With Travel Specialist Autumn Thurston

As the editor of our magazine for the past nine years, I’ve had the honor of sharing countless stories with our readers. I love being able to share my experiences with everyone, and this month’s story is particularly special. In April of 2023, the love of my life, Scotty Sudakis, asked me to marry him. After the initial flurry of butterflies settled, reality hit: I had to plan a wedding. But we were determined to keep it cool – you know, stress-free.

We decided pretty quickly that we wanted a destination wedding. Traveling is a passion we share so we knew we wanted to look out of town for inspiration. My mom, an avid cruiser, discovered a 6-day cruise out of Miami to Grand Cayman and Jamaica. With family ties to Miami and Grand Cayman, it seemed like the perfect fit for a fun celebration with our loved ones. Check, check, check!

About a week into planning our wedding around the cruise, I received an email from Autumn Thurston, who won a free ad for our magazine in a local silent auction. Autumn, a travel specialist with Cruise Planners, couldn’t have come into my life at a better time. We scheduled a call to talk and that’s when I found out her services are complimentary! Um, free? Yes! How?

Reasons to Hire a Destination Wedding Travel Agent

Autumn explained that travel agents earn commissions from travel suppliers, such as airlines, hotels, and tour operators, for booking travel arrangements on behalf of their clients. These commissions are built into the price of the travel products and are not an additional cost for the clients. They start by understanding clients’ needs, preferences, and budgets, then they will research destinations and activities to craft personalized itineraries for you! At no extra cost! They handle all bookings, provide expert recommendations, manage logistics like airport transfers, and offer assistance during travel for a stress-free experience. It’s really that simple.

Don’t let the Cruise Planners name fool you. Ocean and river cruises are just a small part of what agents like Autumn book. They are experts in vacation rentals, excursions and tours, rail vacations and vacation packages as well. With Cruise Planners, the nation’s largest homebased agency, Autumn can offer you exclusive deals and promotions. She’s honed her skills to not only seek out the beauty of the world herself but to curate those very experiences for you. From group travel – be it corporate retreats, family reunions or destination weddings – to personal getaways, she strives to ensure your travels are filled not only with excitement but also with a touch of care. All you have to do is pack.

Her credentials, accumulated through a love of learning and experience, range from being a Sandals Certified specialist to capturing the prized Commodore Status with Princess Cruises, including their Alaska program. Along with personal ship tours, hotel inspections, experiencing the brands, and becoming certified in her specialty areas, Autumn travels the world herself with her family to ensure first-hand knowledge and expertise.

Autumn was my secret weapon for the next year! She managed all our cruise guests, the hotel bookings for the wedding in Miami, secured two suites on a golf course for the bachelor party in Saint Petersburg and provided a list of cabins in Georgia for the bachelorette party. She helped me choose the hotel where our guests stayed in Miami and represented me when it came to signing the contracts, making sure I understood everything and was happy. Then she booked us a night to go down and meet with the hotel event director, stay in the hotel and enjoy lunch on them! That way we could see the venue in person and know it would be the right place. She thought of things that hadn’t even crossed my mind.

For the bachelor party, Scotty chartered a boat to go deep sea fishing, but needed to book somewhere to stay that night. I told him to email Autumn, so he did. He told her how many people were going, what city and gave her a budget. She responded back with three options for him to choose from with links to view each place and a breakdown of cost. He made his decision and booked it the same day.

I am the type of person who will spend hours upon hours researching where to go and what to do. Sometimes it’s fun and sometimes it’s really stressful. Like last spring break when I realized I hadn’t planned anything and I had one day to decide what we would do. I spent hours on every site, trying to find the best deals, and get the best rate. Not anymore.

Now, when I even start thinking about what I want to do, I let Autumn know. She is just as passionate about travel as we are and it shows. My kids want to see snow. That is what they asked for, so I let Autumn know we are looking to do a trip during a time the kids have off in the winter. She said, what about a train trip? My eyes lit up! Yes! I really want to take a multiday train trip, but I have never done that before and I don’t want to go into it blindly. She can easily make recommendations on where to go and compare the best deals. Plus she is always available to answer any questions or if a problem arises.

Fast forward a year and our first adventure is now complete. On April 12, 2024 I married my husband in a sunset ceremony surrounded by our closest friends and family in Miami. The next day he and I, along with 18 others of our family and friends boarded the Independence of the Seas for a 6-day Royal Caribbean cruise that none of us will ever forget.

Days were spent relaxing poolside, sipping watermelon margaritas, taking in the scenery and genuinely connecting with each other. Evenings were alive with laughter as we shared stories from the day, accompanied by the boat’s non-stop entertainment lineup, such as the Grease musical, the nightly movies under the stars and the casino to name a few. There was so much to do and everything was so accommodating.

My business partner, Kelsey, and her family coordinated with Autumn to gift us a digital photo package from Royal Caribbean as a wedding gift! Kelsey messaged me and said to order robes to our room and do a photo shoot with them. Of course we had to do it and it turned out amazing!

Our group, now known as the “Cruise Crew” was a mix of seasoned cruisers and first-timers, who all now have one thing in common. We all want to know where we are going on our next cruise.

Start planning your next trip with Autumn today. Scan the code to get started.

AUTUMN THURSTON
Independent Franchise Owner
Cruise Planners
Cell: (386) 506-2817 / Office: (386) 256-7252
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