Golden Circle Reykjavik review

[SandyR5]

Just returned from Iceland/Ireland trip on Celebrity Apex. Incredible trip. Only disappointment was our Reykjavik Golden Circle tour. We used Your Day Tours which WAS highly recommended. Unfortunately, in the interim, they were acquired by another Iceland tour company with horrible customer service. The tour itself was fine, except for the driver/tour guide pointing out all the bars that he got “shitfaced” in the various towns we passed.  Didn’t offend me, but there was a kid onboard. My huge problem with Your Day Tours was because I was the tour organizer for 28 other cruisers. I researched and found them, posted about it on our thread and before you knew it, others wanted to join me and I then became the “organizer”. I arranged for no deposits and payment the morning of the tour. Payment could be in any currency or credit card. This was the primary reason others seemed to love. We had 2 vans with 15 in each. They showed up and when everyone expected to pay the drivers said they never handle money. This is the policy of the new company. Since Your Day Tours only had MY contact information I didn’t want to be responsible so I insisted they call the company. They called at the 2nd stop. It was decided that we’d pay at the end, but the didn’t tell me that I was going to do the collecting since they don’t handle money. They also had no idea that they were supposed to buy lunch for my husband and me so they didn’t.  At the next to last stop they asked me to go to speak to the passengers of both vans about payment. I wanted to tell them it’s their responsibility, but there were 28 others and I just wanted everyone to return to the ship with good memories. At the pier I left the van, collected the money, checked off everyone and did the same at the second van. Once everyone else left, I tipped our driver and returned to the ship. As I approached the ship I realized that my belongings, a bag with my raincoat, water bottle, binoculars and other “stuff” was still on the bus. I immediately turned on the international day pass on my phone and called, only to get a recording. I left a detailed message with the driver and license plate of the van. I also emailed them. NO response. I called again and left another detailed message. I finally got an email saying they were sorry I forgot my bag and would contact me if they found it. They never did. Bottom line, good tour, but If you’re someone who likes to organize for your roll call, use someone else. If you’re booking on your own, use someone else because if you need to contact them, they’re unavailable now.  Another formally good family owned company “bites the dust.”  Sad. 

[Nitemare]

Who was the new company that took over so folks can avoid them?

[SandyR5]

Arctic adventures which also cancelled a roll call booked bus tour. Your Day Tours website still says they’re a family owned company. Shame on them. 

Edited June 22, 2023 by SandyR5

[PhillyTravelBug]

20 hours ago, SandyR5 said:

Arctic adventures which also cancelled a roll call booked bus tour. Your Day Tours website still says they’re a family owned company. Shame on them. 

Crap! We have our excursion booked with artic adventures.

[SandyR5]

I’m sorry but I have gotten so much great information here I just felt I needed to share. 

[Nitemare]

Arctic Adventures is well regarded on TripAdvisor, which has a very active Iceland forum. You might want to post over there, too.  Hopefully it's just an issue with them absorbing the other company

[SandyR5]

I just received an email, apologizing, from the CEO of Your Day Tours. He said nothing about being absorbed by the other company. I asked him about that in my reply, since every Van in the office parking lot was from Artic Adventures and our driver told us they now own 100% of Your Day Tours. The CEO said our tour was marked as “paid”. I told him I saved him about $2500 by insisting it was not and we had to pay. I also told him how sad it is that one of his employees is wearing my raincoat, using my water bottle and binoculars. I did post on Trip Advisor. This was my first negative review. Somehow I’m sure the CEO saw it…thus the email. Thanks. 

[Meander Ingwa]

I had used Reykjavik Excursions with nothing but praise for the Golden circle as well as airport transferes with flybus via Blue Lagoon .

 

I would have been very upset having such an immature person at the wheel, bragging about drunkenness.

 

Sorry such a wonderful country left such a bad impression 

[SandyR5]

Thanks. I did not let it ruin my impression of Iceland…just the company I used. I’m glad you mentioned Reykjavik excursions. Hopefully that will help others who want to tour. 

[Cassicruiser]

I just booked Your day tours yesterday for our South Coast excursion!  The reviews on Tripadvisor are glowing, and they have been very good at responding to my couple of emails, so am wondering if I should be concerened.  Hopefully we get a different guide, and have a different experience!

Has anyone else on this thread had a good/bad experience with them?

[SandyR5]

Don’t get me wrong, the tour itself was great, other than the immature driver. The others on the tour had great times. As the organizer I felt a responsibility not to share with everyone else what was going on at the time. I just told them we’d pay afterwards. As the CEO told me, maybe he is going to now be more hands on and respond to customers more efficiently. Also, the others didn’t know about my bag left on the van since they all returned to the ship before me. So, hopefully for you, it will be a wonderful day. 

[fishman620]

10 hours ago, Cassicruiser said:

I just booked Your day tours yesterday for our South Coast excursion!  The reviews on Tripadvisor are glowing, and they have been very good at responding to my couple of emails, so am wondering if I should be concerened.  Hopefully we get a different guide, and have a different experience!

Has anyone else on this thread had a good/bad experience with them?

We too are booked for the South Coast excursion by Minibus....hoping for a great experience!

[ericosmith]

I booked the Golden Circle with them before they were sold and they indicated that my 8:00 cruise ship arrival would not be a problem.  Now they tell me they can't guarantee my pickup.  I guess I'll need to find another tour.  I like the smaller group but there aren't a lot of those options.

[SandyR5]

Big companies just don’t give you the same customer service. ☹️

[outlawwillie]

Just returned from HAL Zuiderdam cruise and used Your Day Tours for South Coast and Golden Circle.

First day South Coast tour was awesome. Our driver Franklin did an fantastic job and we enjoyed the tour. Second day Golden Circle was horrible and extremely uncomfortable for 20 people because the vans air conditioning was not working. Passengers complained before we left Reykjavik that it was not working  but our driver Ian said it would get better.  Ian notified headquarters of the problem, but nothing was done. After lunch the temperature in the van reached 38 degrees C or 100 F, (according to gauge on the dash).  People wanted to return to Reykjavik as quick as possible to get out of the stifling heat of the van. Outside the temp was 61 degrees F but the van only had one window (the drivers) that could be opened. Passengers asked for a new van but were told that was not possible. The problem is the company has no backup if your van has problems, so travel with them cautiously.

[SandyR5]

I told you all. NOT the company it used to be. Sorry you had a bad second day. It should have been wonderful. 

[MagnoliaBlossom]

We used Nice Travel and had nothing but excellent tours all three days.  A member of our group left her backpack, complete with her lap top onboard.  They were leaving a day ahead of us but she called and asked they get the backpack to me, which they did the minute I got on the bus that morning and I got it stateside and shipped it to her.  She said they offered to ship it at their expense, but she felt better with me bringing her laptop home.

[PhillyTravelBug]

3 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

We used Nice Travel and had nothing but excellent tours all three days.  A member of our group left her backpack, complete with her lap top onboard.  They were leaving a day ahead of us but she called and asked they get the backpack to me, which they did the minute I got on the bus that morning and I got it stateside and shipped it to her.  She said they offered to ship it at their expense, but she felt better with me bringing her laptop home.

we used them for the Golden Circle tour this past Wednesday and had the best time. Couldn’t recommend them enough. 

[PhillyTravelBug]

I am writing a hero card out for the barista at Starbucks. She knew our names and exactly what we wanted the second and third day. She was struck up a conversation last night when we stopped by. Honestly, it’s these little touches that make me come back to NCL.

[PhillyTravelBug]

Sorry, posted this in the wrong thread.

[MkeCruzn]

We had two fabulous tours with AA/YDT, one to Snaefellsnes and the Golden Circle plus hot spring. We had the same tour guide (Pawel) both days. Everything went very smoothly on both tours. No issues for us! I’d recommend them any time. 

Edited September 17, 2023 by MkeCruzn