Our guide, we won’t name her because she tried hard, seemed overwhelmed. They ask you to show up early, but then guide and later the bus don’t show up on time. By the time they process everyone, who frantically huddles around the guide, and then finally climb on the bus you’re already 30 minutes behind schedule, which ends up being deducted from your stop at the falls, what we really wanted to see. Unlike other tours, you are assigned a seat on the bus. Fate predetermines where you will sit. You stop at a McDonald’s for breakfast half way to Quebec City. You’ll stop here again on your way back for dinner. You’ll only get 25 minutes to order and eat. Bathrooms here are clean. On the bus, guide will ask you to pay for the gondola ride up to the falls. It’s $17 per person on top of $7 to enter the area. For some reason guide will charge you $9 ‘service fee.’ She said you’re actually saving money when buying tickets through her. Not sure if this is true or not. Once we got to the top of the falls, she gave gave us 30 minutes to explore, which seemed too short of a time period considering you have to walk a ways and down 500 steps on the other side of the falls to get the best views and pictures. Some in the group argued for more time and she finally gave us an extra 15 minutes. There are areas as you descend where you can stop and take pictures. Given the time crunch, we only had enough minutes to go halfway. Big disappointment because we like to walk and would have gone to the bottom and gotten sprayed by the mist. Could not do that. You load up again at the top where the gondola drops you off. Bus makes its way to that parking lot. Why can’t people just be dropped off up there and not have to pay for the ride up? Then you head to the heart of Quebec City. On the bus you are offered a chance to take a river cruise, guide buys tickets. It costs $44 per person. It was okay, very relaxing and entertaining. Once you dock, you have about an hour to explore the area. Quite interesting little village where everything is overpriced. Don’t take the funicular up the hill, at $5 per person each way, it’s a ripoff. You can walk up and it’s not that bad, easy to do. But no one tells you that. It’s a long day. Take snacks and water. This excursion has potential to be an unforgettable experience. Maybe improvement on logistics. Maybe a more fluent guide to really explain things along the way. With todays technology, why can’t we just buy tickets on our own.
