Australia Vacations - Testimonials

Testimonial about Malinda Murry, Tahiti, Australia, Fiji Islands Specialist: Australia, Rainforest, Outback

My wife and I completed, in August, a trip to Australia which included a total of 7 flights, numerous hotel to airport and airport to hotel transfers, a 10 night, eleven day cruise, several tours in various cities, and 7 nights in hotels. All of this went off like clockwork due to great travel agent work by Melinda Murray of Travelwizard. We worked with Melinda over a period of 6-7 months mostly by e-mail along with a few phone conversations. She answered every question(of which there were many) and cheerfully helped us with every change we requested. The final product turned in to the best trip of our life, so far. We will continue to have Melinda be our go to travel agent in our future travel. In fact, she is already handling our plans for our next cruise in November of 2012.

We would highly recommend Melinda to assist you with your travel needs!

Sam and Debby Chapin

Aurora, Colorado

Feedback about Cynthia Parks, our Australia, USA and Europe Specialist:

Dear Travelwizard.com Team,

Cynthia has been working closely with me as her favourite Australian customer over the last 12 months. She is finalising our intinery at the moment and I wanted to pass on some very positive feedback regarding the level of service she has provided. I do apologise in advance (and Cynthia already knows) that my emails are never short, but I will try and keep my feedback concise.

I approached Cynthia around 12 months ago when I was shopping for a cruise through the Caribbean. I am from Australia and I was prompted to contact international travel agencies (especially in the USA) as your level of service in the USA is far superior than Australian agents. Cynthia would put our travel agents to shame!

I admit that I contacted several other travel agencies regarding cruises initially, and I only knew of a few popular cruise liners that we are familiar with here in Australia, and it seems other international agencies provided me with little information compared to what Cynthia provided me. She did not just give me the facts and figures of the cruise I enquired about but she asked "why" I chose that cruise liner and is there anything else that may appeal to us. Cynthia spent a lot of her time emailing me and reading my LONG emails about several other cruise options, and she was very patient with my decision making. I probably asked her one hundred questions, and she answered all of them! Being a first time cruiser, Cynthia was a perfect representative to guide me through the options and pros/cons of each. I can say that if it wasn't for Cynthia's recommendations, we would not have chosen Celebrity as our cruise liner. Cynthia promoted the new Siholette ship very well despite the ship not even being built, and I believed her that it was a very good choice. I think we made a fantastic decision and we cant wait to go on it!

As we had planned to tailor our own itinerary for our vacation to the USA, Cynthia offered her continued service in helping to complete our itinerary from hotels, transfers, tours and activities. Over the next 9 months, we tackled each city we were visiting, from Hawaii, to Las Vegas, Orlando, New York and Niagra Falls. Cynthia did extremely well at providing options of hotels and tours that were appropriate for our budget and the quality we were seeking. I was very pleased with the price of the reservations she made for our hotels. I am a passionate "internet shopper" and have always planned my own overseas holidays using online booking sites, but this is the first time that I have felt comfortable to let someone else help me plan my own holiday, and feel confident that I was not compromising the value of our holiday.

Some things I was able to book on my own, but I always consulted Cynthia first for her opinion and she opted to book some of these things for me although she probably got no financial benefit from it. She did it to keep all of my bookings in one place and avoid confusion as to who has done what.

Our only form of communication has been via email and it would be great to talk on the phone one day, but Cynthia's email communication was very satisfactory. Depending how busy Cynthia was, she may have responded within a day or two, sometimes a bit longer, but she was courteous enough to reply with a quick one line saying she acknowledges my email and will get back to me within the week, which was fine for me.

Cynthia's service was exceptional, and she is certainly a luxury vacation specialist. She has helped me plan a wonderful USA holiday, and I look forward to providing further feedback after we return from our vacation so we can comment on the hotels and service providers that have been booked.

I have told Cynthia that I would love to contact her again in a few years to help organise our European vacation that we are planning for next.

I hope you find this feedback valuable, and that Cynthia receives the praise she deserves.

You are welcome to contact me via email if you have any questions regarding my feedback.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Breton

Feedback about Rose Lenderman, our Australia, New Zealand, Asia South Pacific Specialist: Australia

Hi Rose

I know I am in for a very busy time when I get back so would like to thank you now for an amazing trip. Aside from maybe having spent a little less time in New Castle with friends and rather adding a day to “do my thing” at all the other stops before leaving, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Everything worked seamlessly with the vouchers and it made the world of difference knowing that everything was arranged, there were no hick-ups which one often experiences when you book things on line, but rather all hosts (from transfers, to hotels, to tours) were expecting me. It was as if someone had called minutes in advance of my arrival to wherever and given the relevant party a heads up that I was on the way.

Will definitely recommend you guys to anyone out there looking to plan a trip and you will be hearing from when the next opportunity to travel like this, happens again.

Kind regards

Sharon

Testimonial about Sharon Walters, Europe, Australia, Exotic Vacation Specialist: Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti

Dear Sharon....yes, it has been quite a whirlwind getting home and back to work but it was so worth it! Everything was wonderful. A few small glitches, nothing that wasn’t rectified by our vouchers. We were not on the lists for the safari in Rarotonga or for the morning boat cruise in Pahia. Concierge at Little Poly called for us and got them to swing around and pick us up and the cruise we got on with just our vouchers.
Accommodations were fabulous. You did a really good job. Little Poly was heaven and we really loved the quiet solitude of the Cooks.
Several people told us we might be disappointed in north island after being in south island, but we weren’t at all…we think NZ is just beautiful, the people are friendly and it is so easy to travel. Accommodations there were great too. Takatu was fabulous, we were only sorry we didn’t have enough time in the Makatana area-there was so much to do and see. The highlight was by far Treetops. I felt like we were in heaven! We did several hikes and really lucked out with the weather…cool and sunny. The resort staff was phenomenal, they really went out of their way to cater to your every need.
Bora Bora is of course Bora Bora! I have never seen water that color! The Hilton was excellent..we had much too much food having a complete meal plan…should have only had b’fast and dinner. We were a little worried because we normally like smaller resorts, but we never felt like there were hoards of people around, it was really quite private. We will definitely go back to Polynesia..it is such a great way to break up the overseas trip home.
Thanks for all your work….it was most appreciated!
Take care!
Jeanne A

Feedback about Debora Roberts, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Caribbean, Mexico, Tahiti Specialist: Australia, New Zealand

Dear Mr. McMillen

I recently used your website to find a travel agent to help me plan an initerary to Australia and New Zealand. I am usually very capable of creating our itinerary/transportation/accomodations but found I was overwhelmed by the vastness and unknown of both Australia and New Zealand.
Much to my dismay I decided I needed professional advice. Somehow, I found your website and decided to take a chance and call for advice. I was referred to Deborah Roberts, an Australia/New Zealand expert and talked quite a long time with her. Deborah had a vast knowledge of information and a great personality and I decided to see what she would come up with.

I explained what my husband and I liked to do, gave her the length of time we had available to travel, and also told her of my hotel philosophy.
Deborah really understood and created an amazing itinerary for us that we barely modified. She understood the amount of time that each place needed and helped us plan from Queensland, Australia to Dunedin, New Zealand at the furthermost points of our itinerary.

We decided to be adventurous and Deborah rented us a Maui campervan. We went tubing in Waitomo Caves, did a tour of Kangaroo Island, trekked the Milford Sound, and stayed at the Lodge at Larnach Castle on the Otago Peninsula.
Deborah arranged all of that and more. I literally showed up with my voucher book and presented proof of prepayment for activities, transportation, and accomodations and everything was accepted without question. It was incredibly freeing to have her make all of the arrangements as I was working extremely long hours before we left for the trip.

I will certainly recommend Travel Wizard and Deborah Roberts to any of my friends who are traveling to Australasia and the South Pacific. She is definitely an expert and my husband and I really could not have done this trip without her help.

Sincerely,
Jean Selzer

Testimonial about Kristi Fletcher Australia, New Zealand, Asia Specialist: Australia, New Zealand

Hi Kristi,
Our trip was fantastic. Every aspect of our travels was seemless. Thank you for your attention to detail.
Thanks again,Ashlie and Michael

Feedback from our Fiji- Australia, New Zealand Specialist: Australia, Blue Mountains, Carins

Dear Travelwizard,
Thank you so much for arranging our trip to Australia! It was fantastic. We loved the activities and tours you arranged for us. We took your advice and toured the Botanical Gardens when we arrived -- it felt so good to stretch our legs after the long flight. We were glad we took the harbor cruise -- it definitely helped us stay awake until we could check into our rooms at the Grace (wonderful hotel -loved the location). The Blue Mountain and wine tasting tours turned out great - we were the only ones on the bus and we had the same tour guide each day! It was like having our own private driver to take us around. Cairns was great, too -- loved the Daintree Rainforest tour and the trip to Kuranda. The Gold Class ticket was definitely worth it. About the food -- the lunches on the tours was wonderful, way better than I expected. It turned out that we hardly needed to eat dinner on those days. Also, we really enjoyed both of our tour guides; Rick for the Daintree tour and Chris for the Blue Mountains and wine tasting. Kudos to both.
Thanks for putting this together for us on such short notice. We were really at odds when our trip to Chile was canceled at the last minute-- but Australia turned out to be a great alternative.

Best regards,
Connie S.

Testimonial about Paul Breen, Hawaii, Domestic Australia, New Zealand, Asia Specialist: New Zealand, Christchurch, Queenstown

Dear Paul,

Please forgive my tardiness in getting back to you about our
trip. It seems I have been on whirlwind since touching down back in LA.

Simply put, the trip was great. The hiccup in the Sydney to
NZ flight was soon forgotten and all of the other arrangements went off
like clockwork. The weather was extremely cooperative and we have
almost 1000 pictures to prove it.

In the future, if you have a client that is interested, I
would recommend at least investigating upgrading to the Millenium hotels
in Christchurch, Queenstown and Auckland. If not too much more, they
seemed better located and a little nicer. If I were to do it all over,
personally, I would skip Rotorua.

I have sent your info to anyone who has or will ask who we
used to make the arrangements. Thanks for your efforts in making a much
enjoyed and long to be remembered vacation.

We've already starting talking about going to South America
in 2011. What do you know about Argentina, Chile and Brazil?

Regards,
Steve

Testimonial about Sharon Walters, Europe, Australia, Exotic Vacation Specialist: Australia, Sydney, Ayers Rock

Dear Sharon

hello from Sydney. Our trip to the "Outback" was great! Everything went exactly as planned. One evening we went out into the desert overlooking Ayers Rock. We were greeted with champagne, appetizers and a wonderful dinner. We had an exceptionally great time. The sun setting over such an amazing landmark, the endless stars - well you just had to be there.
Instead of flying to Alice Springs our next stop, we took the bus. It was a six hour trip across the outback and gave us a great chance to see what people deal with living out here. One cattle station can be 100,000 acres. The land was extremely desolate. Alice Springs was a shock since we expected a one street town with nothing but a few bars. Drank a bunch of various beers at local bars, taught a young French bartender how to make a Manhattan, ate local food and had a great time. Lots of cowboy stuff in the stores and the people were great. Also met in the AM and went out to an Aboriginal territory for a educational lecture on the history and life of the indigenous peoples, met a few - they really are unique. Hard to believe they've lived here for 40,000 years. We'll fill you in more on that subject when we get home.

Private name

Feedback from our Fiji- Australia, New Zealand Specialist: Australia

Dear Travelwizard,

We just returned from our trip to Australia. We absolutely loved it!!!
You did an incredible job of making all the arrangements. Everything was perfect!! In fact, the rooms were better than we anticipated. Had we been aware that we had washers and driers in the units, we would have packed in carry-ons rather than lugging full-sized suitcases. Well, we'll know better next time!

Thanks a million for all your excellent help.
Delron

Feedback from our Fiji- Australia, New Zealand Specialist: Australia, Sydney Hey Bob

Dear Travelwizard,

Brett and I had a fantastic vacation in Australia thanks to your wonderful suggestions for places to stay and access to upgrades. We loved the location and club amenities of the Intercontinental Sydney. Sydney is a city we felt right at home with and left wanting time to see and do more. Capella on Lord Howe was a real treat. We loved the island lifestyle so much we want to go back next year!

We also had a fabulous experience with Sally and her team at Walkabout Park. Going behind the scenes to interact one-on-one with the dingos, wombat, koalas (got to witness a pouch check for 2 pregnant koalas), kangaroos, emus, and more animals was a highlight of our trip. The Walkabout sanctuary gave us an authentic bush setting (with interesting aboriginal sites and artifacts) where we could get close with the animals. I highly recommend a visit to Walkabout Park.

Thanks again,

Jennifer

Feedback from our Fiji- Australia, New Zealand Specialist: Australia,

Hi Travelwizard: wonderful trip, many amazing adventures. Kangeroo Island was fantastic...saw myriad wildlife and loved Correa Corners....recommend it to everyone. All the hotels you chose were fine, also. We loved Sydney, and had a wonderful, eventful cruise. Thanks again for your superb job...we really had a wonderful time and your hard work made it very easy. Thanks again...I'll recommend you to anyone traveling in that direction! Beth & David

Testimonial about Kristi Fletcher Australia, New Zealand, Asia Specialist: Australia

Hi Kristi,

G'day! We had a wonderful time- no snags--glad we had our free days to explore-met some wonderful people and even met up with a long lost cousin.. The live aboard dive trip is a must for any scuba diver. The ecotours were incredible. If you have the choice in the future to book for someone- use them over the australian pacific or the other tour lines-- the hotels were great- the only one I would not stay at again was the Ibis ( our room was clean and ready when we got there, -so no problems- just very small w/ no amenities to speak of and the Novotel was right next door for the same $$). We want to go to New Zeland next ( 2 weeks ) - will get in touch when we are ready ( want to fly over and rent a camper van for a week on each island - everyone we met said that is a must do to see it properly.. Thanks again. BJ & Rick Grimshaw

Testimonial about Malinda Murry, Tahiti, Australia, Fiji Islands Specialist: Australia, Rainforest, Outback

Dear Melinda,

Several weeks have passed since we returned from our trip Downunder and I still find myself thinking about the wonderful experience we had. Working with someone who has such first-hand knowledge of Australia was invaluable, and you really succeeded in tailoring this trip so it was perfect for my family. I enjoyed our telephone conversations and could tell that you really got a feel for the kind of experience we were looking for.

The preliminary itineraries you sent, with their detailed descriptions, were so helpful in planning which areas and attractions we would enjoy. All of your suggestions, from the optimum amount of time in each location, to which tours and day trips would be worthwhile, were right on the money. When we received our finalized itinerary my husband and I felt that every detail had been taken care of and we didn't need to worry about a thing!

We loved the variety of going from the city to the Outback to the Rainforest, and the accommodations in each area were wonderful. My kids thought the Sydney Bridgeclimb was the coolest, and they absolutely loved the Australian wildlife! You really went the extra mile by arranging the private tour of Alice Springs to make our long layover there interesting and enjoyable.

These days traveling can be hectic and even stressful, but this trip was so well planned and executed - it was a true vacation. Ross and I look forward to working with you again to plan another fabulous adventure. Thanks for everything!

Yours Truly,

Ross, Vicki Cohen and Family

Feedback from our Fiji- Australia, New Zealand Specialist: Australia,

Sorry this note has taken so long, but we just got back from our family vacation. We got your lovely note. The girls had a blast on their Australia trip. Everything ran smoothly and the hotels were convenient and beautiful. The girls did not run into any trouble. All the activities were great fun. They loved the river rafting and the dive boat the most. Thank you for putting this incredible trip together for the girls. I have told many people, when they ask, about Travelwizard and what a wonderful job you have done.

Thank you again,

Dorothy

Feedback from our Fiji- Australia, New Zealand Specialist: Australia,

Hi Travelwizard,

I just wanted to write you quickly and say a BIG THANK YOU for all your help setting up the trip in Australia. It was tremendous and everything not only went extremely smoothly but the hotel, restaurants, sea plane excursion, sightseeing and the stay at Byron Bay were all FABULOUS!!! We can’t thank you enough for your help.
Thanks again, Rich

Feedback from our Australia Specialist: Australia

Dear Travelwizard.com

Thanks for the welcome home message. The trip was absolutely amazing and the weather perfect in Melbourne and Sydney...Cairns rained but it is their rainy season. The hotels were great with views of the water in Cairns and the harbour in Sydney. I walked about 7-10 miles a day and loved it. Used the gym daily in Sydney and got to both Manly and Bondi beaches as well. The hotel transfers were great and on time and very friendly and helpful. Both hotels were helpful and in Sydney they even printed out bus and train numbers and locations for some of my personal sight seeing. The Coast Golf course was beautiful in Botany Bay with a fantastic view of the water and amazing coastline. They provided rental clubs that worked and I decided to walk the course. Had a fantastic round shooting an 84!!! The people were great and it was about a 50 minute bus ride each way to the course but well worth the experience. We also took the day long trip in Melbourne to see the little penguins at night, short train ride, and even to a farm where you could feed the calves, watch a sheep being sheered, watch sheep herding with shelties, feed emus, and more. It was a great day trip where I went with one of my colleagues from the US.

All of your recommendations were great although I probably could have stopped on the day trip of Sydney after the morning tour and the cruise and gotten a good flavor of Sydney and the surrounding areas, except for the fact that the morning tour showed Manly beach and the afternoon tour Bondi, where the lovelies parade their stuff! You were rights on to only need two days in Cairns, especially since it rained a lot when I was there. The barrier reef was not as clear as we had all hoped for because of the rain and the water being a little rough during the entire week. Kurandu was different as well as the rain forest and the Aborigine Cultural Center. Certainly provided a better understanding of their culture, beliefs, and customs, which was helpful.

All of my flights went smoothly in Australia and the US with only one delay in LA coming home which was unbelievable. Even more so was the fact that all of my luggage always arrived with me! Go figure! I cannot thank you enough for all of your assistance in putting together a great vacation package in relatively short notice that truly provided a taste of Australia in all of its beauty and splendor! I could go back in a heartbeat and more likely in the future will need to take in New Zealand as well. For the record, I will recommend your service to anyone interested in a trip down under in the future as your service, responsiveness, and suggestions all worked out for me in providing the dream trip that I envisioned.

Many thanks again and please feel free to share this with anyone in your office if you need to show that you are great at what you do and that your customers are pleased with your service!!! Thanks again super Mate!

Jody GandyGandy

Feedback from our Fiji- Australia, New Zealand Specialist: Australia,

Your agent was instrumental in planning a life long dream for our family to visit Australia. Her expertise in finding activities of interest for a family ranging in age from 7 – 41 was unparalleled. From a dot painting workshop, a sunset camel tour, and a sunrise tour of Uluru in the Outback, to Cape Tribulation and Daintree Rainforest in tropical North Queensland, to helicopter flights to a small island in the Great Barrier Reef, down to Melbourne to experience the breadth of its ocean road to spa country in Dalesford, and to finish with New Years eve in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, and the myriad beach and city activities Sydney has to offer exposed us to a rich taste of Australia. Tours groups were small and intimate, locally run and superb in quality. We can’t wait to go back.

--Lynn

Feedback about our South Pacific, NZ, Australia, Asia vacation specialist:

Our trip was to Australia & Fiji was great...family vote was that Fiji ( Castaway ) was the best
part. Very friendly staff, food was fine and the swimming great. Thank you much
for your help and can't wait for your help with a future trip.
Tim

P.S. For your info (you may already know about this), but we tried out
surfing lessons at Bondi Beach through http://www.letsgosurfing.com.au/
and had a ball. I phoned them when we arrived in Sydney and the service
was great. The two hour adult lesson was $75 AUD per person. Our kids
even rated it "just a bit more fun" than the Bridge Climb.

Testimonials : Australia, New Zealand, Asia Specialist:

Dear Sirs,

Just wanted to let you know that our Australia vacation was a huge success. Everything went smoothly with no problems. Transportation met us on time for each transfer, the accommodations were great, and the dive trip was AWESOME! We appreciate all the help and I will recommend you to anyone who is looking to book a complicated trip such as ours. Thanks so much! I would send photos but we took over 600 photos and I don’t think you would want me to crash your mailbox J.

Charles

Testimonial about Kristi Fletcher Australia, New Zealand, Asia Specialist:

Hi Kristi,

We got back today, and thank you for such an awesome vacation! We loved Sydney (beautiful harbor!). Our favorite Melbourne experience was The Little Penguins - amazing! (Our least favorite part of Melbourne was the flies!) And the Langham in Melbourne was a GORGEOUS hotel! Probably the highlight of the vacation was snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. Beautiful!

Everything went VERY smoothly; our coaches were all there when they were supposed to be. The sightseeing tours were wonderful! No worries! (See, I'm talking like an Australian!) Thank you so much, and we will DEFINITELY use you in the future. In fact, we're talking about a trip to Italy in 2009 with 3 other couples. I'll get more info to you when I know more.

Thanks again,
Nan

Feedback from our Fiji- Australia, New Zealand Specialist: Australia,

Hi Travelwizard

We had a great time on our trip. The tour guide was exceptional.

We loved Sydney (The Sofitel was a fabulous hotel - - all of the hotels
except Alice Springs were excellent). Enjoyed Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. The trip up to Kuranda was great - - the train ride down was unspectacular (I guess we are spoiled). Ayers Rock was spectacular (it was only 80 degrees instead of the usual 100 degrees) , as was the ride to Alice Springs. We saw kangaroos while on the Ghan train. Adelaide and Melbourne were both very nice.

On to NZ - the south island was amazing. Everything
in the south island is breathtaking - - our two special highlights were 1) the Shotover Jet boat ride in Queenstown and 2) we took a small plane back from Milford Sound (the snow capped mountains and waterfalls were unforgettable - - the plane was worth the price of $270 per person). There was not a cloud in the sky the day we were in Milford Sound (two days before it had rained nine inches and a few days before that there was an avalanche). The only days that it rained on the trip were the last two days in the North island. I am glad the trip wasn't any longer - - we were out of gas.

All in all I believe it was the best trip we have ever taken. Thanks for everything you did to make the trip memorable and hassle free (all plane connections and hotel transfers were perfect).

Tom Farley

Testimonial about Kristi Fletcher Australia, New Zealand, Asia Specialist:

Kristi,

The trip was amazing. Every pick up time that you arranged was prompt. Everybody was friendly and professional. I have already referred two people to travelwizard.com and I will personally use you again when I plan my next big trip.

Thanks for all your help.

Jamie Morley

Testimonials about Kristi Fletcher Asia, Australia, Tahiti Fiji Specialist

Dear Kristi,

Our trip was absolutely amazing! You went above and beyond to put together the honeymoon that was beyond our dreams. The memories that we shared on this trip will be treasured and cherished all of our lives. I could not imagine any way more perfect to begin our lives together.
I have been telling everyone how wonderful you were in putting our trip together-some have even contacted travelwizard in planning for their next trip. Mladen and I will definitely be using your services again in the future.
I could not even begin to say thank you enough.

Thanks! Mladen and Denise

Testimonials: Australia, New Zealand, Asia South Pacific Specialist:

Hi Corrina, Well, back and settled in. Our trip was wonderful, you covered all the bases for us in top fashion. All our hotel, bure accommodations were much better than expected. Our hotel in Queenstown was upgraded to a suite and it was fabulous. Hats off to you on all our hotels etc. So, my next question, what would you recommend for another trip. Whatever we do, I would be planning on having you arrange everything once again. As I said, you did a wonderful job for us. Lost my vouchers in Franz Joseph but contact information you had supplied in our package solved any problems we may have had.

Thanks again for an absolutely flawless and wonderful vacation. Look forward to having you plan more for us in the future.

Pat & Marlys

Testimonials: South Pacific, NZ, Australia, Asia vacation specialist:

Hi Corina,

I just wanted to say thanks for the great job in setting everything up.
Everything went as scheduled and there were no unpleasant surprises at the
hotels or land transportation. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the
people of Australia are very friendly.

Regards, Mike