We had really high hopes after reading about the
excursion itinerary about this infamous attraction however,
was left really disappointed with our experience as we found
it to be unprofessional and not worth the money at all!
Initially, the lady who was supposed to meet our group
was late and there was no 'name' sign so we had no idea who
was the representative from Gray Line. Finally, I spotted
her after seeing the logo on her uniform. We boarded a small
van as the lead guide wasn't aware that apparently it was a
much bigger group joining the tour which we then had to stop
at another hotel for. The driver didn't know the hotel where
the other group was supposed to meet at and was circling the
route many many times. Finally, we found the Copacabana
Palace and we had to all move to a large coach bus. This was
a shock as when we boarded the small van, we had no idea we
were going to be part of a 30 person tour group.
After this delay, it only got worse as the driver and
guide kept picking up guests from various locations without
any announcement or communication to the rest of us on the
bus already. We even ended up waiting over an hour in the
train/bus station because the driver tried to wait for
another couple who hadn't shown up yet.
We found the guide to be really unprofessional - he
didn't provide any explanation at all - he was only chatting
on his cellphone. The only information he gave us was the
time we were supposed to return to the meeting point.
The worst part was that I introduced 4 of my friends to
join this excursion with me yet we all were unsatisfied and
unhappy with the experience.
For the price we paid for this excursion, I should've
just taken a taxi myself directly and bought 2 senior
tickets. I would've saved a LOT of unnecessary wait
time.
