We have taken many Tripadvisor/Viator tours. Our tour guides have always been engaging, informative and interesting. Our tour with Guanajuato VIP, unfortunately, was an unmitigated disaster. The tour itinerary for Morelia, Patzcuaro and Janitzio from Guanajuato overpromises' and under delivers. Additionally, our tour guide was astoundingly uncommunicative and obtuse. We would not recommend anyone take a tour provided by Guanajuato VIP. The tour driver picked us up in Guanajuato for the three-hour drive to Morelia in an old, uncomfortable compact car with expired Nebraska license plate (we have a photo of the plate). On the road, we stopped at an OXXO for “breakfast.” Our driver shocked us when he, without asking, presented his loyalty card to the store clerk for our purchase. The three-hour ride was conducted in virtual silence...our tour guide didn’t review the itinerary with us nor explain anything we were to see or pass by. To get any information from our tour guide, we had to constantly ask questions about what we were seeing. Our tour guide’s behavior was vexing and frustrating.Once we arrived in Morelia we stopped for 10 minutes at the aqueduct (at our request as it was noted on the itinerary as a pass-by) and for 30 minutes at the cathedral. Our tour guide indicated it was time to leave Morelia when we addressed the Guanajuato VIP’s tour itinerary with her. There were several additional stops on the itinerary in Morelia we hadn’t seen. We showed the tour guide the Guanajuato VIP’s tour itinerary (that we paid for on Viator) but the tour guide justified herself by saying the itinerary was our responsibility and we should have let her know when we left for the tour. This created an unpleasant adversarial situation between the tour guide and us. What was on the itinerary:Isla Janitzio / 2 hrsPatzcuaro / 1 hrMercado de Dulces Y Artesanias Morelia / 30 minUniversidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo / 30 minPalacio Clavijero y Bibloteca / 30 minCatedral de Morelia / 30 minPalace Michoacan State Government / 30 minAntiguo Palacio de Justicia / 30 minAcueducto de Morelia / pass byFuente de las Tarascas / pass by Parroquia de la Inmaculada de Morelia / 30 minMuseo del Dulce / 30 minWhat we saw:Isla Janitzio for 2 hrsPatzcuaro for 1 hr Acueducto de Morelia for 10 minutes Catedral de Morelia for 30 minAs we drove through Patzcuaro, police on a motorcycle pulled us over. Our driver told us, “If the police ask you, tell him you are our relatives.” The driver was told we would not get involved. At this point, the tour company lost our trust. Worse yet, Guanajuato VIP put our personal safety at risk. Fortunately, the police let us go. It was 3pm when we had returned from Isla Janitzio and we hadn’t eaten all day. We were famished. We had to request time to eat in Patzcuaro (our tour guide had no restaurant recommendations for Centro-Historico Patzcuaro). We ate by ourselves (our guide and driver excusing themselves). The relationship with our tour guide had deteriorated to the point where we seriously wondered over dinner if we were going to be abandoned in Patzcuaro (our lodging was in Guanajuato). We spent our dinner frantically searching for transportation options back to Guanajuato. Thankfully, our guide and driver did return to pick us up. When we expressed concerns with the poor condition of our vehicle our guide indicated we could have a better vehicle for our scheduled tour the next day – for an additional cost. We drove from Patzcuaro back to Guanajuato (four hours) in silence.Every tour we took with Viator/Tripadvisor has been staffed by licensed tour guides who seemed to enjoy their work and take pride their country, its history and traditions. That was not our experience with this tour operator. The tour itinerary sets unrealistic expectations; distance/stop/times are fictional. It didn’t help that our driver exhibited unprofessional behavior and that our tour guide was extraordinarily uncommunicative and dismissive. Our personal safety was placed at risk and our money and time was wasted by Guanajuato VIP. We called Viator/Tripadvisor that evening to explain our personal security concerns, frustration regarding the false itinerary and the tour guide's behavior. The Viator agent we spoke to was understanding and sympathetic. Unfortunately, Viator ultimately settled the dispute in their business interest and in agreement with the tour operator.As an addendum, and to summarize our experience with Guanajuato VIP, Guanajuato VIP sent an expletive laden message to us.
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