Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

Kitty Yancey and partner Barry Blechman in Cape Town, South Africa.

Kitty Yancey and partner Barry Blechman at journey’s end at Cape Town.

The Seabourn sailing from the Seychelles Islands to Madagascar and down the east coast of Africa Jan. 13-28 was a bucket list vacation for us, and—as usual—Cheri made planning a snap. This was my fifth trip on Seabourn, and Cheri knows every ship and the pros and cons of various cabins. I trusted her opinion that one of the line’s smaller ships (the Sojourn) would deliver a more intimate experience with most all the bells and whistles of Seabourn’s newer, larger Ovation and Encore.

The itinerary and fellow passengers were impressive. Many shipmates were on a world cruise for 90 days (we did 15) and were generally interesting and affable. Longer itineraries tend to weed out the hard-core partiers, in my opinion, and the smaller ship (about 300 passengers on our sailing) meant that we got to know both guests and crew better. Excursions included a visit to a lemur colony (I fed one a banana) and game drives in reserves, which were mini-safaris and memorable. A dream trip.

Cheri was very helpful in guiding us to a great ship and affirming our interest in the Seychelles cruise on Emerald. Unfortunately, after we were completely booked, paid up and had all air arrangements made, the line cancelled the cruise due to safety reasons. Cheri and team were helpful in rebooking a Caribbean option and getting our air travel refunded and credits applied to our new trip.

This was our 4th or 5th trip using a travel advisor from the WOW List. For us, it is the BEST way to make sure every minute of your trip is used to the best advantage and most importantly to make sure that all of the arrangements are Tip Top and well coordinated.

Cheri expertly and patiently guided our choice of a cruise. After we made the booking, Cheri constantly followed up with valuable travel updates and reminders. We really felt like someone was looking over our shoulder.

For the land portion of our trip, we worked with Gavin who was extremely familiar with SE Asia having spent so much time there. His advice was invaluable for planning our time in Hong Kong and Singapore. His hotel suggestions were outstanding. Finalizing our trip arrangements, Gavin’s assistant Cathy made sure that all the details were absolutely correct and arranged excellent limo services for us in Hong Kong and Singapore.

All emails and questions with these travel advisors were promptly and expertly answered.

We recently returned from a surprisingly nice Norwegian Cruise Line cruise in their Haven suites. We are experienced small cruise ship travelers and have always wanted to try one of the big mega-ships. Cheri, a Senior Travel Designer with Mary Jean Tully’s company, was very knowledgeable and guided us to the Haven product aboard NCL, a ship-within-a-ship concept, stating that of the big mega liners, this was the best way of experiencing a larger ship while at the same time enjoying a more luxurious setting. Cheri was absolutely right. It was fun being aboard a big ship with a variety of bars and restaurants and everything at a larger scale. And when we wanted somewhere quieter, we could retreat to the Haven. As usual, Cheri was very responsive, professional, and efficient in making the original booking and all of the follow-up details. We have had the pleasure of working with Cheri before and certainly look forward to working with her again.

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