My colleague and I had a wonderful trip, you're planning and the execution of the the complex logistics worked like clockwork. All of the hotels were excellent ( although in retrospect we should have chosen a more expensive hotel in Tokyo, given the smaller dimensions of the rooms there). The guides/driver were all punctual and did their utmost to ensure we had an informative tour. The itinerary was excellent, providing us with a good over view of Japan.
Thank you for all of your help
Martin Shine
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant | 5 | Great ideas. | |
Tour Guides | Command of English | 2 | Tour guides did not have full command of English |
Knowledge of Subjects | 2 | Tour guides had some knowledge but not extensive | |
Ability of Explain | 2 | Tour guides could not answer all questions or spoke too fast. | |
Attitude | 5 | Always had a great attitude | |
Flexibility | 2 | Schedule did not allow for it. Tour guide in Osaka was EXCELLENT! Also tour guide in Hiroshima was Excellent! | |
Drivers and Cars | 4 | They were fine. | |
Hotels | Location | 5 | Location was great |
Comfort | 4 | Rooms were ok | |
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 4 | Some tours included the same activity. Two tours included bamboo forest and tea ceremony, redundant! Some tours were very long should have divided into 2 days (Nara) |
Meet Your Interests? | 4 | This met my interest. | |
Too Tight or Too Loose? | 3 | Some days were too tight. We probably should have booked private guide and driver instead of more independent. | |
Meals | 5 | Very good. Would also help if company could suggest restaurants to eat dinner. | |
Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.) | 4 | Trains were ok. We are use to private guide and driver so this was a little harder for us. | |
Any Other Aspect |
| Also should suggest to ship bags from Tokyo to Kyoto and carry small luggage for 1 night in Hakone (We shipped our luggage from Kyoto to Osaka and only took small luggage to Miyajima Island) | |
Overall Score of the Whole Package | 3 | We would suggest to most of our friends to book a private guide and driver even if the cost is higher (Hiroshima) | |
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant | 4 |
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Tour Guides | Command of English | 3 |
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Knowledge of Subjects | 4 |
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Ability of Explain | 2 |
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Attitude | 4 |
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Flexibility | 4 |
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Drivers and Cars | 5 | Driver is courteous and humble. Command of English not good enough for effective conversation | |
Hotels | Location | 4 | Good location in town but Onsen in Ashibetsu disappointing (too far away from town and facilities old) |
Comfort | 3 | Satisfactory | |
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 4 | Satisfied with trip although could do away with the visit to ninja village ( not much to see or experience) |
Meet Your Interests? | 4 | Reasonably happy with our expectations | |
Too Tight or Too Loose? | 3 | Reasonably happy with schedule | |
Meals | 3 | Could be better. | |
Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.) | 4 | Satisfying | |
Any Other Aspect |
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Overall Score of the Whole Package | 4 |
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Hi Cindy,
We had a really good trip. Embedded below is my filled out feedback form. I think everything went well with the exception of the tour guide. She could have been better prepared and better informed.
Thanks,
Beth
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant | 5 | Cindy was very responsive, provided good recommendation and made overall planning easy for us. | |
Tour Guides | Command of English | 5 | She had good command of English. She also spoke Mandarin well which helped with communicating with my parents. |
Knowledge of Subjects | 2 | She did not know the sights well and had poor planning skills. At the different sights, she did not offer background or historical significance. We had to read about them ourselves. I ended up reading everything to the children then translating it to my parents. I had better knowledge of Kurama yama than her. I had to tell her about the train that would take us halfway up the mountain. She delayed us by taking us to the wrong train station so we had to delay our lunch reservation. It was also stressful because we were afraid we would miss our train to Tokyo. She also did not know we can hike over Kurama yama to Kibune. I told her that was our plan and she seem very confused. She also did not know Arashiyama well and had to defer to our driver several times. I told her in advance that we need to know exactly where we're having lunch to avoid waiting as we had a party of 8 people. She did not plan ahead and had to scramble after the tour had started. She did not know which restaurants to call so I had to search on my phone to offer suggestions. She wanted us to take us on a scenic train ride but did not look up the train schedule in advance. She started looking at the schedule when we started driving toward Arashiyama. We ended up not going on the train because of poor planning on her part. In Nara, she also did not plan ahead for lunch. We had to walk a long way down a row of restaurants, which all had a long wait for lunch, until I finally suggested a pizza place that was empty. I also told the guide in advance that we cannot do a lot of walking because of my father and my 5-year-old. However, she still planned to take us on hikes to temples that we then told her to scrap. She did not provide us with Shinkansen tickets until I inquired 2 days before we were to leave for Tokyo. Good thing I asked otherwise we would not have had our tickets. | |
Ability of Explain | 3 | ||
Attitude | 5 | She had a good attitude. My husband was very frustrated with her poor planning skills and inability to understand what we wanted. He was rude to her but she took it in strides. | |
Flexibility | 5 | My father forgot his diabetes medication. The guide called the Taiwanese consulate where someone was able to direct us to a doctor who provided the medication. We went directly to the doctor after our first day of tour so my father was able to get his medication right away. It was very helpful. | |
Drivers and Cars | 3 | We liked our drivers. 2nd driver on the tour was terrific. He knew more about Kyoto, restaurants, sights than our tour guide. We could have just used him and forego the tour guide. The cars could have been cleaner. | |
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 4 | We planned our own itinerary. |
Meet Your Interests? | 4 | ||
Too Tight or Too Loose? | 4 | ||
Any Other Aspect | |||
Overall Score of the Whole Package | 4 | We will use Novaland again based on the service we received from Cindy. | |
Dear Lillian,
Thanks a lot for everything, we have just returned and we had a wonderful trip. Everything went very smoothly.
Yes, indeed, we missed our Hemeiji castle tour, we were waiting in the designated spot, but somehow they missed seeing us and we missed seeing them. As you say, Frank discussed on the phone with them that we would get a 100% refund for the tour.
Can you go ahead and process the refund? You have our bank details.
And yes, we received the earlier refund.
Thanks a lot and let us know if you need any further specific information to process the refund.
Regards
Aarti
Denise M. Jones, DVM
All i can say is we really enjoy ur trips this time... and your services..hotels and yr driver guide is above par excellent.
He is very flexible in meeting ur needs and of course a commmendable attitude with sufficient command of english langguage ...
...the only drawback is we are unable to locate the HALAL restaurant..but it is not a big issue to us since sea food are plenty full in hokaido.
...thank you
1=poor, 2=fair,3=good, 4=very good 5=excellent
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant | 5 | We love Mia:)Really very nice and patient. | |
Tour Guides | Command of English | 5 |
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Knowledge of Subjects | 5 |
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Ability of Explain | 5 |
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Attitude | 5 |
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Flexibility | 4 |
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Drivers and Cars | Bus-5 driver-4 | Driver- Maybe because of language barrier, we found him to be unfriendly and some manners to be rude. But he was nice enough to give us printed copies of our photos. | |
Hotels | Location |
| By our arrangement -- location is 5:) easy access to everything. |
Comfort |
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Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 4 |
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Meet Your Interests? | 4 |
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Too Tight or Too Loose? | 4 |
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Meals | 4 |
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Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.) | N/A |
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Any Other Aspect |
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Overall Score of the Whole Package | 4.5 |
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Dear Siva,
Youn picked me up at airport today. He has been so gracious.
Sorry I did not send this sooner. But everything you promised came true. I am so happy with what you helped me plan. I am impressed with how smoothly every event and transition went.
Thank you so much!!
Sent from my iPhone
Hello Lynee,
The tour was great. The tour guide ( lee min sook) was excellent, verycaring and with lots of experience and knowledge. Thanks to Novaland I had agreat time in Busan.
Thank you very muchHello Emma!!
Yes, my son and I are back from our travels. It took us a couple of days to get adjusted to the jet lag, but we are doing better.
I want to thank you for a very well organized trip. EVERYTHING went very smoothly. One thing I didn’t realize was that Novaland basically acted as a “broker” for us and made the connections with different tour companies and booked out tours, hotels, drivers. Novaland basically did all the work for me and I really appreciate how everything was well planned and organized.
I plan on writing awesome reviews on Facebook and Trip Advisor, especially to new customers who are unsure about the whole process, like I was. Again, nothing but a positive experience, so I really appreciate all that you did for me and my son because we had an amazing trip.
No worries on the flashdrive, I think I’ll be able to put together something on my own. I appreciate the offer. Please see my comments below and again, I will write some awesome reviews about Novaland on social media.
Thanks again for everything and I’ll be sure to use you guys in the future and refer Novaland to my friends and family.
Take care.
__________________________________________________________________
Hi Emma: This is long overdue. I have been so busy playing catch-up at work since I got back from vacation that I have not been able to complete this review and also do my excellent review on Trip Advisor, but I will do that this week. In the meantime, please see my responses below. J
1=poor, 2=fair,3=good, 4=very good5=excellent
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant | 5 | Emma was awesome. Always quick with responses and very understanding and explained everything in detail when I was not sure about things. She really put my mind at ease. | |
Tour Guides | Command of English | 5 | Very good. |
Knowledge of Subjects | 5 | Very good. | |
Ability of Explain | 5 | Very good. | |
Attitude | 5 | Every tour guide was very nice ad positive. | |
Flexibility | 5 | I enjoyed Busan tour as they were really flexible, but also a smaller group so maybe that is why they could be flexible. | |
Drivers and Cars | 5 | Drivers were always waiting for us and made themselves known. Really made us feel comfortable and very courteous and helpful. | |
Hotels | Location | 5 for Shilla Stay and Lotte 3 for Crown Harbor | Shilla Stay and Lotte Hotel were AWESOME! We were disappointed with the Crown Harbor Hotel. It did not meet our expectations and the breakfast buffet was not to the standards of the Shilla Stay hotel, although both were 4 star hotels. Lotte Hotel was exceptional as it was 5 stars. |
Comfort | 5 for Shilla Stay and Lotte 3 for Crown Harbor | Shilla Stay and Lotte Hotel were great. Disappointed with the Crown Harbor Hotel. | |
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 4 | Enjoyed the tours, however, there were parts of the Busan tour that were not necessary, even the Seoul tour. |
Meet Your Interests? | 4 | Sure. We were disappointed we could not do the DMZ tour but that was not the tour company’s fault. We were very pleased that we were promptly given a refund the day of the tour. Thank you. | |
Too Tight or Too Loose? | 5 | I felt like the tour guides (in the smaller group) really worked with us and found out what we wanted to do. It was nice to have that flexibility. | |
Meals | 4 | Meals were fine. Maybe more of a mixture of different types of foods other than “mixed” rice and Bulgogi. | |
Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.) |
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Any Other Aspect |
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Overall Score of the Whole Package | 5 | Overall, a wonderful experience. I really appreciated how Emma/Novaland organized the entire trip for me and my son and made the whole process very smooth. | |
Please accept our tour group's grateful thanks for a very pleasant tour today in Hakodate. The guide Mariko, was very good, and we were able to see everything outlined in your emails. Mr Sakamoto was an excellent driver in a very nice van. He was most helpful to Gary & Lorraine in getting the wheelchair ready, and assisting him in and out of the van.
We would highly recommend both of these people to you for the future, if you have to do tours in Hakodate.
Once I get home, I will find out where in Yokohama the Zonta Convention is being held, and get some ideas from you for short tours in the area.
Hi, Emma,
Sorry for the delay. We came back from China last week. I had been really busy.
Everything went well. We love the tours. I've also completed an evaluation form and provided it to the tour guide Tenzin (the small Tenzin). Please also see my responses below.
1=poor, 2=fair,3=good, 4=very good5=excellent
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant | 5 | You did a great job! I like the fact that I always get timely responses from you. | |
Tour Guides | Command of English | 5 |
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Knowledge of Subjects | 5 |
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Ability of Explain | 5 |
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Attitude | 5 |
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Flexibility | 5 |
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Drivers and Cars | 5 | The bus is spacious for the size of the group. This is good. I do not like to be in a big bus that every single seat is taken. | |
Hotels | Location | 3.5 | The hotel in Lhasa is a little remote, about 10 minutes from everything else. We cannot even get a taxi outside of the hotel. The hotel is Shigetzi is in a very nice location. |
Comfort | 4.5 |
The hotel in both Lhasa and Shigetzi are certainly comfortable and had nice breakfast. I've seen the other hotel you first recommended in the city center of Lhasa. I would not like that one at all. The guest house in Namuso is really hard for me. Although you've warned me, I don't think I was prepared for that kind of "guest house". We had no access to any water other than drinking water, no heating or cooling. The only toilet access is a pit (not even a toilet) outside. I understand that's already the best. | |
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 4.5 | Everything except for Namuso. It takes too long to get there. It is a scenic ride but has a lot of overlap for us as we took the same route via the train from Xining. The guest house is tough. I also got really sick due to the high altitude, so maybe bias about how beautiful the lake is. |
Meet Your Interests? | 4.5 | We were very excited about the "famous" Hot Springs mentioned in the itinerary (you can imagine after a long night without water). However, we were told it is just a small swimming pool. We didn't even make a stop. | |
Too Tight or Too Loose? | 5 | I think it is about right. I do not like to pack too many things in one day. Some free time is good. | |
Meals | 5 |
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Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.) | 4.5 | The train makes too many stops. The cabin is not cleaned and it is difficult to get food on the train. However, it is a scenic ride. Thanks for booking the lower sleepers for us. | |
Any Other Aspect |
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Overall Score of the Whole Package | 5 | The small size of the group tours continue to be my favorite which is the reason I came back to Novaland. We would love to come back for the silk road of China tour in a couple of years. | |
Yoon met us at the airport with a happy smile and comfortable conversation and a lot of information and every time we met he was smiling and very very helpful.
Elena, our first day in Busan was also very friendly and helpful and the driver also went out of his way to make things easy for us. After Elena found out I had hurt my foot before and it was swelling, she took me to a pharmacy and they sent us to an emergency care. Elena totally helped me with talking with the Dr and the pharmacist. She showed me an overwhelming amount of care and even informed Michelle for the next day so she could watch out for me.
Again Michelle and the driver went out of their way to help me because my foot was hurting so much! Michelle was friendly, happy and very professional the whole time and treated us like friends.
On top of all that though, even after our tour was over, Michelle has been sending us all kinds of information AND because there were three Entertainment Agencies and stars I wanted to go to and maybe meet, Michelle researched them and texted them trying to get me an autograph. After that, she came to Seoul all the way from Busan to help me go to them in person because she wanted me to be able to fulfill my Bucket List!
Thanks to your company I met some wonderful people and made some new friends!!! Thank you!
Emma, reading back over my letter I realize that I didn't go into details for what Yoon did for us in Seoul. I was just so tired. I wanted you to know just two of the things Yoon did for us. Not only did he always go out of his way to get us the best pictures even at the DMZ zone but when we were catching our flight to Jeju Island, We were both over in weight because they use a different rule than American Airlines. Yoon went in with us and talked with the agent and got her to waive the weight limit, saving us quite a bit. He was also always helping us with our luggage because we had brought too much.