We used Carefree Vacations to book our honeymoon trip to Kauai (Hawaii), which took place this past November. We worked with Cathy and while trying to decide on a destination (we had several on our list), were impressed at her in depth knowledge of what seemed to be everything related to traveling. She's very passionate and experienced as a traveler, as well as in her field as an agent. Her advice and insight definitely led us to feeling confident in all of our planning decisions. Cathy put together several itineraries for us and was always available, with a quick turn around time whenever we had any questions. Working with a travel agency can also be really pricey, but Carefree will work with you to customize a package that will fit within your budget. I especially appreciated Cathy's patience and all of the time she spent with us, whether it was communicating in person, on the phone, or email. Thank you again, Cathy, for making the planning of our honeymoon such a breeze. read more

Please stay away from this place. I went in to ask for help regarding a booking I'd done with Expedia. The woman who said she could help me didn't even let me finish stating my problem (not even halfway through) when she just started nodding her head vigorously and saying she wouldn't help me. I walked out less than 5 minutes after I walked in. It was rude, disrespectful, and unprofessional to not even let me ask her my question. Not to mention that when I walked in, there were about 4 people there but no one attempted to help me until after a solid 30 seconds of standing there like a deer in the headlights. I took my business elsewhere (to VeryBest Travel in Bonita, CA) and they were not only willing to solve my problem, but did so in less than an hour. It doesn't cost anything to be nice and to hear a customer out to see if you can help them. Obviously, my problem wasn't so "impossible" to solve that less than an hour later another travel agency was able to help me and did solve my problem. Needless to say, I will NEVER be returning here. read more

Kim's my agent. She still is. After booking with her on my trip to Thailand, I decided she's doing all my trips. :) I wish Yelp would go international, then I can write reviews from all my trips abroad. By the way - Thailand was awesome! We went to Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Krabi ...I plan on doing a return trip in the future. I miss the elephants and tigers. Kim worked with our budget and booked us in 2 star hotels, but o.m.g. when we got to our hotels...they were just beautiful, couldn't believe they were rated 2 stars. Australia is next :) read more

Bob Pavon is our travel agent. He is knowledgeable, helpful, professional and we have found his travel tips to be "spot on". We're planning a trip to Scotland and Ireland soon and look forward to making all our travel arrangements with Bob. Looking over the comments I discovered Wicked W wrote that the agency isn't always open.. Well, if you call and make an appointment I am certain there will be someone in the office to help you with your travel needs. read more

We worked with Cathy when trying to book our honeymoon. It was or first time out of the country and we really wanted to go to a Sandals resort. She is very knowledgeable in the resorts as she has been to almost all of them several times. She helped us narrow down our choice to Jamaica, Montego Bay in particular. She helped work with our budget and everything worked out perfectly. She helped us book tours and had many suggestions. We never had to worry about anything our entire trip. She is super quick to respond to emails and gives lots of information so that you as the customer can make an informed decision. We are now working on booking our next trip and cannot wait for Cathy to help make our trip great! I would recommend her to anyone looking for a wonderful vacation. read more

This review is long overview but Gloria was amazing in booking our group travel for my dance group last year, she was able to book our flights and hotel for over 25 people and was very communicative and personable the entire time. Definitely recommend Carefree Vacations and Gloria! read more

Are you serious? This place is a joke. I never see it open. When I call, they do appointments only on the weekend. We call to make an appointment and tell us they need to call us back to see if anyone "wants" to come in. What place of business is this? I'm about to drop 5 digits for a trip to Europe and that's the service they provide. I haven't even started business yet. Perhaps telling me when I was best available, set the damn appointment and make sure you have someone do their damn job. Carefree Vacations? Bullshit. read more

I live in Pittsburgh PA and am always asked why I use Carefree Vacations in Eastlake....KISMET is why! She seems to always know what I need before I do. She does above and beyond to make sure I have the best vacation every time! I wouldn't dream of using any other TA!!! read more

For a little background. I have never traveled out of the country or used a travel agency. I was looking for someone who can coordinate our trip that was kind of short notice, it was November and we wanted to go to Ireland in March. In my searching for different travel agencies, as you can imagine I got glimpse into a few different companies. I started to get very frustrated and had to question some of the options that were given by the different companies. Then Cathy contacted me from Carefree Vacations. Not only did she answer all my questions but she was invested in making my first trip as amazing as it could be with the timeframe I gave her. I know creating my trip must have been difficult because I had random specifics that I needed but some not specific requests since I wasn't sure where to go. I really loved that she always gave me the pro's and con's of any idea. From there our trip was booked and locked in. Since my schedule is usually super busy and my travel mate was in a different state, she made the time to meet with me in person to explain all our travel info. I can't thank her enough for that. As time came closer to the trip of course I started to panic about rules and last minute details. She never broke contact and was in communication till the day we departed. Even after we have returned she wanted to make sure that our trip went well. I deferred to Cathy's judgment and recommendations for a majority of our trip. I am absolutely glad we did because the whole experience was legendary. We were going to use this trip to Ireland to decide if we should use a travel agent again or do it ourselves. I am already thinking of where I want to go next and definitely will be calling up Cathy to book another memorable trip. She has spoiled me completely! Thank you for making my dream of traveling to far off lands true!! read more

We just booked our Alaska cruise with Kismet Rodgers. She was very helpful and knowledgeable about all Alaska cruises have to offer. We can't wait to go! read more

My husband and I used Carefree Vacation to plan our anniversary trip to Jamaica. Cathy H Pillsbury did an amazing job of planning our vacation. She kept us well informed throughout the process and worked diligently to get us the best deals that were available. Cathy has traveled quite a bit herself so she was able to share her personal experience with us too. She met with us days before our trip to provide us with very helpful information when traveling internationally. There were no surprises during our trip. Everything Cathy told us was true and accurate. We will not plan our next vacation with Cathy's expertise. She was amazing!! read more

Carefree Vacations & Donna Hurd always give us first class service. Very professional & great communication. Donna gets us our documentation asap and always is one step ahead. She reminds us of what we need to get together and when items or payments are due. She guides us thru our trip making sure we make the most of our vacation & destinations. My family has used Donna as our travel agent for years and I wouldn't use anyone else! Thanks for all your hard work! Desiree K. read more

I'm not sure if travel agencies have a different set of customer service guidelines, but this business is extremely sub par. Came in for information on looking into different packages or how there operation works. First and foremost not even a good morning or hello or any greeting of any kind. From any of the 6 "agents" working there. Finally one of the women just asks " Do you need something". Extremely unprofessional. I get handed off to another woman who seemed more interested in giving me vague and generic "look online" answers than actually any information on what they do, how they do it, what they offer, or anything of value. Pretty much was told to look online for vacations. I guess if you aren't in your Late 40's or 50's or seem to be well off with a family In tow, they prefer to just go back to their "phone" customers. All in all an extreme disappointment in this place and the overall u professional attidute of their employees. You do know that young professionals just starting their careers might want to take a vacation too. I know we don't spend tens of thousands, but we'd like to go somewhere to enjoy too. Stay away from this place. read more

I cannot say enough about Cathy and the outstanding job she did planning a recent St. Pats trip to Ireland. We had decided last minute (oct/nov) to take a trip to Ireland, and wanted to stay off the grid as far as the usually tourist spots. Not only were we able to put together a package that was tailored to us ( I live in Hawaii and my Freind in San Diego), we were able to see and do a lot of things in our limited amount of time (7 days, you really need at least a few weeks in Ireland). We opted to rent a car and drive cross country from B&B to B&B and it was spectacular. Cathy even have us a surprise gift to see the plow boys on out 3rd night there. She was able to do this and still was about 2 grand less than any other packages we were considering. I would give more stars if I could. A few things of you plan to drove overseas... 1- Spring for the full coverage, one thing we learned is Irish roads are narrow and the deeper you get into the country or mountains you can add a few nicks to the car. 2- spring for the tire coverage as we find out the rims and tires were not covered under the "full coverage" it's a small price to pay to walk away and narrow roads with. IG trucks = curbed rims!(see #1) 3- spring for a bigger car or at least a diesel and a Manuel transmission, had we stuck with the auto gas car even being a compact we would have filled up a lot more, we covered half the country with only filling up twice! We spent prob what we would have spent with the small car but got a nicer car, more room and less trips to the petrol station for about 40 euro more ! If you are looking to book a trip anywhere carefree is really carefree! And Cathy is the best! read more

My husband and I just got back from Scotland and our trip was AMAZING all thanks to Cathy! This is the 3rd trip we have booked with her (St Lucia and Maui were the other [both also amazing] trips). We told her we wanted to explore all around Scotland and boy did she deliver. She had everything set up to a tee...flights, transportation, car rentals, hotels, restaurants, tours, etc; all we had to do was show up - SO easy! Throughout the planning process she was always looking for ways we could get more out of the trip and keep it under budget. She really listened to what we wanted to do and also gave great suggestions. We are so thankful for her expertise - she really knows her stuff when it comes to travel. Cathy is super friendly and a delight to work with! I also really appreciate how good she is at getting back to you (by phone and email) with any questions/requests/concerns. Our whole trip was stress-free all because Cathy set everything up so well. We will definitely continue to Cathy for any future trips. I highly urge others to contact her to plan your next adventure! read more