Why I Use a Travel Advisor

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Why I Use a Travel Advisor

Have you worked with a travel advisor? There are so many situations where a travel advisor can bring value to your vacation experience. I have recently worked with a well-known agency located here in the Twin Cities, Travel Leaders – Market Square. They are a Franchise of Travel Leaders Network, the largest travel network in the U.S. This is a family owned and operated agency since 1984. They have been recognized for multiple years as the “Associate of the Year” a prestigious award given by Travel Leaders Network.

The Travel Leaders team has an advisor for every travel need and style. For any future trips, I know Travel Leaders has an advisor that can assist and provide insight and knowledge to enhance my travel experience.

Some of their vacation planning services include:

  • Destination Wedding and Honeymoons
  • Bucket List Vacations (ex. Safari in Kenya, Overwater Bungalows, Exotic or adventure destinations)
  • Ocean and River Cruising (including small ship, sailing and expedition cruises)
  • Group Travel (ex. Spring Break Groups, multi-generation family trips, wine or garden clubs, service clubs like Rotary or Lions)
  • Disney and Theme Park Travel

Regardless of the travel style or destination, Travel Leaders has specialist to collaborate with you. Their team is deep rooted in experience and expertise. They truly are the experts!  And talking to an advisor when planning a trip truly opens your eyes to maximizing your time and budget.

Here are just a few examples of when to use a Travel Advisor:

  1. When seeking expertise, recommendations and someone with personal experience to help plan a trip. They’ll provide tips and weed out the big data online.  Perfect if you are overwhelmed or just suspicious of online options.
  2. When you don’t want the responsibility to organize the entire trip and you want someone to organize what you want along with providing a price.  
  3. When you want trust with your investment, a human connection, and to meet face to face.
  4. When looking for a vacation catered to your passions and interests. They can provide a customized itinerary.  Travel advisors work with a network of partners in every country to give you access hidden treasures and insider tips to make the most of your trip based on your personal interests.
  5. Traveling in big groups they can organize the chaos.
  6. A complex trip that involves multiple transfers and flights. They handle it ALL!
  7. When you want an advocate. If something goes wrong— injury, cancelations, and other travel inconveniences, your travel advisor is one phone call away.

When you book online, the system pre-selects what you see and what they want you to buy.  A computer cannot ask you questions and clarify your wants and desires.  At Travel Leaders their focus is to customize an itinerary, give you the best insight and value.  You will be given extra information about your destination, hotels, cruise and hotel. SEAMLESS travel. They are always working for YOU.

Human connection is something you cannot replace. If something goes wrong, your advisor is there to help and find a solution. A flight cancelation, problem or issue, their team is always available. Plus, airlines and hotels/resorts have immediate lines with travel advisors to resolve any situation.

If you haven’t worked with a travel agency before, it is a simple process.  You simply call them, email them, or set up a meeting. You let them know where you are going, what you want to know/do, and how much you want to spend. They listen to you, ask more questions and send over recommendations, information and insight that fits your wants and needs.  Yes, there is a fee for this service, but in my experience the time and money I save in travel planning far outweigh the upfront service fee.

Let me tell you, this is the only way to TRAVEL, a totally different experience. It felt like I could finally enjoy the destination without restraints or worries about the next move.  

Let a Travel Leaders Advisor take care of your travel plans!

Honeymoon at Barcelo Maya Grand Resort

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My clients recently returned from the beautiful Riviera Maya, Mexico.  They stayed at the Barcelo Maya Grand Resort, and upgraded their room to the Junior Suite Ocean Front Club Premium.  They also upgraded their airport transfers to ‘private’ which for this resort is well worth the upgrade!!  Here is what they had to say:

Hey Melissa!!

Thank you so much for planning out all the details for our honeymoon! We had such a great time and will be planning on returning again in a few years! The flight was good we had enough time to make it to  our transfers on the way there and home. Having the private transfer to the hotel from the airport and then back on the last day was so great! The driver when we first got to Cancun was so nice and talked to us all the way to the hotel! It really made us feel comfortable and welcomed to have that great initial experience! We already decided we would have a private transfer when we travel next time. The hotel was very nice and our room was perfect! We would do Premium room again they were updated and really modern. You could see the ocean and the pool from our balcony! They did a great job with cleaning and restocking our fridge each night. We liked how everything was at the hotel. You could go snorkeling, they had dolphins, the spa, and of course all of the swimming pools and swim up bars! We really like the restaurants which was a nice break to eat at instead of the buffets for every meal.  They had entertainment every night as well and stuff going on during that day you could do or just watch while your in the pool:)

We had a lot of fun and thank you for all your help again!

Client Review: Ocean Blue and Sand in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

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Thank you Kristi for finding us a perfect get away for our family.  Your patience with my indecisiveness was much appreciated.  I was so busy with work, family and activities that I really didn’t have time to plan our trip.  You listened to what we wanted and made it happen in a very short time frame,  The resort was perfect for our family.  It was everything we wanted…beach, pool, great food, entertainment, wonderful staff and sunshine.  We loved Punta Cana and can’t wait until we can go back!  Thank you for everything!

Client review of Rome and Sorrento

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We had a wonderful trip!! Thank you so much for all your help. You can’t imagine how nice it was to have everything we needed (itineraries, vouchers, etc.) organized and ready to go.

The Grand Paradiso Art was good but the room was tiny (you warned us about that and you were right). The balcony was super spacious and the view was incredible!

We looked at several of the hotels down on the water. While they were gorgeous, we were glad to be “up the hill” a bit. The hotel offered a shuttle service so it was only a 5 minute ride into town.

The Capri excursion was wonderful!! There were 4-5 other couples with us and we got plenty of time on our own to explore the island. Definitely two thumbs up!

The night tour in Rome was one of our favorites too. Jonathan was our tour guide and we really enjoyed him. In fact, we scheduled another tour the following night hoping to get him again.

We quickly got into the habit of sleeping late then heading into town and ended up skipping the pizza and gelato tour.

Thank goodness for the “skip the line” tickets at the Vatican! Holy cow…..the entry line was literally wrapped around the building. The only negative thing about this one was the crowd. The trip through Raphael’s Rooms and the Sistine Chapel was a bit overwhelming because of the crowd but I’m not sure how we could’ve avoided that.

All in all, it was the trip of a lifetime. Thanks again for working so hard to make it special for us! You will definitely be hearing from us again (hopefully soon!) as we look at future vacations.

Charlotte R. Maple Grove

 

Client Review of Tauck River Cruise on Rhine and Moselle

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It was wonderful. Our weather was not too bad for May with a few rainy days.

Tauck River Cruise Rhine and MoselleTauck was fantastic and we would look at using them again. The Tour Directors were very good; 1 was fantastic. The General Manager was awesome. The local guides were all excellent and very knowledgeable. The evening entertainment was only a bit better than Uniworld. They can’t seem to get good venues but that was expected. The “Schloss” event was poor (bad service and mediocre food). The local dancers were awful. Local violinists were excellent.

Join Tauck River Cruises

Join Tauck River Cruises

The food was regionalized very well. The wines were excellent and regionalized as well. We were in Riesling country so I was in hog heaven. Cabin was well appointed.

My favorite visits were on the Moselle as it was more sedate and less busy river. The small German towns were as I remembered them. We choose Luzerne for our final day over Basel. It turned out to be a good choice as there were issues getting to Basel with locks and traffic. Something that was interesting was the location of the Basel airport. It is actually in France. So of course the French were on slow downs and strikes while we were there so we were delayed on our return flight to Amsterdam. We had to run to get the AMS to ATL connection. It just reinforces that I will never fly to Paris if I can help it.

Map of River Cruise with TauckThe other clientele were very friendly. Many of the other guests had been on Tauck numerous times and were very complimentary overall.

Thanks for all your help to make this a memorable trip.

If you are interested in this trip, contact your agent and check out the details here.

http://www.tauck.com/tours/europe-tours/central-and-eastern-europe-tours/rhine-moselle-south-river-cruise-rms-2017.aspx

 

 

 

 

Client Review: Iberostar Paraiso Maya in the Riviera Maya, Mexico

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It was great and we wouldn’t think twice about returning.

As a reminder, we were a group of 6 that ranged in age from 5 to 77.  Everyone was thrilled with the vacation.  Here is a quick summary:

  • We emailed in advance and were able to make room requests (ground floor) and secure dinner reservations for the first two nights prior to arriving (our room request was also honored)
  • The rooms are spacious and the beds are comfortable.  This is the only AI I have been to where the beds aren’t hard and generally miserable.
  • When we arrived we had fresh flowers in our rooms, a fruit tray, and (as returning guests) a bottle of tequila.  A few days in t-shirts we delivered to our room with the Iberostar brand and “We’re Back” imprinted on them.
  • We ate at the a la carte restaurants all seven nights.  When we arrived, the front desk concierge made our reservations for the five nights we weren’t able to make in advance.  Some or all of us dined at the Japanese, Steak House, Mexican, Seafood, Italian, French, and Gourmet restaurants. The French restaurant was the least favorite because of slow serve and too much air conditioning.  We ate at the seafood restaurant twice.  The first time the food tasted good but was served cold.  Only when prompted by the restaurant manager the next day did we mention this.  We didn’t complain.  The next time we were there he met us and bent over backwards to ensure we had great service and hot food.  In the morning we ate all of our breakfasts at La Marina.  The staff were great and brought me a piping hot cappuccino as soon as they saw me coming.
  • All the bartenders were great.  We enjoyed before and after dinner drinks and the bartenders quickly learned what we liked and mixed great drinks using premium brands (Bombay sapphire, Absolut, Remy Martin, Courvoisier, etc.).  Service around the pool and on the beach was great.  We brought insulated cups and never got attitude about filling them.
  • Housekeeping was fantastic.  They cleaned the rooms and refreshed towels twice a day.  This is the only AI I have ever been to where I don’t mind walking barefoot on the floor in my room.  There is never sand, grit or dirt.
  • We enjoyed the nightly shows and recommend them
  • Paige participated in Lucy’s Club (the kid’s program) on multiple occasions.  They seemed to be having so much fun that she asked to go.  She loved it!  One day she made tie-dyed t-shirts and one day dressed as a pirate and when on a treasure hunt.  At night Paige participated (and performed) in the 8:00 p.m. kids programs.
  • We never had trouble finding chairs by the pool or on the beach.  Also, while we had read that there was a lot of seaweed on the beach, that was not the case while we were there.
  • Dan and I got massages and enjoyed the spa services.  They are spendy … but a great way to relax on vacation.
  • I had read in advance that the hotel was pretty aggressive in marketing their new preferred guest program.  On our first day the main desk concierge tried to rope me in to the “presentation”.  She offered us a meal at The Grand and free massages.  I politely declined and made it clear that none of us wanted to spend 90 minutes of our vacation on the pitch.  That was the one and only time it was brought up.  No one else in our party was even approached.

We love this resort and hope to return soon.  This was the experience of all six in our party.  I will say that we tried to tip all staff generously.  However, I do not think this determined the level or quality of service we received.  There were others who tipped nothing and they appeared to be treated equally well.

The favorite thing about the trip was definitely the resort.  It is a 9 or 10 out of 10 in our book.

Thanks so much for your patience in helping us book this trip.  You are definitely my go to person.

 

Client Review: Honeymoon at Sandals La Toc, St Lucia

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I am so happy that we worked with you to plan our honeymoon.  I have told everyone I know to talk with you if they need help planning a trip.  Thank you again.

The Sandals La Toc was beautiful.  We stayed in the room with the ocean view, I bet you still have it on file, and it came with one room-service breakfast and one bottle of champagne (for our honeymoon), one couples massage (for staying at least 6 nights), and one Piton sunset cruise (for staying at least 7 nights).

When we got off the plane and went through customs, we were put on a shuttle bus with AC that took us to the resort.  The driver was very knowledgeable and gave us a little history lesson about the island.  The people in the airport who shuttled our bags to the bus loading area requested a tip.  Everyone else at the resort (with the exception of the massage therapists) refused tips per the rules of the resort.  Even at the restaurants… you just order, eat, and leave.

When we got there, we gathered near the entrance and had a welcome champagne cocktail.  Orientation took about an hour.  Then we went to our room and got ready for dinner.  There are 9 restaurants there!

All of the food was good.  We did not eat at the French restaurant because my husband didn’t have closed toe shoes along so we were not allowed in (since we were not dressed according to their dress code).  The closed toe shoe requirement is not clearly posted either… we had dress clothes along, which we wore to most dinners, but because of his sandals we could not go to the French place.  Make sure you tell them that a man must have dress shoes in order for the couple to eat dinner there!!  It is ok for a lady to have sandals though!!

We also did not eat at the Japanese and sushi restaurants because my husband isn’t a fan of that kind of food.
The French place and the Japanese place are by reservation only.  They fill up fast, so make sure to get on the list right away!!

Our favorite was the Neptune.  It is right on the ocean, open to the breeze.  We ate there for lunch and dinner one day!

The Pizza place was great too, and if you sit at Neptunes you can have the pizza too since they basically share a kitchen.  The pizza place is only open for lunch.

Armondo’s was the Italian place, we ate there for dinner 2 nights.  It was also my favorite!!!!  It is up the hill on “Sunset Bluff”.  We found the most amazing little sitting area on the bluff, just down the steps from the Sunset Bluff pool.  No one was ever there!!

The Pavillion was the buffet, open for all 3 meals, and everything was good there.

The Cricketers Pub was a nice piece of home in the tropics… basically an English pub like Houlihans.

Finally, the Pitons was a Caribbean restaurant that served a lot of local-type food… it was amazing.  I had this seafood bouillon that had a small octopus in it!!  It was good.

Eat a lot at meals because there isn’t anything open between meals (except snacks at the gift shop)!!  A couple of days I actually got really hungry in between lunch and dinner.

We went to the no-tax gift shop and got some gifts and clothes, and we went to the “locals” gift shop to get some other gifts.  We went into the resort gift shop to get some cigars and some snacks.  It was so nice to get a drink, have a cigar, and sit by the fire at night.

Friday nights they have a street dance.  We were on the Sunset cruise, so we didn’t make the street dance.

Saturday nights are steak night.  We didn’t make it to that either, since we wanted to spend our last night there at Neptunes with the gentle ocean breeze.

I LOVED the swim up bar.  I had never seen anything like that before.

The pool is busy.  There is another pool up on the Sunset Bluff, but since we weren’t staying up there we didn’t feel like walking up to that pool.  It was fun to walk around on the beach too, and swim in the ocean.

There are a lot of things to do there.  We would have golfed, but it was too hot for us.  The couples massage was incredible.  There are “playmakers” who walk around and try to get people to play games, trivia, etc.  There are also resort photographers who try to take your picture all the time.

We took a kayak out around the bay, that was super fun but we got super burned!!  We had SPF 70 and we still burned.

THE ONE BIG DOWN SIDE:

The beaches are not privatized in St. Lucia.  The locals DO hang out on the beach and WILL try to sell you ANYTHING no matter how many times you might have said NO before.  I was even asleep on a chair and one came and woke me up to tell me he made us a little thing out of a palm leaf for $20.  To avoid being hassled any more, I just gave him the money and we went back up the steps to the resort…. and stayed there.

For the most part, everyone is extremely nice.  The resort staff keep close tabs on you- for example one day we were going to go walk to town and look around, but they would not let us do that. In order to look around town you had to buy a “shopping excursion” for around $150/person.  There are a lot of cool-looking excursions… we wanted to do a zip line and hike the Piton Mountains but didn’t get around to it.

When it was time to go home, we got on the shuttle bus and went back to the airport, and that driver was also very nice and knowledgeable.  I literally cried when we had to leave.  It was just so beautiful.  Like nothing I had ever seen before (granted the most tropical place I have ever been is Miami)….

We did not visit the Halcyon.  I do know it is a smaller resort with not as many things to do, but the one couple we talked to on the Sunset cruise were staying there and said it was “intimate and beautiful”.  You can take a shuttle to the other Sandals resorts and drink there, eat there, party there all day if you wanted.  You just can’t sleep there (since you aren’t checked in there)!!

I LOVE St Lucia.  I would go back right now if I could.  I have even looked up what it takes to work there, cost of living, etc.

Client Review: Honeymoon Adventures in the Land Down Under

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The trip was fantastic.  Of the 4 places we went, I’d be pressed to pick a favorite because they were all such different experiences.  The location of all the hotels you found were perfect, we could just walk to do anything we wanted during our free time.  Each hotel had gotten your note that it was our honeymoon and had left out some wine or chocolates or both and a couple of them even gave us hand written congratulatory notes which was extremely touching.  The Hobbit tour driver Damion even had a printout of a very kind email you’d written to them and gave us a special memento to take back with us.  Chris from Quicksilver met us when we checked in, walked out to the boat with us, made us feel very welcome and mentioned your name and even gave us some drink tickets which was great!  All the tours went well, it often felt like they were really chaotic, but incredibly they all ended precisely as described.  The Sydney harbor bridge climb was amazing and its accessible to far more people than you’d think based on how they describe it.  To get a sample of the great barrier reef, both Tusa and Quicksilver are great options for a try scuba day trip.  If you have to pick, Cairns seems like a better place to stay than Port Douglas, there just seems to be more to do.  The service we encountered at all locations and tours was very welcoming and the amazing concierge in Auckland helped us find entertainment and a delicious Valentines Day dinner.

I’m really struggling to summarize the diving portion as Quicksilver and Tusa both really did a great job.  The staff at both outfitters were nice, competent, efficient, all good things.  I’m not sure which I’d recommend over the other as they were quite different.  Quicksilver was a longer day as they fetched us from our hotel (which was great), there were many times more people on that boat, but it was also bigger and faster so you were able to get to better places on the reef.  Quicksilver broke people out into groups of 4-6 and had a dive guide, Tusa gave you more autonomy unless you asked to have a guided tour.  The food on both was very good, though I did think Tusa’s was better.  I think we only paid for 2 dives on Tusa, but they gave us a 3rd for free which was really nice.

If I ever went there again, I would spend the money to do a live aboard and get better dive sites and a more intimate group of divers.  I would say for you, if someone asked about it I would find out how much diving they’ve done.  If it’s not much, then either of these outfits are perfect (or if they’re really set and cannot do more than 1 or 2 days).  If they’ve done a bit of diving (like more than 50 dives) then maybe steer them to a liveaboard.  Anyone can do either obviously, you’ll probably get a more experienced group doing a live aboard.  Or at least no college kids betting on who can hold their breath the best. haha

Overall it was definitely a success and we had a great time.  Thank you!!

Client Review – Disney Fantasy Cruise

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Melissa,

First let me say thank you for all your assistance on planning our family vacation cruise. It was awesome and we all had a marvelous time.

Arrival at Art of Animation – People were great from arrival to departure. The only issue we had was with the bands we wore to open doors and pay for things. It seemed there was a problem with my band in the programming and with the door lock at our room. No big deal but it took 3 calls to get someone to the room to fix the lock which meant that I ended up walking back to reception 3 times to talk to the front desk to find out when someone would get there so we could get in. Total time about 2 hours. This took me away from spending that time with family. Check out was easy and quick.

Happy Limo from Hotel to dock – Jessica was our driver and was on time and friendly. All went well. Baggage staff at the ship were quick, friendly and I felt bad for them as some people were not understanding that they should be tipping these workers as they are not with Disney.

When it came time to board, it went very fast and oh so glad we didn’t have to worry about our luggage. All lines moved quickly and we got our family photo and moved to the lunch area which totally Wow’d us. Could not believe the spread they put on.

Right after lunch our rooms were ready and while others were unpacking, I took the opportunity to visit the Guest Services and sign up for a couple days of wine tasting (awesome) and to check out the ship to locate the primary areas. Let me add this about Guest Services. I stopped by there a number of times with questions and needs and each time the wait was short and the staff were friendly and professional. It was so much fun with all of the staff from around the world which allowed me to practice my Spanish and French. I think they appreciated my effort to speak to them in their own languages.

Back to the rooms. Again…Awesome! Thanks for getting us together with the veranda’s. It really made family time special being able to hang out with a view of the ocean. The beds were so comfortable and having the split bathrooms really did make a difference. We met our wonderful Stateroom Attendant right away and had a long chat with her (Ria). Over the week, she became like family. When we left, we all gave her a loving hug.

The restaurants – I think the Royal Court was the favorite, followed by the Garden and then the Animation. All were great but because we were not sitting where we could have the character interaction, we rated the Animation a little lower. However, the night we had to draw a character and then got to see them come to life was really exciting. At the Garden we were seated over the engine and so there were steady vibrations. We just went with the idea that we were sitting in a massage chair. The food in all was exceptional. One night they served a beef rib bbq which was the best I’ve had. I asked if I could get the recipe and the next night, they had it for me.

Our dining staff (Oppie, Kevin and Witt) were the best. We had so much fun with them all each night. They really work hard but find time to interact with every person at each of their tables. We actually met Kevin when we arrived and had lunch. He was one of the table waiters in the buffet room. He told Oppie that he met this family and hoped that he gets to wait on us. With all of the international staff, it was fun being able to utilize our limited skills in French and Spanish with them during the week. Even the boys were practicing both languages with Kevin who spoke French, Spanish, Dutch, German and English. And each night one of these 3 would do some table magic for the boys. At the table next to ours there was a little girl (9), her mom and grandma. They were from French Quebec, Canada. Each night our family would toast with our wine glasses and on the first night I raised my glass to the little girl and she got embarrassed and laughed as did her mom. On the second night, her mom encouraged her to toast her soda glass with me and by the 3rd night, she was looking over and waiting for our toast. It was so much fun.

The bars – we visited a number of the bars on ship and settled in with two. One was the Pub and the bartender was a guy by the name of Ashley. We had a number of chats and he was very curious about my Stress Management business (I gave him a card the first night). He had lots of questions and so I gave him a copy of my book. I also gave one to Ria along with her gratuity. My oldest son Jamison and his girlfriend Kelly settled in on the upper bar by the adults only area. It became their special place for the cruise.

Rain Forest – everyone liked this place but there was so much activity that we didn’t get to spend all that much time in there. Not sure if I would sign up for this again as there is an adult hot tub on 11 that we used and was usually available. But I did like the sauna’s in the Rain Forest.

The tours – The St. Maarten Tour was probably the best as we actually got to learn something about the island from the driver who was plugged into a loud speaker so we could all hear him. The St. Thomas tour wasn’t really a tour. The driver was great but had no speaker and so we learned nothing about the island. Basically he was a taxi driver who drove us to Coki beach and Ocean World. Ocean world was somewhat disappointing as two of the major attractions were closed that day. The most interesting thing there were the Iguana’s that were running around freely. Everyone liked the beach as there were lots of fish and things to see while snorkeling. We even had a mother chicken and her chics running along the beach. One interesting fact is that Kelly knew someone in our drivers home country that was a relative to the driver. Small world.

Castaway Cay was great. A party event and lots of room at the beach area. The staff did a great job serving everyone.

There was something going on all the time on ship and there is just no way you can participate in all of them. But I think everyone did as much as they wanted to do and the most important is that the boys got photos with the characters they wanted to be with.

The final night after the show and after we were packed and had our luggage out for them to take (another great idea), we had time together on the veranda to just be family. The weather cooperated all week with only the first night having rough water. Now reality sets in as I review our charges. It is great that the charges are broken down by individual card even thought everything was being billed to my room. Weather or not our family would go back, probably not, but would highly recommend it to others. Doing your prep work, being organized, getting signed up early, deciding what is important to do and getting it done early in the trip are just a few suggestions I would have for others. But using you to set things up would be my first recommendation. So thank you from all of us. We truly appreciate what you did for us.

The Happy Limo ride back to the airport worked well. We actually got Jessica again. The whole process of checking out, customs, etc was great. Again, the baggage handlers where right there waiting for you when we got off and did a great job.

Client Review of Italy and Greece

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We had a fantastic trip all the way through.  We both really enjoyed the Insight Vacations motorcoach tour probably more than the cruise because we saw so much more.  However, it was definitely done in the right order because the cruise was much less hectic and it was nice to rest up after the bus tour.  We did most of the Insight extra excursions because they were interesting and you never know if you’ll be back again.  Our Insight tour guide, Karen, was very good as were all the local experts.  Everything was well coordinated and we met a very nice group of people.  We of course enjoyed the extra leg room on the bus.  We were reminded of how much we liked it when we were packed into the shuttle from the Rome airport to the cruise ship.

As far as Royal Caribbean cruise line, it was a good experience.  We were fortunate to have good weather almost all the way; we were unable to stop at Olympia, Greece because of bad storms but we did get to stop instead at Naples on the way back.  Italy was our favorite, especially Venice – it was just so different.  Vatican City was super interesting and would be great to see again at a slower pace. Greece was beautiful and Ephesus, Turkey was definitely the highlight of the cruise although Athens was also fabulous due to the Acropolis.

Acropolis Athens

Acropolis Athens

As you can probably tell, we had a great first trip to Europe and look forward to traveling to a different area in the future. One question, is it always as crowded as we found it to be?  Perhaps that’s just Europe?

Many thanks for making all the arrangements for this great trip, Nora!

Dean & Jane, Blaine, MN.

Client testimonial for Jamaica

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Excellent Bachelorette party and honeymoon!
We recently used Travel Leaders to plan our honeymoon as well as my bachelorette party in Vegas through your representative, Jackie Taylor and I wanted to send a review of her services for future prospects thinking about going with a travel agent (and Jackie, specifically). We had a GREAT experience! Jackie was so helpful when we were planning the bachelorette trip to Vegas, assisting us with coordinating multiple flights and getting us a great deal during a very busy weekend on the strip! She was wonderful in helping my husband and I plan our honeymoon. Jackie suggested a beautiful resort in Jamaica and we had an amazing time during our trip last week. We would have never considered Jamaica had Jackie not weighed in. She was prompt, fun, energetic, and caring during the entire process, which was stressful at times. We are so glad that we decided to use Jackie’s services throughout this past year and will definitely be reaching out to her in the future for our travel needs.

Client Review of Costa Rica Adventure

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Hi Nora,

Just wanted to let you know that everything on our trip was wonderful.     Loved all the hotels that we stayed at.   The company that gave us the 3 day tour into the rain forest and cloud forest was super.     They were always on time and took care of everything for us.    We didn’t have to worry about anything and could truly relax and enjoy ourselves.

Pool at Tamarindo Diria

Pool at Tamarindo Diria

 

Only bad thing that I would say about the trip was that I wish we would have taken more time and also gone to the Caribbean side.   From what I was hearing from people, it is very different from the Pacific side.  Loved the Pacific side.     Oh well, will have to go back to see that side.

Thanks for all your help on all of our trips.   They are always a blast.

Sharon R. from Champlin

Client Review of Seabourn Odyssey 7 Day Greek Isles and Ephesus

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Seabourn Greek Isles

Seabourn Greek Isles

Seabourn was outstanding – luxury all the way.  Staff so darn friendly and helpful – completely aware of our needs at all times.  They get printouts of all guests and then study the faces and the names and start calling you by name when you pass them in hallways!!!!  One night we were off for a tour to Ephesus (amazing ruins), then back to ship for lunch and rest, then bussed back to Ephesus for an evening concert under the stars and when we returned about 10 pm, the entire crew and entertainment and staff were waiting for us, cheering and yelling and one of them shouted out welcome and our names to every single guest.  Wow.  They treated us like royalty.  Great food, wine stewards at our every beck and call.

 The room was terrific – plenty of space and a walk-in closet!  Bathroom easily accommodated two people with two sinks, a tub and a shower.  Our “stewardess” – that’s what they called the maid, folded cute little animals out of our towels and put them on the beds each night.  Really a nice young woman.

 

Client Review of Riu Palace Tropical Bay Negril

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Hi Nora, Our trip to Jamaica was amazing!!!  Loved, loved the Riu Tropical Bay.  Great place for teenagers.  We took a day trip to Dunn’s River waterfalls.  Also went zip lining.  The food and staff were amazing at the Riu!  We will definitely stay at another Riu.  Could not believe how friendly everyone was and how safe we felt everywhere we went.  Lots of people trying to sell you stuff but if you look, tell them their stuff is nice and then tell them “no thanks”, they are very respectful.  Oh, my daughter’s favorite part of the trip was cliff diving at Ricks. 

Pool at Riu Tropical Bay Negril

Pool at Riu Tropical Bay Negril

Thanks again for your help,

Michelle R. of Maple Grove