Aspect

Mark(1-5)

Advice or Remark

Travel Consultant

(Ms. Lynee Zhao)

5

 Lynne was the reason why we have travelled with Novaland to Japan: she was the first to reply, always helpful and willing to accommodate our requests and gave us excellent suggestions on how to make our first trip in Japan such a success. And she is the reason why we will go back to Japan next year with Novaland!

Tour Guide

(Mr.Tsuyama Hiroshi)

Command of English

3

Knowledge of Subjects

4

Ability of Explain

4

Attitude

5

Always willing to help us by booking special restaurants to have dinner and made really good suggestions of visits whenever there was extra time to kill

Flexibility

5

Drivers and Cars

5

Hotel

(Hotel Kintetsu

Kyoto Station)

Location

5

Comfort

4

There was hardly any options for a western breakfast (e.g. no bread and no fresh fruit) but the room was very quiet

Hotel

(Hotel Granvia

Osaka)

Location

5

Comfort

2 (first night)-4

On the first night we were given such a small (impossible to open the only suitcase we had brought and my husband could not fit the bed) and noisy room that we had to complain at the reception. On the following 2 nights we had a normal and quiet room. However the breakfast was excellent. 

Hotel

(Miyajima

Kinsuikan Ryokan)

Location

5

Comfort

5

Gorgeous dinner and amazing room

Sights or Activities

Worthiness of Visit

5

Meet Your Interests?

5

Too Tight or Too Loose?

5

 Just perfect

Meals

All the lunch options suggested by our guide were perfect

Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.)

5

Any Other Aspect

5

The wi-fi router idea was fabulous. Please keep doing it Novaland!

Overall Score of the Whole Package

5

But there is still room for improvement: a guide with better command of English and the slightly wider rooms, if available with western breakfast as an option

Aspect

Mark(1-5)

Advice or Remark

Travel Consultant

 5

Tour Guides

Command of English

 5

Knowledge of Subjects

 5

Ability of Explain

 5

Attitude

 5

Flexibility

 5

Drivers and Cars

 5

Hotels

Location

 5

Comfort

 5

Sights or Activities

Worthiness of Visit

 5

Meet Your Interests?

 5

Too Tight or Too Loose?

 5

 Just nice

Meals

 5

Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.)

 5

Any Other Aspect

5

Guide is proactive and made good suggestions for site visits, videos were well put together and helped make the trip more memorable

Overall Score of the Whole Package

 5

Aspect

Mark(1-5)

Advice or Remark

Travel Consultant

 5

 Very courteous and prompt replies. Helpful advice. Good follow up.

Tour Guides

Command of English

 5 & 3

 Jun very good. Sophia was difficult to communicate with. The driver had better English than Sophia and seemed to be more knowledgeable.

Knowledge of Subjects

 5 & 3

 Jun was excellent. Sophia seemed to have only a superficial knowledge of the subjects and the area.

Ability of Explain

 5 & 2

 Jun excellent. Sophia really struggled to explain and respond to questions.

Attitude

5 & 5

Flexibility

 5 & 5

Drivers and Cars

 5 & 5

Hotels

Location

 5

Comfort

 5

Sights or Activities

Worthiness of Visit

 4

Interesting country and friendly people. Only issue is food. There is not enough variety. 

Meet Your Interests?

 4

Too many temples. Cherry blossoms were amazing. Nice scenery particularly in the mountains,

Too Tight of Too Loose?

 5

Meals

 4

 Kimchi, Kimchi and more Kimchi. Food was of good quality but somewhat monotonous.

Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.)

 5

 KTX excellent.

Any Other Aspect

Aspect

Mark(1-5)

Advice or Remark

Travel Consultant

   3-4

 Cindy Huang was very responsive and supportive with local details and travel plans. Thanks to her, the trip was memorable.

Tour Guides

Command of English

 4

 The guide on the last day for the local Tokyo tour was the best – all round information and good command of language. Would certainly want his services again.

Knowledge of Subjects

 4

 Guides were quite knowledgeable.

Ability to Explain

 4

 Only on the day of the Fuji station cable trip, 2 passengers delayed, so we arrived late at the cable car station. It was crowded and the guide did not co-ordinate the group properly. We did not even get the tickets but luckily managed to catch her at the last minute. If changes occur, guide should be able to adapt and plan accordingly.

Attitude

 5

 Extremely courteous and co-operative. As a country too, the people are efficient, quality conscious and hospitable. Excellent work ethics and sense of punctuality.

Flexibility

 5

 Guides were tourist-friendly and flexible.

Drivers and Cars

 5

 Missed the bus for the snow monkeys! And elders found the climb uphill difficult, so before the walk, a taxi till that point, would have been more convenient. We had to skip lunch too. The guide was unable to get tickets for the bus.

Hotels

Location

 5

 All conveniently located except it was difficult to walk with luggage to Prince Hotel – we were not aware of shuttle from train station to hotel. Mitsui Grand was the best in terms of location!

Comfort

 All the hotels were comfortable but service in Prince Hotel was not up to the mark – reception was slow to attend and had poor communication skills.

Sights or Activities

Worthiness of Visit

 4

 Worth visiting again!

Meet Your Interests?

 5

 Guide said the tourist information centre could not provide proper guidance as how to reach the snow monkeys’ destination.

We visited the Bamboo Grove on our own. But there were no proper signboards to show the exact location despite using google, we found it difficult to locate.

Too Tight or Too Loose?

 4

Meals

 4

 The French restaurant in Prince Hotel did not offer value for money – vegetarian food was not good. In Fujiya Hotel, they were not informed that guests were vegetarians.

Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.)

 5

 Scoot airways from Singapore, did not notify passengers that they should disembark at Taipei. Trains should have more seats for elderly.

Any Other Aspect

 4

Overall Score of the Whole Package

 4

Aspect

Mark(1-5)

Advice or Remark

Travel Consultant

5

The drivers, tour guides, hotels, vouchers, tickets etc. were all very well coordinated, thus we were able to travel with confidence.

Tour Guides

Command of English

3

Knowledge of Subjects

5

Fumiko knew a great deal.  It would help if she would point out, stop and speak to both of us rather than talk while walking, and many times looking away while she spoke.

Ability of Explain

3

JTB guide in Hiroshima only spoke to a handful of people near her on the bus as well as at the sites so we could not hear most of it.

Attitude

4

Both Sachiko and Fumiko were enthusiastic and helpful.

Flexibility

4

Sachiko-san was very flexible when we requested a change by not going to the gardens but to drop us off at a shopping site near the train station so that we would have the afternoon free.

Drivers and Cars

4

Both were very polite, and both had good signage for pick up.  The driver to Nagasaki airport was informative and conversed a lot more.  It would be helpful for the driver picking up at airport to not be there 15 min. before arrival, as immigration and customs takes a long while.  This driver had to wait over an hour, and we hope he was not upset.

Hotels

Location

5

Very convenient locations.  Driver from Kansai to Mariott Shin-Osaka was very long but it was convenient for the Shinkansen the next day.

Comfort

5

We loved all of our hotels, and the Hakata Dormy Inn, although small, was comfortable and most loved because of the onsen.

Sights or Activities

Worthiness of Visit

4

In cases such as the Kumamoto Castle, if the guides know ahead that repairs are not complete, we could have been informed ahead so another site may have been chosen.  After a year, I did not realize that we would just be looking at the damages to the castle and not be able to go in.

Meet Your Interests?

4

Too Tight or Too Loose?

5

Just right!  It was great not to pack and unpack each day!

Meals

5

We got to try local dishes, which was our aim.

Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.)

4

Needed to do a lot of walking in Nagasaki in hilly terrain but it was all right.

Any Other Aspect

We appreciated that the itinerary left us free time in to explore on our own.  We even looked for yatai in Hakata!

Overall Score of the Whole Package

4

Enjoyed our visit leisurely.  We appreciate all the coordination Cindy did, as I was quite apprehensive.  Everything fell into place because Cindy had everything ready at each city.  We really want to explore the Kujyu-ku shima and the Gunkanjima, staying at country inns with onsen next year, after our other trips already planned.  Thank you so very much, Cindy!  Great job!