Saint Paul Gangster Tours — Attraction in Saint Paul

My family attended the bus tour today. We booked this tour over a month ago for 5 of us for a birthday celebration. We arrived 15 minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave. We tried boarding the bus and the driver said we needed wristbands to board. We went to the coffee shop and were told by our guide, Ellie, that the driver was wrong and we didn’t need wristbands after all. We were not the only group given the confusing information. Our tour guide even went to far as to call the bus driver a “dumbass” because he told multiple people they needed to get wristbands. Two people from our group needed to use the restroom so myself and the other 2 members of the group decided to board the bus and save spots. The bus was full and our group was split up and not able to sit by one another. Not a huge deal, but had the boarding situation been more organized and we hadn’t been told we couldn’t board the bus when we got there, we would have been able to sit by each other. The bus tour itself was horrible. Our tour guide was overly animated and obnoxious. She was all over the place with her topics and I had no idea what she was talking about half of the time. The only interactions she seemed to care about was from the group towards the front that seemed to laugh at her “jokes.” She even brought up a previous 1-star review that she received telling the bus they said her flapper dress was too “salacious” and showed her “breasts” too much. My 12-year old son was on this tour. I understand the tour guides are playing a character, but she was over the top and her “act” completely took away from the experience and I learned nothing. She sounded like she was out of breath the entire time she was talking. My son spent the tour playing a game on his phone and another member from our group put AirPods in. I am extremely disappointed that this is how I chose to spend my birthday. I was really looking forward to this tour based on the excellent reviews, but I would definitely not recommend booking this if Ellie is...

I'm updating my review after someone reached out to me about how they've remedied the bus speaker system. I appreciate that this company reads the reviews and responds to ensure the customer experience is good.

I rarely leave less than positive reviews but I do want to provide constructive criticism. First, the positives: the bus was very comfortable and clean and the driver was excellent. The information and sights about the history of St. Paul was extremely interesting and compelling. Our tour guide really knew the history. Unfortunately, the volume of the delivery really detracted from the whole experience. Some of the blame is on us for not bringing it to his attention. I wanted to but I couldn't find an appropriate moment to mention this in a busload of people.

Suggestion, maybe have the guide ask attendees about 15 minutes in (and maybe periodically) for feedback on the volume. Actually, if he hadn't used the microphone it may...

The tour guide, Ellie , aka ‘Lipstick’ was one of the worst tour guides I have ever experienced on a tour bus. First of all, she talked about herself more than the gangsters. She thought she was hilarious and she was not one bit funny. She talked about getting a bad review from someone because she was , too, in her words, ‘salacious’. My 12 year old grandson was on this bus. Her clothing was most definitely inappropriate. I would like to mention I’ve been in this tour before and it was fabulous. It was a few years ago. I encouraged my family , 5 of us, to go in this tour because of the first experience I had. I would recommend the tour to anyone from past experience but after today I would avoid ‘lipsticks’ bus at all costs. I feel she ruined the tour...