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Booked the deluxe 17 day non shifting package for Hajj 2023 through the Nusuk Hajj website. Alhamdullilah excellent service received throughout. Brother Tofayel was our allocated guide. He was an excellent & thoroughly experienced guide. Realised pretty quickly our mindset had to change, this isn’t like a normal holiday that you’ve spent a huge amount of money on. This whole journey is a test THERE WILL BE DIFFICULTIES IN HAJJ so be warned most definitely your patience will be tested you’ve have been invited by the Almighty to perform Hajj so go with zero expectations. Again this isn’t like a holiday where you spent thousands so you demand & expect an equally high level of service. Things will go wrong, travel logistics will change this is test on how you react when they do. You spend 15K then demand that Allah swt forgives all your sins at hajj. Even if you spent 100k your money would never be worthy of having your sins forgiven. Alhamdullilah changing my mindset to this ensured I had a Fantastic experience with excellent levels of service and attention to detail from Al Bait guests. Would definitely recommend.
Alhamdolilah Allah made possible for me and wife to perform Umrah thanks to Hijaz Travel last year in October. For someone who is from North Africa that speaks only Arabic and English my experience was excellent 10/10. Special thanks to Shabbir, Tofayl, Akheel, and the other Bengali brother who went above and beyond Masha’Allah. Going definitely with them again for either another umrah or Haj Insha’Allah. highly recommend. I was worried that because I don’t speak neither Urdu or Bengali that I might find it difficult to coupe with them but Alhamdolilah all went well and here is my experience: Started the process and once I provided them all the documents I was informed on every step needed or actioned by them. Very professionals Masha’Allah. Once dates were confirmed, a WhatsApp group was formed to keep those going up to date on each step. This was very useful as we kept using WhatsApp throughout the journey even after we arrived back to the UK. We had a plan every day and the leaders made sure their group was informed and kept up to date. Now there are few things I want to highlight to Hijaz Travel for the sake of improvement for the future Insha’Allah: 1- it would be better if in Mekka before starting the umrah, for everyone to have the same colour in the form of a bag or something so that the group wouldn’t separate or get lost and follow the leader/group. Some of the brothers like Akheel ( having orange bag ) and another brother ( sorry I forgot your name) who handed couple of green bags helped a lot when doing the Tawaaf as it was easy to identify everyone from the group. 2- when doing Tawaaf please bear with the sisters brothers and don’t rush. Some of the brother/leaders did stay behind to help the sisters which was very much appreciate it. 3- when doing the visits there was both Bengali and English translation but Bengali translation was more favourable. 4- because I was the only native Arabic speaking person in the group, I was approached few times by the hotel staffs both in Makkah and Madenah who raised few things that it bothered them. These are as follows: - when checking in/out please stay in group and don’t block the entrance. - when the bus arrive to pick the group, leaders should identify which bus it is for which group first before telling everyone busses are here! This caused issue as some of the group and staff had to put the heavy suitcases in the first bus, then they were told to remove it all and put it in the second bus. - shouting, arguing and fighting specially in Madinah. people in Madinah are very friendly and they are soft spoken. The hotel manager told me personally “ this is not a Wednesday market, people should not speak that loudly and shout over little things” 5- this one is for the individual/group who are going for the umrah, yes I’m talking about you who are reading this review, please do not do the following when in Saudi: - when heading for visits ( Zeyarah), Makkah or Madinah the bus will make short/medium stops to rest or view the visit (e.g. Uhud mountain) the leaders will make it very clear how much time you are allowed to take e.g. 15/30 minutes, you will find people selling all sort of things and you will be tempted to buy few things for your family and friends which you are allowed to BUT do not make everyone waits for you! Just be reasonable. - you are there for a specific purpose to perform umrah/haj. Be prepared to be out of your comfort zone as you might be tired or sleepy and must push forward, please try to make all your prayers at the masjid on time and don’t miss any prayers and du’ua when possible. - buying gifts for family and friends are often cheaper around those visits places that you will attend so have a little bit of patience. - bring bottle of waters with you, backpack and some sunglasses You will thank me later - if you need to wash/dry clean your clothes there are plenty of places in both site who would do that for fair price Ask the hotel or you might see them outside your hotel giving cards. That is all from my end. Thank you regards Abdullahi
We are doing Hajj this year and Hijaz is the partner Nusuk paired us with. I would highly recommend prospective pilgrims to avoid them. There is lack of accountability, communication and organization. I understand hajj poses a lot of logistical challenges due to sheer number of people but that is no excuse for leaving pilgrims in limbo. Just a couple examples: When our flight reached Miqat 20-30 minutes before Jeddah, the pilot announced that we had just passed the miqat point. People were shy to start the Talbiya (Labbayk) and the guides sit there like everybody else. Few minutes later, a passenger took it upon himself walking down the aisle saying Talbiya aloud and encouraging others to join in. When we were doing the umrah the first night we arrived in Makkah, the “religious scholar” they appointed to lead the group in umrah said we are going to offer Tahiyyatul Masjid salah before starting the tawaf which is exactly what many books and workshops I attended said not to do. He later was corrected by someone in the group. Due to lack of communication and planning, lots of people from our group missed staying the night of 11 DhulHajj in Mina and were stuck in Makkah hotels because there was no transportation arrangement. They waited until 11pm to let some people know an alternative way to get to Mina. Those who tried spent the next 5-6 hours trying to get to Mina. Also, instead of communicating these transportation options in the Telegram groups for everyone’s benefit they just announced it one of the hotel lobbies for anyone who might be there. People were desperately asking questions on the group and were ignored. They removed the ability to post text messages to the Telegram group chats in the middle of the hajj. Arafat was another story with many people passing out due to non working A/C in the tents. No transportation was provided on 10th or 11th of DH from Mina or Jamarat back to Hotels. Again, may be understandable due to logistical challenges but there were no communication on what alternatives are there until it was too late. On top of 15,000 we spent on the hajj package people had to pay exorbitant taxi fares to get to and from Mina. It is very clear to me that the guides are not good communicators and they don’t take responsibility. Looks like most Hajj related 5 star comments are from 2022 and because they issued a full refund when people could not go.
I went to Hajj 2023 with Hijaz Travel, and I’m posting a five star review specifically because of Sisters Azra and Salina, and Brothers Kabir/Toufayel. My elderly mother became extremely extremely unwell on Arafat and I knew that I had to get her all the way back to her Makkah accommodations as soon as possible. Not only did they take my mothers condition seriously, they waited with us for hours to make sure we could get back from this restricted area to Makkah. They were also kind and gentle with us the entire time. I will never forget especially how Sister Azra was there for us in our time of need.
Very efficient. Very professional service. Good communication Sadly due to the new Hajj rules that came in very late in 2022, we were unable to proceed with our Hajj with Hijaz however they made the communications to us very detailed and also swiftly refunded the money without any hesitations. Many travellers and agents were effected by the new rules that Saudi introduced (the need to book directly with online system) however despite this set back, Hijaz communicated the situation with me and also refunded our deposit. I will use again for other travels in future inshallah
