- Posted on: 2014-07-07
- Name: Aniruddha
- Rating:
- I recommend this tour!
After 4 enjoyable trips with TakeTours, we decided to go in for a 4 day trip to Tennessee. The travel guide generally calls in a day prior to the trip to confirm. However, in this case of this trip, that didn't happen. I had to call up customer service, get the guide's number and then left him a message. The guide didn't return any call in the morning. Called up the guide the next morning but he gave me a reason saying that my number was incorrect. Disregarding it, I requested for a change in pick up location which was attended to. Coming to the trip and the itinerary - the second itinerary was followed and not the one we looked at while booking. But that is okay. In the bus, we found ourselves in the midst of mostly non English speaking Chinese travelers. The guide - Alex - made us feel comfortable as he made sure he explained everything first in English. The main attractions of the trip were the Luray Caverns, Dixie Stampede (expensive but worth it)and Ruby Falls. Too little time was given at Gatlinburg Cable Car and the Incline Railway in Chattanooga. Hotel that was picked on the second night could have been better (was below expectation). The tour guide seemed to be in a hurry and running an inconsequential race to be the number 1 bus to reach everywhere. One half of the Incline railway ride was done away with after a lot of indecision (the guide changed his mind thrice whether to go for the round trip in the span of 15 minutes). While returning too, utter confusion on the route to be taken on the trip back ensued. The driver and the guide decided to transfer passengers first to a different bus and after spending 20 minutes at a service station, decided to do away with that. Suggestions - For such a long trip, TakeTours should have tie up with better hotels, budget for time at places involving considerable amount of walking, stop for lunch at places having wider variety of food rather than Chinese eateries. However, all said and done, we enjoyed the trip and would recommend anyone taking this trip.
- Posted on: 2015-09-20
- Name: Rajnish
- Rating:
- I recommend this tour!
I took this tour on the weekend of Labor Day. Our journey started on September 4th and on the first day we reached Luray Caverns around 5PM. Luray Caverns was amazing. We spent around 1 hour 30 minutes there and then proceed further to reach our first night's stay in Quality Inn. The second day, we reached Smokey Mountain and spent around 3 hours 30 minutes there. I didn't take Dixie Stampede and enjoyed the buffet to some other outlet nearby. On the third day, we visited Ruby Falls, Rock City, and Incline Railway. There were waiting for more than 2 hours at Incline Railway but our guide didn't change his mind and let us do the round trip. All their attractions are must. Structures in Ruby Falls and Rock City are captivating. The last day, we visited Natural Bridge but I must say that it is overpriced. On all three days breakfast provided by the hotels were good. Overall this was a great trip and I recommend this trip.
- Posted on: 2015-10-25
- Name: Lydia
- Rating:
- I recommend this tour!
My husband and I just got home from this tour. We enjoyed all the activities especially Ruby Falls and Rock City. The foliage atmosphere made it even better.Our tour guide, Sunny, is very friendly and very attentive to everyone's need in the tour and explained every detail of the activity of the day. Our driver, Justo, was so nice and friendly also. We felt safe with his driving. We appreciate the comfortable accommodations and the complimentary breakfast. Everyone in our tour group was so nice and very much on time on our daily activities.... We are looking forward for our next trip with the company...thank you.
- Posted on: 2016-09-01
- Name: Akhilesh
- Rating:
- I recommend this tour!
Just returned back from the 4 day Tennessee tour. It was indeed a fun tour with lot of travel. The main attractions were Dixie Stampede, Ruby Falls and Luray Caverns. Our guide Sunny was friendly and had good knowledge of places we were visiting and a special mention for the location at the Dixie Stampede. Not to forget our Bus Driver George who patiently drove bus for 1800 miles in these 4 days. Waiting for the next tour with the company.
- Posted on: 2016-12-02
- Name: Saurabh
- Rating:
- I recommend this tour!
overall it was good. our tour guide Sunny was joyful and enthusiastic person. he took care of everything well. Luray Caverns, Dixie Stampede,Ruby falls and aerial tram was amazing.
- Posted on: 2017-01-03
- Name: Margareth
- Rating:
- I recommend this tour!
My tour to Tennessee was great!Sunny did a great job by getting everyone on the bus on time,taking us to good restaurants to have our lunch and give us enough time to enjoy the places we visited. In this tour, we had several attractions and they were all great. I would recommended to anyone.
- Posted on: 2017-01-05
- Name: Vijay
- Rating:
- I recommend this tour!
We had a great time on this 4 day trip to Tennessee. Our tour guide was Sunny Chen. He is an awesome guide. Our bus driver was incredible. 4 days, 1800 miles, 7 states. Wooohoooo !!
Our hotels were clean & had free continental breakfast, a must for families. Sunny made sure there were adequate food options for everybody when we stopped for lunch and dinner. We had reasonable time for each attraction & did not feel too rushed. 57 tourists, so it's natural to expect for everyone to be on time & they were. Sunny played country music in the bus when we were driving thru the country side. So nice of him. He has a lot of patience & spoke in both chinese & english fluently. He was more like a buddy to us. Even volunteered to take our pictures.
He conducted quiz in the bus & kept us engaged thru out the trip. Everything was on time like clockwork. We had the best seats @ Dixie Stampede again thanks to Sunny. He clearly explained all the things we needed to know. I highly recommend this trip & look forward to many more.
- Posted on: 2017-05-12
- Name: Deepak
- Rating:
- I recommend this tour!
Hi,
It is a very unique tour in that it also gives us a taste of the culture of the region and not just goes around showing different places. I am of course referring to the Dixie Stampede show. It was very colourful and a wonderful dose of local entertainment. The tour guide Kenny was very helpful. In terms of the places themselves, Rocky City and Ruby Falls stood out. Nature outshines anything man can build. Great Smoky Mountains was a bit of a letdown for me. That is because of the season I went though and seriously, we need to stop polluting nature. The effects of air pollution on the forest region was very clearly visible even to the naked eye.Saw a bear luckily though! Hope the mountainous region stays in good shape as it is said to be a highly bio-diverse spot. One thing that they could be improve about the trip is the itinerary. They could make it five days instead of four. The itinerary is a little tough in terms of time spent on travelling but of course the distance to cover is huge.
Taken on the whole, a wonderful trip to cherish.
Regards,
Deepak
