We did this tour recently - it was excellent in all respects. The tour guide was very competent and professional, the fifteen seater coach comfortable, accommodation more than adequate and the itinerary well paced.
This was the most AMAZING, STUNNING, WONDERFUL TRIP OF OUR LIVES! WOW is a small word to describe each day 10 STARS with a HUGE THANK YOU to our tour guide JON MARET. AIN"T NOBOBY BETTER, his knowledge, experiance & care ( PLUS A GREAT SENC..E OF HUMOR) kept each day alive & well. A BIG thank you to Bindlestiff & JON & plus GREAT AMERICAN SOUTHWEST.
This comes from a professional yacht captain used to the best and was bested by BINDLESTIFF!!!Read full review
Honestly I did not know what to expect from the 7 day Southwest Tour but I was surprised how well the tour was organized. We were nonstop everyday. It was a trip of a lifetime. I highly recommended.
We are in love with Bindlestiff Tours!! Our experience was truly the trip of our lifetime, so far. We are SOOOO hoping to explore Alaska with Bindlestiff. Finances will determine our next trip. Mike Brown was our guide during the fast-paced.. 3 day National Parks Tour, and he was more than great. His encyclopedic knowledge is impressive. I could have sworn he had notes he was referring to during his narration as he drove, but he had none. Mike's interest, study and enthusiasm about the history, geology and every other aspect of our tour was obvious and infectious. We could not have encountered a better guide. Aside from his excellent driving and narration, Mike was very professional, amiable and organized. Mike is also an excellent story-teller with a relaxed attitude and a reassuring voice. Without coming off as a "drill instructor", Mike made it clear we needed to be aware of time constraints in order to optimize our tour. Because we had cooperative tour mates, we were able to enjoy some extra/surprise stops!!! Thank you to Mike and all our tour buddies!! As for us campers, I was happy with our meals. The first night's BBQ was great and the second night of Indian Tacos prepared by Sheila was awesome!! Mike arranged and presented all of our meals in a very organized and appealing manner (though rustic - but I'm all about rustic). The ingredients were all fresh and appetizing. I especially appreciated the abundance of spring water in the jug so we could refill our bottles!! We woke up at 5am for sunrise in Monument Valley!!! That sunrise was astounding, and a once-in-a-lifetime if you don't live there. Advise: Wear excellent footwear and head gear, seriously! Forget fashion. Heed the sun/temp predictions. On this particular fast-paced tour, bring casual camera equipment-you won't have time for formal images & consider protecting your camera from talcum dust. I truly enjoyed spending our tour with the young couple from Belgium and all the folks from Australia and the family from Pennsylvania. We will, and are recommending Bindlestiff Tours to everyone we know!!! Thank you, Mike and all the folks at Bindlestiff!!!Read full review
Tour is very nice and we upgraded to the luxury tour bus which could have been better for the extra price you have to pay. Driver didn’t have the WiFi password as he probably is used to driving the big tour bus which has a different passw..ord. But the luxury tourbus was very nice and you get to see a little bit more of the Grand CanyonRead full review
This was really a great way to tour the major national parks of Utah. All of the driving and thinking was done for us. We had a nice campsite every night, and once we were there we were free to go out and do the length and level of hiking t..hat we wanted. Joe, the guide/driver was great and kept us on schedule and moving place to place. We covered about 1600 miles during the 7 days, but the driving was broken up into manageable chunks. I was concerned about the availability of lodging and crowding in the parks, but using Bindlestiff we didn’t have to think about any of that. Great time, great company. The only negative was the use of Ellis Island hotel as the starting point. The rooms were fine, but the lobby looks like a methadone clinic. Otherwise, everything was truly great!Read full review
"It is a reasonable schedule, and we went to the famous scenic spots, the tour fee also included 2 days of hotel breakfast.It is delicious, by the way."
Tour did not start on time and hence came late to vegas by 2 hours. They missed hoover damn timings so did not get to see it. We were hardly there at grand canyon for 1 hr and tour promises more.
Hands down, that was absolutely my favorite tour!!! Jon went out of his way to accommodate not only me personally, but the entire group. On the day we had some extra time in Moab, I asked if there was any chance I would be able to go skydiv..ing even though that wasn't an optional add on. (I figured if it wasn't my day, he would say no, but the universe decided that my first time skydiving was going to be in Moab!) Without hesitation, he agreed to drive me there if I could get it set up. While my stomach did somersaults, I thanked him over and over! I was not expecting him to say yes! On the last day of the tour, we had some extra time so he even made an extra stop at the Hoover Dam.
I was highly impressed by his thorough knowledge of all the areas we traveled to. Not only did he tell us the history and the facts, but he had a funny story for every location we visited! I began to wonder if there was anything he didn't know about. An in-depth experience of outdoor education and so much more. He knew the roads like the back of his hand and made every single transition seemless and effortless! He's incredibly organized and knows how make the most out of the tour. For those willing to get up early, he picked us up for 2 sunrises, one of which happened to be my favorite: The Angels Landing hike at Zion. I will never regret waking up at 4am for that day!!! Amazing....
I 100% would recommend this group, Jon specifically!! Definitely worth every penny!! So many laughs along the way and memories that will last a lifetime. If you are active and want to make the most of your time on the trip, he's your guy!!! The week went by way too fast and I can't wait to book my next tour with this company and hopefully upon request, get him as my guide.
Extremely pleased with the service. Many, many thanks!!!!Read full review
Joel was our guide, from the moment we met, he took care of all of our needs, Lots of hiking in our national parks with good walking shoes. Just when you think you seen everything another great view is presented. We loved camping in Monumen..t Valley, the sky at night is covered with stars. Be prepared to take lots of pictures and meet great people as you spend 3 days enjoying the experience.Read full review
With limited time on our hands we chose the three day tour, pleased that we could take all our luggage as we were travelling from Australia which was in our rooms each night. Joel our guide was knowledgeable about the area and the Navaho pe..ople, his great sense of humour complemented ours. Will make Bindlestiff Tours our first choice when considering another tour in their neck of the woods.Read full review
The communication at this company was terrrible. After we initially purchased our tickets, we received absolutely no more notification of what to do or where to meet. Not a week before our trip, or even the day of. When we didn’t find any..one who was supposed to be picking us up at the airport on time, we called the emergency number and a lady with a strong Chinese accent picked up on the other end but she didn’t understand me, I couldn’t understand her, and so she hung up on me after saying she didn’t know how to help me.
After receiving a strange call from a California number from a man with a strong Asian accent I couldn’t confidently understand, we were approached and hauled off to a bus that brought us to a hotel where we waited for 3 hours standing around before starting our trip.
On day 1, we did not see anything besides our hotel. Despite it appearing that we would start touring then and despite that we still had to pay a $9 service fee. On day 2, our itenerary stated we would see Lake Powell. We didn't even stop. For the Bryce National Canyon stop, we drove 5 hours from where we were (not including the lengthy bathroom stops because you can’t use the bathrooms on the bus) to make ONE stop at Bryce Canyon for LESS than 40 minutes.
We spent more time at Chinese buffets than at Bryce Canyon, Grand Teton, and Zion National Park combined! We went out of our way to get to some of these Chinese buffets, which resulted in more time waiting around on the bus, because the tour guide would get to eat free for bringing in a bus full of people.
Besides spending more time eating than at the actual destinations, we spent just as much time at bathrooms along the way. There is a bathroom on the tour bus but if it’s used it will make the entire bus smell like sewage. You would stop for a bathroom every 2 or 2 and 1/2 hours and EVERY female on the bus used the bathroom EVERY time so there would always be extensively long wait times for that reason. Our tour guide would specify a time to be back by the bus at and most travelers did not abide by that (and faced no consequences) and we waited for longer than expected or also, we sometimes had to wait because there were still people in line for the bathrooms since lines were so long.
Also, it may be important to note this specific tour was much more focused on Asian customers than American. My boyfriend and I were the ONLY non Asian people on the bus. There’s nothing wrong with that although, it did make us feel uncomfortable with some of the looks and reactions we got and we also felt left out when our tour guide would speak more in Chinese than English and failed to ensure we also knew what was going on. His English was not the most clear and there were multiple occasions we didn’t understand what we were supposed to be doing or what the money we were giving him was for.
Overall, if you’re looking to see a bunch of places for a very short amount of time, you don’t care about being in a bus for half the day, everyday, you love Chinese buffets, and you prefer your vacations to be a little more sketchy, this is a perfect trip for you. If not, I would suggest you look elsewhere for tour companies or even just pick a few destinations, spend however much time you want there, and be able to actually take in all the destinations for what they’re worth. Good luck.Read full review
An absolutely wonderfully organized trip to the most beautiful regions of this part of the world. Our driver and guide Mike will take care of everything and everyone. Our family of four (including 2 children - 6 and 8 years) had a wonderful.. experience. We would never have seen so much in such a short time. In 3 days - 5 Natl Parks in 3 States !!! Thank you so much. Highly recommended!Read full review