Destination: Costa Rica

Beth C. of River Falls, WI

Destination: Costa Rica

Resort: Hilton Papagayo

Date: November 2009

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Costa Rica was fabulous. I LOVED the resort. I'm glad we had a car, because the resort is a bit of a drive from everything and without a vehicle, you would be stuck there. Hotel restaurant food is pricey, so we didn't eat there much (except for pool-side nachos and drinks). The staff was really nice, the rooms lovely, and everything about the resort is great. LOVED it!! We did zip-lining one day. One day we went hiking on a nearby volcano. It's active, so that was pretty cool. Otherwise, we just relaxed on the beach/pool and explored. Had a great time. The roads are dreadful -- tons of potholes. I'm glad we were using a rental car and not our own!! I would definitely recommend this place to others.

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The hotel is bungalow style, and the bungalows are spread out, so you may have to walk a bit to get to the pool, etc., although they have 24-hour shuttle service. We like to walk, so we didn't use the shuttle much.

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The bungalow set-up works great for families. Most of them are duplexes with connecting doors. So parents can easily have the privacy of their own room but the security of having their kids right next door. The maids always did the elaborate towel creations when they cleaned the rooms -- sea turtles, elephants with fresh hibiscus flowers -- the kids loved that. And we had giant iguanas right outside our bungalow. COOL!!!

Destination: Cabo San Lucas

Kristin L. of River Falls

Destination: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Resort: RIU Santa Fe

Date: October 2009

Mexico was GREAT! We had a WONDERFUL time!

We were very happy with the Cabo choice! GORGEOUS!

Luckily the hurricane did miss us. I guess people were getting out while we were coming in but it got weaker by the day. We had 1 day of rain and wind…but by then we were ready for a chill day! Plus it was kinda cool to see all the big waves.

So the feedback from everything…yes it’s positive!
The airport: You were right about those timeshare people…yikes! We got by them but needed a beer once we got out. We found our representative and got our shuttle no problem.

The RIU was very nice! Everyone was so friendly and welcoming! I did use my Spanish a little more than I thought I would but no complaints at all! Your suggestions regarding the rooms were right on! We were ocean view on the 3rd floor. We heard the 1st floor was easily flooded so we were happy about that! The rooms were simple and nice, all we needed. Bed was good, nice balcony, and housekeeping was always right on. Their ocean view rooms are in building #7 which is a pretty good walk to the main lobby/food area but not enough to complain about. Maybe a 5-7 minute walk.

The pools were always clean and seemed to be taken care of well. A little cool after a night of rain but still ok. The “infinity pool” that overlooks the ocean was amazing. I read a few reviews about how people didn’t really like the food. I’d say it wasn’t the best ever but they did have a HUGE variety and I never left hungry so again nothing to complain about. We only got a chance to try 1 of the 4 specialty restaurants. Those reservations do fill up fast! Since some of our plans were wishy-washy on weather we just didn’t get a chance too.

We didn’t do much of their provided daily entertainment but did take in a couple nightly shows which were good. We did meet with the Continental Vacation guy for a couple excursions. We took in parasailing, a sunset catamaran tour around those rocks (that was awesome!...it was called the ecokat or ecocat…I’d for surely recommend it!) and rented a jet ski. They were all affordable and a lot of fun! I would for surely agree with you on the point of not swimming in the ocean there though! It kicked my butt once and that was enough.

We felt safe in town, at the bars, and of course ALWAYS at the RIU. It was a very “couple-y” vacation time I’d say. Didn’t bother me at all, but just fyi. Your suggestion on bringing $1’s was good, we both used them – just easier. The bar cups were a little small, to be expected and probably a good thing for me. I did notice some people brought mugs or went to Walmart to find something bigger to use by the pool which the resort seemed fine with.

Destination: Alaska Cruise

Greg Z. of River Falls, WI

Destination: Alaska (cruise/tour)

Ship: Princess Cruise Line's -Coral Princess

Ports of Call: Vancouver, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, College Fjord, Whittier

Date: May 2009

They went on a fabulous cruise tour to Alaska, and had a wonderful time!
"Cruise/tours were basically perfect.
Everything went very smooth.
And, perfect weather!"

Destination: Seattle, Washington

Lori D. of Hudson, WI

Destination: Seattle, Washington

Resort: The Edgewater Hotel

Date: July 2009

The location of the hotel is nice for these reasons: you can walk to the market, you can walk along the entire waterfront, and the best part was that the hotel had a shuttle service that would ran every hour on the hour to take you to different tourist points. You could then call them 1/2 hour before you wanted to be picked up and they would come get you. We never used our car.

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The hotel was nice but the room we had was quite small (not much room to walk around). They didn't have wireless in the rooms (which we needed because we were planning our days as we went) so I had to use their free business center that only had two computers so there were many times people were waiting to use it. We couldn't believe a hotel like that wouldn't have wireless. People who stay there for business usually have computers with them and I'm sure they would like to work in their rooms. The other bummer about the hotel is that you pay $30/day for parking. Thank goodness you got us such a great rate to begin with.
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They had those really soft plush robes to use (and for sale) so I had to put one on for the picture. Also, the bear that I'm holding with the shirt with the hotel name on it was for sale. You could even purchase one of those ugly bear foot rests by the fireplace (they were $350).

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All in all it was a good place. It would definitely be an awesome place to stay for the person who is going to get on the cruise ship since it's right next door!

Agent: Darla

Marc M. of Inver Grove, MN
Agent: Darla
Date: July 2009
Spain was wonderful and there was a lot to see.

I would also recommend Adventures By Disney because they arranged a nice experience for our 3 generations of travelers.

Darla is fantastic!!!
She answered every question and made the trip to Spain so smooth.
Plus she is really really nice. I can't thank her enough.

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