November 2018 by G T.
A group of us booked USA Gateway Travel's Smoky Mountains tour from Washington DC. Due to the size of the group, we spent tremendous amount of time coordinating with the agent. Two weeks before the journey, we reminded the agent to book tickets to Dolly Parton's Stampede for our large group. Good thing we did, because it was a full house even on a weekday night. Since tickets were purchased late, there were not enough seat in one area for all of us and we had to sit in different sections. This travel agency did not appear to be ready to service such a large group. They could only find one bus with driver from a local company and had to hire a driver from NYC to drive the second bus. Unfortunately, it was the second bus that had many problems along the way. First thing in the morning, the driver had trouble opening the door using the switch on the dashboard. After the bus got on its way, driver had trouble turning on the heat. Once the heat was turned on, we smelt odor from something burning. Eleven hours after we started the journey, the bus made a full stop at a gas station in Atkins. In the ensuing 4.5 hours, we were stuck in Circle K and had to eat whatever we could find in the store, Subway sandwich, cup of noodles while the tour guide tried to locate an emergency repair technician on the internet. Long story short, the promised 15 minutes repair (replacing a long section of the air hose) was extended many times until approximately 11:30pm. Our friends on the other bus tried to help us by looking for rooms in nearby hotel/motel in case the bus could not be fixed. With no help from the travel agent who accompanied the group, they were even ready to pay the rooms out of their own pocket. In the next 1.5 days, the bus would beep on and off supposedly because the door could not be fully closed (according to the tour guide, it was not a big deal at all). Some of us who heard the beeping noise worried that the bus could not get us safely to our final destination, Smoky Mountains. Thank goodness, we got there and returned safely. I have been on various bus tours in many less developed countries, never have I encountered any problem with the tour bus like we did in our own country this time. What a traumatic experience!!
October 2018 by Katherine S.
Very disappointing experience. We had close to 80 in our group for a trip to the Smoky Mountains 10/22-10/24/2018, for which USA Gateway Travel hired 2 buses for our trip. One of the buses that USA Gateway Travel hired on had mechanical problems from Day 1. The driver was inexperienced with the mechanical features of the bus, had to rely on a passerby to figure out the problems; but tried to get by and continued with the journey -- a major safety violation. The bus gave in and made a full stop at a gas station convenience store shortly after 7pm. Without a clear idea about how and how long was needed to get the bus fixed, the tour guide informed the passengers that it'd only take a little over an hour for the bus to be repaired. It turned out he passengers had to be stuck in the convenience store for more than 4 & 1/2 hours, and finally reboarded the bus close to midnight. By the time they finally arrived at the designated hotel, it was 1am the next morning. During the process, USA Gateway Travel refused to locate hotels closeby to place those passengers, stating that the designated hotel had been booked and couldn't be canceled. This is a company with no backup plan in place to deal with emergency situations, lack of intention to place the passengers' safety as the top priority, and recklessly hired on a bus without proper maintenance nor experienced or knowledgeable driver.
