Marvelous Marv's Grand Canyon Tours, Williams

Best tour -hands down. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. He picked us up at our B&B on time in his bright orange van, he was super friendly and knowledgeable. Showed us around to all the great places, and gave us plenty of time for photos & simply enjoying the breathtaking views. We even were able to hike on the Bright Angel trail some! Not the most "Politically Correct" tour guide, so be aware of his views, but he doesn't shove it down your throat and really respected our points of view as well! His open-mindedness and experience in the area really helped us to explore and learn more about the area than the typical 'pre packaged' tour would have. Thanks, Marv!

For our 30th anniversary, My husband and I wanted to go to the Grand Canyon. So we read up on tours ~ helicopters, jeeps, mules, hiking, walking, private tours or just to fin for ourselves?? We decided to go with Marvelous Marv and we are glad we did! MM picked us up at our hotel at the time he said he would. He was in a 12 seat van that was very comfortable. There were 5 other couples in the van already, we made it a total of 12. Which is the limit for the tour. The price of the tour included the fee to enter the park. First, MM took us to a lookout and parked near the restrooms (which was very handy). We walked with MM as he told of the Grand Canyon and it's creation. MM is very passion and loves this area. He kept referring to our children and great grandchildren~ to preserve the Canyon for them. Very passionate. Next, we went to the area of Bright Angel Trail and the Kolb Brothers home. He was very informational and his guidenace was superb. My husband and I decided to walk a little on Bright Angel Trail. MM told us to look for the ancient pictograph on cliff, we would not have looked for the pictograph otherwise. Also, I noticed that other tourist would hang around and listen to MM. One lady was with us so much, I thought I must have missed her on the van! haha! As MM was driving us back to our hotel, I mentioned that we were going to drive the east rim the next day. MM told us what road to take and what was the best stops! Marvelous Marv's tour was a joy~ Linda & David Oct 4 2011

Even though I know that there are people like Marv in this world, I was very sad and surprised to learn that Marv is one of them. I have two disabled children - both with cognitive disabilities and both with mobility issues and one in a wheelchair. Because we move at a slower pace than typical vacationers, I try to seek out private tours. We are fortunate that the cost of a tour is rarely an issue so we have had no problem finding incredible experiences. (On our Northern Arizona trip we had a great time doing the Pink Jeep Broken Arrow Tour in Sedona and also took a jeep tour down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to wade in the Colorado River at lunch. Both were amazing and fun.) So, when I found Marv's "private" tours and saw his web site, I immediately zapped him a note and told him about our situation. He said that he was happy to accommodate our special needs so I reserved a "private" tour for our group of six more than a month in advance of our trip. Marv's true character started to show when we were corresponding about our arrangements for pickup and space for my 6-year-old's wheelchair. It seems that Marv had forgotten about our needs between the time we made our reservations and the week before our tour. Regardless, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and arranged to meet him at the Williams Visitor Center on the morning of our tour. Marv showed up about 10 minutes late in his van/bus and rushed over to us with a command of "c'mon, let's go". I looked in the bus and found that, while there were enough seats for our group, four of them were across the back row which was at the end of a very narrow isle down the middle. We started loading my three children including my two disabled boys into the crowded bus and toward the seats in the back. Marv was barking orders about the need to pick up the pace the whole time and generally being VERY CRUEL. He even barked orders at my 10-year-old daughter about how to manage my 12-year-old disabled son. This was the last straw for me but, remember, I had my family with me so I bit my tongue. Other people on the bus offered to change their seats because it was clearly going to be difficult to get my second disabled son into the back which was the only place left that would have a seat available next to him. Marv then pulled me aside and suggested that this was just not going to work and suggested that our family was going to cause inconvenience to the rest of his guests. His suggestion was that we follow him in our private cars, pay for our individual access to the park, and them follow his van/bus around the park. He said he would give us a discounted rate. Marv, what a joke! You are just a P.O.S. In the end, we drove the exact same traffic on the exact same road that Marv did and waited in nearly the exact same line at the entrance to the park. Neither was bad at all but, even if there was some traffic horror, Marv would have been part of it. When we got there, we found that if we had brought any identification for either of my two sons, our whole group would have been admitted for free. That did not matter to me but we did get a disabled access pass that allowed us to drive places normally accessible only to park vehicles. The Grand Canyon is AMAZING. I saw other "private" tours at the Canyon but, be aware, that much of the park is not accessible to any vehicle except to the official park buses (which were not crowded even during the week of July 4th) and vehicles with disabled access passes. In the end, we had a wonderful time and even came back the next day. Thank goodness Marv dumped us!

By our title, you can see we truly enjoyed Marv's tour. Marv picked us up at our hotel promtly @ 9AM and our great day began. Marv gave us a great history and geology lesson of the canyon and environs. Both of us felt his price for his tour was too low for the wealth of information we recieved. Marv took us to parts of the canyon most people don't get to see. If you are planning to go to the canyon (even for a 2nd time) I can think of no better way to see the "natural wonder of the world" than with Marv.

Since this was our first time at the Grand Canyon and did not know our way around, my wife and I decided to take a private tour with someone that did know where things were and could make our experience memorable. We made the right choice! Marv know his way around the park, maximized our time at the South Rim, let us look around on our own for a while, and made the whole day enjoyable. He picked us up,his van is comfortable, and he proves you with a lot of extras. His price is the best. Don't be fooled by the train or the bus tours out of Las Vegas that only give you a couple of hours at the Rim. This is the way to go. Thanks Marv! Jim and Jamie McDonald

We really enjoyed Marv's geological knowledge of the canyon and all of the areas along the way to the canyon. His realization of the needs of our earth was impressive. He was on time to pick us up at our hotel. Marv is a great tour guide. Thanks Marv from Ray and Wanda Haering.

We really enjoyed our day with "Marvelous Marv." He picked us up at our hotel promptly at 9 am. Along with 10 other guests, we headed up to the Canyon in his comfortable van. He was a wealth of knowledge, offered unique insights into the history and politics of the park, and made it easy for us to have time on our own as well as time touring with the group. We were back at the hotel at 4. A TOTAL bargain at $80 per person.