New England's Fall Foliage

Customer Reviews

• 

  Heather

  · October 28th, 2025
  We went on the Foliage tour, starting October 7, 2025. We visited some wonderful places & the hotel accommodation was good in the main, but we have a few suggestions. Our guide Kimberly was pleasant & approachable but didn't give a great deal of information about the areas we drove through. There were times Kim didn't seem to know where we were, like which river we were crossing, which town we were entering. A simple map handout of each journey would have been very helpful. It was our first time in New England, and we would have liked to have learnt more about this part of America, like the history, economy, significance to the local people, origins of the names of things, tall tales, that sort of thing. It wasn't Kim's fault, but the bus microphone didn't work very well. A backup microphone would have been a good idea. Some guest tour guides joined us to give some history & colour to the places we visited. These guides were very good. Some of the journeys were over long, especially given the age of some of the travellers. One day in particular took hours to get to our destination, without a bathroom break for anyone including the poor driver Kenny. We felt the trip could have been planned with visits to places a little closer together. Note that Kenny was an excellent driver. He was amazingly skilled & calm, despite the long journeys & poor weather on one day in particular. A printed schedule would have been very helpful. The time for next day’s pickup was announced at the end of the day as we departed the bus, and this caused confusion as by that time many of us were tired & not paying attention. Also the schedule differed from the one emailed to us & the differences is should have been made clear. A list of the hotels we were to stay at would have been a good idea. There was some concern about luggage. Many of us brought our own bags down to the bus ourselves as we weren't given labels. One of the traveller's bags was put into the wrong room by the staff at one hotel. We missed out seeing Martha's Vinyard due to a storm. Nobody's fault, but we felt there should have been some sort of fall-back plan to cover for this. As it was, we spent a pleasant day exploring the old parts of Providence & Brown University. Most of the meals we had were good, but sadly the meal we had on the last day was poor. Cold mashed potato, chicken and pork. In addition the restaurant was not heated, and the service was inadequate. We enjoyed many of the places we saw and meeting the other travellers but felt somewhat let down by the lack of attention to detail. Just a few small & inexpensive changes would really have made a difference.
  Show more
  Trip date: October 2025
• SK

  Sharon

  · October 27th, 2025
  We just completed the Foliage tour last week. We had wonderful stops & the hotels were good. We found Tours of Distinction was not very organized, which was rather upsetting. When I 1st contacted Tours, noting we planned to stay a day before & a day after the tour ended, they responded very helpfully that they would coordinate those extra days with the hotels when the tours were booked. Two - three weeks before the tour starts, I inquired about which Boston hotel we would be starting with & was told it would be the Bostonian (on the North End, and near the Freedom Trail) When I contacted the Bostonian they reported not having had any contact from anyone at Tours of Distinction. I was later informed that we would be at the Sheraton (the BackBay area) & I should make my own reservations. I had to keep checking in with the Tours of Distinction to find out when we were to meet for the 1st Freedom Walk tour. We were informed the tour guide’s flight was delayed & we would gather for the Freedom walk at 3:45pm but there was no indication where we were to gather in the hotel lobby. Other tours had signs up for where to gather; there was nothing for our tour. The bus driver came in to announce our tour. It was a partial tour of the Freedom Trail, done at such a rapid pace many weren’t able to keep up. We had a nice dinner & the regular tour guide joined us. Just before we departed the bus at the hotel, we were informed that we needed to have our suitcases out by 6:30am & the scheduled breakfast was not going to be included. A boxed lunch would be substituted. The tour guide did not provide any information on the areas we drove through. At a few cities, there was an extra tour guide that gave us history of the area & pointed out sights. Those guides were excellent. We never received a time schedule; the time for next days pickup was announced at the end of the day as we departed the bus. We never had name tags, although halfway through the tour, attempts were made to made temporary name tags that weren’t very successful. Our luggage didn’t have tags for pickup so we all brought our bags down to the bus individually. I’ve been on many tours but never experienced such disorganization; lack of hotels listed & the times for the trip start each day. We enjoyed the places scheduled for the tours & enjoyed the people on the tour but feel saddened at the lack of organization by Tours of Distinction.
  Show more
  

  Tours of Distinction commented on this review

  Sorry to hear you were disappointed Sharon. Just a follow-up points to your feedback. -We do not do name tags. Our company philosophy is to be a traveler and not a tourist. In addition, that follows our sustainable travel policy to cut back on... Show more
  Trip date: October 2025
• 

  Kathleen

  · October 20th, 2025
  Disappointing. Seemed unorganized from the start. No bag tags, no nametags, no daily schedules. Had to handle bags more than expected. Last night dinner was really bad.
  Show more
  

  Tours of Distinction commented on this review

  Sorry to hear of your disappointment Kathleen. We do not provide nametags on any of our trips as part of our sustainable travel practices. Please contact our office at mytour@toursofdistinction.net so we can discuss further and investigate
  Trip date: October 2025
• MS

  Marjorie

  · October 17th, 2025
  Very disappointed. From the beginning, things were unorganized and changing. We were never provided with luggage tags or name tags. I carried my own luggage in and out of all but 3 of the hotels because porters were not available as they should have been when we arrived or in mornings before we left as tour guide had indicated. The hotel in Boston was changed, and the new hotel did not provide breakfast on the first and last day as itinerary described. We were told they couldn't accommodate our large group; but the hotel itself had a buffet breakfast available every morning to purchase for $33.00 apiece with a large breakfast room??? What a nice surprise to be told as we were dropped off the first night that by the way, be ready to go at 7:30AM but you're on your own for breakfast. There might be a bakery across the street the guide said. Also, that first day in Boston our tour turned into a walking tour because the traffic was so congested. It's Boston during rush hour, what did they expect? Local tour guide was not prepared as she was expecting to have a microphone in the bus. It was hard to hear, and some people were older and not expecting to walk that much. We did not get to Qunicy Market at all where we were supposed to spend some time, it the Boston Harbour. The second day for some reason our Maine Lobster lunch was pushed back so that we didn't finish eating until 3PM but our evening buffet was served at 6:30PM. No one was hungry even. The third day when we went to Flume Gorge, our tour guide was asked if there were a lot of stairs on the hike as we had several people who couldn't handle them well. She indicated there were a few; but it was more like 100+ stairs. Another day we visited a Franscican
  Show more
  

  Tours of Distinction commented on this review

  Sorry to hear of your disappointment Marjorie. Please contact our office at mytour@toursofdistinction.net so we can discuss further and investigate.
  Trip date: October 2025