London Christmas Eve Dinner & Midnight Mass

We booked this tour hoping that it would relieve some of the stress of traveling and planning for Christmas Eve in London. Thinking this would be a bit more of a quaint experience it was very much the opposite. Unfortunately, there wasn't much that was enjoyable. The tour began in a large tour bus ride around London looking at Christmas lights which 95% of the time were on the left side of the bus and those on the right side couldn't see them. Instead of the tour being about Christmas in London, the topics covered were the same as all other tours highlighting just the tourist areas. The dinner was positioned as a set menu however that individuals would have options to choose from. When we got there it was evident that the restaurant wasn't happy that we had arrived early and that we were more of a hassle to them than welcomed guest. We were shuttled from one place to another and the finally ushered to the top floor which felt like an attic. There was a lot of tension in the wait staff and very unorganized. There were no options for dinner, and everything was just hastily placed in front of us. No one asked if anyone preferred something different to drink at our table however it appeared that other tables had other options. We were also unable to choose where we wanted to sit which isn't ideal for a Christmas dinner. Overall, a very unpleasant dining experience. After dinner, we moved onto the midnight service which was also very unorganized, however the most enjoyable part of the evening due to the service itself. The most disturbing part was that the tour guide spent significant time before the service to show us where our buses would be after the service ended. Once the service ended, we efficiently made our way to the place she noted to find out that they had moved the buses. Good thing we are quick on our feet, or we wouldn't have caught our bus back as the bus you start with isn't the one you leave on and there wasn't a count of individuals to make sure they had everyone. There were a number of individuals complaining about the miscommunication of the bus pick up location. Overall, would never spend Christmas Eve in this manner again.

Negative experience, starting from the luxury coach to dinner. A beautiful restaurant, but that we have reserved a hovel. Very cold room, almost everyone had dinner with the jacket on.

The tour guide was magnificent. He was an encyclopedia of knowledge on the different parts of the city and imparted his witty moments to make the experience very good. The dinner at the Brown's Restaurant was good. Service and quality were adequate and appropriate for the 48 pounds cost of the meal (included in the total cost of the experience). Other than being a rather long tour and unable to have a seat at the midnight mass (the church was packed by the time we arrived), the rest of the trip was worthwhile. If you are visiting London for the first time and hope to see the exceptional lighting arrangements at Christmas, this is a definite must-do tour.

We were able to see so much more (and more comfortably!) by bus than by foot. London’s Christmas lights - the stars, the angels - are so beautiful and evocative of the holiday spirit. Our guide Jack kept us entertained and made the time fly even when the traffic was at a dead stop. He is witty, funny, and knowledgeable. We learned so much about London’s history as we bathed in the gentle glow of Christmas, London-style.

Very nice tour with the guide being exceptionally humorous, he kept us entertaining constantly. There are rooms for improvements with some advanced notice of what are we going to encounter. The restaurant looked overbooked and had difficulty accommodating big groups (group of 8) in a single table making Christmas Eve dinner a little downer. The midnight mass was wonderful. Also the tour made it a point to drop all of us to our nearest locations possible as it was pretty late in the night.