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.
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
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) | |
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
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.
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 |
|
Knowledge of Subjects | 5 |
| |
Ability of Explain | 5 |
| |
Attitude | 5 |
| |
Flexibility | 4 |
| |
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 |
|
| |
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 4 |
|
Meet Your Interests? | 4 |
| |
Too Tight or Too Loose? | 4 |
| |
Meals | 4 |
| |
Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.) | N/A |
| |
Any Other Aspect |
|
| |
Overall Score of the Whole Package | 4.5 |
| |
Thank you again for organizing a wonderful holiday. I would like toprovide some feedback so hopefully other people can benefit from your excellentservice. Please let me know how I can leave some feedback?
1=poor, 2=fair,3=good, 4=very good5=excellent
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant | 5 | V.prompt , v.responsive, v.polite | |
Tour Guides | Command of English | 4 |
|
Knowledge of Subjects | 4 |
| |
Ability of Explain | 4 |
| |
Attitude | 5 |
| |
Flexibility | 3 |
| |
Drivers and Cars |
|
| |
Hotels | Location | 4 |
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Comfort | 4 |
| |
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 5 |
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Meet Your Interests? | 5 |
| |
Too Tight or Too Loose? | 3 |
| |
Meals | 4 |
| |
Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.) | 4 |
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Any Other Aspect |
|
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Overall Score of the Whole Package | 5 | Fantastic tour operator with special thanks to Lynee who provided an excellent level of service from the start to the end of the whole holiday process | |
Hi Siva
Iam busy after back from Korea trip. Just to give some feedback to you as below.I have to separate two different tour guides because our feedback is totallydifferent!
1=poor, 2=fair, 3=good, 4=very good, 5=excellent
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant (小金 in Jeju Island) | Overall 5 | ||
Tour Guides | Command of Chinese | 5 |
|
Knowledge of Subjects | 5 |
| |
Ability of Explain | 5 |
| |
Attitude | 4 |
小金 is a great tour guide overall he is considerate and flexible as well. He can explain everything to us about Jeju and he knows a lot of the history of Korea although he is born Chinese. He prepared the umbrellas and drinks in the van for us. He will drop us in front of the nearest place at attractions so that my mom no need to walk so much. The small little thing he did impressed us. He also kept us occupied during our trip in the van because he can tell us a lot of history / story of Korea. | |
Flexibility | 4 | He waited for us until the dinner is finished and sent us home 10pm one night. Of course we are also willing to pay him more tips. He is very 圆滑 | |
Drivers and Cars |
| The Van provided is good as 小金 provided two infant seats we requested. He is also a good driver. | |
Hotels | Location |
| We booked ourselves so we shall not have comments here |
Comfort |
|
| |
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 2 | Due to rainy season and foggy weather, we did not managed to see the most beautiful Jeju! |
Meet Your Interests? | 3 |
| |
Too Tight of Too Loose? | 3 |
| |
Meals | 4 | The recommended restaurants by 小金 is good. Love to go back again due to food! | |
Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.) | 3 | I have never seen such a busy airports (Gimpo and Jeju) in my life before!! It is difficult to communicate since hardly people speak English. | |
Any Other Aspect |
|
| |
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant (朴先生 in Seoul) | Overall 2 | ||
Tour Guides | Command of Chinese | 3 | His Mandarin is considered great as a Korean. |
Knowledge of Subjects | 1 | 朴先生 totally different from 小金 he hardly want to speak/tell us anything we asked. | |
Ability of Explain | 1 | He is lack of interest in speaking with us. We just asked him a simple question such as are you from Seoul? He just ignored us. | |
Attitude | 2 |
He is not patience enough with old people and not considerate enough. On the first day due to rainy weather, he should prepare some umbrellas in the car or at least help to put on the umbrella for my old mom or drive us to the nearest destination and dropped us first then only he come over. However, what he did is he parked his car in the car park, and asked everyone including my mom to walk at least 1km to the attraction and yet he did not wait for us and go and grabbed the tickets first. I'm not sure if he is not happy that we asked him to pick us at 10am which is considered late so he need to work until 8pm? However, he have to understand that our flight the night before from Jeju was delayed and we only get to the apartment at 12 midnight. He is totally out of a normal tour guide standard! | |
Flexibility | 1 | He is not flexible at all! The first tour night in Seoul due to the bad traffic he did not want us to eat in the city but forced us to eat at the food street opposite our apartment because it almost reaches 8pm (his working hours). My sister was very angry as he did not even asked our opinion and sent us home and asked us to walk out again to the food street. He should at least asked us if he should stop us at the food street opposite because my mom is 76 years old and hardly walk 1km! My sister in the end teased him that he must have never serve any customers who have old folks or young children. Yes the food street opposite is just less than 10 minutes walk for a normal adult but not for old people. In the end he have to make a U-turn to leave us at the food street after my sister's complaint. After the first day we totally disrespect him as a tour guide. Second day he was very happy with our decision because we decided to go to Lotte World which is 10 minutes away from our apartment. He dropped my mom to apartment and dropped us at lotte world at 3pm and he left happily. Third day shopping day, my brother wanted to shop with us at dongdamuen until 6pm then he go back home to eat with my mom but 朴先生said traffic is very bad at 6pm and kind of show face to my brother to go back before 5pm. We only reached DDM at 4pm that day. My brother is kind enough to fulfill his requirement and did not step down to shop at DDM at all and left with him after dropping me and my family at 4pm. My family are kind people and we do not scold people directly but 朴先生 is more like us fulfilling his wish then he tried to accommodate our needs. | |
Drivers and Cars |
| The Van provided is fair as 朴先生 did not provided additional infant seat we requested. However he is considered a skillful driver. But again he can ONLY be a driver but NOT a tour guide!! | |
Hotels | Location |
| We booked ourselves so we shall not have comments here |
Comfort |
|
| |
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 2 | Due to rainy season and heavy traffic in Seoul, we did not go to the itinerary as planned |
Meet Your Interests? | 2 | As 朴先生 kept saying due to rainy weather and heavy traffic we cannot go to the outdoor area, we only can go to the indoor attractions. | |
Too Tight of Too Loose? | 3 |
| |
Meals | 4 | The recommended restaurants by 朴先生 is good especially the 田园 restaurant near to the MBC drama showroom. However after the first day bad experience with him, we do not expect him to recommend us anything. | |
Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.) | 3 | We took taxi back on shopping day and actually it is relatively cheap. After the experience with this kind of tour guide we rather just hire a taxi driver. | |
Any Other Aspect |
| Actually my sister have friends planning to visit Seoul next week but with the bad experience with 朴先生 we will not recommend Novaland to anyone. Sorry to say that, one person can damage the image of the company. In this decade, young people who are educated will take public transport and go for Free & Easy. Old people will follow group tour. Less people wanted to have private tour, the reason why we take private tour is because my mom is old and hardly walk. 朴先生 should learn how to be more considerate with customers who have old people or maybe Novaland should think if 朴先生 can be your partnership or not?? Although his service as a tour guide is bad we still provide him a reasonable tips. | |
Bestregards,
FuiMinn
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 |
|
Knowledge of Subjects | 5 |
| |
Ability of Explain | 5 |
| |
Attitude | 5 |
| |
Flexibility | 5 |
| |
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 |
| |
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 |
|
| |
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. | |
Hi Emma,
The tour has been good. I think the tour guide has been switched. The person's name is Steve Mizuma and not Jay. I believe Steve will also accompany us today to Disney Sea. I was confused at first when we met Steve last week. As you know there was a little confusion as to the transfer back to the hotel from the Tokyo train station yesterday since we didn't see the driver and waited for a while before catching a taxi back. Other than that things have been smooth.
Hi Emma,
We're having a great time and Young has been very accommodating. Thanks so much for arranging our trip with him in Korea!
Nathalie
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1=poor, 2=fair,3=good, 4=very good5=excellent
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant | |||
Tour Guides | Command of English | 3 (Steve), 4 (Hiro), 5 (Young) | Both Steve and Hiro were very nice and accommodating. The biggest barrier was perhaps the language barrier. |
Knowledge of Subjects | 5 (all guides) | ||
Ability of Explain | 5 (all guides) | ||
Attitude | 5 (all guides) | ||
Flexibility | 5 (all guides) | ||
Drivers and Cars | 4 | ||
Hotels | Location | ||
Comfort | |||
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 4 | |
Meet Your Interests? | 5 | ||
Too Tight or Too Loose? | Adequate | ||
Meals | |||
Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.) | 5 | ||
Any Other Aspect | |||
Overall Score of the Whole Package | 4.5 | ||
Dear Siva
Thankyou for your help,we enjoyed nami tour n cookin nanta. :) see you next year.
Oeland