Scenic Sedona Tours — Local services in Sedona

I have had many tour experiences over the years. Whether in the USA, Europe, or other places in the world. Nearly all have been amazing and informative. But three stand out above the rest. They include many years ago during my first trip to New Orleans and my first, of many trips, to San Diego. The third was last year during my 2nd time in Sedona, AZ. What made these tours special were the guides. They were so informative about their area and community. Last year's guide in Sedona was "Patrick" from Scenic Sedona Tours. Great, informative, easy to ask questions. This year we brought friends of ours with us to experience Sedona for the first time. Naturally, we wanted to begin with an over view of Sedona so we decided to again take the Scenic Sedona Tours. We were told Patrick was not available. Of course we thought we would take the same tour with another guide. I try my best not to give a review unless it is positive. Unfortunately, I feel the need to give a review on our NEGATIVE tour experiences. Our guide was Gracie. She began by explaining she had moved to Sedona 7 years ago from Flagstaff. And how she changed her life style. And how she'd be dead if she had continued living her previous life style. And how we would not want to have known her 8 years ago. If she wanted to tell us her back ground, fine. But, she continued to repeat this several times during the 5 1/2 tour. Even our friends noticed this and were as bothered as I was. The problem is she left out so much tour information that my wife and I received from Patrick during our tour last year. This is because Gracie spent so much time talking about herself and repeating to talk about herself. My wife and I were able to fill-in information we had learned last year. Also, the "tipping" information was written on the vehicle, which was fine. However, Gracie tells us how much we should tip her. On the positive, Gracie was asking us many time, with the heat, if she could provide us water. Gracie seems like a nice person, but the tour experience was not...

My mother and I took a tour on April 10 to the Grand Canyon. From the beginning, our guide showed signs of being rude. My mother, who is in her 70s, was using the restroom before we left. It was right before our departure time of 8 a.m., but he came into the store and appeared to be impatient.

During the trip there, his driving was very erratic. He was often going well over the speed limit (confirmed by those who were sitting up front) and would frequently pass other vehicles in an aggressive manner. Going around mountain bends was especially rough, especially for my mom, who has some health issues.

At one point, he unexpectedly and aggressively made a left turn into a gas station and stopped without any explanation as to what he was doing. He eventually said he was fixing his mic.

A couple finally spoke up, and he slowed down a little. They also called him out for allegedly seeing him eat while driving, sometimes with both hands off the wheel.

What's more, he was never really informative or friendly on the trip. He would point out random things but didn't share any history or interesting facts about the canyon. He frankly just didn't seem to care that much.

He also didn't bother to make sure that everyone got in and out of the vehicle safely. Again, my mother is elderly, and so were others in the group, and he walked away instead of helping them, which is unacceptable for a guide who is supposed to look after their guests.

On the way back, we also had to make a few extra stops to find his phone, which he apparently left at a gas station the day before.

While the destination was amazing, the rest of the experience was not good at all. Others were also very upset and frustrated and even scared at times. We spent a lot of money to enjoy the outing, and it ended up being really...

This was a phenomenal tour for anyone, but especially for families. The transportation minibus was very clean and comfortable and can easily accommodate car seats. The communication from Scenic Sedona Tours leading up to the tour was also top-notch, which I appreciated. Our guide, Miguel, was great!! He is extremely knowledgeable and kept us wholly entertained throughout the day. Miguel's breadth of knowledge spans from historical, cultural, and anthropological facts to more scientific facts, like the soil composition layers that make up the Grand Canyon. He answered all of our queries with ease, and we had A LOT of questions. In addition to that, all of the information we were given felt accessible to many education levels, with fun things to learn for all.

On the tour, we saw beautiful sites and were taken to phenomenal vista points, each accompanied with great information from Miguel. The tour was impeccably timed, with the perfect number of stops and time spent at each location. We had plenty of opportunities for photos with a lot to see and had minimal interactions with other tourists. It was great that we were able to enter into the park so quickly and skip lines, and the tour was very accessible. This is one that can be enjoyed by folks...