Testimonials

Testimonials

Bora Bora 3/2011

Vera has been an absolutely amazing travel agent, we can’t say enough about her.  Our trip to Bora Bora was the best vacation we have ever gone to.  She had everything set for us so there was no thinking involved on our part or worries for that matter.  All the major and minor details were already done before we arrived so we just needed to make sure we remember to wake up and show up for the meals and tours.  The timing of the plane connections was great and the little things she had the hotel do for us to make it even more special and impressive!  And what a great touch when we arrived home to a package from Vera with a thank you card and brownies.  It was a great way to be welcomed back to reality.  We cannot imagine using any other agent for our future vacations!  Thank you Vera!

Bob & Kitty Brown

Norwegian Epic 11/2010

Vera-

First, thank you for the brownies and the card. It was a very nice surprise when we returned from Florida. And, the brownies are amazing, and I'm not a huge brownie fan.

Second, the cruise was so awesome!! Between Amy and I, we took over a thousand pictures!! Dustin and I loved the snorkeling in Honduras the best, but everything was amazing. We are hooked on cruising and will no doubt be doing more in the future. I am now in charge (according to Dustin) of finding more awesome places to snorkel so we can take cruises to those locations. :) Australia is first on his list. :) Amy and I also discussed the possibility of a Mediterranean cruise sometime in our future. Anyway, as you can see, we've created a monster. Once we go through all our pictures, I'll send you a few. I hope you are well. We will no doubt be in touch with you when we get ready to schedule our next cruise. Thank you again for all the hard work you did for us, and all the questions you answered. We truly appreciate you!!


-Terri and Dustin

Norwegian Epic November 2010

So the cruise was AMAZING! Thank you so much for the chocolate covered strawberries and the cookies when we got back! We also enjoyed the wine! We had so much fun on the cruise! But I think we should have done a 2 week cruise so we could have enjoyed everything the ship had to offer. We saw the Blue Man Group...that was so much fun! Legends was really good too! If I would not have known Michael Jackson was dead I would have thought it was him on stage. We went down the slides numerous times...and we felt like kids again! Bowling was tons of fun too...I won out of the 4 of us We also checked out the Ice Bar...and I didn't bring any long pants...note to self for next cruise! We ate at Taste, the Manhattan room, the Japanese Steak House, the noodle bar, the cirque and dreams (which was a lot of fun but didn't really like the food) and then we also ate at the Brazil restaurant. We ate and ate and ate the whole time I felt like.

Ports:
Costa Maya- We went on a Mayan Ruins tour and had a blast. It poured on us for about 20 mins but it definitely cooled it down. The ruins were really cool! After we did the tour we went and taste tested some tequila...that was a big selection! Then we ate at Mamma Sitas...Dustin's ordered nachos and they were ice cold! This happened to him a couple times on the trip All in all this was a fun port.

Roatan- Ok this was probably my favorite spot! We did the Jolly Rogers Snorkel trip which included MONKEYS AND BIRDS....that we got to take pictures with! One of the monkeys went to the bathroom on Dustin. It was hilarious! You aren't suppose to make and quick movements or it might freak the monkeys out so Dustin literally just stood there as the pee dripped down from his shoulder to his arm. Vera it was hilarious!!! Don't worry you will see photos on facebook soon. After we hung out with the monkey and birds we went snorkeling! I bought a digital underwater camera and got some really good pictures. We saw so many different types of fish! We saw a lobster, a lion fish and even a shark...Don't worry I got photos of them too! After we did all that we went shopping and got back on the boat.

Cozumel- We didn't sign up for an excursion and we were lucky because a cold front came in and they actually canceled most of the shore excursions because it was so rocky in the ocean. It was sunny but the cold front really stirred the water up. We ended up going to the other sided of the island, the windy side, and it was so much more calm! We got in the water but there was no reef to snorkel off of. But it was really nice and relaxing. After we were at the beach we ate at a local restaurant and they wouldn't stop bringing us food! We spent just over $50 and I swear we could have had left over's for 3 more meals! We did some more shopping and got back on the boat. We were suppose to leave at 5:30 pm but didn't actually leave until 6:30 am the next day! That cold front brought so much wind that it wasn't safe for us to leave port....so no gambling that night.

That was our trip in a nut shell

Thank you-
Amy Hammond

Norwegian Epic 9/2010

Vera is an amazing travel agent that truly goes the extra mile.  Not just on the cost but the planning process.  She is great at the detail works and the big picture which really helps.  Her response is amazing as well.  Our cruise on the new EPIC was an amazing one in big part to her.  She reminded me before the trip when I should be booking the restaurants and shows and what I need to do to get ready for my cruise.  It allowed us to be able to book/schedule everything we wanted on the day and time we wanted before arriving on the ship.  When we got to our stateroom there was a nice bottle of wine waiting for us which was something we never received from previous agents.  After our trip she also wrote to us asking how it was.  She truly went full out to ensure we had an enjoyable experience.  We are looking forward to working with her again on our upcoming trip in March to Bora Bora and many more after that!  Thank you!!!

Kitty Brown

Carnival Inspiration 5/2010

Thank you so much for the "goodies"...I will pass them out to the kids. It has truly been a pleasure working with you on this trip. I can't wait to do the next one. Thank you for all of your help. Cruise Planners are the BEST! If you want to cruise call Vera or go to her website www.CruiseVIPStyle.com.

Debbie Peterson

Just a quick note to tell you about Vera Kuemmel, cruise specialist.  The best experience I ever had.  It was like making plans with a good friend. Vera made sure that our rooms were next to each other. She took care of everything, right down to cruise insurance.  She mailed us everything we needed as quickly as possible.  Called to make sure that we received everything.  She was just wonderful.  She even sent my grandchildren birthday cards on their birthdays.  They were so excited to get them. Vera really is a cruise specialist!  I also consider her a good friend.

 Steve & Estelle Taylor 

Emerald Princess / Norwegian Epic

Vera/Cruise Planners has been the most enjoyable experience when trying to figure out where to travel to! This was my 5th cruise I was going and my now husbands 1st cruise. If I would have known her prior to all my other cruises I definitely would have booked them through her! It was so easy! It all started with my honeymoon.  I contacted Vera to see what deals she might have for a cruise and boy did I have my options. When I finally figured out which cruise to take she made it so easy for us.  Vera was able to book everything from my room to what time we wanted to eat dinner. She would email me with all the shore excursions so we could purchase those before we even got on the boat. I never once had to call the cruise line to set anything up for our Spa appts or extras we wanted to do, she did it all. Any questions I had I would email her and get a response back within the hour. Vera has been to many of the islands so it was great to ask her what she thought would be fun to do and what not to do.

Once we boarded the Princess Emerald it finally felt like our honeymoon. Everything I had requested for the week happened. We did a couples massage, had a balcony breakfast and it seemed like every night we got to eat chocolate covered strawberries! The islands were so much fun to tour. We took a lot of Vera's advice when it came to the islands. We went and swam with the stingrays in Grand Turk. We took a fun tour in St. Thomas that ended with sampling Rum made on the Island. St. Maarten was so much fun too! We did an island tour and went to Orient Beach, which has been on the Travel Channel.

I truly love to cruise and now my husband has been suckered into it as well! I really enjoyed working with Vera so much that before I even went on my honeymoon I had already purchased my one year anniversary cruise! Let's just say I am glad my husband did end up enjoying the honeymoon cruise or I guess I would be going on the anniversary cruise by myself

The anniversary cruise is going to be on the Norwegian Epic! Vera keeps me up to date on everything that is going on with the ship. Each time I read a new article about the ship it just gets me more excited! I am already trying to figure out what excursions to take and where we are going to eat. November can't get here fast enough!

Thank you-
Amy Hammond-Peck

Norwegian Epic 

"My experience with Vera @ CruiseVipStyle is exceptionally well .. She made it so simple for us to decide to book our trip with Norwegian Epic. Such as easy to read Itinerary, competitive pricing and what is currently available to choose from. I like about being straight forward - no hidden charges and also like her responsiveness on all our inquiry regarding this trip. We were able to book our trip within a day. Given this experience, I will designate her as my point of contact to book my cruise vacation in the future. " Thanks Vera :-)

Peggy Mak

Norwegian Epic 

Vera has been a great agent helping me and our friends find the best rates on the EPIC.  My husband and I cannot wait to sail on the new EPIC especially with all the updated highlights she sends us!  Her speedy response to all questions has been also wonderful and very assuring for us.
Kitty Brown

Celebrity Solstice 1/2010

Flournoy Family

On the first day of our very first cruise (Celebrity Solstice/ E. Caribbean), when my daughter, Madi was checking out the spa, she found out that in the afternoon several drawings would be held for 8 different mini massages of various kinds. She made each of us (4) fill out entry forms, and hustled us up to the spa at 5 pm for the drawings. There were probably 60 people there, all hopeful of being picked.  To make a long story short, we won 3 of them. Since the results were announced by stateroom, there was some confusion, and even a few ruffled feathers as our stateroom was announced so many times. There was an attempt to deny us more than one winning, until Madi (she is tough) informed them that the entries were made by different people (us). After we had won 3 times, there was one more winner to be announced, and a big German guy, not unkindly, called out to me to just go up and claim the ticket before the number was read. Some in the crowd laughed, some scowled. So...Madi took the facial, Lorrie, my wife, the scalp, and Brent, my son, a head, and shoulders. I also bought them each a full body massage. Brent came back in love, since he had never had a massage before. We got a laugh out of that one.

And then, to prove that when your stars are lined up, they are truly lined up,  Lorrie and Madi went to a glass blowing exhibition on the top deck. I wandered by as they handed out raffle tickets to see who got the beautiful bowl they made, and Madi told one of the artists "give my dad a ticket". So, I took it, and............you guessed it. I won. There were several people in the crowd who had witnessed our family's monopoly of the spa drawings who clearly thought that there was some kind of conspiracy afoot. Just our lucky week!

The entire week exceeded our expectations in terms of service, food, and general ship ambience. We broke the average weight gain number of 5 pounds per cruiser, but it was worth it. The most delightful thing for all of us, I think, were our adjoining state room balconies.  The divider was taken down by the room attendant, so we were able to share a large balcony, where we had breakfast in the mornings (room service took about 5 minutes), and drinks in the evening before dinner. Sleeping with the sound of the ocean just outside will cure any insomniac.

Bob Flournoy

Carnival Sensation 1/7/2010

John Lovret

Had really great time. The food was excellent. The waiters and cabin stewards really were exceptional. I haven't traveled with Carnival since 1992. I wasn't a fan of theirs then, but I am now!

Thanks for all of your help.

John

Norwegian Pearl 1/2/2010

Kim & Manny Pimental

Hi Vera,
I just wanted you to know we had a wonderful cruise. Norwegian Cruises are just as nice as Carnivals. I was very happy with the cruise. I really enjoyed the free styling and the not having to get dressed up. I was not happy with the port of Samana it is not ready for cruise lines. The beaches were great but not the land tours. Thank you so much for helping us at the last moment. We really enjoyed it.
Kim & Manny

Carnival Victory

Peter Yannucci November 2, 2009

We just returned from a week long Carnival Cruise vacation (oct 25th-nov 1st) and I must say it totally exceded my expectations. Vera Kuemmel set up the trip and she did an absolutely amazing job in doing so. The boat was the Carnival Victory. Although an older ship it was refurbished several years ago and looks brand new now. The service on the boat was incredible. The food was too. You can eat eat and eat until you cant eat no more. The food is unlimited. Every deck at every moment was serving some kind of different food. I was amazed at how vast the service was. We enjoyed the spa and gym on the boat and just relaxed every night. The boat, the entertainment was awesome too. Every night was a different show. The cruise director Lenny Halliday did an outstanding job too. I cant say one bad thing about this carnival victory cruise ship or its staff and entertainment.
The islands were great. This ship travelled to the southern Caribbean. Such islands as St thomas, Domenica,St Lucia,Barbados, Antigua and St Kitts and left out of Puerto Rico. Each Islands offers something different fromthe next one. I look forward to another cruise soon. Perhaps on the Oasis???

Secrets Capri, Cancun

11/9/09 Kristin David Cawn

"Vera/Cruise Planners went above and beyond to coordinate with our resort to have sterilized water ready for us in our rooms which my husband and I needed for medical reasons. It was such a huge help and allowed us to relax, forget about logistics, and just concentrate on enjoying our honeymoon!"

The resort staff were all exceedingly well-trained, professional, and helpful (from the moment of check in to our departure, and all of our encounters with housekeeping and waitstaff in between). Any issues we had with Secrets were so, so minor, like: the dining room in the "Himitsu" restuarant was too warm for us the night we ate there (but we enjoyed the dinner anyway). The waitstaff spoke pretty good English, but they were also happy to converse (clearly) in Spanish when they got the impression that Zac and I were having fun practicing our Spanish. Our wake-up calls were prompt. The themed parties were fun. We kayaked, Zac tried the archery, we played pool, and we both went on a fun "Kitchen Tour" which revealed that the kitchens are very clean! All in all, we felt like we were at adult summer camp. We could do as many or as few activities as we wanted, and didn't feel bored just hanging out at the resort, and it was not too big. The computer room did smell musty, like it had gotten wet at some point. But Zac and I agreed we didn't need to be spending our time in the computer room anyway! :) Oh, also our room was on the 3rd floor, which meant we had a great view of the ocean, past the pool area. They would have upgraded us for a fairly reasonable charge, but we were very happy with our room.

Tulum Extreme was great. They take you rapelling from a tower, zip-lining from 3 towers, and snorkeling in a natural cenote with lots of interesting stalagtites, and then feed you a good grilled chicken lunch before you visit the Tulum ruins with a guide. We liked it all except that the rapelling was somewhat difficult for us: we didn't feel able to stop ourselves properly (and the rope got really hot sliding through our gloves). Diet time! :) That was a little minor thing, and we had a fantastic day.

Coba Express was also great. They take you straight to the Coba ruins and and back (no stopping for a cenote or Mayan village visit), so the price ($65 pp) and time commitment were right for us. Our guide was an ethnologist by education, who did a good job introducing us to the Mayan culture.

I would recommend all of these. We also took a cab to Playa del Carmen ($14 from Secrets), but the street-barkers trying to get you in their doors, and the price-haggling thing is not really our scene. It was interesting, but we actually had more fun exploring Playa's "Wal-Mart" and "Mega" stores to see how they are different from our own grocery stores. :) For one thing, the "beans and rice" aisle is much bigger!