Your Magical Vacations  Past Travelers Reviews of our service |
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Past Travelers Reviews of our service
Louise,
I received my packet for the Disney Cruise and I must say - I am impressed. your letter of advice and all the enclosed info is very helpful! I will never book another get away without your help! you are great- thank you for all the help and guidance... I always thought travel agents were for the rich and famous - but now I realize they are for the smart people who don't want to run in circles! Thanks again - we are so looking forward to our worry free cruise in just a few weeks! Emily W. ********************** Ms. Louise....... The trip was even better than I had anticipated! Everything was PERFECT! The excursions were fun our tour guides were great and the food.... well lets just say I came home 9 ponds heavier!!!!!!!! Thanks soooooooo much. You are the best!Christie T ******************************************* I've been meaning to email you and thank you for your help w/ our Disney vacation!!! Everything went great! We had such a memorable and enjoying vacation and most of that was due to your booking our trip and dinner reservations!...I've already recommended you to a few friends and will continue to do so! Thanks so much!!! (By the way, my kids think 'Ms. Louise' is this awesome lady who helped to send us to Disney and sent us autograph books and towels in the mail!!! - they're right!) S. Recile ************************************************
Hi Louise,
Please excuse me for not emailing you when we got back from vacation. My schedule has been out of control!
Our trip was wonderful. I hated the Cancun airport and was worried when we first arrived at the resort, they were so overly friendly that I was expecting them to try to sell us something. Dan said that he thought the pictures of the resort did not do it justice. Before we arrived we were hoping for the swim up or infinity pool rooms but I think the building that we were in, the beach fronts, were in a better location. Everyone on the resort was extremely pleasant. The vacation was by far the most relaxing vacation we’ve had, exactly what we needed.
Because we were only there a few days we opted not to do any excursions. We did upgrade our dinner on the beach to a lobster dinner, the food was fine but the setting was amazing. We were on the huts over the water where they do the massages during the day. It was so romantic; we were there for almost 3 hours and loved every minute.
Pam D
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Louise,
Key West was awesome! The Ocean Key was fabulous. I would never stay anywhere else. We met up with some friends from the Baton Rouge area who were also down for the boat races. They were jealous of our room. They stayed in dorm-like rooms behind a bar. We will definitely go back next November. Ocean Key is highly recommended!!
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Louise,
The vacation (Disney World) you planned for us was wonderful. I must say, I believe I enjoyed it as much as the kids!
Sincerely,
Jenny F.
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Louise,
Thank you so much for helping me plan the amazing trip to Disney. My family and I had the time of our lives! We went to every park, met every character, went on as many rides as possible and ate amazing food! It was everything we imagined it would be and we got such joy out of watching our little girls' faces light up! My 5 year old daughter Taylor was so excited to meet the Disney Princesses and get them to sign her autograph book. My 18 month old daughter Aubrie didn't know anything about Disney characters when we left Virginia , but after about 2 hours in Disney, she could spot Mickey Mouse from a mile away! Nemo, Tigger, Pooh, Eeyore and Piglet quickly became favorites, too.
I've told everyone about this amazing trip GIVEN to me by Slumber Parties, and all I had to do was drive to the airport! It was so relaxing to have everything taken care of and I really appreciate all your hard work.
Courtney S ******************************* First, let me thank you for planning such a wonderful cruise for my sisters and I. We had such a great time and absolutely loved the suites we all had --- it was amazing. I know on any future cruises we will all have to get the suites. We had such a great time. Thank you so much. ***************************************************
Louise- Just wanted to let you know that our trip was absolutely perfect...everything went exactly as planned!!! And the plan worked out pretty well, for the timing of the meals, shows, fireworks, etc. Although towards the end I got lots of grudges when breakfast was scheduled at 8 am again! But I thought it was great timing! The girls thought Disneyworld was fabulous (and so did I)....it just never gets old! Although I am trying to already plan our next trip, Chase says we must wait a few years....but you never know! But don't worry, I already took notes of all the different restaurants, shows, etc I want to do. After I go through the thousands of pics we have, I will send you one (if I ever remember to download off the computer!!) Thanks again for all your help...I would have never been able to pull it off by myself!!!
Brandi H.
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Hi Louise:
Just wanted to report that our Royal Caribbean cruise went well. Everyone had a good time, including Barb’s mom. I am attaching a few pictures – one showing all of us on the last evening at dinner, one showing all but one family at one of the formal dinners, and one showing Barb’s mom taking advantage of the handicapped lift to get into one the pools (the staff who assisted said this was the first time they had used the unit!!).
Highlights of the trip included various Keffer family groupings winning prizes in three of the trivia contests during the week and the three Keffer adult male children combining with another cruiser from Brazil to beat the Liberty of the Seas crew in a soccer match on the last day.
Thanks again for all of your assistance.
Charlie K
*********************** Louise, ********************** Hi Louise, Louise, Thank you soooo much for planning our trip!!!!! We had an excellent time!!! You made everything very easy for us!! I'll definitely call you for my next vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Thanks, Debra Have a Great Day! Debra H.
*************************************** Louise, Just a quick note to let you know that everything, and I do mean everything went off without a hitch. We had a wonderful experience and the weather was delightful. Hopefully, our paths will cross again for another adventurous trip. Thanks for all of your help and cooperation in the planning of our Big Apple experience. SR SHERYL R. ************************ Dear Louise: ********************************** Hi! just wanted to drop you a line to let you know that we had a wonderful time in Disney World. You did a great job in making our vacation a memorable event. Everything thing was perfectly planned and breakfast in Norway was fantastic. The meal plan worked out well. And the Magical express worked out good also. The grandbaby enjoyed it so much. We went to Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney and it was horrible. The wait was a lot longer than they said and the service was horrible. We were so ready to get out of there. But that was the only small disappointment. Everything else was great !!!! We hope to do it again in the future. Thanks again, Dee L **************************************************************
Thank you so very much for working with us for this cruise. It was great.
We had such fun with the other two couples joinging us who also celebrated belated anniversaries. The Dinsmores had 62nd, the Hopkins, 65, and us "kids" only had 50. That's 177 yrs of marriage around our dinner table every evening. The ship even threw an anniv party for everyone with 50+. There were probably 15 or so couples attending. But our friends (Hopkins) won the prize - a bottle of champaigne.
Thank you, too, for the bottle of wine we shared with the others one evening. What fun!!
We are looking forward to the next time we get to do something like this.
Blessings to you,
Shirley
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Hi Louise,
I apologize for taking this long to tell you - THANK YOU! How was my vacation - MAGICAL - so much more than ever imagined. My son Matt would aways talk about when he went to Disney. He kept telling me I needed to see for myself because there are no words to describe. I said "Matthew I'll never be able to go." One evening Matt came to my home and told me that he and Audra were going back to Disney (They went on their honeymoon). I said "how wonderful"! He said and you're coming, too. WOW I did, along with Matt, Audra, Adam, Sherry, Jeff, Brooke, Brennan, Tara, Gene Gena, Lanie and Pete. We are going back. We talk about our trip constantly. Thank you for all you did to make a Dream come true to Life for me and my Family. God Bless You & Thank You! Jean
P.S. When we set our date to go back I will call you! Thank you from my children and grandchildren!
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Mrs. Louise,
Thank you so much for your help planning our Disney vacation. It was such a relief to know that everything was already taken care of when we arrived. Everything went very smoothly with the planning. We had a GREAT time. Thanks.
The Marler Family
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Kim:
Our vacation was awesome!! Thank you for all of your help. The room was perfect and I loved the monorail (ha-ha). No seriously, it was soooooo convenient. I have to tell you this was one of my first vacations that everything went smoothly. The kids had a blast. My only complaint is they made me go on the Mount Everest Expedition in Animal Kingdom (ha-ha). That scared the crap out of me but it was hysterical. The dining plan worked out perfectly. Thanks again and I’ll keep you in mind when planning our next trip.
Mary P.
************************ Kathy and I returned home this week from Ireland and we wanted to just drop you a simple note of thanks for all of your efforts in planning and coordinating our trip. We quite honestly had the "time of our lives!" All of the arrangements you made worked just perfectly. Your professional acumen, attention to detail and insightful recommendations ensured Kathy and I enjoyed surprise free travel! Thank you so much for a job done exceedingly well! We will be sure to consult with you when we plan our next trip to Ireland! B/r Frank S. ****************************
We had an awesome time on our trip!!! You have no idea how much I brag about you girl :) All the meals were fabulous - you were absolutely right about the Coral Reef restaurant - LOVED IT. Cinderella's Castle was beyond the best thing ever!!! You'll have to check out all of my pictures on myspace.
This was definitely a trip of a lifetime! The kids had a ball! (grown ups too). The SCOOTER - girl - that was a LIFE SAVER!!! We almost had to get one for mom by the time the week was over with! Her toenail fell off half way through the week...they took turns on the long walks. Talk about short cuts in lines and front row seats! OMG! My children got to visit with EVERY celebrity there! My husband had a long conversation with Crush at Epcot after he asked my daughter who the Big Cahoona was. It was hilarious!
The Yacht Club was awesome. The pool rocked! I will say that we walked over to the Beach Club several times for food and saw that it had alot of activities going on in the lobby for the kids that would have been nice, the meal plan would have been more convenient at the Beach Club - the Yacht Club wasn't very accommodating when it came to snacks - so we walked ALOT - but the crowd at the Yacht Club was more appealing. The Beach Club seemed a bit crowded. Yacht Club was totally upperclass which I enjoyed - but the kids weren't quite as appreciative - they wanted to play at the Beach Club with the tribe of children in the lobby! :)
We kept seeing buses going to and from the Animal Kingdom Resort which totally upset my kids. They kept saying "it IS open!" It didn't bother me though because I can only imagine going to the resort under construction and getting stuck in a room with a view of a bulldozer and no animals! I just reminded them of that - every time we saw a bus!!!
The only disappointment my oldest daughter and husband really had was that the Haunted Mansion was closed. I'm not a ride person - so it didn't bother me - but you might let others know that it's under construction for improvements right now.
The boats that took you to the parks were so cool! My son loved the ride. It was really nice to be right next to Epcot as well. I would never stay off Disney Property!! When everyone else got tired, my oldest daughter and I stayed out until the park closed while my husband took his parents and the younger kids back to the hotel. We also came back for naps daily and got cleaned back up for the evening! It was perfect!!!
I will tell you that the meal plan was a bigger pain than I thought it would be. I think we tried to over analyze how to get the most out of our money on the deal. We knew we'd have more sit down meals than were allotted, so we tried to use it for the big ones! The snacks were more limited than we had thought they would be at the hotel we were at. Even at the restaurant at the Beach Club, you were only allowed certain meals and certain deserts on the plan. The kids were a bit disappointed that they could have something other than a cookie or rice crispy treat for desert when there was a whole display of cheesecakes, cinnamon rolls, etc. We were afraid of using to many counter services and then ended up with some left over. Another thing I was disappointed in was the limited options of foods at the Disney restaurants. Breakfasts was always awesome....but lunch and dinner was very limited. My husband didn't like ANYTHING that was served at Disney besides the franks he bought at Downtown Disney! He was ready to pitch the dining plan and just pay full price so we wouldn't have to think about it! I think we just totally overanalyzed it and turned it into a headache when it didn't have to be. Lesson learned!
Speaking of Downtown Disney -you need to warn people that you could spend almost a whole day JUST at Downtown Disney! That place is COOL! Shop, shop and more shopping! My son made his own Mr. Potato Head - my daughter made her own My Little Pony at the play stations. Loved it! The lego play area could have taken an hour all on it's own!
If we travel to Disney again, we'll definitely take a longer vacation. 5 days just doesn't cut it. The kids had a BLAST, but our next trip will be to some remote island where I can lay on the beach all day! The kids would be very content playing in the sand sucking on ice cream cones! Disney is one of those stimulation overload trips - you have to take it to say you did - we loved it - but I'm STILL hung over!!! Next year, I'm thinking a quick, cheap trip to Sea World for the day (or Six Flags) in Texas (driving distance ; ) and then a nice long weekend with JUST my husband on the beach sipping pina coladas some place far, far away!!!! Hee hee!
Well, I'm sure you hear all the details of your friends trips daily, so I'll shut up now! :) But I wanted to give you the highlights just in case you were taking notes for future customers!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! You have no idea how much you are appreciated!!!!
Sincerely,
Jennifer B
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Louise,
Returned today from our cruise. We had a wonderful time. Embarkation was quick and smooth. Debarkation was even smoother. If you want to carry your luggage off the ship, that is exactly what you do - walk off the ship. There is no "holding area" like on the Royal Caribbean.
The cruise staff was outstanding. Ship was clean. Cabins were actually quite spacious - since the beds were separated there was more room to move around. Breakfast was good. We really enjoyed the variety of food at the lunch buffet. I didn't like 2 of my dinners but the others were delicious especially the escargot & Chateaubriand with béarnaise sauce. Entertainment was excellent.
Excursions - we booked through an internet site called Island Marketing, LTD.
Attached are a few photos.
Thanks for all of your help in booking our cruise,
Linda, Joanne, Kristin, and Allison
*************************** Hi Louise,Just wanted to thank you for setting my neice up with her Diseny World trip. Adam is so jazzed he can hardly wait. He said he you set them up with some great dining choices. I know they are going to have a great time. Sincerely,
Leslie P.
***************** I just wanted to thank you for all you help. We had a great time. I'll get with you later when we plan our next exciting trip. Thanks again! Lisa W. Hi Louise, Kate and I returned last night after having a wonderful Disney vacation. Thanks so much for all you did to insure that we have a good time. I will be sure to call you again for our next get away. Regards, Carol *************************** Thank you so much for helping us with our cruise! We had a great time! Looking forward to booking our next one with you. See you soon. Thanks
Trish & Hunter
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Thank you, Thank you! Thank you so much for making our trip a memorable one to Disney World!
We had a great time! The wether was beautiful, sunny and hot. We've finally got to meet "Goofy"! He is my husband's favorite character. I enclosed a picture of us with Goofy.
The caribbean Beach Resort was wonderful. Tita our hostess checked our baggage at the hotel for our return flight. We just hopped onto the bus provided by Disney World as you mention to our son with our flight tickets all ready to go to the gate. That was so easy!!
Oh!! Our room with the water view and pool was lovely, too. I loved the room so much with its colorful bedspreads and drapes. The Caribbean Beach Resort provided us with the hearing imparied devices for our room. We appreciated that very much. We really had a wonderful time! And thank you for your warmest wishes for our birthdays.
Sincerely,
Jessica K.
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Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into organizing our reunion cruise! We all had a blast! It was so wonderufl seeing everyone again and meeting all of the new people. Thank you!
Loren B.B.
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Thanks for setting me up with the cruise. It was a blast!
Best Regards,
Jeremy H.
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Thanks you ever so kindly for a dram come true! We loved our trip! Had it not been for you the cruise would not have been so snsational!
Shannon O.
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I have not forgot about you. We had an absolute blast on our trip. The girls were very surprised and thought this was "way cooler than a cell phone". They didn't believe me at first until I told them how many people knew and that they were given excused absences from school, I don't think it sank in until about 2 hours later, when we were already at the airport hotel. Every picture I have they have huge smiles on their faces, and the reason I have taken so long, is trying to work this damn computer to be able to send you some, but I have given up, so I thought I would write and let you know how great of a time we had. The weather could have been better, we didn't get to go to CoCo Cay due to gale force winds, so we spent two days on Nassau, but we always found ways to entertain ourselves. The hotel idea was great and we had so much fun at Atlantis, it was our best weather day as well. I would truly love to send you a picture, so please email me your address(I have looked and cannot find it anywhere) and I will send them the old fashion way.
Thank you so much for all of your help and patience, this was a trip my daughters will remember for the rest of their lives and you were a huge part in that. You have always been so helpful and I truly appreciate it. I have given your email to a co-worker of mine who is attempting to plan her honeymoon, I thought you might be able to help her, I let her know how caring and wonderful you are. Again thank you!!
Karen J.
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We had a fabulous time on our cruise Louise! Everything went perfect and the children and my in-laws loved it!
I appreciate all the work you put into making our vacation smooth and flawless!!! I will definitely brag about you to every Slumber Sister I meet!!! You're an absolute DOLL!
I appreciate you! Thank you and I hope you have a fabulous Christmas and New Years!!
Sincerely,
Jennifer B.
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Louise, things have been crazy since we got back, so I don't even remember if I emailed you???
The trip was wonderful, we had a blast, the weather was great!!! Thanks for everything!!!
Have a Merry Christmas!!
Kim C.
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Well now we are the expert of kids clubs. I must tell you the Neverland Club is the BOMB. The kids begged to go there. Luckily we called and got another reservation on an night before your reservation too. So when yours came up on Friday they were doing the happy dance that they got to go back.
That club is way big and way cooler than the other ones. You have to hang your coat in Wendy's closet. The only way to get in is this little opening into the house which is like a window they crawl through. They had their own little cafeteria! They had a ton of freestanding arcade games--one was spiderman. They made the coolest crafts.
Anyway it was great. We are exhausted. hahahahahaha
Thanks for all you do! Happy holidays and I hope Vegas was great!
We LOVED the contemporary and we LOVED the view of the Castle--great job! That is two thumbs up--no freezing waiting for a monorail and no walking all over a complex to go to bed once your monorail pulls in. I love it all self-contained like that!!! We'll be back! haha
Dana B.
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I would like to thank you for talking care of everything for our cruise. You made it very easy on us, and we had a blast. We were also wondering if you could send us some information on the western carribean cruises. We would like to do that cruise next year around the same time. Thank you very much.
Kyle & Alyssa F.
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Hello, Louise. Thanks for the new email address. BTW, our cruise was last week on the Sapphire Princess out of LA. Fantastic cruise! Great ship and crew and the weather was beautiful (about 84 and sunny in all three ports). Thanks for all your help! --Paul S. ****** Louise: I never got a chance to say THANK YOU for everything. It was great!!! Glenn was sooo impressed and we had a blast!!! I look forward to booking through you in the future for EVERYTHING we do!!! THANKS! Cori H. ******** I apologize for taking soooo long in thanking you for the FANTASTIC cruise we took back in November. From start to finish the traveling could not been any smoother. We appreciated all your efforts in making this a pleasant and enjoyable experience. We're looking forward to hopefully another cruise in the not to distance future.... Thanks so much
look forward in working with you again.
Paul and Debra
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Louise: Good morning. Wow what a great trip to Ireland. Your arrangements could not have been better. Thank you for all your help. Joe M. ****** Thanks for your help on my Chicago trip; it was awesome. One perk you can brag about that hotel...it is a block from a good jazz club and across from the Hilton where the Bears spend the night before games, and they come down into the lobby and greet fans through the evening.
Thanks for your help!
Sandi G.
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Thank you so very much for all your help. We had a wonderful time. We just wish we could have stayed longer. With all theweather worries, we didn't have a drop of rain. We plan on going back & I promise I won't be as much trouble. Thanks again!
Dawn & Dale G.
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Dear Louise,
On behalf of Keleigh and me, I would like to say THANK YOU for all you did to provide a wonderful vacation that has memories that will surely last a lifetime. All the time, effort, and extra work you put in to make this special experience is very much appreciated by all of us in the DiBuono household as I’m sure it is for everyone who went. Thank you, Louise.
Kenna D.
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I just wanted to THANK YOU for helping make our vacation so much fun! My husband had no idea what to expect and soon realized that our trip was just TOO SHORT and next time we needed MORE DAYS! LOL I tried to tell him we needed to stay the entire week but nooo, he thought 4 full days was enough.
One thing we learned.............the meal plan is just too much food! Good grief, we spent the entire time trying to figure out how we were going to get in all those meals! Every single bite we put into our mouths was excellent, especially Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge. It was plate licking good! And, if anyone ever asks about the dress code at the lodge, it's CASUAL. Our notice said "business casual" and that was NOT the case. They wore the same clothes into that restaurant as they did to all the theme parks so no need to dress up for that restaurant!
Actually, I was surprised at how easy it was to maneuver around the park. There didn't seem to be an unusually high number of people in the park which I found surprising. The Fast Passes helped tremendously and all the other rides, we practically walked up to them and hopped on (Haunted Mansion & Pirates....Caribbean)
The food was excellent and we ate waaaaaaaaaaay too much but we do know that we saved money by going that route.
We loved the entire trip and will definitely let you know when we're ready to take another one! Jan E. ***********
The trip was wonderful! The weather was cooperative. We had rain one morning (which cleared up by noon). And 2 evenings with rain. Otherwise, it was beautiful. The room was nice, very clean and roomy. My husband fell in love with the shower and is making plans to redo the one at home. The beds were awfully hard which I hear is customary for all of the hotels in the area. Definitely no plush beds like the Hyatt...we were spoiled in that bed at the DFW airport. We learned on our way home (from another traveler at a different hotel) that you can ask for a plush topper to go on the bed (like those egg-crate tops). If the hotels have them, they will cushion-up your bed. The service was impeccable. The grounds - absolutely gorgeous!!!!!!!! We really felt like we were in paradise miles away from reality - hence the name Paraiso (spanish for paradise). We are VERY glad we picked that hotel vs. one in Playa itself. We drove through downtown Playa on the way back from the dolphin trip and it was too much of a city vs. an escape.
We went on two excursion...snorkeling and swimming with the dolphins. The snorkeling was great once my nerves calmed down. I was scared to death out there, so one of the tour guides stayed with me the entire time. I'm a nervous wreck in the ocean with fish around! But I overcame that knowing I was in good hands. The dolphin tour was very cool. The dolphin push was incredible! They feel so different than I thought. The prices were a bit higher than expected at $89 & $149 respectively.
Our only complaints...1) we thought run of the house meant we would be given the best room available meaning if they had a jr. suite open, we would get that for no additional charge. They did have one open but they were going to charge us $250. The only difference between that room and where we stayed - it had a molding making the seating area appear to stand apart from the bed area and it faced a bunch of dead trees on the beach. It was a beach front so to speak but no other difference. 2) The snorkeling was 30 minutes less than what we paid for. We were supposed to snorkel until 1 pm according to the sign and we were told he needed to bring us back by 12:30 which he did...so we lost 30 minutes in the water. Then, we had to wait 1 1/2 hours for a bus and were not able to catch the earlier bus unless we paid extra to get on there. 3) We were shown a video of the dolphin swim where we could hold their fin as they pull us through the water. When we got there, we were told absolutely not. And we were told we could bring our waterproof camera to the dolphin tour and were again told no. Instead they monopolized the photography department by taking pictures and selling them at outrageous prices. Although we did buy 3 pictures, we had already spent a ton of money on this excursion.
Having never travelled like this before, we have learned some valuable lessons through our mistakes with the excursions...purchase them prior to leaving...they seem to charge more when at the resort. And we will also pick the type of room we want vs. getting luck of the draw with the run of the house.
Overall, we had an absolutely fabulous trip! We are already planning to return. We are going to look into the Paraiso Lindo which has the wave pool for the kids and the ability to go to the Paraiso Del Mar & Paraiso Beach hotels where we were not able to venture onto their property to check it out.
Should you have others as neurotic as me when deciding on a location in that area...my word of advise is - if they really want to feel like they are away from it all - stay in the area in which we stayed - the Iberostar Resorts, Secrets Excellence or the El Dorado we heard great remarks about too. If they are wanting something in the heart of everything, where they leave the resort and are on the shopping streets, the Royal Porto Real & Gran Porto Real looked very nice!
I was so nervous not knowing what to expect. We are very pleased with our trip and have discovered what we really want and like in a vacation. Thank you SO much for everything you have done for us - my numerous calls, concerns and help in the decision making process. We are looking forward to our next trip!
Alisa
p.s. Pictures are attached.
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