What our clients say about us.

 - Their holidays were...just fine!

Fine Travel aims to be your Travel Agent for life, so trust and experience are hallmarks of our service.

Our client testimonials provide valuable feedback on our services and destinations travelled.

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UK & Europe | South Pacific | Australia | Club Med | Asia | Cruising | Dubai & USA | Middle East

UK and Europe

Hi Christine Cheers Donna and Bruce

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Hi Paul

My husband and I did the most amazing tour of London, France and Italy with Trafalgar Tours.
What I loved about the St Paul's to St Peter's tour was doing it via high-speed train, what an experience!
Our tour guide was really ‘switched on’ and spoke all the relevant languages fluently, thus taking the hassle out of all accommodation, daily excursions and day to day stuff.

The knowledge of the tour guides is also out of this world, and we left the tour really feeling like we had had daily history lessons on a very beautiful part of Europe.  We will definitely travel with them again soon. 

Highly recommend them!
 
Marsha

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Hi Rachael,

Well, I'm home form my travels and would just like to say thank you so much for all the bookings you made for me, I had a wonderful time! and thanks also for telling me about the gratuities for the 10 day Cosmos Tour (European Jewels), hardly anyone knew they had to pay them so it was helpful to have those pre paid!

Will def be coming back to you next time I go travelling!

Thanks again!

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Hi Irene,

We are back in Frankfurt after the end of our Central European Tour. It has been fantastic we have had many happy and some very moving moments (especially in Poland). We have seen so much and visited such wonderful cities. Cosmos were great. The Tour Director and Driver on the bus were outstanding.

Thank you for helping us get onto this tour. We would recommend it...

Regards
Irene and Stewart

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Thanks Irene

I am pleased you e mailed because I forgot to tell you how Alidas trip went. She had a great time and was very well looked after by the staff of Singapore airlines and at the airport. She was allowed to wander on her own at the airport (I gave her that letter) and found it a very easy airport to navigate, with lots to do.

She also got to sit in first class on one landing and really enjoyed that. It was a good experience for her independence.

Thanks for organising it and hopefully the feedback is helpful for you.

Take care.  Monique

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Good morning Christine

Holiday was a great success. 

Enjoyed Globus tour and the only moan would have that with the transfer to Madrid airport Globus were late, but fortunately had printed off the Ryan air boarding passes before we left Auckland and managed to catch flight with about 5 minutes to spare so stress levels were up!

Croisi Croatia cruise was excellent and no problems with speaking French as everything was said in both English and French.   All the comments I read on tripadvisor are not accurate at all.  It's a lovely area and the timing we spent at each at each port was just right with plenty of time to see everything.  One thing that we did notice that every place we visited was on how clean it was.   As usual enjoyed our time in London but glad we are not there at the moment!

Once again many thanks for arranging a great holiday and will be touch again as we are thinking Hawaii for next year!

Regards Jan

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Thank you for your email Irene,

My goodness me yes the tour was up to what I had expected. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour even though our travelling Australian companions were a noisy bossy bunch...but no this did not phase us in the least Lol. I did some research of the Cosmos tours and reviews by previous Cosmos travelers and it helped immensely.

I thought of you as I travelled these countries in Europe. You gave accurate accounts of what to expect and it was just appreciated as we travelled from place to place. I just loved Amsterdam and Germany and the fact that my husband was almost the victim of pick pockets in both countries did not mar our over-all impression of these two places. The day we went to Caprice it was wet and miserably cold and I think it may have been a one off for time of year.

I had to purchase a coat, ( not cheap in Caprice) although I did have one already...no help though when this was still at the hotel. My husband was worn out, being 70 and by the time we arrived back at our hotel in London. We had a rest period, he needed a whole day, but I bravely went off on my own on Monday catching a bus to Harrods and other shopping places of course. Our tour of London was great though and my husband loved it too. We had lots of photos taken.

You did a truly thorough job of getting us there and back. Thank you so much. I am hoping to do a more in-depth tour of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland in 2013 with some family members. I am most interested in the architectural and medieval times, so lots of castles and things historical.


Many thanks again Irene. Keep up the awesome work.

Warmest regards Flo.

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Hi Christine,

Just wanted to thank you for all the hard work you put into the Italy tour. There definitely was a huge amount of details and thought you had to put in to make that trip work! all went spectacularly well, was a once in a life time holiday for the Amalfi Coast.  Also, Puglia was very, very interesting.

Matera and the Sassi (and the hotel with the swimming pool in the basement that ran thru 3 caves!) were fabulous and the trulli houses were also quite amazing, the host there was superb, very nice young Italian lady.  Would highly recommend both the Sassi hotel and the Alberobello b and b.

Ravello was an wonderful town, the symphonies in the Villa Rufalo were superb and a wonderful end to a day. wish we could have heard more of them.

All of the drivers and transfers were very professionally handled, was impressed. would not want to drive a car over there!!

The Sassi is a city that everyone should see in their lifetime, very amazing place. could have easily spent even more time there it was so fascinating. The city guide we had there, unfortunately I can't remember her name either, was very good, gave an excellent personable tour.

Naples was interesting, had heard it was a dump but actually it was just old........what else would one expect from the historic centre of a European city!

Glad you briefed us on what to expect when walking into the hotel, the hotel was, as you said, beautiful inside once you got past the entrance way.  Was very glad to have had the extra days to see Naples (we skipped Capri as the weather was awful for those couple of days and my wife gets seasick so we decided against the ferry, would have to have gone to Sorrento to get it as the seas were way too rough in Positano for the ferry to get in).

All in all, I would highly recommend the tour as you put it together. great selection of cities, hotels, guides.

Thanks for all your effort and look forward to meeting you and your husband in January if that can work out okay with your schedule.

Best regards

Rick

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Hi Christine,

The Croatia tour was great. The hotels and coach very good; the guide left something to be desired - all the group agreed on this but apart from that and of course, worrying about family at home in Christchurch as we arrived in London at almost the exact time the earthquake struck so this did put a dampener on things.

The scenery was great and the local guides provided were very good.

Could definitely recommend the tour. Thank you for suggesting it.

David & Gloria

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Hi Christine,

I just wanted to say thank you for all your help with my Italian Trip.

I had a wonderful time with no dramas and saw plenty of awesome sites.
Hope your trip was everything you expected and that you were not affected by the Volcano or political unrest.

The Hotel in Milan was basic, clean, very nice people and good breakfast. All good for the price I thought.

My Hotel in Amalfi (Il Nido) was excellent, fantastic views, very comfortable good size rooms, helpful staff, clean and good breakfast, all in all a very good deal for the price. Thought you might want to know for your trip next year.

Best regards
Cathy

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Hi Paul, I'd like to thank you most sincerely for being a great travel agent. We had a wonderful trip - no nasty surprises as had been our previous experience with another travel agency.

Singapore was great for a one day stopover, Ukraine was amazing as were all the other Eastern European countries we visited - Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, then Italy, Switzerland & France before going to UK.

The 3 day stopovers in Boston and in San Francisco were just right given we felt like getting home.

Kind regards, Pamela

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Evening Merrill,

Morning here.  Our last morning in Cairo after our Avalon tour . Which was great , very well organised and professionally run . We have seen all the highlights of Egypt and now onto Turkey today.

Many thanks for rearranging our flights, hotels and transfers etc All much appreciated and trust me it was a lot easier to have you sort it in NZ with the kids via email rather than me trying here in Egypt.

Having a memorable trip Thanks for all your assistance

Martyn & Joanne

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Hi Christine.

I arrived back on the weekend. It was on my mind to send you a note to let you know that the trip was great. In particular I think the success can be put down to the excellent organisation and leadership by the Cosmos Tour Director, a Spaniard called Angel. He was superb and ensured an enjoyable time.

For future reference, I am guessing but I think, the average age was around 55 to 65 there were a few around my age, three younger girls in their late 20’s and several older people.

The group was made up of half American, half Australian with Singaporean, Malay and South African thrown in. Nothing is perfect but it all worked.

Thanks so much for your efficiency and help to arrange, I really appreciate it.

Cheers, Suzanne.

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Hi Martin

Yes all went well - I must say we thought Malaysia Business Class was really good and compared well with Emirates, maybe even better - the staff really tried to go the extra mile. Pan Pacific at Airport for two days on way back was as expected and a good decision to take MAS offer for the delay - would even consider paying for the stopover in future!

Avalon cruise (Amsterdam to Basel) was also excellent - no complaints whatsoever and of course the boat was only a few weeks old. The facilities on board were on a par with the best of the cruise liners (apart of course from the entertainment - we made our own).

Most on board were from OZ or NZ and none at all from UK and only a couple of Americans. The company is now owned by Globus but I think must have started as OZ or NZ - would definitely recommend. It is a bit pricey, but it does include wine with dinner - there was a healthy supply (and good quality) so no real requirement to 'top up' at own expense.

We spent a week in Como in an (internet) rented apartment downtown EUR 450. This worked out as planned - no driving, handy for Lake Como ferries and plenty to see and do. I also arranged a trip to Milan, which is only 40mins by train from Como and an hourly service - this allowed us to go to La Scala to see a show - Pink Floyd, The Ballet.

We then had a long weekend in Zurich - a most pleasant City with plenty to do, tho very expensive. We took the sleeper from Zurich to Rome for our return to KL. We had first class - a bit of a disappointment, as the Trenitalia sleeper coach was identical to a second class I often travelled on from Edinburgh to London in the early 1970's!

Cheers

Alan

ps have gone off the India by train at present.

I am keen to do a short 'Ayers Rock' /Ghan at some time.

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Hi Paul, just thought I'd drop you a line to tell you how much we enjoyed our trip to the UK and to thank you for all your help in changing our return flight. I have found that trying to do this from the UK is very frustrating, so it is much easier to get you to arrange it from New Zealand.

We landed at Heathrow and picked up our hire car and headed up to Staffordshire to stay with relatives. After a week or so there we drove up to Edinburgh and stayed in a fantastic boutique hotel called The Glasshouse. It is a converted church just off the main street that has been turned into a charming and comfortable hotel and allowed us to be in the thick of things in the centre of town.

Edinburgh is a great city with wonderful old buildings everywhere and a real style to it that is often missing in big cities. We did all the touristy things like visiting the castle and taking a cruise on the firth of Forth to see the famous rail bridge but there are so many things to see that we really just scratched the surface. We will have to return to see the rest of Edinburgh and rest of Scotland itself.

We found Thai business class to be great value for money. We landed at the new airport in Bangkok for our 4 hour stopover and were impressed by the buildings - not to mention the business class lounges. You can have a shower and they also throw in a complimentary massage which is great after a twelve hour flight and sets you up nicely for the next leg of the journey.

Anyway Paul, thanks again for all your help and advice. Your input definitely makes the whole process of travelling much easier and we look forward to booking through Fine Travel again next year.

Regards
Mike

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Hi Paul,

The following is a report on our wonderful overseas experience, the great times and memories we have due to you and the excellent way in which you put it all together.

I trust this summary may be of benefit to you and your clients.

EMIRATES AIRLINES. -- You have me hooked here. The service and all the benefits offered for travelling business class cannot be matched by any other airline I have used over the years for business purposes. Whilst the flight times were a bit harsh, it was more than compensated by the airlines personal, who couldn’t do enough for you. The door to door service was great.

REGNO HOTEL – ROME -- Whilst the room was very small we were compensated with a nice garden balcony overlooking the inner parts of Rome. The position of the hotel made sightseeing extremely easy. You were right there. The room was clean and the breakfast was more than acceptable. If you booking any other clients at this hotel it would be beneficial to ask for a room with a balcony.

IBERIA AIRLINE -- This airline is okay, however we were pleased that we did not travel business class due to the very poor standard. Mind you we were not travelling on an international flight, and the flights were very short. Due to missing our flight at Barcelona to Venice ( flight delayed from Valencia ) we were very well treated and Iberia arranged accommodation at no cost and had us on an early flight to our destination. This airline was satisfactory.

SOLVASA HOTEL – BARCELONA -- Would recommend this hotel to anyone. Close to the America’s Cup Village it was an easy 20 minute walk. The room was large and clean. The restaurant was of a very good standard, with the opportunity to eat in a beautiful courtyard. I would recommend this hotel as an excellent place to stay with easy distance to all the tourist spots.

ALBERGO ALL’ ANGELO HOTEL – VENICE – The room was small, but more than acceptable. The position was perfect being a 2 minute walk into San Marco Square.

The breakfast was good and the restaurants that flowed onto the street were a real experience.

PRINCESS CRUISE --- What an experience. A must for anyone. I cannot sing my praises high enough.

RAIL TRAVEL – This was a great tourist experience where we saw so much of the countryside. Very pleased that we travelled business class as the other class didn’t look to good. Food was not good and you had to pay ,except from Paris to London. The timetable was a little tight and would recommend that there be at least 2 hours between connecting trains.

TAJ PALACE HOTEL – DUBAI -- An excellent hotel, with one problem. It is dry. No booze. For those who don’t drink it is superior.

THE DESERT SAFARI – Another wonderful experience. 4 wheel drives through the desert and having a barbecue dinner in the middle of nowhere is as exciting as it gets. Another must for everyone.

Many thanks for making our tour such a wonderful experience.

Cheers  Pete & Barb

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Hi Fine Travel,

We received our flight tickets from Queenstown to Dublin on Friday. Thank you so much. I was blown away by the amazing service you have given us.

I have never booked a flight online like this and you made it so easy I didn't even have to leave the sofa :)

We had been quoted a much higher price when we went into a travel agents and really couldn't afford this.  They told us this was the cheapest.  I have Learnt from this that perhaps the bigger chains travel agents just don't have the time or cannot be bothered to check every flight option for the best one for the client.

I have already recommended you to all my friends and will most definitely deal with you next time we travel. Thank so much again you are a credit to the travel business.

Kind regards Maria

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Hi Kimberlee

Vanessa and I have had the greatest holiday with special thanks to you for all the arrangements that you made for us.

We thought our accommodation in London and Paris was really great as it was central to the areas we needed to be in so that was a great bonus for us to have it close to where we needed to go.

We have had a great trip and fortunately we did get our seat bookings together on Singapore Airlines all the way back home so where very pleased to see that we were sitting together.

All in all we have had a great trip.

Thanks again for all the trouble you have taken to make this happen for us.

I look forward to sometime in the future maybe booking another trip to some other place in the World.

Kindest regards.

Vanessa and Maureen

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Hello Irene

We are safely home after 9 weeks in Europe. The cruises were fantastic - our only mild reservation was that we would try to book with Aussies and Kiwis next cruise - the first boat Costa was Italian of course and only 100 Eng speakers out of 2000 passengers so we were very much the minority for once.

The Viking cruise was all American - not a colonial in sight. That was just bad luck as we were told by the staff that they often have plenty of downunders. But we really were spoilt on both and had a very trouble free month.

Both flights there and back on Singapore Air were as good as it ever gets in cattle class. No problems.

We went for 9 weeks with only a couple of rainy evenings and never once had problems with the weather. In fact it was too hot in central Europe - 33 degrees often. Seems that as soon as we left the weather cooled and they have had floods now, so we were very lucky.

Our only travel problems were trains - one engine breakdown in remote Hungary en route to Prague gave us huge problems making us so late at night finally getting there, we missed our apartment contact. Then getting to Amsterdam to fly out finally, an Ice train simply didn't arrive in Germany (there had been problems when an Ice came off the track at Cologne and I think they were pulled from the service and checked, but ours was supposed to be arriving until the last minute). We got there on local trains eventually but overall we did get a bit sick of Europe's trains. Still all part of travel and we learn every time. Phil has plans to cut my suitcase down yet again by half.

So thank you again for your good work. I'm in Auckland at present and not enjoying the rain. Phil is up the mountain skiing where it will be even worse.

Hope all goes well with you.
Elizabeth

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Hi Paul, thought you might like to know how it all went!

The cruise was great and I think the best way to see the Greek Islands. I would have been very disappointed if I had paid a lot of money to go to just one of the Islands for a week's holiday! Half a day in each is enough and we had a whole day in Athens so we did a tour and got to see everything.

The best part was of course going back to the Ship and knowing you would be somewhere else by that night or the next morning! The ship itself was in pretty good shape and I didn’t hear anything negative about it from other passengers apart from some saying the food wasn’t as good as some other cruise liners but I suppose people measure different things.

I thought the food was of a pretty high standard but far too much for my needs – Tom on the other hand ate from dawn till dusk and thought it was sensational! There was only around 1300 on the ship so not at full capacity which was probably quite nice for us. Passengers were mostly Italians, some Americans, and a sprinkling of Germans and Australasia's. Service was great.

Italy was also great and we learnt a few things. We learnt that rental car companies close lunch time on Sundays! We hadn’t organised our rental car in advance and just expected to rock on up on the day and hire one! Thank goodness we got off the Ship around 10.30am and the shuttle took us to the main train station where there were several hire car companies still open.

The cost to do on the spot was also extortionate! Choice was limited to the big boys and we eventually went with Europcar who I have used before and they were excellent. The car choice was also limited on a Sunday! Next time we will book before we leave NZ as it would have been probably half the price. Cost us around $150 per day for a small Fiat Uno.

We went to Venice, Bologna, Florence, Pisa and then drove the coast road through Tuscany to Rome.

Found some good hotels along the way – Best Western Hotel City in Bologna and highly recommend the new Hilton at Rome Airport called the Hilton Garden Inn. Brand new I think and just like the new Sydney Hilton. Restaurant was excellent and service was sensational! We felt like we were at home!

We could probably have paid less if booked in advance but we didn’t know where we would end up on any day and at these prices we didn’t feel ripped off and it always included breakfast.

The Marriott at LAX was also excellent – that must be the softest bed I have ever slept in my life – feather everything! Gorgeous after our flight from London (we managed to upgrade to Premium economy on that leg which was great). We also learnt that to get on the bus to go from the hotel to Santa Monica requires the exact change – 75cents! We had only $10 $20 notes! Something for new players…..

All in all a great trip Paul so thanks once again!

Deb

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South Pacific     UK & Europe  | Australia | Club Med | Asia | Cruising | Dubai & USA

Hi Irene

We're back!  (Actually we've been back for a week and I've only just got around to getting in touch - sorry about that).

It was a really lovely honeymoon; best honeymoon I've had :)

The Le Meridien resort Vanuatu is worth most of its claimed five stars - the service is extremely good, and the food at the restaurants for dinner is quite lovely.  The pool area and beach are also brilliant and my favourite part was drinking a cocktail at the beach bar while watching the sun go down. The only slight negatives were that the beach bar closed at sunset, and that the paint/carpet/etc in the hotel are starting to look a little tired.  The view from our room was brilliant, though - we were on the top floor looking out to Amedee Island on the horizon, and we spent a few happy hours each day sitting on our balcony drinking wine, eating bread and cheeses, and watching the kite-surfers.

We did most of the tourist-type things while we were there (Amedee island, the zoo, the cultural centre, the aquarium, etc) and we will definitely go back at some point to go out to the Isle of Pines and the Loyalty Islands, and to drive around the main island to see the rest of it.

Thanks again for organising the package - it was great!

Cheers
Carolyn

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Hi Rachel,

We had an absolutely magnificent time in Samoa.  On the way home we talked about when we would return… which I think is the real measure of any holiday.  Here are my comments

Staff – Great!  Really lovely and down to earth people.  Most of them had been to NZ at some point and already had some affinity with Kiwi’s.  We bonded with a couple of the staff and this really made a difference to our stay.  They work 7 days and manage to keep smiling.  It was heart-warming to watch how they playfully and secretly teased each other while they worked.

Service – We had no issues with any of the service.  I was a little worried that we would hit issues with “island time” but all of our meals were served in what I would call acceptable timeframes and the staff were very attentive.

Accommodation – Rooms were clean and pretty well appointed.  We had an issue with the shower/bath mixer which meant that water came out of both the bath tap and the shower head at the same time.  The sink was also not deep enough to allow us to fill the jug so we had to fill from the bath tub and you can guess what that was like when the shower was also inadvertently going at the same time.

Food – Pleasantly surprised.  There are 4 restaurants plus the breakfast buffet.  All 4 restaurants were above what I was expecting for the adults.  The kids menus were fine and keep them feed.

Pool – Great.  The kids lived in it.  It was large enough to satisfy a fully accommodated resort.

Cost – Drinks are pretty expensive and so hiring a car.  I wasn’t shocked at the cost of food or the entire holiday price tag.  When the kids hit 13 and we have to pay full price for their food and accommodation, it will be a different story.

Outside of Resort – We hired a car and toured around Samoa for a day.  There is a real lack of road signage making finding your way around a little difficult.  My GPS didn’t work either but we found all of the tourist spots we wanted to find in the end.  Driving through Samoan it struck me what a different place it is from Fiji.  The villages in Samoan are very clean and the people that live there seem to take a pride in how they present their homes.  Even though some of the housing is tacked together with scrapes of tin and wood, they still take pride in their gardens and road frontage

Weather – Lovely.  We had about 2 days that included a few showers.  Other than that it was hot and dry.

Thanks for all of your help Rachel.  We will definitely talk to you first for our next holiday! - Ben

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Hi Christine,

We loved The Little Polynesian in Rarotonga and were upgraded to a sea front room - the day bed was just fantastic.  The snorkeling was great - so many fish and a little coral further out. Kayaking and swimming was good. We even saw some humpback whales from our room one afternoon.

The provided breakfast was great with fresh fruit, cereals, toast - more than adequate - had a fruit platter prepared for us the night before our early departure the next morning. Dinners there were average and highly priced we thought after trying different restaurants.

The rooms were kept spotless and the turn down/tidy up evening service was lovely. Enjoyed the large shower and spa bath in our court yard. Alex and all the staff we met were very friendly and helpful. Just the relaxing break we needed.

Everything went smoothly - thank you Christine!!!

Regards Peter & Jacky

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Hi Jennie
 
We had a great time thanks so much for organising it all for us, everything was great.  Glad we did the private transfer as getting on the bus would have been a pain the taxi drivers were very friendly and took great care on the roads.
 
The Shangri-La was great too quite big and very busy but we still managed to get some space by the pool and for the most part the service at meal times was good.  The rooms were lovely and pretty clean.
I think next time we would probably try a different resort maybe somewhere not quite so big as the crowds did get on my nerves at times but it was great, very relaxing I managed to read 5 books in 7 days so that was an achievement…..
 
Thanks again I would definitely use Fine Travel in the future everything went off without a hitch and the service you gave us was brilliant.
 
Regards
Elaine

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Thanks Irene!

Yes, I had a great week in Noumea. My apartment was on the 14th floor overlooking the Baie des Citrons. I had a relaxing time – read about 6 novels. Went walking twice each day. Visited some of the great cafes and restaurants for coffee or lunch. Enjoyed fruit from the market, baguettes, macaroons, etc etc.

I took my laptop but did not do any work!

I hope you enjoy your leave too!

Not sure when I’ll get another break on my own but I will certainly contact you – if/when that opportunity arises again!

Many thanks and best regards
Delwyn

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Hi Rachael,

We had a great relaxing holiday, everything ran very smoothly and the service at the Pacific Resort Aitutaki was great.

There were a couple of things that for the price were a little disappointing - they used plastic glasses in there bars for cocktails, beer etc which you wouldn't expect at a 5 star resort.

Also, most mornings for breakfast I just felt like muesli and fruit which was on the menu but each time I ordered it they didn't have muesli. Otherwise, there breakfast menu was great and a la carte which you don't often see.

We did a lagoon cruise which was really good, it was a day trip on a great boat which was nice and big so plenty  of room, they took us to a few islands and snorkeling out near the reef and cooked us fresh tuna on the BBQ for lunch along with traditional salads etc. I think it was only about $85 each which we thought was good value. They played there instruments and sang songs most of the way and on the way home showed as how to shell a coconut and tie sarongs.

We also hired a scooter, which was only $30 for 24 hours, we spend a morning cruising around the island which was good fun, the locals are all really friendly and the place has a really nice welcoming feel to it.

At Pacific Resort, although the rooms are all on the beach front. they are also tucked into the gardens so are very private and the room we got just to the right of the pool area was perfect, thank you.

Julian the GM made a point of coming around to the bar and restaurant each night to talk the guests individually to see what they got up to for the day and check everything was going ok which was a nice touch, he also greeting us on arrival and saw us off with a small gift when we left, this was a nice personal touch.

The whole place is just stunning and we would happily go back one day and thoroughly recommend it.

The flight time back to Auckland was a bit nasty but we went to the Rarotongan and had a few drinks and a snack an then got to the airport around 11.30pm, check was 12 and then we went to the koru lounge so it wasn't too bad, there are lockers at the airport for baggage.

Thanks for organising everything for us, we won't be having a holiday for a while now but I will hold onto your details for future.

Kind regards
Justine   

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Hello Paul,

Thanks for the phone call yesterday. I had been going to write to you anyway to thank you for a very well organised trip.

Everything ran like clockwork and we had a great time. The Pacific Resort's in both Rarotonga and Aitutaki that you booked for us were excellent places to stay, with very friendly and helpful staff, very good locations and facilities.

Yours Ray

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Hi Jennie

We had a great break away and everything went well, thank you.

The Fiji Beach Resort was lovely and had great facilities. The service was overall good, though the housekeeping was a little inconsistent (minor things, not enough to cause any problems). It was wonderful to stay on the beachfront. Fortunately we had a ground floor unit, with the beach a hop skip'n'jump from the front door.

Also, the unit was far enough away from the restaurants and pools so there was no noise etc from activities in those areas. It can be a bit of a hike from some the far units to the restaurants and reception, but guests can ask for a buggy pick up. It was great to have a kitchenette in the unit which was well equipped, including a decent size fridge and coffee machine. There was also a hooded BBQ on the terrace.

The beach wasn't 'littered' with loungers and people as there were loungers and umbrellas around the pools, as well as being dotted along the beachfront in front of the units. Hammocks swinging in the trees was a great idea too. There were activities at the resort each day for guests who wished to participate, as well as various water sports.

The free 'Bula Bus' that did the circuit of the resorts and Port Denarau was great. Being handy to the Port was great for boat transfers to nearby islands and the many day trips on offer.

For anyone going to the resort I would recommend:
• They request a ground floor unit if they like the idea of strolling out the front door for a dip in the sea or lounge in the hammock and not worrying about locking up etc.
• Unless they mind the activity and noise of the pools and restaurants, request a unit a little removed for greater privacy and less noise.
• A unit with kitchen facilities if they don't want to eat out every day.
• Including breakfast in the package. Breakfast (a large buffet) was between 6.30 and 11.00 am so there was loads of time to get breaky if you wanted a lie in!

All in all, a great mid-winter break in the warm sunshine. Thank you.

Regards, Paula

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Hi Kimberlee,

Thank you, we had a great time.

Iririki (the main resort) hasn’t changed much since we were last there. We were in fare’s 91 and 92 which were the furthest up the hill. There’s always pro’s and cons, of course - The walk up the hill was tough! But the breeze up there on our decks made it all worthwhile, and they were quieter than some of the fare’s that everyone walks past!

We managed to get the carts to drop us off on many occasions, but they couldn’t get right to our door so we had to walk the last bit. The fares faced North-East and we had a view through the treetops to the harbour. The décor was a bit tired – we had beds raised on a wooden frame which were a bit tricky to get in and out of. But plenty of room, and a great shower - hot and strong, and the decks are great, with a bit of a breeze.

Iririki is special because it is so close to town with the ferry available any time you like that takes 2 minutes; but when you are at the resort you feel a million miles away because it is an island to itself. The Iririki end (with no children) is great.

The pool area is lovely, and was never crowded. There was a mixture of people our age and honeymooners. I guess the middle group were at the Snorklers Cove resort at the other end of the Island which allows children. We had a look at this, but were very happy with our choice.

Although the new apartments look great, and all have terrific views, there are so many of them, so close – it’s not my idea of an island get-away. It will be better when the gardens have grown up a bit too. It would be a good spot for a conference, though, where you want everyone to be close together.

We enjoyed trying all the different restaurants in Port Vila, and had some wonderful meals. Other guests that we met on the ferry trips were good at giving tips about where was good to go, and we passed on our experiences to others as well.

Used both taxi’s and buses (not much difference except in the price) and they are great. We thought Micheners at Iririki was a bit expensive, for what it offered. They also served us expensive wine in plastic glasses which we were a bit puzzled by. (We met the manager just before we left and mentioned this to him, and he was appalled – so I suppose someone will get into trouble!). The breakfasts were good. Cereal, fruit, and plenty of fresh croissants and pastries.

We went and had a look at Breakas, which is a beautiful boutique resort with its own beach. But although the bures on the beach look fabulous, and are right on the white sand beach, it was a bit far out of town with only one restaurant which is right smack next to the pool (no privacy), and the beach was very tidal (like Fiji), and although white sand above the water, the bottom was coral so you’d have to wear reef shoes. Good for a few days if you really only want to blob out.

Hope that helps with the feed-back! We had a great time, and I’m glad you suggested Iririki for us. We wished we had a few more days, and will go back again.

Incidentally, we are interested in Samoa possibly for next year. Do you have any suggestions for something like Iririki there?

Kind regards Chris

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Hi Kimberlee

We had a fantastic time and thanks for your follow up. The Sheraton Villa’s were excellent (but I must admit next time we would book sooner and get a beachfront villa). We didn’t really leave the resort as they had everything we needed and the weather was fantastic.

All in all we all thought it was very close to the perfect holiday (just wasn’t long enough).

We are already talking about our next trip so we may be in touch soon.

Thank you for all your help and it was a real pleasure booking with you.

Thanks again. Tony

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Hi Kimberlee,

Thank you for your e-mail.

We had a great holiday at the Ramada Resort Noumea. The accommodation was exceptional and we enjoyed being there.

I am looking forward to deal with you again. Your service was great.

Regards, Zoran

Hi there Jennie

Just to report that we had a fantastic week in Rarotonga, very pleased we didn't head for Samoa after seeing what those poor souls have been going through. The Edgewater garden villa was spacious and cool. Kids loved the pool and lagoon, we had great weather and the food was lovely. Would highly recommend it as a family holiday spot. Of course, it wasn't nearly long enough!!!

Thanks for doing all the organising, just grand. Cheers, Karen

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Hi Kimberlee,

We loved it thanks.

The Pacific Resort was great and we looked at a few others and were very happy with our beach-front suite.

We tried a couple of local restaurants but found the food at the resort great so we didn't look too far.

Push biked around the island and wanted to do the walk up the hill but was too lazy. Alan did more by way of fishing and scuba diving.

Thanks for your help and assistance. We would go back again. Rachel and Alan

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Thanks Kimberlee.

The Pacific Resort was excellent, could not fault food or service.

Aitutaki is a fantastic spot, the lagoon is great, saw plenty of the island with our scooter!!!.

A great holiday, would love to go back sometime.

Appreciate your organization, everything went smoothly.

Regards

Kris

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Hi Kimberlee,

We would highly recommend Eratap the food was superb and the location/accommodation is outstanding. The beach’s are superb with great snorkeling in front of any of the fares just 10ft away.

Staff are all very friendly and well trained.

Most activities, kayaks, snorkeling gear, and transfers out islands 1km out from resort are included with tariff so works out ok price wise.

Dined at Micheners at Iririki which was good but like most things in Vanuatu reasonably pricey.

Thank you for organizing the trip & transfers everything went very smoothly.

Regards,


Matthew

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Hi Kimberlee (and Paul and Sarah),

Thanks for organising our Raro trip (and thanks to Paul who knew us better than we knew ourselves by guiding us in the right direction, especially when it came to accommodation). The family thought the whole holiday was pretty near perfect and even Michele losing the keys to her rental scooter 15 minutes before we were due to board the airport transfer bus… (and we never found them) didn't worried us.

Weather was great, accommodation ditto, Pacific Resort upgraded Michele and Mark to a Garden Suite (Room 4) and we had a lovely private Beachfront Suite (102) with bottles of Lindauer waiting for us (thank you for that). Staff were friendly and helpful, the best beach, good food, facilities and mosquito's were all in abundance.

The Tamarind restaurant lived up to your recommendation – we did not drop your name just in case you did not want to be associated with 4 so-called adults jumping up and down hysterically on the front lawn in the rain trying to get the perfect “time delayed” photo.

Thanks again - your local knowledge and advice was invaluable.

Sylvia and Alan

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Kimberlee

Just to let you know we had a great holiday.

Pacific Resort Aitutaki was everything you said it was - just magnificent.

Regards Niels

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Thanks Irene,

We had a ball. the Radisson was fabulous!! would recommend it to people with kids. rooms were huge, and pool was great.

Thanks again,

Kirsty

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Hey Kimberlee,

.....it must have slipped his mind!!! Suffice to say that I could have stayed on at Pacific Resort it was absolutely awesome, the staff were fantastic the service was excellent and I couldn't have asked for a better room on the resort. We ended up staying at Room 14 which was absolute beachfront and there were just the two single level rooms by themselves (Rm 13 & 14) next to the barefoot bar and sandals restaurant right on the lagoon. Very private and very beautiful!!

I am definitely going back!

Thank you so much for all of your help and making things very easy!!!!!

Cheers
Alison

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Hi there Irene,

Well, we're back safe and sound after a great week in Norfolk. Our accommodation at Channer's Park was superb - we were upgraded to a 2 brm apartment!

Really nice people, Lindsay & Alison, so helpful and friendly and although we had to check out by 9.30 on the last day they let us have the rental all day and just left it at the airport when we were done!

There wasn't a lot of spare time, we thoroughly enjoyed all the 'tours' especially the Progressive Dinner where we met locals in their homes and had a superb 4 courses! The breakfast walk is excellent, and as the weather was great the whole week, the outdoor activities worked well.

There are heaps of eateries on the Island, we opted for RSL one night, Bowling Club, Barney Duffy's Steakhouse, and of course our upmarket dinner at Governor's courtesy of Channer's Corner. Found superb coffee place with the best Devonshire scones at Hilli's in Queen Elizabeth Drive. Shopping great, even got the shoes for grand-daughter's wedding in Feb! Bought some lovely dressy T-Shirts on which we had "Baker'z D'Lite" embroidered for no extra cost. (that's the motorhome's name).

It was a great experience and the 7 days is enough - I think if we ever went again, we would do the Convict Dinner, and go on fishing trips and generally blob out, but we feel we know every inch of the island and really loved the laid-back lifestyle and friendliness of the locals
.
So, thanks for your help in setting things up for us - next trip Perth about end March beg. April 2009, so will be on the lookout for specials (few and far between!).

Thanks

Jenny and George

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Hi Jennie

Thanks for your email. it was great.

The bookings were all brilliant and the Fiji Sofitel was perfect for our kids. The pool is magnificent and the food was good. We moved around some of the other hotels and tried their breakfasts and dinners and it was all very enjoyable.

Thanks again for your help. we would definitely stay there again.

Do you know if they have adjoining rooms at all?
Sandra

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Hi Jennie

Sorry you have been on my list to get in touch with - I want to be back it Fiji!

We had a wonderful time, the Shangri-La was wonderful and would highly recommend it but would definitely do a no kids resort next time!

Thanks for all your help, I haven’t used a travel agent in years but that is all going to change now.

Have a great weekend.

Regards
Diane

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Hi Jennie

Thanks for your email. Yes, we are home. We had a great trip. All our flights went well. All the pre-booked seats were good. We did a cheaply one week package to Paphos, Cyprus and really enjoyed it. We loved Kuala Lumpur - we'll definitely be returning there.

If there are any specifics about our trip you'd like to know (hotels etc) please do not hesitate to email, we're happy to pass on any and all observations.

Because of our business we go away on holiday at the same time every year, we look forward to dealing with you again in the future. Thank you for all your help.

Kind regards
John and Katherine

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Hi Alisa ,

We had a fantastic time – thanks to you recommending such a cool holiday !
You have been awesome to deal with and look fwd to booking another holiday with you again soon !!

When we arrived at the Pacific Resort they told us the room was not quite ready – in the wee small hours of the morning !! ( admittedly our flight was 45 mins early so they would not have been expecting us so early) – anyway I did complain about that - so they took us to this villa with the cleaning staff doing final touches so not really a big deal..

We quickly realised when they showed us around the villa that it was not the one we booked – but we thought we would have to change in the morning but at that stage just wanted our beds!

Anyway the Manager came to see me the next morning to say that we had been upgraded from Garden villa to Lagoon villa and we could use the room on the last day till 11.30pm free of charge !!
Well I could have hugged him – think I did actually - ha

The lagoon villa was amazing – three bedrooms so we were very spoilt.

Rarotonga is a cool place – lot's to do and I really can’t wait to go back !

Thanks again Alisa , you were fab!

Jo

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Greetings oh wise travel consultant.

I'm back.

The trip was awesome. The service was excellent, the plane trip sooooooooo long.

The weather suxed but that didn't stop us.

Spent far too much but it was all for a good cause.

Back to work was a bit of a culture shock but I made it to the end of week one.

Thanks again Irene for all your hard frustrating work.

I will contact you again once I have decided where I will go to next.


Many thanks and Regards
Dave

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Samoa was brilliant talk about relax just what the doctor ordered.  The meal plan is more expensive then ala carte.

The next trip for Barbara and I is going to be.......

CUBA

A 3 week holiday 2 weeks ( I suppose) with a guide
cigars and rum festivals
yup that's the one accommodation can be budget we don't care as long as we are safe

can you sort it

Philip

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Hi Jennie,


Just want to let you know that the cruise was excellent, my kids will remember that experience for the rest of their life.

They had a ball when we were there.

Thank you so much Jennie.

Kind regards

Hany

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Hi Jennie

Thanks for your email! I had intended to email you but it completely slipped my mind, so thanks for the reminder!

We had a FANTASTIC time in Raro - thank you very much for organising everything. It was so simple and easy!!

The Sunset was SUPERB!! Here are a few pics from our trip just to show you what paradise we went to - I didn't want to leave!! :)

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Hi Jennie

Just got back from Rarotonga and had a fantastic time. Thanks heaps for all your efforts - the bookings went very smoothly and both resorts were great. We are keen to go back next year.

Cheers
Raewyn

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Hi Jennie

The Shangri-la Fijian was great with George. Definitely a good option with children. Also great that there are several restaurants.

Will definitely get in touch with you next time we're planning a trip.

Cheers
Lucy

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Just wanted to let you know that Andrew and I are back from our honeymoon and we had a fantastic time in Rarotonga.

The Little Polynesian was absolutely stunning and the staff were so friendly and helpful - nothing was a problem at all. As soon as we arrived Taina, the front of house manager, took one look at the fact we were on honeymoon and upgraded us immediately to an over-beach room for the whole 5 nights.

Obviously we were over-the-moon because there would have been no way we could have afforded to stay there!! The resort was spotlessly clean and the in-house dining was superb. We would definitely recommend the Little Poly to anyone looking for a top-end stay in Raro.

We also dined at Trader Jacks, Sails, Tamarind House and at the Edgewater for 'Island Night' and would also recommend any of these places for beautiful, fresh food. Andrew spends a lot of time in Samoa, Tonga and Fiji with his work and he had warned me to expect to get sick at some point with the food but neither of us had any problems at any stage. The locals were all super-friendly and welcoming too.

So thanks again for all your help - we both really appreciated it!!!

Best regards, Tahlia

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Hi Rachael

Sinaeli was amazing!!!! We only stayed in the garden fale for one night, we up graded to a beachfront Fale and wow, it was amazing. BS1 is the fale to have!

They only charged us $500 for the upgrade.

Food was sensational, service was great. They do make it their business to know each guest staying there, and was very personal - what a nice change from being just a number and rush through service like in Fiji.....although we will be taking the kids to Fiji next year.

Beer was cheap, cocktails not to bad, wine though was expensive, lucky I took my own Moet, they were charging 180 tala for Duetz and 110 tala for Lindauer. Oyster Bay wines were about 115 tala a bottle.

We are definitely going back.

I have also given your details to some people to book their future travel with, they had issues with their booking and felt the service at their travel agency was s..t, I said yours was fantastic and all our future holidays will be booked with you.

The flight back via Sydney was long - 6 hours then  2.45 hrs from their to here. But wasn't to bad, was just very very tired when we got home.

I have up-loaded pics to my face-book page if you want to have a look.

Thanks again for everything

Will be booking again soon.

Ivy

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Hi Irene

We are back from Vanuatu! you are probably still on your holiday lucky thing!

Here is my report on our holiday, I am going to put something similar on Trip Adviser to let others know how we found the island.

We had a fab time and can definitely recommend staying at Hideaway Island. The island was really easy to get to, it was about 10 minutes from Port Vila and then a short ferry ride form the beach to the island, you just stand on the beach and the ferry comes over to pick you up!

The snorkeling was great, was so good to be able to snorkel right off the beach at Hideaway, seemed very safe for children too. There were masses of fish and they were very friendly, some people were saying they were much friendlier than other places like Great Barrier. It wasn't over run with day trippers, though there were a couple of times there seemed to be a few people there, most visitors left around 3.30pm and quite often we would have the beach to ourselves early morning and late afternoon.

The staff were all helpful and friendly, the meals were good at Hideaway. One of the staff, Alice took us on a guided tour of the village one afternoon, that was really interesting. The dive staff were fantastic, we went on the snorkel safari twice, where they take you out to a reef further away than you would go snorkeling, the guys doing that were very safety conscious, especially good with the not so confident snorkelers.

We stayed in a bungalow on the east side of the island I would recommend this side, we had a breeze all day which was fantastic to be able to get away to when we got too hot on the beach, much of the time the beach was very hot with not too much wind, perfect for swimming.

I had been a little concerned with some of the reviews for Hideaway on Trip Adviser, some say the accommodation was "basic" or "rustic" and I wasn't sure exactly what it meant. Our bungalow had a double bed and two singles, own bathroom, porch and double hammock, perfect for watching the sunrise from! No kitchen, just a fridge and kettle.

We even had a couple of lizards living in the rafters, which is great for keeping bugs down! The bungalow could have been a little bit cleaner, we did have some ants, it was quite noisy at night due to the noises on the tin roof, things falling and branches banging, kind of like being out in the wilderness with lots of interesting noises...Only took one night to get used to that

Not much to do in the evening after tea, we pretty much went to bed really early and got up with the sun each day which was fantastic!

We did a wonderful day trip on the oolangatta, it is a sailing ship, there was a very rough drive for about 40 mins to the other side of the main island and then onto the ship to see a turtle sanctuary, they breed endangered turtles and release them, then we went to a beautiful white sand beach for a barbecue lunch, lazed on the beach went out a couple of times to different reefs for snorkeling and then back home, took the whole day and was great value for money. We also spent another day at the Mele Cascades it was beautiful there, waterfalls and natural swimming pools.

We had a great time and would love to go back, if you have anyone wanting to go snorkeling in the pacific we would thoroughly recommend Hideaway Island.

Hope you had a great holiday. Hear from you soon.   Rae

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Club Med    UK & Europe | South Pacific | Australia| Asia | Cruising | Dubai & USA

Hi Rachel!

How sweet of you to send an email! 

Our Club Med Bintan vacation was FANTASTIC!  We were blown away!  My husband and I are both former Airline employees, (he had 26 years, me 22 years), so we have done a lot of traveling and been on many wonderful trips.  I really mean it when I say it was one of the best vacations we have been on!

The people that work there are just wonderful, there were so many things to do and always so much FUN going on ~ it was fabulous! I checked a few things off my bucket list while we were there...............riding an elephant, sailing on the ocean and flying on the trapeze!!!!!

We even had two of the GO's over for dinner this past Tuesday night at our house.  We all ended up staying till Monday!  The one GO's was leaving Bintan to be transferred to another Club Med and the other one was leaving Club Med to start a personal training business here in Singapore!  We had such a nice time with them here as well.  Our 15 year old daughter was actually crying when it was time to say good bye and get on the bus!

I am a firm believer that everything is meant to be and we are so grateful for all you did at such short notice for us to find somewhere to go on vacation.  I am happy my Mom got to go with us.  She had never been on an all inclusive vacation and she really had a great time.

You were right................the food was great ~ I think I gained 5 pounds so I'm off to the pool to swim some laps to work them back off!!  :o)

I will definitely be in touch for our next get away and share your information with our friends!

Thanks again,
Trish :o)
P.S.  If you haven't been to Bintan in awhile, they just opened a new Spa that is hard to describe with words.  It is right on the ocean and all the rooms overlook the ocean with balconies, ourdoor private baths, hamocks, etc...........It was the nicest Spa I have ever been to ~ they even have their own private little beach that you can spend the day at after your massage if you want to!

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Asia     UK & Europe | South Pacific | Australia | Club Med | Cruising | Dubai & USA

Hi Christine,

THE CHINA HIGHLIGHTS TOUR - OCTOBER 2010

Admittedly excellent weather throughout made it possible to enjoy everything in a pleasantly warm environment but beyond that we were very impressed.

Our days were packed but not too packed, the sights were very well selected, we were well organized by the guides and the local guides were very knowledgeable and fully attentive to our needs and interests, no hassles with tickets and few with queues, the pre booked live shows were excellent and the additional “Impressions” show that was recommended was spectacular.

Our hotels were good to excellent – only one bed was harder than we could comfortably manage – and the food was by and large very good.

Well done. Please find a way to thank all concerned very much for great service and good value.

Regards Philippa and Johannes

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Hi Irene -

Just to let you know that our travel was fantastic - thank you - we had a wonderful time in Croatia and great stopovers in Singapore and HK.

In HK - where I booked myself at the airport Hotel - it was great, you simply stroll thru from the terminal into the hotel and they are very service friendly and accommodating. We were able to get a tour, with pickup from there, no problem. Extremely convenient for going from and to the terminal.

Singapore was also great - they were also very friendly and permitted us to stay at the hotel extra time - to 6pm - no extra charge (as our flight was 11.30pm) and so we were able to get in two tours on two days (as we arrived early the first day.

Just a thought - the seating is awfully cramped (lucky we had thin people next to us) - how much more would it have cost us if we had booked business class instead of economy ?

Kind regards,
Suzanne

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Hi Jennie

Well we are back home again after having spent a most memorable and enjoyable 9 weeks away. Thank you so much for all the work you did in ensuring that our holiday went smoothly.

We have seen some wonderful sights, met some wonderful people, experienced some fantastic things and all in all the memories will live with us for a very long time. I just wish that I could win Lotto so that this could be a more regular occurrence. Friends have asked whether I would go again and my response has been ‘in a heartbeat’.

Singapore was hot hot hot and for the most part we did enjoy it there. The one place I would never want to go to again though is Santosa Island, I found that to be rather tacky and there were just so many people there!. The sound and light show there was fantastic though.

It is essential that you look at the ‘big picture’ though. Met a wonderful local woman on our last day in Singapore and if we went back again we would feel so much more confident about meeting the locals and doing things the way they do.

Once again, thank you so much for all your assistance, it made our holiday so much easier.

Kind regards

Dorothy

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Hi Jennie,

I have been meaning to email you sorry.

We had an awesome time, didn’t want to leave. I loved Phuket it was awesome, weather was fantastic the whole time we were there. The resort was very good, rooms weren’t the flashest but we were hardly in there!! only to sleep, we were out busy doing things all the time so it didn’t bother us. My brother changed rooms, only because they had my niece and we were right by the road so a bit loud by the main road for her.

The pools and entertainment were great though, no English tourists though mainly Dutch, Swiss etc.

We went to most of the islands like Phi Phi, Monkey bay etc on a boat trip and that was awesome, mainly relaxed on the beaches and at the resort a lot. We went to Fantasia one night and really enjoyed that.

The Thai people are so beautiful, lovely race of people. None of us wanted to leave and will be going back in the near future that’s for sure!!

Thanks again for all your help in making it a great holiday for us all.

Regards, Estelle

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Hi Irene,

We're back from Bali and I just wanted to let you know we had a great time. We enjoyed every moment of our holiday.

The shopping was great (I only bought 7 handbags), the photo opportunities were amazing (only took 294 photos), and the food was delicious (we tried a different restaurant for lunch and dinner every day). We did some day trips to temples, the volcano, monkey forest, Ubud etc, shopped ourselves silly, and walked for miles and miles.

Dallas out-did himself and shopped with me every day (it'll probably be another year before I get him back in a shop). The massage, manicure and pedicure while lying on a deckchair on the beach was definitely a highlight for me - it went on forever!

The weather was really warm and overcast which made it bearable. when the sun did come out it was far too hot, so we were grateful for the clouds.

We didn't mind Virgin Blue's no-frills way of doing things at all and although the accommodation was very basic, the air-conditioning worked well, the bed was HUGE, and we saw things we wouldn't normally see with being in the family compound part.

We've decided to holiday every six months (working around Dallas's busy season of course), so our next trip away will be April/May. We're going to give a cruise a go because neither of us have done it before. If you have anything coming up anytime within the next few months that might be an option, please send details through. We have no idea of where we want to go, or for how long at this stage.

And now I have to get back to work - I'm not coping with not being on holiday anymore!

Thanks again for everything.

Julie

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Hello Kimberlee..a quick note to let you know all your arrangements for me went extra well.

If you have any clients looking for where to stay in Singapore I would recommend the Swissotel Merchant Court...fantastic location, very friendly staff and wonderful pool, right on the river. Also the side trip to Bintan at Nirwana is quite magical....great spot!!

Many thanks Chris

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Hello Jennie,

Back to reality and I have been meaning to e mail you and say we had a great trip and there were no hitches.
We enjoyed the break in Hong Kong on the way home and Cathay were very generous with our overweight bags on the way home.

The day trip to China was interesting and the Tour Guide very good; they emphasised the opening up of the country to tourists and we didn't feel intimidated or unwelcome.

I must say the 8 hr stopover was great and told another couple about it and they are getting on and can't handle the big stopovers.

The Hotel was great as it connected to an outlet shopping centre so we were pleasantly surprised.

Our family's home is getting smaller and we will stay at a B & B next time. We stayed at one previously and I think we paid 32 pounds a day.
It was a lovely Christmas and will try and get over in their summer.

Once again thank you for your service it was excellent and not sure when we will travel over again; although our plans are 2010 if we have another windfall it will be sooner.

All the best for 2008

Kind regards
Judy and Bruce

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Hi Irene,

Just a short note to say thank you for your help in arranging our holiday.

We had a fabulous time with the highlight for me, being Hong Kong Disney. Zuzanna nearly lost her voice there she was so excited.

All flights were good especially Munich to Hong Kong when you booked us seats D, E & G. No one sat in F making it ideal for Zuzanna to sleep.

For your information, the Hong Kong Disney Hollywood Hotel was great, I think better that the other Disney hotel.

So thanks again.

Keith

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Australia    UK & Europe | South Pacific | Club Med | Asia | Cruising | Dubai & USA

Happy New Year Irene!

Just wanted to say we have had our we sojourn to Sydney and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We saw most of the main attractions, including Manly and Bondi beaches, we set ourselves a cracking pace - poor hubby is glad to be home, just quietly!

The Wyndham Vacation Resort was perfect for our needs, and very central, we did lots of walking but it was the best way to see the sights.

So thankyou very much for arranging it for us - I will definitely be going back sometime - perhaps for some shopping when the exchange rate is better!

Thanks again,

Kind regards,

The Daintree family.

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Hi Irene.

Sorry about the delay in getting back to you after our trip, but things have been hectic up here since we got back but as promised, here’s the feedback.

Flights both ways were good on Air NZ and left on time.

Grand Chancellor hotel in Brisbane

Is a well established hotel but generally very good. We asked for a high floor and got the 6th (out of 10) floor. Staff were excellent, friendly and helpful on anything we required to know. It was their pleasure to help.

Rooms were tidy, clean and well serviced with good security. Although the room was a bit dated, it was apparent that there was extensive refurbishment going on with many rooms closed off on our floor and completely stripped. Management stated that all rooms would be progressively refurbished and they hoped to complete the whole hotel within 6 months with new decor and flat screen TV’s.

Although the hotel is positioned on the corner of busy arterial routes, the rooms have suitable soundproofing and once doors are closed, the traffic cannot be heard. The views are magnificent and because of the hill, better than some of the more upmarket hotels in town.

The eating facilities were top class in their restaurant (just refurbished) and if one didn’t feel like a walk or go into town, they had bar meals which were reasonably priced. Service in the bar and restaurants was excellent. The hotel has a swimming pool and spa on the top floor roof. We would stay there again.

The positioning of this hotel is great on the top of a gradual rise with commanding views over the river and city. Just across the road there is a huge park complex which has beautiful gardens to wander through with fountains, waterfalls and flower displays – all free. One could spend the day there.

If people want to go into town there are free buses which run every 20 minutes and leave from outside the hotel giving a 10 minute ride to town / return. The red buses in town are also free and have various return destinations.

Of interest are the river cats. For $5 each, one can get a day pass which will take you to any of their river stops which include parks for picnics and various bars/ museum etc. Or one can stay on the cat all day. A very quick and efficient transport.

Kuranda

We enjoyed our cruise and particularly enjoyed the Gondala trip to Kuranda it was well worth it. A bit disappointed with P&O and the people in Australia who took the bookings for the Kuranda trip because they didn’t advise us that all the earlier bookings for the sky rail had been postponed to coincide with the ship’s new arrival time.

(You may recall that we were booked to go up on the Gondala and down on the rail but had to cancel after P&O advised they would be docking later at 11am other than originally scheduled)

It would appear that anyone that had an earlier booking had been put forward automatically, but by the time we found this out, the train trip was completely booked out and we had to return by coach which was totally boring compared to what the train trip would have been. Our trip overall was excellent and the weather was fine with nary a cloud in the sky throughout. Seen plenty since we got back to NZ though.

We were astonished to find out from others that one could just walk into a booking office in Cairns Township a short walk from the boat and book the Kuranda gondola/train trip for much cheaper than on the ship of course. They got the train trip as well.

Break Free Savannah.

Another nice hotel with Pool and spa. Rooms spacious clean and modern. Staff friendly and helpful although the onsite eating facilities were inadequate with the food basic snack type (when it was open) It was mostly closed. Service and quality of the breakfast bar could be improved.
However, this didn’t present a problem as it was a short level walk to every bar, cafe, restaurant and shops that one could imagine. It was also 10 minutes walk to the beach and the massive Pacific fair shopping centre.

For a good budget meal of good quality and quantity over a beer there is a bar right next to the Savannah which is accessible by a 2 minute walk down a right of way. Service was very quick and efficient and the place is clean so we ate our evening meal there

Thanks very much for all that you did for us Irene. We will hopefully use Fine Travel again in the near future.

Kind regards

Mal

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Hi Jennie,

I would like to thank you for all the arrangements you made for our trip to Cairns etc. We have had a lovely holiday, though would you believe they had a heat wave while we were over there!!!!!

We really enjoyed Cairns; both the Reef trip and the Karunda trip were most enjoyable. We loved staying at the Mantra on the Esplanade (the perfect spot really). The décor was a little tired (holes in the duvet fabric and couch fabric however very clean (they don’t provide a room service during a stay up to 7 days – fine by us) but we loved the balcony overlooking the pier and esplanade area.

On our last night, there was a street parade on the esplanade for the opening of the Arts Festival so we were able to have a meal and wine on our balcony, and watch it, and then were in prime position for the fireworks that followed. We found the staff at the Mantra really helpful whenever we wanted any information.

So thanks once again for everything

Best Wishes. Kay

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Hi Irene,

The Gold Coast holiday was awesome, the weather was beautiful and the theme parks were fun. We did not stop the whole time we were there. In fact a couple more days would have been better, but I think coming back wanting more is better than coming back unhappy.

The apartment was lovely, it had everything we needed and more as well as being so close to all the shops, restaurants and bus stops. The people on reception helped us on many occasions with directions.

The weather was great it only rained the day we left so we can't complain about that.

We had no idea that the Australians could be so nice and helpful, not once did we come across anyone who was nasty and rude.

Thanks sooo much for everything we really appreciate all the time and effort you spent organising our wonderful trip.

We will certainly keep in contact and come and see you for our next adventure.

Cheers
Kim, Jason, Mitchell and Georgia

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Cruising    UK & Europe | South Pacific | Australia | Club Med | Asia |  Dubai & USA

Good afternoon Martin,

Just back from the Tahitian Treasures cruise.

It was wonderful and the weather was perfect except our arrival at Norfolk when we could not get ashore due to sea  conditions. Although there was a little amount of 'laundry rage" during the cruise, Mary and I would like to thank you very much for state room 10155.

It was, in our opinion the best and would recommend it to any of your future clients.

Thanks for all your assistance in helping to make our holiday such an unforgettable success and could you send me a list of the cruises departing Auckland in 2012.

Regards Tom

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Hi Merrill,

We are just back from our o’seas trip and found your kind note waiting for us in a mountain of mail.

The trip on the Norwegian Epic was absolutely fabulous! The organisation and service was 5 star plus. There was not one thing we could say could have been done better by the staff or any of the shore organisations. The ship itself is an absolute eye-opener. Our balcony cabin was just amazing – beautiful king sized bed, settee, coffee percolator, shower which was big enough for a big man, toilet, big hand basin, safe. The balcony was big enough for two loungers and a coffee table.

The ships stability was amazing, you did not know you were on board a liner in the middle of the Mediterranean.

There were 14 restaurants on board – only two required payment – the rest came with the package. We must have tried them all, ranging from British, German, Chinese, Japanese, Texan, Indian etc, etc. All of them  had food of a very high standard, and service which was faultless.

To give you an idea of the service, you could order a bottle of wine at one restaurant, and if you did not finish it at that sitting, the staff would store it for you and you could then visit any other restaurant on the ship and ask for your bottle of wine, and it would be on your table in a few minutes. The restaurants were not even on the same decks! Now that is “organisation”!

Many thanks Merrill for your work on our behalf. It all went without a hitch and helped to make our trip a very enjoyable experience.

We will certainly come back to you for our next trip away.

Kind Regards, Bryan

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We went through Martin, and he was amazing, the Cruise Line that we went with was Celebrity Cruises.

Cheers Judy

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Hello Martin

You have made a bit of a name for yourself according to my informants,  so I would like you to give me some advice please.

I am interested in a cruise (date undecided) of the Mediterranean and ask for your guidance.

Have a great day

Kind regards

John

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Hi Irene,

Loved our Fiji holiday - thanks.

Would not have changed anything.

Thankfully we took food with us to Tokoriki Island (plus wine) which was a huge saving. They knew how to sock you for meals & drinks !. But we loved our room & setting. The fish & coral wonderful.

The Captain Cook Cruise was fabulous too. Only about 60 passengers & 43 Crew. No waiting & wonderful food - over indulged. Ross thoroughly enjoyed this talking to all the other passengers. I got my full of every opportunity to go snorkelling. & even did a Introductory dive (tanks, regulators etc.) which was good but honestly felt I could see just as much with the snorkelling. (But pleased I did it to have a new experience).

Sounds like we brought back the good weather.

Love - Margaret.

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Hi Martin,

All went as planned - no hiccups, and all my internet choice of hotels, trains etc were spot on.

I was particularly impressed with trains in Spain - Barc to Valen; Valen to Gandia; Valen to Madrid; Madrid to Paris - all spotless, well staffed and ran to the minute!

The cruise on Seabourn Legend was probably just ahead of expectations (knowing how much it costs). We really enjoyed it and would certainly travel with them again - a certain attraction of only 210 passengers, tho their other and new vessels are almost double that.

We had been to a few of the ports before, but, as we suspected, this proved not to detract from the cruise as we were able to spend the day onboard, with only a few passengers left.

After the Cruise we spent 4 full days in Valencia in a B&B which was top class and made a change from hotels. We then had 5 days in the coastal resort of Moraira, between Javea and Calpe, in a Villa owned by friends of ours from Edinburgh who joined us there - great relaxation after all the travelling.

Malyasian Business Class was up to scratch, and the day room at Pan Pacific Kuala Lumpur airport on the way back was (as before) just the job, and better than a 2 to 3 hour connecting flight to AKL!

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Hi Jennie.

We've been home just over a fortnight now but had a great vacation.

After 4 days by ourselves in Vancouver doing the local sights, our son and his wife joined us for 9 days at Whistler for a mountain biking experience.

What a great place Whistler is. We organised our own accommodation right in the middle of the village so were right amongst the action and it was a fun packed week.

From there it was back to Vancouver, sent the kids home, and we joined the cruise.

Not having done a cruise before it was a new experience but the only way to see the Inside Passage of Alaska. Unfortunately it rained a lot although didn't really stop us doing anything. Only up there were we aware its rain forest country and they get an incredible amount of rain!!!!

Although we didn't pre-purchase land excursions with Princess every stop had a multitude of tour operators close by which did the same excursions but at a lesser price than pre-booking so was a better way to go.... for us!!

We really enjoyed the Alaskan experience with day stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway but the cruise up Glacier Bay and College Fijord were highlights
.
The land part of the tour was a great way to experience the Alaskan scenery and to realise it's a lot like NZ (at that time of year- Autumn) and it was dry!!!!

2 days in Fairbanks was long enough to do the sightseeing, including a must visit to North Pole and Santas house.  From there flew to Anchorage for another 2 days as didn't get to see it on the way through with the tour. We really loved it as it was a clean, friendly place and a lot to see and do. We hired bikes and spent a bit of time on the bike trails around the city.

We saw a bit of wildlife on our travels with close ups of Moose, lynx, reindeer, beaver and raccoons. We didn't see any bears although others on the tours did.

Next flew to Seattle where we did the Boeing Factory tour, really worthwhile, and the usual city highlights etc before back to Vancouver and home.

Total 5 weeks away from NZ but we packed a lot into the time. The ship was completely full as a lot of Americans were last minute travellers due to some very cheap deals for them.

Overall we were really impressed with Alaska and really pleased we did it the way we did.

On our return, speaking to biking friends there is definitely an interest and demand in people getting to Whistler in the Canadian summer as its one of the homes of Mountain Biking and an awesome experience.

Do you market Vancouver that way?? There were dozens of kiwis up there. We're already planning to go back to Whistler same time next year.

Regards.
Joc and Paul

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Hi Martin,

We enjoyed the cruise very much, there was so much to see and do that we were kept very busy.

The 3 and 1/2 months is something of an endurance test, stamina wise , with late nights ( too much entertainment! ) and many ports of call, however we travelled well and were very lucky with good weather and smooth seas all the way. Although some people booked another cruise while still on the ship, we feel that this journey has been more than enough for us in the foreseeable future.

Princess staff worked very hard to take care of their passengers and make the journey memorable. Some passengers had issues with minor problems and there were some who had bad experiences with the medical treatment they received . The average age of passengers must have been 65 or maybe more, so the medical team were kept very busy.

Regards
Mary Saban

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Hi Martin,

The crew were amazing, and so was the entertainment. I honestly did not want to get off the ship.! (Celebrity Eclipse Western Med & Adriatic Coast)

Di.

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Hi Martin

I've been reminding myself to tell you how it went, so good reminder - thanks for all your efforts. Not long back, - I had another couple of weeks in Italy after the cruise - but once back into the rush of work feels like an aeon ago!

Cruise went well - usual very good service & all care taken. Lovely cabin staff - just the right note of friendliness and service. I enjoyed the 'anytime' dining option - you just rock up to the dining room & ask to be seated at a table with others, so a good selection of dining companions & someone different every night.

The size of the Noordam is amazing - you realize how large as you walk from your cabin forward to the pool aft, or from dining room aft to theatre forward. Must have walked kms which is no bad thing! - but not so convenient if wet from a swim & trying not to be seen ... Prinsendam was much more compact.

Food & service were excellent and cabin comfortable. Stopovers (main reason I chose this) were amazing. Loved Barcelona & had plenty of time to see a lot of the city with the 2-days there. All other stops were worthwhile - only Sicily on a Sunday rather dull , but very pretty to walk round (not even churches open). Tunisia worked out fine - the ship's expedition pretty good - couldn't spend as long at the interesting bits as I would normally ,but I was prepared for that - & an interesting & knowledgeable guide.

I'd say more fun doing a cruise with someone - solo quite difficult as everyone else in pairs or groups. The share with stranger option paid off for me last time as I got on great with Adeline so we could be a 'pair' - had lots of random conversations with friendly strangers but nothing ongoing this time. On the converse I caught the ship's cold/flu & had to take a few early nights so best I had room to myself!

Non stop entertainment day & night if you wanted it (I was there for the travelling) & the shows I did see were very professional. Felt safe the whole time. Much younger skew it seemed this time - still majority American but a lot of others as well incl Aust & NZ. In all good value and fun & plenty to do - or just relax. Oh - except internet connection - dire & expensive!

I would look for a smaller / fewer passengers ship if I were to do it again. Certainly a great way to see a lot more of Europe without all that bus travel & constant packing!

Regards Jacqueline

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Hi Martin,

- all went well without any hiccups. Flights were o.k. once we got away from Napier and we managed to get some sleep to Frankfurt. The train from Frankfurt to Hamburg was a fast one and the railway station became a focal point in getting the compass right.

We did not try the underground but used local buses as we were a few kms out of the city. Then the train from Hamburg to Keil was interesting - they go every half hour and it was nowhere near full. Did not see a lot of Kiel but looked interesting.

MSC provided everything they had to for a cruise like this - we managed to get used to every announcement coming in many languages - there were a large number of Aussies on the ship probably the majority of the 3000 passengers. The crew were a little rusty at the beginning but picked up.

Probably one day in London was not enough but the European ports were quite delightful and everything was walk able from the ship. Only 1/2 day of rain in Le Havre. Coffees were awful but they always are overseas.

We did not go to Bermuda but ended up in Boston because of a Typhoon or something like that. Boston was an excellent introduction to New York. And New York was absolutely fascinating but after 5 days we had walked our feet off. We stayed at Novotel right in Broadway and managed a couple of shows and also had a look over Intrepid the aircraft carrier. Food was a bit expensive but that is the $ and we do not mind having McDonald's for breakfast.

We stayed at Accor hotels all the way which do give good value for money except New York but that was an exception.

Thanks for doing the bookings for us again Martin - they always seem to go through so smoothly.

Now I guess it is next year to think about - do not think this will be another cruise but may do something quiet like go to Norfolk Island (where we have not been) or do top half of Aussie - am always open to some suggestions for two oldies!

So can recommend Qantas and MSC (but need to put up with the language thing). And the 18 dayer Kiel to New York went well - the Azores Islands were fascinating - the trip across the Atlantic a little boring and probably a time when the ship could have put on some movies or something like that - and also they do not have too many English speaking TV programmes!

Thanks again - your help really appreciated.

Ann

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Hi Martin,

Just thought I'd write a quick note and let you know that we had an absolute blast on our cruise.

Brilliance is a beautiful ship, immaculately maintained. Derek's probably still on the fence with Celebrity but the rest of us are RCCL converts now. Loved the entertainment, the more English entertainment crew and the emphasis on fun. We were also pleased to see a much more international clientele including 97 Australians and 30 New Zealanders.

We can't wait to book our next cruise now but will be looking at Summer 2012 unfortunately. Wouldn't want to sail out of Barcelona again - Venice would be perfect or Rome. Keep us in mind in the future.

Thanks for all your hard work,

Kindest regards,
Claire and family

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Hi Martin,

We had a fabulous 8 days on the Rhine following our other 32 days of full on travel which of course was fantastic.

However we have to say the Rhine cruise was fabulous- great boat, excellent crew, great accom etc - passengers about 2/3 Yanks - 1/3 - Brits - 1 Aussie and us 4 kiwis - interesting!

The cruise was a real holiday and I could say that's exactly what it was - a holiday - I would liken it to a 4 -5 star floating hotel and would recommend it even to the most discerning. Our biggest issue was it was so hot (not anything that Viking could do about that) - around 40degrees Celsius several of the days - and mid to high 30's the others - it was sweltering- fortunately the cabin air con was good.

All the cabins were the same size - so those that paid more for top or mid floors - got only an opening window for their extra $- was too hot to have them open so we were well pleased with our waterline cabins - only one set of stairs down to them. Ship hygiene was spot on - nothing to complain about - apart from one American lady whom I overheard complaining bitterly that the engines should be in the front of the boat not in the back - as she had not been able to sleep - don't quite know if they were expected to uplift engines and shift them that night or what! needless to say we had a good chuckle!

We are so pleased we bought Viking transfers to and from boat through you - it made it all seem-less. We were only ever docked right next to shore - so no clambering over other boats etc - although a reasonable degree of fitness needed for shore excursions. Viking has a very good name on the Waterways and with the Americans - I feel they earn their accolades.

Anyway - all rested. de-jetlagged and ready to start planning another holiday

Kind regards from Heather, Graham louis and Lois

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Hi Martin

Well we are back and we have had a great time the cruise really spoiled us absolutely fab- Highly recommended to anyone. The ship was amazing (understatement of the year!)

So all in all a great trip, quite a few on board the cruise had done the relocation cruise and stayed on and were talking about the new ship just about to be launched and them going on that one too. Learnt a lot about cruises now so would certainly consider another one.

Europe wasn’t full of cyber cafes like here and when you did find one it was really expensive- pay by the minute so we only kept in touch with our kids

Many thanks for all your help in organising the trip

Its back to reality now ;-(  Cheers Josie

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Hi Martin

Cruise is over, (Diamond Princess) very sad to get off, it exceeded my expectations in almost every way, lovely bunch of guys on board. Put on 3kg over the time, food was out of this world as was the 5 star service, so back to a bland diet soon.

Just arrived in SYD very hot and humid, was up at 4am to see the arrival, just MAGIC.

Cheers Richard

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Oceania is superb. The keys are the staff who are fantastic, the great food and the small size of the ship. Highly recommended.

The weather has been amazing-fine and warm. Which is not what we expected. We expect it will cool down significantly on the next leg.

We are now over Italy and are really looking forward to the next part of the cruise-today being the changeover day between the two cruises that make up our grand voyage.

We sail for Menorca this afternoon.

Best wishes P and J

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Hi Jennie

The Pacific Sun cruise was great thanks. Food was excellent and so was the service. In fact the only complaint was the fact that we had to purchase our lanyards (which were AU$8) to hang our cruise cards and key on. Thought this was a rip off and they should have been free.

Our port of calls changed – Ouvea as you know was out of bounds due to unrest but we also could not go to the Isle of Pines (I was very disappointed about this) as the commander on the island would not let the ship dock due to swine flu. We went to Lifou instead which was very pretty.

We would do it again – I personally would like to do a bigger ship and to travel in summer time. Might have to wait though as I plan to go back to UK next year. Just a thought do you ever get deals on cheap flights????

Thanks again for all of your help.

Regards, June

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Hi Merrill,

Thank you for your message, and it reminded me that we really should report back on our cruise on the Norwegian Jade from Istanbul to Athens way back in October.

It was great – we came back firm believers in NCL and the freestyle concept which suited us very well. The negatives we had heard about such as queuing for the restaurants just did not happen – we mainly went with the free choices, but had no problems.

Also the organisation of offshore excursions (such as the very crowded pyramid day) went like clockwork. It was quite a full ship (2,400 passengers) but it never felt crowded. I also found the décor, which looked somewhat garish in photos, was much better in "real life."

The crew were unbelievably obliging. The cabin was very comfortable, with a wonderful bed. Entertainment was top class, and I also liked the fact that the entertainers dined in the same areas as us, so we could have a word or two.

We had a great run with weather, and you would only know the ship was moving for half a day in the 13 – the rest of the time you could not tell if the ship was in port or not.

Since we have come back we have heard some horror stories on other lines, and have been recommending NCL with some sincerity. It suited us very well.

Thank you for your help on this one. If we survive the credit crunch, you may hear from us again!

Kind regards. John and Lois

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Hello Irene,

Thanks for your Email. Yes, the trip was really amazing. I enjoyed the ship a lot. It was probably the best ship in the business for the job. - Owned by the Russians and used as a research ship for half the year (I think it used to be a spy ship) and chartered out to Quark for the summer season, but still crewed by Russians.

There were 19 different nationalities on board aged from 5 to 78 yrs old, probably more women than men, (not a complaint) and I met some great people. I never saw the sun on the ship, but I did see plenty of ice and penguins, and more ice and penguins.

I now have some wonderful memories.

Best Regards. Peter

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Hi Martin

Alison and I have just returned to New Zealand after our cruise on the HAL Eurodam from NY to Quebec.

We had a wonderful cruise and I have included some comments which may be helpful to you when guiding others in their choices.

Eurodam is a beautiful ship and the staff and crew were great. Everything was run with great efficiency.

Food was good with very friendly Balinese waiters. (The Dawn Princess last year had more exquisite fine-dining type meals like a top restaurant, but the buffet on Eurodam was much more varied and effectively organised and there was none of the ‘huge fat people filling platters’ that we found rather revolting on the Princess) ‘Anytime dining’ worked well for us and we were even able to get a time, table and waiters who knew us when we booked a day in advance.

The specialty restaurants (we dined in the Asian and Italian ones) were excellent.

The stern cabin was also excellent both in fittings, size and location. We were able to have a drink on our cabin balcony and watch the sunset and scenery as we slipped out of the ports.

The passengers were perhaps a little older on average than we would have really liked but there were a number our age and that was fine.

We did very much appreciate the gift of the bottles of wine which were in our cabin when we arrived. Many thanks.

Kind regards and again thanks for organising the cruise for us. Warwick

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Hi Kimberlee

A very big thank you for organising such a fabulous holiday for us. The cruise was just amazing, helped just a little bit by the fact that there were only 300 passengers and 420 staff and the weather was just fabulous. All our pick up people where exactly where they should have been at exactly the right time and everything went like clockwork.

Again, thank you so much for a wonderful holiday and we will be contact in the near future for the next adventure we are planning.

Regards. Kim

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Hi Martin

Alison and I would like to look at a cruise for this year, after our enjoyable one to Alaska in 2007.

We are interested in the one on the Eurodam from Quebec City departing 1 October.

Can you send us some information or links and a quote for a verandah cabin.

We are a bit aware of the long flights involved and might like to break them with a night each way on the Pacific coast. Can you also have a look at what would be the best way to get to Quebec City and the best flights from Fort Lauderdale.

Is there anything else that you would suggest with easier connections that would do the Canada – New England area at the end of September?

Look forward to hearing from you.  Regards  Warwick

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Hi Martin

Just to let you know we are home and want to thank you for your help in regards to our cruise on Regatta.

It is the most amazing ship and we just loved it. We met many people who cruise regularly and they told us we had picked the best line, Oceania, for our first cruise!!!!

The size of the boat, number of passengers and staff, fantastic 6 star food and service, range of ports of call, all helped to make this a wonderful experience for us and we would highly recommend it to others.

We look forward to sailing with them again in the future.

Kind Regards.  Anne

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Hi Paul

I just want to thank you for all the organising you did for our cruise. Finally we made it and had the most fantastic trip.

We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and I can say that the ship far exceeded our expectations. This is the best time of year to do it apparently. September through December.

The whole trip was wonderful and the weather was fantastic. We were lucky to have a ship that was only 2/3rds full and the other passengers were all of a similar age.

It truly was a fabulous trip and to be recommended.

Kind Regards. Donna

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Hi Martin

Thanks for that. The cruise was fantastic and everything went well – we were thoroughly spoiled.

Ed & the kids loved their first cruise and we are keen to do it again sometime (somewhere different though).

Regards. Marcia

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Hi Martin,

Am back in NZ. Just saying thanks, had an absolutely awesome cruise, definitely will be doing more.

The ship and crew unreal and all so help full. Didn't even have time to go the casino on board. Having a cabin with a window got to see sunrises from in bed and also the passing other large boats. Unreal.

Thanks again. Jenny

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Hi Martin

We are home from our travels in Turkey and the Oceania Cruise.

Re the Cruise on Insignia:-

Check in at Istanbul took all of 5 minutes amazing.

The service , food and everything about this ship was fantastic.

Yes, it may be expensive but you cannot fault anything about the ship. The night life was OK but as you are off the ship each day your bed was the best place to be at night. We did not do any on shore tours organised by the ship as these seemed very expensive for what you got.

The inside cabin did not worry us as we were able to go to the pool area and all parts of the ship . The only thing we did not like was the wine and its price . Only 1 NZ wine was Brancott estate which was fair . We would have the 2 for 1 cocktails between 5 and 6 pm instead.

There were 35 Kiwis and 37 Australians a few Pomms and Canadians balance American . The weather was fantastic and all places were great to visit.

The interesting thing was we received on our 2and day out a letter to say that gratuities were already paid in our fare so that was a nice surprise.

I would very much recommend Oceania cruise Line for people over 50 who do not want to get dressed up for dinner do not want a big night life and want a stress free holiday. Jo and I are fairly fit and did a lot of walking off the ship etc and had a ball using the local transport etc..

Many thanks Martin we will certainly do another cruise.

Cheers.  Bevan

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Thanks for your call earlier this week re our cruise on the Holland America Westerdam.

As I said to you we had a fabulous time and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

The food was amazing and the staff were extremely helpful and friendly.

The offshore excursions were very well organised and had very knowledgeable guides.

Although there were nearly 1800 passengers the boat never felt crowded.
We also thought that there was a very friendly atmosphere on the boat.

We would definitely recommend Holland America cruises and have begun planning our next one!

Regards. Graham and Dee

PS Thanks for organising our change of dinner seating to the earlier time and your excellent service.

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USA and Dubai    UK & Europe | South Pacific | Australia | Club Med | Asia | Cruising

Hi Rachael

Just a quick note to say we had a fantastic time away!!

Thanks so much on your picks for the hotels they were perfect. The Mela in NY was great and just so handy to everything along with Boston and Washington.

We had amazing weather for the whole trip and meet some interesting people along the way. Shopping was great .... I thought Glasgow was great for shopping!!

We must try and do a catch up either before the baby arrives or after. Let us know what suits.

Thanks again Rachael you did an amazing job for us.

Take care

Fiona and Henry

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Hi Irene,

Happy New Year.

My trip went well - thanks for your very efficient service getting it organised.

I saw the Burg Khalifa in Dubai and the amazing dancing fountain in the piazza beside it - something new and impressive. But I missed the $7m dollar Christmas tree in Abu Dhabi. My friend said it was disappointing as it was less sparkly than normal decorations and tinsel!

Miranda

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Hello Irene, I had a wonderful holiday, Everything went smoothly. No problems.

Saw and did SO much - thank goodness for photos to remember & put in perspective. Dubai was awesome, architecture amazing, but so hot & humid 43 degrees Ceil. Going on A Dune Safari & ride on a camel. Cruise on the Dubai Creek - night lights, Seeing the Palm - Jemimah - The Crescent. etc. etc.

England & Scotland & seeing the military tattoo (Edinburgh) was great - very lucky to have fine weather. Even got up to top of Scotland to John O Groats & the Castle of ME (Queen Mum's holiday home) Did have a bit of drizzle in Scotland but sun seemed to shine whenever we have to get out of the car & want to take photos etc - very lucky.

Then on to America. - New York (Manhattan) was mad with people - crowds - But so enjoyed seeing The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Ground Zero, Empire State Building, Times Square, Broadway, Central Park, etc etc,

Washington - The White House, Capitol (Parliament), Lincoln Memorial, & Jefferson Monument with the huge Washington Monument in the centre of the cross - all in a huge park setting & so few people (or so it seemed after New York). Arlington Cemetery, Smithsonian & all the Museums - the Holocaust Museum was a moving experience. (6 million Jews executed !) Also the Air & Space Museum - all well done. etc.

Las Vegas - 2 concerts - Legends in Concert (Elvis, Tom Jones, Blues Brothers & Tina Turner - performing) but best of all was Cirque do Solely 'Myst ere' an amazing performance. The City was a buzz with people. High rise buildings all with amazing lights & billboards. Most Hotel had Casinos & the people playing all the poker machines & gambling was amazing - all day & night !. But best experience was the Grand Canyon & the helicopter ride - the canyon is so big & colourful - has to be seen to be believed !

Laos Angeles - our final stop - we got to see Universal Studios - what they can create with films & settings & fun act ivies we were able to take part in was excellent. A trip on Hollywood fun tours had us to Hollywood bowl, the Hollywood sign, Seeing the hand & footprints of stars on the Hollywood walk of fame. Kodak theatre, Beverly hills' & Bel Air & all the famous home. etc.

We had a good trip home via Pipette -( the trip didn't seem half as long as the one to get to Dubai.)

Good to be home. The weather was even nice for us for 2 days to catch up on washing & to think the temperature of New Zealand was rather good - not too hot or too cold. But Ross told me today (the rain & colder) is what you folk have been having for most of the time we were away ! So it's back to reality !!.

But what a trip - a what wonderful memories.

Thank you for all your imput & hard work into making this such a memorable experience.

Kindest regards - Margaret.

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Thank you Christine,

We had a fabulous trip. Would recommend the Aston Waikiki Beach hotel to anyone. Great location.

Thanks again,

Bruce & Helen

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Middle East | Cruising  |  UK & Europe | South Pacific | Australia | Club Med | Asia |  Dubai & USA

Dear Paul

We’re back from Israel & thank you for organizing that for us. We were very happy with Korean Air – the seats didn’t go absolutely flat like Air NZ except in 1st class, but they were pretty comfortable & the service was great

Regards

Sylvia & Arnold