We just booked our 3rd cruise with Vacation Inspirations and have had great service for all the trips we booked. We've worked with Christina hard castle for all of our cruises and she has been very helpful to get everything we needed for a successful cruise. We also just finished a Globus bus tour in Italy which was booked by Cheryl Kassahn. She booked both the Globus tour as well as the Hotel for the extra nights we stayed at in Rome. We had a great time. We will continue to book all of our vacations through Vacation Inspirations. read more

I have been using Vacation inspirations since 2010 and have never been disappointed yet! professional, and very helpful. whenever I have a question, they reply promptly. so glad to have had this experience thus far and continue to have.. Highly recommend them, don't think twice. You will be very satisfied! read more

It is a scam! We went to Charleston In April 2026, and recently had a terrible experience. Jeff Pumilia promised us- in person- gave us his word we could get our money back at any time. Hotel costs were more pricey than what I could get online! and, the service was a hassle. He will not refund our $1995.00. He conned us big time. What a scumbag! My name is Jeanne Lavoie, from Gorham Maine. I am surprised A lovely city like Charleston allows them to have a store front! read more

Vacation Inspirations is the best. I always look forward to booking my cruises through Missie. She is easy to deal with and always picks out the perfect cabin. I look forward to booking my next cruise. read more

Another great Trip with Vacation inspiration! We took a Bahamas trip recently and we planned on several more throughout the year and next year. Thanks Lucinda for getting all the trips on the books. Their program always saves us money on all of our trips. read more

Vacation Inspirations - Msc Seashore - Travel Services Near Me - Charleston, South Carolina

Vacation Inspiration has been a great company to work with. I have used them for many cruises and also for hotels in Italy. Our last cruise on Princess to the British Isles was great. I always use Vacation Inspiration when I book a cruise vacation. read more

Vacation Inspirations - Our friends and us on our cruise to the British Isles. - Travel Services Near Me - Charleston, South Carolina

One word, stay away Slick presentation and when you start questioning their product, they get nasty and basically throw you out. When in Charleston, we wandered into a Tours storefront curious about some local tours. The man at the counter mentioned that if you go for an one hour presentation, "not a time share", we would qualify for a city tour and also a gift certificate for a local restaurant. Luckily we have one more opening for tomorrow morning presentation. We assumed that that would try to sell us something but we really had no idea what was the product. The next morning we showed up, being the only ones for our time slot. (Lucky that there was still 1 spot left) Very polished and fast moving presentation for joining a vacation club or whatever they wanted to call it. The price started around $9000 then for this presentation was about $7000 by the time that we were thrown out, it was $2000. At first looked like a good deal. The presenter started by saying if you took 10 passengers on a cruise ship and queried them about the cost of their trip, you would get 10 different answers. This is probably true. This company said, we get you the lowest price. He then showed up vacation properties around the globe with "prices that I pulled up last night" Again, looked like a great deal "just point to anywhere on the map and I can get you a great price." Just dont expect last minute deal to Times Sq on NYE asked for the day before He showed pics of Aruba (2 palm trees), a place that I've visited about a dozen times and I know the hotel marker. I asked, where in Aruba. "Oh, not sure if hotel. Might be a home" My next test, which he failed miserably, was a request for a vacation rental in Spring Lake on the Northern Jersey Shore in August (this was 4 months in advance). He brought up several items on his phone, from Passaic County to Cape May County, none of which were even near Spring Lake in Monmouth County. There were also prices, "from". I asked what was the price. Hmmm, I cant give that to you right now. (Well, if you can just pull up prices from last night, why cant you give me a price right now, I thought to myself) Then he had his wife take over, very sweet, until we said that we want to think about it. Then she got real nasty. Why did you come to this presentation. You never should come to a place like this. We will honor the promotion that you were offered but basically, never set foot in this place again! In summary, if this was a legit operation, they would have been more pleasant. Upon leaving, even if we were thinking about it, we would never deal with such a nasty company. It they act like this on a 'first date' imagaine what happen later in the relationship. read more

This is the biggest rip off ever!!! If you can do a search on the internet yourself you can get a better deal than they are offering. I'm so annoyed that I spent $3000 for nothing and the company never reached out to see why I wasn't renewing!!! The condo's that they offer are horrible!!! Not worth the money!! The one positive note was is that Lucinda was a pleasure to work with but Judy was horrible to deal with!!!! I'm still waiting for a response from Judy about a question so that is another reason not to use this company!!! read more

I've used this travel service for a few years now. They have been helpful in booking hotels for our several vacations we have taken. The prices they have been able to get from the hotels has ALWAYS saved us money. They are attentive to my requests and promptly respond. Christina is great! read more

We recently returned from a Tauck tour to India. Vacation Inspirations booked this for us with ease and professionalism.

A Surprising Win -- Worth Visiting, Just Don't Buy Anything I recently stopped by Vacation Inspirations during my visit to Charleston South Carolina, and while the experience wasn't perfect, it turned out to be surprisingly worthwhile--especially if you come prepared and don't feel pressured into purchasing their offers. Let me be upfront: when I asked basic questions--like whether the rentals offered daily housekeeping or how far in advance the cruise line could book shore excursions--I didn't get clear answers. In fact, the representative became quite pushy when I declined their $8,000 discount program. Despite that, I left with a check for $150 and two tickets to the aquarium--so that alone made the whole encounter worth it. The positives: They did deliver on the money and aquarium tickets as promised. You really can walk away with something for free--just don't let them upsell you. It's an easy stop if you're in Charleston and looking for a small bonus or perk. Just be cautious--ask straightforward questions, decline any aggressive upselling, and you'll likely leave with something valuable. In that sense, the experience was definitely worth it, and I'd still recommend stopping by if you're visiting Charleston--just don't buy anything! read more

We joined Vacations Inspirations (VI) more than 5 years ago now. We have booked 3 Viking River Cruises through them, the most recent being in late summer/early fall in 2025. Lucinda Makowsky has always done a very good job for us. She really knows what she's doing and even when she didn't have the answer (very seldom) she always knew who to reach out to and promptly had the answers. She is always very friendly and helpful. We have also booked 3 or 4 condo weekly specials with VI and have been more than satisfied. We are currently working on booking another one of the condo weeks for April 2026. We will also be looking at booking another Viking Cruise for 2027 or possibly a motor coach tour through England, Scotland, Ireland, etc. VI has been very good to work with. If I could offer any constructive criticism to VI it would be the time it takes to get your reward check for the excursions. It is supposed to take 120 days from when you submit the request. It is always late by another 4-6 weeks, but it does always come. They should be able to get these out on time. read more

Again, another seamless transaction with Vacation Inspiration. From the initial work with the Travel Agent to the last step of verifying and redeeming the points with the Redemption Office, everything went smoothly without a problem. I have been a Vacation Inspiration customer for 20+ years and have all good stories to tell read more

Vacation Inspirations has always provided us with great service, especially with the assistance from Rose Jefferson, who has booked many cruises as well as land tours for us. We have been members of this group for almost 20 years now and are so happy that we joined! read more

I have been a member of Vacation Inspirations for several years. I have been very happy with the trips I have booked through them. If you really compare apples to apples on trips you do save money. To save you have to book packages. If you do not do that you will not see savings. When you join any organization especially VI membership fees and dues are negotiable. Naturally if you do not negotiate you may not get the best deal. You have to look at everything and if you cannot strike a good deal then it may not be for you. I received a decent deal and I find their service to be great especially if you deal with Lucinda. read more

We have been waiting SIX MONTHS for a promised reward for booking with them. Terrible terrible company. Travel agent Danielle Donnelly is worthless. She didn't even follow through on a group discount from Tauck, so we had to call Tauck directly to get the discount applied. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!!! read more

What a great cruise arranged by Vacation Inspirations. We enjoyed 7 days about the brand new ship visiting the Dominican Republic, St Thomas, Tortola, and Great Stirrup Cay. We opted to purchase the Vibe Beach Club and enjoyed no kids and quiet relaxing times on ship with cushioned pool chairs, umbrellas and drinks. All handled by Cheryl at Vacation Inspirations! read more

Vacation Inspirations - Turtles and Tacos excursion- St Thomas - Travel Services Near Me - Charleston, South Carolina

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staff is always very responsive. we have booked two trips wu it's them and both have gone without a glitch. they have always helped us and answered our questions. read more

Excellent Vacation Specialist! Extremely helpful and knowledgeable. Always quickly responds to questions and requests! Couldn't do it without her. read more

I have scheduled multiple vacations thru Vacation Inspirations. Very pleased with results.

This company goes out of the way to assist with your trips, our agent, Cheryl K, does a great job in handling the details. Joined this company's program many years ago, a great investment! read more

We joined VI a few years back with another couple. Since that time, we have utilized the condo's they offer. Each place visited was very nice. We have also made three trips to Europe using VI. Had a wonderful time and service provided by Lucinda were great as was Condo team. Overall , very pleased with services VI has provided. Getting the member rewards has been a real plus! But.. we wish that the timeliness on sending these rewards monies out would improve. In each of the three times we have submitted for the rewards 'rebate', we had to 'nudge' VI at or past the 120 days anniversary of submitting our form. The rewards arrive, but typically 3-4 weeks later than the 120 days. Would like to see improvement in this area so we had down payment for our next adventure! read more

We have used Vacation Inspirations for several years now and have saved a lot of money. It was worth the up front cost. Looking forward to many more years of their service! read more

We travel a lot and often take tours and cruises. Vacation Inspirations, and our agent there Desiree, make this more affordable not just through the member rebates we receive from Vacation Inspirations but by being our advocate at the tour companies and ensuring we are always treated fairly and receive the discounts we request even when they are offered after our initial booking. read more

We have been traveling with Vacation Inspirations for over 15 years and have had nothing but great results and saved quite a bit of money.We have used Cheryl Kashan as our Agent and she has been outstanding in putting together great trips that have met and exceeded our expectations.We have just booked another trip with them for next spring, which will begin in Prague, Czechoslovakia and end in Budapest, Hungary, including eight days on the Danube river. read more

STAY AWAY...from Vacation Inspirations. Don't be a sucker like me. I very much enjoyed meeting with Chelsee and Robert Winkelman, so my wife & I fell for hard for their smooth sales pitch. What a TOTAL RIPOFF!! I looked forward to booking our first trip. My first attempt to book the trip was lost by the agent. What's so upsetting is that he didn't even apologize when I followed up. He explained he must have misplaced his notes and referred me to one of his colleagues. The second agent was even worse. I selected the most expensive of the 3 trip options that she presented making it clear that I was prepared to spend $$$ on a nice trip and gave her plenty of advanced notice. When booking our flights, she ignored two earlier connecting flight options and booked us instead for a 7-hour layover @ DFW. I could've worked a full day, rather than sit in an airport for 7 hours. To add further insult, she NEVER BOTHER TO RESERVE SEATS for us! So we're all sitting in different rows!! I am traveling with a disabled daughter which promises to make things complicated for the airline. To add even further insults, the agent told me it was my responsibility to book the seats. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? What did I invest in....a travel service that does not know the bare basics of how to book travel. How can you hold your customer responsible for booking their own seats? Vacation Inspirations is hardly inspiring! DO NOT WASTE YOUR HARD-EARNED MONEY! Book your travel yourself. I sure wish I had! (This Part 1 of my review. My trip begins in the AM. I can't wait to share Part Two upon my return next week). Stay tuned! read more

We were a bit nervous about the value of our membership with Vacation Inspirations when we first signed up, but we are very pleased that we did - we have received considerably more in rewards benefits than the cost of our membership! The VI staff have always been helpful and responsive in planning travel and answering questions. read more

Avoid them. We fell for their scam, and yes, I feel stupid for falling for the high pressure tactic. It cost us 5K, and by the time we were done, we had recouped about 4 K, so not an enormous loss. However, they changed the rules on us. Originally they promised us discounts on accommodations, tours, etc., but they eventually changed it to only helping if we also booked travel with them. It also turned out that if something wasn't on Expedia, they couldn't even get us any discount. So all in all, lesson learned. Oh, and because of a loophole in the law, even though we had buyers' remorse the next day, we had no recourse. Also, this was 2018. Maybe they improved their business practice since then, but I would be very careful. read more

I expected to receive a line item type explanation of rental car rebates for the specific rental agreement. Instead I receive a rebate check without the benefit of knowing if it relates to one, two, three or more specific rental rebate requests. read more

Just returned from our princess cruise to Norway. It was fabulous! We are so grateful to our agent, Kara, for helping to smooth out all the wrinkles and making this trip easy and wonderful! We look forward to many more years of travel with her advice and help! read more

Great service and alway the best price! I love having a travel agent helping me and I will never forget being stuck at an airport on a layover when my flight was cancelled. I needed a rental car to drive the rest of the way. But all rental car companies were sold out or needed a reservation. After calling Vacation Inspirations, they made a reservation and got me a rental car so I could make my appointment on time. Their service is what I am so confident in! A+ read more

We have been to several travel presentations in the past. Like most, the presentation offers seemed too good to be true and some may well be. We signed up anyway because enough of the information made sense and we figured that even $250-$500 savings here and there on travel would add up. We almost died after reading the reviews here, but persisted and made a bunch of calls to the VI call centre. We already had all of our 2024 vacations planned, so asked VI to quote us on two where we had some flexibility yet. We received two quotes back. One (a flight) was higher than a direct booking with the airline, but we immediately saved $800 on a cruise ($300 lower rate, $200 on board credit, and $300 post cruise commission refund). Our recommendation is to ask VI to quote for several things you 100% know the price of. You may be pleasantly surprised; if not, stay with what you have. We would prefer that a quote or two can be done openly (and recommend that VI allow folks to do this) before anyone signs anything. Even adding a three day waiver may allow folks a day or two to do this. Putting folks in a fully binding contract on something that may or may not work for them is (in all honesty) not fair to everyone. read more

There have been a lot of unannounced changes since we first started traveling with Vacation Inspirations, like if you ask for cash, it's 120 days until reimbursements; even if I never got the Rewards request form to begin with. And even though 4 months have gone by, the time starts all over again from today, so they will have had my money for 8 months. On cruises, they exclude a ton of things that count for reimbursement. Also, they no longer reimburse on hotel bookings pre and post tour or cruise. Some people have not traveled much and they are more of a booking service than travel agents who know the area. You need to do most of your own research. Last hotel booked, we had to leave a day early, but there was no refund for the extra day. Sometimes the hotel's website have better rates. A lot depends on finding an agent who cares and who is better trained. Just be aware that you must request the cash before 60 after your travel ends. They did make an exception for us because we never got the form from our agent, but they would not budge on waiting another 120 days to get the refund. read more

We joined last summer and booked a Sicilian tour through them. The website was pretty clunky but once we had looked over and chosen a package they were able to get us a significant discount off of the price if we had gotten it directly from the tour company. I believe they are upgrading the website. If the upgrade improves the search capabilities I wuld move thsi to a 5 star. read more

we spent the large amount to sign up and were promised top locations and arrangements. we were also assured as was a top priority that they be dog friendly . absolutely they said, not an unusual request. Our first call for a condo we were told no condos take animals ! we also tried to make arrangements for a trip with a few destinations and it had terrible connections and places to stay. we used a travel agent and got a much , much better experience. We tried all different ways to make plans and always found less expensive doing it ourselves . We got taken,,,lesson learned ! Do not fall for their street people around Charleston promising incentives. read more

Total scam they say wholesale airline prices and you can get the same prices anywhere. if you give your cash to these crooks you are stuck with no recourse I even went to SC consumer affairs and SC Licensing and was stuck for $4000 shame on me for falling for the scam read more

RUN ... that is what we wished we would have done during our sales presentation. While we eventually did receive a percentage back from the cruise we booked through Vacation Inspiration (VI) we found our assigned VI agent to be no help in navigating us along the way never offering travel tips or suggestions but merely forwarding the info she received from the cruise ship company without further comment. We later found out if we had booked directly with the cruise ship company we could have received a discount from them along with a dedicated cruise company agent who, no doubt, would have been more helpful than the VI agent and the services they provided. While we finally received our cruise booking discount percentage check as promoted by VI, it in no way compensates us for the initial money we spent along with the annual fees paid. We also found the offerings for vacation condos and rentals to be lacking in location, caliber and availability and we found it was easier to book through other home rental websites if we wanted that type of vacation. We will never use VI in the future for our travel needs ... but we did learn a valuable (and albeit costly) lesson along the way .. pass up the free promo offers and keep moving along when hawkers on the street offer you something too good to be true as it generally is. Providing this 1 star rating is our way of hopefully helping others make a learned and wise decision about their travel needs and funds. read more

Their "new and improved website" was simply putting lipstick on a pig. No search or filter capabilities which are available on 99% of websites. Vacation packages have been coming soon for months. What are they doing with their members $4000-$12,000? read more

I would rate zero but wasn't an option. DO NOT waste your hard-earned money. We were swindled for thousands of dollars. Have not used this company once to travel as I was able to book cheaper everything through hopper or other travel sites. Sent e-mails showing the hundreds of dollars I saved by booking myself with not much response. The only time I received e-mail was asking for annual dues. Lied to during presentation as I told them my son works for hotels and they assured me the condo's etc would far surpass that discount. It did not. If I didn't have to spend money for attorney, I would take them to court. Should be shut down! My own fault for letting the high pressure presentation cloud judgement. read more

One start is more a reflection of our foolishness. More later.... We visited Charleston last spring. We, like others, were drawn in by Vacation Inspiration's (VI) "free tickets" pitch. We were both very skeptical, especially once the high pressure pitch started. They are VERY good at their pitch. We went from "NO WAY" to, "we guess so" after quite a long time. We've thus far only tried to book one trip. We asked SPECFICALLY during the pitch whether EFTours was a plan they could book.....ABSOLUTELY. In fact, were were REPEATEDLY told that "if you can find it on the internet, we can get the same thing for you cheaper! Anything at all! If it's there, we can access it too!" Which was good, because we were planning a trip to Ireland with our daughter for October 2024. Once we got home, we called to price compare our "marvelous and fantastic" club purchase with what our daughter could get on her own. Alas, we were NOW told they do NOT do business with EFT. Despite repeated calls up the line, nope, no EFT. But we can book you with Trafalgar. Which is OK, but hard to compare "apples to apples" to see if we're saving any money. Long story short...we dealt with Courtney Cavett as our travel agent. Courtney did present us with good information about Trafalgar, and we ended up booking through her. There's not a lot of ways to compare, but by all metrics I can find, we didn't save anything. On the TOUR. Now, as to the plane, different story. We KNOW that EFT can include the plane when you book, although they probably don't have the exact flight that far out. VI was finally able to get us a deal on flights. Being a bit of a data checker, I checked the web sites, Google Flights, Expedia, Kayak, Travelocity, etc, AND the airline websites to see what I could find. With very little work, I found flights that were $700 cheaper each (times 3 tickets!). I told our agent what I'd find....shocked they were...shocked. In HINDSIGHT, we wish we would NOT have ever set foot in VI's headquarters. I am now very confident that I can do better myself...although it takes a little work. My wife had a gut feeling it would be OK...I was less sure. Follow my gut....don't go. Oh...interestingly, during the presentation, one of the participants started asking tough questions and got slightly confrontational with the presenter...he was treated quite rudely...that SHOULD have been a warning sign. Stay clear of this. Go to your local travel agent...someone you know and can "grab around the throat" if you need to. We're not so bitter as others, but do feel duped and foolish for falling for such an obvious stunt. They (hopefully) will provide us with the trip we want, but there will not be 20 to 50% savings.... Oh, but on the positive side, the horse drawn carriage tour we went on was very informative and informational. Should have simply paid for that! As far as the Star Rating goes, overall, it's likely a big waste of money. Our agent is very nice, fairly responsive, but I really think I can do as well, or more than likely, BETTER myself. As for VI, I can't really rate how their service is because we haven't completed a tour yet. I suspect VI's role is limited to a "middleman" role, as we are booking through Trafalgar, although we have to pay VI for the trip. Trafalgar is a respected tour company. Final Thoughts: It seems like VI is more like a travel agency...but one you pay a hefty sum to use instead of your local agent. Not worth it. read more