Traveler Reviews

• Pmv65 09-Feb-2023

  The guides were very knowledgeable about Casablanca and took my wife and I to a lot of interesting places. The mosque tour was incredible. Other than that, there were surprisingly few "tourist" places to visit, though, as Casablanca is a very industrial city. We were pleasantly surprised to see how modern Casablanca is. The one big disappointment to the day was the unexpected visit to their friend's rug store. We did not ask to go there but they insisted we go, "just to have a look". The rug dealer was not overly pushy and did show us a lot of nice rugs. We did end up picking one, and we had to haggle ourselves (on another trip to Marrakech, the guide there did all the haggling for us and we saved a lot!). The rug dealer said it took 8 months to make the carpet and that it was a one-of-a-kind, hence the high price. Our tour guide did recommend that we sign the back of the rug in black marker, which we did, There was also a "certificate of authenticity" sewn onto the back of the rug. We managed to get the price down to about US$3,300, which included taxes and shipping. BUT the carpet we received about a week later was different: thinner and of poorer quality. It did not have our signature on the back nor the certificate. It did have a tag hanging from it, though, that said "1 of 3". So much for its uniqueness. We tried to contact the store but they have refused to answer us. Even Visa won't do anything about it, because we did get a rug, even if it is of a poorer quality. So, buyer beware and don't go to his friend's rug store!!

• Peterv185 05-Dec-2022

  The tour guide and driver were a lot of fun. Very knowledgeable about the city, it’s history and the people. Great tour of the mosque - not to be missed. But we did have a major issue with the carpet store he took us to at the end of the tour. We did ask to be taken to a carpet store. He must get some kind of kickback for bringing people there. That was a bit disappointing, to be brought there. The carpets were very beautiful and we did end up buying one, although we had no intention of getting a carpet on this trip! The really disappointing part is that they sent us a carpet that we did not pick! They told us each carpet was unique, that locals spent up to 18 months making them by hand, and we believed them. So, for the carpet we picked, our tour guide suggested we sign the back of the carpet, just so that we know we got the one that we picked when it arrived at our home (which I thought was really odd if each carpet was supposedly unique). We were very shocked to see that when the carpet arrived this week, it did not have our signature on the back. It is the same design and size, but obviously not unique! There was even a handwritten tag that said (2 of 3). So, it looks like this carpet was machine made and we very likely greatly overpaid to get it. Buyer beware!! Better yet, just avoid this tour, as your best interests are not in the guides’ mind.