I really enjoyed this trip. It was fun getting to know JJ and Cindy and joking around them, especially with Cindy! The substitute of Cape Cod for Martha's Vineyard worked well both for protecting our safety and providing a meaningful/somewhat similar location to visit due to the hurricane on the east coast. Provided meals and hotels used were very good. I don't like this coming as "write a review" as most of those are for public web posting (which is why I delayed responding). I'm much more comfortable doing an evaluation or survey for only the company (I hope that was the intent here). Communicating details is key on a good tour. There were a few mishaps there: 1) the 2/18/25 letter on the group air came with a departure date of 8/14 vs 8/17. When I called on it, 2/28/25, JJ answered the phone and noted Excite was aware it was wrong, then indicated Excite thought sending out a correction would be confusing. Since when is issuing a correction confusing -- to think that is disrespectful of the travelers as if they are stupid. Later another letter came out, labeled "Updated" which was underlined. That wasn't an update (as if the airline changed times a bit) -- comes across as hiding behind a rock. Label it a "correction" as it was -- which takes adult responsibility for the situation. This sloppy communication early on did not leave a good impression. 2) those of us that stayed at the hotel in Rhode Island vs taking the bus to the waterfront for dinner and shopping did not get word of departing in the morning at 7:45 vs 7:00 -- significant omission as the original plan was to grab breakfast in a takeout box when breakfast started at 7:00 and we needed to take all of our stuff for the coach and wouldn't be able to go back to the room. An email was put out the night before with details of the change in plans, going to Cape Cod vs Martha's Vineyard, however, which had good intent, but don't leave out key info! At least JJ took responsibility for that and apologized. 3) About a week before the trip Brie emailed indicating that Stephanie Steffensmeier would be calling before the trip. That did not happen. Either follow through or indicate in a subsequent email that won't happen and encourage any questions via the email. One hates to miss an expected call on a pending trip. 4) A few times on the trip, JJ emailed us while we were doing a planned activity (e.g., the boat cruise in New Hampshire -- don't get off across the lake) to give us instructions. I never saw any of those until after it was too late to change what I did. I've not had this happen on any of the other numerous tours I've taken regardless of company. The intent is good but we're not glued to our phones when on tour activities, nor should we be, and communications don't always go through quickly if at all even in cities. It would have been helpful to go around and do short introductions. I didn't know anything about a few people until day 8 or day 9 of a 10-day trip. Name tags with names on both sides would also be helpful as too many times the back of it was in showing, making it hard to get to know first names. Having JJ's phone number on the back was good but it can be put on the bottom in small font. Since a main point of this trip was to visit 11 states, it would have been nice to always announce when we entered a different state. I was always watching for this. Finally about the 4th day, I started speaking out about that as I knew there was an interest in it. It can be very hard to see these road signs even sitting toward the front of the bus and looking for it as a few were non-existent or quite small. I would like to see the new tour catalog of the following year come out sooner, like in May, as we discussed. Late May is when I've been booking my tours for the following year due to some tours filling up well over a year in advance. I had 4 trips booked for this year and last October decided I could slip this one in as a 5th! I've been "eyeing" several trips with different companies for a few years -- whether they be on my bucket list or "nice to do" list. Similarly, I"ve been "eyeing" Excite's one-day trips for next year to Pella and to Indianola. I saw some new trips in your 2026 catalog online that I'm interested in as well -- but I've already got 5 multiday trips booked so those trips will go on my "nice to do" list for 2027 or beyond. Luggage handling -- it's been long, long time since I've had to handle my big bag at hotels all the time (not unusual to have to do it sometime due to limited staffing or time constraints). I didn't mind at all -- just had to get used to it which was easy to do! It's nice having that big bag with me vs putting it out sometimes over an hour before departure, plus from a security standpoint, handling it ourselves is much, much better.

Was a nice trip.

Very relaxing and enjoyable

Had great time. Very organized and enjoyed the free time.

This was my first bus tour and it was great! Our tour guide was Jama and she kind, helpful and knowledgeable. Our bus driver Louis was kind, helpful and an excellent driver! The trip was well worth the money. I met a lot of sweet people and had so much fun. I hope to go on another bus tour soon