Purpose of my review is to help people make better decision when choosing services for their hajj…read more Al-Noor Group basically sells services from another bigger hajj group. They don't tell you the name of the bigger hajj group until you receive your passport back after visa is issued, about a week before flight. In 2016, they sold services of Al-Alaa Hajj and Umrah Travel to manage Hajj. Al-Noor only bought airline tickets on their own. Everything else in the Hajj was purchased and managed by Al-Alaa. Al-Noor served just as the middle man, selling Al-Alaa services at a markup. Al-Noor took about 60 people and had an imam with the group. The presence of imam was very nice as he guided us through all the rituals and helped during holy tours. Al-Noor only bought airline tickets which had several stop overs. Turkish Airlines went to Istanbul from USA. Instead of taking a direct flight from Istanbul to Saudi, they chose a flight to go to Dubai. Had 13 hours of stay in Dubai and 9 hours on the way back. And then took budget airline from Dubai to Saudi and back. Since the tickets were bought separately, there was an issue of baggage transfer at Dubai airport. People had to pay $80-$100 per ticket to pay for baggage transfer services and the issue (and bickering) with the budget airline staff for baggage transfer took a long time in lines and unnecessary stress. Alnoor should have bought tickets on one itinerary all the way to Saudi Arabia or better just buy tickets of one airline. There are several airlines from US that go to Saudi with only one stopover (Turkish Airline, Etihad, Emirates, Qatar Airways) but I guess they were not able to make enough profit doing a straight ticket in one itinerary. They made the Hajis suffer at the airport. Alnoor did provide Hotel inside Dubai terminal which was nice. Everything else below was managed by Al-Alaa Travel. So it is more of review for Al-Alaa but it applies to Alnoor also in a way since they chose Al-Alaa service for their hajis. Medina residence was in Marriott as promised but Marriott is not a 5 star in Medina. It is most like a 3 star. Also it is about 10-15 mins walk to Masjid and you have to cross a busy road. There are several other hotels closer to mosque but must be more expensive. The daily breakfast and dinner buffet was really nice and had several items on the table. The bus from Medina to Makkah was a newer 2014 bus with attached toilet in the bus. The apartment building in Azizia was a bad experience. The bathrooms were dirty and they never cleaned it despite several complaints. In our bathroom, they never fixed the broken shower. Toilet would clog every other day but when complain, the staff wouldn't understand English. Very very small rooms with 4 twin beds. Room had a Window AC and a small fridge which thankfully were working. The location of the building was all the way inside some residential area. Lots of house flies everywhere in the lobby and in the dining area, may be because of garbage piles outside the building. One nice thing in the building was that they had big fridge / freezer in the dining area which had drinks, juices, water and icecream available for Hajis 24 hours. Also they provided us with buffet breakfast and dinner with several items. Our Mina tent was in North American section. The distance from our camp to Jamarat was 2.7km (1.6miles) which was not too bad. In Mina, AlAlaa management was really bad. Mina tents didn't have AC but only air coolers which were not working when we arrived in the Tent. Tents were really hot as outside temp was 115F. They fixed the aircooler in about 8 hours (in evening), but coolers were not good enough to make a big area cool. It stayed hot in tent throughout our stay. They didn't give us any lunch until 5pm which was a boxed lunch. Then they gave us a boxed dinner at 11pm, when everyone was sleeping. In Arafat, tent was nice with good working window ACs. In Muzadalifah, there was no dedicated area for AlAlaa and it was crowded but we managed to find a place between people to laydown. Initially they told us we had to bring our own sleeping bags, but about a day earlier they provided us with one. Overall we performed the hajj Alhamdulillah. If I had to change something, I would go with a different group so I don't have to stay in Azizia, and would pay extra to stay in a hotel right in front of haram. In Mina, I would go with a group that offer tents with real AC, not aircoolers or offer upgraded tents, where they have another air cooler on the wall other than over head coolers, and have drywalls instead of cloth tents. Also use a better route for airline with one stopover and all tickets in one itinerary, instead of separate tickets. I could not find Al-Alaa as Approved Hajj Travel Agent in this list. http://www.saudinf.com/samex/directory/listentries/pilgrimage/approved%20hajj%20travel%20agents.html?country=United+States I would not recommend choosing Al-Noor or Al-Alaa for Hajj.

Martin Travel Services helped Rod and Gun Resources of Kerrville, Tx to arranged a recent trip to…read moreBolivia. Martin arranged the flights which was done well. Their real value came when my southbound flight was cancelled by Hurricane Harvey the day before departure. While I was in Bolivia with limited email and no cell phone service, my northbound flight was cancelled by Hurricane Irma two days before departure. Martin Travel reacted professionally and quickly to find two separate replacement flights. I would work with Martin Travel Services again.

My wife and her family organized a reunion in Jamaica for their family. Family members from various…read moreparts of the US, Canada, Jamaica, and England participated. We worked with Ms. Karen Schmier at Martin Travel Services in Lauderhill, FL to book travel and rooms at the Hotel Riu in Ocho Ríos, Jamaica. She reserved 13 rooms for 33 people. The reunion was from 7/29/2015 to 8/5/2015. However, several family members extended their reservations. Three rooms were extended to 8/9 for a total of 11 nights. However, Ms. Schmier made the reservations for only 10 nights. The confirmation indicated the correct dates of 7/29 to 8/9, but listed only 10 nights. The two are clearly inconsistent. The reservation should have been for 7/29 to 8/9 and 11 nights. Those with the error discovered it at check in. When asked about the issue, Ms. Schmier became confrontational and would only say that the individuals had only paid for 10 nights. She failed to address the fact that the confirmation also listed the correct dates. She also failed to address the fact that she made transfer arrangements for the same folks to depart on the correct date, 8/9. She would not help us correct her error and arrange for the additional day. Most reputable organizations would have at least owned up to the mistake and maybe even compensated customers in some way for a clear error on their part. However, everyone was prepared to pay for the additional day. No one asked for anything for free. Unfortunately, Ms. Schmier and her management were not interested in helping. They remained very defensive. We were on our own to find additional lodging for those 6 individuals and adjust airport transportation accordingly. All the coordination, phone calls, and emails got us off to a bad start and detracted from enjoying the reunion and the resort. I noted earlier that 33 rooms were booked. It would have been even more, but some family members found Ms. Schmier attitude to be off putting and unhelpful during the reservation process. One of which is a prominent executive in the travel industry. Ms. Schmier seemed to be overwhelmed by the process and was not able to manage a transaction of this size. Overall, I would never recommend Ms. Schmier or Martin Travel Services to anyone.

The booking process was extremely simple and seamless. Me and my family specially loved the human…read moretouch that World In My Wallet's team put into helping us plan our dream vacation to Victoria Falls, taking care of the smallest of details- from an airport pick up to giving us a super comfortable stay in a luxurious property amidst the wild. Our kids loved making their own pizzas as well as watching the elephants walk by in our hotel lobby.

From the owner: Current Specials: All Inclusive 6 Day Dubai Vacation with Airfare $1349…read more World In My Wallet is a boutique travel site, where we handpick the finest flights, hotels and excursions for your itinerary. We specialize in all inclusive packages to Africa, India and Dubai. Our experts have personally experienced each of the components of your travel package, to bring you the choicest and the most luxurious experiences at a price that will fit your wallet