Boston Shore Excursion: Boston Hop-on Hop-off Trolley Tour

We scheduled the tour as an on-shore excursion from Princess Cruise line. We planned to hop off at some key points in Boston and have lunch at a local restaurant. A Trolly arrived periodically to pick up cruise passengers. However, each Trolly was already filled and could pick up only a few people. We stood and waited for over 1 1/2 hours in the sun before we got on Trolly. We didn't have time or feel like hopping off the Trolly to visit places or have lunch. We were concerned about being able to get back on a Trolley and return to the ship on time. Considering the long wait, strain because I am handicapped, skipped lunch, and shortened time to enjoy Boston, the trip was a waste of money. The company appears to be unable to accommodate 50-100 customers arriving on a cruise ship.

Great way to get a comprehensive view of Boston in a few hours. Each driver was knowledgeable about area and good at keeping control of noise level in trolleys so that everyone could hear what they were saying.

Mtg point was not that close to port, as stated. We had to wait for at least 45 min for the trolleys and no staff to inform us of what’s going on!

It was a great tour! Our tour guide was really knowledgeable and all the drivers were very helpful!

This is the way to see Boston in a day! Hop on hop off at whatever point you want to see and they come around often and jump back on to the next place. Meanwhile while on the bus you get to hear very knowledgeable info and history of what you are driving by! Excellent!

Great trolleys. Love the option of 3 different routes. Drivers very knowledgeable. Learned a lot and was a great way to explore the city.

It seemed as though tickets were oversold. Someone should have planned better for the many cruise ship passengers docking on that day. The wait time to get a trolly was excessive. We saw people walking off. Customers were making calls to try and obtain information. There was zero communication from the company other than a link sent out showing the location of the trollies. Do better!

Good points: picks up from cruise terminal, good stop locations, live update app/map. Bad points: everything else! It was not a very busy day. We waited an hour at first pickup before giving up and walking a mile to second pickup. The stop at SS Constitution had long queue and trolley that arrived had few places. Hard to hear commentary. One driver was borderline rude. Poor value for money. Hop off at the popular locations and walk to unpopular locations to hop on again.

My friends and I did the Boston Hop-on Hop-off Trolley Tour as a shore excursion when we were in the city. We did the full City Loop, and then we started over. We decided to hop off at the first stop near Faneuil Hall. We stopped at Quincy Market for lunch where I had one of the best lobster rolls I've had on my whole trip. Afterward, we stopped to see what some of the vendors outside were selling. We made our way back to the bus stop. There was a crowd of people waiting, but more buses kept coming in to pick up passengers. Both the drivers (narrators) for the city loop were informative and entertaining. Since we had to get back to our ship at a certain time, we continued with the tour until they dropped us off at the ship. Excellent tour!

Find an alternative way for a city tour if on a cruise ship and you have a tight time schedule Spent an hour and half queuing at the main starting point even when a bus turned up people disembarked you were allowed to get on but buses refused to leave until they hit their scheduled departure time which could be anything from 10 to 15 mins instead of departing immediately we waited until the seventh bus arrived and we had spent approximately 1 1/2 hours in the queue even speaking to supervisors at the starting point to reason with common sense and just let the buses leave when full fell on deaf ears The bus driver was terrible. Poor commentary had to be corrected by tourists several times as the information provided was inaccurate having used vitator for years this was by far the worst experience how on earth this particular tour has receives awards for one of the best tours in the USA rubbish 🫩

Excellent tour a lot of great information

Sage was an excellent guide and very informative.

Vehicle wasn’t equipped to handle weather conditions as they were so steamed over that I was unable to see many of the sites that the driver mentioned.

If they are hearing impaired they can only enjoy view. Trying to understand what the driver was saying was impossible even with hearing aids.

Informative and took us everywhere we wanted to go. Would have liked the Holocost Memorial mentioned especially since after the fact I discovered it was so close to Faneuil Hall. Other than that excellent.

Very nice , very fun, informative great driver nice open air trolley………………………………………………..,..,,……………..

Hop on hop off was not very informative as to how to see the sights and after waiting almost an hour to get s return trip back to the ship there was no time to take more than one stop. So disappointing.

Very fun and informative. The driver was very well-informed about Boston history.

Great tour! Guides were knowledgeable, funny, and personable. Ben, the snarky guy who loves video games, and the guy who pumps up the ghost tour (sorry I don't remember all the names) were great. If you enjoy accurate historical details and dry humor, book this tour. Remember it's the tall orange and green trolley.

Ibooked the tour independently rathe than through the cruise line I was on .The tour was a lot of fun and I got to see a lot of great things in Boston such as Boston Commons and a lot of the wonderful historical buildings.As a plus the tour stops right outside Cheers where you can sit at an exact replica of the famous bar from the TV show and drink a beer.I real loved getting to see Boston .The trolley drivers were so friendly and really knowledgeable about Boston history .Be aware though that it is a hop on-hop off tour and the trolleys can be and sometimes are,full when they stopin which case you must wait for the next.In fact 3 or 4 stopped outside the stop for Boston Commons and couldn't those of us waiting because not enough people got off the trolley .But it wasn't a long wait for another because they have a lot of them

Very convenient way to get an overview of the city. Very informative and courteous drivers. Easy to access several stops.

Easy and informative The ability to set your own schedule and activity Trolley drivers were pleasant and informative and easy to understand

The routes offered by this Tour company covered most of the city of Boston. It also covered most of the more important stops. We had perhaps the very best Tour Guide/Driver named charming. He was entertaining as well as informative. He gave great suggestions of where to get off when to get off and what to do. We had several other drivers as we hopped on and hopped off, but by far he was the best and that made the entire day entertaining. I highly recommend the trolley tours. The vehicles were distinctive, and you had a great view from anywhere on the bus.

Great guides on all trips on the different trolleys that was on. Thank you

We enjoyed the tour of the city of Boston. Lots of history and cool things to see and stop to explore more. Highly recommend!

Visiting for the day while on a cruise. It’s the perfect way to see the city highlights. Easy to pick up the tour from the cruise terminal. Did however have a bit of a problem finding the stop once we got off at a stop. They could better explain that there is a downloadable map or app with the bus stops All in all nice way to explore the city, with a friendly staff

Hugo was the best!! We had a great time!

Spencer was great guide. Entertaining and informative and knows Boston. Our other guide, not do much. Great customer service in Boston.

Our 3rd Hop On And Off Trolley experience. This one takes too long to get to where you want to go. We were an hour late to 1 excursion and never made it to another! So start early and build in alot of travel time. Also windows are poorly located to take photos. Drivers were mostly interesting and funny.

Wry interesting tour. Great day for an open air bus ride. Even found parking not too far away.

Great experience with only one wait time of 30 minutes. Our trolly drivers Spenser, Earnest and Pudge were great.

Very mixed experience. We did the first few stops with banzee (?) who was absolutely excellent. Funny, personable and obviously very knowledgeable. We got off at USS Constitution and picked back up later with Gemini. Guide was awful - completely undecipherable, made absolutely no sense whatsoever and felt like a waste of money and time. Very disappointed as I have done this tour before and was bringing my husband as it was always excellent.

Tour operator JD was very knowledgeable about the city and the history of Boston. I definitely recommend everyone visiting to go on this tour.

Nice atmosphere good vibes. Able to have refreshments. Great view of the harbor and city.crew onboard were extremely helpful and friendly.

Each trolly driver had a unique take on Boston history, which made for a great take away from my trip. Will definitely take the time to further look at Boston history. I loved Boston, I will need to revisit.

Great tour with Gemini - it was snowing so it was a great way for us to see Boston for the first time and avoid all the snow.

Crafty was an excellent tour guide! He was engaging and informative. Kept us on our toes. If I were to rate him he would get 10 of 10.

Driver was very kind and relaxed despite the difficulties with driving a big bus in small spaces with traffic. He was quite interesting with information about Boston & stories. We saw a lot in the short time we were on the tour.

I could pick and choose areas I had not previously explored. And when finished it took me right back to the cruise terminal. Couldn’t have asked for better experience.

Our tour operator for the City tour is fabulous, very entertaining, funny and knowledgeable. Sorry to have forgotten his name but this was October 26 when Majestic Princess has docked. The Boston Tea Party Museum was educational and it was fun throwing fake tea off the ship. The tour around town was amazing, unfortunately we didn't have time to do the Hop Off. Our operator narrated the tour very interestingly. He did an excellent job.

Not much to do at the stops. Just buildings to see from the trolley. Thot we could get off at a stop and get back on at another stop. Good luck finding it. Maps were almost worthless and the stops were not clearly marked. Disappointing to say the least.

We booked this excursion pre-cruise from Trip Advisor and were happy with the experience. We were directed to the pick-up location as we left the ship, which was a short walk from the cruise port. The staff was very friendly and informative. There was only one stop where we had to wait for a second bus.

So many trollys with the same names but were only available in certain locations and had to find the right ones. Not easy

The Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley was a good way for us to see and visit the main sights of Boston. The drivers, especially Crafty, were very knowledgeable and entertaining as they told us about the city. Unlike other hop-on hop-off buses that usually get used for transportation to different areas, this seemed to be much more of a tour. It’s great for individuals wishing to just ride & sightsee, but a little inconvenient for those using it also as transport.

nice ride through Boston. Be ready for long wait time for several buses to get to you in the line. Beenie was an informative and fun driver

Gemini was the tour guide for most of the tour. He used a stilted voice to describe the historic sites, always as “lovely “ or “wonderful”. We couldn’t understand him! The other tour operator was distinct and informative.

Waited 45 minutes for the first trolley. On the second trolley we were in, the driver should have stayed home. He was hard to understand because he was coughing so much and his voice was horse. Other than those 2 things, it was great

The wait between stops is way longer than in the past! One driver said they are short staffed and trolleys are breaking down. Try Boston Sightseeing and City View, which seem to have less customers. Also, they now use multiple trolleys for different locations so there’s the hassle of transferring to another trolley to complete the entire trip offered.

Great trip was on a cruise enchanted princess. Here is a tip …. Book direct with trip advisor not cruise saved $30 each and only difference was we had to walk 10 mins to a car park where cruise bus came we got on as was 3 spaces. On way back of cruise ships are in after stop 9 they go to the cruise terminal and drop you off!! Good trip we got off at cheers( do not go downstairs tor eh bar go into museum as much spacier bar there and that is where original bar is reconstructed