Family Travel Gurus

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?” ... Read More

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. ... Read More

My family had been to Disney World and on the Disney Cruise before, so in February of 2003 I decided to take them on a different type of vacation. We visited Disneyland for 5 days, followed by a 7 night Mexican Riviera Cruise on Princess. This would be our first Princess cruise, and as a travel agent I wanted to see how their kids programs compared to the excellent ones Disney has. Also we were excited to try out a new ship on a new cruise line with a new itinerary for us! Rather than give a day by day account of this cruise, I will tell you about the different parts of our cruise in this report: Disneyland Portion, Our Stateroom, Recreation And Activities Onboard, Itinerary and Ports of Call, Cruising With Kids, Dining, Entertainment, and Embarkation/Disembarkation. ... Read More