly wouldn't waste our time getting back on that bus. I explained to Bradford I would be reaching out to the Better Business Bureau and I have done just that. I am sending this so that you would have the entire story and be aware of the situation. If I could go back I would have avoided the sellers on the street and gone a totally different route for our trip. One look at the business' score on the BBB and a simple glance at their Facebook Page would have shown me that we were getting involved with crooks that did not prioritize customer satisfaction in their...

Review of TopView NYC Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tours (Uptown, Downtown + Liberty Cruise) ⭐ 1/5 — Extremely disappointing and poorly managed experience

As someone who works in the travel industry and is a native New Yorker, I expected to recommend this tour to future visitors — but after experiencing it firsthand, I cannot in good conscience do so.

We purchased two TopView tickets for the uptown and downtown loops with a Liberty Cruise. While the man selling the tickets was pleasant, he was also extremely pushy about receiving a tip, claiming he gave us a “special deal” — which turned out to be just the standard rate. To end the uncomfortable interaction, I gave him $5.

Uptown Tour:

We were told a bus would arrive in 10 minutes. It took over 40 minutes. Once we boarded, we collected the complimentary headphones and started the tour — only to find no audio commentary at all. We passed major landmarks with no guide or narration. I ended up giving impromptu commentary to others on the bus, simply because I’m familiar with the city.

When the audio did eventually begin, it was completely out of sync with our actual location. It was confusing, frustrating, and made the entire “tour” pointless.

Downtown Tour:

I didn’t think it could get worse — I was wrong.

We were picked up at 42nd Street. The driver, for reasons unexplained, looped around Bryant Park up to 48th Street, completely off the usual downtown route. When I politely asked what was going on, she dismissively told me to take my seat and said it was a “scheduling issue.” I mentioned that all the passengers were confused, and she snapped back, “Well now you know so you can go tell them.”

This level of rudeness and unprofessionalism is unacceptable, especially for someone working in tourism. In my professional opinion, she should not be interacting with customers.

Once we were back on track, the audio commentary again was wildly out of sync — describing the Theatre District as we passed Bryant Park. By the time everything aligned, we were already in SoHo.

At South Ferry, the driver stopped to have a personal conversation about birthday drinks with a coworker — ignoring the fact that she had a bus full of paying passengers on a scheduled tour.

When we returned to Port Authority, she abruptly told everyone to get off — even though she had just picked up a family of three at Hudson Yards and sold them tickets!

Final Thoughts:

This entire experience was embarrassing, frustrating, and unprofessional. I would strongly discourage anyone from using TopView Tours in NYC. Their staff are poorly trained, rude, and disorganized. The buses are unreliable, and the audio guides are essentially useless.

Though I haven’t personally tried Big Bus Tours, I would confidently recommend them over TopView, as they can’t possibly be worse.

As a travel professional and proud New Yorker, I’m appalled that this company is representing our city...

ZERO STARS IF WE COULD!! We visited NYC for one day with our kids, hoping to recreate the great experience we had a decade ago with Gray Line tours (which no longer run). After searching for sightseeing options, we found TopView’s 24-hour Discover Pass, which sounded amazing with Downtown & Uptown hop-on/off buses, a Liberty Cruise, night tour, and more. We were excited and bought tickets — we did see some negative reviews but honestly didn’t think it could really be that bad. We were wrong.

TopView claims you can start the hop-on/off tours at any stop, but the buses don’t run as loops. We boarded the Downtown bus at Stop 11 planning to ride to Stop 5, but at Stop 14 the driver yelled it was the “last stop” and made everyone get off. If Stop 14 is truly the final stop, that’s fine — but TopView needs to clearly communicate that buses aren’t continuous loops and riders will need to transfer or start over if they want to keep going. Employees gave no explanation and even misinformed us, nodding yes when we asked if the bus would loop back.

All the buses were filthy with trash, wet seats, sticky floors, and no AC — and we’re from Florida, so we’re used to heat, humidity, and rain, but these buses were miserable.

The Liberty Cruise was another disappointment: the boats are old and uncomfortable. “Premium” seating is simply black metal folding chairs on the uncovered top level — sitting in the direct sun on hot black metal. “Standard” seating is in the covered sections on both the top and bottom decks, but the chairs are the same uncomfortable folding chairs. Most employees looked unhappy and were unhelpful, except Aaron, who was the only bright spot of our day.

The NYC Skyline Night Tour was the worst part: it rained, and we went to Stop 2 for our 8pm reservation. The employee told us to walk five more blocks to Stop 1 for faster boarding, so we did — only to stand in the rain for 30 minutes with no communication. After we and a few other groups complained, they finally let us board — but then we sat on the bus for another 30 minutes in the rain until every seat was filled.

The tour ended back at Stop 2, where the driver yelled it was the last stop and kicked everyone off immediately. Traffic was gridlocked, and our driver got into an argument with a city bus driver who was stuck behind us, clearly fed up — suggesting this happens often.

We planned to use the Uptown bus the next morning but refused to waste more time after the chaos. Once you buy tickets, there are no refunds, even if the experience is terrible.

We have fond memories of Gray Line tours, but TopView was the opposite: disorganized, dirty, uncomfortable, and staffed by employees who don’t care about customers.

I highly do not recommend TopView Sightseeing. Save your money and your day — avoid...