Arizona Travel Agent
In December 2005 the Larison family took a short trip to Disney World to see Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party. We also stayed at the Pop Century resort the first time and enjoyed that very much. While we did not do a detailed report on this trip we took lots of pictures!
We sailed with a bunch of other Disney fans as part of Mousefest 2005 on the Disney Wonder. This was truly a “wonderful” cruise because in addition to all the regular benefits of a Disney sailing we also enjoyed the special features of Mousefest.
My family’s Alaska 2005 trip was a wonderful adventure, filled with amazing scenery, wildlife viewing, excellent food, and good family times. In this report I will first focus on
the different places we visited, and then tell more about our cruise ship – the beautiful Celebrity Summit. I had been to Alaska three of the past four summers but this was the first visit for Anne and the boys. Throughout the report I’ll make comparisons to what I experienced on my 2003 Alaska cruise on the Island Princess to this trip. I’ll rate different parts of our trip on an A (tops) to F (bad) scale – as you’ll see we didn’t really have any bad experiences but some parts were better than others. Anne will contribute her comments on various parts of the trip preceded by the words “Anne’s take:”
Anne and I love cruises, but we had never stayed at an “all inclusive” resort. We jumped at the chance for a 3 night/4 day stay at the all inclusive Melia Cozumel resort in May 2005. In addition to experiencing an all inclusive resort for the first time, we would be returning to the Island we enjoyed visiting just two months earlier on our Holland America cruise. Below I will review different aspects of our stay and how it compares to a “cruise” experience.
My family and I looked forward with great anticipation to our first Holland America (HAL) cruise on their newest ship – the ms Westerdam! In preparing for the trip some questions came to mind. As a travel agent I have read many rave reviews from my clients who I have booked on HAL cruises in the past – how would Holland America compare to other cruise lines I have experienced in the last two years (Disney, Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean, NCL, and Crystal)? How would our 11 year old twins like the children’s program, especially since they had cruised on Disney just three months before? On this cruise I planned a number of independent shore excursions instead of booking excursions with HAL – how would that work out? Below you can read my answers to these questions and more.
Whenever I get into a cruise discussion with other travel agents I like to ask the question “What is your favorite cruise line?” In the last year I have heard the response “Crystal!” to that question more often than any other cruise line, particularly from long time travel agents. I have sailed on a variety of cruise lines in the past two years (Disney, Princess, Royal Caribbean, NCL, and Carnival) and I always wondered “what makes Crystal special and different from other cruise lines?”
Does a 4 night Disney cruise with a group of over 180 Disney fans sound like fun? It was! In early December 2004 I sailed on my first “MouseFest” cruise. The MouseFest cruise featured Passporter guide authors Dave and Jennifer Marx and Deb Wills of AllEarsNet.com as our “celebrity” hosts.
My wife and I were looking for a short weekend getaway to celebrate my birthday and our 15 year anniversary. Anne missed out on a 7 night cruise I took with our sons in March, and we both enjoy cruising very much, so we decided “why not celebrate with another cruise?” This was to be our first Carnival Cruise. We wondered if a short three night cruise on an older ship would give us a similar experience to our past sailings with other cruise lines. Below I will answer this question, and review different parts of our cruise.
“No cruise for us this winter,” I thought when my wife accepted an offer for a new job in mid-February. We had planned to take a family cruise the first week of March before this unexpected job change. “Don’t let my new job stop you from enjoying a vacation. Go ahead and take the boys on the cruise without me,” my wife said. I took her advice! Below is my cruise trip report of our Royal Caribbean Mariner Of The Seas cruise during the first week of March 2004.
Disneyland is the only Disney theme park that Walt Disney actually designed and walked through himself. In 2004 I took the wonderful “Walk in Walt’s Footsteps” tour at Disneyland; a behind the scenes look at Walt’s thinking in creating this masterpiece of family fun. by Tim Larison