Retrospective review for two holidays

My wife and I have experienced two great holidays with Adore and will definitely use them again.
In 2011 Andrew arranged our Alaskan holiday with a flight to Chicago where we were to make our own transfer arrangements both to our hotel & two days later to the Amtrak station - I have to admit I was a little concerned but really it was so simple & probably much quicker than if we had to look for anything arranged by others. Yes the hotel was basic, coffee maker, tv, etc. but perfectly acceptable for two nights & eating out for us is perfect & the diner adjacent to the hotel was absolutely incredible for breakfast. Because we carried out our own research on every step of the holiday there were no unpleasant surprises. We loved Chicago.
The two night Amtrak to Seattle was as expected, an unforgettable experience & great food & wine.
The Seattle hotel was of a good standard & again transfers were simple. The Sapphire Princess cruise was exceptional & everything was just as the brochure says - in fact so good was the food that we saw no need to use the "speciality" restaurants even for my birthday. Didn't want to leave the ship with the excellent crew & entertainment, but once again, even though we had just a 40 minute window to transfer in Houston things went exactly to plan & time & our luggage WAS at Heathrow after all the unnecessary concern we had.
Last November we set off from Southampton on the Grand Princess all arranged by Aamir for a two week cross Atlantic journey calling in at France, Spain,Portugal, The Azores & Bermuda before staying in Fort Lauderdale for five days. We enjoyed the cruise but then we always enjoy cruising (especially with Princess). Again we made our own transfers which is so simple in America & our hotel (the Best Western Oceanside) was superb for our short stay - it included breakfast & had a great pool & small bar. Fort Lauderdale was full of so many pleasant surprises - wouldn't have minded more time there.
Another Amtrak ( one night) to New York , but to be honest the track shook the train terribly & there seemed to be a road crossing every couple of minutes - they blow the whistle at every crossing even at night- a bit of fun I guess & the food was ok but we were glad to reach Penn Station & on to our hotel overlooking Central Park - lovely except we were a long way out (106) street & I can now believe Ian when he explains that most New York hotels are old & have small rooms. Our fault we did research but seemed to forget that we are both in our seventies & could have done with a hotel nearer to Time Square so we could have gone back for a refresh during our busy days without a taxi. New York was for me my first visit - amazing - yet completely different from any of the European cities we have visited.
We cruised back on the Queen Mary2 - what a beautiful ship! What terrible food & attitude by the waiters. This was our twenty third cruise & the first we have ever complained about food or staff ( our cabin steward was fine). Not Adores fault & as long as they keep their association with Princess we will keep looking.
Thanks Ian, Andrew & Aamir - I am sure we will be back.