Sandy has planned three trips for our group of women for the last three years. They have been fun…read moreadventures. She has been our guide and become our friend. This past year she planned a two week trip for my husband and me to Tanzania. It was fabulous. She plans her trips with attention to detail. Whether she is the guide on the trip or plans your trip for you on your own, you will find her trips are well planned, reasonably priced and wonderful.

Looking for an adventure trip of a lifetime, tailored to your interests with lots of rich…read moreactivities? Checkout Adventure Associates of Washington - Sandy offers both women only and coed adventures. I just returned from a combo trip to Galapagos and the Eduadorian Amazon with 6 other women and we had a wonderful time and learned a TON in addition to lots of crazy adventures. We swam with sea lions, penguins, visited remote tribal villages in the Amazon, hiked in the hills of the Galapagos, tracked monkeys and were treated like royalty every step of the way.

Molly is the absolute BEST! I cannot recommend her enough. My now-husband and I leveraged her…read moreexpertise for our honeymoon to Saint Lucia and from our first email exchange, I knew we were in good hands. She's super knowledgeable on all of the accommodations on the island, and had great recommendations based on exactly what we were looking for. We ended up booking at Sandals Halcyon, and she made the booking process so seamless, secure, and straightforward. She also followed up with us throughout the process to get excursions booked, helped us book transportation from the airport, and gave us so many tips, tricks, and ideas to get the most out of our trip. After our wedding, we ultimately just showed up, with very little prep (if you've planned a wedding, you know that's where all brain power is allocated LOL), and with Molly's prep and background work, everything went PERFECTLY. We are already so excited to work with Molly again when we go back to the Carribean, and we'll be recommending her to anyone we know that's going in the future! 11/10!!!!

My wife and I booked our honeymoon to the Sandals Grande St.Lucia and we were extremely happy with…read morethe decision. She was able to give us information about the different resorts on St. Lucia and insights into the the various tours that were available to us. Originally we did not plan on using a travel agent to book our trip, but decided we should, just to make things went exactly as we wanted. Molly booked our resort, a helicopter transfer from the airport across the island, and our candlelight beach dinner on Christmas Day and all we had to do was ask. The service and knowledge were top notch and took a great deal of stress of our plate during a stressful time. After our experience, we will no doubt be returning to Sandals in the Caribbean and when we do, we will definitely use Molly to book it!

I have had several bad experiences with travel agents in the past. My experience with Stellar,…read moreparticularly Kay Steck, was (and continues to be) the complete opposite. She is knowledgeable, attentive, and above all communicative. I never felt as though I was on the 'back burner' or wasn't important enough to gain a speedy reply. Being someone who works with coordinating group travel not only for teachers but students as well it's not only my safety I'm concerned about but that of students. I had the pleasure of using Kay two years ago to help coordinate flights for a group of approx. 18 to go to the Galapagos as well as a group flying to Peru. Both went off splendidly and any time I had a question she was quick to answer. Last year the 'powers that be' provided a different travel agent that was simply, easily put, sub par, rude, awful, and waited until the last minute with various aspects of our travel. After going through that experience I was once again able to use Kay and her team. And for that I am absolutely grateful! Once again we had a group of 24 set off to the Galapagos, and ~18 to Argentina. She answered questions about visa's, passport requirements, and brought up a number of things I would not have known to ask. All our students, and faculty, arrived back to Seattle without a hitch and I owe that to Kay's expertise. I would not only trust her to put together my own personal travel, but I trust her enough to put students and faculty members in her very capable hands.

We are currently on our trip and could not have enjoyed a more brutal experience booked through…read morestellar and kari out of Bellevue. First I'd think with a group of 14 of which includes 2 infants and three children under 8. You would think Stellar would book a flight with reserved seating with this type of group. Second our itinerary frequently changed including flights and package sometimes resulting in price increases. Names were frequently misspelled taking numerous corrections. Kari notified my parents that transportation between a Disney resort and adult oriented result had not been included. The last minute notification resulted in a higher reservation fee. More money more commission. Be wary of this unstellar travel agencies. You'd be better off booking online!!! Shame on Stellar for duping our older generation!

I am planning a trip to Seattle and the general area for late this summer. I generally make my own…read moretravel plans, etc. I was concerned about the itinerary that I had pulled together; was it too ambitious, the right places etc. I ended up working with Pacific Northwest Journey's to complete my planning. They were recommended by Frommers. It was perfect. Sheri Doyle offers different layers of service. I chose a 30 minute consultation. I sent her my itinerary in advance and we then discussed how it might be tightened up to make sure we got the most in a style of travel that we are comfortable with. Her knowledge of the area is outstanding and she provided great insights about how to travel and get the most enjoyable experience. She also recommended hotels and B&B's in the different locations as well as cheaper alternatives for seeing some sights e.g., a harbor ferry in Seattle to Bainbridge island versus taking a much more expensive harbor tour. Sheri also had a negotiated rate with the hotel I picked in Seattle ( Hotel Andra) . After checking with them directly on the best sale rate, her rate was $ 35 a night cheaper. In the end I got expert advise that made a real difference in my planning - the differential in the room rate paid for the consult and booking fee and I still saved a few bucks.

I recently returned from a 13-day Seychelles exploration and snorkel/dive adventure beginning in…read moreZanzibar, visiting something like 9 Seychelles Atolls and islands for tons of daily snorkeling and diving, and finishing in Mahe where we departed from. This was absolutely the best cruise/group experience I have ever had on either land or sea. Zegrahm charters the boats and I was lucky enough to be on the Ponant ship, Le Bougainville, which is very posh, with a friendly and polite staff, an amazing french chef, good food, a nice spa, you name it. My bedroom was like a small luxury hotel and each room had a balcony so you could enjoy seaside and ocean views from your bed or balcony whenever you'd like. It was lovely. I especially appreciated coming back to such a haven after long days of sunshine, beach and snorkeling. Not only was the cruise ship and it's staff fantastic, but the Zegrahm staff were all wonderful. I sat and had dinner with many of them every day and they somehow remembered all our names (99 or so of us). They snorkeled and dove with us, pointing out fish and naming species, they went birding, they provided lectures in the mornings and evenings in their areas of expertise, because Zegrahm hires Marine Biologists, Anthropologists, and countless other individuals (with PhDs) to provide insight and lessons into the history and ecology of the places being visited and seen. At the conclusion of the trip - I didn't want it to end. I had made several like-minded friends for travel, was invited on future trips and exchanged information with almost everyone. We were a family by the end, both staff and customers. Hugs all around as we celebrated all we had seen together and promised to keep in touch. Zegrahm fosters that type of environment when you travel with them - and it was welcoming and especially enjoyable for a solo traveler like myself. These trips aren't cheap - but are worthwhile for all you see and do - most things you'd never be able to see on your own and certainly not with trained ecologists and marine science experts. I believe you get what you pay for. I was one of the youngest on board but there was a small group of about ten 30-40 year olds with the vast majority being probably 50-80. This isn't a sit on the boat all day-type thing. You are going to be waking up early, going out 2-3x a day and really seeing and doing things. You almost never have down time and you are always learning, seeing, talking and doing. It's expeditionary, not sedentary. It's fun and really enriching. The best way to know someone is doing a good job at this price point (think around $8-12k per person) is repeat customers and I met countless people who have done 6-12 of these expeditions with Zegrahm and knew the staff already. That's the absolute best recommendation you can get. I'll be booking with them again without any hesitation. Thank you to Brad, Murph, LJ, Merel, Steven, George, George K., Robin, Pepper, Lisa, Shirley, Gemma, Chris, Boli, Marcel, and anyone else who I forgot from this amazing trip. You all did a great job and made me feel like family!

We have booked them three times in 2017 and we have one booked with them in 2019. The company is…read moregreat and the people that book with them are a very interesting lot.

Awesome 12-day Bergen to Bergen trip in December. I booked on the MS Trollfjord. Outside cabin with…read morean obstructed view on Deck 6. If you are looking to experience the polar nights and the Northern Lights, in a casual cruise experience, this is one fabulous way to do it. TIP #1: Don't expect night-time entertainment...no movies no dancing no casino no live musical acts. JUST MAGNIFICENT VISTAS and QUAINT TOWNS, many stops (about 67 total), but only short opportunities to get out on land. This is a trip focused on taking outdoor excursions and hikes, and seeing the dancing lights. BRING YOUR OLD SLR or download a cell phone APP that lets you take nighttime photos at a slow shutter speed....this trip, for me, was about experiencing the AURORA BOREALIS. TIP #1: Upgraded to the window at the last minute while checking in at the Hurtigruten Terminal in Bergen at a great discount! Only $200 USD. Even with the bottoms of the lifeboats in the line-of-sight, I was still able to see out to shore. The view might be more problematic on Dec 7, but on Deck 6, no worries. FOOD: Local sourced foods, so you eat like Norwegians. Dinners are the usual seatings just like on other cruises, but dress is casual. Except for the Captain's Farewell Dinner...though only the crew seemed to be dressed fancy for the occasion. Otherwise, it's a lovely buffet at breakfast and lunch also highlighting local ingredients. The chefs are very inventive and all the meals are beautifully presented. The desserts are inspired and pretty to look at, especially the wide variety of mousse; loved the smoothie shots at breakfasts, the bread is amazing, and there's a wide variety of it and crackers, and while I normally don't slather butter on anything, don't miss out on the butter, it's amazing; there IS fresh fruit but don't expect a wide variety. I changed my dinner meals to VEGETARIAN, and was pleased, as I wasn't so keen on reindeer and steak and cod or lamb. But I tried bites of them, and they were all good. Vegetarians/Vegans can find plenty to eat and the kitchen often offered a vegetarian entree at the buffet. No ice sculptures, just great food. SUGGESTION TO HURTIGRUTEN: The Asian passengers I met really missed their white rice...and, to be honest, me too. Maybe add some Asian flair to your buffet, because even I missed white and/or brown rice. EXCURSIONS: They are for the hearty because the hikes are a fast pace due to the time constraints. But ALL the excursions I took -- The Arctic Coastal Walk, the dogsledding in Tromso, the Russian Border trip in Kirkenes, the Marble Mine near Kristiansund, the Vesteralen Trondenes Church bus and ferry trip were all amazing and worth your time and your dime. TIP#3: Don't miss out on Lofoten By Horse in Gimsoy, Lofoten. Riding Icelandic horses with a view of the Northern Lights on a sandy beach AND on great trails under a mountain (and apparently alongside a links golf course...it was dark!)...JUST WAS MAGICAL!!! Highly recommend the horseback riding...beautiful horses...lovely clean stables, beautiful barn turned restaurant!!! SUGGESTION TO HURTIGRUTEN: Offer year-round golf excursion at Lofoten Links!!! OVERALL: As long as you don't expect a fancy dressy cruise experience, you will LOVE the nice people on the ships of the Hurtigruten....it used to be a boat delivering mail, and it still acts as a ferry for the locals (and their cars). But that's part of the charm. You get to meet locals going about their commute. The food is great. The excursions are too. I had intended to visit Iceland, but when I found the Hurtigruten cruise, I changed my mind and took a chance on Norway. It didn't disappoint. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

We have a trip planned for this October. So far this group has been great to work with.read more

Barbara was fantastic!…read more She helped me & my husband book complicated round-trip flights for 4 people. We came into her office totally clueless, and she gave us fantastic options without making us feel overwhelmed throughout the process. She shoots it to you straight, too -- which we really appreciated! Her very extensive travel experience made us immediately trust her recommendations for getting around France. Highly recommend Barbara at Amcan travel! -Hilary

Barbara's response time is incredibly slow. I looked back on my email history and my first email to…read moreher was sent on 4/5 but trip details wasn't finalized until 4/25. All she had to do was book lodging in 2 cities, train tickets between cities, and one tour. On top of slow response time, she offers little travel insight. She also charges a fee for her services, first time I have ever been charged by an agent, and felt stuck with her as a result. My next annoyance was lack of customer service. I called her to introduce myself and she blurted out all these things she wanted me to put in an email for her to start trip planning. Personally, it would have been more professional for her to provide me a quick questionnaire to fill out to make sure she had all the necessary information. Then as she was slowly booking things, at one point I had asked if she could put all this information into one summarized document. I'm not asking for much here... and her response was, "Unfortunately, they are all E-documents through separate emails. I suggest you print them all out as paper document to take with you, while keeping the bookings/confirmations in your email as back up." Hmm, weird because every travel agent I have worked with in the past always provided me a summary sheet without me even asking. Had she taken the extra 5-10 minutes to just PDF all the documents into one neat file for me because that was all these separate documents were, she might have actually come off as a professional instead of lazy. This just further agitated me that I had to dig through a bunch of back and forth correspondence with her to find these documents. When I arrive in Rome, my annoyance with Barbara just goes through the roof. My accommodations in Rome is not this cute modern apartment that I was shown but a gross old Italian mess with couches dating back to my grandmothers era. The place is so dusty that my husband and I were congested every night (it was fine once we were outside). At that point, I lost it and sent Barbara a pretty nasty email. After almost a full day of travel, I just wanted to relax and I was far from that. I asked her at one point in our correspondence, prior to my trip, if the place she booked was like an airbnb, which I did not want, and she assured me it was not and ran by a hotel group. It wasn't. It was basically some Italian guy who's father owned a couple units in this building and they were doing short-term rentals. I should know, I own a short-term rental so I am very familiar with all this. Upon my disappointment with the place, the guy tells me the hours he's available which on Sunday was like 12pm-7pm. Does this sound like a hotel management group? Shouldn't Barbara have researched into this a little farther if i specifically asked her if this was like an airbnb? Had she simply googled the name of this residence she would have seen on other sites that there are different apartments types but she only looked at TripAdvisor and there was not much reviews. Fact is, she did little to no due diligence and now I was stuck in something I would have never agreed to had I known the truth. I told her I was scared of what she put me in for the Venice portion of our trip but she cancelled that because they had issues with my credit card... a total blessing in disguise since that was probably another airbnb. Barbara suggested we do a late train to Venice and our arrival wouldn't be until 11pm so chances were I probably had no way of getting into the apartment because she didn't think to ask about all these details prior. Her knowledge of travel is either very antiquated or she's just careless or both. I don't know but either way I paid the price for it. I spent my first day in Rome scrambling and researching to find a new hotel for Venice. Barbara offers to help but I have lost all trust and faith in her. I also wonder if she only reached out because i started cc-ing my friend who referred me to her. Barbara calls me and tells me that my "expectations and price don't go hand in hand." Such a huge slap in the face when I was already boiling with anger in a crappy old apartment and it didn't make that much sense to me because I have stayed in Europe before and have always been able to find nicer hotels in this price range. Upon my review of our emails, I point out to her with our email as backup, that she misunderstood my budget and it was in fact DOUBLE of what she thought. Had she carefully read my email to her early on or clarified with me if she was unsure, this mess perhaps could have been avoided. I tell Barbara that I should be refunded for my accommodations in Rome because I specified to her early on I didn't want an old style place or something that was ran like an airbnb. She tells me if I feel this way, I should take it up with my credit card company. What a great way to end my vacation when I go home... argue charges because my travel agent didn't do her job.

This was my second cruise. My family and I wanted to see Alaska and decided in February of 2024…read morethat the best way would be an Alaskan cruise. Especially as we were traveling with 2 people over 65. We had read that June was best for Orcas and August best for Humpback whales so we booked a June 2025 cruise. This was great as it allowed us about a year to pay it off before the cruise. My mom and her husband had one room and my sister, my son and I had another. We ended up upgrading to a balcony room and I am so glad we did. After my first cruise experience on the "FUN" cruise line, I was miserable. I was sea sick, the screaming running kids was too much, the activities kind of sucked, there were little places to relax. I was scared to ever cruise again. NCL has completely changed this for me. The good: I like the free style dining. I hated being locked into a time for a dining room especially on port days. I enjoyed being able to come and go as I wanted, not as the ship wanted. The Vibe: This ship had a totally relaxed vibe. You could chill in the atrium in the chairs and watch trivia or games. The Starbucks had comfortable chairs to watch the views outside. The observation lounge was beautiful with all different types of seating options. This was one of the best places to be during the cruising day in Glacier Bay. They also provide snacks and drinks in the observation lounge so it was truly relaxing. They offered music throughout the day. Some were great, others just made us want to leave. Overall it was a wonderful place to hand out and became a favorite place of ours. The ship itself is decorated beautifully. Much more modern and updated. All details are considered from the carpet, to the chandeliers to the stairs. I loved the art exhibits in the walkways. We really enjoyed the scavenger hunt in the art exhibit on the first night. My son and I really got into it. Port Days: NCL really takes into consideration the ease of port access. Even for some of us who have more difficulty walking or with inclines, everything was doable. When not right in town, there are buses offered. The waits are too long for the buses either and in some cases the walk was not too far and quite enjoyable, especially in Skagway. Unexpected: My son loves to do the National Park Junior Ranger programs. We were bummed we were close to Glacier Bay & he would not get to do the program. When we got to Glacier Bay we were shocked to learn that they actually bring park rangers on board and do presentations for kids & provide opportunities for them to earn their badge. This was unexpected & really made me appreciate the extra effort that goes into making sure we had a good time. I loved they brought a little store into the observation lounge so we could still get our park magnets and pins. THANK YOU. The bad: Food: The food seamed exciting and ever changing. It took us about 3 of the 7 days to realize the three main dining rooms had the same menu. We ended up mostly at the local after a few days, but the food gets a little boring and everything is just OK. The breakfast is probably the best at the Local. The buffet was one of the better buffets I've seen. I appreciate that they mix it up with Indian and Asian food options as well. There really is something for everyone. I really liked the made to order crepes. I personally thing the specialty dining is not worth it for the extra cost. I preferred finding something local when we were in port and exploring new foods that way. Two of us on the 6th night ordered Cagneys from the Manhattan room. That night everything was a mess, over an hour later and no food was coming. 3 of the 5 people go tired of waiting and left. It was especially awful considering it was a port night and we had to be off ship at a certain time. The food was improperly cooked, cold, and nothing arrived together. Then the staff had the nerve to blame us for ordering the steak. It was just terrible. No one would take our complaint in the dining room so we went to guest services, who wouldn't take our complaint either. They had to call the manager of the restaurant who after half an hour still didn't come and they had to call him again. They ended up removing the additional cost for the steak from the room, but service was unacceptable. Room Location: Unfortunately we were in the back of the ship, even though it said mid-ship and our luggage tags said mid-ship, it was really back of the ship. This caused the beds to vibrate at night when the ship was moving due to the engines, it was rough. My son was miserable on the pull out bed, it shook even worse than the beds. Luggage: We were so confused when we were told we could go to our rooms & luggage was all over the halls. Not sure if they normally deliver your bags. Took half a hour to find them. Be careful with NCL taking bags to the airport. Mine and 9 others bag tags were mixed & mine were sent to NY.

Having only cruised on the "fun" cruise line before I had vowed to never go again. But the family…read morewanted to do Alaska and quite honestly for the first time, a cruise seemed like the way to go. After some research, we landed on NCL and we liked the itinerary so we booked it about 16 months out. I really like that NCL does free dining. I hate being relegated to eat at a certain time and I liked that there were many options. The boat is large but not "too big". it was walkable, easy to get around once you get your bearings and it was beautiful inside. It felt like a grown up ship. There were great activities for kids and adults and the kids overall were so much better than on the "fun" cruise. I loved there being a Starbucks on board where I could use my card in the app to pay, they had a specialty mug that my nephew fell in love with. The staff were great overall. The room of course was small but had a good amount of storage. I am on one injection that must be refrigerated and the cooler in the room did keep it at a good temp. We had only two issues on the ship and both were food related. One, there are just not enough options. Having 3 of the restaurants have the same menus each night made it really boring and in each port I was craving something fresh and different. I liked the 24 hour restaurant the most but gosh, I wanted some variety!!! My only other issue was in the main dining room, two of us uprated our meals to the steak from Cagney's. That night we noticed no one was getting their food or food was coming and sitting and not being served. Three people in our party got tired after waiting almost an hour for our meals and left. Two of us remained and finally our steaks came, then the waiter started to blame us for everything taking so long because we ordered steak. We hadn't complained, they asked where the rest of our party was and we told them they left and then the blamed us for ordering steak. Forget the fact that every other table around us also didn't get their meals. Overall that just sucked. Like I said, everyone else was great, the ship is amazing. Lots of lounging space and areas inside to look out. It's modern and beautiful. I would easily take the Encore again. It just needs some tweaks with food.