About 8 years ago, I wanted to take a cruise. I had never been on one and had no clue where to…read morestart so I headed to the nearest travel agency right around the corner. Little did I know that I had stumbled upon one of the best travel agencies I have ever used. Seriously. My first cruise was fabulous thanks to Linda. It was so great, I took an impromptu (we are talking I woke up and said "hey I wanna cruise right now) last minute decision. Not only did she book me on a wonderful 5 day getaway to Bermuda, but the upgrades and requests and travel time was brilliantly done. I literally just lacked my bags and went. I used her to book a vacation to Riviera Maya in Mexico. The absolute most beautiful vacation I have been on. Everything is seemless when I deal directly with Linda. I tell her what I want, where I want to go, how long and how much. She takes care of the rest. The only thing I have to worry about is getting to the airport to catch a flight. I have heard horror stories from some people about travel agencies and I am shocked. I didn't realize how lucky I was until I had heard about vacation nightmares that could have easily been prevented. I always recommend Linda. I have sent multiple people to her and they are also amazed. She is professional, friendly, knowledgeable and has first class taste. Wouldn't ever go anywhere else! As a side, she has been working tirelessly on an upcoming vacation my boyfriend and I want to take. We provided a list of 4 places we wanted to go and she has emailed me multiple choices for each location. I receive emails at 8am and emails at 9 at night. She doesn't slow down, always thinking and always trying to make her clients happy. Truly a gem of a business!

Love this travel agency. Linda is amazing. She takes all the worry out of planning, always finds…read morethe best deals, and makes you feel as if you are her highest priority. We asked her to look at different cruises and unfortunately were not able to go with our originally booked plan. She took care of changing the cruise. She planned our family vacation also and was able to get us a great block of rooms. Linda always goes that extra mile and adds great little touches to our stays. We've used her to help plan 4 vacations and will continue to do so.

My husband and I have used Fara for over 15 years. She is always our go to person and wouldn't…read moretrust anyone else with our travels. She quickly responds to phone calls, texts and emails. She has sent us on many vacations over the years and has alway been spot on with knowing what we would like and always gets us the best deal. I highly recommend Travel by Fara she is a top notch travel agent!

How do I even put into words exactly how I feel?!?! With…read moreHarvey still on everyone's mind and Irma making her way in, we were at a loss on what to do. My sister has a new freshman down at Nova University in Ft. Lauderdale. The school announced this afternoon that they were closing. Students are leaving the campus due to Cat 5 status. We as a family hit the computers in search of tickets for him to fly home before the storm. We looked from Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and Orlando to JFK, Bradley, Newark and Logan. All we saw was $1035-$2395!!! Crazy! I have been using Fara at Travel by Fara for 5 years for my personal vacations planning. Desperate, I took a shot in the dark and at 835pm tonight, I messaged her over Facebook. Immediately. Immediately!!!! I got a response, requesting I call the office right away. My sister called and provided all info. Within 30 minutes, we got a ticket home for my nephew. She literally went "all in" to help my sister, understanding what she was going through as a mother. Fara has been and still is professional, diligent, knowledgeable and caring for all of her clients. Thank you Travel by Fara for always being there and at the top of your game!!!

Thank you for the amazing experience! Melissa is the best! She was patient, friendly, accommodating…read moreand professional.

Talked to Bill before the holidays about bookIng a trip... emailed him twice since he initially…read moreemailed the day we met... ‍

Just made a call for some help, didn't book any business this time, and Valerie was very…read morehelpful...very delightful. Thank you Valerie!

In August 2022 we spent four days in Paris and the same in London. Our trip was organized by…read moreValeri French, of French's Worldwide Travel in Newington, Connecticut. Thanks to Ms. French, our trip exceeded our most optimistic expectations. To say that Ms. French excels at what she does would be an understatement. On the two occasions we met with her in her office, she asked us how we envisioned our trip -- the sights we'd like to see, our preferred means of transportation, the kinds of lodgings we hoped to inhabit, and so on. With that in mind, she produced a lengthy itinerary listing not only the time and location for every tour we desired, but a recommended gratuity. This was accompanied by the vouchers we needed for the tours, along with documents for our hotel reservations, airline flights, and train tickets. Thanks to Ms. French's attention to detail, we left the United States confident of navigating our way in foreign countries about which our knowledge of daily living was limited. And when, inevitably, there was a snafu, in our case of a tour being canceled on short notice, Ms. French, back in the United States, was able to improvise, substituting a new tour for the old, defunct one; as it turned out, we enjoyed the new tour immensely. We cannot imagine a better travel agent than Ms. French. Her cordiality is exceeded only by her promptness, expert knowledge, and efficiency. Many of her suggestions, it should be said, saving us considerable expense. We recommend her to travelers enthusiastically and without qualification. The Bergman Family, Newington CT.

Karen was helpful in finding a handicap accessible retreat for me and my family for my 60th…read morebirthday party in Mexico. We stayed at an all-inclusive, luxury hotel in the Riveria Maya, Cancun. The accommodation included a scooter for me to easily get around the vast resort. It had lots of restaurants. The rooms each had a private pool, restocked bar and private wait staff. We enjoyed every minute!

From the owner: Hi, I'm Karen Gillis, the Owner of The Pampered Tourist. Finding the time to plan your next dream…read morevacation can be difficult but it doesn't have to be. I work with you to design, plan and coordinate a personalized travel experience that is just right for your specific needs. By working with an expert Virtuoso® luxury travel professional like me, you can be free to simply enjoy the journey and come back relaxed and refreshed with lifelong memories. I specialize in creating custom itineraries in Asia, Europe & Mexico and provide support from the time you leave until you return home. Stop stressing about the next trip and just worry about what to pack. The Pampered Tourist will take care of the rest.

My wife and I came here on 12/18 with an appointment at 4:45 PM to change my wife's last name to…read moremine. We came handy with our marriage license, her birth certificate, and the name change document that is required by the DMV as well as her new Social Security card showing her new last name that was changed weeks prior. Unfortunately, the only thing that we did not have was her existing drivers license with her maiden name that was lost days before our appointment with AAA. Upon arriving 15 minutes before close but again with a reservation for the last possible appointment of the day, which was at 4:45 PM, the representative was hesitant to assist us with ordering a replacement license showing her new last name because we didn't have her existing drivers license ... although we had every other supporting document, including a photo of her existing license as well to corroborate. She then asked a Manager for assistance who explained that they could not assist us with ordering the new replacement license, because we did not have her existing ID Instead this Manager told us we needed to visit the DMV website, order a new replacement license for the one that was lost, wait for that to arrive in the mail and then we would be able to come in after making another appointment and use that existing license to order a replacement license with her new last name. It made absolutely zero sense to me why they were making us jump through hurdles when AAA itself can assist in ordering replacement driver licenses for lost or stolen, etc. but instead this woman was telling me that I needed to jump through hoops and inconvenience myself further instead of trying to help me while I was there. She didn't even look over any of the paperwork that we brought in as well. She simply told me "the policy". Upset, we left and visited another AAA who was baffled by the interaction that I had here, apologized profusely for their unwillingness to help, agreed and validated that the steps they were trying to make us take were unnecessary because they didn't need the existing ID to order a replacement ID! At this point, I'm not sure if it was because the staff, including the manager herself, was being lazy because they were about to close or what but if that's the case, don't have appointment slots available up to 15 minutes before close. I don't even think it was an issue with laziness in all actuality because it took 10 minutes to order the replacement ID at the new AAA that we went to. We truly feel that we were discriminated here because why else would the manager herself refuse to help us, send us on a wild goose chase and give us misinformation? As a long time AAA member of 15+ years, not only that but also a multiple policy owner as well, I'm now shopping around for alternate insurances. I suggest others stay away from this location.

Tried calling this office today to check on some travel questions,…read moreThe automated voice said 0 minutes wait time. I've been on hold for over 25 minutes so far. So much for customer service.

We used Lorraine for a family vacation to Arizona. We started in Phoenix, while there went to the…read moreApache Trail and Scottsdale. We then went to Sedona, the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff. It was a one of the best trips we ever took. The hotels were excellent. All of her suggestions for sight seeing were excellent. I highly recommend Cruise Planners and would use them again for future trips.

We worked with Lorraine to plan a custom 11 day trip to Italy with stops in Rome and the Amalfi…read moreCoast. Lorraine's knowledge of the area was extensive and she got us INCREDIBLE deals on flights and hotels. She was even able to accommodate special requests such as needing exit rows (my husband is very tall and needs the legroom for a long flight). As someone who had never used a travel agent before and always thought it may be cost prohibitive, I was wrong! Lorraine was able to keep us under budget so that we had extra money to do little excursion tours to the Roman Forum, the Vatican, and Pompeii (all bucket list places for me!). She also was able to advise when tours weren't really necessary - our trip to Capri was a good example - we were able to easily tour the island ourselves and take a ferry. Above all, she made it so easy - presenting options clearly and booking everything quickly. The itinerary she gave us to follow was top-notch and had all necessary contact info on it. I really can't say enough good things about Lorraine - she made my dream trip a reality!