Our day in Boston Serenade Cruise 9/17 = Hop on/off Trolley

Our group of 6 disembarked the ship and checked in to the Westin Waterfront Hotel at 9 am. I chose the hotel because it was walking distance from the cruise ship and was a trolley stop. I bought our tickets online before we left.

We caught the trolley directly in front of the hotel at 9:30. It stopped at the cruise pier and then seaport and then went to stop one. We hopped off and walked across the intersection to get on the bus following the green route. We thought since it was suppose to take a an hour and 45 min we would just ride it the full loop and listen to the narration and decide which stops were worth going back for. We're glad we did. The first two stops were fine, stop 3 had so many people waiting and only a few exiting that not everyone could get on. They were told to wait for the next bus that would be there shortly. (The website/brochure say 15-20 min in September, but everyone was being told 30-40 min). We continued on and it was like this at every stop. Lines of people waiting and being told there was no room and to wait for another bus and people getting mad. People asking where to get tickets and the driver taking them along to that area instead of people waiting in line that actually had tickets. Then getting to a ticket store and having the driver yelled at because no one was there and it should've opened 2 hours ago. Anyway, we decided not to exit as we would never be able to get back on, it must have been what everyone else was thinking, too. The driver said the company decided not to go to Fenway Park as there was traffic due to a cancer fund raiser. This was a disappointment as everyone wanted to see it. Not sure why there wasn't a back up route available, but it was out of our control.

After being on the bus for 3 hours (yes 3!) We decided to get off at the Boston Tea Party Museum. Some of us wanted to see Paul Revere's and the USS Constitution, but weren't sure of the bus. So, 2 people walked a mile back to the hotel rather than chance the bus. The other 4 of us waited 15 for a full bus to tell us no. Then another 15 min for a bus to let off 5 people so our 4 made it on. We were taken to stop 1 where everyone but our 4 got off. The bus in front of us filled up and left, then we did 15 minutes later and there was still a line of people waiting. We exited at stop 2 and walked to Paul Revere's House. We walked to the Old North Church. We decided it wasn't worth trying to wait for a shuttle to navy yard and we would be satisfied with the pictures we took of the ship from the bus. So we walked back to stop 1 and over to were the orange loop picked up. Waited about 10 minutes to be taken back to our hotel. They were told they had to drop us off on the side street as there was now to much traffic in front of the hotel.

They offer a money back guarantee and I have submitted the form to receive it. It was not an easy hop on/off experience like they claim. We definitely would've visited some of the stops if there had been room on the trolley. The driver said they were busy because there were 2 ships in port. As a company that provides this service everyday, knowing when ships are/aren't in port, I think they should've been better prepared for the crowds and had more shuttles going and/or stopped selling tickets.