Paris by Rail - Sightseeing Bus and Eiffel Tower Champagne Lunch

Our day was amazing! Angela did such a great job coordinating everything for us. Lunch on the Eiffel Tower was a once in a lifetime experience. The trip definitely exceeded our expectations. Thank you!

First, let me say our tour guide Peter was excellent. The rest of this review is no reflection of him. He was kind, knowledgable and helpful. As fir the tour itself, we booked it expecting a champagne lunch at the Eifel Tower. That was the bring draw. There were other similiar more affordable tours w/o it. However, the tour operator notified us last minute that lunch at tje Eifel tour was canceled and instead booked on tje Siene River Cruise. We were refunded apx $53 each (4 ppl) for a tour that cost apx $2K for 4. Not an equittable exchange but at that point we had little time to change plans and the operator has a no cancelation policy. The bus was well air conditioned and Peter was informative which was the first 1-2 hours in Paris. After that we boarded our Sienne river cruise and were sperated from the rest of the tor grouo, put on a different boat with a later departure with cut into "free time." We were put on a boat with a different large tour grouo speaking French. Which is fine but our waiter right away asked if we spoke French and shen we said we didn't he became rude and didn't take our order. We watched the table next to us finish 1st course before we had our order taken by a supervisor who noticed us just sitting there. Champagne should be included but the waiter said it wasn't. The supervisor brought the champagne. The food was so-so for the cost. The kids (11 & 15) did not enjoy it. When they asked for more nuts, the waiter said, "Didn't yoy get some already?" referencing the 6-7 nuts each they received but neither ordered all 3 courses that were included in the cost. The boat has a/c but if you aren't sitting by it, prepare to sweat. You are getting pretty scenery while you dine. That's it. A good cafe with delucious foid, kind service & people watching eould have been time better spent. We only had 20min "free time" after that to collect Eifrl tower photos, and shop. Re-boarding the bus, we saw the Arc de Triumph and right before we were supposed to see Sacre Coeur, the skues opened up and it poured unexoectedly. The city was humid, smelly and with unexoected storms we took a cab back to the train station and spent $50 Euro each ($200) to get an earlier Eurostar back rather then get soaked and traverse a slippery hill to Sacre Coeur. We have traveled 20+ coutries, 10+ Viator tours. My advice: skip this one. I never asked before even from a nit great tour but we should have a much bigger refund back. The guide was great oir the time we soent with him (90min-ish) but the tour operator did not deliver on what they sold. My advice: buy your oen Eurostar tickets and either book a hop on/off tour and lunch on your own - you'll have better control of your schedule, spend less $, and likely have an overall better experience.

My group pf 7 including my grandchildren (7,10 and 14) really had a wonderful time on this tour. Richard, our guide , met us right at the Eurostar rail station in London and stayed with us all day until we arrived back in London. He made the trip comfortable and informative. We were unable to actually have our lunch at the restaurant at the Eiffel Tower due to the workers' strike. Our early disappointment turned into enjoyment when we boarded the lunch cruise boat selected as an alternative. The food, service and cruise were excellent. Great choice of food options. In the end, we had no regrets with the lunch venue change. We did get to stop and see the Eiffel Tower and take pictures. We loved our trip to Montmartre as we had time to sit at a cafe and have dinner, shop, and see the Sacre coeur area with its beautiful views of Paris. We love the Eurostar train. Who wouldn't! It traveled up to 188 mph from the information I saw posted. That's very cool. It was comfortable but lacking in a lot of food options. It may be due to the fact that the trips are short, being only about a 2 hrs and 15 minutes each way. If there was a downside to the trip, it was all of the construction work being done to the streets and the cleaning of buildings close to the streets causing traffic delays. It appears that all of this is going on in anticipation of the Summer Olympics to be held in Paris during the summer of 2024. So be aware that too much time will be had on the tour coaches until then unless you are luckier than we were.