Gray Line San Diego

My wife and I took the Baja Coastal Tour to Ensenada with Gray Line on a lovely, sunny day in mid January 2012. This is a tough one to rate — because the facility (bus) was great and the bus driver was very knowledgable and very nice. The lunch (included in the tour price) in Ensenada was very, very nice. The restaurant was lovely and the food and drinks were terrific. However, I am afraid that we could not recommend the tour. The roads are not well maintained and the cities of Rosarito, Tijuana, and Ensenada were, for the most part, depressing. When we were south of Rosarito on our way to Ensenada, the bus was pulled over by the Federalies — and detained about a half hour — not fun. Certainly glad we were on Gray Line for the tour — but, we won’t be going back to Mexico any time soon.

Gray Line’s «Baja Mexico Coastal Tour to Ensenada» yesterday (Saturday) reached its reservation quota and operated. Hallelujah!
A few hours after I posted my initial review I received a wonderful empathetic message from «Owner Casey.» Guy knows what good customer service is all about, so many thanks to Casey.
Now on to some trip details.
The bus was late to snatch us up at the 8:00AM 1055 North Harbor Drive pick-​up location yesterday morning, so late that we began to worry. Once we got on board it made sense: we were the only people on the trip who live in San Diego, so prior to our pick-​up the bus had stopped at multiple hotels to gather the other passengers.
Our «Baja Mexico Coastal Tour to Ensenada» operated as follows:
* drive to Rosarito and debus for 30 minutes of free time
* drive to Ensenada for group lunch (complimentary margarita, salad, choice of entrée, and ice cream) and then ~2 hours of free time
* drive to Tijuana and debus for 1 hour of free time
If you’re not familiar with bus/​coach tours, then know that going through customs in this type of group environment is generally efficient. We didn’t debus when we entered Mexico, and when we returned to the United States we had to leave the bus to physically walk through customs. Still, we waited in line no more than 15 minutes when reentering the good ol’ US.
It’s my opinion that the driver/​narrator is a really important part of an overall bus/​coach tour experience. Our driver-​narrator Tino was fantastic! What a great, genuine guy full of information and jokes. Gave us all a crash course in shopping in Mexico (currency, bargaining, authenticity), tequila/​margaritas, and many other topics. I also appreciated that he narrated very little during the return trip because we were tired and happy to rest.
Mexican street vendors deserve their own paragraph. Wow, I thought that during past vacations I’d encountered aggressive street vendors, No way – the ones in Ensenata and Tijuana give «aggressive» a whole new meaning. They’re harmless enough, but they’ll follow you 20 feet down the sidewalk and even put their hands on you while trying to coerce you into buying their wares. Be prepared.
One significant gripe: I wish we had received some literature like brochures or perhaps a few maps for both practical reasons and as Gray Line souvenirs. We were given no such material – not even a ticket – as a souvenir. I was also disappointed that no agenda was provided; we had only a vague idea of what the trip would entail.
Will I take a Gray Line tour like this one again? Perhaps. I’d maybe sign up as part of a group; however, in the future I don’t see my boyfriend and I making reservations for such a trip due to the scheduling/​quota conflicts we encountered in the months prior to yesterday’s trip.