Testimonials

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Tore Eikvar

Ulla: I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful job you did on my Eikvar and family trip to Norway. Everything went well for them and they really enjoyed it.
Anyway thanks again for all you work. Charlotte
2012-06-19

Catherine Stringham

Hello Berniece,



How are you? I had a long talk with Catherine Stringham today…... they had a fabulous trip! All went well and they are very very happy. Thank you for making me look good. You work hard on that one and you deserve all the credit. I promise my next request will be easier.

Have a lovely summer.

Fondly,



Murielle





Murielle Blanchard

Black Pearl Luxury Services

515 South 700 East

Suite 1B

Salt Lake City UT 84102
2012-06-03

Ridley William

Dear Ulla,
We are now back home and picking up the pieces after a very successful trip.
Bill and I would like to thank you for providing for us a very happy trip, and more importantly, a hassle free trip with regard to guides, drivers, bookings and hotels etc.. We were very happy with it all and would happily recommend our exact program, and yourself, to any friends contemplating something similar.
The guides provided for us in each city were perhaps to us, the most successful part as they were all lovely, (all female), all very pleasant, intelligent,knowledgeable, enthusiastic, efficient, and all spoke excellent English, which for us in terms of making the most of the experience, was all important, and a relief. We would recommend them all and hope you will not mind relaying this to each agency on our behalf - I only wish I had the proper details to enable me to do it personally - they do deserve to have their employers know just how we very much liked each of them, but also just how capable and pleasant they each were - work for them obviously is very important, and very competitive, and, for people such as ourselves we need to have the good ones to guide us.
We had little to do with most of the drivers due to the fact that the guides had that all in hand - they all were very polite, though few understood allot of English, and this would have made it frustrating had it not been for the guides, I would suggest perhaps a waste of time if you are not able to converse - we did get so much more from our visits due to the fact that the guides were so good.
Our driver in St.Petersburg we believe was the owner of the business and he was particularly good.
The exception was our driver from Tallinn to Riga and then he drove us to Vilnius - His name was Yanis and he was such a very pleasant and helpful fellow and a very good driver - his English was good enough, however perhaps not as a full guide - we were very relieved to have him and would like to recommend him fully.
Our hotels were good thank you Ulla - they did vary - some better than others but then not as conveniently situated perhaps
The hotels in Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius and Oslo were all good and well situated.
Our hotels in Moscow and St Petersburg were good, just further away from the heart of it all- and, really the only places to see on a small time frame.
The trip on the Hurtigruten was very enjoyable and the Finnmarken and our particular cabin quite a treat - large and comfortable with its own balcony - the double doors and extra large window adjacent to the comfortable bed made viewing excellent - along with the lounge and table and chairs and etcs that went with it. I believe the two newer ships do not have these 14 odd cabins(starboard and port in total) with their own private balcony - in this price bracket, however it was all we could have needed and really worth going upmarket a little - not sure how you would justify the really top priced ones after what we were able to enjoy.
The food was particularly good - sittings just a little rushed at dinner unfortunately when you are fortunate to have the super company we did enjoy. Due to the standard of our cabin we did also enjoy a lovely table on the window - all things we would recommend to our friends if they are willing to spend a little extra - we certainly felt we would not have been anywhere near as happy with the trip if it had not been for the comfort factor of our cabin.
The boat trip for us was used also as a wind-down to the days previously, and I do feel people need to be aware that the ports of call, whilst interesting, in the main do not offer allot of the "wow" factor. The sights along the way are really what it is all about and we did so enjoy it all - certainly perhaps one of the main memories for us will be the entry into the fiord mouth of the Trollfiord? where the boat progress through a narrow fiord and then turns in its own space and goes back out again - quite something!
We were blessed with perfect weather when getting off - particularly to the North Cape which would be hairy in bad weather - and even had snow a few evening which put such a pretty face to the mountains - are real bonus we felt.
So Ulla, this is just for your information more than anything and again to say our thanks for putting this trip together for us. As we do not know your employer, could we ask/insist that you show them a copy of our letter as and indication of our thanks for your help and for the success of all you were able to put together on our behalf - as with the guides above mentioned, we will be very happy to recommend you to anyone interested in following our holiday.
Thank you very much once again for the time and effort you put in to making our trip such a happy and successful time, and memory, for us. We have travelled fairly widely now and do know what we do and do not like, and on this our first fully guided tour - not completely of our doing, we were both anxious about it all - the end results meeting all of our hopes and expectations - the weather and our health conditions simply a wonderful bonus no one can do anything about!!

With our warmest regards
Robyn & Bill Ridley
2012-05-25

Lester Tong

Hi, Berniece - just a little note to let you know that our trip was a success and that we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Iceland... We arrived in Reykjavik on a windy, rainy day, but we braved the rain to walk Reykjavik's downtown area to Hallsgrimkirkja. We arrived in Akureyri and were met by our guide, who gave us just a wonderful tour out to Lake Myvatn. She showed us just about every major site along the route... Our stay at the Sel Hotel was extremely pleasant and our host and staff were very helpful. We were extremely fortunate to arrive on a fairly clear day and were pleasantly granted the spectacular view of the Northern Lights on our first night. We were able to ride Icelandic horses near Husavik (and took in a glimpse of the Arctic Circle about 35 km off to the horizon) and visit the Dettifoss. The only possible glitch was the cancellation of our return flight to Reykjavik until the following morning. No problems as we were taken care of at the Icelandair Hotel in Akureyri (a simple transfer of billing) plus a night in the town of Akureyri... All in all we enjoyed a great trip [thankful to see the Lights]....

Thanks,
Les and Deborah
2012-02-05

John Kenney

Dear Berniece & Jane-Hello to both of you post-Ice Hotel adventure. First of all, our thanks to you for so expertly advising us on what to take and how to arrange things. Thanks to you, we were completely comfortable and had only to enjoy it all. Wanted to give a few specifics, FYI.

The suggestion of first & last nights in Stockholm was a good one; though flights over were short & easy, it was helpful to catch our breaths before beginning our adventure. The afternoon we arrived in Stockholm was sleeting so we only went a short way into the old town center--slippery going--and had late lunch and looked around. We made a reservation while in Stockholm for dinner the following Saturday night on our way back through, and wanted to mention the restaurant, which was terrific and a perfect finale for the trip. (Had read about this restaurant in magazines here.) It is called F12 (address = 12 Fredgastan) and it is in the Royal Academy of Arts. Hip design, staff, clientele, and food!

Flying into Kiruna, the view from the plane was a great introduction: solid white from the air. Checked into our warm chalet, # 1 (we would expect no less!) which was especially conveniently located on the end. Immediately went over to the Ice Hotel. WAY, WAY beyond our expectations!!! The 2011-2012 art & design book will be available in about a month & we have pre-ordered since it will show our very art suite. Immediately to the Ice Bar for a ruby-colored lingonberry & vodka (know you've done all this twice, Berneice. . .). Getting used to fact that we could only see partial faces of our fellow travelers since we were all so bundled up. Perfect, eerie Scandinavian chill out music, too.

GREAT suggestion, Berneice, to book double accommodations for the cold night, and to do the cold night on the second night of our stay. Not because we needed to flee the cold in middle of the night, but it gave us a place to be--our warm chalet--until 11 PM, when we went over for our sleeping bags. We requested the Frozen Love art suite because it was an Egyptian motif, with female figures and a huge carved ice lotus blossom, and we had so recently (months before the revolution) seen those same motifs in the Valley of the Kings and elsewhere in Egypt. Easily made it through the night, and even slept. Advice from you about what to wear: again perfect. The experience in the quiet night was other worldly.

Will briefly mention the only activity we--and others--did not like: the horseback ride into the moose-grazing fields. I would not recommend this to anyone. The woman who owned the stables had a lot of 'tude, let us say. She definitely would rather not fool with tourists, and would vastly prefer not to have them in her way. Beyond that, it was misconceived. More time spent on long drive to & from stables, grooming & tacking up the horses (which no one thought should be included on what is a one-off activity for tourists); then a boring trail ride, and she mismanaged the time--we were back almost 2 hrs. late. NOT fun. We mentioned this on the evaluation at departure. We won't be back anyway, and if we can save some of your future clients, that was the general feeling--not just us.

Onward to the super fantastic activities: first & foremost the reindeer sledge ride was unbelievable. There were 6 of us: 2 women in their 50s, barristers from London, and a young couple. None of us had understood exactly what the sledge ride around the track consisted of. We all had thought SLEIGH, as in Santa's, and we would be sitting where the bags of toys are, while someone in Santa's seat drove us around, with reindeer plural pulling the sleigh. NO! As you know, Berniece, it was a small wooden sled w/out sides (this is for your benefit, Jane), with reindeer pelt attached on back third and a rope stretched across horizontally with about 2" of give--rope attached to sled. The idea was to kneel on the pelt, sit back on your heels, hold onto that rope with the right hand, and as you fly past the Saami guide, he tosses another rope/rein for the left hand with which to "whip" the reindeer's rear and urge him on around a track @ 20-25 MPH, we estimated. Far & away the most daring thing I've done @ any age! (My younger brother, upon hearing this, said, "Melinda, we've never seen this coming with you!") Exciting, exhilarating, and none of us would have done it had we known Thrilling! Will dine out on this indefinitely! A must-do activity.

The dog sled excursion was something everyone in this group had wanted to do forever and it didn't disappoint. The glacial-blue eyes of the dogs, their eagerness to run, the throaty barking until the musher gave the command @ which there was complete concentration and silence. We have great photos of this, the campfire in the wilderness camp, and so on. Again, a must-do, and probably the most popular activity, from what we could tell.

The food @ the Ice Hotel was outstanding, and the chef was charming. We rearranged our schedule slightly and added a third night with the Ice Menu with accompanying wines, which I would recommend--the ice bowls and serving plates were a tour de force.

We returned late Sunday; by Monday I had ordered books on Saami culture (apparently Renee Zellweger is of Saami ancestry, BTW), another re a year spent with reindeer herders by a young westerner, 2 books on huskies and dog teams, and one on Swedish Christmas. All fascinating.

I hope this email is accomplishing what I would better communicate in person: ENORMOUS enthusiasm, pleasure that we had all the clothing and advance preparation for making the most of the trip, and excitement that we could have this kind of unique adventure even at ages 64 & 67. (Glad, too, that we went sooner, rather than later. It is physically demanding--just walking around with the extra weight of those jumpsuits and boots). In a travel year that has seen us in a tiger cage and bareback on elephants in Thailand in November and on a dog sled and reindeer-pulled sledge, this trip to the Ice Hotel was in a category of its own.

Huge thanks to both of you! Melinda for both of us.

PS- Meant to mention how friendly, professional, and fun we found the Ice Hotel staff to be. Couldn't have been more eager to make sure everyone was having a great time. And that is the most happy people we've ever seen at a single destination--the clients. What not to like?

Second, in case you are curious about the chill out music and want to check it out on iTunes, it was called "techno-trance" music (!), and our favorite--though think it's best heard under the influence of a vividly-colored vodka drink in an ice tumbler in the Ice Bar--was the song "Sandstorm" by Darude, a Finn. Just spreading the word. . .











2012-01-15

Victoria Elsberg

Dear Berniece,
I can't begin to thank you enough for arranging a fabulous family vacation. Can you imagine 4 teens totally engaged? There are too many highlights to mention but perhaps you might like to know what worked best for our family.
Fron Hotel, location, suites & most of all Hulda at the front desk who went out of her way to supply us with extra cooking utensils to make the dinners we prepared in the hotel possible.
If I were you I would not book Iceland Excursions for the Northern Lights Mystery Tour. Anyone seriously interested in seeing the Northern lights should not be driven to a peninsula near a lighthouse & then to the well light Blue Lagoon parking lot to see The Northern Lights. I might engage a taxi or the Super Jeep tour operator who took us out on December 30th. By the way the kids loved the fact that we were the only ones on the Super Jeep.
The IT Reykjavik excursions Saga Circle Tour was enjoyed by all. The guide was terrific.
On other days, left on our own or when tour was cancelled we enjoyed The National Museum & The Pearl.
Please let me know where I might write a review of your excellent services. Loved all of our interactions. Loved doing business with you.
Vicky Elsberg
2011-12-22

Vanessa Darling

Hi Agneta,

I hope you’re doing well.

I still haven’t talked to any of my travelers yet, but John Van Auken, our tour leader, was absolutely ecstatic about the whole trip. According to him, the tour director and bus driver were outstanding, and the hotels very nice as well. I think he was really surprised about just about everything, how wonderful the country and the people were…

I will send you some feedback after I receive my travelers’ evaluations, but I thought you should know his first impressions.

Thanks again for helping me making this possible.

My best,

Vanessa

2011-09-18

Connie Hammermeister

Berniece,

Where to begin in describing our trip----first of all there aren't enough superlatives to detail all that we saw and experienced! The itinerary that you prepared for us was just perfect--enough time in each place, fabulous hotels, perfect cities and areas to visit, and all of the different modes of transportation worked out so well for us. I know you weren't in charge of the weather, too, but even that was quite good!! We had a cloudy, misty spell during our fjord visits, but the scenery was so magnificent that it didn't matter. You were spot on regarding the need for a driver and guide in St. Petersburg - Elena was terrific and we saw and learned so much!

Thank you so very much for all that you did to make our trip so memorable!
2011-09-14
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