Ok...well, I ended up deciding to give this tour company a 4. Here's why:
I took the Creepy Crawl Pub Tour the first time in March 2011. It was a blast. I'd rate it a 6 on a scale of 1 - 5! Our tour guide, Andre, was the reason. You can get a million ghost tours in Savannah (I've done about 999,998 of them!), but the difference was Andre. His story-telling ability was top-notch and he refrained from the usual tricks of trying to pretend he's a spirit, pointing out things just for shock value, etc... A true professional and had our group hanging on every word. We had a small group - about 6 people, as that was the Sunday after St. Patrick's day and most people had left town. So, it was the perfect pub crawl ghost tour...just wish I'd taken it a little easier on the booze...I'm having trouble with remembering the last half hour or so! But, it remains in my memory as the best ghost tour I've ever had and don't truly expect it to ever be topped.
A short summary: you meet at the Six Pence Pub (which has excellent food - better than I expected, and a decent beer list). Then, you walk around to various locations hearing ghost stories and stopping by other bars to refill your cup! Do note that the price of the beer/drinks at all of the bars is not included in the tour price (and it shouldn't be, because not everybody want to drink...I have no idea why, but that's just the way it is)! ;-) Each tour guide can set their own directions, stories, places to stop, etc... So, could be a completely different tour each time you go.
Then, in June of last year, I returned. I e-mailed the tour company to see if Andre would be available for a repeat tour, but he was not working the only night that I could go. Sad. So, I skipped it.
April of this year rolled around and I found myself in Savannah again, looking to repeat my experience from last year. However, I didn't call ahead to see if Andre would be available, we just went on the only evening we could fit it in. First off, this group was larger, about 20 people. And, no, the guide wasn't Andre, and I can't remember her name. However, I wasn't too impressed. She had a difficult time keeping the group organized (granted, there was a group of about 5 girls that were constantly being late when we were supposed to be leaving each bar, asking really inane questions (they types that don't really even pertain to the tour), and just generally being rowdy). So, not the tour guide's fault completely, but she should reign in that type of behavior as it's disruptive to the rest of the tour group. Apart from that, her story telling wasn't compelling. She just didn't convince me that she believed anything she was saying. I think part of the fun is suspending disbelief and being so enamored with the stories that you believe them without question (kind of like a Stephen King book...his stories are WAY out there, but the writing is so good, you don't doubt it)!
The tour was scheduled for two hours. Just over the two hour mark (at about 2 hours, 10 minutes) and only being at the 3rd bar, we decided to just duck out of the tour. It was going downhill fast (matter of fact, it had already crashed and burned and I just think the guide wanted us to booze it up at that point...we had been spending 10 minutes or so in each bar - enough time for people to use the restroom and get a refill, but we had been in that last one for around 20 minutes when we decided to leave). I'd rate this tour guide a 1.
But, because of the excellent experience I had the first time, I went with an overall score of 4. Would have used a 5, but just can't do it because the last one was a train wreck.
Bottom line: would I do this tour again? Yes. But, I'd call ahead and see who the guide was going to be that evening. Should YOU do this tour? Yes, maybe you'll get lucky and get a great guide and be hooked like I was the first time. read more