Diane Polss
My Bio
It seems I was destined to be a travel agent long before I became one. When the youngest of my four daughters was almost five I began planning summer "road trips" for our family. We started small, just a week on the road, and gradually took longer and longer trips, up to a month on two occasions. In all, we visited 39 of the 50 states. I would spend the winter with maps and various reference and travel books (this was long before the internet!) planning the best routes, finding stops that would interest both children and adults, finding good hotels, etc. Now, for the past 21 years I've worked as a travel agent, and the trips I plan go well beyond our borders. I've always enjoyed puzzles, and working with clients on their vacations is very much like putting a puzzle together. Finding the right cruise ship or tour company, finding the right itinerary, finding the right hotel; all the pieces have to fit. Since the "road trip" days I've expanded quite a bit, and handle all aspects of travel, on land or sea, escorted or independent. My own travels, in addition to filling in the rest of the 50 states, have taken me to Canada, the UK, much of Western Europe, Israel, China, Hong Kong and Kenya. My favorite trips so far were Kenya and China, but you never know - the best trip may still lie ahead, for me and for you!
My posts from the All-Travel Blog
All-Travel Agent "Goes Above and Beyond"
Diane goes above and beyond to accommodate us.
Thank you.
John and Samantha D.
Add a commentMy Trip to the Med on Holland America Lines msRotterdam
Posted by Diane from All-Travel.com
I recently returned from a cruise on the Rotterdam. Our non-stop flight actually arrived in Venice 20 minutes early; unfortunately it took 45 minutes for our luggage to make an appearance. I had arranged for a private transfer from the airport to the hotel through IC Bellagio and it was worth every euro. Their service was outstanding, and for three seniors with luggage for a cruise it was a godsend. We spent a night at Locanda Vivaldi. It's a lovely, small hotel, on the grand canal, close enough to be convenient but a block or two away from St Marks Square so it's not so congested and noisy. They have a very complete buffet breakfast that's included in the rate. We arranged a private transfer through the hotel to the cruise ship the next day and that worked out very well also.
Once on board, I was impressed with the use of space, both in the cabin and the bathroom. Even with three of us, there was plenty of drawer and closet space. That's the good news. Our toilet wasn't working and it took four hours to get someone to come and fix it. I soon found out there were others a lot worse off than us, going several days without any bathroom facilities. Apparently there was an entire section of the ship that had problems.
The itinerary was one of the main reasons this sailing appealed to me; port intensive and interesting ports. We went from Venice to Dubrovnik (loved it; worth a return trip), to Valletta to Messina to Rome (overcrowded everywhere we went) to Monaco, then on to Barcelona, Valencia and ending in Lisbon. We took Holland America Line shore excursions in several places and found them to be a mixed bag. Rome and Valencia were particularly bad; Monaco and Barcelona were both excellent. In Lisbon we arranged a car and driver through the hotel concierge and he was marvelous. We spent a night at the Le Meridien Park Atlantic Lisboa; beautiful, very modern hotel. It was well located, and is right next door to the Ritz Four Seasons.
Food was excellent on board, including the buffet on Lido deck. The one weak spot was the morning we had breakfast in the dining room.
Overall my experience with Holland America was very good, with a few concerns for this particular sailing and ship. The level of customer service from the front desk was very uneven. One young girl looked terrified every time someone came up to her. Granted, there were numerous physical problems, mostly concerning bathroom problems that lasted for several days in some areas of the ship, and that's a lot for the front desk to handle. My general impression, standing in line and listening, was that people didn't feel like anyone was really trying to help them, and that's not good. You could tell people were very frustrated. Too often the response was that the ship had to contact Seattle and there were communications problems there because of bad weather. Once our plumbing problem was resolved there were no problems with our cabin. That being said, I would have loved to stay on board and continue on to South America!
For more information on Holland America Line sailings to the Mediterranean visit www.all-travel.com/hollandamericaline or call Diane at 800-300-4567.
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