Alec Baldwin Got Scammed in Statue of Liberty Tour

Actor livid after he says he and his family were tricked about tour that really went to New Jersey
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 8, 2019 9:03 AM CDT
Alec Baldwin Expected a Boat Tour. He Got a Bus to Jersey
Actor Alec Baldwin, left, and wife Hilaria Baldwin attend a screening for "Framing John DeLorean" during the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival at the SVA Theatre on April 30, 2019, in New York.   (Photo by Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP)

Give us your tired, your poor, your disgruntled celebrity tourist. Although he's a native Long Islander, Alec Baldwin revealed Monday he'd been taken by what he calls a Big Apple "scam," NBC New York reports. Baldwin posted to Instagram a picture of a ticket he and his wife, Hilaria, "two sharp, savvy NYers," bought at the city's South Ferry for themselves and their four kids to take a boat tour around the Statue of Liberty. Instead, "we are escorted to a shuttle bus," he writes, noting next their unexpected destination: "To New Jersey! I kid you not. We paid. Then we read the tickets. NO ON (sic) EVER MENTIONED NEW F***ING JERSEY!!!" "This is a scam," he wrote of Tours R Us, which comes up with poor reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp.

Per complaints on the BBB site, others who've been similarly taken say after waiting for the "free shuttle," then taking an hourlong ride to Jersey, where they then waited for a boat to show, a vessel did indeed pull up—but most complainants said it was in bad condition and even seemed unsafe. Per the New York Daily News, the "Queen of Hearts" boat is owned by Freedom Cruises, which has already been kicked out of NYC launching points for its unsavory practices. Fox News notes the NYPD has long tried to halt tour scammers in the area. One person who got a kick out of the whole thing: Kimmy Schmidt actress Ellie Kemper, who commented on Baldwin's post: "Ahahahahahhahahahahaaaahaa well listen, a shuttle bus can be fun too!!" Hilaria Baldwin, meanwhile, later showed their family on the free Staten Island Ferry, which Alec called "the best ride in NY." (More Alec Baldwin stories.)

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