Our 25th anniversary is coming up so we've been planning a vacation to celebrate. Yes, 25 years…read more Wow. One of the options we are considering is a cruise. Doing some research we had some specific dates, destinations and even the cruise line. I found Travel Leaders so I emailed one of their agents to get some information and questions on the benefits of working with an agent. I initially contacted Karen Malone due to the experience and reviews listed on her bio. Karen called me within 24 hours and briefly reviewed the detailed information that I had emailed. She stated she would put together some information and numbers and email those to me. A couple of days later I receive an email from a Karen Soltis. Her email had other ships and dates that I had not described in my initial email and conversation. I replied to Karen advising her of the details and apologizing if the information I had discussed with Karen Malone was not clear. Karen Soltis did reply and stated she would get the additional and correct information to me. That was over three weeks ago. Since that time I met a representative from the cruise line we are considering and also met a travel agent that specializes in cruises. I doubt that I will hear from Travel Leaders and I doubt I will ever contact them again. I will however work with the individuals that I have recently become acquainted. Sometimes fate works out better than the plan. That certainly seems to be the case here.

This was our first experience with Travel Leaders. My fiancé and I take a tropical vacation every…read moreyear and were introduced to Kristi (our travel agent) through a mutual friend who had used her service multiple times. It only took one simple phone call to let Kristi know when and where we wanted to go. She took care of the plane tickets and hotel reservation in two simple phone calls and emailed me all of the information right after I booked. It was quick and convenient! She also includes our airport transfer in the package which was very helpful. There were no details she didn't cover! We booked our stay at the El Cid Castilla in Mazatlan. We were impressed with the location of the hotel as it was right down town close to the golden zone and lots of restaurants and bars. The staff was accommodating and friendly and the service at the restaurants was great. Our favorite was the Italian restaurant which was included in our all inclusive package. We also enjoyed our room! It was probably the most comfortable bed I've ever had on a vacation out of the country and was a king size bed! We had a great view of the ocean from the 7th floor and even received a welcome basket including tequila upon arrival thanks to Kristi. We visited during Carnival week and there was lots of festivities going on as a result. Kristi worked with the hotel to set up transport to old Mazatlan to see the fireworks one night and also arranged for us to attend the parade a different night. Both were great experiences and something we wouldn't have probably done without her assistance. She went above and beyond to make our trip fabulous! We are looking forward to planning our next vacation with Kristi in the future! She was friendly, prompt, and made the whole process from start to finish very easy!

I have booked several vacations with Sheree Powers and she is great at answering questions…read more(sometimes a lot of questions) and doesn't seem annoyed they are dumb questions. Sheree will send us suggestions for trips, hotels (all inclusives) and area's we may be interested in. If we do voice interest, she will give us a option to place the vacation on hold for a day or two to get friends together and makes us aware the price may change if we don't commit. Sheree is always clear on prices and charges. Discusses options of private travel to hotel vs bus transportation after we get to the destination airport. I usually do pick private transportation because I prefer to get to the destination faster vs on a bus going to multiple hotels along the way. Some discounts that another reviewer mentioned is available for some, in some areas of the country, but not others but I have found that the resort perks aren't what you think so that would not make or break a trip. I have found that not all nonstop trips are available for all areas of the country and when discussing this with my agent, I may change my vacation to a area that gives me a better flight times. I never compare prices with other guests because this may be comparing apples to oranges. I will continue using Travel by Nelson even though I do not live in MN.

I have been organizing group travel with Sheree from Travel by Nelson for several years. She has…read moreprovided excellent customer service, quick answers to my questions, and seems to find the best travel options for our large group. We booked 23 rooms with her for two separate trips this coming year. She knows our group now and goes out of her way to research and present the destinations and resorts that best meet our travel style. Highly recommend for individual or group travel!

I was in the early stages of planning our recent trip to Tanzania and had been working with a…read morecompeting travel consultant. She was doing a so so job, but I a little less than satisfied with her response time. It was then I called a friend of mine. He is experienced in adventure type travel and thought he might be able to give me a few hints on who to call. He did not even hesitate when recommending Access 2 Tanzania. From our very first contact with Casey (our EXPERT travel consultant), he demonstrated that they are truly professionals when arranging trips to Eastern Africa. Every step of the way, Casey made sure that our needs were met and every detail was thoroughly covered. Our final itinerary was near perfection, contact numbers both here and in Tanzania were included. Not a single time during our journey were we left out in the cold wondering what would happen next. Our guide was (Alex) top notch (which by the way are full time employees of Access 2 Tanzania) and went above and beyond to make sure we were fully taken care of. In fact we met 8 of the 10 guides during our stay and every single one of them were awesome! Obviously I am little biased and will always recommend requesting Alex, but if for some reason he is booked you will be assured of a highly skilled safari guide. There were a few pleasant surprises along the way, for example on our flight to Zanzibar we had a two hour layover in Arusha. One of the guides caught wind of this and made sure to greet us at the airport and stayed with us the entire time. This is one of the easiest five star reviews I have ever written. Access 2 Tanzania proved to be one of the smartest decisions I have made.

Highly recommend Access2Tanzania. We did a two week Safari with our two kids ages 6 and 8 and had a…read morewonderful time with impeccable hotels and our fantastic guide Nasibu. He was really flexible with our kids and they loved him. He knew every animal, plant and bird. They really know what they are doing.

Knowmad gets my highest recommendation from our initial phone conversation to having a Knowmad…read morespecialist see us off at the airport for our return trip home. We spent an unforgettable 10 days hiking the (express!) Inca trail to Machu Picchu and visiting Lima, The Sacred Valley, Aguas Calientes and Cusco. I could write 10 pages about how much we loved traveling with Knowmad so I'll try to stick to the highlights. My husband and I usually handle all of our own travel planning, but when we came across Knowmad while researching how to visit Machu Picchu we realized we would probably get a lot more out of a trip to Peru traveling with specialists from the country. This was 1000% true and working with Knowmad made planning our trip so easy and fun. Our travel specialists Renee and Shannon found a way for us to do everything we wanted to do (and so much more!) while staying within our budget. They were remarkably thorough with answering my countless questions and we could not have been more prepared for our visit, with very minimal effort on our end. Once we met up with our Knowmad guide, Fernando, in Cusco every day of our trip was amazing and we learned so much about the Inca culture and the Andes while having a ton of fun and going at our own pace. By the time we made it to Machu Picchu it was so much more meaningful because we had an understanding of what makes it such a special and mystical site. The Inca trail was absolutely breathtaking (and I'm not talking about the altitude ) and we couldn't have done it without Fernando as our fearless guide. He looked out for us every step of the way and made us feel like family throughout our time with him. Our trip wouldn't have been nearly so memorable without him. Another highlight was our e-bike ride through the Sacred Valley with our awesome guide Kirvi, who was so kind and on top of making sure we were safe and even getting some awesome photos and videos along the way. Our driver Abraham made us feel so welcome and kept us moving along and safe throughout our trip. The restaurants and hotels Knowmad arranged for us were excellent, and our picnic in the Sacred Valley and Pachamanca experience were unbelievable. Thank you Knowmad for making our trip such an incredible experience we will never forget!

Knowmad planned our trip to Argentina in March. They listened to what we wanted and then arranged…read morea flawless trip. They were also very responsive whenever I had questions. I highly recommend them if you wish to have a special excursion to a South American country.