I recently need a visa to go China. The visa service here was very easy and smooth from start to finish. Andrea was wonderful--she took her time to clearly explain the entire process and answered all of my questions. Everything felt stress-free and well-handled. Can't wait for this trip. read more

With Sunshine's assistance, my entire family successfully obtained our 10-year visas. The process was remarkably smooth and hassle-free, and their fees were quite reasonable. We are truly grateful for their expert guidance and supportive service. They are now our first point of contact for all travel planning. I give them my highest recommendation without reservation. read more

Writing a review based on a recent Niagara trip. This was booked via Tours4Fun (or as my dad dubbed, "Tours4Torture") - they typically book you on Chinese bus tours. Our first leg of the tour was with Sunshine and our second leg was with another group. This Niagara trip was through Sunshine. While I did enjoy my trip to Niagara Falls and had a great time regardless, there were a couple of things I did not like about this particular trip. 1. The Smell. We were on the bus, close to bathroom. It reeked of a gas station bathroom - stale dog piss. While there have been complaints about the cleanliness of the bus, when the vent was turned on, my brother texted me, "Did someone take a piss in the vent?" We had to grab air fresheners at the next rest stop to endure the 5+ hour trip from Boston to Niagara. 2. The Guide. I kinda had a feeling this would be a bilingual tour. I felt like the guide ("Anita") wasn't really putting much effort into it. It felt like she was reading bullet points from a middle school history handout. Not much of a sense of humor or life to her. Very monotone. Her English was pretty so-so - you could tell she was trying, but I could have wiki'ed up the attraction facts and history myself. Neither did the guide make any attempt to say "hi" or "is everything okay?" to the people on the tour. Also, she looked more like a sorority member than an actual guide with how she was dressed. There was nothing on her that made her look "official." She was dressed in black and that made her hard to track down if we had any questions. 3. Disorganization. While the itinerary did mention that the tours / attractions are subject to change, when we got to Fort Niagara, there was chaos when we were handed off the tickets. You know...after a 5+ hour bus tour, you need like about 5 minutes to stretch, relax, catch a breather, etc. The guide didn't tell us to line up at the front of the entrance - at least in English. There were a few western-ish people outside the bus. Instead of waiting for the group and handing out all the tickets, the guide went inside the museum with the tickets leaving a couple of us stranded at the gift shop. Luckily, my dad was able to get a hold of her...and the fort directors also had a word with said guide. 4. Food. I've seen complaints about Chinese tours in regards to only having Chinese food. I'm currently on a regiment right now. While I can stomach rest stop fast food joints for carbs (hello Sbarro!) for lunch, I really didn't like that International Food Court in Niagara. Overpriced and I could get better options at Hard Rock Cafe across the street. Nothing too hearty to be found at the International Food Court. I can't comment much about the price of the attractions since this was a family trip, but if it were up to me, I wouldn't have tipped her after that. Luckily ,this was just one day. I can't imagine having to deal with this for another three days. I would not rec Sunshine Tours - you're better off driving or catching a greyhound. If you look hard enough, you can get some sweet deals on hotels in the area. read more

Crappy bus Smells bad toward rear Dirty Non working tv's Poor/horrible ventilation Rattling noise in rear Stain doors Overcrowding/ packed PISSED INFESTED INSIDE BUS BUGS INSIDE BUS Coupons are not good ! Once inside Casino, you have to pay the amount the tickets say out of your pockets ! Bad deal ! YOU GET WHAT YOU PAID - SHITTY read more

See all

There's no sunshine on this tour and expect a gloomy outlook. The guides are basically baby sitters and are not local to the area. Since you pay $9 a day service charge (tip) upfront, the guide doesn't care about making the guest happy and lacks customer service and at times they can be rude by ignoring your question or pretending they don't understand you since their English language is limited. In addition, they are not knowledgeable of the area and what you are touring so they tend to repeat phrases like it's beautiful during this time. Sunshine Travel is a disaster waiting to happen. Stay way. read more

AVOID AT ALL COSTS - They literally walk down the bus collecting tips from everyone at the beginning of the trip, before you get to know how awful their service is, so know that if you end up paying for one of these trips, its gonna cost at least $10 extra. - The tour guide had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, saying stuff like the tallest skyscraper in the world is in Hong Kong, and the second in New York. - For half the trip home the bus temperature was so hot everyone had to ask to turn it down, and for the second half it was so cold it felt like we were sleeping outside (on New Years). - The bathroom on the bus smelled like it hadn't been cleaned in years and whenever someone opened the door the whole back of the bus would stink. read more

Pros: met some nice people from my tour group, tour guides followed the itinerary, tour guides were nice, on time, went to dim sum in Canada, went to a nice buffet. Cons: hidden fees, everyone also had to pay $10 tip per person each morning before the tour even starts, overpriced attractions - for example, $15 general admission, they charge $50 per person. Some overnight stays are in shady motels. Can't use the restroom on the bus. read more

I was late on a tour and the bus left without me. I was in contact with tour guide and told him I was on the way. The tour guide told me to contact the company office and see if I could get a later one for late comers esp, for people who miss the tour, I was told by the company i would have to pay for another one in another date and would have to pay for the full amount. I lost all my money and I was misled by the tour guide. Do not book with this tour company or with tours4fun. Awful customer service. I would give it no stars if I had a choice. cost. read more

IMPRESSED! I felt as though I had 55% more of a chance to survive this ride than on The FUNG! So right there-that deserves 5 stars The SO and I were supposed to go to Foxwoods, but missed the early morning bus....so we took the Sunshine to Mohegan. It picked us up at 2 Pm and we got back to Boston around 9ish....we got back home around 10:30 (Had to pick up our dog from the sitter There are several locations you can catch the bus at and several depart/arrival times. Super convenient! It cost us less to buy a new ticket with Sunshine than to switch the ticket for the bus we missed with the "other company." For $12 we got a round trip ticket, $15 food voucher and $30 casino bet!! Nice! Even though I only won $45 we had a great time. Remember Sunshine for several reasons: Convenient pick/up drop off locations Convenient pick/up drop off times Vouchers for food/bets Less of a chance to die on the actual ride there/back Cheap tickets As with all "tour" buses: Don't sit near the bathroom Don't sit next to old people that will fall asleep on you! read more

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE! If I could give them negative stars I WOULD. This place is just a complete mess. They completely messed up my sister and brother in laws travel plans and got them STRANDED overseas. They have missed 2 days of their honeymoon, had to spend over a $1000 in extra money getting a hotel room, food costs and travel costs. The company was the root of the entire situation. They FAILED to catch a necessary travel document that my sister and her husband needed. They even admitted that the agent that was assigned to work with us was so bad that they fired her, and yet they were unwilling to actually really help us (one woman there, to her credit, did attempt to "help,") and fix the mess their company created. They are even attempted to blame us for THEIR mistake. My sister was told that all the travel documents were fine and everything was arranged for and nothing was mentioned about any special visas for them. The company was given ALL OF THEIR TRAVEL DOCUMENTS, so it's NOT LIKE they wouldn't have known if there was any special visas required. As a travel agency THIS IS PART OF THEIR JOB. Your company messed up and I want someone to fix it, don't try to pass the blame onto the CUSTOMERS. The one woman there attempted to help, but her help ended with "there's nothing I can do." She repeated this over and over again. Somehow I managed to fix things---I arranged the new visas, shuffled plane tickets around and got them where they were supposed to be. It took me a good few days, but it wasn't something that a competent person couldn't have figured out. I don't know why it's so difficult for this TRAVEL AGENCY, to do what their business is about--HELPING PEOPLE WITH THEIR TRAVEL PLANS! Never again will I take my thousands of dollars to a "travel" agency who can't get TRAVEL plans right. I'm filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, the BBB and the Attorney General's Office. read more

this is based only on the mohegan sun trip This beats driving to mohegan. 13$ will get you 40$ in match vouchers a 20$ food/match voucher, and a round trip ticket to mohegan. Costs more than 13$ in gas and tolls to drive there from boston so you can't go wrong. With 5 trips daily just from chinatown, I'm sure you can find one that suits your schedule. They have a lot of "rules" on their website, but none of them really apply/are not enforced. No drinks or food - seen plenty, especially on the return trip when the passengers use their food coupons. The plastic bags on the side of the chairs leads me to believe this is ok as we'll. "Sold out" online - no they're not sold out. Stop by their office on tyler street or just board one of the busses. I've seen half the passengers pay on the bus. Always take a chance that it is full, but you're going to gamble so what's the difference if you get started early. Ticket only good for assigned return time - I believe you cn return anytime you want up to 3 or 6 days. Saw a sign on one of the buses stating this and the ticket collector asked me when I was planning on returning. Another time the ticket collector said to grab your belongings if you're not planning on taking the same bus back. This leads me to believe that ou don't have to take the same bus back as long as there are open seats which makes it convienient if you're on a hot streak. Mostly asians on the bus because it's catered towards them. They'll be an older crowd and chatty as well. On the reurn trip, you're pretty much expected to tip them 2$. Still, 15$ is still an awesome deal. read more

Poor customer service. I went there to ask to get flight information for my boss for a trip to Germany and they had to ask more questions than I'd asked. But when I went across the street to Travel Pack USA, they gave me the exact information I needed and even gave me a business card so that I could contact them for more information. Whereas Sunshine's rep treated me like a teenager who'd just come in to mess with them. I've also bought tickets from them for concerts and rode their buses to see them. The tour guide for all three concerts had an attitude problem. Can't even answer questions in a diplomatic way. Rude. read more

I don't know how this company has been sustained. From the start till the end of the tour, the organization was irresponsibly amateur. The office staff seem well used to the chaotic arrangements and never blush for destroying other people's days. They managed to be rude to people despite the mistakes were theirs. I communicated with other customers and they all shared my feelings: As long as the company got money, it couldn't care less about training the guides, optimizing the itineraries or at least having the buses cleaned. Avoid at all costs! read more

I had such high hopes for this place. It seemed like such an inexpensive and adventurous way to travel to some new places during my trip to Boston. However, my friend and I never even made it on the bus. We bought the Boston to Niagara Falls tour a few months before our departure day. When I booked the trip, I was told that the trip would be "confirmed" in a few days. A few days goes by, then a few weeks, and then a month, and the trip was never confirmed! It just said "pending". I contacted many people at the company, and everyone told me that the trip was still pending because the trip had not reached the minimum occupancy yet. So when would I find out if I was actually going? No one would give me a straight answer. The next month, I find myself in Boston the day we were supposed to leave, and the trip is still not confirmed. I called them again, and they finally told me it was cancelled. I had received no notification of this, and wondered if they ever would have told me if I hadn't called, considering the trip was less than 24 hours away. They told me a refund would be sent to my card, but I told them that I had gotten a new card since then, and asked if I could give them my new info. They said that there was no way they could no for sure if it was really me, and that I would have to come all the way over to their office to pick up a check. Later, they then called me back and said that they could pay it to my new card since they were unable to print more checks. This seemed pretty sketchy, but I reluctantly gave them my card info. In summary, we were not given notice of the cancellation until about 15 hours before the trip, and it was such a hassle to get my money reimbursed. Luckily, I was staying with my friend who lived in Boston, but what if I had only made accommodations for one night? The disorganization of this company has the potential to mess up a lot of people's plans. I think this company has a lot of potential, but I lost my trust in them wouldn't book a trip through them again. read more

This review is only about its China visa service that I used. I have not used their US domestic bus tour services and I probably don't intend to in the future. One of my Chinese friends referred me to them, since he got a Chinese visa from them, and my family also turned to them once for flight deals to Hong Kong and got a decent deal. For $170 (including the $130 US citizen fee for any tourist visa to China), Sunshine Travel can help you get a tourist visa to China as long as you have the documentation and all the necessary forms for your application to be processed (passport, application, photos, contact/hotel reservation information, etc.). You have to pay in either cash or check because if you pay by credit card, they will charge an extra fee. You can pay for it when you turn in your application or after you receive your visa. They will give you a receipt though as long as you ask for it. Since there is no Chinese consulate in Boston, and the nearest is in New York City, this is more convenient than traveling all the way to New York City and possibly dealing with long queues and other hassles. Michelle Wu, the travel agent who took care of my visa arrangements, was really nice. She speaks Cantonese Chinese, but is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English. Since the tourist visa fee is fixed for all Chinese tourist visas for US citizens, I applied for a Multiple-Entry Visa for 12 months because it is the same price as a Single Entry Visa. She advised me that although I marked "Multiple-Entry for 12 Months" on my visa application, she said to me that the New York Consulate will only grant me a Double-Entry Visa for 6 Months since I was a first-time visitor to Mainland China. She said that the Consulate will grant me a Multiple-Entry for 12 Months if I apply for a visa again after my trip, now that I have been to Mainland China. She was right, and I did get a Double Entry Visa for 6 Months, but I was glad I got my visa without any problems. Now that I have been to China before, I hope to get a Multiple Entry Visa for 12 Months if I apply again. I sent in all the paperwork for my visa on a Friday afternoon. Michelle told me that it will take ten days for everything to be processed, maybe sooner and she said she will call me when my visa is ready. They send in the passports and applications in a UPS package by the end of the afternoon. Seven days later (earlier than I expected), on the following Friday morning, Michelle called me and I got my visa. I will probably turn to Michelle Wu and Sunshine Travel again if I plan on applying for another Chinese tourist visa. read more

Sunshine Travel - Passport & Visa Services Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

I would prefer to give it 3 1/2 stars, but I cant. And since the other person to review it gave it 3 stars, I figured by giving it 4 i can make 3 1/2. If I was Chinese or knew Chinese I would probably give it 5 stars, but I am not Chinese fluent, and the tour guides leaders no some English, but are far from fluent themselves. But it is $10 for a round trip ticket to Mohegan, where you stay for a good amount of time (average 5 hours) and they give you a $20 free bet as well as a $15 voucher that can be used as free bet or for the buffet or $15 off a food order. So basically you get paid $25 to go. Kelly, who primarily works holidays, and longer tours ( Washington DC, Niagara Falls etc) is by far my favorite tour guide. She is very easy going and funny. They have stops in a bunch of cities (Quincy, Chinatown, Lynn, Malden, Lowell, etc) but tend not to make more than 3 stops per route. It is about a 1 hour 45 minute ride to Mohegan sun, and I believe you can even use your points card number to earn rewards by taking the bus, or use the card to get free tickets. read more

Horrible what a nightmare !!!! I have taken this bus multiple times to the Mohegan Sun Casino but every time I have taken it is just gets worse and worse and worse recently I've been stranded on the side of the road multiple times because the bus has disabled halfway standing hours in the cold outside with elderly and children is not acceptable the interior of the bus I just insanely disgusting they dirty bathrooms don't work properly the air that circulates is awful broken shades in the window carpet is dirty is really really bad I will not use this service anymore. read more

I had been on the 4-day Boston-Philadelphia-DC-NY trip. The trip was well planned and executed. Would recommend it. Pros: - We covered as many of the important places as possible, in the given time line - We had VIP passes to many of the places and hence, did not have to wait in the long lines - The tour guide Anita was very sweet, well prepared and helpful. She gave a good background info about each of the important places we visited/ passed by, made sure we had regular stops for refreshment/ nature's calls. Cons: - We had very few vegetarian options for food at the places we stopped - The driver Jimmy (?) seems to be on a perennial PMS. He was irascible and rude, he literally shouted at people to get in/ out of the bus. Since we had very little veggie options at the places where we stopped for food, we had packed our own lunch. He not only did not let us eat this in the bus (we had to sit on benches near by to have our food) but also refused to let us sit in the bus after our lunch was done. He just shut the door even though he was seated inside. read more

We took the weekend tour to Niagara Falls and I wish we had just driven ourselves instead. The bus left on time, but about a couple of hours into our 8 hour trip the toilet and hence the back of the bus started stinking of piss. The tour guide was most apologetic and left an air freshener in the back seats. That however, is the only nice thing I have to say about her. When we booked the tickets for this trip we noticed that the $165/ person fare we paid did not include the price of the passes for the various attractions at Niagara. Fair enough, we could buy a Discovery pass for $33 at Niagara itself (includes the Maid of the mist, the Imax movie, the cave of the winds + entry to the aquarium) http://www.niagarafallsstatepark.com/PassToTheFalls.aspx . The tour guide instead insisted we buy her $69 pass that would cover the $22 boat cruise at 1000 islands* (not part of Niagara), a $11 I-max ticket for the Niagara movie, $14 Maid of the Mist tour (Niagara), $6 night tour (Niagara) and finally $14 convenience fee (not sure who's convenience they were referring to) +$2 Fuel surcharge. The warning she gave us was that there would not be enough time to cover all the attractions the Discovery pass offered. And also that the night tour included the transportation to Goat Island, without which we would have to walk. The truth of the matter is once we got off the bus at Niagara, there really weren't any snaking lines so we had plenty of time to cover all the attractions we wanted to, only we had to pay additionally for them. Furthermore, there was a hop on hop off trolley service for $2 which took us all across the park. The part that upset me most was the night tour was just us being transported in our own tour bus to Goat Island, which we had already visited earlier since we had enough time. The hotel (RIT in Rochester) was great, but 3 bus loads of us checked in at 1130PM and were checked out at 730AM. The hotel staff did their best to accomdate150 people trying to get to their rooms using the single elevator closest to the entrance and then bumbling their way through the breakfast line in the morning. I wonder if the tour operators could have possibly staggered our arrivals by a half hour so we didn't get into such a jam. * Really a waste of time and $22, a boat ride around a 1000 islands with big houses of the rich and famous.. big deal! read more

This is a review about Boston to Niagara 2 day tour I just took with my parents. First of all, I don't really recommend this tour. It was very cheap though.($165 per person) 3rd person was free so it was actually $110 per person for us. Some reviewer commented that the guide was nice but not really for our case. Our tour guide, Ming, dressed unprofessionally like K-pop star, became very cold toward us after I declined their "package plan" for all the extra activities he offered which cost extra $53 per person. The offer includes 1000 island cruise, night tour at Niagara Falls, I-Max movie, and Maid of the Mist cruise. We just wanted enjoy the falls so declined the package because we thought it's silly to watch movie when we are at Niagara we can just enjoy the falls. He insisted us hard to get it because he makes money out of it. In fact, he charged $14 for Maid of the mist but it was actually $13.50(Tax included) Here are the break down details of the tour. Day 1 -1000 island: Right after we got there, tour took the cruise. Since we didn't have tickets for cruise, we just walked around the town. Buildings were old and not very beautiful. Nothing really to see if you don't do the cruise. Although the cruise didn't seem that interesting either because all you see is just big mansions on the islands. Water and islands themselves didn't look that special. Also, Alexandria bay is not really on the way so we must have wasted at least 3 hours which we could spent at the falls. -Night tour: Not very much a tour at all. We just got drop off at the view point very close to Canadian side of the falls and just saw the falls illuminated. I can't believe somehow they charge $6 for it. Guide also accused me for going to the tour without paying afterwards. I told him I didn't know that it was the "night tour" because we just got dropped off and saw the falls. No admission fee or anything required. Guide told me "Whatever." We did not pay $6 after all but it was very unpleasant. -Hotel: American value inn. It was old and sketchy. Saw centipede on the floor. Some people in past seemed stayed at better hotels but not for us. Probably the company had to cut back some budget. Day2 -Niagara falls: The tour was supposed to go through i-max theater, go to Maid of the Mist cruise, than free time to explore the park. We however decided to just go by ourselves. It turned out to be great since we got to go on Maid of the Mist early in the morning(we could just buy tickets at the gate) without a crowd of people and we explored the area and enjoyed the falls on our own pace. Niagara falls and the cruise was great. I wish we had more time to explore and do other activities there. Over all, it's a cost efficient tour that you could take if there's no way you can get to Niagara falls by yourself and don't mind sketchy motel and unnecessary expensive extra activities and the guide tries to rip you off. After all, you get what you paid for. read more

This is really a disgusting and worst service I have every seen. If it would have been possible to give -ve rating, then I would have given that. They show very attractive itinerary in their website, but arrange something else which is really worst. And they change their itinerary in 11th hour so a customer could not get the time to think. This happened to me 2nd time. This time they ruined my new years plan. I am really fed up with them. I never recommend this service to anyone not even to my enemy. So, please don't go with that service else its a waste of your money, time and patience. Instead plan on your own otherwise enjoy at home. read more

HELP!!!! This was a nightmarish experience. We started our tour from Boston to DC. It was a 3 days and 2 nights bus tour. We were forced to sit in the last row of the bus. The bus restroom was right behind me. We had to smell the disgusting restroom smell all the time. The guide was very arrogant and ignored our complaints. He used some air freshener and tried to use tape to seal the door. But it was totally useless. There was no way we could change seats with other customers according to the tour guide Evo. We are still in the bus smelling the same disgusting smell. I called the office but the manager wouldn't talk to me and will not call me back until tomorrow at 9am. We were sick to death. I don't know how we are going to survive tomorrow. Please be aware of the old and dirty bus they use. I will never take this company's tour again and strongly recommend that anyone considering taking the tour carefully reconsider. I can't even give them one star. read more

Some friends and I decided on a whim to go to Mohegan Sun so we decided to check them out. We didn't play on gambling hardcore, but kind of just to have a fun casino night. I was pleasantly surprised that the bus ticket was only $15 a person and you get gambling money ($30) and meal credits ($20) to use at Mohegan Sun. Without calculating extensively, I'm pretty sure we came out on top. The schedule was pretty flexible, in case we didn't make one of the buses. I don't really have much to say about the bus ride. It was a big coach bus and it got us smoothly there. We spent most of the day there shopping and eating. My friends and I ended up pooling our gambling money and watching one of our friends play. He won a bit of money, just enough to buy us some ice cream after we got back. Overall, it was exactly what we were looking for: cheap and convenient. read more

If I could give -100 negative stars to this place, I would. I created a Yelp account only to share my nightmare of an experience with Sunshine Travel. We had a terrible experience yesterday June 23 with the 1-day New york tour from Boston with the tour guide, Yong. He originally said we would leave New York at 5:30pm but then he cut our time for the tour because he said no one wanted to buy tickets for the Intrepid museum so we are skipping it and said we will leave at 4pm. We were all extremely upset because we paid the full price and the full service fee (which is now $10 per person from a previous $9) to get our full time. What would have happened if none of us wanted to go on any of the attractions? Would we have left at 12pm? No. So then when the entire group told him we don't accept leaving at 4pm, only 5pm. He started saying it's company policy and that 'Im not a bad man I cant do anything.' He also threatened to leave us, he said if you don't get on the bus at 4pm, I will leave you guys stranded. What kind of professional tour guide does this? We had to call the Sunshine travel office immediately to complain, and all the office said was that they will talk to him and that we should also talk to him. Why should we have to explain it to him? Shouldn't you (Sunshine travel) as his employer explain it to him? And then to make matters worse, he started forcing us to sign a page which stated we didn't go to the Intrepid museum (to prove to his managers? The managers clearly have no trust in their employees). My family said we will only sign if you give us more time. Yong once again said no. He also told us either we sign the page or we can sign another page which says we are deciding to drop out of the tour halfway. He was basically asking us to leave the tour group if we didn't sign right then and there, also insinuating he didn't want us in the tour anymore because we were speaking up. So then he kept saying we have to sign first. I asked why can't the other group members sign first? I said let the others sign first, he said nope (like it HAD to be us to sign first as the trouble makers) and walked away. He was starting to get loud with us, fully arguing in the bus. At this point the rest of the bus is also yelling and screaming and Yong kept contributing to this chaos. As a professional tour guide from a professional company, you have to keep your emotions in tact and you have to respond to conflict in a calm, collected manner with your customers. We paid for this service we were not there for free by his kindness and grace. And while the arguing was happening on the bus, another member started yelling at me and my family telling us to stop arguing and then she told us to shut up. This caused even more chaos on the bus and we told her she cannot talk to anyone like that on the bus. Once again, Yong did nothing about this. He did not tell his fellow tour group member to be respectful to other members and he did not maintain a safe, peaceful environment (he didn't tell her to stop because she was on his side despite being rude). Yong also asked my family in specific for the money for the attractions first before any one else, probably assuming we would flee without paying just because we spoke up. It was very insulting. Finally, for the rest of the day, Yong had this bitter attitude about him like he really took everything to heart and let it affect the rest of our day. Yong was the most unprofessional, irrational, unstable tour guide I've ever met who let his personal emotions get in the way of his job. I will never be traveling with your Sunshine travel company again until my last breath. I hope you fire Yong to prevent losing business in the future. Im sure the other bus members (about 15 of us) were also unsatisfied with having to deal with yelling, arguing, and unfair tour standards while they were just trying to enjoy their day and travel. I highly doubt they would go back to a tour company which only provides them less than 5 hours in new york city. You should rename your "1-day new york city tour" to "5-hour new york city tour". The same tour many years ago had more stops (visiting more attractions in NY such as the Empire State and the UN building), and provided some time for lunch (yesterday, Yong did not even give us enough time to find lunch from somewhere. He didn't even mention that we should go find something to eat. He was assuming we'd travel all day without food). I've traveled with this company a lot in the past and have had similar issues, shame on me for thinking I could trust them again, but yesterday was the straw that broke the camel's back. If you love yourself, don't use Sunshine Travel ever. read more

If your only requirement for a tour is to have a driver take you to sites, this fulfills it. But if you want decent hotels, knowledgeable tour guides, and decent food, this is not it. Hotels were in remote places not near the main city or attraction. Long drives on cramped buses. If the bus took the group to dinner, only option is Chinese buffet which can get boring. If no planned stop for dinner, we were dropped back at hotel where we had limited options for dinner which meant delivery or finding own transportation to restaurants. Cash collection on bus for so-called optional tours when the bus planned to go there anyways plus mandatory daily service fees is tacky and inconvenient. Would avoid. read more

Please note that this review is based off of a trip to Mohegan Sun only. Also note that I am Chinese-American, so I can speak their language. I bought my tickets online a few days before the departure date. They sent me the confirmation email the next. However when I looked at the email, I was a bit suspicious. There was no barcoded ticket, no return time listed.... So on the day of the departure, I charged into their store and asked if that "ticket" was really sufficient. Apparently, their sketchy email was enough. The guy also kindly wrote down the seat number for me and confirmed the return time. When it was time to depart my friend and I got on the bus. We had seat numbers 48 and 49, which, apparently, were not next to each other. We were also near the back, where the bathroom was located. It STUNK! I spent the next two hours trying to not breath.... On the return trip, my friend and I waited in the bus lobby area 1/2 hour early. Apparently there were two bus lobbies, right next to each other. Luckily for us, the "tour guide" found us, recognized us and pointed us to the correct lobby. Our trip back was safe and sound. The bathroom still stunk, but not as badly. Overall: The people working there were kind and helpful. The tickets were cheap and you get vouchers with it. But I would recommend buying the tickets in person and choose seats near the middle/front of the bus (I am pretty sure you can choose your seats if you buy the tickets in person). Tip: When when get off the bus, take note of the Bay number that the bus is docked at at the bus lobby. read more

I would give minus stars, if i could. My clients ordered a transfer from Bos to NYC, but the bus didn`t pick them up! The driver just told them - you were not there, kind of hard not to notice 19 people! They had a flight to catch in NYC, so they had to rush and find another transportation, being in a foreign country with a lot of young students...No more comments. read more

what's up with them? i just called them regarding a trip at quincy office, and I have to call boston office to find out the info and got hang up. I guess they dont need our business anymore. read more

From: support@taketours.com Date: Mon, May 21, 2012 at 11:30 AM Subject: Re: Sunshine Review Complaint First I want to thank you for your patience and I am very sorry about the delay. The manager at Sunshine Travel, whom is the company that was in charge of your tour, has responded back to my email and I would like to share the details with you. Here is what she wrote: We did the very serious investigation and please find below the reply to your seven points: 1) We had two tour guides on the bus. Another tour guide R speaks very well English. 2) Tour guide introduced two attractions of 1000 Islands and Niagara Fall. Especially the 1st day, tour guide R introduced Niagara Fall in English well. 3) The tour guide K was speaking Chinese in the video since there were Chinese customers on the bus; usually tour guides introduce attraction one time in Chinese and one time in English since the tour is bi-lingual 4) There were three meals totally during tour: the first lunch is American food in a service area; the second meal is in a Chinese buffet of a plaza; the third one is in a plaza, except Chinese food, there are subway and star buck and so on. tour guides pointed out the subway and another pizza place to customers. actually only around 15 persons went to Chinese buffet for that meal; many other customers had other western food. In addition, Chinese buffet is popular in the US and it's flavor is actually not authentic Chinese food but "American Chinese food" since these buffet restaurants are open not only for Chinese people, but also many American guests and other international customers. They offer pizza, western desert, and vegetarian food, as well as drink, fruits, soup within the buffet package. The various choice of food and the budget price make it very popular in the US and best option for groups that insists of different people from different countries. And tour guide always tried to find restaurant in a plaza. If guests really don't wanna Chinese buffet, they can have other options. 5) Customers on the bus eating food a lot. We do the regular cleaning and bus maintenance. After we receive the comments from customers, we did special cleaning and maintenance the past three days. Thank you for customer's feedback and we will keep improving the quality. 6) It's $15 maid of mist boat fee and $6 night tour fee. If guests need receipt, we can send to them. 7) We understand guests probably feel unhappy due to some mis-communication with tour guide. This was first time of this tour guide to lead the tour after training. He was lack of experience and nervous. We will re trainn him more and forbid him do tour for a while until he is tested ready again. We can refund customers full service fee: $14*3=$42. Hope guests can understand and accept. Sincerely, Jolin Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 12:41 PM To: support@taketours.com Subject: RE: Re: Sunshine Review Complaint Jolin, though both my wife and I appreciate your efforts and attention to this matter, your manager's response is beyond unsatisfactory. 1. First of all, this isn't a debate - this "tour" was garbage and we deserve a full refund. The very fact that one of your clients has taken the time to send such an email with attached media should be enough for any business to issue a full refund. 2. It is clear that English isn't your manager's first language either as the email is full of grammatical errors. 3. The manager wasn't there. How does she know any of this took place? I don't know what "Tour Guide R" and "K" are, but Roy didn't speak at all because the other guy wouldn't let him. Roy was great, but he wasn't in charge of the tour. He spent most of his time cleaning up the other guy's messes especially with scheduling conflicts. 4. We knew we should have taken more videos - the video in question shows the tour guide ATTEMPTING to speak English and then giving up and switching to Chinese. We are aware that it was a bi-lingual tour. 5. Let me get this straight - Your idea of "three meals" are rest stops off the highway? The rest of your manager's 4th point is so cryptic in broken English and full of misinformation that it should be completely disregarded. Only 15 persons went to the Chinese Buffet because we had already eaten! We didn't even know we were going to dinner after visiting Niagara Falls! No one did! 6. We are aware that the Maid of the Mist is $15 - we just told you that. The point is that we paid the tour guide $21. Though this isn't a main point at all, rather a point made in a rant fueled by dissatisfaction! read more

I just took a 3 day Canada trip with Sunshine. Our tour guide spoke excellent English, she's professional and knowledgeable. She guided us to every attraction, we learned a lot from her. On the last day, we had lunch at Skylon Tower, the price deserved it, the food tasted good and enjoyed the amazing views of the Niagara Falls. read more

Terrible service. Can't trust what they say. Eight months ago when we cancelled the our trip. We were told money was unable to cash but holding money can be credited using within a year. Currently we want to use the credit money to buy same trip air tickets, then they said No can't process. Also I heard that same situation happened before from our friend in Sunshine Travel. read more

Most HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. DO NOT USE THIS TOUR COMPANY! Our bus is broke down somewhere between Washington DC and Niagra Falls in the middle of Pensylvania. No food around, no water around, no toilets around. 50 people - men, women, and children STRANDED! Don't use this tour company or it could happen to you too!!! read more

See all

I have spent half a day on the phone to these incompetent and unfriendly people, trying to confirm bus tickets, purchased on their website. Their site crashed as I was paying for tickets, so I called the office to pay/ confirm. I was transferred three times with in the office- with out getting any help at all! Then finally told to call Lucky Star, as it is their bus, only to be told to call Sunshine Travel again! I have wasted many hours on the phone with these people- NEVER AGAIN! This is by far the worst customer service I have encountered in Boston! I wouldn't give it even one star!!! read more

Worst is understatement. This tour charges you extra additional fees. They have hidden cost and thew tour guide Sara was too money oriented. We took Niagara tour and charges us for Niagara falls Night Illumination which actually is government organized and free of cost for every one. They did not take us to Cave of winds and just took to Maid of the mist. Thy take you all non tourist places like Niagara fort and iother crappy points. Thy told me that the fees to see Niagara stuff is 82 and they charges me 115. read more

Oh my goodness I cannot believe how horrible this tour company is! Literally the worse I've ever been on and I've been on more tours than I can count. They are the biggest rip off! I booked two tours and they were both awful! In Maine we were given only 1 option to eat and that was a Chinese buffet where me and my husband both got sick! The hotel was the worse I've ever stayed- it couldn't have been more than 2 stars. The free breakfast was moldy bread... seriously. The tour was in English and Chinese. The tour guide didn't know the answers to anyone's questions. She had no idea what she was doing. I tried to get a refund for the second tour I booked to Martha's vineyard but they refused. I spent all this money and the tour guy had us walking outside all around the Martha's Vineyard in 90 degree heat! He was speeding coming back and the van overheated and we were stranded on the side of the road in the heat with no water for almost 2 hours!!! I asked if the company would just pay for us to take an Uber back but of course they wouldn't. This company is so cheap!! They charge just as much as everyone else but make you pay cash for additional things not included. Like everything. Nothing is optional as it says. It's all mandatory. This company is a scam and a rip off!! read more

This low fare bus company operates from Boston to Mohegan Sun and various other attractions, like Washington D.C. Like other Chinatown based companies, it is catered to Chinese patrons, with movies and music, but otherwise it is a cheap way to get around. My experiene has been mostly good, although, they do make many stops on the way to Mohegan , so that it takes 2x as long to get there. But, overall, let's say -you get what you pay for . read more

I just finished my Washington DC and New York 3 days tour. To be honest, I didn't expect a lot since the tour fee is only $198/person including hotels. However, the tour turned out to be very nice when I joined it. We depart from Chinatown at 7am in the morning. I know this is really early, right? I was planning to have a good sleep on the bus on the way to DC, but the tour guide was so funny with all kinds of jokes and knowledge about American culture. Although I didn't get a chance to take a rest, I still enjoyed views and the entertainment. Besides, there is no seat belt on the bus, so I don't feel safe to sleep anyway. It was really a long way drive. Luckily, we got several chances to get off the bus and use the restroom and stretch a little bit. The tour guide collected all the attraction fees and tips of $8 per person. When we arrived DC, it was almost 3:30pm. We took the DC cruise directly. Like most of the cruises I took, the views were not that impressing, but we got a chance to see the Pentagon and other famous architectures. After taking tons of pictures at many museums, we headed back to the hotel around 9:30pm. On the second day morning, we visited DC downtown with a plenty of historical buildings. I have to say, DC is really similar like my hometown Beijing, a perfect combination with ancient and modern style. After lunch, we headed to Philadelphia and Baltimore. Although we only stopped one hour each in those places, loved the view in the harbor of Baltimore. Finally the most excited part comes- NYC! The tour guide led us to the top of the Empire State Building early in the morning. The good thing to join a tour is that we do not need to get in the long line since they have a special group line for us. However, what I don't like NY is that each attraction needs to pay, not like DC. Anyway, they are all once in a life thing. I might feel regret if I didn't go. All in all, it was a pleasant trip with Sunshine Travel. I may try their other trips in the future. read more

To the rude woman that hung up on me, it must be nice to mistreat customers and have a business. I'm sure you don't treat everyone that way.

Great for people who are new to US or those who want to explore East Coast for cheap. I booked the 3Day trip to DC and got the buy 2 get1 free deal. The journey from Boston to DC was long but the tour guide Anita and driver Mark made sure that the bus stops after almost every 2hrs to take restroom and snack break. They advice people to use bathroom on the bus only for emergencies and that also only for number 1 and not number2. I was fine with that. We started at about 7:10 am from Chinatown, Boston and picked few passengers from Charleton. The first stop in the tour was Philadelphia where we saw Liberty Bell and Independence hall. The stop duration was about 1.5 hrs. After that we stopped at Baltimore Harbor for 40 min. The harbor was nice and there are lot of restaurants and shops to see. Then we stopped at a a highway reststop to have lunch and then headed to DC. We saw the White House and George Washinton memorial on the same day. After that we stopped at a shopping/dinner complex to have dinner. Then we headed to our hotel which was decent; Comfort Inn in Virginia where we arrived at around 8:15pm. It was close to Spring Hill Metro station if someone wanted to explore on own. Next morning we were ready to leave at 7 am in morning to see the rest of DC. The hotel included breakfast which was nice. First we went to Lincoln memorial follwed by Washington monument, Korean and Vietnam war memorial. After that we went to Jefferson memorial and then did the Potomac river cruise which is not worth the $26 per person fare in my opinion. Then we went to Capital building and National Air and Space museum where we got 2 hrs including time for lunch which was little rushed in my opinion. It was only 2:00 pm there that we headed to New Jersey for our stay at night. They stopped for dinner at a not so good highway stop in New Jersey at about 5pm This was the only downfall of this trip. Everyone was mad for not stopping at a decent place to eat and also stopping so soon when we could've spent more time in DC. We were at the hotel in Jersey(Hotel Somerset) at about 6:30pm which felt like waste of evening. There was not much around the hotel in walking distance. The hotel also didnt include breakfast next morning. We got ready to leave at 6:50am for New York and did all the sightseeing. We didnt purchase any optional tours there. My advice for people not buying optional tours in NY is to get off at Empire state or Rockefeller and then walk around yourself to check out other attractions and then meet them at Madam Tussads which is the last stop in NY at 2:45pm. This way you don't waste your time at liberty cruise ferry or intrepid museum (i had already done both before) Overall it was a decent tour, the hotel stay was fine. I''d recommend it to Asians. Most of the passengers were Indians or Chinese.:) read more

I recently booked a tour o Niagara Falls for a two day trip with Sunshine Travel. They have different pick up locations. Because I live in Worcester so I chose to get on bus at Charlton Plaza on I-90 Mass pike. One thing that confused me is there are two Charlton Plaza on the I-90. The one for departure is on westbound Charlton Plaza but I went to eastbound Charlton. So, of course by the time of departure I couldn't find the bus. Then I called the tour guide and asked where is the bus?!! After his explanation I found out the stupid mistake that I made. I thought I'm gonna skip the trip by the time because it will take at least 30mins to get to the other side. There is nothing more embarrass than step in a full loaded bus late and find you seat when everyone starring at you. But the tour guide calm me down and give me the direction to next service plaza. He told me he will ask the bus driver to drive slowly to the next stop so we will have time to catch up. So we did. We caught the bus at Ludlow service plaza 30mins later. My grandma was so nervous when getting on the bus because we are sooooooo late. However, when we sit tight the tour guide ease our nervous away. He played several games and trivia questions on the bus and gave away some gifts after we join the bus. So everybody's attention is not on us anymore. I knew he did it for us by his blinking :) Thanks for the tour guide the entire trip is amazing without his professional direction we could never make it. I just want to say it is so important to have someone on the bus can control everything. And I think they did a very good job!! read more