Excellent trip to Guatemala , we were able to experience the most important historical and cultural…read moreareas in a short amount of time. The accommodations were above par,, the local tour guides enhanced our itinerary with a plethora of interesting facts. We were able to try many local dishes and especially the fried bananas with chocolate for dessert!. Eduardo Navarro from Bello Caribe Travel made sure that all details were taken care of . We recommend you visit Bello Caribe Travel to reserve future travels

August/September '26 was the second time on Icon of the Seas, this time with my wife, her mom, and…read moremy brother, stopping through the Eastern Caribbean. My brother used his casino offer to get a balcony room that my wife and her mom shared for the 7 night cruise. My brother and I shared an Interior Room, which was fine, especially since it was their first time on the boat. There were 3 stops on this roundtrip from Miami: St Thomas, San Juan, and Perfect Day Coco Cay. Port fees ended up being $175.60 per person. The cost for my interior cabin was $1,463 per person (including the aforementioned port fees), which I booked through Chase Travel. One change since I last sailed on the Icon was the ability to board with Suite customers because of my brother now has the RC Royal One Plus Visa card. We got personalized check-in in a dedicated room before being allowed to board, and it was nice to get away from the hustle/bustle. Will seriously think about getting this card for ourselves in the near future. I like lobster, so having AYCE lobster tail (along with other seafood like chilled stone crab claws) at the lunch buffet on embarkation day was a big plus. They also served lobster twice at the main dining room during the seven night trip, one for each diner with additional tails costing extra. As for the rest of the ship, my previous review still holds. It's a beautiful ship, and my favorite one I've sailed on.

Wow! What a ship! I…read morehave been on prior cruises with Royal Caribbean and Icon is the biggest one I have been on so far. Our family of four was blessed and fortunate to have the opportunity to be able to experience the ship. We departed Miami, had two days at sea, with port days at Costa Maya, Honduras, and Cozumel. It was a fantastic week sailing in paradise! It was quick to get on since we went a couple hours after it first opened to the guests. We were able to leave our luggage to be brought to our room before going through the terminal. The staff practiced safety and made sure the passengers got through the check-in process quickly. When we walked in, we were amazed on how big it actually is. Seeing pictures and watching videos prior to going on board doesn't do justice like being there in person. The ship is absolutely stunning and we received phnemonal service throughout the entire journey by all the staff members. The junior suite we stayed in was kept clean and the beds were made neat when we were out of the room for a few hours at a time. The stateroom attendant greeted us daily and we had a good amount of space for each of us. The extra storage in the closet made a huge difference. The bathroom was nice with a shower and tub combination along with a vanity with drawers and shelves for items. It was so nice not to have water flowing from the shower since it happens in an outside cabin with a smaller bathroom. There was plenty to eat and drink on board. Calories do not count! There was an endless buffet at the Windjammer Cafe that we stuffed our faces at most of the time. We ate in the main dining room, Coastal Kitchen, and had room service a couple of times to the room. The Grove, which is only available to suite guests, was lovely. It had bites and drinks for us to enjoy at certain times along with a pool and a hot tub with less people. If you are able to afford a suite, I highly recommend it since it was more private and the staff members were really accommodating. There is a "compass" for each day of the itinerary, which lists the schedule of activities and times of restaurants will be open. We could play at the casino, eat, go swimming in one of the pools, watch a show, drink, play bingo, eat again, explore the ship, duck hunting, shop until you drop, and other countless things to enjoy while you're on board. We chose to bring our luggage with us for the early departure since we didn't want to have to wait to be called by number on the last morning of the trip. The staff members were extremely helpful with the questions we had and guided us to where we needed to go if we were lost. A cruise ship is one of the best vacations you can go on with the transportation, room, food, and entertainment included in the price. It's cost effective and the things you have pay for is the additional services they offer, such as the spa, adult beverages, photography, specialty restaurants, shops, and excursions. Loyal to Royal!

Sailing May 3 to May 10, 2026 Alaska round trip via Seattle…read more Embarkation was at 10:30am, reached the port via Lyft, from my Hotel near the Seattle Airport SEA price $44. Luggage tags were mailed so no need to print. Dropped off bags at the terminal. Nice thing is that the Encore has a mid ship crew service elevator that was used for luggage so elevator congestion was lessened. Food American Dinner seating near the host is exposed so it got cold in that area on this sailing. Local Pub, 6am to 3am, late night menu started at 10:30pm. Breakfast Omelets can be customized, my favorite options the Cobb Salad, Wings with Sweet Chili Sauce, Warm Chicken Salad, Pretzel Bites with Cheese Sauce, Hot Fudge Sundae, order of Fries, etc. Buffet, Customized Omelets, Fresh Fruit, Custom Asian Noodle Soups during the day, Scoop Ice Cream. I prefer my food freshly composed so limited time spent here. Main Dinning Rooms no ball caps at dinner, Enjoyed Breakfast, Lunch and Dinners, you can ask to have sides swapped with your entree, and at breakfast I'd ask for 2 glasses of milk because of the distance between kitchen and dinning room. Specialty Dinning was good, and used some of my Stock Benefit Onboard Credit to upgrade to Lobster Thermidor $35 after fees and taxes. FYI, reservations are initially done in increments of 2 if you are seating an odd number you need to update the reservation when you board, also you must arrive within 10 minutes of you reservation, failure to either of these requirements can result in a fee. On my sailing 100's of us returned from our Juneau excursions post 9:30pm, so the ship extended the buffet hours. Also whenever I returned to the ship there were crew with platters of cups containing Hot Chocolate waiting for us near the deck 4 elevator banks. Liquor, the drink package is unlimited, and not timed. I'd order 2 alcohol drinks at a time, plus a chaser when seated to minimize bar and beverage wait times. Le Bistro stocks Drambuie among other spirits so enjoy it on the rocks, or as a Rusty Nail if inclined. Lots of entertainment and music on the ship. I focused on the large theater where there were always seats though the space got full, Choir Of Man a story of Pub Friends with lots of guest involvement interaction, they also performed Rock Music via Icons the Bands. The Beatles Invasion played numerous sets in the Cavern Club, but also did 2 performances in the Theater. We also lucked out to have 4 great couples that made our Love and Marriage a great experience. Music, Games, Comedy, Magic were found in many locations around the ship. Deck 15 had a massive Observation Lounge that could hold 100's of guests, and deck 16 the Cafe Buffet also had great Ocean views. If you want window seats in the dinning rooms consider getting there near opening to ensure that happens. This was an Alaska sailing in early May so pack gloves, a Coat with insulation, many of us had binoculars. Our trip was a fluke and we had zero rain at ports, and when cruising Glacier Bay, but consider packing a Poncho, Water Proof Hat, Wind Resistant Umbrella. The Casino is huge with 300+ slots with my favorites Dancing Drums, Flaming Pots, and Planet Moolah, being easy to access both in the smoking, and non smoking areas. The space also had 26 plus tables, with numerous tournaments during the sailing. $10 Blackjack, Craps, etc were all busy. FYI, Stock Benefit Credit cannot be used as Free Play. I played a little in the Casino and did well, but for me this was a destination cruise, not a Casino point experiment. My cabin was one of the 80 solo single cabins, this is an adult 18+ only area of the ship spread across 3 decks. These cabins have a private lounge on deck 11 where specialty coffees, water, juice, nibbles like fruit, pastry, cakes, and fresh cookies could be accessed. Lots of comfortable seating here and stewards committed to servicing this space from early morning till late at night. No kiddos, no noisy groups in the halls making this a nice change from my cruise in April on the Carnival Radiance. On disembarkation day, I opted to walk my luggage out and leaving my cabin as late as possible. Once in the cruise port I spied staff selling bus transportation from the port to SEA Airport for $30. This was a painless and as a solo inexpensive way to reach my flight. Buses will take guests to level one of the Airport. There is an area to tag your luggage if flying $ALK or $DAL here and a huge area where guests with mobility issue can wait for assistance. But, on a Sunday morning with numerous cruise ships docked and each loading and unloading thousands of guests many with mobility issues it might be smart if physically able and if you have priority status to proceed to your airlines check-in bag drop-off and skip the cold lower level. Overall a great experience, my only ask would be that the Comedians and Magicians be given a performance slot in the large theater to increase accessibility.

Built in 2019, the Norwegian Encore (largest in the NCL fleet: 3,998 passengers, 1,735 crew)…read morefinished its 2024 Miami season and went to dry dock for 4 weeks for a retrofit. It headed back to Miami on Dec 3 from Southampton, from where my wife and I got on for a 12 night trans-atlantic cruise in early Dec '24. It made 3 port stops: Vigo, Lisbon, Ponta Delgada. One can save a lot of money if willing to take a repositioning cruise and don't mind a lot of sea days. We had booked this cruise right after our last transatlantic in January, through Costco travel (same price as vendor, but often offers rebate via cash card usable in their warehouse stores...we got it via email soon after the end of our cruise). Each cruise line has a loyalty program, providing benefits at different levels. As part of this, we got chocolate covered strawberries and 2 bottles of water...next time we will be high enough on NCL to get free dinners and laundry. Room: Inner (windowless) Room on 14th floor, forward. Relatively quiet and close to buffet and fitness center. Lack of drawers in cabin, but has some closet space. Comfortable mattress. Very sensitive heat sensor...used the hair dryer to finish drying our clothes on 2nd day and ended up setting off the alarm calling in security to our room...definitely embarrassing. Service once a day. Expected low water pressure, but unexpected loss of hot water on last day. Good choice for quiet, between other sleeping floors. Room cleaned daily. Very limited TV channels (CNBC, BBC, Fox, 24hour sports...so good to watch predownloaded movies on i-pad), mini-fridge. US electric ports. Dining - Mainly went to 3 complementary restaurants: The Local (separate review), Main Dining rooms (disappointing food this trip), Garden Buffet (good variety); Twice to teppanyaki (mandatory gratuity of $14 per person per night). Because our sleep cycle was so messed up during the trip, we ended up sleeping through multiple dinner times (and waking up hungry at 2 am). 1(L): Local; 1(D): Taste 2(B): Local; 2(L): Savor; 2(D) - Teppanyaki 3(B): Local; 3(L): Buffet 4(B): Local; 5(B): Local; 5(B): Buffet; 5(L): Taste 6(B): Local; 6(D): Manhattan 7(L): Buffet; 7(D): Buffet 8(B): Savor; 8(L): Buffet; 8(D) - Teppanyaki 9(B): Buffet; 9(L): Buffet; 9(D) - Manhattan 10(B): Buffet; 10(L): Local; 11(LN): Local; 11(L): Buffet 12(B): Buffet; 12(L): Local; 12(D): Buffet 13(B): Buffet Highlights: Breakfast: made-to order omelets with English breakfast (baked beans, pork sausage, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms) at all venues. Lunch: noodle bar serving various Asian inspired noodle soups; make your own hamburger bar, both at Garden Buffet. Dinner: fish fingers. Everything at the Local Bar. Wonderful single serving various cheesecakes, made even better with hand scooped ice cream. Now has easy to carry breakfast items (yogurt, boxed cereal, single containers of milk). Large sea scallops cooked well at the Tepanaki. Misses: NY strip dinner: the one bad meal we had, where the steak was a top sirloin chunk, cooked well (when asked for medium), served with inedible shoestring fries, and grilled tomato. Soft serve ice cream: made multiple attempts throughout the cruise, and only once was it delicious (tasting like McDonald's)...the rest of the time tasted off. Lack of snacks: no bagged chips. Fish dishes: except for fish and chips using cod, everything seemed to be generic whitefish like tilapia. The smell of sewer gases was noticeable in our room, some days stronger than others. Activities participated in: -- Pulse fitness center open from 06:00 - 23:00. Complete selection of exercise equipment and weights. Dedicated room for yoga and stretching. We really made use of the facility (if only to justify the calories we ate). -- Internet - basic level has speeds of 2.69 mbps down; 3.01 up. always has free access to ncl.com and cruisecritic.com. No longer can use imessage to communicate for free like before. -- Daily puzzles - we stopped by the card room to pick up the daily sudoku, crossword and trivia.

We had a fantastic tour with them. Now Miami has many tours but this one stood out for its prompt…read moreand generous customer service. We went on the 3.5hr mini bus tour. It was about 12-15 ppl and we made stops at south beach; wynwood; Biscayne bay; star island for mansion watching. Our host scala was amazing and professional. Do give these guys a try

They had a new 14 passenger Ford Transit van. Jay, our tour guide was great and showed us…read moreeverything of interest including South Beach, and a section of town with murals amd grafotti art. We also went to little Havanna. We stopped numerous times to walk around and take pictures and go in shops. Great tour for the money..

Over the 2022 holiday season I booked a flight for my nephew with CIRE. Initially I thought I'd…read morebook it myself - easy Philly to Florida trip. But my gut said use CIRE who I use for my higher value trips. I was worried about weather, holidays, etc. Well thank goodness I did! He had some unexpected snags with his travel (Uber issues!!!) and CIRE was able to provide me options and make sure he would not lose his return booking! They saved our fun visit!!! Highly recommend.

I have been working with CIRE for many years, I have brought them on as a vendor at different…read moreemployers! They have never let me or the other travelers down and I feel better knowing all our employees are backed by CIRE. (they've also helped us save money!)

So I'm not one for writing reviews, unless something blows me away. And using Festival Drive was…read moreone of the best decisions I made the entire week while in Miami. So as one might guess, I was there for the Ultra Music Festival (week 1) and in the first few hours of being in Miami heard nothing of horror stories in regards to transportation from South Beach to Bayfront Park. My girlfriend happened to hear about Festival Drive and suggested we give it a shot. We signed up for it on the walk to the pickup location and were instantly granted access. Here are some of the great things about festival drive: Price: the price can not be matched. For under $100 we did not have to worry about transportation for the entire weekend. (I had heard of stories of people spending easily $60 each way for a cab) And we were supplied with water (being sold at $5 each at the festival) as well as neat doo-hickeys such as glow sticks, candy, and glasses that make the light show look like a kaleidoscope. Festival Drive paid for itself in the first day of Ultra. Convenience: the pickup spot was on the corner of 9th street and Washington, right in the heart of South Beach. This was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel. And the drop off was about a block from the entrance to Bayfront Park (nearly as close as you can get since roads are closed right at the park entrance) There are buses going to the festival every hour and 2 buses that leave the festival. Friendliness: Evan (the owner) is very friendly and outgoing. In the first few minutes of meeting him, it felt as if I had known him for years. Being that he was someone who had been to Ultra before, he knew exactly the situation we were in and was able to make our drive to and from the festival the best it could be. (Sitting in traffic is never fun when you are from NJ and get road rage, but I was quite relaxed knowing I did not have to navigate the streets of Miami myself) Megan is a Miami native. On the ride there and back she was able to give us advice about where to go, what to see, and helped us have the best possible experience even after Ultra was finished. Recommendation: I would recommend Festival Drive to anyone who is looking for convenience, to save money, and to meet some great people. If i make it back to Ultra, I will surely be using the services of Festival Drive again and will definitely recommend Festival Drive to all of my friends. Thank you Evan and Megan for helping to make my first trip to Miami an enjoyable one.

I've only heard horrible stories about transportation to and from Ultra Music Festival so we booked…read moreour seats with Festival Drive. Turns out, it was one of the best decisions we made during our UMF trip because: 1. The process was hassle-free. We booked the day of Ultra. However, it said we needed to bring a paper copy of our receipt and we did not have access to a printer so we brought it to 9th and Washington and hoped for the best. Turns out that Evan was really understanding and we got our 3-day wristbands with no trouble. 2. Evan and Megan were very friendly people who actually cared about making sure everyone was having a good time. They were also very receptive of questions and were really helpful. Megan, who is a local, gave us good advice as to where to go nightlife-wise and gave us a lot of Ultra-survival tips. 3. Free stuff! Fun things like glow sticks, beads, whistles, temporary tattoos, and awesome glasses that make lights look like the inside of a kaleidoscope were plentiful. There was a huge bag of candy and an endless amount of WATER. 4. The buses were very reliable, despite there being a huge amount of traffic. It also felt really safe, unlike those sketchy white vans with a guy screaming out at you asking if you're going to South Beach. Overall, it's a fantastic deal. Don't get ripped off by untrustworthy white vans and/or taxi drivers preying on the tourists and buy Festival Drive in advance!

I'm taking a moment away from my honeymoon to write this review. I can't describe how amazing our…read moretrip was, planned by Gabrielle. Paris, Rome, positano, Capri, and sorrento! Her recommendations and guidance have been invaluable to us on our trip! We can't wait to plan our next vacation with her! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!