The ‘tour’ as described was merely a taxi between sites totally self informed, guided and ad hoc. Tickets for excursions clearly organised at very short notice and left us as guests embarrassed at venues. I would like an explanation why this ‘ tour’ was costed as such and why the company has not contacted me personally when I brought it to their attention on the day ?
This had been arranged as a special Mothers Day and was unnecessarily disorganised and upsetting. Whilst it is just taking your money by tour companies, for the client it could be something you may never to able to repeat with your loved one !
My review will be mixed, since there were things I was quite happy with, and there were things I wasn't. I wish I could give this 3.5 stars instead of just 3, since it was a little above average, but it wasn't really worthy of 4 stars for being "very good."
The good:
The private tour was nice, and I saw a lot of beautiful places. My driver/guide (Durgesh) pointed out interesting things as we drove by, and was very accommodating whenever I asked him to take pics of me at various places (I was traveling solo) . He took pretty good pics of me too! On the way to Abu Dhabi we stopped off at an interesting "Mad Max" themed rest stop so I could wander for a bit and take pics, and he also suggested an additional stop that wasn't on the itinerary since there was time to squeeze it in, so I got to see the amazing presidential palace in Abu Dhabi too (which is definitely worth stopping to see!).
The not so good:
Durgesh seemed stuck on a script and didn't seem like he knew how to go off-script, or perhaps he just wasn't as fluent in English as he seemed. He continually rattled off facts and bits of trivia, which was great, but he was not responsive to questions or when I commented on something, which was bad. For instance, when I said things such as, "No, I can't see what you're talking about since the roof of the car cuts off my view," he continued on as if he didn't hear me or didn't understand me. Since he was in the driver's seat he was able to see a lot more than I could from the middle seat because the roof of the van cut off my view, but he didn't seem to understand that and was constantly pointing out things that I couldn't see. To make matters worse, he kept telling me about them even after I told him plainly that I couldn't see whatever he was talking about (usually some high rise building).
So, he was very frustrating in that respect and I soon stopped trying to ask questions about things or trying to have any conversation with him. It was just easier not to say anything. I don't think he was intentionally being rude or anything, I just think he didn't understand English as well as he pretended. Durgesh was patient and professional, and took pretty good pictures of me, but I wouldn't want to do another tour with him because it was frustrating when he didn't listen or maybe just didn't understand, which was a lot.
Would I book again with this company? Probably, but only if I had another driver/guide.