As my husband and I waited outside our hotel this morning for our pick up, at the designated time Blue Ribbon told us, we were confused when a van from a different tour company (Tours R Us) drove up and the driver called out our name. It turns out that this was a slow day for Blue Mountains tours, so four different tour companies pooled their reservations together to make a single group. The tour guide was good, but even he was not employed by any one of the four tour companies. He was an "independent contractor who works for all companies."
It was incredibly awkward when, at our first stop (Sydney Olympic site), the driver was finalizing payments. I saw the paper with the reservations and everyone paid something different depending on which tour company you booked with. Some paid $30 more than I did! The driver also noted, "because we are combining tour companies, put away your tour brochures because you will only see about 80% of what you think you'll see, but it's okay because you'll see 20% of what didn't expect to see."
It was a good day. But, I carefully researched which company to use for this tour and I didn't get what I paid for. The bus was old and worn (it had over 700,000 km on the odometer). I now think that all the great reviews I read on this site for this company are primarily referring to the private tour, not the standard tour.
Because of another guest who was 20 minutes late for her pick up and then later in the day 15 minutes late to come back to the bus at a stop, coupled with traffic getting out of the city, the whole day was a bit rushed. Every stop was more hurried than I would have liked. Because the day ends with a ferry ride back to Circular Quay, things like inconsiderate passengers who are late or traffic take away from what you expect to see and how long.
Overall, we enjoyed the day...but I would not necessarily recommend this tour company. I suppose it is worth asking before making a reservation with any tour company, "what will you do if there are not enough people for the tour?" If I had known that there was a chance that I would be doing the tour with a different company than the one I booked with, I am almost certain I would have opted for a different company. I research these things and in the end, that research was a waste because I didn't really get a Blue Ribbon tour.