have recently come back from your NYC Uncovered Trip during 6/6 – 10/6 and overall I thought the trip was unorganised/misleading and the guide was unprofessional throughout. Our Welcome meeting was due to start at 7 within the hotel (no location was provided) – I asked reception about the Contiki Meeting and they were unaware and did not see anyone with any contiki branding to point me in the right direction. Around 7:20, I finally met our tour manager and he guided us up to a Guest Room. First meeting with no ice breakers and no co-ordination – note this was the only time Chris (Our tour guide) turned up looking professional with a Contiki top on.
We went out to a comedy show and free pizza which was good but Chris’ attitude did not seem enthusiastic about the group.
The next morning, as per the itinerary instruction, I arrived at breakfast for 7:30. During my hotel stay I was not giving hotel breakfast vouchers, which I followed up with Staff and was still left without. Chris turned up at 8am but we did not leave until 8:30 due to the delay with gathering information from other people. On our first night, we were giving a day sheet and I gave Chris my email to forward it on, but I did not receive it and it looked poorly constructed. The bus tour began and Chris again, had very little concern about his delivery of the tour script. Myself and 3 other people left the tour at Grand Central and made our way to 9/11 Memorial as it was quicker to travel there by Subway.
Also on the Itinerary, it is stated “This afternoon, get a bird's eye view of the city skyline on an optional helicopter flight” this was not mentioned and I was quite disappointed as this was one of the reasons why I wanted to do this trip.
Later that afternoon, we walked across the Brooklyn bridge but Chris kept walking far in front without a care, ultimately losing people from the group who ended up walking over to Brooklyn alone.
From other group members, I heard raving reviews from Miranda, who offered suggestions for places to go in our free time – no suggestions from Chris.
The next day was the Statue of Liberty visit, again we left the hotel 30 minutes after due departure – which was an inconvenience to some/myself as we had other plans in place to make the most of our trip. Once we were on the boat, I didn’t see Chris again until I got off the island again, most of us are new to the City and it can be quite unsettling being alone.
On our last day, it was mostly free time but we had a wrap up meeting for evaluation/tips for Chris. The majority of us turned up at 8pm sharp, as instructed. However, Chris did not show until 8:40 as he was asleep. By this time I had left because frankly, I had enough. There was no communication via the Facebook group to say he would be late. Chris did not receive a tip from me as I felt like it wasn’t deserving. I understand this is only his 2nd trip but I will not be recommending this trip until there is a drastic change with his service and this tour as a whole.
The hotel itself was nice and clean, however the rooms are unsuitable for 2 people as they are quite small. Also the Bathroom was covered by frosted glass but you could see straight through it and I felt uncomfortable using the facilties whilst I was sharing with someone else. Also it did become quite crowded and noisy as the hotel had a joining bar/restaurant and rooftop bar, resulting in people lingering in the lobby.
Overall, I was deeply disappointed with the NYC trip as I feel like I did not get value for Money with the activities on the trip. Our tour guide was also extremely unprofessional throughout and made us all very dependent on each other and ultimately affecting our relationship as group. I had heard so many great things about Contiki and was really looking forward to this trip but it fell flat. Personally, I became anti-social as we didn’t merge well as a group due to the organisational flaws.
Kind Regards,
Hayley Mayes
