Topic: Do HOHO busses serve your needs?

HOHOs seem to have appeared in every town and city accross the world at this stage.

I find that they are quite disappointing and generally opt not to do them unless the alternatives are poor:

1) Schedules are often not frequent enough - often being one an hour and you only have or need 30 mins to explore a particular 'stop'
2) Audioguides are often impossible to hear due to surrounding road noise
3) Many 'stops' are totally uninteresting e.g. the local hospital - ok! maybe pioneering surgery has taken place or its latest patient is 'Mr Famous' but really is this what you really want to see
4) Very often the most interesting sights are often walkable from each other - so whats the point?
5) On cruise days they are often jam packed - schedules get messed up as it takes so long for people to pay and board and disembark the busses.
6) Local trransport via subway, trams etc are often quicker and allow you to miss the uninteresting sights between the interesting ones
7) Are better for those on a 3 day city break rather then those in town for a day

I can see the advantage:
a) They are good for an orientation tour
b) Are ideal for those that do not have the confidence to use public transport and explore on their own and want to avoid the high cost ship's tours
c) Good to get into areas that may not have the best safety reputation (deserved or undeserved) e.g. Rio De Janeiro's Favelas or Belfast Murals
d) Good for the less mobile.

We have taken them in Oslo and Belfast but as part of city breaks and they worked out well as an orientation tour and we revisited sights at leisure on the route over the next few days having a multi day ticket. E.g. In Oslo we did the complete circuit on day 1 and returned to Vigneland (sic?) Sculpture park in the afternoon. Day 2 went to the Viking Ship Museums and Day 3 to Holmokoellen (sic?).

I found in Dublin that we used it to get to the furthest point of the route and ended up zig zagging our way back - so why not take the public bus? Then again we do know Dublin well. We thought it would be fun to do!

We used in also in Alicante - a complete waste of time - then again so is Alicante

Do they serve your needs?
Where have you used them?
What places do you rate highly?
Where have they been a complete waste of time?
Are they really good value for money?

We have used HOHO buses in Rome, Barcelona and along the Amalfi Coast in Italy. I thought the Rome one was a complete rip off - it went 2 stops then the driver had his lunch break. We were stuck outside Termini train station for about 40 minutes while he ate his lunch, as they did not arrange a driver to take over from him. In the end we got off and walked to Piazza Navona. It was a complete waste of 22 Euro's each.

However I thought the Barcelona and Amalfi HOHO bus was excellent value and a great way of finding out where we wanted to spend more time on our next visit there.

The only HOHO buses I've ever used have been in the UK in cities like Oxford and London, or in the US. We often go round on the complete loop for a feel of the place and then use it as a HOHO. Obviously, we have to have the time to do that and a day trip would probably preclude that type of useage.

We've only used HOHO buses in Dublin but it was a great chance to get to learn about the whole city during a 1 day visit. The sights are spread out over a wider area here so I thought it was worthwhile. We got off once and also had a change of drivers at one point which worked very smoothly. All 3 drivers we had were very good. We hadn't been to Dublin before and if we return we now have a list of sights we want to visit on a second trip and would probably use the HOHO bus to take them all in.

My only experience of HOHO was The Big Bus Co. in Dubai last year as RCI had chartered them for the 'free' shuttles from port to town, for the 20/25 minute journey at all ports.

These were brand new buses but the seats were rock hard, no padding and damn uncomfortable.

We weighed up the cost for 4 of us to do the trips in Muscat and Abu Dhabi @ US$240. A taxi including tip cost us $80, the drivers were knowledgeable, no hanging around waiting for the next bus, we completed the tours in far quicker time, allowing us to further explore locally. No contest really, and my backside was better for it.........Wilba

On our 2nd cruise to Barcelona, I did it on my own, and used the Ho Ho bus, having first walked around the Harbour and the Cathedral Square. Caught it at the far end of La Ramblas and thought the trip excellent, stayed on the bus during the trip, and saw all I wanted to. Got off at same spot it started from, and walked back along La Ramblas, all the way back to the ship.

In Palma De Mallorrca, the ships shuttle bus dropped us off near the Cathedral, it then started to rain, so we caught the HO Ho bus, which took us up to the Castle, got off and spent time there, then caught the bus back to the ship.

In Alicante we walked around the harbour and main shopping area, we were heading back to the ship, and met a fellow cruise passenger, who gave us free tickets for the HO HO bus. This took us up to the castle, so again we saw parts of Alicante we would not have seen.

In Cagliari everything was shut, so we caught the bus, that in my view was a complete waste of time, not a lot to see.

Hi I have used HOHO buses particularly in the Baltic ports, maybe we have been particularly unlucky with the weather but riding around on a bus beats plodding around the sites in the rain!

Hi Mrs M I think the HOHO buses in America are a great way to get around, especially the NY bus .CG

I would give them a try on another cruise. I am nervous about venturing out on my own, and so prefer the security of something that is organised. I went on a city tour of Dubai, and realised that I would have seen a lot more had I been on the Big Red Bus.

We used one in Paris a couple of years ago, and bought a 2-day ticket. One of my daughters lives in London, and last year we got on one bus and did the full circle and the short river cruise, just for the hell of it really. There was no point in getting on and off as we've been to most places and can go any time.

QUOTE:

Hi Mrs M I think the HOHO buses in America are a great way to get around, especially the NY bus .CG

I agree. The 3 day ticket for all three loops in New York is amazing value.