OnBoard New York Tours

Amazing tour! Well worth your time and money. Our tour guide Sheldon was AWESOME, extremely knowledgable about the city and its history. Do this tour!

We booked the NYC day tour through OnBoard New York Tours (
), and we were super disappointed from the word go. The tour is poorly designed — I have personally done various bus tours in many cities, and this one does not match upto those. We also bought tickets through this company to see the Empire State Building (its optional), and towards the end, the tour guide left the bus without informing us and explaining to us what we needed to do at the Empire State. Worst, he left without handing us the entry tickets. And could not be traced after that. I called their customer helpline and they kept insisting to re-​use the ticket another time. I had to keep repeating that I am not going to spend more money on air tickets to visit NYC again. On my return, I sent an email to the company explaining our poor experience, and horrible customer service. The president of the company calls me and demands to know why I have written a ten paragraph story to complain. There is no apology offered, in fact he finds it hard to understand why I am not a happy customer. To my email, then, he responds in one word — «HANDLED». My second email received no acknowledgement or response. After much reluctance, they issued a refund of the Empire State building tickets.
If the president of a company needs training in basic email etiquette, I am not surprised then to know why we had such a horrible experience on the tour. And, what was supposed to be a memorable day for my mum who was visiting from another country, turned out to be a royal waste of 9 hours and almost 500 bucks.
The company had a simple chance of accepting their mistake, apologizing and trying to win a customer over. Instead, they chose to make me feel miserable, treat me with unacceptable customer service, and go on with their business of fleecing people of their time and money.
In short, after spending hundreds of dollars to come visit NYC and go back, in addition to spending more money to sight-​see one of the most famous cities in the world, I could not take my mother to the Empire State Building (which she can never see now), got treated poorly by this company, and insulted later when I tried to voice my complaint.

This is THE BEST WAY TO SEE NY, if its your first time… Our tour was 9 hours, and we saw so much, incl a trip to both Liberty Island and Ellis Island… we saw Wall st, ⁹⁄₁₁ memorial, Strawberry field, the Dakota building, and sooo much more… Our guide was amazing, he knew everything about each site and the entire city…
Comfortable buses, smaller groups…
On Board Tours has several different tours to choose from, i would highly recommend you look at them first, before booking with other companies… Our tour was «See it all NY» $ 125 for a 9 hour tour is a great deal…

We took the See the Best tour, which was advertised at 5 ½ hours. We met the tour bus at around 1155; although not rude, the bus driver was very disinterested and merely waved us over a man in a blue OnBoard shirt to check in, which we did and boarded the bus. The bus itself is okay, not especially clean but not very dirty either. They did have free water as advertised and the tour guide regularly offered these to the group.
We drove past Central Park Strawberry Fields and John Lennon’s old residence, then visited St. John the Divine Cathedral, Grant’s Tomb, the Apollo (just saw the inside of the lobby), and Grand Central Terminal where we had a lunch stop. Very busy place, lots of food options; long lines and the selection of coffee was so-​so. The bus left us at this point but thankfully no one had any health issues walking, etc. so not a problem for this group however, not what was expected from the description. We went to the lobby of the Chrysler building, the NY public library at Bryant Park, which we also saw. Our final stop was the Empire State Building – the tour included tickets to the 86^th floor so this is where the guide left us for the day. It was okay but again I was sort of expecting to take the bus back to our starting point. Either way we had a good time seeing the Empire State building and discovered a nice bar and grill to eat at (next review).
The highlight of the tour was the guide, who was very friendly – a great local guy named Stan. He related lots of good knowledge to us about the city and ensured everyone stuck together. He showed us good place to get good gifts and also patronized the food carts – he even got a bag of roasted almonds and offered everyone a taste. At Bryant park, Stan advised us of the plan to walk over to the Empire State and then how to get back to wherever we needed to go. He made sure al of us had a good bearing on how to make our way, even went out of his way to advise a couple of people from Long Island who were sitting nearby.

Like many others on this site, we were disappointed with our experience, but worse, the treatment and insults we received from Fred, the owner, after the fact, were appalling. The beginning of the day was fine, with all of us on board early as recommended, but the tour guide arrived literally seconds before our departure time. OK. Stuff happens. Shelly, the guide, was fun, and a local, with some interesting insights, but a few times we know his facts to have been wrong: P Be aware that you won’t be using a bathroom for about 2.5 hours, which was not a problem for us, but was for others. Lunch is at the Statten Island ferry terminal, and man, could they do better. Typical horrible food court food, in a city where we drove by so many neighbourhoods they claim had the best food anywhere: P The «fun» started after we returned from the Statten Island ride. Our bus was to have picked us up, but in a cell phone conversation I overheard, Fred had asked our driver to run a personal errand for him, and he did not make it back. The bus, in fact, did not return until much later in the day, so we did much more walking, in the cold, than anyone expected, and than we felt was reasonable on a bus tour. One of our party had a fractured foot, which was the reason we even took a bus tour: P Next, because we were way behind schedule, the bus upon return took 20 of our group to the train station because they had another commitment. 15 of us were left standing outside, while our tour guide escorted them. Fred told me it was 5 minutes. My watch, a rather reliable timepiece, said it was 25 minutes. At this point we are really behind schedule, and while our bus was again gone driving the 20 people to the train, we stood around Wall Street, listening to more stories than were interesting, until the guide got a text that the driver was back. Yikes! We finally had the bus back, and after a few minutes someone noticed two of the 15 were missing. We had to stop and Shelley had to go find them. Later, Fred told me something to the effect that people go missing all the time. Really? #headcount? By now, our return was way late, and we, too, were missing other commitments, and sitting in deadly traffic that may or may not have existed an hour earlier. We bailed, and walked back. Upon returning, I wrote Fred a letter outlining our frustrations and asking for a 50% refund. I got a very rude response, saying no one liked me, and EVERYONE on the bus LOVED the tour except crazy me. As if. I tried again to explain, to no avail. After the third or fourth insulting email I requested Fred never contact me again. He did, I asked again, and have not heard from him since. For us, this tour was OK, but was ruined by Fred, his decision to poach our driver, and his reaction after the fact. An apology would have gone a long way. We would never use this company again.

Wonderful tour by «Shelly». Learned so much and enjoyed the day. Tour went above and beyond the mundane NYC facts.

We took the NY See it All tour on Thurs 23^rd January during the extremely cold weather. To start the bus was over an hour late to the first stop with little to no detail coming from the tour guide, but told to wait in a café nearby. Our tour guide was Matt. Other than that, we have no complaints. It was an interesting experience and Matt was a great guide.

Fred is the worst human on the planet. He took a good tour and turned into a scheme. Don’t trust their president, Fred. He is a bad man.

Our tour guide Gil was fantastic! He was so knowledgable and so kind to my 87 year old grandmother. He truly made the tour fantastic. And our bus driver Naomi was amazing. I can not even imagine driving a bus in the city. We really enjoyed the tour and would do one again but not if the company doesn’t spring for some mics for the guides. I teach fitness classes so I know a wireless mic system can be had for under $ 50 and it really is a detriment as you have a very difficult time hearing the tour guide (especially if you are touring when the heat is blasting!). Not to mention no tour guide can or should be forced to scream information at you for a 6 hour tour. Completely not fair to the guides or the customers. Seriously buy a back up cheap system that can easily be transported from bus to bus, you’re customers and guides will thank you!
Make sure you wear your walking shoes and bundle up if it is cold. I’m glad we chose this tour since no one had to sit on top of one of the double decker busses (brrrrrrr). Plus I loved that our guide stayed with us as we walked around the city. A fantastic way to see the sights! I only wish we had visited a bit more of the park than just strawberry fields, but you can only do so much in 6 hours. Thanks again for a wonderful tour!

Bryant was phenomenal! Great personality and knowledge! Very fun and entertaining person! I recommend anyone wanting to know more about Manhattan take their two day tour with Bryant! He is great! Bryant, if your ever in Miami look me up!

Took the Premium Tour and our tour bus was a bit delayed due to some garage issues. 9:30 became almost 10am. Our tour guide Mike Grant provided some trivia about the city while waiting.
Pros: Driver Ricardo and Mike were a good tandem. Ricardo handled the driving while Mike a native NYorker gave a wealth of info about NYC. He had everything in order when we visited all the spots listed in the Premium all you can see tour. Bus was clean and nice plus free bottled H2O. Mike’s signature gadget is the Red umbrella which kept all 30 tourists together. Keep an eye for some «Interesting Characters» in Strawberry Fields park.
Cons: Punctuality to start the tour. Although there was a cooler, no ice were in it to keep water cold.
If you ask me, scrap the Ellis Island trip and Strawberry Fields park and replace it with Top of the Rock Observation Tour.
Still a good value if pressed for time for sightseeing.
Scarcity of coupon codes online. Guess it is all about timing.

Did the premium tour yesterday. Many issues:
1)We were expected to be there by 9:00 a.m. The tour was to depart at 9:30.
Our group was there by 9:00 but no guide showed up until 9:10.
2) our tour shuttle was late 15 minutes. Since we were there at 8:40, we waited an hour just to board!
3). We were late to our first stop which was the water taxi. It left without us and then we had to wait 35 minutes for next one.
4) the tour seemed very rushed as the guide had to make up time.
5) the market where you stop for lunch is just okay.
6). Though you are in air conditioned shuttle and have a guide, it’s not worth $ 125… The most this tour is worth is 75.00 $
The guide also expected a 10 $ tip from each person. We should have been credited money back for all of the problems!
Sorry on board. You have to do better if you are going to charge this much!

Altovise (That was our tour guide’s name) is the reason this tour got a 5 star rating. I’d probably give it 4 stars without her, because the description of the tour is definitely misleading. It’s walking super fast all over NY and seeing a bit of everything for a very short time. That worked for us because we got to see what we wanted to go back to and see tomorrow. Got a taste of the stuff we wanted to see but didn’t care to see for long periods of time.
Altovise was hilarious. She’s charismatic, funny and holy crap she is so knowledgable!!! Like ridiculously knowledgable!!! She holds up a red fan while she walks, I would have lost her about 10 times if it was not for that fan!!! She was one of the absolute best tour guides I’ve ever had!!! She’s the only reason I was not disappointed with the misleading description of this tour. I’d request her if you take this tour.

The kids and I accompanied my husband to
NYC while he was there for a business trip. Not only am I from Vermont, the most rural place ever and quite the opposite of NY, I have no sense of direction, so imagine my feelings of panic at the thought of spending the day in the city without my husband to help navigate.
I did a little research and found several tours. The thing that sounded most appealing about On Board was that the guide stays right with you. This made it seem more safe, and no waiting for the next bus to come along or having to find the pick up location on the hop on, hop off type tours. I liked that there were several itineraries to choose from, depending on the sites you want to see or how long you wanted to be out.
We found a discount code so it was really reasonably priced for a five and a half hour tour.
They sent a detailed email about where to meet them and a number to call should there be any issues.
Once we boarded the bus, we were told that the subway system was having an issue, and the tour would be delayed for an indeterminate amount of time. We had the option of getting a refund or, being okay with a later ending to the tour, because they were adding an extra stop on the tour to kill time in apology for the delay. So… as an added bonus, we got to see the Empire State Building, not in the original plan. Glad this happened because it was a great addition to the tour! The views were incredible!
We had a small group of about 25 people.
David, our tour guide, was very funny and extremely knowledgable about the history of NY landmarks. He provided us with some really fun facts and answered everyone’s questions. He gave us tips on navigating the city and places to check out.
I would recommend this tour to anyone who wants to see the city without stress or hassle! We all loved our experience!

I had one day in NYC and I wanted to see as much as possible. The «See It All» tour appealed to me because it was touted as the most efficient way to see the city. The tour did not disappoint. The tour group was small, being February and all. Our tour guide Tyler was very personable and full of facts and helpful recommendations about the city from restaurants to how to navigate the subway to other sites to see. I was happy to see all the major sites such as the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Empire State Building, etc. I do not think you will be disappointed. I wasn’t!

I live in NYC and, on a whim, decided to do the OnBoard Holiday Lights tour. I rarely seem to make it to see the windows and such and figured it would be a great way to do that this year.
I LOVED IT! I am so surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
I expected it to be a total traffic jam getting through Times Square, and, of course it was. But our tour guide, «J.», knew so much about the area that it really wasn’t a frustration and was actually fun! I learned so many things that I didn’t know about my own city. I never really noticed the statues in Times Square, let alone knew why they were there. Now I do! I learned about the Times Building, about Times Square itself, about the New Years ball, about all sorts of interesting trivia, while just sitting back and letting our great driver, Millie, handle the logistics.
The bus, BTW, was really nice. Big windows, comfy seats. OnBoard buses are clean and had a good stock of free waters for all of us. I have been on a couple of the other tour companies tours and the buses are not pleasant. Millie was a great driver. She didn’t swerve in and around traffic, didn’t honk all the time and seemed to be making sure that she slowed down when «J.» was trying to point things out to us. Millie was very aware of the fact that we were on a tour and made it the ride pleasant. «J.» learned where we were from right off the bat and then mentioned things that would be of interest to us individually, which was pretty impressive. «J.» is, literally, a walking encyclopedia of NYC facts. He told us history, current facts, entertainment items and things of interest nearly every foot of the tour. I was impressed. He also seemed like a really nice guy who cared about us having a good time and not getting lost or frustrated.
Back to the tour. We hit all of the points of interest. Granted, we didn’t stay long, but I understood why and this helped me decide where I wanted to return. I had no idea that so much was going on in Bryant Park, for instance, and I will definitely go back there before the end of the year. I just loved The Time Warner Center lights, but we were there long enough that I don’t feel I need to return. To me, each stop we just the right length and I enjoyed covering so much territory is such a short time. The final drive down 5^th Ave. was really fantastic and I loved seeing all of the storefronts without having to walk in the cold and crowds to do it.
I definitely want to take more OnBoard Tours and I would highly recommend their tours to anyone, especially with tour guide «J.».

We did the See It All tour this morning with Matt as our tour guide
Check-​in was very easy. Just look for the bus on the corner of 7^th ave and 50^th and tell them your name, which should be on their list. We were lucky there were only 8 of us on the tour so we weren’t slowed down by a large and sow crowd.
Matt was very knowledgeable of the sites and buildings. I asked him questions and he knew the who, what, when, why, and how of each question. We went out of the bus quite a few times for a walking tour which was nice to see certain places up close.
We began going North towards Central Park and worked our way down to Battery Park where we took the ferry to Staten Island and back. There was a short break at Fulton st then we came back.
Our 5.5 hour tour only took 4 hours. I’m assuming because of the lack of traffic, being a Saturday and also a slow time of the year where the group consisted of a small number of people.
Thanks to the tour we went back to places of interest to get a better look and shop around.

Pre Booked 2 tours, the 5 ½ hour tour of Manhattan with the highlight being the included one hour ride on the Zephyr from Pier 16 to Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty and Governors Island. Other highlights included a short walk into Central Park’s Strawberry Fields area, John Lennon’s penthouse apartment building just across the street, Rockefeller Center, Wall Street, Times Square and Madison Square Park. Tour guide was good and knowledgable and the large van had only 1 or 2 empty seats for a total of 29 including the guide. 5 STARS
The second tour was the Fall Foliage trip to West Point with stops along the Hudson River and 7 Lakes area. Nice colors during the October 21^st tour date but I found the tour guide full of useless and boring hot air and stuttered annoyingly so I tuned him out with my IPOD! Small but luxurious Mercedes van was full with 13 including the guide. 3 STARS

My friend and I went to NY this last weekend. We had a 3 day trip and boy was it a sugar rush! So little time and such a big city!!! We are from the Bay Area and so we know how touristy it can be. This was the best decision ever. 10am-​3 See It All Tour. Our guide was Edwin and he was awesome.
We went out partying the night before and still roughed it out. With so little sleep we were still so glad we did the tour. The price is definitely worth it and you do so very much in such a short amount of time. Edwin was so sweet and helpful with any questions (and btw I suggest going to top of the to rock instead of Empire State. Cheaper and less wait).
My friend and I did everything on our list because the key landmarks were covered by the tour. Thank you soooo much! We’ll tell all our friends!

Review for 12:30 pm See It all Tour! Wed. June 13^th.
Hit all the spots as described on the website and advertisements.
Check-​in on the back-​side of the Winter Garden Theater was a bit unorganized and chaotic. I think we checked-​in about 4 times with 4 different people who asked us the same question. Hint: Maybe if you use some kind of ticket or voucher, then you would know who checked in already. Because of this disorganization, we were «upgraded» to the Premium tour, at no charge. However, I feel sorry for the two or three couples that paid for the premium tour, I don’t think they got any refunds…
However, throughout the tour, guide made us feel «rushed» and he seemed to be in disagreement with the bus driver on what direction and stops to go next. This became very tiresome and frustrating throughout the day. The tour guide was well informed and versed on each attraction that we visited.
Despite, being a bus tour, there is a lot of walking involved, so elderly or families with children please be aware. By the end of our tour, 3 or 4 tour attendees just remained on the bus.
Learning lesson from all of this, NYC, with all its famous traffic, is best seen on foot. With so many attractions to see and visit its best you target a certain area, Lower East, Mid-​Town West etc. and tour the city that way without being rushed or getting burned out. However, if your time is limited, then you may have to settle for one of the bus tours.