We were on the trip of a lifetime in New Zealand, but our preferred hotel was sold out for one…read morenight our four day stay in Queenstown because of a holiday. The hotel emailed us that they were completely booked and no rooms were available online. On advice from a friend, I called Esplanade. Less than 48 hours later, I had a room booked at my preferred property for the entirety of my stay. Not only that, when we arrived I was upgraded to a suite. We arrived in our room to a gift basket and a nice note from the property manager. Simply put, we were treated like VIPs from the moment we entered the hotel. That only happened because of Esplanade's relationships on the ground. If you're looking for a travel agency with local connections to make your stay special, Esplanade is the place to go. Their experts can open doors that others can't. I will book with them again.

We just returned from a 2 week trip of a lifetime to Peru. Tess at Esplanade Travel listened to…read moreour input, asked about our likes and dislikes, clarified our "wish list" of destinations, took our budget into careful consideration and then she put together the most comprehensive, affordable, and unforgettable tour of Peru! We had the most amazing time and were treated like VIP's at every destination. Each connection and tour were seamless without any delays or miscommunication, the lodging and food were excellent, and the tour guides friendly and knowledgable. We are so happy with the excellent service provided and wouldn't hesitate to recommend Esplanade Travel to our friends and family. Thanks Tess!

I've used BHT for twenty years. Unparalleled in his knowledge of Europe and exotic destinations…read more Dana has been everywhere, even Afghanistan. ( who goes there?)

The team at CIRE Travel is wonderful! I'm an Executive Assistant, and I use them predominantly for…read morebusiness travel for my team. Terri, in the Boston office, is wonderful and always available to help me out. In her rare absence, the entire, wonderful team is available to assist. On occasion, I have booked personal travel with them and I get the same level of attention! Eric, the owner, handles as much of the workload as his great employees. He works hard to make sure his company and employees give us the best service available. The team also have great personalities so it was easy to quickly build a working relationship with them, which is extremely important to me in my role as an Executive Assistant. They have offices across the US. Given that I'm East Coast based, I often get assistance from the West Coast team if I need help after hours in Boston. They also have a dedicate After Hour hotline to assist you 24/7. With all of their knowledge, expertise and vast network, they have helped me save money not only by finding me the best fares, hotel rates, etc., but sometimes are able to help me avoid change fees, which can add up for business travel. They also save me time. Using an agency, versus booking online, allows me to leverage my time to be more available for my team and my workload. Eric has hired a great team and they are all a pleasure to work with. Give them a try, you won't regret it!

Oh my! How does CIRE not have any reviews on here?…read more This should not be a thing of caution, everyone. The team of CIRE has multiple locations and has been around for years. This is a team of experienced travel professionals, a close knit team that works across New York City, DC and Boston +. The Boston team actually is from the area and knows Boston and the area extremely well. I have worked with CIRE for well over 5 years in the corporate setting and occasionally sneak in a private setting as well. On all fronts, I know my corporate team is well taken care of. Eric and his team go above and beyond to ensure smooth travels. They are security blanket when I need it and the relationship CIRE has with a lot of hotels and airlines has saved us a pretty penny many times. And I have it on good authority that their honeymoon division is #todiefor! I couldn't recommend this team more whole heartedly!

I booked a vacation package through Atlantic travels and had an amazing experience from the first…read moretime I called to get information. They were all very professional and helpful with questions I may of had. They made sure my vacation was flawless and everything was booked for me and my family before leaving.

This travel agency is where to go if you want to waste money, time, and end up doing things…read moreyourself. At first everything seemed great and they were very helpful but once everything was paid for we were just a number. The day of travel our flight was delayed due to "maintenance issues " and Delta said they weren't able to contact us because our information wasn't provided by the agency needless to say it became a blaming game between the two. On the day of our return once again the flight was delayed and we were NOT notified. I once again give the agency the benefit of the doubt and it was the same situation all over again. They didn't follow up with us to make sure everything was fine and I am still waiting for a call back from the Agency to help me figure things out. Other than payment arrangements we had absolutely no benefit in booking with them. Save yourself some time. If you want things done right do them yourself.

Janice Ackerman put together the trip of a lifetime to Italy for us. It was absolutely perfect and…read morethere is no way we could have planned a trip like this ourselves. We will definitely be using her moving forward for all of our trips.

Betsy Bouche at Vista Travel is FANTASTIC! I have used her for several years to plan complex…read moreinternational trips-- and she has always been a wealth of information! She provides amazing service-- whether it's scoring a great deal at a luxury hotel in Paris or finding the best value for your budget in Reykjavik. Betsy is thorough and obsessive about helping you find exactly what you want. If you're planning business or leisure travel, I can't recommend her highly enough!

The greatest dream adventure of a lifetime. Luxury, affordable, safe and unparalleled to any…read moreexperience I have ever had in my life. The great migration, Ngorongoro Crater, the greatest guides with impeccable knowledge, The Serengeti (do not go unless this is included in your itinerary. Booking is effortless ~ Trust Proud African Safaris to encompass your dream of a lifetime.

We are half way through our AMAZING trip right now with Proud African Safaris in Tanzania. We are…read morewith Adam (founder/owner of the company), Zubeda, Prosper, and Baraza. Our guides are so knowledgeable and they are part of our family now. They have the best knowledge of the hotels and where the best places to see the animals. We have already seen so many rare sights. They kept in touch with us for months before the trip giving us info we would need for the trip. We are incredibly lucky to have Proud African Safaris as our guides because they have been the nicest and most helpful people. It has been seamless and we are so grateful. If you are looking for the most amazing safari experience, go with Proud African Safaris!!!

if it's your first time and New England and you're planning to visit during Autumn, this trip is…read moredefinitely a must go Keith, our tour guide was very accommodating. He has a deep sense of knowledge about the places in New Hampshire. He definitely knew where and what areas are picture perfect so to speak. it wasn't rushed, it was just the perfect balance of being on the road and exploring. I will definitely recommend this to everyone.

Don't bother choosing a pick up location they will change it the night before and your pick up time…read moreis more of a suggestion from the driver cause he'll leave if he gets there before you do.

This being my first cruise, and having some input on Carnival cruise lines versus others, it's…read morereally difficult to write any kind of review which can compare it to other cruise lines or even other Carnival ships. So I can rate it based on my satisfaction. This was for a 4-day cruise from Boston to St. John, Nova Scotia, and back. I guess it's considered a sort-of "entry level" cruise. I was satisfied with it - some aspects were definitely better than others. I highly recommend advance booking if possible, to maximize your dining options, particularly locking in "anytime dining." The meals are going to be a bit hit or miss: some nights my choices were great, others they were mediocre. I upgraded my room - also worthwhile. If you like your alcohol, you should consider the "day pass" option, i.e. $50 per day for unlimited alcohol. Yeah, I know that a lot of the crew is from all over the world, work long hours, have to be pleasant and happy 24/7, and rely on tips. But at the same time, I have a lot of respect for the job that they do, and it was quite interesting getting to know many of them and find out more about the parts of the world from where they came. Since it goes into international waters, keep your cell phone off or at least in airplane mode, unless you are willing to spend the money to buy Wi-Fi service, which ain't cheap. This ship, and this cruise, were a good first experience. Carnival Glory was remodeled in 2012.

This was my 5th cruise and while I loved my trip (I was there to see friends get married and a…read moremember of a large wedding party), the boat and service was on its way to a 2 star rating until Wed (our last day of a 4 day trip to Canada). Wednesday was stellar, bumping the overall experience to 3 stars. Overall, the service was lacking. It was a lot of little things - in speaking with my fellow travelers, I wasn't alone in this. Things like repeatedly messing up food orders or when I needed help people were reluctant or unable to help me. There was a big snafu with my shore excursion that I ordered weeks before sailing and was REALLY excited about. The day before I got a note under my door saying it was cancelled, so I booked another one through the TV. As of midnight that night (with the excursion the next morning) I hadn't received confirmation or tickets and didn't know where/when to meet and so didn't know when to set my alarm to get up. So I called guest services that was billed "24 hours," but tried a ton of options and kept not getting a live person. The port info option was a recorded message that had information about a completely different itinerary. I finally go the shore excursion desk and sat on hold for 15-20 mins with a "we're helping someone else, please hold" message before being disconnected. Since I still couldn't figure out how to get guest services on the phone, I finally called housekeeping and asked for my porter. He wasn't available and at first I was told that I just needed to keep trying. I said that wasn't a good option and so they said they'd have guest services call me. When they did, I was informed that the shore excursion desk was CLOSED - despite the "please hold" message. And my tickets would be delivered in the middle of the night and I needed to meet them at the port at 8:15. (How I was supposed to know that without tickets is a mystery.) So it was those kinds of things, plus others, that had me really frustrated with Carnival and swearing that I wouldn't be back. However, 2 experiences that turned things around: first we got to take a Mixology class that showed us how to do cool things like light lemon peels on fire and was a fantastic bargain at $15, which included several drinks. (And not listed on the program...so ask about it at the Alchemy Bar.) The other thing we did that wasn't well advertised was a Chef's Table for dinner. It was amazing; 7 courses plus wine, a private tour of the galley, personal narration of the dinner by the head chef of the entire boat, plus a photo of our table. All of this for the unreal price of $75. The dinner was amazing and beautifully plated. If you're on a Carnival Ship go immediately to the steakhouse upon boarding and inquire, as it can book up early. So while I still prefer Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, we'd go on Carnival again. Plus they did a fantastic job of my friend's wedding and really made her feel special.