Bigbustours/sydney Reviews 323

Great drop off points and good commentary. Our bus was a little late so one section was a bit rushed.

Of course, riding around beautiful Sidney, Australia on the top of a double-decker bus is great! It is a magnificent city in a stunning setting – what more could you ask for?

That said, the Bigbus could greatly improve the customer’s experience with headsets that were of even a slightly better quality – they don’t have to be Sennheisers – but the ones supplied were itchy, and their sound-quality was extremely poor. This resulted in a narration so garbled, that I had to turn the sound way up to understand what was being said. Then, the moment the narration stopped, painfully LOUD music blasted in my ears, causing me to rip the headphones off my head. Then, I had no idea of when the next narration began, so I missed much of it.

Within 10 minutes of placing the buds in my ears, they were sore, so I had to keep moving the buds around to avoid irritation.

If you would supply headsets with the foam pads that fit over the ears, not inside of them, that would help.

Then, PLEASE don’t have the volume of the music “for your listening pleasure”, as they say, so bloody loud! It should be at a lower volume than the narration – it’s only there as filler between points of interest – not the focus of the journey.

My husband also groaned when “Walzing Matilda” came on for the third, fourth and fifth time.

Your narration was a bit underwhelming. Perhaps you could partner with a historical society, to supply more, and more in-depth desciptions of what was being viewed as the bus cruised. The narration was superficial, and often trite. Jokes don’t often go over very well in such a context either.

Another problem with the narration was technical – the notable sight had often already been driven past when the description of it began. This made that site pretty much a dead loss. Much better to start the description earlier – allowing the rider to anticipate what they are about to see, and giving them the time to look in the right direction.

We did find your drivers to be polite and competent, and the member of your support who helped us at the Central Station stop, did a stellar job helping confused clients stand in the right place and get on the right bus. Thank you!

Very informative & interesting tour. Great view from top of bus. Sydney is an eye opener, lots of beautiful, historical suburbs & iconic landmarks. We would do it again.

Excellent tour, covered all tourist attractions, good value for money.

As my time was limited (2.5 days) my only regret is that I paid for the two day tour and did not get to see all of what Sydney had to offer; there is so much to see, do & explore.....I needed more days!! A great way to see a vibrant city & its suburbs...maybe offer a 3 or 4 day package for when I return!!

The tour was very good, we did both the Red and Blue routes. We dropped off at Central Station on one occasion to go shopping in one of the malls. We returned to the station to get on the Red route bus, we were within 10 yards of a bus about to leave, he saw us walking at a pace, but still left the stop! When I asked if he could let us on he gesticulated that he’d left the stop and was stuck in traffic, smiling in a sarcastic way. I spoke to the guy stood at the stop from Big Bus who just said “I’d told him to leave and that’s what he did”. I said you saw us coming at a pace, he said “yes I did but I told him to leave”. When we got the next bus, we arrived at the stop near the museum of contemporary art, the first stop, and told that the bus in front was leaving first, so change buses if you wish. The bus was the one that had left us at the stop and and the driver sniggered as he did so.
We really enjoyed our Australia visit but this experience just soured the experience, although we did meet one bus driver on the Blue route who was very jolly and helpful.

Perfect city stops and you can go to Bondi Beach There was never a long wait. Outside staff wonderful friendly and informative. Nice bus drivers. I highly recommend this big bus tour great way to see and learn about Sydney

look to be honest there were not enough buses running. the GPS was not working. just as well as this would probably have revealed the lack of buses. also we could not find the stop at Millers Point .(where we parked our car) Bus went straight past us. It was stinking hot and we had to walk to Circular Quay. my wife’s got a bad leg. It’s worse now. we have relos coming from USA next month so we will definitely give your service a miss. Alan

Essentially the tour was great. A great way to get around a new city. Staff were always professional and helpful.
Only issues that commentary was not functional in all busses. The headphones did not work in many of the busses.

Our family only had one day in Sydney and the Big Bus Tour was the perfect way to see the sights. Informative commentary and extremely helpful customer service when i rang prior to purchasing tickets online.

100% recommend! Just make sure you plan your day and stops to make it worth it. I would also recommend taking your own earphones as it’s easier to hear with your own.

We went on the red city tour and thought it was great. Took us by all the main attractions around the Sydney centre. We got off at the Sydney Opera House and had a relaxing walk around and enjoyed the sites of Circular Quay, Harbour bridge and the close by botanical gardens. We had the best day. Would definitely recommend to everyone wanting a great family day out.

All in all okay. Stopps are great, price and earphones/sound was not that great.

There are 2 main reasons I take these tours: to get an overview and learn about the city; and to get pictures from the open-topped upper level. The audio quality was poor and didn't work at all in some seats, and the commentary was sparse. Further, a very limited number of songs were repeated to fill the commentary gaps, and that became annoying after a while. On the other hand, the views were really good. The driver on the Bondi Beach route stopped/slowed several times to allow us to get photos, which I appreciated.

The Big Bus experience in Sydney was an experience in itself. I have used this company in London hence the motivation. However, your staff could be friendlier. The driver was very annoyed at my questions. Hello, you are in the tourist branch and tourists will have umpteen questions.

I took the $99 offer with the Sydney Tower and the Ferry and enjoyed it tremendously. Absolutely recommended.

Bus not keep clean enough; no wifi available; people buy ticket from driver, sometimes we took long time to hold the line; the ticket is just a piece of printing paper, looks very cheap, and hard to last one or two days.

Long queues, had to wait an hour to get on the first bus. Very poor commentary, mainly the same 4 songs playing and the actual commentary was very sparse.
Some stops weren’t in operation, I appreciate that the bus company can’t change roadworks but these are long term roadworks and they should let you know which stops are out of action.
I wouldn’t recommend at all. Such as shame as it could be so good.

Best way to see all important stuf in short time!

Sorry to give a bad review but we had a horrible experience. As it was our first time in Sydney we wanted to ride the bus for the day hopping on and off with our three children, We wanted to listen to some of the history and see the sights.
Every bus we got on was so overcrowded we had to stand squashed together, we could neither see out of the windows or plug in our headphones. At one point some one who was sitting let my son plug in so he could listen and his headphones didn't work - we tried all 5 sets and NON of them worked.
It was a very hot day and at one stop the bus driver said we all had to get off and get onto the parked bus in front. We got in and the engine was off so no Aircon and the doors were shut - IT WAS A PACKED BUS - and we sat in the sweltering heat for 15 minutes before we set off.:(

I bought my tickets online (3) and tried to get a refund for 1 ticket because one person was unavailable to do the tour. No solutions where available even in the office. Please people don’t get your tickets online.