St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church Pilgrimage and Concert Tour to Rome

I would like to thank you and MCI for your incredible support and perfect arrangements for our recent pilgrimage/concert tour to Italy with the International Federation of Pueri Cantores Congress. Our singers, their parents, and their leaders returned from the Congress with beautiful memories of life-changing experiences that we will all treasure and remember forever.

The four-star Melia Hotel was certainly wonderful and we would gladly stay there again. Space was excellent for breakfast and dinner. The staff were very friendly when we had a few key entry problems. 

The various restaurants we used in Rome were really outstanding and gave us a lot of different dining experiences. New Year’s Eve in La Caravana was especially outstanding. The music, disco dancing, food, and service were all outstanding and helped our singers to really enjoy this, along with all the other MCI groups there.

Flavio Nicoletti and Massimo Bannetta were the best Tour Managers we have ever had! They worked very hard 24/7 to make sure that everyone was having a great time. Their knowledge of Rome and experience with past Congresses really worked to our benefit. We were often the first ones there for rehearsals and the New Years Day Mass. They really knew what they were doing, and we benefitted. Flavio was amazing and he really knew the timing of how to make things work. When pushed in crowds he was able to get the choir closer and he was very protective of the little ones. He was excellent on the bus and had a great repartee between the bus driver and me. He was funny, positive, and had good information for all of us.

The sightseeing and local guides were all exceptionally good. One of our favorite days was the day tour to Assisi. This is always a highlight for us.

Let me tell you a few other things that I appreciated about this whole experience:

1. MCI never changed our price from the time you quoted (almost two years before we traveled). I don’t think many other groups were so lucky.
2. MCI’s price was all-inclusive (tips to everyone, local transportation all included) and we had no unpleasant financial surprises or surcharges.
3. We had chartered buses throughout the tour that took us everywhere, which led to our being on time, and not having the hassles of dealing with any local transportation
4. MCI’s communication with us was impeccable. I never phoned your office to speak with Ashley or others without  immediate access or a quickly returned phone call to address my questions.
5. All literature about the itinerary, Congress activities, our own scheduled sightseeing and excursions was clear, concise, and easy to distribute to all participants on our tour.

MCI has been a strong and exceptional partner for our choir. After performing three major trips both in the US and in Europe, I would recommend MCI highly to any group. They make tours a stress-free adventure. Groups can just enjoy the trip and not worry about all the details that go into planning for large or small groups.

We look forward to working with MCI on many future concert tours!

Sincerely, 

Donna Gwozdz Farwell, Director