OnBoard Tours

We booked the monuments at night tour through our hotel. It was pricey ($ 60) but we had very little time and wanted to see as much as possible, end the evening was the best. I had been to DC once before but hadn’t seen anything at night. We were picked up on time, but getting to the first stop took forever since first, they overbooked the tour, and so we had to cram in and meet another bus to drop some people there. Once we got started, it was good. It ended up going super long (we didn’t get back until around 11pm). We enjoyed ourselves though. Esau was our guide and he was great! Very funny, knowledgeable and positive. It was an absolutely miserable night. MISERABLE. Rained harder and harder as the night passed. By the end, many people stayed on the bus instead of going on walks to see the monuments. Those of us who got off the bus (I DIDN“T PAY $ 60 TO SIT ON A BUS!!!) got soaking wet. Even with umbrellas, the wind got us. The water was building up into huge puddles, so walking got us wet too. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was soaked to my thighs and shoulders. I had to put the hair dryer on my shoes the next morning, they were so wet. So the experience was good despite that, and a story to tell! I don’t regret going or getting soaked.

BUYER BEWARE. THIS PLACE IS A JOKE. Our hotel concierge signed us up (we prepaid) and walked us to the bus stop for the DC The Lights Tour. We were the first in line, and after waiting for 20 minutes, this old dirty beat up bus pulls up, (it even had broken windows replaced with plexi glass). It reminded us of a Seinfeld episode where Kramer does his own bus tours. After 20 more minutes of pure chaos as the bus employees tried to figure out who was there and who was supposed to be on the bus, another large group walks up with another bus employee and cuts the line and loaded the bus. Long story short. The bus was oversold and there were only seats left open for our party of three. We told the bus driver to forget it and we would get a refund. The bus employees tried to shuffle people around to make room (that’s illegal). We refused and went back to our hotel for a refund. This company is extremely unprofessional, extremely unorganized, and should be ashamed of themselves for charging $ 60.00 a person. There are plenty of more reputable Washington D.C. Tours out there, use one of them.

We did OnBoard’s night time monument tour. Esau was a fabulous guide with a good mix of knowledge and humor, and Cameron was a great driver who was able to navigate us around concert craziness and preparations for the visit of the Pope.

The tour was great. The guide, Nick was very knowledgeable and friendly. The dispatcher was late, so we started late and felt like we had to make up time. Felt rushed at WW2 memorial which is beautiful. Provided bottles of water which were greatly appreciated. All in all I will recommend this tour company for family and friends. Ask for Nick!

Made reservations over the internet for the Night Lights Tour of all the monuments. They said to meet at the White House Bookstore a half hour before the tour started. We got into some traffic and got there at 7:20 for the 7:30 tour. No bus was at the bookstore. We asked about it at the bookstore and they pointed around the corner and said they had just made the final call. Well the bus was a block down from the White House Bookstore and so we started over to it as it drove away and we were trying to flag it down but it just took off ignoring us. They won’t refund the cost. It seems that they weren’t concerned about the people that make reservations and probably didn’t even know who they were or they would have been looking for us. Not good! Typical of a greedy non-​people concern.

At first I was afraid that the day’s tour was going to crash and burn. The bus was a bit late and the dispatcher seemed a bit confused about who was supposed to be where concerning the different tours for the day. However, the day turned out great. Nick was a fantastic tour guide — knowledgeable, energetic, and very personable.
We covered quite a bit, and so didn’t have a great deal of time at each stop. However, we saw much more in those six hours than we could have in two days on our own. Complimentary water was provided, which was a godsend — the day’s temps were in the mid 90’s. I recommend this tour — or one of Onboard’s other offerings — very highly.
Almost forgot — we stopped for lunch at The Best Sandwich Place in Georgetown. Unbelievably awesome spot. Thanks, Nick!

Decent Tour. Bus was 20 minutes late… Large bus carrying about 55 people was kind of a hassle. Loading and unloading… Tour guide was pretty knowledgeable about DC. Bus had a broken PA system so our guide had to improvise with a bullhorn. We took the DC All Tour trip for $ 69.99 per person. It included a boat ride up and down the Patomac… but was unremarkable. We bought our lunches at the boat dock before we boarded the boat for a 45 minute ride. Unfortunately they only had seats and tables for 40 — 45 people so 10 to 12 people had to balance their lunch on their knees. Loading and unloading took a long time at each stop because of so many people. The bus air conditioner was marginal at best. I think I will try a hop on hop off bus next time and see DC at my own speed. Just my opinion…

We took the DC It All tour today. Our guide was Christopher. He was very knowledgeable about the history of the area. He was a very fun tour guide. We stopped at several locations and also had a boat road on the Potomac. I highly recommend this tour to anyone who wants to see all the monuments.

BEWARE — Unless 100% Sure Of Your Tour, You’ll Be Waiting In Vain For Your REFUND!!!
I called William at On Board to cancel on Friday, April 24 for the next day DC Tour. He told me that everything is taken care of. In 4 days, I didn’t see any refund. I called again on April 28. The same William took the call and told me it would take a while. On May 11, I called again, the girl in the office told me NO NOTES ever were made to the inquiry. I called Larry, the manager afterwards, he asked me if INSURANCE was purchased. I said yes, he told me that he’ll take care of it. I’m still waiting…

My best friend and I decided to book a «Do It All» tour with On Board. Nick was our tour guide. He was friendly and well educated with the sights we visited. We were able to visit majority of the sights that were on the list. After we came back from the harbor cruise, we had a lunch break. Nick brought us to «The Best Sandwich Place.» They sure did have some great sandwiches! Because we had a delayed start, we ran out of time towards the end so we felt a bit rushed at the sight to take pictures.
Only downer was that we started late, so we stood out in the cold for about 30 minutes before loading the bus. Overall, it was a great experience and well worth the amount we paid!

We took our night tour New Year’s Eve. A three hour tour. Nick was our guide. Very informative and patient. He also is quite a jokester Small comfy bus that picked us up at our hotel. Stops at all the major monuments to snap some pics and tour the monuments. Nick also points out areas of interest along the way Free bottled water provided and returned us back to our hotel. Punctual. Worth the money. Would recommend,

Had a fantastic experience! Tim was extremely knowledgeable & friendly. Appreciated the help from Lenny & Tim with my mom’s wheelchair. Really enjoyed the day.

We took the DC Best Tour which lasted for 3 hours. Very informative and we enjoyed every minute of it. Our guide Tim is fun and very helpful. Im glad we didnt do the other bus tours which would let you hop off and wander on your own. I feel that this tour offered a more efficient way of learning and covering alot of attractions in a short period of time.

I was debating between a 3 and 4 for this tour, but the fantastic tour guide and the amazing sites we saw by night pushed it up. Here were the ups and downs:
Ups:
— GREAT GUIDE: Most informed and entertaining tour guide I’ve seen: Our tour guide, a contractor for the company, was phenomenal. He told us tales that I’ve since recounted to others — and kept the entire group (including kids that were past their bed times) entertained and engaged.
–DC AT NIGHT IS FANTASTIC: I’ve been to DC several times — but never seen it all by night. On a nice night — it’s fantastic!
— COMFORTABLE: Busses were comfy and free water provided. Adequate stops to get out and see things accompanied by our very informative guide.
–DROP OFFS AT MANY HOTELS upon completion of the tour. My hotel was very close to the gift shop — so that was my drop off. But, check with your hotel for drop-​offs/​pick-​ups.
Downs:
— LACK OF ORGANIZATION/​DELAYS: Clearly concierges, for whatever reason, are pushing this one. Led me to believe it was a small personalized tour. Met at the white house gift shop. Someone told me they’d come in and yell for us. 30 minutes later — someone did arrive, but said the bus hadn’t arrived yet. More confusion when the bus arrived. Weren’t sure they had enough seats for everyone — and it was a BIG Bus. Our group had 50 people. The tour guide had to sit on the water cooler. We got going another half hour later.
— RUSH, RUSH, RUSH: The delays meant that even though they extended the trip to 11:30 the actual touring of someplace was like a race. («OK, you have 5 mins to get up to see the Lincoln Memorial and get back down to meet everyone»)
— ALONG WITH THE RUSH… Not the best way to see all the memorials — for Vietnam in particular you’re better off going in the day. You can’t see anything on it really at night.
Tips: I missed dinner (which I could have made, had I known how long we were going to be delayed) But they do let you bring snacks and I did– given their lack of org, even if you ate — recommend it. Also worth bringing a sweater for the bus, as it can get chilly. Finally, with all the rushing around, I didnt get my flash sorted until near the end of the tour — so, make sure you have your camera in flash working order to capture the best of the sites.
Bottom Line: Good tour, great informative guide (really, every other guide you listen to you’ll compare to this one), but they really need to get their organizational act together and not bill it as a «small, personalized tour» — it’s a pretty big group!

Horrible! On all counts
Site said arrive at 9:30
10 o’clock the people came to organize the tours-​total mayhem
1030 no bus
Tour guide walks this over to the White House and tells us wonderful historic facts like they’re replacing the fence
As for walking he says that the buses still not available and so we get to take a few more minutes for photographs
It’s now 11 o’clock in the morning still no tour bus
Very limited tour facts. In a city full of historic wonder our tour guide talks about how to enter a building. We spent 15 minutes on a statue of Lafayette.
The absolute worst tour in all ways.
Called DC onboard tours to see if I could register complaints– they said send us an email. I asked to speak to a manager they said no managers are available.
So we’ve been an hour from our original start time and have seen absolutely nothing and not once gotten on a bus
Once on the bus, no mic for the guide. Bus is so loud you can see his lips moving but no idea what hes saying.
If I could give this negative stars I would

Went on two different tours with this outfit and the actual tour was fine. However the loading and check in process is pretty bad. I have worked in the tour industry before and it can be done so much better. Pure chaos. You meet outside a gift store and the two has nothing to so with each other. Store folks can’t offer much help. If you do not arrive early you are gonna feel lost and nervous you missed your tour. The night tour went slightly sooner, however the Mount Vernon tour which left in the morning was chaos. Didn’t get much direction about which line to get in, loaded the bus finally and then the bus driver was rude to the coordinator and the tour guide over ridiculous stuff. Once on the tour… it was good for the most part. But getting started was irritating enough to force me to give a low rating.

Seeing the monuments and the city at night is like never seeing them before– it gives a whole new perspective. I highly recommend this tour– Monuments by Moonlight, especially to see the Korean Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial and the Potomac at night. Our guide Vince was so awesome– all full of wonderful historical accounts and great tourist tips from where was the best bathrooms to where to take a awesome photo.
Enjoy…I know I did.

My Family and I did the D.C. It All Tour since we figured it would be a good way to learn our way around the city. The tour was pretty comprehensive, it included the U.S. Capitol building, the WWII memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the White House, the MLK Memorial, the Iwo Jima Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial and the Korean Memorial.
It was supposed to also include the Washington Monument, but it was closed for repairs. It also listed the FDR Memorial as a stop, but our guide decided that it was «too hot» for us to visit, so we skipped it. Also, the Potomac River Yacht Cruise was just a dinky little boat with too few seats for the passengers, terribly overpriced lunch (a sandwich, chips, a stale cookie and a drink), and very little information about what we were seeing.
Also, even though our guide kept saying we were running out of time and behind, we actually ended our whole tour about an hour too early (it’s advertised as a 6 hour tour: 10 – 4) but we ended around 3.
The driver for our tour seemed like a nice person, but the actual guide was a little abrasive. He was pretty knowledgeable though, so that was a plus.
In all I don’t think it was quite worth the price as we didn’t get to see everything as promised, the «cruise» was disappointing, and we were shorted our full time we paid for.

We booked weeks ahead of time but all if the busses were full when they showed up to pick us up at the old post office. We were left standing there with kids nearly in tears (they couldn’t understand why the bus was just leaving us there). I would rather tour the memorials on foot without shoes than try this company again.
I have no data to back this up but I hypothesize they pad their trip advisor reviews. Compare the rev on here to trip advisor
Follow up 10÷25÷11 — we tried several times to get a refund and were assured each time it was on the way. These people are LIARS. The only way we finally got our money back was through the assistance of our credit card company.

We decided on OnBoard Tours for our evening monument tour for two reasons. They were recommended by our hotel concierge. And because their brochure touted the smaller size of their buses and their more personalized tour. Neither of which turned out to be true on our tour.
First strike, we were advised that they would arrive at our hotel in between 7 pm and 7:15 pm. They picked us up at 8 pm. Strike two, they arrived in an huge old junker bus that was unmarked. Then we still had to drive to the Old Post Office to supposedly transfer to the smaller buses. This didn’t happen. More people were forced to get on the junker bus with us and when some of those people protested, they were told that they could get on our bus or wait even longer. Strike three, a very rude employee got on our bus and started demanding credit cards, no please, no thank you and surprise, no receipts. Ha ha. What a joke.
Sure, the bus delivered us to most of the monuments that were promised. But since they were running an hour late, they also trimmed off a couple. Also, since we were expecting to be back by 10:30 pm, we missed our dinner reservation and had to search for a restaurant that will still open.
When thinking of this tour company, the word scam comes to mind. Pick another tour.