Customer Referrals

When I approached Carol about traveling to Kenya, I knew at the outset that planning our trip would be challenging:

· -My husband would be in Nairobi on business and his dates were not confirmed until the last minute, making it necessary that the plans for myself and my son be tentative until then.

· -This was an unexpected trip and budget a major concern. The decision whether we would go at all also depended on the final dates, the costs, and availability during the high season in the Masai Mara.

Carol was patient, honest, thorough and enthusiastic about our plans. She expertly and calmly handled our flight purchases, our last-minute passport problems, and our final decisions being made from a campsite with limited cell reception. We appreciated her candor, sense of humor and ability to find answers to our questions.

The arrangements based on her recommendations were fantastic. Wildlife Safari provided a guide and driver who exceeded my highest hopes, and the accommodations (Kitchwa Tembo Tented Camp, Mara Serena and Sunbird Lodge) were superb.

This trip was such a success, I look forward to someday taking our twins (when they are old enough) on a similar exciting adventure. When that time comes, I’ll be calling Carol.

Thank you for another fabulous trip. Mary Pat and I had a wonderful time. Thought you would enjoy a few of my pictures - especially the "wet" ones at Victoria Falls. Looking foward to another safari in about 2 years.

Thanks so much for arranging my Africa trip! I have so many great memories and fun times that it all feels like a beautiful dream.

Everything was so organized. I really appreciate all the work you put in to make our trip so special. I've spoken to Mary a few times and she is still in Africa heaven!! Me too!

Carol,

Rod and I returned from Ixtapa on Sunday evening and just wanted to let you know we really were pleased with the Barcelo. They put us in a ground floor room the first night, but moved us the following day. Unfortunately the villas don’t have king size beds but we preferred the villas to the main hotel. We both were impressed with the cleanliness of the hotel and the friendliness of the staff – the food and drinks weren’t bad either!!! Definitely would stay there again.

Myrt

Our trip was a great success. When we arrived Herme (Rajah Tours)and Mr. Vic-Vic were waiting at the airport for us. Herme told me that the Century Plaza was overbooked, and we will be moved to another hotel. Of course Joey went ballistic and I told him to settle down. I asked Herme if the hotel was nice that we would be staying at and she said ‘Yes’. We ended up staying at the nicest hotel in Cebu City called the Crown Plaza. It was also the tallest building in Cebu City, so we had fabulous views from the 27^th floor. It was also located at the center of the Sinulog celebration in Cebu City. Mr. Vic-Vic was always on time and informative. I highly recommend Rajah Tours. We loved Moalboal and the Cabana. The Cabana had a wonderful restaurant connected to it and was located near all the dive shops. I want to thank you for your help on making this a wonderful vacation.

Hi Carol:

Just wanted to let you know that Dreams Resort was all we wanted it to be.
The arrangements you made for transfers, etc., all worked out very well,
and the whole week was just lovely. We didn't meet anyone at the resort
who wasn't completely happy with the service, accommodations, food, and
offerings. So--if you get more requests for suggestions, this is a good
one to make. Thanks for the help in creating a great vacation for us.

Ruth and Dave

The resort was fabulous. Friendly staff, clean facility, nice pool and beach, good food and drink. We are seriously thinking about returning in two years, when Maddie is a Senior in High School. Bit of a tedious drive to the resort. Becky made a note to write down all the resorts we passed between the Airport and Playa Del Carman.

We did encounter one mishap. Maddie’s camera was stolen one of the days we set up shop on the beach. A bit disappointed with the concierge and the filing of the security report. The following day I wanted to revise the report but they were unable to find my report. I already filed claim with Travel Guard. All in all, a Good trip.

Hi Carol
Sorry it took so long to respond, but seem to be busy since getting back.
Australia was wonderful.

The hotel in Melbourne was perfect, we had a view of the MCG which is where the race started and ended. We just had to walk across the street and we were there for everything. Could not have been any better. The hotel was very nice also. All the hotels were excellent.

Port Douglas was nice and relaxing. The snorkeling adventure was ok. I think next time we would do a smaller tour instead of the one we did. It was nice for families, but a little too commercial and there were not many fish in the area. Think it was because there was so many people in the water. We noticed that there were trips that took only up to 10 and to a more private area and I think we would have seen the reef in a more natural way. Again, the trip we did would be good for families
Next trip, I think we will try to plan half day trips and leave more time for sightseeing on our own. The trips again were very good, but felt rushed and limited as they were trying to fit in a lot in one day. All the tour guides were great, the companies you booked us with were great. We just learned that it was tiring doing too many full day trips.

Sydney was a great city to see. The bridge climb is something to recommend (even though I cried half way up because of my fear of heights) The staff who take you are wonderful and very calming. Going up was the hardest, because you dont know what to expect. Coming down was much easier and the view was well worth my anxiety!!!! The Opera House was something to see. I couldnt wait to see it and was not disappointed. Glad we were able to see an Opera (even though Mike fell a sleep :) The tour we took was very private, just us and another couple and we learned a lot. We are not sure we would recommend the Rocks Tour we took, it was not what we expected and very short, but did learn a little. Sydney was VERY expensive. Not sure it was because we were in the main tourist area and downtown. Australia overall is expensive, especially for food and drink, but we still ate well, just paid the prices

Quantas was a wonderful airline. They treat you well, feed you well, good entertainment with the movies and other things you can watch. No american airline comes close to the service and I think that is sad. That included the flights between all the cities we flew to, the same great service whether you were flying 3 hours or 15.
We happened to have the greatest weather also. Warm, sunny, the only time it rained was on our walk home from the opera. The hotel in Sydney was good because we could walk wherever we needed to go.

Again, thanks for your help with the planning, you should travel there sometime. The Australians are very friendly, you kind of get what they are saying after awhile. Even though they speak english, they have there way of saying things and it was fun trying to figure that out and them trying to understand what we were saying at times.
Now we just have to decide where we are going next, and I need to save up vacation days!

Thanks again, Cindy & Mike

Hello Carol, What a trip. We had a phenomenal time and will be going back soon. We took in the Armstrong red woods, several wineries, Alcatraz, the Pacific Ocean and had 80 degree weather so we more than enjoyed the convertible. The accommodations were excellent, great location in the middle of everything. Good food and multiple venues to choose from.

Next year we may look to combine a Nascar race with the wineries and another couple or two.

The trip was fantastic! We had such a great time – it truly was the trip of a life time. With the exception of getting stuck in Amsterdam, everything went off without a hitch. We thank you for all of the hard work that you put into this and the fact that you stuck with us through so many changes!

So, for some feedback. It will be a little generic but I guess we would say that we were happy with everywhere we stayed. In Florence and Rome, I would definitely not say we were blown away by anything, but didn’t have any complaints either. We were extremely happy however with the B&B in Cinque Terre. Here is a little more feedback on each one:

AUGUSTA LUCILLA PALACE – Rome – recently redone so everything seemed pretty new and fresh. The location had both upside and downsides. The upside was being so close to the main metro station. This was fantastic! We pretty much took the Metro everywhere, and it was great being so close to both lines. The downside was that the area probably wasn’t the best (not terrible, but not great). However, the upside of the location outweighed the downside. The breakfast was definitely enough food to keep us full until lunch which was nice as well.
BRUNELLESCHI HOTEL – The rooftop deck on this hotel made it definitely worth it. It was a little older so there were things that could have used to little refreshing (the carpet and the walls weren’t the cleanest). However, it was neat because it had a very historic feel – and very few people knew about the deck. The deck overlooked the city of Florence, the Duomo, etc. We would pretty much hang out there every night after going out to dinner. The location was good as well. We were a little further from the train station, but still walking distance and we were only a few blocks from the bridge which we loved.
LA POESIA B&B - CINQUE TERRE – we loved this. I will say that the room was EXTREMELY tiny – just as a warning to anyone who books there. I know that there is one bigger room and then 3 smaller ones (like ours). That being said, I would stay there again in a heartbeat. We loved staying in Monterosso, and Nicolleta (owner of the B&B) was probably the warmest and kindest person we met on our trip. Although the room was tiny, it was very nice (marble tile everywhere, extremely updated etc.). The breakfast every morning was really good and plenty for two people. When we got there, Nicolleta greeted us with wine and appetizers out in the little garden terrace, which was such a nice touch. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone going there – but I would be sure to prepare them for the room being really small.
HOTEL DIANA – hotel was fine – nothing terrible but nothing great either. Nothing much to report on it.

I would say that all in all, we were happy with the places we stayed and have no regrets. I think after talking to some people while we were there, were we to go back again we would spend a bit less hotels (especially in Rome). I would probably at least compare the places a little more to places that were less expensive. From what we gathered we may have been able to spend less and not sacrifice that much in terms of the hotels. However, we would stay at the B&B again without a doubt, and we would pay more to have a rooftop deck (like we did in Florence) because we loved it so much. Hopefully that all makes sense.

· The Tuscany tour was amazing – worth every penny and I would definitely recommend that exact one to anyone going. The only thing is that they give really poor directions on where to meet and we almost missed the tour (even though we were there early enough,, we just couldn’t find the right corner). That is the only thing I would warn against – other then that it was awesome and one of our favorite parts of the trip.

· Vatican tour – also very good, and would strongly recommend. We were so glad we did this because without it I don’t think we would have really understood all the amazing things we were seeing. We were very happy with our tour and tour guide.

· Cinque Terre – place in general was amazing. I think it was so such a nice contrast to Florence and Rome, I would definitely recommend this location to anyone making a trip to Italy. It is definitely the most beautiful place I have ever seen.

Please let me know if you have any other specific questions. Once again, I want to say that we truly appreciate all the hard work you put into helping us plan what turned out to be the trip of a lifetime. We really did book this trip on pretty short notice, and the guidance and help you provided were so essential to making it all possible. We changed our minds on location so many times, that I can’t imagine how much work this was for you. However, you have once again nailed it! It is a great feeling to have a travel agent who is so knowledgeable and that we can rely on. We will definitely continue to utilize your services in the future and continue to refer people to you.

Carol,
First of all, thank you for the bottle of wine in our room in Bologna! It was such a wonderful gesture and the wine, itself, was delicious. As far as the whole trip is concerned, we cannot express how much we enjoyed it and how well-planned and executed it was every step of the way.

We thoroughly enjoyed all of our guides. They were all wonderful in their own different ways and we will be sending a letter to Visit Italy Tours to compliment each of them. We will be sure to copy you on that letter.

The hotels were wonderful. Villa Scacciapensieri was beyond any expectation – it was heaven on earth. It was absolutely beautiful and the service and hospitality were unbelievable! It was so lovely that we didn’t want to leave it to go to the wine and olive oil tasting! (We did call the day before to let them know we wouldn’t be coming)

Again, thank you for putting together such a wonderful trip. It was everything and more than we could have hoped for.

Kim and MariBeth Theusch
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Carol, Jenny really loved the trip. She said everything went so smoothly. There was a van from the resort waiting to pick them up and one at the end to take them back to the airport and each time it was really nice. She said the food was good, not great but plenty and the breakfast were the best with all the fresh fruit. Beach was really nice and she did the horseback riding with Dani and really liked it.

Thank you for all your help setting up the trip, there were no worries on my end knowing that everything was taken care of!

We had a terrific time! The kids loved Mexico! The Gran Porto offered many activities throughout the day that they looked forward to reading the board each morning to see if they could fit something in between their beach and sun time. The entertainment each night was nice. We had great rooms with an outstanding view - one with a huge patio (mine) and the other with a balcony.

One day we took the ferry to Cozumel ,snorkeled, had lunch and shopped around. We spent so much of our time on the beach, that we really needed one more day so we could have traveled to Tulum.

Ray and I both said that we don't think we could go to Mexico again without taking the kids. It really turned out to be a great family vacation. If I was to "complain" about anything, it would about the food offerings/restaurants at the hotel.

We just returned from our Belize trip, and on behalf of the three of us, I just wanted to say that the trip was splendid. Thank you for all the arrangements, as both Chaa Creek and the Sunbreeze hotel were perfect locations.

Hi Carol -- we had a wonderful time in Cancun. The only snafu was that one suitcase didn't arrive for a couple of days. Not such a tragedy though -- he had his swimsuit and deodorant in his carry on. Seem that's all he needed!

Travel went smoothly - both there and back. The service at the Moon Palace was fabulous. Food was okay -- we tried several of their menu restaurants this time - along with the buffets. Some good, some okay. I would still recommend the PALACES as a place to go. I thought they may have been using more of the top shelf liquors this time... I didn't remember that from last time (maybe I wasn't paying attention).

Here's how accommodating they were... all 22 of us ate together every night. Sometimes we were at different tables, but in the same section. Was wonderful - especially for Dad to see all of us together.

I have been meaning to email you back on how much we loved!!!! our Honeymoon! You made it so easy and so economic for us! We really appreciate it! We have recommended you to so many people and plan on using you for our next trip! I love the deals emails you send us-also-it keeps our minds running on what we want to do next!

Carol, Thank you for the welcome home message. We had a great time even though it rained most days. Seems like the weather was great the week before last and will be nice this week. The Iberostar was very nice. We were able to get to adjoining rooms and actually were put in ocean view rather than garden view. What a pleasant surprise!

Chris from Apple Vacations was great. He greeted us at the airport Monday and took care of us at the resort. He helped us make plans to visit the city of Puerto Plata on Tuesday. He came in on his day off (Wednesday) to book us for the Outback Safari for Thursday. We were running late Thursday morning and he dashed to the parking lot to stop the safari truck as it was leaving.

I was afraid we might have to cancel our trip. My youngest daughter came down with the flu on Sunday. I called AIG regarding the Travel Guard insurance late Sunday night. They said if we needed to cancel they would refund the entire cost of the trip. She felt well enough to travel Monday morning and was feeling much better by Tuesday morning. Even though we didn’t need to cancel, I’m really glad we had the travel insurance.

Thanks for booking us a great vacation. We’ll definitely call you next time we make vacation plans.

Just a quick note to tell you THANK YOU!!! We had a WONDERFUL time and I LOVED it!!! I liked the beach/ocean SO MUCH more than Ixtapa!! Lee only golfed once!! Let him tell you about that. This was a fun, relaxing trip and I'd go back in a heartbeat! The resort was VERY accomodating and we felt VERY safe as well. Just wanted you to know that you "slam-dunked" on this suggestion!!!!

It was wonderful....even better then I expected!!!! Thanks you so much for all your help...I'm ready to go back!!!

It was awesome! The resort was absolutely huge! The food and drinks were fabulous as well.

It was an absolutely fabulous trip. The best we've had so far. I would highly recommend it to anyone and we will go back some day.

Carol, Thank you so much for all your help in planning this trip of a lifetime! We all had an amazing time. Now I've got my sights set on Antarctica -- the only continent I haven't been to.

Hi Carol, We had a wonderful time!! I will email you some pictures. The Moon Palace was perfect for our event!

There were 2 lobbys. One lobby was smaller, quieter, more laid back with a smaller quieter pool and then the other side of the resort had a larger lobby that had a casino, sports TV room, disco, etc, and was much busier. With both of those options, plus the golf resort and spa, everyone was happy.

If it was just the 2 of us we would definitely have gone somewhere else, but this was perfect for a destination wedding!

Hi Carol, Oh my gosh!! It was everything we had hoped for! No disappointment at all. No problems we just want to go back! I give it a big thumbs up!!! I do hope to be in touch with you in the future about other travel plans. We would really like to take the kids to Hawaii maybe. But that will be in a little while! Thanks again for handling all the details I will pass your name along to anyone I can and I hope to need your services again soon!

I have said so many times that I need to email you - and then in all the craziness of the summer it keeps slipping my mind. The honeymoon was AMAZING! I can't imagine a more perfect place - and honestly I would recommend it to any couple, especially honeymooners. Actually, I have recommended both the resort and you to a number of friends.

We met people who were staying in other resorts and they couldn't believe how nice our resort was and how much it included for the price. Everything there was top notch. I am sure all of the resorts there are nice, but in talking to other people I realized that there were a lot of extra touches at ours - for example the fact that you could eat at any restaurant any night you wanted. A lot of the other resorts had restrictions on things that ours didn't.

We were so happy with everything and thank you so much for your help. If you have specific questions about any of the things we did there or anything, please just let me know. I'm sure you will hear from us in the future!

Hi Carol.... The trip was just wonderful!! Kevin and I are definately going back! My Mom and Dad said it was everything and more than they expected! They loved the hotel. It really was very nice. The trolley company was sold to someone else, so we had a little mix up on Saturday. We bought tickets for the wrong one on Saturday, because that is the one we took from the hotel. Turned out fine...then one Sunday we went on the one you got us passes for. Both were different and very nice. I'd say the one you put us on was better. It was a double decker bus and very nice tour. It was also good for 2 days instead of just one, but didn't end up using the second day. We rented the van and went to Mt Vernon...just beautiful.

The weather couldn't have been better. Flying in to Reagan was sooooooo worth it. It really works out nice, not so hectic. My parents were thrilled and exhausted by the time we got home! Kevin and I are going to Duluth for a couple days in July just to relax! Family trip was wonderful, but sitting on the balcony looking at Lake Superior sounds pretty good.