Sunshine Travel

I had been on the 4-​day Boston-​Philadelphia-​DC-​NY trip. The trip was well planned and executed. Would recommend it.
Pros:
— We covered as many of the important places as possible, in the given time line
— We had VIP passes to many of the places and hence, did not have to wait in the long lines
— The tour guide Anita was very sweet, well prepared and helpful. She gave a good background info about each of the important places we visited/​passed by, made sure we had regular stops for refreshment/​nature’s calls.
Cons:
— We had very few vegetarian options for food at the places we stopped
— The driver Jimmy (?) seems to be on a perennial PMS. He was irascible and rude, he literally shouted at people to get in/​out of the bus. Since we had very little veggie options at the places where we stopped for food, we had packed our own lunch. He not only let us eat this in the bus (we had to sit on benches near by to have our food) but also refused to let us sit in the bus after our lunch was done. He just shut the door even though he was seated inside.

Horrible and dangerous service. This company should be shut down immediately. Took a tour to Niagara Falls, driver was on cell phone, and even social media messaging the entire trip (which is illegal in NY state) causing many near misses on the road. AC system malfunctioning with either frigid air, or alternatively tropical engine heat such that passengers in the rear had to strip nearly naked and putting small children at risk for heat stroke, yet driver refused to even stop until passengers put up a revolt and threatened to call 911. Trip was absolutely ridiculous and I was afraid to even sleep for fear of a crash because the driver was either looking at his phone or fighting ferociously with the tour guide and never looking at the road. This kind of Chinese company operating in US with ZERO safety or quality concern should and will be shut down similar to the old ‘Fung Hwa’ bus to NY that was just as bad.
Baggage was also left by the side of the road with no concern for who owned it. if you care about your life, health, or belongings avoid this company at all costs.

Great for people who are new to US or those who want to explore East Coast for cheap. I booked the 3Day trip to DC and got the buy 2 get1 free deal. The journey from Boston to DC was long but the tour guide Anita and driver Mark made sure that the bus stops after almost every 2hrs to take restroom and snack break. They advice people to use bathroom on the bus only for emergencies and that also only for number 1 and not number2. I was fine with that. We started at about 7:10 am from Chinatown, Boston and picked few passengers from Charleton. The first stop in the tour was Philadelphia where we saw Liberty Bell and Independence hall. The stop duration was about 1.5 hrs. After that we stopped at Baltimore Harbor for 40 min. The harbor was nice and there are lot of restaurants and shops to see. Then we stopped at a a highway reststop to have lunch and then headed to DC. We saw the White House and George Washinton memorial on the same day. After that we stopped at a shopping/​dinner complex to have dinner. Then we headed to our hotel which was decent; Comfort Inn in Virginia where we arrived at around 8:15pm. It was close to Spring Hill Metro station if someone wanted to explore on own.
Next morning we were ready to leave at 7 am in morning to see the rest of DC. The hotel included breakfast which was nice. First we went to Lincoln memorial follwed by Washington monument, Korean and Vietnam war memorial. After that we went to Jefferson memorial and then did the Potomac river cruise which is not worth the $ 26 per person fare in my opinion.
Then we went to Capital building and National Air and Space museum where we got 2 hrs including time for lunch which was little rushed in my opinion. It was only 2:00 pm there that we headed to New Jersey for our stay at night. They stopped for dinner at a not so good highway stop in New Jersey at about 5pm This was the only downfall of this trip. Everyone was mad for not stopping at a decent place to eat and also stopping so soon when we could’ve spent more time in DC. We were at the hotel in Jersey (Hotel Somerset) at about 6:30pm which felt like waste of evening. There was not much around the hotel in walking distance. The hotel also didnt include breakfast next morning.
We got ready to leave at 6:50am for New York and did all the sightseeing.
We didnt purchase any optional tours there. My advice for people not buying optional tours in NY is to get off at Empire state or Rockefeller and then walk around yourself to check out other attractions and then meet them at Madam Tussads which is the last stop in NY at 2:45pm. This way you don’t waste your time at liberty cruise ferry or intrepid museum (i had already done both before)
Overall it was a decent tour, the hotel stay was fine. I”d recommend it to Asians. Most of the passengers were Indians or Chinese.:)

I always heard my friend said Sunshine Traval always can help peple get a good deal about the long trip flight Ticket, So 3 months agos, I called Sunshine Traval to ask them if they had a flight ticket to GUANGZHOU under 1000 $, the staff let me left my information, once they had a good deal, they would call me. When I already almost forgot buying tickiet this thing, suddently I got a called from Trval Sunshine last week, their staff, Hmm, I remember her name is Judy… She told me that they had a promotion ticket to Guanghzhou under 1000 $ if I choose to fly on APRIL or May. And she taught me to choose 3 dates to let me compare so that I would get the cheapest one! So at the end, I only spend 850 $ to buy a ticket to go back Guangzhou !! Because on that day, I was not in BOSTON, she helped me to transfer to the flight ticket department to send the email for me to let me check my personal information on ticket if correct. And my talking environment a little bit noisy, but the staffs on the phone is still so patient!
This is the cheapest ticket ever I bought! Before, I always needed to spend at least 1300 $ to go back China, if I bought online. Moreover, the flight is also a srtaight flgiht which is From boston to Guangzhou! It means NONSTOP from America to China! This will be my first time to fly a straight flight to go back China! I am so exciting to get this good deal from them. I feel I am so lucky ! I appreciate Susnshine Traval!

I plan to have a short trip at the south for vacation. I call them for advices and the agent is very nice and kind. She provides a very professional service and gives me a lot options from their agency. The price is reasonable as well~ also, they provide special deal of flight tickets. I am satisfied their services attitude~

Horrible what a nightmare !!!
I have taken this bus multiple times to the Mohegan Sun Casino but every time I have taken it is just gets worse and worse and worse recently I’ve been stranded on the side of the road multiple times because the bus has disabled halfway standing hours in the cold outside with elderly and children is not acceptable the interior of the bus I just insanely disgusting they dirty bathrooms don’t work properly the air that circulates is awful broken shades in the window carpet is dirty is really really bad I will not use this service anymore.

Worst is understatement. This tour charges you extra additional fees. They have hidden cost and thew tour guide Sara was too money oriented. We took Niagara tour and charges us for Niagara falls Night Illumination which actually is government organized and free of cost for every one.
They did not take us to Cave of winds and just took to Maid of the mist. Thy take you all non tourist places like Niagara fort and iother crappy points.
Thy told me that the fees to see Niagara stuff is 82 and they charges me 115.

I had such high hopes for this place. It seemed like such an inexpensive and adventurous way to travel to some new places during my trip to Boston. However, my friend and I never even made it on the bus.
We bought the Boston to Niagara Falls tour a few months before our departure day. When I booked the trip, I was told that the trip would be «confirmed» in a few days. A few days goes by, then a few weeks, and then a month, and the trip was never confirmed! It just said «pending». I contacted many people at the company, and everyone told me that the trip was still pending because the trip had not reached the minimum occupancy yet. So when would I find out if I was actually going? No one would give me a straight answer.
The next month, I find myself in Boston the day we were supposed to leave, and the trip is still not confirmed. I called them again, and they finally told me it was cancelled. I had received no notification of this, and wondered if they ever would have told me if I hadn’t called, considering the trip was less than 24 hours away. They told me a refund would be sent to my card, but I told them that I had gotten a new card since then, and asked if I could give them my new info. They said that there was no way they could no for sure if it was really me, and that I would have to come all the way over to their office to pick up a check. Later, they then called me back and said that they could pay it to my new card since they were unable to print more checks. This seemed pretty sketchy, but I reluctantly gave them my card info.
In summary, we were not given notice of the cancellation until about 15 hours before the trip, and it was such a hassle to get my money reimbursed. Luckily, I was staying with my friend who lived in Boston, but what if I had only made accommodations for one night? The disorganization of this company has the potential to mess up a lot of people’s plans. I think this company has a lot of potential, but I lost my trust in them wouldn’t book a trip through them again.

I recently booked a tour o Niagara Falls for a two day trip with Sunshine Travel. They have different pick up locations. Because I live in Worcester so I chose to get on bus at Charlton Plaza on I-​90 Mass pike. One thing that confused me is there are two Charlton Plaza on the I-​90. The one for departure is on westbound Charlton Plaza but I went to eastbound Charlton. So, of course by the time of departure I couldn’t find the bus. Then I called the tour guide and asked where is the bus?!! After his explanation I found out the stupid mistake that I made.
I thought I’m gonna skip the trip by the time because it will take at least 30mins to get to the other side. There is nothing more embarrass than step in a full loaded bus late and find you seat when everyone starring at you. But the tour guide calm me down and give me the direction to next service plaza. He told me he will ask the bus driver to drive slowly to the next stop so we will have time to catch up. So we did. We caught the bus at Ludlow service plaza 30mins later. My grandma was so nervous when getting on the bus because we are sooooooo late. However, when we sit tight the tour guide ease our nervous away. He played several games and trivia questions on the bus and gave away some gifts after we join the bus. So everybody’s attention is not on us anymore. I knew he did it for us by his blinking :)
Thanks for the tour guide the entire trip is amazing without his professional direction we could never make it. I just want to say it is so important to have someone on the bus can control everything. And I think they did a very good job!

Writing a review based on a recent Niagara trip. This was booked via Tours4Fun (or as my dad dubbed, «Tours4Torture») — they typically book you on Chinese bus tours. Our first leg of the tour was with Sunshine and our second leg was with another group. This Niagara trip was through Sunshine.
While I did enjoy my trip to Niagara Falls and had a great time regardless, there were a couple of things I did not like about this particular trip.
1. The Smell. We were on the bus, close to bathroom. It reeked of a gas station bathroom — stale dog piss. While there have been complaints about the cleanliness of the bus, when the vent was turned on, my brother texted me, «Did someone take a piss in the vent?» We had to grab air fresheners at the next rest stop to endure the 5+ hour trip from Boston to Niagara.
2. The Guide. I kinda had a feeling this would be a bilingual tour. I felt like the guide («Anita») wasn’t really putting much effort into it. It felt like she was reading bullet points from a middle school history handout. Not much of a sense of humor or life to her. Very monotone. Her English was pretty so-​so — you could tell she was trying, but I could have wiki’ed up the attraction facts and history myself. Neither did the guide make any attempt to say «hi» or «is everything okay?» to the people on the tour. Also, she looked more like a sorority member than an actual guide with how she was dressed. There was nothing on her that made her look «official.» She was dressed in black and that made her hard to track down if we had any questions.
3. Disorganization. While the itinerary did mention that the tours /​attractions are subject to change, when we got to Fort Niagara, there was chaos when we were handed off the tickets. You know… after a 5+ hour bus tour, you need like about 5 minutes to stretch, relax, catch a breather, etc. The guide didn’t tell us to line up at the front of the entrance — at least in English. There were a few western-​ish people outside the bus. Instead of waiting for the group and handing out all the tickets, the guide went inside the museum with the tickets leaving a couple of us stranded at the gift shop. Luckily, my dad was able to get a hold of her… and the fort directors also had a word with said guide.
4. Food. I’ve seen complaints about Chinese tours in regards to only having Chinese food. I’m currently on a regiment right now. While I can stomach rest stop fast food joints for carbs (hello Sbarro!) for lunch, I really didn’t like that International Food Court in Niagara. Overpriced and I could get better options at Hard Rock Café across the street. Nothing too hearty to be found at the International Food Court.
I can’t comment much about the price of the attractions since this was a family trip, but if it were up to me, I wouldn’t have tipped her after that. Luckily, this was just one day. I can’t imagine having to deal with this for another three days.
I would not rec Sunshine Tours — you’re better off driving or catching a greyhound. If you look hard enough, you can get some sweet deals on hotels in the area.

Crappy bus
Smells bad toward rear
Dirty
Non working tv’s
Poor/​horrible ventilation
Rattling noise in rear
Stain doors
Overcrowding/​packed
PISSED INFESTED INSIDE BUS
BUGS INSIDE BUS
Coupons are not good ! Once inside Casino, you have to pay the amount the tickets say out of your pockets ! Bad deal !
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAID — SHITTY

From:
Date: Mon, May 21, 2012 at 11:30 AM
Subject: Re: Sunshine Review Complaint
To: Ozlem
First I want to thank you for your patience and I am very sorry about the delay. The manager at Sunshine Travel, whom is the company that was in charge of your tour, has responded back to my email and I would like to share the details with you. Here is what she wrote:
We did the very serious investigation and please find below the reply to your seven points:
1) We had two tour guides on the bus. Another tour guide R speaks very well English.
2) Tour guide introduced two attractions of 1000 Islands and Niagara Fall. Especially the 1^st day, tour guide R
introduced Niagara Fall in English well.
3) The tour guide K was speaking Chinese in the video since there were Chinese customers on the bus; usually tour guides introduce attraction one time in Chinese and one time in English since the tour is bi-​lingual
4) There were three meals totally during tour: the first lunch is American food in a service area; the second meal is in a Chinese buffet of a plaza; the third one is in a plaza, except Chinese food, there are subway and star buck and
so on. tour guides pointed out the subway and another pizza place to customers. actually only around 15 persons went to Chinese buffet for that meal; many other customers had other western food. In addition, Chinese buffet is popular in the US and it’s flavor is actually not authentic Chinese food but «American Chinese food» since these buffet restaurants are open not only for Chinese people, but also many American guests and other international customers. They offer pizza, western desert, and vegetarian food, as well as drink, fruits, soup within the buffet package. The various choice of food and the budget price make it very popular in the US and best option for groups that insists of different people from different countries. And tour guide always tried to find restaurant in a plaza. If guests really don’t wanna Chinese buffet, they can have other options.
5) Customers on the bus eating food a lot. We do the regular cleaning and bus maintenance. After we receive the comments from customers, we did special cleaning and maintenance the past three days. Thank you for customer’s
feedback and we will keep improving the quality.
6) It’s $ 15 maid of mist boat fee and $ 6 night tour fee. If guests need receipt, we can send to them.
7) We understand guests probably feel unhappy due to some mis-​communication with tour guide. This was first time of this tour guide to lead the tour after training. He was lack of experience and nervous. We will re trainn him more and
forbid him do tour for a while until he is tested ready again. We can refund customers full service fee: $ 14*3=$ 42. Hope guests can understand and accept.
Sincerely,
Jolin
From: Christopher Moore
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 12:41 PM
To:
Subject: RE: Re: Sunshine Review Complaint
Jolin, though both Ozlem and I appreciate your efforts and attention to this matter, your manager’s response is beyond unsatisfactory.
1. First of all, this isn’t a debate — this «tour» was garbage and we deserve a full refund. The very fact that one of your clients has taken the time to send such an email with attached media should be enough for any business to issue a full refund.
2. It is clear that English isn’t your manager’s first language either as the email is full of grammatical errors.
3. The manager wasn’t there. How does she know any of this took place? I don’t know what «Tour Guide R» and «K» are, but Roy didn’t speak at all because the other guy wouldn’t let him. Roy was great, but he wasn’t in charge of the tour. He spent most of his time cleaning up the other guy’s messes especially with scheduling conflicts.
4. We knew we should have taken more videos — the video in question shows the tour guide ATTEMPTING to speak English and then giving up and switching to Chinese. We are aware that it was a bi-​lingual tour.
5. Let me get this straight — Your idea of «three meals» are rest stops off the highway? The rest of your manager’s 4^th point is so cryptic in broken English and full of misinformation that it should be completely disregarded. Only 15 persons went to the Chinese Buffet because we had already eaten! We didn’t even know we were going to dinner after visiting Niagara Falls! No one did!
6. We are aware that the Maid of the Mist is $ 15 — we just told you that. The point is that we paid the tour guide $ 21. Though this isn’t a main point at all, rather a point made in a rant fueled by dissatisfaction!

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE!
If I could give them negative stars I WOULD. This place is just a complete mess.
They completely messed up my sister and brother in laws travel plans and got them STRANDED overseas. They have missed 2 days of their honeymoon, had to spend over a $ 1000 in extra money getting a hotel room, food costs and travel costs.
The company was the root of the entire situation. They FAILED to catch a necessary travel document that my sister and her husband needed. They even admitted that the agent that was assigned to work with us was so bad that they fired her, and yet they were unwilling to actually really help us (one woman there, to her credit, did attempt to «help,») and fix the mess their company created.
They are even attempted to blame us for THEIR mistake. My sister was told that all the travel documents were fine and everything was arranged for and nothing was mentioned about any special visas for them. The company was given ALL OF THEIR TRAVEL DOCUMENTS, so it’s NOT LIKE they wouldn’t have known if there was any special visas required.
As a travel agency THIS IS PART OF THEIR JOB. Your company messed up and I want someone to fix it, don’t try to pass the blame onto the CUSTOMERS. The one woman there attempted to help, but her help ended with «there’s nothing I can do.» She repeated this over and over again. Somehow I managed to fix things — I arranged the new visas, shuffled plane tickets around and got them where they were supposed to be. It took me a good few days, but it wasn’t something that a competent person couldn’t have figured out. I don’t know why it’s so difficult for this TRAVEL AGENCY, to do what their business is about – HELPING PEOPLE WITH THEIR TRAVEL PLANS!
Never again will I take my thousands of dollars to a «travel» agency who can’t get TRAVEL plans right.
I’m filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, the BBB and the Attorney General’s Office.

this is based only on the mohegan sun trip
This beats driving to mohegan. 13 $ will get you 40 $ in match vouchers a 20 $ food/​match voucher, and a round trip ticket to mohegan. Costs more than 13 $ in gas and tolls to drive there from boston so you can’t go wrong. With 5 trips daily just from chinatown, I’m sure you can find one that suits your schedule.
They have a lot of «rules» on their website, but none of them really apply/​are not enforced.
No drinks or food — seen plenty, especially on the return trip when the passengers use their food coupons. The plastic bags on the side of the chairs leads me to believe this is ok as we’ll.
«Sold out» online — no they’re not sold out. Stop by their office on tyler street or just board one of the busses. I’ve seen half the passengers pay on the bus. Always take a chance that it is full, but you’re going to gamble so what’s the difference if you get started early.
Ticket only good for assigned return time — I believe you cn return anytime you want up to 3 or 6 days. Saw a sign on one of the buses stating this and the ticket collector asked me when I was planning on returning. Another time the ticket collector said to grab your belongings if you’re not planning on taking the same bus back. This leads me to believe that ou don’t have to take the same bus back as long as there are open seats which makes it convienient if you’re on a hot streak.
Mostly asians on the bus because it’s catered towards them. They’ll be an older crowd and chatty as well. On the reurn trip, you’re pretty much expected to tip them 2 $. Still, 15 $ is still an awesome deal.

This is a bus tour. We had a really great tour guide. His name was Ming. Hope to get him next time. We took the Boston to Niagara. The price was great. The tours were nice. The price included two lookout towers, 2 Castles, two boat tours, etc. It was definitely in Chinese and English both. He gave us movies to watch on the bus. I liked the hotel. I would take another trip with them.

This review is only about its China visa service that I used. I have not used their US domestic bus tour services and I probably don’t intend to in the future. One of my Chinese friends referred me to them, since he got a Chinese visa from them, and my family also turned to them once for flight deals to Hong Kong and got a decent deal.
For $ 170 (including the $ 130 US citizen fee for any tourist visa to China), Sunshine Travel can help you get a tourist visa to China as long as you have the documentation and all the necessary forms for your application to be processed (passport, application, photos, contact/​hotel reservation information, etc.). You have to pay in either cash or check because if you pay by credit card, they will charge an extra fee. You can pay for it when you turn in your application or after you receive your visa. They will give you a receipt though as long as you ask for it. Since there is no Chinese consulate in Boston, and the nearest is in New York City, this is more convenient than traveling all the way to New York City and possibly dealing with long queues and other hassles.
Michelle Wu, the travel agent who took care of my visa arrangements, was really nice. She speaks Cantonese Chinese, but is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English. Since the tourist visa fee is fixed for all Chinese tourist visas for US citizens, I applied for a Multiple-​Entry Visa for 12 months because it is the same price as a Single Entry Visa. She advised me that although I marked «Multiple-​Entry for 12 Months» on my visa application, she said to me that the New York Consulate will only grant me a Double-​Entry Visa for 6 Months since I was a first-​time visitor to Mainland China. She said that the Consulate will grant me a Multiple-​Entry for 12 Months if I apply for a visa again after my trip, now that I have been to Mainland China. She was right, and I did get a Double Entry Visa for 6 Months, but I was glad I got my visa without any problems. Now that I have been to China before, I hope to get a Multiple Entry Visa for 12 Months if I apply again.
I sent in all the paperwork for my visa on a Friday afternoon. Michelle told me that it will take ten days for everything to be processed, maybe sooner and she said she will call me when my visa is ready. They send in the passports and applications in a UPS package by the end of the afternoon. Seven days later (earlier than I expected), on the following Friday morning, Michelle called me and I got my visa.
I will probably turn to Michelle Wu and Sunshine Travel again if I plan on applying for another Chinese tourist visa.

what’s up with them? i just called them regarding a trip at quincy office, and I have to call boston office to find out the info and got hang up. I guess they dont need our business anymore.

Poor customer service. I went there to ask to get flight information for my boss for a trip to Germany and they had to ask more questions than I’d asked. But when I went across the street to Travel Pack USA, they gave me the exact information I needed and even gave me a business card so that I could contact them for more information. Whereas Sunshine’s rep treated me like a teenager who’d just come in to mess with them.
I’ve also bought tickets from them for concerts and rode their buses to see them. The tour guide for all three concerts had an attitude problem. Can’t even answer questions in a diplomatic way. Rude.

IMPRESSED!
I felt as though I had 55% more of a chance to survive this ride than on The FUNG! So right there-​that deserves 5 stars
The SO and I were supposed to go to Foxwoods, but missed the early morning bus… so we took the Sunshine to Mohegan. It picked us up at 2 Pm and we got back to Boston around 9ish… we got back home around 10:30 (Had to pick up our dog from the sitter
There are several locations you can catch the bus at and several depart/​arrival times. Super convenient!
It cost us less to buy a new ticket with Sunshine than to switch the ticket for the bus we missed with the «other company.»
For $ 12 we got a round trip ticket, $ 15 food voucher and $ 30 casino bet! Nice!
Even though I only won $ 45 we had a great time.
Remember Sunshine for several reasons:
Convenient pick/​up drop off locations
Convenient pick/​up drop off times
Vouchers for food/​bets
Less of a chance to die on the actual ride there/​back
Cheap tickets
As with all «tour» buses:
Don’t sit near the bathroom
Don’t sit next to old people that will fall asleep on you!

I would prefer to give it 3 ½ stars, but I cant. And since the other person to review it gave it 3 stars, I figured by giving it 4 i can make 3 ½.
If I was Chinese or knew Chinese I would probably give it 5 stars, but I am not Chinese fluent, and the tour guides leaders no some English, but are far from fluent themselves.
But it is $ 10 for a round trip ticket to Mohegan, where you stay for a good amount of time (average 5 hours) and they give you a $ 20 free bet as well as a $ 15 voucher that can be used as free bet or for the buffet or $ 15 off a food order. So basically you get paid $ 25 to go.
Kelly, who primarily works holidays, and longer tours (Washington DC, Niagara Falls etc) is by far my favorite tour guide. She is very easy going and funny.
They have stops in a bunch of cities (Quincy, Chinatown, Lynn, Malden, Lowell, etc) but tend not to make more than 3 stops per route.
It is about a 1 hour 45 minute ride to Mohegan sun, and I believe you can even use your points card number to earn rewards by taking the bus, or use the card to get free tickets.