As 2024 draws to a close, we want to take the time to recognize our favorite destinations, travel vendors, and more that we visited this past year.
Keep in mind that this list is based off of our experiences from 2024. These are picked from places and companies we have used in the past year.
So, this is not a list pitting all companies against each other, simply the ones that stood out to us among the experiences we had. The categories are all selected from things we experienced multiple of so as to give us plenty of experiences to choose from. Some were hard to decide, others were very easy depending on the experiences we had. With all that lined up, here is our best of 2024:
Best Airline: Southwest Airlines
We traveled on several different airlines this past year including Delta, American, United, and Southwest. In the end, this was an easy decision honestly.
Southwest took the cake in reliability, timeliness, customer service, price, and more for us in 2024.
Along with free bags, their number of domestic flights in the US led to more options and more affordable prices. Their only downfall is the lack of business class and assigned seating. The seating problem will be corrected in 2025.
We simply got more consistent and better service from Southwest Airlines in 2024. We never had any delays, cancellations, or issues while flying with them. This speaks volumes in today's air travel world.
Best Cruise Line: Virgin Voyages
Virgin Voyages is quickly becoming a cruiser favorite and it continues to impress us with their different takes on cruising, great customer service, and adults-only environment.
While other cruise lines have cheapened their product and watered down their food and amentities, Virgin Voyages is going the other direction. You get what you pay for with this cruise line and to top it off, it is completely kid free, which is a huge bonus for us.
Additionally, Virgin Voyages was the cruise line for our ChristmasNTheCaribbean group cruise and couldn't have given a better experience for our guests.
Best Hotel: La Concha Renaissance Resort
It's going to be hard for us to do a list like this and not name the La Concha as our favorite hotel if we've stayed there during the year.
Located in the Condado Beach area of San Juan, Puerto Rico, this hotel continues to be one of the best hotels we've ever stayed in time after time.
The customer service is amazing, the location perfect and convenient, and the pool facilities that are located right on the beach are impossible to beat. A day at the infinity pool overlooking the Caribbean Sea is the best way to kick-off vacation or spend a relaxing day.
Additionally, the rooms are super modern with very comfortable beds and great views.
If you go to San Juan, the La Concha Renaissance Resort is a must.
Best Trip: Mediterranean Cruise
This category is another easy one. We were fortunate to have a ton of travels in 2024 but nothing will beat our trip to Europe and our 7-Night Western Mediterranean cruise.
We started in Barcelona, Spain and boarded Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas. Our cruise took us to Palma de Mallorca (Spain), Marseille (France), La Spezia (Italy), Rome (Italy), and Naples (Italy).
The best way to see this part of the world is by cruise ship and it seemed like each port of call was better than the next. From the beautiful views to the wonderful cuisine and wines, this was a bucket list trip for us.
The highlights of this trip were Barcelona, which will make an appearance on this list, and the island of Capri.
Of all of our travels in 2024, this trip simply can't be touched.
Favorite Beach: Nellie's Beach (Labadee, Haiti)
This one was a source of debate among the CruiseNReview crew. We've been so fortunate to visit some beautiful beaches in 2024 but in the end we decided to go with the beach that ranked very highly in beauty and serenity but that we also had our best day on.
Nellie's Beach at Royal Caribbean's private destination of Labadee, Haiti is a secluded cove surrounded by green mountains. The water is extremely calm and being in the safety and ease of the cruise line's self-contained environment makes for a very relaxing beach day.
Royal Caribbean hasn't called on Labadee as much recently due to turmoil in Haiti but we were fortunate to be one of the first ships to visit there again in October of this year.
Every time I visit this beach, I'm reminded of the beauty and tranquility of this private paradise and it was enough to put this one over the edge as our favorite beach in 2024.
Close runner-ups were Carlisle Bay Beach in Barbados and Ffryes Beach in Antigua.
Best City: Barcelona, Spain
We mentioned that our Mediterranean cruise was our favorite trip of 2024. That cruise departed from Barcelona, Spain and we were fortunate to spend a couple of days here pre-cruise.
This city has it all. Beautiful scenery, vibrant culture and history, wonderful food, and friendly people.
It's clean and easy to get from place to place. There is no shortage of great restaurants where you can have a few plates of Tapas and glass of local white wine.
During our time in Barcelona we explored the city on foot and grabbed as many of the sights and bites as we good. You can walk down the La Rambla and have your pick of fresh markets, shops, bars, and restaurants until you reach the ocean at the end.
To top it off, just outside Barcelona is beautiful countryside that boasts splendid scenery like Montserrat and many wineries.
If it's not on your list of places to go, add Barcelona to your list. Trust me.
Best Cruise Embarkation Port: Port Canaveral, Florida
While we wanted to pick Barcelona as our favorite embarkation port, we decided to make this category more about ease of boarding, parking, transportation and location than the city it was in.
For us, Port Canaveral provided a great starting point for our cruise in October to the eastern Caribbean. Just a short drive from Orlando, flights are easy to get to this port and you can even spend a few days at Universal Studios or Disney World pre or post cruise.
Cocoa Beach is a great stop before or after your cruise if you want to get some extra beach time in during your vacation.
In terms of logistics, the port has plenty of parking, plenty of itineraries to choose from, and a great layout for boarding regardless of which terminal you embark from.
Best Port of Call: Perfect Day at CocoCay
This one was another great source of debate. We visited so many wonderful ports in 2024. We decided to make the criteria less about what we could do from the ports and more about the location, ease of access to transportation and activities, and overall look and feel of the port itself.
Most of the port areas in Europe were far from the actual activities and areas you wanted to visit, this made them lower on our list despite having some of our best adventures in European ports.
Perfect Day at CocoCay is Royal Caribbean's private island in The Bahamas. This port checks all of the boxes from safety to beauty. Since it's a private island, your ship drink packages and food are all included. It's easy on and off the ship and you can start enjoying your day quickly.
Royal Caribbean has completely overhauled this port and there is really nothing like it. You can have an amazing beach day, a high flying adventure, or spend the day in the pool overlooking the ocean.
We had one of our favorite port days ever at Hideaway Beach at CocoCay hanging out in the adults-only swimming pool that features a swim-up bar.
If you are looking for an amazing, relaxing, and easy port day, Perfect Day at CocoCay checks all the boxes.
Best Tour: Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii by Land and Sea
This tour we took during our Mediterranean cruise in June was simply one of the best ship sponsored excursions we've ever taken.
It started with a ferry ride to the island of Capri from Naples. Capri was one of our all-time favorite places due to the scenery and atmosphere.
From there, we took another ferry over to the cliff-side city of Sorrento. We explored the quaint city and had one of the best lunches at a local Italian restaurant.
Finally, we got to take in some real history by bussing over the ruins of Pompeii, which were destroyed while simultaneously being preserved by a volcanic eruption from Mount Vesuvius. If you like history, Pompeii should be on your bucket list.
This tour had everything and our guide was the absolute best. He made sure we had all the best views and spots to make for an amazing day.
This tour was booked through Royal Caribbean as a shore excursion and was probably the highlight of our cruise.
Favorite View: Garden of Capri
Frankly, I invented this category so I could take about the perfection that was the Garden of Capri. When I say it was perfection, ya'll, it was perfection.
The view was absolutely unbelievable and like something from a magazine. The garden had a distinct aroma from the flowers that grow there. It even SMELLED perfect.
It was one of those moments where I was moved to tears by what I was seeing. I felt like I had traveled the world looking for that exact place. It was a true bucket list moment. Audrey even bought of the perfume made from the flower in the garden so we could take a little bit of the atmosphere home with us.
I'll never forget this day in this place.
Favorite Restaurant: Topolino's Terrace (Walt Disney World)
What vacation is complete without a great restaurant and good food? We debated over these restaurants and in the end of the day decided that our best all around meal and experience was a Topolino's Terrace at Walt Disney World.
Located at the Riviera Resort near Epcot, this restaurant is on the top floor and features amazing views of the resort and Disney World while serving up awesome Italian cuisine.
The service is five star and the meal was one of the best I've ever had. I'm a notorious Disney skeptic so if I've put this on my list, you can trust it. Audrey booked this restaurant for us and it did not disappoint.
We recommend booking it near sunset because the terrace faces west and you can get a great sunset on clear days from your table.
It's a pricey, non-dining plan restaurant but it's worth it. Trust me.
Side note: The martini's at the bar here are worth the trip over.
Cheers to 2024 and on to 2025!
We were very fortunate to have plenty of travels to amazing destinations in 2024. Audrey and I try not to take for granted how fortunate we are to be able to make a list like this. The reason for this website and our travel agency is so we can share our love of travel and help you find the beauty in the world you've been looking for.
We believe travel is the silver bullet and adventure is better than the sofa.
If you'd like to work with us on booking your 2025 vacation and adventures, fill out this form and we will get with you soon to start planning.
Happy New Year from Blake, Audrey, and Norris Frog!
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