Testimonials

My connection with Brenda Punchak at Cruise Time/HoneymoonsAndDestionationWeddings.com began years ago while I was an agent with Starwood. Her knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm about travel were contagious and through our phone communication, we developed a professional & personal friendship. Because of her personableness & credibility, I instantly thought to consult her when my best friend & I, at a 25-year old crossroads, decided to take a trip of a lifetime. Brenda knew the perfect trip for us & booked us on a 14-day Mediterranean cruise on the Golden Princess preceded by a 2-week backpacking journey through Western Europe. It was the best month of our lives! Best friends backpacking Europe & gluttonizing for any adventure on our first cruise ship. Not only did Brenda facilitate an amazing travel experience for us, she was largely instrumental in my life journey. Because of our incredible experience on our cruise and specifically with Princess Cruises, I ultimately joined Princess as a Guest Entertainer & have now been performing on cruise ships for the last decade. And best of all, I met my husband while performing on none other than the ship that started it all – the Golden Princess. I’m blessed to know Brenda & have her fill so many roles in my life – my travel agent, my host agent, my mentor, and my friend. And I place my full trust in her with my friends’ & family’s travel arrangements as well.

– Rebekah Law Steenkamp
Salt Lake City, UT

We worked with Brenda to book our “Dream” wedding! She met with us in person to give us details regarding several opportunities and then showed us a brochure of Dreams Palm Beach in Punta Cana DR. We absolutely fell in love with the pictures and soon we were convincing family and friends to join us on this exciting wedding vacation. Brenda was easy to work with and helped us through date changes and guest changes. We were told everything would be taken care of as soon as we hit the ground. Travel Reps were located every where to guide us to our transportation and once we arrived at the resort it was pure heaven!! I was a little on edge to leave my wallet and everything in the room but by dinner time I never wanted to see my wallet or my cell phone again!! The trip was relaxing for our entire party and the wedding was beyond our expectations… no stress, every detail was taken care of! The staff was pleasant and helpful the entire week and the resort staff blew us away with their energy and ability to remember guests names and the reason why we were vacationing. Every one was greeted as family and we will most definitely be back! Brenda stayed in constant communication with us and it was nice to have someone so commited to Guest Satisfaction. We look forward to booking with her again! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!! Completely recommend the Destination Wedding it is SOOO worth it!!

– Travis and Stephanie Baker 11/26/11
Dreams Palm Beach, Punta Cana

Hi Brenda, My husband and I have been clients of Cruise Time/HoneymoonAndDestinationWeddings.com for the past several years so when we decided to plan our 2010 cruise wedding we knew that Brenda was the only one to help us! From booking all of our guests and taking care of all of their questions and concerns to our wonderful reception on board Caribbean Princess Brenda took care of all the important details. The whole process could not have been any easier and everything was just perfect. We can’t believe we were able to sit back relax and not worry about a thing. To our surprise Brenda was even able to get us upgraded to a penthouse suite for the full two weeks of our wedding/honeymoon cruise, the room was incredible! We can’t begin to thank Brenda enough for how wonderful everything turned out and would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone we know, in fact one of our relatives is in the process of planning her own wedding cruise with Brenda after attending ours J Thank you for making our wedding a day we will never forget!

– Nicole & Austin Scaccia Feb. 22, 2010

Hi Brenda, Just a quick note to say hello and THANK YOU so much!!!!! We are having a fantastic time!!!! Everyone is having a wonderful time. When we cruise again it will definitely be with Princess. The suite is gorgeous, the services are wonderful, and the wedding was perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will send you a picture when I return. Thank you for the champagne and the strawberries. They were a wonderful surprise.
Sincerely,

– Valerie Ginyard 😉
Caribben Princess – 9/20/2006

Hey Brenda,I wanted to thank you sooooo much for all the help you gave me with my mother’s wedding cruise. I would have been lost without you! Your suggestions from which cruise line to take, to what wedding planner to use really made a difference. I will be suggesting your services to everyone I know.

– Soroya

Hi, Brenda,We had a WONDERFUL time. The weather was perfect on every day, except the day we were in St. Maarten. We loved the mini-suite. My husband is 6’3″, so it was nice to have extra space. This was his first cruise with a balcony and he truly enjoyed it. He is one who loves to watch the sun rise and set. It doesn’t get much better than being able to watch from your bed! The wedding was simply beautiful. Believe it or not, my hubby cried. He said that it reminded him of how blessed he was to be with me. Isn’t that sweet? I asked him what he wanted to buy because I felt like he was buttering me up for something. :-)I am so glad you recommended flying down one day earlier. We met another couple who was also with Valerie’s group, so the four of us hung out together. It was really nice.I am not sure if we talked after the trip I took with my mother, but we really enjoyed that one as well. All of our accommodations were great. You did a superb job putting that trip together–especially arranging the direct flights for each location. We will be certain to stay in touch. Thanks again for everything.

– Lynn (10/27/2006)

Aruba Honeymoon: Just Perfect
Aruba is a magnificent island, and my husband and I were extremely pleased with Brenda’s recommendation for the perfect place for our honeymoon. The white sands and warm weather coupled with the friendly greetings at the Bucuti & Tara Beach resorts made the ideal, romantic place for a special time that will never be forgotten. Brenda did a great job with booking us a suite that over looked the ocean. Not only did the spacious room have beautiful views of sunrises and sunsets, but also it was chic clean and staffed by individuals who were professional and caring. No details were overlooked by Brenda, making our honeymoon worry free and memory filled. We would go back in a heartbeat!
Thanks Again,

– Jenn and Ben Stover

Brenda was fabulous in planning our Bermuda wedding! We sailed out of Newark on Royal Caribbean and docked in Bermuda for two days. It was a great choice for our family, since we are from the Philly/Allentown Pa area, as it was drivable and no one had to fly. Brenda’s suggestion for using the 5 day cruise to get to Bermuda was a great value for everyone to be able to go, since food and entertainment is included when cruising!!

The wedding was beautiful, with gorgeous flowers and a stunning beach scene. She selected a wonderful pastor to marry us, as well as transportation for everyone attending. Brenda really carefully selects her vendors and works with the best! Everyone thinks destination weddings are expensive, when really they are substantially less than a traditional wedding. And what great memories you have in a tropical locale. Every detail of our wedding was taken care of flawlessly and we didn’t have a thing to worry about, making for a happy stress-free day! I wouldn’t have done it any other way! 🙂

-Rob & Alicia Kingston
9/9/08

Hi Brenda,

The Riu Ocho Rios is amazingly gorgeous!!! Everything about the resort was perfect.
The wedding was fabulous – we had wonderful weather (but a TON of wind!). It’s a vacation we will never forget. I appreciate your help with everything – we really did have a fantastic trip! I’m attaching a few pictures for you!

Thanks,

– Heidi & Reggie

Brenda,

We would like to thank you for all of your help in making our special day just that. We appreciate you pulling everything together even when they seemd to be falling apart. It was so very important to us to have Aaron’s father as a part of the events. We are currently at the Sunpree in Montego Bay for our honeymoon. We will be sure to send pictures when we make it back home. Thanks again for everything! The whole day was perfect!!

– Tina and Aaron

First time Jamaican Trip (Honeymoon)
Wanting to go to Jamaica for the first time we could not decide on the hotel. After weeks of unsuccessful searching we contacted HoneymoonAndDestinationWeddings.com.
Brenda put together the best trip ever! We told Brenda what we where looking for and she provided all the feedback and took care of all the detailed reservations. The Iberostar Grand hotel was recommended, the hotel and amenities surpassed any of our expectations. We received a room upgrade upon arrival. I believe we got the upgrade because Brenda works closely with the hotel checking on details. It was everything Brenda said it would be and more. Relaxing, beautiful, and worry free. We were treated like royalty, with out a doubt we will go back to Iberostar in Jamaica and we will use HoneymoonAndDestinationWeddings.com for any trip in the future.

Thanks again Brenda and Rich

– Craig and MarryAnn 7/19/2009

My husband and I contacted Brenda at Cruise Time to find a relaxing, all-inclusive, vacation spot on the beach for us to celebrate our first time away alone together for almost a decade. She suggested the Secrets Maroma Beach Resort in Mexico, an upscale, all-inclusive, adults-only resort, and it was an absolutely wonderful choice. Brenda recommended that we consider the Preferred Option, which enabled us to have an ocean-front room with a spectacular view and access to a members only bar and lounge area to enjoy premium drinks and appetizers throughout the day. With Preferred Status, we also had unlimited use of the water circuit at the spa which included access to a sauna, steam room, and a variety of whirlpools to relax and unwind. The resort has 7 restaurants, so there is much variety to choose from, and the food was wonderful overall. We enjoyed sampling some foods and drinks that we ordinarily may not have tried had we been staying at a resort that was not all-inclusive. We loved that there were no reservations required so we could dine whenever we decided we were hungry. We also took frequent advantage of 24-hour room service, which included a nice range of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack selections. A little box, similar to a dumb waiter, is built into the wall so that the staff simply drops off your order without needing to come into the room. Food always arrived at the proper temperature which was a definite plus. The thing that struck us the most about the property was the friendliness of the staff. The service is impeccable and the staff always had a friendly smile and the familiar “It’s My Pleasure” answer that makes you happy that you chose to spend your dollars with them. Each building has a concierge (ours was Roberto) that goes out of his or her way to ensure you have everything you want. They always greet you with a friendly “Hola” and always address you by name! The beach is fabulous with pure white powdery sand, the accommodations lovely, and the experience totally relaxing. Typically we try new vacation spots each time we go away, but Secrets Maroma Beach is one we would definitely consider visiting again. Brenda helped us pick a winner and with her expert help, all details of our trip were artfully arranged and went off without a hitch.

– Bernie & Carey Ackerman, 6.27.13

Just wanted to let you know how our honeymoon went…

The flight was nice, it was cool to jump the line and walk straight to the counter for check in. We didn’t like sitting in the first row on the plane, but we managed. First on, first off… Not too bad.

We arrived in Mexico and followed the instructions to find our shuttle. Wasn’t too difficult, just had to wade through the sea of people trying to get us to buy things.

Upon arrival at the hotel, we were taken by gold cart to the “preferred lounge”. We were given champaign during check in and everyone was VERY nice. We waited for our concierge who escorted us to our room… AND WHAT A ROOM!!! Beautiful beach front honeymoon suite!! It was everything we expected, hoped for, and more!! Room service without disruptions, maid service while we were out of the room, turn down service while we were at dinner, they heat up the whirlpool on the balcony with the turn down service nightly… Everything was first class!

Our concierge was amazing. He paid attention to every detail. The Spa was UNBELIEVABLE!! We upgraded our 25 minute couples massage to a 50 minute Swedish massage and I still feel loose. The sauna, steam room, and hydrotherapy pool were to die for! The restaurants were all very good. The French restaurant was especially good. We did 2 dinners on the beach because we couldn’t decide on a menu. The weather was awesome while we were there as well.

We took 3 excursions… Tulum (Mayan ruins), Xel-Ha, and Snorkeling Adventure. All were very good.

We really had an amazing honeymoon. Thank you very much for helping us to put it together. Everything worked out wonderfully!!

– Mike and Melissa Lienert,
Secret’s Maroma, 6.23.13

Brenda is wonderful! So knowledgable, professional, and sweet. She went above and beyond to make sure our trip was perfect. We will definitely use honeymoon and destination weddings for all our future vacations.

– Danielle Gallo,
June 2013, Couples Negril