Boston trolley tours

[ute_fan]

Quick question for those of you with Boston knowledge. I'm interested in doing on of the "hop-on hop-off" trolley tours in Boston. Is there any one tour that is more highly recommended than another?

 

Also, I see that the New England Aquarium is by one of the stops. Is it mainly for kids, or would a couple of middle-aged adults find it interesting?

[me@sea]

I have an add-on question....how close are the trolleys to the cruise ship. Sounds like Boston has lots to offer and of course have to check out the Boston clam chowder :)

[KelJ]

We had a port stop in Boston a couple weeks ago. We booked Old Town Trolley online (it saved a few dollars per person to book online). The reason I chose Old Town was they had a stop (number 16) reasonably close to the Black Falcon cruise terminal. Stop 16 is at the Westin Hotel, which was about a ten-minute walk from the terminal.

There are 17 stops altogether with Old Town. We were allowed to get on at Stop 16 because we had prepurchased etickets. If you do not prepurchase, you have to get yourself to Stop 1 (the aquarium stop that you mentioned) and buy your tickets there before you can board a trolley.

We rode from Stop 16 to Stop 1 and had to get off there to get our etickets stamped. We then could hop on and hop off all day. While at stop 1, we added a 45-minute harbor tour for $7 per person, which was well worth it. The cruises run every hour, and you go whenever you want. You are not assigned a certain time.

The drivers/guides on the Old Town Trolleys are extremely knowledgeable and very funny. I would highly recommend Old Town Trolley Trours.

The aquarium is very nice and is certainly not just for children. Also, be sure to walk around Quincy Market (across the street from Stop 1).

At the end of the day, we got off at the Westin at Stop 16, where we had started. It was a very warm day and we were tired, so we took a cab to the pier (cost less than $6). Cabs are plentiful at the Westin.

[ute_fan]

Thank you SO MUCH!!!! That's exactly that kind of information that I was looking for.

[KelJ]

You're very welcome. I just wanted to add that, if you walk to the Westin Hotel, you have to go inside and go up to the second floor and then exit out of the lobby to the pick-up/drop-off on an upper street. This was very confusing, as we didn't know this. The trolley comes right to the hotel lobby exit.

[lianakcc]

Was it easy to re-board the trolley once you got off? I am worried that the next trolley will be full and we will be spending a lot of time waiting.......

[KelJ]

Was it easy to re-board the trolley once you got off? I am worried that the next trolley will be full and we will be spending a lot of time waiting.......

 

We had no trouble. They run quite frequently.

[me@sea]

I've taken Old Town Trolley in Key West and San Diego....amazing service! And if the trolley is full, the driver calls for another trolley to zoom to that stop. :)

[April2986]

I have a pre-purchased eticket for the Boston old town trolley. We'll be going next month. Do we have to stay on the trolley from stop #16 to stop #1 before we can hop on and off. How long does it take to get to Stop #1 from #16. You also said that we will have to get the ticket stamped at #1. Didn't know that:confused: Thanks for all the information concerning this.

[KelJ]

I have a pre-purchased eticket for the Boston old town trolley. We'll be going next month. Do we have to stay on the trolley from stop #16 to stop #1 before we can hop on and off. How long does it take to get to Stop #1 from #16. You also said that we will have to get the ticket stamped at #1. Didn't know that:confused: Thanks for all the information concerning this.

 

We were told to go straight to Stop #1 and get stamped and that we could then hop on and hop off as much as we wanted. It was probably a ten-minute ride from #16 to #1.

If you really wanted to get off at #17 first, I think you could get away with it. The first driver we had wasn't checking things. In fact, after we got our etickets stamped, nobody ever asked to see them all day.

[rhondakap]

I've never done the tour (I'm a local) but it can't take too long to get from the Seaport District to the Aquarium stop. They are close to each other, just a few minutes drive.

[Sue's Mom]

Kelly - thanks so much for that information. It has just clinched what we will do when we are there in October.

[April2986]

Kelly,

Thank you so much. That information really helped.

 

Mary

[KelJ]

Kelly - thanks so much for that information. It has just clinched what we will do when we are there in October.

 

Kelly' date='

Thank you so much. That information really helped.

 

Mary[/quote']

 

You are both very welcome. I'm glad I could help.:)

[idcruisers]

About how frequently does the Old Town Trolley pick up at each stop? We would like to tour with them, but have a very short time in Boston and don't want to spend all day waiting to get on the trolley. Also when you got off at stop #1 to get your ticket stamped, how long did you wait to get on the next trolley? Thanks in advance for the help.

[KelJ]

About how frequently does the Old Town Trolley pick up at each stop? We would like to tour with them, but have a very short time in Boston and don't want to spend all day waiting to get on the trolley. Also when you got off at stop #1 to get your ticket stamped, how long did you wait to get on the next trolley? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

I think the pick-ups are like every 10 or 15 minutes at each stop. They're very frequent. When we got off at stop #1, we didn't get right back on. We went to Quincy Market, the aquarium, the Imax, and took a harbor cruise before we got back on.

[mariaw0121]

We had a port stop in Boston a couple weeks ago. We booked Old Town Trolley online (it saved a few dollars per person to book online). The reason I chose Old Town was they had a stop (number 16) reasonably close to the Black Falcon cruise terminal. Stop 16 is at the Westin Hotel, which was about a ten-minute walk from the terminal.

 

There are 17 stops altogether with Old Town. We were allowed to get on at Stop 16 because we had prepurchased etickets. If you do not prepurchase, you have to get yourself to Stop 1 (the aquarium stop that you mentioned) and buy your tickets there before you can board a trolley.

 

We rode from Stop 16 to Stop 1 and had to get off there to get our etickets stamped. We then could hop on and hop off all day. While at stop 1, we added a 45-minute harbor tour for $7 per person, which was well worth it. The cruises run every hour, and you go whenever you want. You are not assigned a certain time.

 

The drivers/guides on the Old Town Trolleys are extremely knowledgeable and very funny. I would highly recommend Old Town Trolley Trours.

 

The aquarium is very nice and is certainly not just for children. Also, be sure to walk around Quincy Market (across the street from Stop 1).

 

At the end of the day, we got off at the Westin at Stop 16, where we had started. It was a very warm day and we were tired, so we took a cab to the pier (cost less than $6). Cabs are plentiful at the Westin.

We purchased advance tickets for the trolley so we can get on directly at stop 16 near the terminal. We also plan to get off at stop 4, the Museum of Science, and do the Duck Tour. I understand that tour takes an hour and a half or so, but you cannot always get on the next tour going out. We'll be in Boston on a Saturday, 9/6. Do you think this is a reasonable plan timewise? We'd also like to do the historic trail and see Quincy Market and still not miss the ship. Any Bostonian with advice?

[Host Caroline]

There is a huge international attorney convention in Boston the weekend of Sept 6 -- I know bec. many of the attorneys I work w/ are going.. the Ducks tour is an option for the wives and some of the trolleys are going to make pick ups at their hotels. I'd plan accordingly if you are in town on a port call. The "official' headquarters hotels (8 of them I think) are in harbor area.

We are there on a Thursday and get in fairly early and since I have used public transport in Boston (and driven in "rush hour") we opted for ship trolley tour so it will pick us up at the port and then leave us off after 1.5 hours at Fanueil hall where we can spend the rest of the day doing Freedom Trail etc. and then get a free shuttle back to the ship at 5:00, also during rush hour! Not a huge advocate of ship tours but in this case the word was "convenience".

[Nisa]

All of these posts refer to Old Town Trolley. Has anyone done Beantown Trolley (Red Gray Line)? It looks like Beantown trolley has a stop even closer to the port than Old Town, has more stops, and includes a harbor cruise in the ticket price. Anyone have any experience with this company?

[KelJ]

All of these posts refer to Old Town Trolley. Has anyone done Beantown Trolley (Red Gray Line)? It looks like Beantown trolley has a stop even closer to the port than Old Town, has more stops, and includes a harbor cruise in the ticket price. Anyone have any experience with this company?

 

Make sure that Beantown will let you get on the trolley at the stop to which you're referring. I remember reading that you had to get yourself to their main ticket booth (not a stop that is close to the pier) before you could board.

Old Town lets you add a harbor cruise for $7 per person. We did it, and it was very enjoyable.

[CMM]

All of these posts refer to Old Town Trolley. Has anyone done Beantown Trolley (Red Gray Line)? It looks like Beantown trolley has a stop even closer to the port than Old Town, has more stops, and includes a harbor cruise in the ticket price. Anyone have any experience with this company?

 

I was looking into this and found a number of reviews at yahoo travel. Sounds like they were not very pleased.

[Caroldoll]

and then board a trolly there. Does anyone know if this is possible and which hop on, hop off goes from Quincy Market.

[agabbymama]

Be very careful of the Beantown Trolley, we booked through Celebrity, and thought it was a hop on/hop off, but it wasn't. It took us around town, stopped at Quincy Market on the way back, but if you got off you were on your own to get back to the pier, so we stayed aboard the trolley and went back to the ship. Boston is the only place from our 12 day New England/Canada cruise where we bought no souvenirs, nor even set foot in the town.

[KelJ]

and then board a trolly there. Does anyone know if this is possible and which hop on, hop off goes from Quincy Market.

 

Old Town Trolley's stop #1 is across the street from Quincy Market.

[Caroldoll]

Old Town Trolley? Are they the best?