Five Star Tours & Charter Bus Company Review

great Baja tour..our tour guide was great..she knows very well the side streets of Tijuana and we were able to get us through the long traffic at the border..

Never picked us up. Never called to inform us there was a problem. They offered another bus to pick us up an hour later, but it wasn't guaranteed, nor would they have been able to adjust the prices for what we agreed upon. Ended up having to cancel due to multiple reviews of people being left stranded--I wouldn't want that for our group or anyone else. They did issue us a full refund, which is why I gave them one star.

We went on the Tijuana tour yesterday, Agustine was very knoledgable and took us to the best shops. I recommend this tour!

This company doesn't even deserve one star. I can't believe this company still exists. We scheduled a charter bus 1 month in advance for 50 people. We had multiple conversations with the company, including the night before pick up. They arrived 2 hours late! We were calling frantically for two hours but never heard a peep....All the sudden the bus shows up...Then half way thru our trip they made us switch buses because the one we were on had another job to get to. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. A much better alternative is Bayside Bus.

I ve been trying to reschedule my tour to another date for a week now and no one is answering the phone lines

They were 20 minutes late to drive us to the zoo. They told us they would pick us up at 5. At 5:20 after we called they said they were closed and had no way to pick us up.... left us stranded and made us call a uber and pay more money. Never using again. Will never reccomend.

READ THIS REVIEW AND EVERY ONE BEFORE THIS..

Don t not EVER book a tour through this absolute rubbish of a company! I can t believe that they are still in business. They demand you reconfirm with them 48 hours before the tour departs but cancel with only 30 minutes notice ( looking at other reviews, this seems to be normal for this company). Don t waste your time, money or effort on these idiots!!

I am a senior citizen -was traveling alone - and had a free day in San Diego before meeting up with friends. We traveled in a van and the guide was extremely informative and fun. It was a perfect day.

I rarely write reviews but our experience with Five Star was so awful and unprofessional that I had to share so others can avoid this company. Don t book through this company if you want to have a peace of mind on your vacation. We were supposed to have a 9a tour. I received a call from the company the night before that our tour was cancelled. After a long discussion, I was able to reschedule to the 2p tour that day. We had to reschedule our whole first day of vacation to accommodate the tour. On the day of the scheduled tour, we received a call that someone was en route to pick us up in 20 minutes. Literally one minute before the tour was supposed to start we received a call from someone else from the company that our tour was cancelled for unforeseen reasons. The company showed no remorse. It took me three additional days to get a hold of someone to request a refund. I was told that I would only get a partial refund. Senior management did not show any sympathy for their mistake and failed to show basic customer service and said they would only give me a partial refund. I was flabbergasted. After talking with The Grand Hyatt concierge, he echoed that they ve had several other guests who have had a similar experience with Five Stars. Please read the other bad reviews and notice how 5 Star Tours inappropriately respond to them. That's the same experience and customer service you will get if you use this company.

It was a bit complicated to set up, however they were totally committed to customer satisfaction. We had hired a van, and because last minute it was not available they picked us up in a 40 passenger bus...a no extra charge and without complaining about it! Reputable and serious firm I will clearly do more business with them!

I would like to give the tour guide lady Anna a five stars, We had an excellent experience with San Diego city sightseeing including La Jolla half day trip.

Booked trip with a pickup time of 9 a.m. they call the day before at tell us 9:30. At 9:50 I call and they say the driver is running late (no courtesy call to inform me of this) they FINALLY show up at 10:15 with only 3 other passengers so the reason for them being do late is unknown. I had to call the office 3 times and get 3 different phone numbers to call to try to find out where the driver was when he was late. Apparently it would be an inconvienence for them to call themselves to find this out. In the meantime I have small children excited to leave while we wait forever. No return phone call from the manager. No apologies. The people I did speak with were hard to understand. Poor customer service! Would not recommend!

1 star for five star tours. I booked luggage storage with them on Bagbnb within their operating hours and no one was here. SCAM and waste of money.

We I learned so much about the city, we have been coming here for years and there were so many things we never knew, or things that we never even saw. We will definitely do this again, and better yet come back to San Diego enjoy all the places that Ana or Anna showed us! She was a great tour guide, and spoke very slowly and clearly so we understood every place that we were going to how much she was very patient with us and would definitely recommend anybody go on a tour with her again.

Today we did the Baja Grand Tour. Driver (Juan) spent most of his time texting and talking on his phone. Finally he interacted with us between text messages. On our last stop, when he picked us up he had some guy with a guitar in the passengers seat. All he did was talk to him until one of the other guest asked some question. After we dropped this guy off in Tijuana he was ready to talk to us. Once we got back to San Diego he seemed a little choked I did not give him a tip. This guy is no tour guide that s for sure.

We hired Five Star for a large group of our guests going to Rosarito Beach for a Wedding Anniversary and Brithday celebration. They were on time for both the trip down and the return. The driver made everyone feel comfortable and knew exactly where he was going the whole time. Great service and I look forward to hiring them again!

Teresa from Five Star Tours is the best! She helped me get everything I needed and gave me a great deal. They also are one of the few that will cross the border into Mexico. Thanks Teresa!

We had a great trip in a Mercedes Sprinter Van with a group of 8 people from Oceanside, CA to Rosarito & back, over a long weekend. On the way home from Oceanside we also had several hours of car service in Mexico before returning home. Ana was the best driver!! She is so kind and funny - we really enjoyed her and gave her a hug after she dropped us off at home :) The owner of Five Star Tours was incredibly accommodating to us - even last minute changes as there was a ton of rain on the day we were returning. I was happy to get a hold of him and he made everything right for us! Thank you for making this joint birthday/vacation awesome for us and our friends!
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We have just come back from the Great Baja Tour with Five Star Tours. It was not exactly what we expected. The tour started twenty minutes late due to a change of bus, and then it was further delayed by about thirty minutes because we had to stop to buy diesel additive as we could not drive without it.
I was not comfortable with the speed we had to do to make up the lost time.
The tour description mentioned a stop at Rosalito beach but we did not go there as we were given a choice of staying longer in Tijuana or go to the beach. The 'longer stay', the whole stay in Tijuana was one hour which meant there was no possibility of doing both visits as advertised.
The food was very disappointing. The fish we chose had hardly any meat on it, the beans were very runny, the rice lacked taste, the salad was just a plate with lettuce, onion and green pepper. The service was nothing to write home about. The only enjoyable event was the Mariachi band.
All in all, it was a quick dash across the border without visiting any cultural venues. To be honest there would not have been any time for that unless the tour had left San Diego at 7 am and Mexico at 7 pm.
Thus, this tour is basically greatly overstated just to get one interested and get one's money.
Our guide Juan was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and entertaining but it was always going to be difficult for him to deliver what was promised.

Wow. All around bad. I don t write reviews, not even after bad experiences, but this is a different level of bad experience. Bus broke down and the driver blamed the aux cord. Don t expect to listen to music if you book this company. They sent a smaller bus than we PAID for, didn t fit everyone and 2 people had to end up driving. To Mexico. BTW, they refused to refund the price difference, even though their contract says equal or greater value ...not lesser value...never again. Hope this helps you book someone reliable!!

Very disappointed with Five Star Tours Company experience in San Diego. I would not recommend using this tour company to anyone. Alfonso Hernandez, the manager, was a nightmare to deal with. He does not understand the concept of customer service. We made reservations 4 days in advance, contacting Customer Service via email and phone and received an email confirmation for our tour date. We arrived and were told there was no room for us on the bus. We were told to come back another day. We made the reservations accordingly since we would not be in San Diego the following day. Alfonso, proceeded to tell us we will not have room raising his voice, and told us that if we didn t leave he would get security to take us out of the building. He was very rude and disrespectful. His volatile and ignorant behavior was completely uncalled for, when it should have been a great customer experience. Needless to say the day was started in a very negative way. Please avoid using this touring place and dealing with Alfonso.

We had a great time!!!! If you are a Five Star Tours & Charter Bus Company fan, I highly recommend this tour. Our guide was funny and knowledgeable, and the video snippets were hysterical!

Very good service and with very reasonable prices. They are complete the job in a timely manner with professional work.

Very friendly staff as well.

Canceled on me the day before our charter. Totally unprofessional and worst bus company I ever worked with. If I could give zero stars I would have.

Great service! We were in a bind and needed two buses the day after 4th of July (when everything was closed) and Alfonso and his team got it together with no problem! Monique was very prompt in getting all the details squared away for us!

Nov. 28, 2017. Went from San Diego to TJ, then on to Puerto Nuevo, for lobster. Then on to Rosarito, to go horse back riding on the beach. Of course we consumed many refreshing beverages throughout the day. Juan was our tour guide for the day. He was very informative, friendly and went out of his way to please everyone in our group tour. Whether your planing a trip to the wine country or a simple day trip to the Baja, I highly recommend Juan as your friendly tour guide.

Five stars?? More like 1/2 a star. If I could leave less than one star I would. Rented a sprinter van for my best friends wedding. Where to start...

Problem #1 - Morning of the reservation, they call us and let us know they only have an 11 person van when we reserved a 13 person. We said fine because we simply had no other option.

Problem #2 - they showed up about 45 mins late.

Problem # 3 - the van ends up breaking down about 4 minutes down the road where we have to wait an additional 45 minutes to get a replacement van. (Totally not the drivers fault)

Problems #4 & 5 - I call the day I get back to try and reconcile the additional cost of the 13 person van since we only got the 11. I didn t even ask for anything off of the trip aside from that as I m aware the breakdown was not their fault. They said they would call me back and just simply never did. The following day I call them back and the woman states they ll call me back..again never did. Called back one final time to figure out what was going on. The woman explained that no refund would be issued which I find a little insane.

Needless to say, I will never use this service again and I would not recommend this service to my worst enemy.

I ve bought 4 tickets for a pizza and brewery tour in San Diego for two different couples for Christmas. When the first set of couples called, the company said they did not have their names down for the date I had reserved the tickets for and offered to reschedule. The couple said that was fine. The lady at the company insisted that they email her instead of rescheduling over the phone. So they did and they ve left tons of voicemails and no one has gotten back to them about a rescheduled date. The second couple called for a week before their reservation to confirm and no one answered the phone. Needless to say, neither couple was able to go on their tours and the company is refusing to refund me my money I paid for the tickets.

We hired Five Star Tours for group transportation to and from a private event in San Diego, CA. I was skeptical about booking through any of the large bus transportation companies; however everything with Five Star Tours went smoothly. They returned a quote quickly. Understood our needs, were competitive in pricing, and followed through with great service from the bus drivers. The only complaint, one of the six busses didn t have working AC. I would work with Five Star Tours again for group transportation. (February 2020)

We used five Stars for an event last month. We booked them last minute due to a cancelation from another tour company. I cannot express our gratitude enough. They picked us up 15 minutes early, took us to our event on time. Great and effeciant service!

Tichuana Tour : Just a day before we booked a tour to Tichuana from San Diego. And everything was perfect. Tour Guide Juan was great, very helpful and kind. Juan thanks a lot ! We were a small group and all tour was funny and interesting. Juan showed us very interesting places. Tichuana is crazy and amazing. I recommend.

SCAMMERS!!!!! Be very careful booking with FIVE STAR TOUR & CHARTER BUS!!!! bad Horrible experience I ve ever had. Im just lucky that I made it back home ok after They left us stranded in Vegas on New Years Day 4am 2019 without our luggage. They aren't there the hours they posted the were an hour late. The bus was more like 0 stars.
They re just using the name of five stars but BOTH of the buses ended up BREAKING DOWN! Luckily we barely made to Vegas and as soon as we arrived they left us on our own with no guide at all and on our way back they Left us stranded with nobody to talk to cause nobody answered our calls the tour guy and the driver ended up disappearing on us living us stranded. We ended up on our own and paying our way back to San Diego cause they couldn t get another bus to picked us up. I m in disbelief at the customer service I experienced with Five Star Tours & Charter Bus
I always wanted to go to Vegas on New Year s Eve I was super exited and It was ruined by their lack of professionalism
I promised to myself I ll not keep it in quite and I ll do everything to Close this place. I do not want this horrible experience to happen to anyone else. Five Star Tour They shouldn t be operating at all it is not safe at all.

Went on the Baja tour Monique was very nice and professional had a great trip, and would do this again.

SCAMERS. WARNING! Please be aware these people are liars and thieves. I bought tickets online for a bull fight in Mexico. I was told that the tickets would be waiting at the office at the train station. I arrived in San Diego and went straight to the office. They did not have my tickets. I was told they would be waiting for me at the event. That was a lie. There was no one at the event. The owner is rude and unprofessional. The bus station is a appropriate place for this business because that s where all the drug addicts and bums hang out.

My mom and I had the chance to have Atala as our driver and tour guide. She was the nicest and her boss needs to know! :P She gave us all the best information about the different areas of San Diego! For a 4 hours tour, the San Diego city tour, we were able to see amazing places! My mom is still talking about it! Totally worth it! The lady at the front desk was also very nice and helpful!

Walked in to get a booking and the person running the front kicked out the people in front of me because they wouldn't give them a refund on a canceled tour from a month earlier... I don't write reviews but this was the saddest service I've ever seen and I do not recommend it.

Booked a tour of 7, from 9AM on Saturday January 4th- received a text message at 8AM that notified me that the tour was cancelled. We are all from out of town. So, not only did we woke up early, paid $50 for parking and got cancelled without a reason; I called them and no one picked up!!! Terrible service.

Valle de Guadalupe tour was so much fun, I've been to two and can't wait for another..... Good job Five Star! I'll give you MY 5 Stars

Amazing!!.... booked Five Star Tours last year for a carter bus, everything was way more then we all expected. The vehicle was amazing the staff was friendly and attentive. Special thanks to Alfonso for making this happen in such a shot notice and so effortlessly. Going back to CA later this month and will be housing their services. We recommend Five Star Tours to anyone looking to have a fantasting time.

A one time must do. Very pleasant. Sound system not so great and trains a bit in need to redo, but just very nice to ride 20 miles to North Star and have the very good BBQ.And the train singer is terrific.

I took the 5 hour Tijuana tour on 10/28/18 and it was simply amazing! The tour guide spoke excellent English and Spanish and knew so much about the city! There was never a down moment, he could tell us the history on things, showed us things that no one has ever thought of and got us very up close to the Mexican culture. He knew the area inside and out and it was a very comfortable safe feeling experience, and the border crossings a breeze. If you ever get the opportunity, I highly recommend going!

Ana was great. Got to see the city in 4 hours. Great spots.

I booked the Baja Tour from the five star tours. They decided to cancel my trip 5 minutes after departure time. They did give me the refund at least, but with no warning or explanation they cancelled my trip.
The one star goes only to the lady in the reception who tried to be helpful but the company sucks big time!!!

We did the grand Baja day trip . What wrecked the trip was Juan the driver constantly reading and replying to texts while driving. Very scary veering from one side of the road to the other and hitting the brakes because he wasn t watching the road . Not cool with a bus load of passengers!!!!!! A disaster waiting to happen

Juan was our tour guide to Mexico. He was the sweetest guy and you can really tell he loves his job. He did an outstanding job on keeping us on our toes and making us laugh. My aunt and mom have been to many countries but this trip was their favorite. Also going through the boarder took no time at all surprisingly. I loved it all!

I ordered a bus to transport the 20 people for a wedding party. I had to go back and for the with them about the date and time 3 or 4 times. Make sure you read your confirmation. We were told we would get a 28 person mini bus. The bus that showed up was a full size bus. OK but the bumpers looked like they would fall off, the AC did not work and the transmission shifted hard! There should have been communication about the change in equipment.

Ray led the Pizza and Brewery Tour. We had an amazing time. We stopped at Ballast Point Brewery, Bolt Brewery, and Landini's pizzeria. All were fantastic. I would definitely recommend this tour. Make sure you ask for Ray. He was amazing

Our company has been partnering with Five Star to transport our employees for several years. Due to the nature of our business and the composition of our workforce, we have several very specific special needs that make us different than most of the customers that charter bus companies are accustomed to dealing with. Five Star has consistently been open to accommodating our unique needs at a reasonable price, and has always made an effort to promptly address any issues we have had.

We would definitely recommend Five Star's services as the best charter bus provider in the area.

UPDATE: As you see from their response, more effort was put into the reply to my 1 star review than was actually offered at the time of cancellation.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Very poor customer service throughout the experience.

1. You must call 2 days before the tour to confirm your attendance. When I called, over the space of 7 minutes, I was put on hold and passed through 3 different operators, before someone finally confirmed my tour details and pick-up location.

2. Two hours after my confirmation I received an email to tell me I would no longer be collected from my hotel, as agreed, and that I would need to make my own way to the tour office. Never mind that I'd already made plans with friends for breakfast...

3. Less than an hour before the tour I was emailed a cancellation notice that the tour would no longer go ahead as planned. Never mind that I'd already checked out of my hotel and it was too late to arrange with another tour guide. When I called up, after dealing with the operator's sassy interruptions... I was offered to reschedule or accept a refund. With no room in my schedule, I accepted the refund.

4. Two weeks later and I am still waiting for a refund. No one is answering emails either...

There are not enough words in the English language to express how positively I feel about the staff particularly, Juan - and my experiences with Five Star Tours. March 2, 2020 was my second time traveling with Juan to beautiful Baja, California via Tijuana. Two other guests were also on the tour. With the approximate ten hours of the four of us spending time together, it felt like we were family. Juan was so passionate and knowledgeable as far as all things Mexico, Tijuana, Baja and the surrounding areas. It felt like we were given a history lesson about the country and its rich culture. In addition to that was his kindness, his beautiful spirit and his willingness to go the extra mile to ensure that we all had the best experiences possible. I will forever be indebted to him for contributing to my best birthday ever. I look forward to my next Five Star tour. #fivestartours #bajacalifornia #rosaritabeach #traveler #tijuana #vivamexico

Janice G. Washington

Great experience very professional and understanding. Would recommend to anyone who needs his types of services. Highly recommended!

My family used Five Star to go to an upscale restaurant in Tijuana. Great service, picked-up directly from our place in Downtown SD and returned with minimal wait at the border crossing. Alfonso was very knowledgeable and glad to share his insights on the emerging food scene and wine region in Baja.

I did the Baja California tour with Marco, the tour was great, we visit many places, eat Mexican food and bought very chip souvenirs, Marco was very nice, he was telling us alot about the mexican history and culture while we was on the road, thabk you!

Booked the 4 hour city tour on a whim. Great overview of the city and excellent guide (Ana). All staff I communicated with were friendly and helpful!

There must be zero communication among the staff at this company, because after getting a quote and putting down a payment, I would receive calls and emails almost daily telling me that I need to book or my quote will not be valid. I would call back and say that I had already put down a deposit, where they would then disagree and say that I did not and would have to put one down now.

Not sure if this was a scam or not, but this happened literally daily for 3 weeks straight leading up to my wedding. I would have to argue with a different person on the phone each time for about 20 minutes before they found my order, then admitted fault and said I was ok. However, I would then get a call or email the very next day where i'd have to go through this whole mess. Honestly I was not even 50% sure if they would show up on the day of the wedding because of how unorganized they are.

The bus did show up, which is the only reason they get 2 stars and not 1. The bus driver drove a long way to get to our location and took a long time to circle back to pick up the rest of the group.

Lastly, the icing on the cake was being charged an extra $90 for going over the time that was quoted. This was a nice surprise to find on my credit card statement and when I called up to dispute it, they said "the driver gave us his word that he returned the bus late". This is not my problem, and it's not fair to charge me if the driver takes his own routes and gets back too late.

Nice people, Alfonso is a wonderful organizer.
My family from Colorado had an awesome time.

Really really enjoyed the San Diego City Tour. Our tour guide, Anna, was very friendly and full of cool facts and information about San Diego. She got us in time to see the sunset in La Jolla. It was gorgeous!

I went on a shuttle from San Diego to Ensenada and everything went good. On time service and clean vehicles. The only way to travel in and out of Mexico.

We did the Grand Baja tour and enjoyed it very much! Our tour guide Juan was wonderful. We had my almost 90 year old mother and he was patient and helpful with getting her in and out with cane and wheelchair. He was funny, friendly, and very informative. The scenery was lovely and lunch overlooking the sea in Puerto Nuevo was delicious. The tour could be enhanced by more historic/cultural stops and less souvenir stops (although that depends on a person s personal tastes and interests). Getting across the border was easy thanks to Juan. I recommend this trip to anyone wanting to spend a very pleasant day getting a taste of Mexico!!

The web site made it look like we would have a tour bus but it was a filthy passenger van with a missing back row. The driver / guide was hard to hear and not very knowledgeable. After our stop at Balboa Park the driver lost the van keys and abruptly ended the tour, leaving us stranded. Fortunately San Diego is a big city with plenty of transportation but for the driver to tell us to take Uber at our own expense was very unprofessional. I was credited for the tickets but the return transportation was at my expense. I had a boat tour scheduled after the bus tour and couldn't make it In time and I was not compensated for this. Stay away from this company.

We used Five Star Tours for an event we had on our farm. They were really great to work with. Easy to communicate with and great customer service.

Be careful! Don't trust the tour guide. Marco took us to the tequila shop, he said his friend (the owner) "is a good guy, i trust him". I bought a bottle of tequila and when I got home and inspect the packaging in FAKE! So please don't drink anything, Counterfeit alcohol can be dangerous and deadly, as it in Mexico there is nothing US govt can do. I was very happy with the whole trip, even though we stay in van most of the time and we didn't get taco workshop. Mostly they make us shop. Just be careful. Your health is very important!
Also they don't use visa to get in to Mexico! And there is no cell coverage. So let someone know prior to taking the trip, that you're in Mexico. IF you decided to take your trip. God bless you!

This is my second experience with this guys! Everything went so smoothly I m planning on taking my whole family on vacation this June 2018!!! Call Alfonso, he will take care of you as queen and king!!!

We hired a 12 seater coach to take a group of friends from San Diego to Rosarito for a wedding. Prior to booking, we had at least 4-5 changes in the number of passengers/size of bus required and each time I had an updated quote within a couple of hours at the most. The booking process was really easy: they send a link, you click to confirm and add your payment details and then your transport is confirmed. They arrived bang on time to the pick up point in San Diego (a private address), loaded everyone up and then they were on their way. Border crossing was simple; the coach was stopped and x-rayed but no issues and arrived in Rosarito promptly. I know they have some negative reviews for some of the excursions etc but I honestly couldn't fault them for the coach hire side of things - we're already talking about doing another trip next year and I'll 100% use Five Star Tours for the coach hire if we do.

I never got to go on the San Diego City Tour because they cancelled it less than a day before I was supposed to go on it. It was confirmed and scheduled a week ahead of time and I was on a cruise (with my wife) so I could not change the day. We were forced to try to find other accommodations with less than 12 hours notice. DO NOT SCHEDULE A TOUR WITH THIS COMPANY UNLESS YOU ARE VERY FLEXIBLE SINCE THEY ARE HIGHLY UNRELIABLE. I asked to talk to a manager that day when I saw the cancellation (which they emailed) and I was told there was no manager there that day. NO CUSTOMER SERVICE AT ALL. I never even heard back from them after they screwed me over that day. Not one person called or emailed me to find out what happened. PLEASE DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY BUSINESS.

I had booked baja California. The evening before I received a reminder of the tour. After I paid lyft and got up early, I found out it was cancelled.

This company is a SCAM! Do not ever book a tour or even do business with this company ever! They sold us a Universal Studio tour and did not show up and never even want to answer any phone call, text nor email! They have charged us $207.56 each person for the tour to Universal Studio and did not show up at all. SCAM! SCAM! SCAM! #fivestartours

If I could give them 0 stars I would. Their customer service is awful. I gifted tickets to someone and they said they were cancelled due a double booking, however, I only received one set of tickets. I called the number provided, and from the first person answering the phone, their tone makes it perfectly clear that you are bothering them. The man I spoke to last was the rudest customer service rep I've ever spoken to. I will NOT EVER RECOMMEND this guide company for any of our travelers. The way they talk to customers is ridiculous.

They canceled our trip the last minut, so the star is for the sweet lady who helped us, plan our own trip to Mexico Tijuana

I am honestly in disbelief at the customer service I experienced with Five Star Tours & Charter Bus Company and I would give it no starts if I could. I booked a tour through an online booking partner and showed up at the location for pick up. After the time for the tour and no one showed up, I went inside to find the customer service representative. She flippantly stated that the tour had been canceled and then turned her back to go online and alert the booking site without an apology. She then stated that she could not give me a refund and I would have to secure that on my own through their booking partner. I messaged customer service through their website and got no response. So I emailed customer service this same information--particularly that the response I received was unprofessional and there was no concern that the only day I had to explore the city I was in was ruined by their lack of professionalism and I was out Uber fairs to get into town for a tour that did not happen. I received back an email that said, "We only refund the tour part. Let me know how I can be of service." No apology--it's the most bizarre and unprofessional interaction I have had with a company in a long time. Don't use them or book with them through second party websites...especially if it's your only shot at a tour.

My friend and I booked a tour to Baja with these guys. My friend was a little nervous since it was his first time out of the US. But the driver laid his nerves to rest. Excellent service. The driver was very knowledgeable of the 3 cities we visited. He was friendly and told a lot of jokes (not all of them landed). The restaurant in Puerto Nuevo was great! Live mariachi band played for us. The horse ride on the beach was the highlight. Thanks.

Ray is your guy for sure! His walking brewery tour included it all. Beer. History. Games. Trivia.

I've never done one of these before but this was really fun and not that much of a walk! We had the longest walk from the start until Ballast point but that was great.

Ballast point was the real reason we came here. It was perfect. We felt like VIPs with the tour and Ray picked us after we finished.

The timing was really well done and they included food midday which was nice to break up the tour. The pizza was incredible and we played games while eating. Ray brought some interesting brews to have while we ate.

Finally finished up at Bolt and had a flight and some bar games. The good thing about they way they plan this is you'll end in a part of town where you can grab food or dessert before calling it a night.

You'll become best buds with your group as we did since you spend 4-5 hours drinking with them.

Ms. Ana did an amazing job! Even dropped us off at our hotel!

SCAMMERS!!!!!!!!! Don t you ever order something from them! Bad bad bad experience I ve ever had. Me and my mom , tourists with good English came all the way to San Diego California , we called them early in the morning to confirm the tour and a woman name Monica (the rudest person I ve ever met, a lier liedin front of my face and keep saying I didn t talk to her to the phone even though I have proofs!!!and a funny guy who thought he is the manager laugh from the side, little clown )
I promised to myself after this day that I ll not keep it in quite and I ll do everything to Close this place. Don t do my mistakes!

Five Star Tours provides great services at good prices.
I have used them for both business and personal trips with great satisfaction. Feel confident booking with them!

Bus never picked us up. I went to San Diego Zoo thinking they would be at will call waiting for us. Nope tickets weren't there. When i finally spoke to someone and asked for the tickets to be emailed to me, i was charged an additional $20.00!!!!!! Let alone losing out $100.00 on never being transport to and from the zoo (100 bucks= what i paid vs what i would have paid for them had i purchased the tickets on-site at the zoo). Five Star said it was 3rd party's fault (booked through Southwest Vacations) and i need to take it up with them. Paid for services that were never rendered.

I never received a voucher to know what instructions to follow. Further more, why isn't a courtesy email sent days in advance since "this happens more than usual"??? Because this is your chance to STEAL from customers that have already paid without have to work for it!!!

Horrible company. Wife had to sit in my lap for the trip because they overbooked and would not provide full refund. Originally suggested the lap situation would be short, but after we left, it was then for the entire trip. Suggestion was also to have kids in the back cargo area with out restraints.

My wife and I took the Grand Baja Tour on Saturday October 5. It was a great trip. We started out at the Santa Fe station and we left right on time. Headed down to Rosarito the apuesto Nuevo and back to Tijuana. Ana was our guide and she was awesome. Even took care of the concrete lizard my wife bought. Excellent service.

We are highly recommend! Amazing experience.Such a wonderful place! The staff was so nice, and the price for the services were great! Thanks.

We did the San Diego Tours: Tijuana Up & Down Tour on Sunday, May 06, 2018, and it was great. Booking was easy; the price was fine, finding the location and checking in was smooth and easy and the tour with Atala was informative, interesting and enjoyable. We would definitely take another tour with them.

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! Please stay away from this company. The owner is very unprofessional and rude. His office is always closed even when his hours are posted on yelp as open. I called and left a voicemail after waiting over an hour at his Santa Fe Depot office. He said, we changed our hours, not even a sorry. There is only one phone number available and when you try to talk to a live person the phone just rings.

Talked to the gentlemen in the information booth, ask him for an alternate number, he even said that the office is barely open and they only show up right before a scheduled tour.

Please, please stay away from this company. The owner insulted me and cussed me out on the phone and even threatened to not give me my tickets for an event I had paid over a month ago. I was ready to the call the police and report this as fraud.

After I left his office, an older couple was having similar issues as me, (bad customer service), the owner also was being rude and unprofessional.

I believe the owner might be bipolar or something.

Hope this was helpful, and again please stay away to avoid upsets, disappointments and frustration.

worst tour of my life!!!10 hours in a SeaWorld shuttle van, could not see well out windows , sitting in super small sets 3 across. The driver/ tour guide spent much of his time on his phone talking and texting while driving. When we got to various stops we let out and were on our own, no tours were offered. Very expensive tour that had no guide or even recommendations. The lunch was the best part, but once again the driver let us out and disappeared until it was time to get back in the van.

Both our tours were cancelled two days in a row. Found about the first cancellation the night before and the second cancellation when we arrived for the tour. Not helpful with finding us another tour of refunding the money. They only refund the money back onto the credit card that was purchased on even if this account does not exist anymore. This was my case so I've lost over $250. Horrible customer service and only care about getting the $$$. Please don't use and let it ruin your holiday like it had for us.

Took the San Deigo 4 hour City Tour. It was awesome ! The tour guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. The places we visited on the tour were La Jolla , Hotel Coronado, Old town, Balboa Park & bonus Veterans Memorial Park great addition being that it was Memorial Weekend.

Do NOT book through this company! They are a SCAM!! We paid for a $450 / person 3 day New Years Even trip to Baja California. This included a tour of Tijuana, Rosarito Beach and Puerto Nuevo. Overnight stays at Rosarito Beach Hotel. A 5 hour vineyard tour with wine tastings and lunch and New Years Eve dinner and party and then finally a return back to San Diego at noon on the 1st. In total, there were about 15 people on the trip - 4 in my party alone.
Our hotel was changed last minute and the hotel we ended up at was at best, a $25 a night roach motel. It was DISGUSTING. Had no ventilation of any sort - so no heat or AC. It was suuper run down and just scary. The sheets, mattresses and carpet were stained. The bathroom was falling apart - the paint was bubbling up everywhere and peeling. My parents who were 3 doors down from us had their entire bathroom flood every time they showered. The light fixture was cracked in half. We tried to contact Alfonso (the owner of the company and who we booked through) and of course - had no response. A group of us ended up just booking our own accommodations at different hotels out of our own pocket.
Our wine tour was cut by almost 2.5 hrs. We were told everyone and everything was to blame besides themselves. NYE crowds (there were none), 3rd world country organizational issues, Vineyard issues. Point is, we had very rushed and not great wine tastings. This was supposed to include lunch and more wine. Instead we got breakfast - without the option to pick what we wanted. The few people who had dietary restrictions were given a bowl of fruit. At this point everyone started to voice their frustration about the whole situation.
Our "tour guide" Lupita informed us that she was actually NOT a tour guide, she is a good friend of Alfonso and would be telling him our frustrations.
I'm not sure what she told him because to end this nightmare of a trip, the entire group was abandoned in Mexico. They never showed up to pick us up! We had to hire a private van (more money out of our pockets) to get us to the border where we then had to walk across!
If you plan on booking through this company, please do your research and find an alternative tour company. This company is a joke and a dangerous scam!!

These people are scammers. They gave us an online price a month ago. We tried reaching out multiple times. They never responded. Then 2 days before my wedding they decide to tell us the online price was wrong and it s going to cost more.

I called them to discuss the matter and they were hands down the rudest customer service rep I ve ever dealt with. If you want to rent a bus in San Diego go to Epic limos. They picked up the slack from this awful company. Thanks for nothing 5star tours. Your name is far from what you are. You literally shouldn t be in business.

This is easily the worst company that I have dealt with anywhere. We had vouchers for the beer and pizza walking tour from Groupon and they refused to honor them. They insisted that we had to pay them additional money to take the tour and after we finally agreed to pay it, when we showed up for our scheduled and confirmed tour, they had no tour guide available and no tour for us. We took time off work to do this and got nothing in return for our money and effort. Do not buy vouchers for this business from Groupon because they will not be honored. Believe all the previous one star reviews. This company is a scam. I see the owner's reply that they didn't have the tour because of rain. Easy to see who is lying here. There was no rain in San Diego on Friday March 8 during the tour time at11:30 a.m. Easy to check weather records.

Took the morning tour for San Diego day tour.
Small group and great knowledgable guide. Driver is the guide and we have a group of 11 people. Went to many places and guide is passionate about the city and his job. Wishing to stay at places longer but sure is a great introduction of the city. Seeing the sea lions and seals sure is the highlight of the tour. Highly recommend and really don't have to shop around. They located inside the sante fe and is super easy to find. Love the tour and the van is super clean as well.

Great company , friendly, great service. Busses arrive on time . Great service in the office.

I didnt die so that got them a star but the fact that the driver bragged about bribing police officers, texted and drove the entire trip, turned the tour van; which was a shuttle from SeaWorld, over to some man with guests belongings in it, visiting a random tire shop on the side of the highway, and then waiting for our driver to return from crossing the border after sitting outside the immigration gate for over 60 min....my ptsd has been in a tail spin ever since...

I scheduled a tour and had the best time. They went out of their way to accommodate my family (including my toddler). I enjoyed it

Had a beer and pizza walking tour for our weekend in San Diego. We showed up where the email directed us 15 minutes early. they never showed up. No call, no email, no text. Nothing. I talked to the information desk and the helpful gentleman informed us that this is a regular thing. They simply don't show up. We paid in advanced so now have to deal with getting our money back. Don't waste your time.

Good host good spots for the breweries, Like ballast point brewery stop had good variety of IPA and good brews.

Today we did walking brewery tour. Our guide Ray was awesome! We will definitely return. Can't wait to share with our friends.

I booked a charter bus with Five Star Tours and had one of the best experiences with them. I booked it for a wine tour were we went to Temecula. The booking process was simple and the bus that was reserved show up at the exact time. Our driver was great and was able to drive us safely to our destination. Good Service!

As an Event Planner, I have use Five Star Tours for my clients personal and corporate events with great success. The Baja Wine Tour is the most requested by my clients. I'll keep using Five Star Tours and Charter for all my clients events transportation needs.

Best tour guide there is !! Ray is awesome this was our favorite day in San Diego!!

Excellent trip to Ensenada and Tijuana. 8/22/2018. Juan was the driver and tour guide. He was amazing. Excellent customer service and knowledge. Good food and a lot of fun!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: Response from Five Star is just as unprofessional as expected (Wrong company! We looked for your name and your not in our manifests). Attached is my confirmation and cancellation email from Five Star Tours & Charter Bus Company....are there 2 different companies in San Diego under the exact same name? I clicked on the direct link from my confirmation email which took me to a website matching your exact name and address. But of course If the manifest logs were accurate to begin with maybe they would have shown up for our tour. I have the confirmations and cancellations, if you're positive that a different San Diego based company named Five Star Tours & Charter Bus Company is at fault please feel free to provide a contact email and I will forward you the confirmation email I received to confirm. I'm happy to remove my review if you are in fact a different company with the exact same name, location and google business account.

Five Star Tours should actually be Zero Star Tours. My group of 4 traveled from across the nation exclusively for their wine tour. Having paid and received confirmation notices no one showed up for our tour. We each had booked separately so it wasn't as if they simply misplaced one client; they completely proved themselves to be fully incompetent. This tour was the reason for our trip which required significant airfare and lodging expense. Having been dressed and waiting for over 30 minutes at the train station, the representative we had contacted, emailed us a cancellation notice. If anyone would ever book with this company after all of the negative reviews they probably deserve to have their trip ruined. This constitutes the worst review that I have the words to describe! If you DO book, good luck.

They have a great service and tours for a very good price! We loved the Valle the Guadalupe tour! It's an experience that you can't miss! :D