I was on party bus duty for my daughter's recent high school dance. I priced out a few companies…read morewith party buses and 312 Limo was the most reasonable price. To be honest it was still a little expensive considering they were driving from Wilmette to Northfield to Glencoe, but less than the other: $840 for a 3 hour minimum for a party bus of 28. We also didn't need it for the entire 3 hours, but the options I found were either one way or 3-4 hour minimums so this was the best deal. I found their communication to be stellar both via email and text. The bus driver was on time and the kids had no trouble locating the party bus when they came out of the dance and I've heard it was one of many party busses. A few of my daughter's friends hopped on for the way home and commented that this bus was way nicer than the one they took to the dance from another company. Overall, it was a success. The parents could have easily driven these kids ourselves, but the party bus elevated the experience and the kids all seemed to enjoy the VIP treatment.

For the finale family event for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary, we wanted to surprise them…read morewith a limo into Chicago for lunch and to the cathedral where they were married. After researching local companies, I decided to go with The 312 Limo, and everything was an exceptional experience. After setting up a quote online, I was able to reserve the date and put down a deposit. All the policies were clearly explained and the communication was in a very timely manner. Since the limo was a surprise for my parents, I was able to note that when making the reservation, as well as select the stops and approximate timing for the day. I received confirmation reminders prior to the reservation. When the big day arrived, I received a text from Harris letting us know that he was down the street. He wanted to be sure that he didn't arrive too early and spoil the surprise. I was able to let him know how the timing was going, and he was ready with the door open as my parents came outside. They were so surprised that it didn't really sink in until they got inside and saw how incredible everything looked. There were waters and sodas with ice for us, and Harris had set the air at the perfect temperature. The ride to lunch was so smooth. Even in horrible Lake Shore Drive traffic, Harris navigated through the turns like a pro. He opened the doors for us and we agreed to communicate when we had 10-15 minutes of lunch remaining. Although getting our bill for lunch took longer than expected, Harris was so patient and had the limo ready when we finally made it downstairs. From there, we made a quick stop for photos at the church where my parents were married and then headed back home. Harris was absolutely outstanding for the whole afternoon and made the trip flawless. I will definitely be using The 312 Limo if I ever need a ride for a special occasion in the future. My parents are still gushing about how lovely it was, and it made the end to their 50th wedding anniversary celebrations truly memorable!

Exploring Chicago [Chicago IL]…read more Taking the Big Bus Tours in major cities are always helpful because we don't have to drive everywhere to landmarks and places we want to visit, we just simply hopped-off then hopped-on again at the next bus. This means it's less headache maneuvering through traffic and looking for parking. We let the tour bus deal with all the driving and honking LoL! I've never heard so much honking in the streets. We did a full circle first then hopped off these major attractions: Stop #1 - Chicago Riverwalk Stop #3 - Millennium Park Stop #8 - Navy Pier Stop #10 - 360 Chicago Big highlights we experienced with the Big Bus Tours: Chicago Architecture Center Cloudgate "The Bean" Route 66 start Giordano's Pizza Famous Stuffed Pizza Lake Michigan Skyline Cruise in Chicago 360 Observatory Unfortunately, the Big Bus Tours had to modify their schedule due to the NASCAR Chicago Street Race weekend. We did not have access to #4, #5 and #6. We still enjoyed our tour of Chicago. Review #3811

Finding the first stop is annoying for their first run of the day. Their website said they open at…read more9 AM and the first bus leaves the first stop at 10 AM. Buses run every 20 to 30 minutes so I headed out early as to not miss the first bus. Their website shows a fairly large red sign that says Big Bus Tour here. They have an address of 98 E. Wacker Dr (across from Trump tower). The address on Google maps is just West of N. Michigan Ave. There is also a city bus stop here. The bus actually picks up on the East side of Wabash Ave. The bus arrived at about 9:45am. This is when they put out the bus sign. There is no stand or storefront that sells tickets here. The staff have handheld devices that will print your bus ticket. They really need to change their "opening" time on the website. If you want to sit on the top deck, get there early, that fills fast. I chose to sit inside the bus because of the air conditioning. I'm not sure what they do if it rains since some people will likely have purchased their ticket ahead of time and the tickets are nonrefundable. The afternoon was overcast so I sit at the top of the bus for the final three stops. I only got off at Navy Pier. The full tour takes about two hours. My other issue with this tour is the monotonous audio tour. The bus drivers are able to comment as well. I had two different drivers. Both drivers mostly let the audio tour play. They had a few comments and a couple jokes, but nothing really entertaining. I purchased my ticket through Groupon, which ended up being about $42. If you buy a ticket from their website, it's about $58 plus all the taxes. Chicago has so many taxes. If you search Google for hop on hop off bus tour Chicago, this company comes up even though their company name is different. Tip: sit on the left side of the bus. It seemed like 90% of the things to look at were on the left side of the bus.

Had a great time and the information was good. The sound out of the ear buds was not good at timesread more

Looking for something new and different to do on Black Friday we took…read morethe Holiday lights tour this year. We have a tremendous driver, he was a lot of fun and really made the night. The tour goes the Christkindlmarket market at Wrigley and then the zoolights at Lincoln park zoo. I wish we got to see more lights around the city, but I don't know how that would work. It was allot of fun anyway. we got to spend a good amount of time at each stop. In between on the drive our driver told some great stores, some history and sang Christmas carols. A fun thing to do even if your not a tourist but a local like us. Make be a new family tradition.

During Parents' Weekend at the University of Chicago, the university offered tours of the…read moreneighborhood through Chicago Detours. My wife did this tour a couple years ago and highly recommended it, but I wasn't especially interested because I had also gone to school here and figured I knew enough about Hyde Park already. However, she insisted that it would be worth our while and so I agreed to climb on the bus. And it was the absolutely right decision, because the tour was excellent. In fact, it wasn't just a tour of Hyde Park. It included the surrounding neighborhoods of Washington Park, Kenwood, Jackson Park, and Woodlawn. Since this was a UChicago sponsored event much of the information related to the University's investment and involvement in the area. Our tour guide and founder of Chicago Detours, Amanda, is herself a graduate of UChicago and thus she had some additional insight into the relationship with the community. Though the 75-minute tour felt a little slow-going at times, there was much to learn about the vibrant but sometimes troubled history of the area. Amanda has tremendous knowledge and the excursion was both fascinating and entertaining. I can imagine that Chicago Detours would have equally interesting tours of other neighborhoods in this diverse city.

Virtual tours are such a cool thing to do right now. I attended a Yelp Elite event that was a…read morevirtual food tour of Chicago. It was incredibly informative and a good balance of history and current trends. Looking forward to attending more virtual tours, like the World's Fair and the Cruise From Your Couch Boat Tour. I loved seeing the pictures of the in-person tours and can't wait to attend some of those too.

Took the Art Deco tour yesterday, what a great way to learn about some of the history of Chicago as…read morewell as the gorgeous buildings!! Our guide was knowledgeable and kept the tour interesting. Unfortunately I flew out yesterday afterwards, but will definitely be back to check out the Center as well.

Entry to the museum is only five dollars if you show them your ticket from the First Lady boat…read moretour. The ground floor has a short eight minute clip with information about the city. There is also a great display of the city as well as a Wrigley ballpark exhibit. Unfortunately, the upstairs is currently being renovated, so there was not a lot to see this trip. They have a great gift shop.

If you're a craft beer fan this tour should be on your list of things to do if you're visiting…read moreChicago. You get to visit 3 breweries/brew pubs. I believe at least one of them you get a tour of, Revolution brewery was the one we got to tour. Our guide Ted was awesome, he gave us some history on the places we were going to visit along with some local Chicago history during the ride. The location were kept a surprise ahead of time so we didn't know where we were going until we got there. They do have a rotation of different breweries they tour so if you decided to go again you could possibly explore some new spots the next time around. The coolest part about the tour is the bus itself, just checkout the pictures. The seating layout makes for great interaction with the rest of the people on the tour. I happened to find out about The Barrel Run when I was looking up Chicago tours on YouTube & came across some video a couple named kovACTION made about 3 months ago. Right after watching that I knew I had to fit this in my schedule when I was in town.

Our tour guide, Ted, was great at providing history of the Chicago beer scene and the chosen…read morebreweries all provided different experiences (a flight at one, tour at the next and a tasting tap room at the last one).

Great tour! Our…read moreguide, Katie, was funny, friendly, and knew so many cool (and creepy) facts about Chicago's crime history. We hit everything from Al Capone and the Chicago Outfit to the Tylenol Killer and the crazy history of Streeterville. Loved hearing about speakeasies like The Bad Apple, the Rock n' Roll McDonald's drama, and wild stories like Johann Hoch and H.H. Holmes. Highly recommend if you love true crime with a side of Chicago history!

Booked the crime tour for 6 PM for two. Sophia was our tour guide. She was very entertaining and…read moreeducational. We were looking for something different to do and this was perfect. The tour lasted about an hour and a half. We did get off the bus for two stops, which was nice to stretch your legs. I would definitely recommend if you like history. My only complaint is the seats were not very comfortable.

This company did not provide the services I paid for due to employees who have no idea what they…read moreare doing. if I could give zero I would. Specifically, I ONLY went back to Dubai to go to the Louvre in Abu Dhabi because it was not open on my first trip. I selected the tour that provided this and it was all set up for Sunday. Without asking me someone changed my tour ( I did not consent to this change) to Monday'; the museum is not open on Mondays. i was told this was a mistake but since I only went to see this museum this was a MONUMENTAL MISTAKE. I took off work, paid for their services and flew to Dubai for a specific reason. I did not get to see the museum, not because it was a holiday or it was under maintence but because some employee had no idea what they were doing. When I complained and asked for a partial refund since I did not get what I paid for, I was offered a free trip to Abu Dhabi when I come back to Dubai. This is unacceptable since i have no intention of returning to Dubai any time soon or know if I ever will. This is a very large company and while mistakes happen, the cost for me should not be so high. They screwed up a trip I carefully set up for my purpose due to incompetence and then refuse to accept responsibility. Be very careful in choosing this company for dream vacations because they could get messed up and then they will do nothing about it

Candace is the best driver and tour guide. She made our ride entertaining and fun. She puts her…read morewhole heart in her job. She new passenger by name. We had trivia questions and prizes.

Marie was a wonderful host! We loved her. She did a great job and was very educational and funny…read more I learned a lot. My dad and I had a lot of fun. The bus was easy to get to. The raffle was a nice touch. Ps - she said her mom reads these. HI MOM!!

My boyfriend and I went to Chicago for the first time and we decided to go on a mob tour and found…read moreuntouchable tours. What really roped us in was the acting aspect of it and we were not disappointed. Tony was our tour guide and she was very witty, informative and funny. We learned so much from the tour and loved the interactive raffle. It is one of our most cherished souvenirs and moments from Chicago.

This was probably one of the best tours I've been on, and my fiancé (who has very high standards…read moreabout these things) agrees. We booked a tour for Saturday at 2 pm. There were some technical difficulties and the TV system on the bus ended up not working. Mr. Frank Calabrese Jr was very professional and good-humored about the situation. He offered everyone on the bus the opportunity to come back free of charge so that we may have the full experience with the photos he had been intending to show us. He proceeded to do the tour without the presentation, which honestly was great in itself. He is a very good story-teller, and had a great narrative. He had notes with him but only referenced them a few times to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything. Everything was super authentic and off the cuff. I loved that we went around Chicago and we were able to get glimpses of how the city was like in the 60s-90s. What made this tour so great was that these stories were first-hand. It didn't come from someone who spent hours studying the history; this was his real life. He was very genuine about his experiences, and his anecdote about his kids at the very end of the tour made me tear up a bit. He even invited us to stay for happy hour at the Chop House to have a drink with him to talk. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone, regardless of whether you know the mob history or not. I personally didn't know too much, and still was captivated by his stories. He does have a book (which I definitely intend to read) and a movie in the works!

I'm a huge fan of true crime and Chicago history, so I'm surprised to say that this was my first…read morecrime tour ever. But everything happens for a reason, and it seems that reason was that I was meant to wait until the perfect one came along -- that, my friends, happened to be the Family Secrets Tour. I met Mr. Calabrese Jr. weeks ago when he presented some of his intriguing life stories at an event at Chicago Chop House, and I knew that evening that I had to book and experience the real deal, aka his bus tours. My friend and I booked a tour for a Friday afternoon recently that started at 2pm, and though there was a bit of a delay because our bus's TV monitors weren't working, Mr. Calabrese Jr. smoothly filled the time with some behind-the-scenes stories he said he usually doesn't share on the tour. I was hooked immediately. To be honest, before this tour, I had no idea the stories his family was involved in were so high-profile (I even talked to my family afterward, and they ALL knew every detail and were mad I didn't invite them! Sorry family!). But even while he showed us news clips, a lot of photos, and told all of his stories, he remained modest, which made the entire experience endearing. Mr. Calabrese Jr. is super charismatic and a great storyteller, and you can tell he genuinely loves telling his story and showing everyone around the neighborhoods where he grew up, and where big moments happened in history to people who were in "the life." I truly enjoyed this tour and I recommend it for anyone who wants an real, honest, non-theatrical recap of Chicago's mob history. The Family Secrets Tour is engaging and delightful. Thank you so much for captivating us, Frank! Can't wait to bring my family along some time!