Why I'll only sell you what I've sailed
There's a question I get a lot: with so many cruise lines and hotels in the world, how do you choose?
Here's my answer: I don't sell anything I haven't personally experienced.
That sounds simple. It isn't. It means I spend weeks each year traveling not for vacation — though I love a beautiful view as much as anyone — but for work. Inspecting ships. Sleeping in the hotel rooms. Eating in the restaurants. Meeting the people who will take care of my clients when I'm not there.
Last summer I sailed a two-week river cruise with one of the best-known names in the business. The parts the company ran directly — the hotels, the tours, the off-boat experiences — were fabulous. The riverboat itself, operated by a third party, fell flat: food and service below the standard of everything around it.
That trip confirmed something I'd felt for years: for group travel, the operator has to control the experience end to end. No handoffs, no hoping. When my clients are aboard, "good enough" isn't.
So that's my promise, and my filter. If I recommend it, I've been there. If I haven't been there, I won't sell it — no matter how pretty the brochure is.