Old Town Trolley Tours of Boston — Local services in Boston

On the afternoon of Saturday, October 5th, seven of my friends and I experienced The Old Town Trolley Tour in Boston. We purchased our tickets from the kiosk inside of the Marriott Copley hotel. The gentleman who sold us our tickets was quite friendly and gave us a discount because it was late in the day. He did not, however, explain that the tour only runs until 5:00 p.m. and that we really didn't have much time to "hop on hop off" at our leisure.

After we purchased our tickets, we went outside to board the next trolley. Much to our dismay, we realized that we were unlikely to all get on the same trolley and needed to split up, four and four. The first group was able to get on a trolley right away, while the second group needed to wait for a few more trolleys to come by until one had space for us.

After two or three full trolleys passed, the next one arrived. Upon stopping, a woman in our group waited at the door to ask the driver if there were four available seats. The driver rudely said that we needed to wait for people to get off first. This was the first of many rude comments and interactions from the driver, who we were later introduced to as “Rocky”.

There was space for us to board and when we did, our experience was “rocky” at best. The driver was extremely rude and condescending to us, other passengers, and passersby as she drove through Boston. She was clearly aggravated by how busy the city was, with four cruise ships in port that day, and the amount of traffic.

Shortly after we boarded the trolley, we passed a favorite restaurant of one of the women in our group. Another friend quietly said “Isn't that where your favorite restaurant is?” To which the friend briefly said “Yes!” Rocky was clearly angered by our brief interaction and snapped back “Would you like to give the tour?” She then proceeded to stop the trolley, lay her arms and head on the steering wheel for about 10 seconds, and then picked her head up and said, “Moving on…”

As we drove through the city, it was a beautiful day and many people were out enjoying the city. We saw a few newly married couples with their wedding parties taking photographs at various locations. One such group was taking photos outside the State House and grabbed the attention of many of the passengers on the trolley. Rocky was telling us about the statue across from the State House but many of the riders were looking to the left at the bride and groom instead of at the statue. This must have aggravated Rocky because she proceeded to say in an annoyed tone, “Well clearly the statue isn't as interesting as the wedding.”

As we continued our tour into the Seaport area, many people were getting off the trolley at the various cruise ships. Rocky was instructing the passengers where to get off for which ship but her tone was aggravated, short, and annoyed, not at all friendly, patient, and helpful.

We got off the trolley at Quincy Market and to be honest, I wanted to get off much earlier but we needed to rejoin the rest of our group. It was not at all a pleasant experience, mainly due to Rocky’s rude and condescending attitude. I'm sure there are many drivers who make the ride an interesting and informative one for their passengers but that unfortunately was not our experience with Rocky.

Collectively, we paid over $400 for an unpleasant ride that ended up being a little over an hour. We were not able to explore any of the other stops and chose to take alternate transportation back to the Copley area at the end of the afternoon. Based on our experience, I would not recommend the Old Town Trolley Tour. If you do choose to take the trolley, I would recommend avoiding having Rocky as your driver.

Added after complaint resolution Despite the fact that we had a poor experience, I must commend Old Town Trolley Tour Boston on their quick response and resolution to my complaint. We received a full refund and response within three hours of my review/request for refund. I do believe that the Old Town Trolley Tour Boston could be a good experience with a...

Wanted to rate it higher, but just couldn’t. My parents and I were super excited for this trolley tour of Boston! We got there almost at opening time, 9:20 AM, and were able to hop on one of the first trolleys to leave. Our driver seemed knowledgeable and also added lots of humor to the visit- but if I were to have had children with me I probably would’ve had to hop off because his jokes were definitely not kid friendly. We wanted to do an entire round trip on the trolley before deciding where we wanted to hop off. So after two hours, when all of the stops (except 2 of them) were completed, we decided to stay on and get off at stop 6. However, our driver proceeded to tell us he was being forced to go on a lunch break and we were all going to have to get off the trolley and wait in line to get on another one. My parents and I were very unhappy. The line to get on the next trolley was over 45 minutes wait time- and stop 6 was too far of a walk for my parents! Hence why we paid for the trolley! When I called prior to purchasing tickets, I was told we could ride all day long or get on/off whenever we pleased. I also called Customer Service the day before our ticket date to ask a few questions. At this time, the lady never informed me that our trolley tour was going to be ending a hour prior than scheduled. Upon arrival on the day of, we were told the trolley was going to be ending a hour early for them to do a haunted trolley tour. It would’ve been really nice if our ticket could’ve been cheaper or we would’ve had a heads up about not getting to have that extra hour of time we paid for. It might sound silly, but I had planned out our whole day and scheduled dinner reservations according to the trolley schedule. By being forced off our first trolley, we did learn our first driver was not as informative as we originally thought. The other driver’s we had throughout the day stayed on a script and played different music and things over the speaker, whereas our first driver did absolutely none of that during our two hour initial tour. Lastly, there were two stops on the tour that were “closed.” And once again, there was no heads up on that either! The funny thing is, one of the bus driver’s said “Oh no, I can go to those stops- they’re not closed” (his trolley was full so we couldn’t just “hop on” as advertised) while two other drivers told us that they were closed. So we had to walk to those locations. I still don’t understand why they were closed, because other trolley companies were taking their customers to those stops with no issues. Overall, we left feeling very let down and frustrated. It’s not a cheap ticket to purchase and to get less than half of the experience you expect is a big bummer! We also figured out that every single trolley forces everyone off after the final stop when you’re back at the starting point. We think it’s how they sell so many tickets every day- everyone is forced off of the trolley at stop number 1, you have to stand back in line and get back on the trolley after you’ve completed the final stop. Sadly, not worth the cost and...

Beware. I purchased a trolley tour plus the harbor cruise. I was charged $59.95 for 3 hours of trolley use plus $36.00 for the harbor cruise, only to discover when the harbor cruise returned that I was left stranded far, far away from the Welcome Center where I started....and far, far away from my hotel. The recommendation, when I asked staff about the next available trolley, was that there were no more trolleys and I should learn how to use the Boston subway system at rush hour so that I could get back to the start...unless I wanted to take a taxi/uber. Call me silly but if you sell a package tour, I think you should either provide transport back to the start or inform the unsuspecting purchaser that they are going to be stranded and at the mercy of the country's oldest subway system. The plus side was staff were very helpful, the trolley tour was good(although I would have liked more than 3 hours) and the harbor cruise, while hard to find, was terrific. So my advice is start early in the day so you get full value for your trolley tour and ask a lot of questions about exactly which boat and where you are going to get it from...and how you are getting back /to the start after the cruise is finished? If you master all this, you should have a good time. To be fair, the company credited my payment based on my concerns which was totally unexpected and they have assured me they have passed on these concerns to local management. So, as a last word, if you are aware of the above and get fully informed, it is a really fun trolley+harbor cruise....especially watching the planes land at the airport from the boat. And all very informative and a great way to see Boston. The ttolley tour info and habor cruise info also complement each other spectacularly well. I learned heaps and had s lot of fun doing it. So recommended. I would do it again myself...but ask more questions at the start e.g. (1) how late do the trollleys run (2) how am I getting back after the end of the harbor cruise since the harbor cruise returns after the troĺleys stop running and (3) which of the five gates at the pier am I meant to be at to pick up the harbor cruise. I am now 100% satisfied with my experience due to the prompt and substantive response I received to my concerns from corporate. Very impressed. Fuly informed, you should have a great time. I would encourage you to...