Tours, sightseeing tours, activities & things to do | Viator.comEiffel Tower, Seine River Cruise and Paris Illuminations Night Tour
based on 28 reviews of Eiffel Tower, Seine River Cruise and Paris Illuminations Night Tour
Read what other Viator.com travelers think about the Eiffel Tower, Seine River Cruise and Paris Illuminations Night Tour. What they loved, what they liked and what they think could be improved, it's all here to help you make the most of your next trip.
Very enjoyable except we started 30 minutes late, hence reducing our time at the Eiffel Tower. With Viator's influence, it should be negotiating a much stronger liaison with the end suppliers. The weather was not in favour, but the tour operator should by now have contingencies to cope with adverse conditions; the tour operator did not cope very well. Suggest that Eiffel Tower build a shelter to each entrance, if only to cater for agents like Viator. Alternatively, do not alight from the coach until the entrance undercover is immediately available. It is extremely disappointing to issue a negative report; all four of us would have preferred a 100 positive reaction. We do not pay Viator's fees to receive second-rate results - we expect Viator, with its vast experience and feedback, to give very enjoyable times.
Reviewed by: Roger B, United Kingdom, April 2008
Although you feel rushed from one site to the next like prodded cattle, it was a good tour. Be prepared when going to the Eiffel Tower. This tour only gets you to the 1st floor. You must purchase a ticket to the 2nd floor on the 1st floor, then purchase a 3rd floor top ticket while on the 2nd floor. The ticket machine will slowly and grudgingly take credit cards. The 45 minutes time we had to explore the 1st floor, we used instead to go up to the top. We had enough time to walk slowly around the top, take in the view, the wind, the snow, and then make our way back down. I wished we'd had time to buy a hot chocolate, postcards, etc. but we had to be down at the dock to catch our cruise. We were independent during the Eiffel Tower and cruise. I say we, because I met with 2 ladies on the same package as myself and we clung to each other. In the end, the Illuminations guide was kind enough to drop us off on the route of the tour. The tour ends in the evening and the Paris transit strike meant the metro ends early in the evening. The other ladies and myself were fortunate to be the only ones on the bus and to be dropped off on our hotel streets!
Reviewed by: Sandra L, United States, November 2007
This tour consists of 3 parts. The tour operator is slow and incompetent in organising the different tour groups while loading the bus. We were put on a bus with a group going for dinner at the Eiffel Tower and thus were late for the 18:30 guaranteed-reservation elevator at the Eiffel Tower. It was confusing, and no tour guide was provided for the tower visit.
Reviewed by: Toon L, Canada, July 2008
The tour started 45 minutes late and we had to wait for more than an hour for the bus to collect us from the Seine cruise. Then the audio system seemed to be faulty!! It could have been good but very poor management.
Reviewed by: Bernice G, South Africa, July 2008
We enjoyed the Eiffel Tower. Second level tickets with fast entry were great and Seine cruise, we were not informed at time of booking that we would be on coach with a group that was having a meal on Eiffel Tower. This meant that we had to hang around for over an hour while the meal was finished before we could go on cruise. Also, although we had cruise tickets provided, we still had to queue with those that did not have tickets. With young children, this was not an ideal situation.
Reviewed by: Anonymous, Ireland, July 2008
We were never told where to meet after the Eiffel Tower to go on the river cruise, so we missed it completely and finally had to go with another tour to get the tour of lights around Paris. Guide not very well organized and did not communicate information well.
Reviewed by: Steven H, United States, April 2008
The tour was OK, but I felt it could have been more informative. Everything we did, we could have done on our own.
Reviewed by: Steven G, United States, October 2007
There were three parts to this tour, with a different guide for the Eiffel Tower to the other two components, thank heavens. The Eiffel Tower tour really was only a ride to the tower, after which we were left for two hours. The guide was only intent on escorting part of our group to the restaurant option and virtually dumped us at the first level with no further explanation. We would have appreciated being given options when he purchased the elevator tickets and being told how to get up to the very top. He appeared stressed throughout and spoke very quickly and incoherently. He left us all shaking our heads. The Seine River Cruise was a joy. After standing in line for around thirty minutes, we boarded the vessel and were free to sit where we liked so that we could enjoy the magnificent view. The Paris Illuminations tour was ably guided aboard our coach. Unfortunately, both my husband and I nodded off due to our twenty hour flight earlier that day and the lateness of the hour, it was close to midnight when the tour ended. It would have been improved if they had organized taxis for those not wanting to walk back to their accommodation so late at night.
Reviewed by: Marie W, Australia, July 2007
Only good thing was not standing in lines. Rest was all a joke. Guides were there to help skip the queues and not to tell you any thing about the sights. Everybody was left on their own till the next itinerary.
Reviewed by: Vandana P, India, July 2007
The Eiffel Tower trip was poorly organized. They just dumped everyone at the base near the line and the crowd control employees wouldn't let us in at our ticket time. An employee just shrugged when we asked him why they wouldn't honor our tickets. Many of the people in our group were angry. We only had a short time to explore the observation deck once we finally got through security. Some guests even had to take the stairs down so they wouldn't miss the cruise. Others just dropped out of the group at that point. The river cruise had fantastic audio and there were lovely views and people watching at sunset. This was the highlight! The Illuminations Night Tour was horrible. The audio quality was poor and it went to static halfway through the trip. The guide didn't even make an announcement or appologize, just ignored it. The driver continued the monument path though. We just got off the bus because it was a waste of time. We went to the office and asked for a voucher to retake the bus tour because we truly wanted to hear the history, etc. They refused, saying, 'Nobody else on a bus of 50 people complained. It's just your problem.' We also talked to a supervisor and they were equally rude. Don't waste your time and money. All three of these things are easy to do on your own.
Reviewed by: Anonymous, United States, July 2008
Do the illuminations night tour only because on this tour you are there in the daytime and light of day. The Eiffel Tower visit at night is a joke. You get there and it's not even dark at the tower and you don't get to see it lite up at all. They leave before the tower lites up. The river cruise is the same thing and is a day tour, you can do the same thing on the batobus and so that leaves just the illuminations tour you should just take alone with out the Eiffel Tower and cruise, take those during the day and take just the illuminations tour. This tour is not what they say and is shorter than they say as all their tours are, so don't take this tour. So this one is overpriced and not what they tell you it is.
Reviewed by: Lydia B, United States, June 2008
Shame about the weather, it rained so nothing we could do about that but overall we felt it was too long at the Eiffel Tower and most certainly too long waiting for the cruise. We didn't expect it to be on such a huge cruise boat with hundreds of people, it would have been much nicer with a smaller party. The best part of the evening was the coach trip seeing the illuminations.
Reviewed by: Anonymous, United Kingdom, April 2008
We 4 girls were staying at a hotel just .03 miles from the Eiffel Tower. We take a taxi to meet up at the tour place to get on a bus back to the Eiffel Tower. On the website it said a tour, river cruise and then Eiffel Tower. It was the Eiffel Tower, river and then the tour. If that was the case we would have just meet up with them at the Eiffel Tower. I tried to explain this to the tour guide who wasn't interested in listen to me at all. All he told me was it wrong on the website and the program is correct at the tour place.
Reviewed by: Heather T, United States, September 2007
