Reviews

Review Details

• Review fromPeggie P

  Date: 06/21/2023

  5 stars
  Our pilgrimage across the pond was wonderful! The churches we celebrated mass in were all beautiful & masses were all special! Tour guides were all very knowledgeable, bus drivers were unbelievably skilled on the very narrow city streets & rural roads & also knowledgeable. The entire trip was organized; nothing went wrong. Hotels were very nice, comfortable & food was excellent. Couldn`t have asked for a better trip.

• Review fromNeriz D

  Date: 05/12/2023

  3 stars
  3 stars out of 5: France pilgrimage of 12 days minus two days on flight ( April 2023). 3 stars are from the chosen multiple sites organized, the expertise of the main tour guide in describing the history of each location combined with respective local guides. Main driver of the coach was expert in maneuvering every tight corners of narrow roads. Location of reserved spots where mass was celebrated with our priest organizer involved advance good contacts with each church.
  Minus 2 stars: Flight plan was hard on our sleep pattern, long layover , no allowance to check in online 24 hours before flight, extra cost if one wants to choose seat in economy of cheapest section with Lufthansa Air arranged by NAWAS. Almost daily change of hotel packing and unpacking. There was more time than expected on bus ride from points of destination. Room to improve on advance communication of additional cost involved, ie. original number of travelers was basis of cost advertised but then by deadline less signed up so those who already forwarded deposits have to come up for more money to make up for the lesser number of travelers. Much room for improvement on this aspect. Thank God no cancellation of the itinerary whatsoever as I have read many previous reviews of customers who gave NAWAS 1 star out of 5 due to what looks like unfair issuance of refund following cancellation and many considering Class action suit, oh dear.
  THANK YOU. I like another tour agency from previous trip.

• Review fromFred V

  Date: 03/24/2023

  5 stars
  We were fortunate to travel with the Milligan University group to ****** and we had a great time. Seeing some o* ******* history that we studied about growing up was very exciting and fulfilling. We kept a full schedule and packed in as much as we could in the days we were there. The organization of the trip was virtually flawless. Would we use Nawas in the future, yes, without a doubt.

• Review fromJames S

  Date: 03/23/2023

  3 stars
  A NAWAS 10 day pilgrimage to the Holy Land in March, 2023 was a wonderful experience from a religious perspective. Our tour guide for the journey, Iyad S******* was superb. He was knowledgeable and happy to answer questions. Our driver of the motor coach for the trip, "Johnny", was also great. The sites visited included all the important Christian sites related to the life of Jesus.
  Accommodations in ******** ********* *** ********* were adequate despite the lack of thermostat control of room temperature in Jerusalem.
  The air arrangements were less than ideal with an inability to upgrade Economy Class tickets for Premium Economy or Business Class on ********** The itinerary of *** to ********* with a 5+ hour layover before flying to *** **** was rough. Poorer yet was the return trip with our having to leave Jerusalem at 1 AM to go to Tel Aviv for a 5:20 AM flight to Frankfurt with a transfer to the **********flight back to ****
  Included breakfast and dinners were buffet style at all the hotels we stayed at and were not all that good. Ample amounts of food were available for those wishing more food, but the selection of the foods that were available was not ideal. I would suggest two or three nights out at a local restaurant with indivual's having menu choices as something to be added to such a pilgrimage tour package . Lunches were purchased by travelers and did not have a great deal of variety of dishes to choose from.
  I would recommend this trip and NAWAS for pilgrimage groups conscious of price per passenger. It represents a good value. Were I to do another trip like this I would book the land only package and arrange my own airline arrangements. I would also be more adventuresome and do some independent dinners out in the places we were staying for the nights on tour.
  I am glad we did this trip and would recommend it with the above provisos for an individual to consider before booking a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Thanks. ***

• Review fromBryan T

  Date: 03/11/2023

  5 stars
  I have organized seven different pilgrimages using NAWAS and I have never been disappointed in the product they offered or the service they provided. Some guides have been better than others and the local guides have been excellent, although one or two may have been a little too academic/technical for group they were addressing. I have never had a complain about there being 2-3 evenings without a group dinner because I encourage my pilgrims to get out and explore the culture. As the organizer, I remind my travelers that extra dinner events do cost extra but are not obligatory. I did receive complaints about the way Covid pilgrimages were cancelled, but every single person was offered a postponed trip to replace the scheduled pilgrimage of which they were a part. I do think that insurance should have covered cancellations due to Covid, but the insurance company was a separate entity from NAWAS. I explain to all my pilgrims that each day presents is own surprises and the pleasant far out-number the unpleasant. Each country has its own customs, and they vary greatly from what we are accustomed to, e.g., elevators stopping at every floor on the Sabbath and the separation of dairy from meats in Israel, the common buffets in German hotels, no ice in drinks, the lack of butter for bread in Italy, and the lack of air-conditioning throughout Europe (especially with the EEU’s push for green energy). I try to emphasize that we are the guests in their country. I cannot praise NAWAS enough for the wonderful job they have done to customize the pilgrimages I have planned over the last twenty years.

• Review fromKate K

  Date: 11/22/2022

  5 stars
  I just returned from a pilgrimage to Eataly Nawas travel and couldn’t be happier with this pilgrimage the tour guide Contessa who accompanied us was a visit was a wonderful resource and did everything within her power to make this a memorable trip for all of us. I will definitely be traveling with no us in the future and hope to see Esther again with us. This was a first class operation

• Review fromLin D

  Date: 10/10/2022

  1 star
  Our tour to ************ *** *********** *** ******* in September was extremely disappointing. The scenery was wonderful but our guide was absolutely horrible. She offered little except to point out the shops and restaurants. We were all experienced travelers and were looking forward to a history and cultural review at every stop. But we never, ever, got one. Our first day, after a 9 hour flight and bus ride to *********** she led us to the center of the town and told us to eat something and be back in 1.5 hours. Nothing about the history of the town, its importance, or significant sites to explore. This was the pattern wherever we went. I began researching our stops the night before and my quick Wikipedia read gave me more information than our guide even pretended to know. Another example - the miraculous statues - she didn’t know where they were (in fact I found out about one by reading a postcard at the door of the church) or why they are considered miraculous. In Innsbruck, she had to ask where the ****** **** was, and then offered nothing as to why it exists. Often when I asked a question, the answer was, “ I don’t know.” I have had a difficult time calming down after this terrible, and very costly, experience. The food offered by the hotels was awful, as well (except for one dinner near ************). The joke was, “are they serving shoe leather again?” The trip insurance offered through Nawas was twice what it is with other companies. Besides the scenery, the only good thing about the organized tour were the beautiful, stunning churches where we had daily Mass. Sadly, the ineptitude and ignorance of our guide colored the whole trip in a very negative way.

• Review fromBeverly S.

  Date: 09/18/2022

  1 star
  Do not use this tour company. Very disorganized, the bus only stop at the parking lot and the walk was very far. The hotels we stayed at has no air conditioning system we have to open the windows. The tour included was changed and we have to pay extra because some of the people from the group would like to go to a different place. An additional dinner was planned by the tour guide and should have been stated that there is an additional excursion so the everyone is aware. The seats from the plane were at the end of the plane and instead of putting them all together the seats were scattered few has better seats than the other. They only stop on shopping centers to encourage them to buy. The cost of the tour was very costly and the tour was not worth it for what we experienced. People were sick coughing and the guide did not tell them to wear mask. Never to use this tour company

• Review fromRichard C

  Date: 08/13/2022

  1 star
  Unfortunately, I need to agree with the list of negative reviews about the Nawas Travel Agency. One would expect an agency involved with providing ********* *********** to be kind and understanding of the needs of its travelers, but my experience was that they demonstrated little concern for their 39 travelers, most of which were seniors, on our 11 day trip to ******* *** ************ ******* for the Passion Play. Money seemed to be the only driving factor for this agency. My reasons are below:
  1-After our over 7 hour flight to ******** we were forced to wait in the airport for an additional 4 hours to meet up with other travelers coming on other flights. Poor planning and lack of consideration by Nawas.
  2-The included meals were very low quality and barely contained the specialties of the area. Water was the only drink included with the meal. 3 dinners were not included and there was an additional cost of $125 per person for the 3 additional meals.
  3-The trip was in August and 3 of the hotels selected by Nawas did not provide air conditioned rooms or even fans. Handicapped accommodations were minimal, even though most of the travelers were seniors.
  4-We paid for the trip insurance and were promised refunds for illnesses, but as you can see from other reviews, very few received refunds for COVID illnesses or concerns.
  Our guide and driver were very accommodating, but could not make any changes to the arrangements already made by the Nawas agency.
  All in all I would caution any travelers from using this agency unless they have their concerns confirmed in writing.