Flagship Cruises Harbor Tour in San Diego, CA

On my previous San Diego trip, I saw that there were short sightseeing ship tours of the harbor. I didn’t have time on my last trip, but this time I went on the two-hour Full Bay Tour put on by Flagship Cruises. Flagship Cruises also operates the ferry that runs between Coronado and San Diego. If one doesn’t have time for a full cruise, the ferry ride offers great views of the harbor that’s much more cost- and-time-effective. I took the ferry across to San Diego to get on the yacht for the cruise. The ferry doesn’t have bathrooms or other amenities, but the ships used for the tours have food and beverages along with bathrooms. For both, there’s indoor and outdoor seating.

Departing from the San Diego Broadway Pier, my cruise started with the North Harbor, then docked to let people on and off before continuing on to the South Harbor. Both trips provided beautiful views of the water (and sometimes sea lions!), but it’s the South Harbor portion that heads over to the Coronado Bridge which is pretty impressive from underneath.

Those interested in military history will also enjoy the south portion as the cruise goes past the naval base and the many ships docked there. The narration provided was fun and informative. When some people got a little rowdy during the tour, the tour guide thankfully gave a strong reminder that others wanted to enjoy the cruise peacefully. If there’s time to do some relaxing sightseeing, the harbor tour (especially the south tour) is a nice experience.

History and Haunted Happenings Tours at Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, CA

A number of tours are offered on the island of Coronado, so I decided to experience a few during my trip. My favorites ended up being the ones offered by the Hotel del Coronado Heritage Department. The daily tours are available to all, not just guests of the hotel.

The History tour runs every day at 10am and 2pm while the Haunted Happenings tour is at 7pm with a 9pm option on Fridays and Saturdays. Both tours start near the tree that Hotel del Coronado says was the first to be electrically lit outdoors for Christmas.

The History tour guide had clearly done a lot of research. She dispelled a lot of misinformation (some of which was given on the other tours I took) about the hotel. For example, some believe Wallis Simpson and Prince Edward met on the grounds, but the guide said records indicate Simpson was not there during the Prince’s 1920 visit. The guide went into detail about the construction of the resort and how a change in plans for the railroad was very nearly a disaster for Coronado. She revealed that the fifth floor had been for the staff of guests (people traveled with their own maids) which is why the ceilings are lower and hallways are narrower. Although the tour doesn’t go to the floors with guest rooms, I had access as a guest, so I went to the fifth floor on my own. The view is amazing, but the halls are claustrophobic and the rooms are definitely smaller.

She also explained why some of the rooms (like mine) have a slightly unusual layout—the original floorplan didn’t have a bathroom for every room, so there was a redesign that converted some closets and hallways into bathrooms. And while this tour doesn’t take attendees into the guest room areas, it does grant access to areas guests wouldn’t normally get to see. Some highlights were the former hotel laundry building, the Ballroom with amazing views, and the famed Crown room (usually only open during a pricy Sunday brunch or group event) with light fixtures designed by L. Frank Baum who was a Coronado resident. The 90-minute tour also included information about the movies partially filmed there and the changes made to the hotel over the decades.

The Haunted Happenings tour is a must for anyone who likes ghost stories. Although the History tour touched on ghosts (mentioning that the fifth floor is said to be the most haunted at the resort), the Haunted tour goes in depth. Once again the guide was extremely knowledgeable and thoroughly enjoyed her subject matter. I’ve been on a few haunted tours in other cities and this one was the best so far. The guide stayed grounded in facts, but also shared accounts of paranormal activity that she and her colleagues have witnessed. As she pointed out features of the Victorian building (here there’s some repetition of the History tour), the guide shared the story of Kate Morgan and a few others who have met their end at Hotel del Coronado. During the hour tour, the sun set (I took a 7pm tour) and perfectly changed the atmosphere as the guide shifted from more of a historic overview to diving deep into the mystery that surrounds Kate Morgan.

I highly recommend both tours.

Ultimate Salt Lake City Tour in Salt Lake City, UT

Although my experience in Las Vegas wasn’t so great, I decided to go for another bus tour in Salt Lake City. The company, City Sights, offers a few different types of tours including a 1.5-hour trolley tour and a 3-hour copper mine tour. The shorter tour around the city didn’t seem like it would offer all that I wanted to see, so I opted for the 3.5-hour Ultimate Salt Lake City Tour plus Organ Recital. If you're staying at a downtown hotel like I did, the bus will pick you up from your hotel and drop you back there at the end.

On this tour there are a few stops (including a break for lunch at the Beehive House—being part of the tour gets you 10% off your meal), but the time at each location is pretty short; I definitely could’ve used more time at Pioneer Heritage State Park (we had about 20 minutes). Outside of the organ recital at Temple Square (which anyone can attend for free), my favorite part of the tour was our walk through the State Capitol building.

I had already gone through the previous afternoon, but the Capitol was nearly empty on the Saturday of my tour which made it easier to take pictures and I appreciated that I was with a guide who could give some background. (It should be noted though that free tours of the Capitol are also available.) As luck would have it, my trip happened to be during the time that the Transcontinental Railroad Exhibit was featured at the Capitol. I had missed the sign during my solo trip through the Capitol, so I was really happy that the tour guide took us through the exhibit. In all, the tour was a good way to get familiar with the city so tourists can make note of what they want to visit when they have more time, but I would’ve liked a longer tour that gave me the chance to explore without having to come back on my own.

Big Bus Tour in Las Vegas, NV

With a long weekend in Las Vegas and my only set plan being the Aerosmith concert, I decided to spend a day doing the Big Bus Tour. Based on the information on their website, I believed the daytime hop-on/hop-off tour had two options—the Strip (red) and Old Vegas (blue). (There’s also a night tour, but I didn’t consider that one.) I decided to do the Old Vegas tour and start with the first stop at the Hawaiian Marketplace on the Strip. Right away there was confusion. I had purchased a Go Las Vegas pass and two of the Big Bus Tour staff members passed me off to someone else before I was able to use my pass to get a ticket. I also discovered that although the website makes it look like the red and blue are two different tours, the tour actually runs as one long loop meaning it takes over three hours to complete even without hopping off.

Big Bus runs with a guide using a microphone on the upper deck of the bus. The upper deck is open, so wind is definitely a factor. The first guide (I hopped off a few times) was fantastic. Not only was he engaging, he used a wind screen on the microphone so he could actually be understood. Unfortunately, not all the guides were as a great as the first one. Two of the other guides were adequate, but frequently more concerned about what other drivers and pedestrians were doing. At times they made snide remarks (usually about the driving skills of tourists) and also lamented their low wages. The other guide I had during my tour was so awful that I got off well before I planned at the second stop. In the short time I was on his tour, he made numerous wisecracks about American politicians including nasty comments about a former presidential candidate. It was highly inappropriate and had absolutely nothing to do with the tour.

Although things in Las Vegas change quickly, at least one of the tour guides was giving outdated information. For example, she referenced the Game of Thrones themed fountain show at the Bellagio as being current even though it had ended the previous week. The guides also gave very little history which is what I had hoped to learn.

The tour does hit some good stops—the iconic Las Vegas sign and the Mob Museum which has a speakeasy in the basement (and it’s just a short walk from the Mob Museum over to the Neon Boneyard where the Brilliant! show is fantastic)—but I didn’t find it to be worth the cost or the time. Another issue I had was the app not showing accurate times. The app was helpful for locating some of the stops, but showed a bus was less than three minutes away every time I checked even though wait times were actually more than 20 minutes.

Ride the Ducks in Seattle, WA

When I live in a city, I rarely do any of the tourist things and yet I love them when I'm on vacation in an unfamiliar place. So I lived in Washington for years without ever doing the Ride the Ducks tour. (I also only ever went up twice to the Space Needle observation deck--it's pricey and a long line, but the view is pretty spectacular.) If you live in a city with tourist-y things, I think it's worth checking them out. I had tons of fun on my Ride the Ducks tour. I chose Westlake Center as my starting point (Seattle Center is the other starting point which is the location to choose if needing to store any large items). The tour covers the same area regardless of where you start. Although the boat captain/tour guide will have some cheesy jokes, the tour is tremendous fun especially when on the water. Getting to see the houseboats up close was amazing.

Santa Barbara Trolley Tour in Santa Barbara, CA

Having enjoyed my experiences on the trolley tours I took in San Diego and Nashville, I decided to give the trolley tour in Santa Barbara a go. It conveniently had a stop right outside the lobby of the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort where I was staying. Based on the published schedule and online reviews, I knew that although this was billed as a "hop-on/off" tour just like the Old Town Trolley Tours it wasn't going to operate in the same fashion. (This tour is owned by a different company.) First off, the trolley only runs every hour which doesn't make it very convenient as transportation around the city. Next, there are really only four stops (the Visitor Center where the tour starts and finishes, the Hilton, the Harbor, and the Old Mission where it stops for about 20 minutes) although passengers can request the driver let them off at one of the other eight locations on the map. These stops are not marked at all, so it's only easy to get on at one of the four locations with pickups. When I hopped off at the Courthouse (the view from the top is definitely worth the stop), I decided not to try to flag down the trolley driver and simply took public transportation back to my hotel. The two drivers I had relayed interesting information about the city on the tour though one was more engaging than the other. Some perks of this tour are a second day for free and discounts at some of the museums in Santa Barbara.

Old Town Trolley Tour in Nashville, TN

One of the things I’d enjoyed on my trip to San Diego in 2017 was the trolley tour, so I decided to do it again in Nashville. The same company runs the tour in both cities, but the Nashville trolleys were much larger (and quite crowded—sometimes a backup had to be sent) and more like buses with the seats being progressively elevated the further back one sits. Unlike San Diego, where the stops are quite spread out, many of the stops in Nashville were only a few blocks from each other. This came in handy when the stop in front of the Goo Goo Shop and Johnny Cash Museum ended up being skipped because of road construction. Unfortunately there were no signs indicating the stop wouldn’t be utilized. When I made the full tour run, the driver did announce the closure at the stop with the main ticket booth but with this being hop-on/off, I started in the middle. The man who redeemed my all-access pass at the ticket booth near the Ryman didn’t mention it.

Because many of the stops were so close, this tour isn’t as good of a deal for someone who wants to use it as transportation around the city. The focus really is on downtown, but I appreciated the information shared on the tour. I had no idea how severe the damage had been with the 2010 flooding. The drivers did a great job conveying how incredible the restoration has been.

One of the few non-walking distance stops is for the Belmont mansion. The mansion was undergoing renovation which closed off the upper level, but the docent related an amazing history that shouldn’t be missed by anyone wanting to learn the story of one Civil War-era family that was very much headed by a woman. Many of the pieces in the mansion including the artwork are original. The work the museum staff has done to track down those original works is remarkable.

Some of the other tour highlights are: Country Music Hall of Fame, Musicians Hall of Fame, Parthenon, and numerous bars with local musicians playing.

The stops were well-marked and the directions given on the website made it easy to find each one. Note though that there’s more than one tour company running in downtown Nashville and the stops are sometimes in the same place or very close to each other.

Old Town Trolley Tour in San Diego, CA

During my October trip to San Diego, I did the Old Town Trolley sightseeing tour. It’s an excellent way to learn a bit about San Diego while exploring a limited portion of the city. I hopped on the trolley at the Horton Plaza stop as soon as the tour got going in the morning. Ric was working at the Horton Plaza stop (tickets are available at that stop) and provided me with great information about how to navigate the stops. I highly recommend dropping a pin on your phone’s map app because while most of the stops that sell tickets are easy to find, some of the other stops aren’t as well-marked. Some of the drivers were more entertaining than others, but I learned much about San Diego’s history regardless of who was driving. I didn’t get off at every stop, but found plenty to do at the ones I did—Coronado, Balboa Park, Old Town Market (everyone has to get off there), and Embarcadero Marina. There was so much to do that I ended up using the trolley from its first pickup time at Horton Plaza all the way to the last run of the day.

On Coronado Island, I explored the Hotel del Coronado which has quite the history (including being where L. Frank Baum wrote a lot of his books). The beach there is beautiful. I'm now planning a return trip so I can stay at the hotel.

Balboa Park is home to the Museum of Man and California Tower. The tower was closed until 2015, but now visitors to the museum can buy an additional ticket to take the stairs almost to the top. It's well worth it for the spectacular view. (I’ve been to the San Diego Zoo previously, so I didn’t visit this time but it can be reached from this stop.)

At the Old Town Market stop, I walked over to Whaley House which is said to be the most haunted house in America though I didn't experience anything spooky.

My last stop on the trolley tour was the Embarcadero Marina where I walked along the waterfront and visited the Maritime Museum.

Given the cost of parking and gas, the Old Town Trolley tour is more than worth the cost. According to the website, the tour would last two hours if one does it without getting on and off.