About Us

Are cruises the right vacation choice for you?  How will you know?  And where can you get the best cruise vacation deal?

Welcome to all of our visitors from Brian and Carol. We live in a small community in southwestern Ontario, Canada. My (Brian’s) background is in the construction industry having worked up the ranks from summer help through most positions in the business to having owned and operated a small construction company. Carol’s background is in the banking industry as a teller through to her current position as a Senior Manager in the Mortgage Administration Division.

My wife and I are basically “beach bums” when it comes to vacations. So much so that we just installed a pool last summer to keep the feel of the beach close to us. She likes to sun-bathe on the beach and take the occasional dip. I enjoy being on, in or around the water – constantly. We both grew up in families that had a cottage on a small inland lake.

We weren’t sure that vacation cruises would appeal to us. Don’t get me wrong. We do like to travel and see new and exciting places. But vacations to us mean fun-in-the-sun… warm sun.

When we were asked to accompany Carol’s parents on a cruise we at first were hesitant but soon pushed that feeling away and started to get excited about the coming experience.

The anticipation became a feeling of awe when we arrived at the cruise terminal. What a magnificent site to see the huge floating hotels waiting to leave port.

Upon entering the ship (the Carnival Legend) we were amazed at the décor (that was a number of years ago now). We wandered around in wonder until we got to our stateroom. Our stateroom had a balcony and was situated right on the stern of the ship.

This was to be a Caribbean cruise where one of the ports-of-call was St. Maarten which is still one of our favorite stops. The beaches there are fantastic and the people very friendly.

We went to a beach on every stop we made that trip. (Did I mention that we were beach bums?) Of course we did spent a little time site-seeing and shopping.

The food on board was great. There was always a large variety whether you chose the dining room, the buffet or the pizzeria (which was open 24 hours a day :-)).

The service on board was great. Friendly and attentive staff looked after our every need and desire.

And having a balcony for a little private time to sip fine wine and watch as the world passed by was fantastic!

To put it mildly we were hooked. Hence this website. We have done extensive research on cruises, cruise ships and cruise destinations for our own vacations and have compiled some of our efforts into the articles and pages on this website.

If you have any questions feel free to contact us at help[at]a1-discount-cruises.com (replace the at with @).

Please enjoy our website!

Best regards,
Brian and Carol Schmidt