18 Jul 2023
There was no communication beforehand from the driver. Only thing we had was a generic confirmation email with the driver’s name and number and it said he will contact us before the tour but that was not the case. No email, no text, no phone call regarding basics like where to meet at the hotel, commutation was totally lacking. He showed up more than 10 min late, he didn’t pick up the phone when we were trying to meet up. It was kind of disappointing because people are usually very punctual in Japan. I tried calling the driver and also the Japanese tour office but it was very difficult to make international calls on my out of country cell phone.
When we finally got in the van he told us that the tour was up to us. Since there were attractions listed on the tour description and there was no prior communication, I was under the impression that we get to go to all of them or the guide has a basic plan for the day. Kind of hard to come up with a 6 hour tour plan on a whim, i wish I would’ve known that we were supposed to come up with our own tour plan.
Once the tour started and we agreed where to go for the day it was fine, but definitely was a very unpleasant start to the day which could’ve been avoided with a basic communication.
For what we paid and for what it was, I don’t think I would do it again. Hate stressing out when on vacation. It’s so easy to catch a cab anywhere near major attractions in Tokyo. I would just come up with my own plans which I had to do anyways and take a cab each time, it would’ve cost less than half of what we paid for this tour…