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| - My wife and I were part of a foursome that took the base package bus tour to the South Rim (~$90/person) on a humid October morning in 2017. As the bus was not arriving at the scheduled time early in the morning, we immediately began to worry that we'd either missed it or screwed up the booking. It took a hurried call to the tour company to realize that it was just late. In the era of smartphones, I find it increasingly unacceptable not to be automatically texted/called about these situations. That experience knocked 'em down a half star.
Honestly, the rest of the day went only upwards from there. As we were herded from each location to the next, I felt that everything was very well organized and communicated, from transferring buses to understanding how much time we had at each stop. This is no failing of this tour company in general, but I feel one day is not enough time to drive from Las Vegas and spend any significant amount of time in one of the most beautiful places on earth: there was about 2 - 3 hours at the canyon itself, enough time for a bit of hiking, selfies for the Insta, and ice cream.
One big plus of the day was being able to stop at the Hoover Dam, nature center, and the canyon itself. Initially, I thought the tour went just to the canyon and back, but it was nice to see some other sites along the way. No matter what, it's a long day so be prepared to bring some headphones, water, snacks and extra phone battery.
Thankfully, to pass the time, we had a very entertaining driver who was full of trivia for the full four-hour ride. In a gust of '90s nostalgia, he tried to put on a movie for the bus to watch but the system was glitchy so it was constantly skipping and more annoying than entertaining. Eventually, he turned it off at the behest of the passengers but I found that "feature" of the trip to be campy at best. Again, in the era of smartphones, everyone has their own personalized entertainment.
Overall, I felt we had gotten our money's worth, and the tour had the right amount of stops with plenty of time to take photos and enjoy it. The driver was enthusiastic and kind, and though I think cheesy, he tried to make the tour enjoyable. (Just ditch the in-bus movie, guys).
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