The Lowdown on HOHO's

I don't have much time for blogging today.  I have a Royal Caribbean webinar scheduled  to begin in less than an hour.  So, this is going to be short and sweet.  Today I wanted to take just a few minutes to talk about the greatness of the Hop On Hop Off buses and tours or HOHO's.  Most big tourist areas have them. We don't have them here in Dallas because tourists would get mad when they realized that the only stop was the 6th Floor Museum.  It would be sort of pointless.  But in cities where there are numerous tourist attractions, it's probably the absolute best investment of your travel dollar.

I've been on several different HOHO's throughout he years.  The best that I personally have ever used was the one in Barcelona.  I think we paid around $60 euro for 2 days.  It was so great and there was so much to see we wound up buying a third day on it after our cruise to see what we didn't have time for before we boarded the ship.  In all, we spent 5 days in Barcelona.  Three of them were spent on HOHO's, one was spent on a day trip to Montserrat and the other was the day that we arrived and we just walked around to get our bearings that day.

If you have time I always recommend that you get your HOHO tickets for the first few days in a new city.  It forces you to look at a map and see what is in each area.  When you get off the bus in each of those areas, it gives you an idea of what all is around and whether or not you need to go back there to finish seeing everything or whether there is more to see at all.  I generally like to do one entire loop first.  This is hard to do because it is so difficult to pass by a place you know is an absolute must see even keeping in mind that when you loop around again, you'll stop.  But if you have a lot of will power and can force yourself to stay on the HOHO for one entire loop, it will help you to prioritize the stops so that you'll hear all about each of them and can then decide where you need to go first and how much time you might need to spend there.  I like it because it helps me to schedule the balance of the time on the HOHO.  The HOHO loops in Barcelona were so long that this would have been practically impossible.  That was also my first HOHO ever so I had no clue what to expect.

Some HOHO's have live commentary from the driver or a guide while others like the one in Barcelona are recorded.  I liked theirs because each person was given earbuds before they boarded the bus and you plugged into a system at each seat and could change channels to your language.  I think they had 7 languages but I'm not certain since I only ever used English.  It was great since with a recording the guide never forgot and left something out or got too long winded on a certain topic and failed to mention hat we were passing a significant landmark.

In New York, I have been on a HOHO that had tour guides who sat on top with a microphone and seemed to like audience participation.  I don't like it when the guide tries to entertain you nearly as much as I like it when they know their topic and stick to it.  If I want entertainment in NYC, I'll buy a Broadway ticket, thanks.  I'd like for my tour guide to stick with informing me.  In Boston, we rode the HOHO Trolleys.  I will say that although the driver was the guide and at times you would get a guide who wanted to entertain, they all knew their topics very well and never missed a beat.  I think of all the HOHO's I've been on with live guides, these were by far the best.  The only problem I found with Boston's HOHO is that it stops so early in the evening.  They take on their last passengers of the day at 5:00 PM and from then on, they just drop people off.

In San Francisco, there are multiple loops on the HOHO.  We had two day passes and still never made it to the 3rd loop.  There were just too many things to see and do.  There I think we did the best job of using our HOHO passes as a mode of transportation as much as a touring venue.  You see if you play your cards right and really plan things out, you can ride your HOHO across town, get off near something that you are wanting to go to (like a baseball game) and not have to use a taxi or city bus.

My travel buddy Jenny, once went to Washington DC with another of her friends and had a terrible experience with the HOHO that they used there.  She said that the buses were infrequent and when they finally showed up there was no room.  Since they were so infrequent, no one would get off at any of the stops which meant that no one else could get on.  They were traveling with 3 children, so waiting 45 minutes to an hour for a bus to take you to the next tourist attraction was not a good thing at all.  Even with no children with you, vacations are too short to spend that long waiting on transportation.  After her return she wrote letters to the company but didn't really get much response, other than the regular "we're sorry you feel that way".  The company in question was Big Bus Tours.  They have franchises in a number of cities worldwide.  Knowing how horrible Jenny's experience in DC was and the lack of response that she got, I would recommend that you steer clear of that company wherever you go.  Otherwise, I've had consistently good experiences with all that I have ever been on.

While we were on our Mediterranean cruise in 2009, we sat with a couple at dinner every night who were the king and queen of HOHO's.  In every city we went to, they just got off the ship and found the first HOHO they could and booked a day or even 1/2 a day on it.  They loved it and said it was the only way to see Europe.  It enabled them to see as much as possible in the least amount of time.  When you are traveling by cruise ship, that is the name of the game.  You only have 6 to 8 hours in each city.  You have to make the most of it.

One final note, whenever you go to a city and are told that you don't need the silly HOHO because their city bus system is so amazing it's a much better deal, DON'T FALL FOR IT!  City buses are designed to move commuters from one location to another usually to and from residential and business areas.  They don't exist to get tourists who do not know the city to a tourist attraction.  If you need to use a city bus to get somewhere while on vacation, that is fine.  But don't depend on it to get you to each tourist attraction.  I can tell you from experience that you will be seriously disappointed.

Have a great Thursday!  I've got to go learn about booking GROUPS on Royal Caribbean.