Viajero21
The Philippines
Couple
It was an overall enjoyable trip. The weather was awesome, the private water tours memorable and the Filipino food delicious.
The best parts:
Best parts:
1. The excelent level of communications with Philippines EVANEOS vendor Junji.
2. Working with Junji to have the best 22 day itinerary.
3. Excelent transportation and coordination within Country.
4. Good itinerary pace, with free time to explore areas on our own. Great selection of private tours.
5. Most of the hotels were great.
It was a great trip!
The worst parts:
Not worst part, but it was annoying:
NOTE: Most of the hotels were great! Hovever, there were two hotels that did not meet expectations. To be fare, I am not sure if it was due to room availability or available hotel choices (****** (2nights -uneven floors and******(4 nights - shower overlapping with toilet area).
Faroz
The Philippines
Solo
Varied itinerary from land excursion to water excursion.
The best parts:
A very well organised trip in a very beautiful country. But I had informed the agent what islands I wanted to visit, what activities i wanted to do and some of the hotels I wanted to stay at.
The worst parts:
The stress and uncertainty. Communications were very bad from after I had paid the deposit. I had to chase the agent up in order for her to send me the link to pay the balance of the trip. The communications were so bad that I started doubted whether the company actually existed. I did not receive all the domestic flight vouchers by the time i left the Uk, one of voucher that she had sent me had my name totally wrong. She stated that she would send printed copies with the pick up driver at Manila airport but the latter did not have anything on him. His instructions were only to pick me up. I spent a couple of hours on the first day of the holiday trying to figure out the vouchers that she had sent me and noticed that she had got the dates wrong and had to mail her. The airport security would not allow me into the domestic airport without printed copy of the ticket. I had to go into my ipad to get the electronic copy and he allowed me in as an exception. I had to keep chasing her up and eventually got them printed at the hotel reception. Upon arrival at Manila airport, very fortunately I managed to log into the airport wifi and I received a WhatsApp message informing me where the driver would wait for me, which was outside the terminal building. I dont know what I would have done if I did not manage to log into the airport wifi or if my phone was not working. I had to keep texting her on almost a daily basis to find out various airport pickups times and pick up time for excursions. The itinerary of 2 of my excursions were changed without notifying me of the same. Lunch on the Lobok river cruise was replaced with lunch with a local family. I had to chase her up to reinstate that lunch on the following day excursion. It casted a huge shadow on the holiday and was very stressful when I should have been relaxing and enjoying myself.
Amelia
The Philippines
Couple
Philippines was amazing. I'm glad that we chose Evaneos because we wouldn't have the time to program all of the things that we did. It was totally worth it we just had to get to the place and everything was set.
Our agent Kenny was in constant communication with us and she responded fast and willing to help to all of my extra requests. Philippines is magical but there is a lot of planning in regards tours, transportation, hotels and local flights that makes it so much easier to work with a company like Evaneos.
Just say your budget and they will accommodate everything to that price. Excellent job Evaneos and Kenny, thank you for a great experience 😁😁😁
The best parts:
OUR AGENT KENNY 😁 The stays were top quality, we still miss our Villa at El Nido and the beautiful hotel************and their food and attentions.
I was late for my trip planning and every tour package that I found on internet was full or really expensive. Kenny had my itinerary ready in just one day an didn't pressure me at all to make a decision.
We felt comfortable right away and we are glad trusted her with our trip planning.
The worst parts:
Professionalism of the tour companies in *********.
It wasn't until our amazing tour in Coron that we realized that the boat crew is supposed to tell us a little background/history about the stops that we made. On both tours at El Nido they just told us the name of the stop and the time that we could stay/swim there.
I don't know if it was because they didn't know English at all but it would have been more enjoyable if we had known more about the beautiful places that we saw. We had to make our own investigation after getting home and then we were disappointed that we didn't enjoy it in the proper way.
The tour agency at Coron was informative and top quality, please keep working with them.
Evaneos
Merci pour votre témoignage et à bientôt autour du monde!
Leo
The Philippines
Family
Overall, a great trip. We saw many beautiful beaches and had many new experiences. We would highly recommend using Jungji to help book a trip to the Philippines. If there were any questions,, it was easy to get ahold of him and he responds quickly
The best parts:
The agent, Jungji, provided a great itinerary for our trip. We especially enjoyed the wonderful and beautiful beaches and lagoons that we saw on our boat tours. We were able to spend time as we pleased and the local people are friendly. Also Jungji ensured that transportation was arranged so that we didn’t have to worry about getting to and from the airport to our various hotels. All the hotels that we stayed in were nice and clean.
The worst parts:
The roads in El Nido were pretty rough. When we rode through the town on tricycles, it was very bumpy.
Evaneos
Thank you for your feed back! See you around the world!
Dom
The Philippines
Solo
See my comments above.
The best parts:
Fantastic scenery of El Nido in the two tours I have made.
Super massage paid by the local agent in Boracay - one of the best, if not the best, I have taken in my life.
The worst parts:
Horrible terminal 4 in Manila Airport - worse than third world bus terminals or stations. By the way, the whole airport is extremely messy.
Confusion made when I have arrived -- instructions were to look for Discovery Primea in Terminal 3. Local agent have assumed I would land on Terminal 3 but I arrived on Terminal 2. I had to ask where to go and security told me to take a taxi to Terminal 3 that was about 1 mile away from Terminal 2.
Bad services on El Nido hotel. By the way, everybody and everything in The Philippines, don't care about time. Planes depart very late, breakfast in El Nido hotel at least half an hour late.
Simgrila2
The Philippines
Couple
In this Internet world, anyone can book a trip to anywhere online. However should things go wrong as in the sudden eruption of the Taal volcano, I was grateful that I had an local travel expert on my side. She made all our re-routings for us and we did not lose any of our time worrying about that. Thank you Kenny for looking after our interests while we were in the Philippines.
We are now enjoying Bali and will arrive at our last destination Singapore tomorrow. We'll be heading home on the 28th via Qatar Airways as it has the best business class in the world. That is more than an airline slogan but a fact.
Finally Kenny drove 12 hours round trip to meet with us and to say good bye as we left. Can any do more than that?
The best parts:
Great destinations and fabulous accommodation.so surprised that an agent in Baguio can locate such a hidden gem for us in Dumaguetti.
The worst parts:
The traffic for which the Philippines is already notorious for
Rugby Guy 1087
The Philippines
Couple
We had a great time in the Philippines! People were friendly, the scenery and activities spectacular, and the overall experience exceeded our expectations. We would love to spend more time in this wonderful country and look forward to a return visit. That being said, we will be looking for a much more professional / accurate approach to our arrangements next time.
The best parts:
The places we visited in the Philippines were great - better than expected. We would certainly look to going back to these locations one day in the future, The local tours were also very good - excellent service and locations. We would recommend a visit to the Philippines for almost everyone.
The worst parts:
The NUMEROUS mistakes and deficiencies in our itinerary. There were mistakes, mismatches, unannounced changes, and general lack of accurate information in our itinerary even though it had been booked many months in advance. We did not receive a final copy of our itinerary until 3 days into our trip, and then the accommodation did not match the vouchers provided. In one case a promised (and noted in the itinerary) airline reservation was was not included. Although we were told the was flight cancelled due to aircraft maintenance, we visited the airline at the airport and were told the flight was going ahead with no problems and that we never had a reservation. This was VERY concerning. Then, had we followed the directions for our replacement ferry trip, we would still be sitting in El Nido. A visit to the ferry company prior to departure showed that the directions we had been given (to replace the flight) by our agent were wrong. This is simply one example of the numerous errors and inconsistencies in our final travel package. Throughout the trip we were constantly unsure if the information provided was correct, and very often it wasn't. Please note that we are very experienced travelers having visited 30+ countries over the last few years, and the attention to detail for our arrangements was well below our previous experiences. Happy to provide a detailed review of our concerns.
Evaneos
Thank you for your feed back! See you around the world!
P+C
The Philippines
Couple
Find it above in best and worst Parts.
The best parts:
Well organized.
All Transfers were perfectly timed.
All Tours were privat with our own guide.
Best guide on the Philippines was Jessie from********** during our stay in Bohol.
Good mix out of leisure and sightseeing.
Our agency was permanent reachable when we had Problems. Note That we didn‘t had big Problems, such small one.
The worst parts:
The last Hotel was not in the same standard like the others.
Was not ok for the pricing. (We discussed it with the Agency directly)
We did not like the oslob Tour with the whale shark (that‘s our own opinion)
Evaneos
Thank you for your feed back! See you around the world!
Andreamee
The Philippines
Family
We started in Manila and had a nice diner with Junji. We left for Dumaguete and stayed there for 5 nights, *******, great hotel, very friendly! ********hotel for our trip. Did some excurioson like Apo island (great, not to crowded), oslob ( not sure what to think of that), Kawasan falls (did not like, over crowded and totally exploited place). we then left for the********River, nice resort, across the river a lot of noice/music coming from the houses. Tarsier I already wrote. We had a short land excursion because one of us was sick and had to see a doctor. We then left for Panglao. Really nice hotel***********, friendly people, to many Chinese/Korean. Went to Balicasag island, we were not crazy about, hanging on a rope to see the corals, hmm. We then left for ********. Nice hotel **********, found it extremely pitiful you could not swim in front of the hotel because of all the boats in front of it. The excursions were very nice thanks to a great crew in our private banks. We drove to Daluyan, nice resort, we stayed longer because of the typhoon. Did not get to do excursions because of typhoon. Flew to Manila and home
The best parts:
We had a very nice trip also thanks to well organized Junji. The fact we had a phone given by Junji was great since we were stuck in Palawan during the tyfoon.
The underwater experience was great, the people very friendly and helpful when needed.
The worst parts:
The excursion are a different story. We liked the private part, our own car or banka. We were surprised by the many tourists and the way some excursions were organized. So crowded and often with so little respect for the (especially underwater) gems the Philippines has. The big group of Chinese/Korean people who are totally disrespecting everything and everybody. The land tour like looking for the Tarsier monkey was a deception, this has nothing to with nature anymore. It is like walking into somebody's backyard, quickly take a picture ( if you get a chance with all the Chinese who want a selfie with the tarsier) and get out. This may be oke for the Chinese but is definitely not what we are looking for in a trip ( and I'm sure many more European).
Evaneos
Hi,
Thank you for the perfect score and your detailed review. We were so happy to have you here and it was great to get to meet you all face to face which is something we don’t get to do much.
Thank you for all your positive compliments on how well your trip was organized. That is what we always aim for.:)
Tho, it is true, some of the destinations we decided on together , are the must-sees of the Philippines. So indeed there will be a lot of tourists which is a plus for our economy, but unfortunately, some are not as respectful as most are. Which is why we always book private tours to have a better chance of avoiding the crowds which I hope you enjoyed. Regarding the Tarsiers, sadly, they are endangered. The sanctuary you visited is one of the few reasons they still exist. Those cute little primates are extremely shy so it will be impossible to find them in the wild. Hope you were able to take some pictures as well. As for the music in peoples houses, I understand this oh so well.:) Filipinos love music and love to sing. And we will sing to the top of our lungs no matter how off tune some are!! And in very quiet and tranquil place like Loboc River, you can’t help but hear a little bit of this from a distance. Regarding the beach at Corong Corong, yes, parking is a problem.:p Too many boats in front taking advantage of being at the best area to be in at El Nido mainland. The local government is already taking steps to resolve this. It can be an eye soar to some. Tho the beautiful sunset usually makes up for it. I’m sorry that you were affected by the typhoon but I hope you still enjoyed nevertheless. I was glad to be of service during this time and happy that you appreciated the hard work we put in to make the necessary adjustments during the typhoon.
I hope you took home some wonderful memories of our beautiful country and come back again soon. 😊
All the Best,
Junji
Summer Escaped
The Philippines
Couple
All in all the trip was amazing and memorable. I was born in the Philippines but did not have enough time to grow up there and explore wonderful sites it has to offer. Traveling from one place to another became hassle-free especially once I have the documentations I needed. Most of the Resorts and hotel are highly recommendable due to the staff’s accommodating personalities. If given more time I would explore more other locations.
The best parts:
3/4 hotel accommodations we’re very pleasant. From the welcoming team as soon as we land in each specific locations, up to the resort’s personnels. Staff of each resorts are very accommodating and helpful especially el rio y mar resort in Coron, Palawan.
The Evanoes member that helped me plan this trip was excellent especially when there was some troubles during my stays or locating the driver for the next destination. Providing an upgrade as a compensation due to poor communication was very appreciated. However, there are mental issues (stress) that built up for quite some time especially when given a certain timetable to receive things and there is none until to the last minute.
Meeting amazingly new people throughout the entire trip was great!
The worst parts:
1/4 resort that we stayed at was an unpleasant experience. The way the staff handled the situation of the room was very poor. Room cleanliness was very poor as well as the housekeeping and front desks personnel.
Despite how helpful the Evanoes members on some occasions, it became difficult to contact people most of the time. This caused me some frustrations and anxiety especially when the trip was coming up so soon and I did not have documentations and exact details I require to travel. Also, during the trip already I was still missing vouchers for the next destination, which caused some more trouble for me mentally. But thankfully it got resolved on time a few hours before the next flight.
Nilangi
The Philippines
Solo
In Summary, the logistics and tours were organized very well but the accommodation was an absolute waste of money. We didn't get the support we expected from our tour agent and was left wondering why we had hired him and Evaneos in the first place.
The best parts:
The logistical & tour details were organized very well, and were implemented seamlessly. We were picked up on time, and taken on tour according to plan. Hotel C*** in Manila was absolutely spot on in terms of the brief given by us.
The worst parts:
We were booked in to hotels that were far away from the main area of the island. We specified to be booked in to small, intimate hotels but were booked into large resorts that needed a map to walk through!
The most disappointing experience we had was in Cebu:
Prior to arriving in Cebu, because of our consistent disappointment of having being booked into large resorts, we asked Junji if Cebu was the same. We were told that it is so because there are no good hotels near the city and we definitely couldn't be booked into any regular hotels so late in the game. After arriving in Marigabo Blue Water, we were horrified that it was one hour away from the city, there were children running all over the place, it was noisy, and was definitely not a place to relax in. It was more disappointing to know that we found an alternative hotel in Cebu city within 15 minutes of searching, which was closer to Kawasan falls (the reason we were in Cebu), less expensive, and small & intimate. We checked into this hotel on our own account and was the best accommodation we had during the entire trip!
SCK
The Philippines
Solo
The Philippines is an amazing country to travel through, especially if you like outdoor activities. The people are friendly and hospitable. And the places we visited were just stunning.
The best parts:
Logistics were very well organized. Junji is very detail oriented with regard to logistics and had thought of the little things. He was also very responsive
The worst parts:
The hotels that were recommended did not fit the brief I provided. I was very clear in our first conversation that I don't like to stay at big hotels that are isolated from their communities. However, with the exception of one hotel, all hotels booked were located far away from the centre and very large, despite there being better located, cheaper options in all except maybe one city that we visited.
Further, given that I had asked for an activity based trip, it really wasn't necessary to pay so much for luxury resorts. Most days, we only slept in them.
Ocean fun
The Philippines
Couple
I loved the island hopping and the hotels we stayed at were amazing.. the staff was extremely helpful.
The best parts:
Everything!! Junji is the best travel agent i have dealt with ever.. he is reassurinf and extremely helpful. I had the best honeymoon thanks to him! Even though me and my wifes planning was a little last minute he still made all the necessary arrangements. I cannot thank him enough!
The worst parts:
Everything was perfect.
Philippines
The Philippines
Couple
We went to Cebu, Coron& Siquijor, and Bohol. Was a lot of moving around but it was nice to get a chance to see all the islands. We took 5 Tours altogether, they were all great.. we are already planning to come back next year. We truly love the Philippines..
The best parts:
My 22 days in the Philippines was amazing! We loved all the resorts and the tours was great! Most of all the people in the Philippines are just the kindest people you will ever meet!
The worst parts:
The worst part was my husband and I got the stomach flu. I got it worse then my husband. It was the 1st week we were there. Our travel agent was so kind because a couple days later he gave an upgrade to a suite room and then a massage. We recovered in couple days. Although I still had a couple days when I had some stomach issues. But the trip was still great!
PI Bohol
The Philippines
Family
Junji did a great job on our itinerary. There were plenty of free days for us to explore and we did most of his suggestions. Bohol beach club was great! Transportation was smooth and we really enjoyed panglao beach. The tours we're fun, we got to see tarsiers, chocolate hills, and the oldest churches. Dolly was an awesome guide!
The best parts:
Thank you Junji for making our Bohol trip great! We really enjoyed our stay and the tours were fun! Junji was very responsive and he made our trip easy. We are excited to save vacation time again so we can go back.
The worst parts:
None
