Colonial Lantern Tours

My husband and I found it on Groupon and thought it would be a blast! First, their customer service is terrible. I had emailed them on Wednesday asking for a reservation for Saturday night for 4. I received no response. I called them on Thursday, no response. I finally emailed them on Friday again asking for a reservation which was when they finally called me. They said details were to follow via email so we would know where the meet them. Well, Saturday at 1pm I still had not heard anything. I sent a followup email asking for the details. Then around 5pm I did it again and FINALLY received the information which was a one sentence response.
When you check in you get your own personal lantern to carry for the tour. Which was just fun! Our tour guide was Tom Finn and he seemed like he hated being there on a Saturday night. He even seemed rather tipsy boarding on drunk. He didn’t really tell us any ghost stories, mostly just history which is interesting but it said in the Groupon it was a «Boston Ghost and Lantern Legend Tour». We maybe heard 5 ghost stories and the best one was right before he ended the tour. Whenever he was done with the story, he would just start moving without any direction of where we were going and he seemed very all over the place and disorganized. The only two reasons it isn’t a 1 star is because
1. We had great friends with us which made it fun.
2. I think it was just the tour guide who ruined it for us. The group that left before us the guy was making jokes and laughing with his group. Also I would suggest having smaller groups and more tour guides who leave 15 minutes apart so that the guests can actually hear the tour guide.
I hope they improve because this has great potential to be an amazing fall activity.

We took the evening «history tour» (not ghost) and it was wonderful; our guide Larry was extremely knowledgeable and fun, he clearly enjoyed leading the tour as much as we enjoyed being part of it. He never minded our incessant questions, and when the tour was over — half an hour longer than scheduled — we honestly felt it was the best part of our weekend in Plymouth. Highly recommended!

I went on their Cranberry Tour a few weeks ago and it was absolutely terrible.
We arrived right on time and were directed to two school buses, which were supposed to take us from farm to farm to pick our own cranberries and explain various cranberry facts along the way. To start, the tour was incredibly overbooked, so our group of 5 had to stand in the bus aisle. One of the buses had hand rails along the top that made it easier to grab on, but we were told to leave that bus and board the other one, where we proceeded to bump and stumble around as we traveled.
I almost forgot. We didn’t HAVE to stand in the aisle since were also offered the option of taking our own car. Okay, so yeah… out of two busloads of people we will be the only 5 missing out on all of the facts and info.
That being said, I shouldn’t have worried because our tour guide (sorry, don’t know his name because he never told us), couldn’t be heard. He also didn’t really give a shit about cranberries or care to impart much information to us. We passed a giant wooden vintage cranberry scoop around the bus, which was awkward and heavy.
At the first farm we visited, we were going to pick berries at a dry bog. While the tour guide was explaining this, a woman in the group in her late 50s/​early 60s decided to jump across the ditch surrounding the bog and messed up her leg. The tour guide kept talking and then eventually went to help the woman back to the bus. Everybody else went to pick cranberries, and we discovered that the bog had already been harvested so all that was left were the mushy crap cranberries that didn’t float to the top when the bog was flooded.
The next farm we were only supposed to make a 5 minute stop, which seemed pointless since it was far more interesting than the first stop, but we ultimately ended up being there for about 30 minutes because the bus had neglected to offer medical assistance/​call an ambulance or drive the aforementioned injured woman back to her car and she finally complained loud enough for them to take her two her car. It was the stupid lady’s fault for pretending to be a ballerina at a cranberry bog, but you would think that they would have at least broke open the bus’s first aid kit and gotten her an ice pack if they weren’t going to drive her back right away.
Anyway, the second farm was pretty neat and I got some good pictures there. We got to see them emptying the water from one bog to another and I picked some berries out of the water.
Afterwards we made our final stop at another farm that is family-​run. They have an old cranberry sorting machine that was pretty cool, but it was hard to hear and see what was going on because the demonstration took place in a tiny store and there were too many people.
I got my bag of fresh and dried cranberries at the end and by that time I wanted to just chuck them out the window or at our tour guide.
I would never drive an hour for something like this again.
P. S.: — Didn’t chuck those cranberries, and they made a great cranapple crumble. At least something good came out of this tour.

This was not about ghosts or legends at all. You spend most of the time walking around brightly lit, über commercialized areas of the city talking about recent history of Boston (i.e. The Big Dig). The guide was very unenthusiastic about ghosts, paranormal, supernatural, etc. The guide was not even dressed up in costume like i’ve seen other tour guides. It was really disappointing.

My husband and I attended the Cranberry Farm Tour this past weekend. It was beyond awful. The tour was extraordinarily unorganized. We arrived about 30 minutes early and were directed to a woman in a yellow jacket who was supposed to lead our tour. She told us to go to another farm where the tour would begin. Her directions were literally «Go down the street and turn left, then turn right, then turn left onto Route 58 and you’ll find the farm, you can’t miss it.» We are not familiar with the area and we passed several bogs on the way to the correct farm. We eventually had to call the tour company who told us to go back to the first farm in order to get directions. After telling the woman on the phone that we would not go back to the first farm she finally gave us the name of the cranberry farm we were looking for and we managed to find it via our own GPS.
The situation at the second cranberry farm was not much better than the situation at the first farm. A woman gave us Google Maps directions back to the first farm and told us to head there. When we told her we had been there and had been told to come to the second farm she told us to find another guide. When we finally found the second guide he told us our tour would begin in 10 minutes and to walk around and just check out the farm in the mean time. After walking around for a bit we noticed a large group gathered around him so we went over to hear what we thought would be a tour. Instead, he told the group that the tour would begin in another 20 minutes. At this point both my husband and I were extraordinarily frustrated but the farm was harvesting cranberries in the bog so decided to just take some photos and try to enjoy our time there. Our tour finally started over 30 minutes late. We were told to split into two groups, one group was to head back to the first farm and come back to the second farm. We decided to stay at the second farm. The tour itself was mediocre. He explained some facts about cranberries and how the harvesting process works. The group was so large that you pretty much had to fight to get a space close enough to hear what he was saying. When the tour ended we headed back to the first farm.
At the first farm, the tour was pretty much non-​existent. A woman who worked at the farm showed us how an old cranberry sorting machine worked and a tour guide told us about how cranberry juice made her more «regular,» I am not joking. We then got to walk around unguided and just stare at a field of cranberries. Utterly fascinating. We knew there was supposed to be a picking part of the tour so we tried to find a guide to tell us where to go to go picking. The first guide we found had no idea where we should go or if there was any cranberry picking. She told us to ask another guide. We weren’t able to find another one for a little while but were able to stop one as she came out of the bathroom. She reluctantly gave us directions to the third farm and said we could go if we «really wanted to.»
When we arrived at the third farm we were shocked to find that the tour group was already about half a mile ahead of us. We got out of our car and hustled to catch up with the group. By the time we caught up, any explanation of the site was done and people were already picking cranberries. We got to pick cranberries which was okay I guess, but it was really unacceptable that we had to struggle to find information about how to get to that part of the tour. I would say when we started the tour there were over 100 people, there were maybe 30 people at the cranberry picking, several of whom commented on how hard it was to find out how to get there. It was absolutely astonishing how poorly the whole thing was run.
We did get our free fresh and dried cranberries which is better than a lot of people, I know they ran out shortly after we got ours. They never collected our Groupon so we really could have had the whole horrible experience for free. Under no circumstances would I recommend this tour.

My friend and I purchased a travel zoo voucher for the Cranberry Farm Picking Experience. We were excited to experience pick our own cranberries and learning more about the process. We arrived at 1:40pm (for the 2pm tour) at The Berry Guys and weren’t told or shown where to go, but happily followed a group who were watching workers in a cranberry bog. At about 1:55 (when we weren’t sure where to go) we found a woman in a yellow jacket collecting tickets (groupon and travel zoo) and we asked her where to go. She replied, «there should be a man in a yellow jacket over there». We told her he wasn’t there and she looked at her watch and said, «wow he is cutting it close». We went back over to wait, and finally at 2:10 (with no further instruction) we saw her handing out mapquest directions. She instructed us to drive about 10 minutes to ANOTHER farm where the tour would start. This was very frustrating as she seemed to have no clue what she was doing, and people were complaining they had already been at that farm and told to come here. We started walking to our cars where we spotted «Tom» in his yellow jacket, apparently 15 minutes late. He said this woman didn’t know what she was talking about and we should stay there. He left (after telling us to wait) and finally after 10 minutes we walked to find him. We were very confused as there was no direction, and he said they were very overwhelmed so people could either stay here, go to the second farm, or wait an hour to go to a THIRD farm to pick cranberries. It was also frustrating because the first two farms were completely free (people were driving in off the street to visit and learn more about the cranberries) so why pay for this «tour»? Needless to say it was VERY unorganized and Tom was VERY rude and not helpful in explaining the situation. When a woman asked for a refund, the woman had no idea who to call because «she didn’t work for the company». Completely unprofessional and a true disappointment. Needless to say I will not be recommending Colonial Lantern Tours.

was there today (sat oct 13^th) for the cranberry picking tour. what a disappointment. complete chaos. too many people. «guides» who had no clue where to guide us to (the first lady started to send people away to another farm). the tour guide was rude and didnt seem to really want to answer questions. didnt get to speak to the real farm guys as was promised on the groupon deal. didnt get to picking my own cranberries. apparently that was at a THIRD farm. we made it to the second, where nobody was to guide us either… nobody ever told us where the 3^rd was, but by that time we were anyways already fed up.
interesting to see the cranberries getting harvested from the bog, but really shouldnt have paid 20 dollars for that since it was just alongside the road, open for everyone!

I recently attended the Cranberry Farm Picking Experience tour and felt extremely disappointed upon leaving my so called tour. I think it would be best to first recap my experience so that you can understand my frustration.
I arrived 15 – 20 minutes early as recommended and checked out the farm while I waited for my tour to start. I found someone in a yellow shirt (which I was told to look for) shortly before 2:00 and waited for further instructions. I could vaguely hear the guide, who never gave her name, at least not loud enough for the whole group to hear, and assumed that she was only chatting with those closest to her. After about 5 minutes of standing there, people started dispersing. Feeling really confused, I found the guide and asked her what was going on. She told me to explore the farm, which I had already done, and to come back in about 15 minutes to receive directions on where to go next. So, along with other confused group members, I set off to walk around for 15 minutes.
I found the guide 15 minutes later who was handing out directions to the next location and bags of cranberries. She quickly ran out of both. She had no more directions to hand out and took an unacceptable amount of time to come up with more bags of cranberries. I waited about 15 minutes for mine, and there were still several people waiting for theirs when I left for the next location.
After arriving at the second location, having no guidance, I found the rest of the group who were all standing around watching cranberries being harvested from the water. I walked over, watched for a few minutes, and started getting really curious of where our guide was. People started leaving and my husband tried convincing me that we saw everything we were going to see. He was convinced that our tour was over. Although, I wasn’t convinced. We had had no tour at all! After pulling up on your website the description for the tour, and reading it to my husband, he suggested that maybe I call the company. So that’s what I did. I waited for about 20 minutes at the second location, and after our tour group dwindled down to about 10 people (from probably 30 – 40), I gave the number listed on the site a call. I talked with someone who had been guiding a previous tour, and he told me he was on his way. So, I decided to wait. After about 10 minutes, someone arrived. Although, they didn’t come over to the group of people watching the harvest. What was left of us anyway. I assumed that he would be over shortly, but after about 10 more minutes, there was no sign of him at all. It appeared as he had left. So, I sat down on a rock, pulled up «cranberry harvest» on wikipedia, and learned everything I now know about cranberries from a website. Not from my tour. Disappointed and frustrated, I left.
Here’s what the website promised:
«Pick your own cranberries on this one of a kind tour experience. You will actually get the opportunity to scoop cranberries by hand using an antique style cranberry scoop.»
Didn’t happen.
«Learn many fascinating facts about the little red berries. The many varieties that are grown, and the various methods by which they are harvested. Experts will be on hand to show you around the farms and answer any questions.»
Didn’t happen. Everything I learned that day was from
.
«Operate an antique cranberry separator that prepares the dry fruit for packaging.»
Didn’t happen.
«Take home fresh and dried fruit included in the price of the tour package.»
Partially happened. I received fresh cranberries, but never any dried fruit.
«Scoop your own berries right out of a bog.»
Didn’t happen.
It’d be understandable if one or two small things didn’t happen. Things don’t always go as planned. Although, when absolutely nothing you were promised happens, it is unacceptable. The «guide» didn’t even check for my ticket, or anyone else’s ticket from what I could tell. This «tour» was something that I could have 100% done on my own. Thankfully, I did not pay full price as I used a Groupon, and I fully intend to contact Groupon and ask for a refund. The level of unprofessionalism that was shown from this tour was unacceptable. If I wanted to waste gas and drive over an hour to look at a pond with some cranberries in it, I could have done that for free. To pay money for what I received
is an absolute joke.

I took the Boston Ghost & Legends Lantern Tour. It was definitely a great tour of Boston at night. Our guide had vasts amounts of knowledge about the history of Boston was great, I learned lots of new things. BUT it was not really very «ghost» centric. There were a few stories, but more often there was passing reference to «all the buildings on this block are haunted» with no further detail.
I can recommend this tour as a great walking tour of Boston. Just don’t expect to find yourself learning too much about the ghosts of the city.

OMG! this was BY FAR the scariest ghost tour I’ve taken (and I’ve taken quite a few. .. Boston, Providence, Salem, and Plymouth). I’d rank Plymouth as 4^th.
For someone who’s gone on 4 ghost tours in the last year, I am actually quite the scaredy cat. This tour scared the bejeezus out of me. There were only 5 of us on the tour and we walked around Plymouth carrying lanterns. The city was deserted, so it was already scary. The tour guide was also very convincing. She told her stories and said that she felt things in the area. Very creepy. So I was very scared and ready for the tour to end when she brings us INTO the graveyard (that says on a big sign that it closes at dusk). We walked all the way through the graveyard in the middle of the night with nothing but lanterns. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life.
Yes, it’s a ghost tour, but it was TOO SCARY! You have been warned.

I took this haunted tour last year and learned SO MUCH! My tour guide was Vicki and her enthusiasm for history was truly remarkable. She knows her facts about Plymouth history, the Pilgrims and dead folk.
Being a sceptic of the paranormal, yet open to it’s realness, I was watching and waiting for something spooky to happen. I am not saying it didn’t, but my guide’s intense conviction about people being seen or heard or shadows being noticed… you get the point… was so clear I had no choice to look over my shoulder throughout the tour.
The neatest part of this tour, for me, was that we actually walked with lanterns through graveyards and saw tombstones of historical figures. It was interesting to learn about the «who and what» of the 1600’s. Truly fascinating and excellent job done by Vicki!