Blog Posts Tagged Planning

What’s Actually Included with Your Stay at Sandals All-Inclusive Resorts?

1/21/2025 • Blog, Sandals & Beaches, Tips • What’s Actually Included with Your Stay at Sandals All-Inclusive Resort? The term all-inclusive gets used a lot in the world of vacationing, but it doesn’t always mean what you might expect. Many resorts advertise themselves as all-inclusive, yet leave out important details—something I’ve personally discovered through my own travels. To help you avoid any surprises, I like to provide clear and honest information about what you can truly expect. One of the most common questions I receive is: “What exactly is included at Sandals?” To make it easy, I’ve put together this quick and helpful guide: ________________________________________ 1. Luxurious Accommodations 🏨 • Elegantly designed rooms and suites with stunning views. • Select suites feature personal butler service for an elevated experience. 2. Gourmet Dining 🍽️ • Multiple gourmet restaurants offering diverse, international cuisines. • 24-hour room service available in select accommodations. • Unlimited fine dining—no reservations required at most restaurants! […]

Virgin Voyages – Splash for Your Bash Package

1/7/2025 • Blog, Cruises • Virgin Voyages offers many unique experiences for your adult cruise adventure - and one that is a VERY fun add is Splash for Your Bash! A $250 pre-voyage add-on to your voyage (valued at $375), this package includes many perks! Complimentary Moet was delivered to our room! We did not request - it was a surprise delivery from our room steward when they saw we were back! We were contacted prior to our trip by Sailor Services to select our brunch date/time and curated dinner date/time. We already had our dining reservations made, so it was simply to coordinate that we were given our celebration options! Dinner was at Test Kitchen - as dinner promises beverage pairings with each course, and specialty dessert - we were excited to experience this with Test Kitchen to maximize our Bash offerings! Test Kitchen is a multi course, experimental dining experience - so each […]

Virgin Voyages Quick Tips!

12/31/2024 • Blog, Cruises • Whether this is your first Virgin Voyage, or you’re an experienced sailor, these helpful tips will make your voyage that much smoother! Forgot to add a Bar Tab? Want to add more Bar Tab to your account? Great news! You will still be able to add Bar Tab while at the port! Before you board the ship, visit any desk with a Bar Tab sign (like below), to add Bar Tab to your voyage. Bar Tabs are great ways to pre-pay your drinks (alcoholic drinks, specialty coffees, juices, and non-alcoholic specialty drinks). Sometimes, bonus Bar Tab is offered with that purchase. Remember - Bar Tabs cannot be purchased onboard! Want to reserve a pool lounge chair? You can! But if your belongings are abandoned for more than 40 min, personal items (not belonging to VV) will be taken to Lost and Found. Any pool attendant can direct you! Forget to […]

How Does Sandals St. Vincent Compare to the Other Sandals Resorts?

11/26/2024 • Blog, Reviews, Sandals & Beaches • Having explored every Sandals and Beaches All-Inclusive Resort in the portfolio, I’m often asked how the newest resort in St. Vincent stacks up against the rest. I am thrilled to share that “Sandals 2.0” is a refreshing evolution of a beloved Caribbean brand. With the launch of Sandals Royal Curacao, Sandals Dunns River, and the most recent gem of Sandals St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the excitement was palpable. After falling head over heels for Sandals Dunn’s River Resort, which dethroned my long-time favorite of Sandals South Coast, my expectations for this new resort were sky-high! From the moment I arrived, the property itself captivated me. The breathtaking landscape is unlike anything else in the Sandals collection. I must have snapped over 200 photos of the stunning emerald mountains that cradle the resort alone! The way the sunlight danced across the scenery seemed to change by the minute, making it […]

Living the Suite Life on Royal Caribbean

11/19/2024 • Blog, Cruises • Have you ever sat on the bed inside your cruise cabin and thought “more space sure would be nice”? Well, it is possible, and it’s not that far out of reach when you sail with Royal Caribbean! My “kids” are both taller than me now, so we take up more space than in previous years. When planning our latest cruise, we knew space would be an issue, so I started comparing our normal cabins with different suite options and was surprised at how affordable a suite would be for us. Royal Caribbean has 3 different Royal Suite Classes - Sea, Sky and Star Class, and they vary by ship, so be sure to match what class and amenities you want with your ship when talking with your Me and The Mouse travel specialist. My family cruised on Allure of the Seas in a 2-bedroom Grand Suite, which is a Sky […]

Tipping at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando

11/11/2024 • Blog, Universal Studios, Walt Disney World • There are so many people on a Walt Disney World vacation that add to the magical feeling of your vacation that it’s easy to get confused on who to tip and how much is appropriate to thank them for helping you out so here’s a list of people to thank and general ranges for appropriate amounts to help answer your questions. Transportation Once you arrive in Orlando, if you are not renting a car, as many people don’t, you need to get to your resort and may have a rideshare driver, a shuttle service, or a private car driver. Rideshare apps will give you some options for tipping, usually 15-25%. Shuttle service drivers are usually tipped for handling your baggage – usually $1-3 per bag. Lastly, private drivers should be tipped between 15-25% of your ride fare of which some companies will charge an amount in advance. Bring along cash […]

Resort Spotlight: Disneyland Hotel

10/8/2024 • Blog, Disneyland • If you are looking for a magical room at Disneyland for your next resort stay, then look no further than the Disneyland Hotel. With nostalgic flair and touches of pixie dust inside your room and throughout the resort, this hotel pays tribute to the classic years of Disneyland while providing modern, state-of-the-art amenities that guests will want to return to trip after trip. Rooms Disneyland offers multiple styles of room for all sizes of families. In the Frontier, Fantasy, and Adventure Towers, rooms feature 1 King Bed or 2 Queen Beds or 2 Queen Beds and 1 Day Bed with views of the Pool, Parking Lot, Trees, or the Downtown Disney District. The beds themselves feature Sleeping Beauty’s Castle fireworks headboards and play a sweet lullaby to encourage dreams of Neverland. Looking for concierge service? Try a Club Level room that has access to the E-Ticket Club Room where you […]

Experiencing Europe on Virgin Voyages

10/1/2024 • Cruises • We have cruised Europe on a few different cruise lines, both river and ocean. We just returned from Virgin Voyages English Sights & European Delights out of Portsmouth, UK with stops to La Coruna, Spain, Bilbao, Spain, and Le Verdon, France. It was a very relaxing and easy itinerary since we were able to walk off the ship and walk the towns of La Coruna and Bilbao without needing an excursion. Portsmouth, UK This is a very easy port for both embarkation and disembarkation. Taking advantage of a pre-night stay as an add-on to our cruise fare also made it seamless. The city is filled with history and is easy to walk from the Marriott hotel to many dining options. La Coruna, Spain Such a charming city and an easy walk from the ship. This historical port city dates to the Roman times and the city is lined with outdoor […]

12 EPCOT Photo Locations You Need to Visit!

8/28/2024 • Blog, Tips, Walt Disney World • 12 EPCOT Photo Locations You Need to Visit! EPCOT is full of amazing locations to capture fantastic memories for your family photo album or your social media accounts. While some are easy to identify, like Spaceship Earth, there are many hidden gems throughout the park that make spectacular backdrops for your vacation photos.   Checkout these 12 photo spots on your next visit to Epcot! 1.  Spaceship Earth -   The icon of this park, Spaceship Earth can be seen and photographed in various locations in the park due to its size (It's 180 feet tall!!).  With themed garden beds as you enter the park, this always makes this location a "must do" on any visit to Epcot.  Plan to get pictures both during the day and night as it twinkles and changes colors at night. 2.  Bubble Gum Wall (#bubblegumwall) - This location continues to be a trend for park goers and their photos! […]

Choosing the Best Time to Visit: Experiencing the Four Seasons of the Disneyland Resort!

8/13/2024 • Blog, Disneyland, Holidays & Events • The Disneyland Resort has so much to see and do throughout the year, and Southern California weather is always ready to welcome you! Whether you want to escape the cold temps at home, want to experience Disneyland's Food & Wine Festival, are looking for fun seasonal treats and attractions, or simply want to enjoy all the classic attractions of the parks after the big crowds have gone home, there is a season for you! SPRING (Mid-March – May 31) Crowd Levels: Spring is a wildly popular time to visit Disneyland. Spring Break crowds usually begin arriving around March 15 and remain fairly consistent through the end of April with a few weeks mixed in here and there with lighter crowds. Easter week, which falls in different weeks (and months) each year is often the busiest. May tends to be a good time to visit before the high temps hit and […]