Land Cruise, Inc, Fort Wayne, IN (2025)

01/20/2025

In the midst of these frigid days, take heart...it is exactly 100 days until our Spring Travel Reception!

01/15/2025

📢𝑵𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝑨𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈? 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒍. 📢

"The solution to aging may be a bit more fun than using a retinol cream. A recent study discovered that travel can offer significant health benefits that help slow the signs of aging. According to research from Edith Cowan University, 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. Relaxing travel activities can also help reduce chronic stress and boost the body’s ability to recognize and defend against external threats." (from Everence, Medigap Insurance magazine)

If I didn’t know any better, I would think that they were telling you to sign up for the Callaway Gardens and Pensacola Beach tour, April 11-18, 2025. It is the PERFECT example of a positive and relaxing travel experience. Bring your golf clubs if you would like or simply enjoy your GULF FRONT ROOM on Pensacola Beach! 🌷🪻🏖️🩴🌊🌺🍦🍷

Ditch the TSA airport security line, flight delays and unknowns…give Land Cruise a try!

01/14/2025

Neil Diamond Tribute Show!
Designed to provide the very best of Branson, MO, "A Classy Christmas in Branson," December 2-5, 2025, features 2 nights at the 4-star Hilton Promendade on Branson Landing amidst upscale retail shopping and dining. Thrill your tastebuds with delicious meals served with class. Who can resist singing along at the Neil Diamond Tribute Show? Be amazed at the musical talent and special effects at the Haygoods Christmas Show and Cassandre, Voice of an Angel. Sit in wonder and awe at "David" on stage at the Sight & Sound Theater. These four shows are hot tickets in town! Plus, get acquainted with the area during our driving tour with one of Branson's hit show entertainers as our guide. This small town of 13,000 people will make you feel right at home and wowed by the incredible productions brought to stage.
If you love God, our great nation, and Christmas...this is a tour you do not want to miss!

With the new revision that now includes the Neil Diamond Tribute Show, we have added a second bus for this tour!

Email [email protected] to request an itinerary or request a resesrvation.

01/03/2025

Determining the Top 10 list is always a tough task! There were so many great aspects of the 2024 tours.

If you have a favorite from any of the categories, let us know!

01/01/2025

May 2025 bring you joy and peace! Happy New Year's!

12/31/2024

What fun to share my thoughts and read your comments about the BEST CRUISE DIRECTORS and drivers in the entire world!!! Soon we will share our Top 10 list from 2024.
Before that, allow me to share a story that is an extension of the BIG Give for Asheville. This part of the story is one that we have not previously shared, except for with those who traveled on the Christmas at the Biltmore tour.
After Hurricane Helene, I learned that the young woman who was to be in charge of our group's stay at the Biltmore has lost her home and car in the flood. The travelers who were part of the Biltmore tour on 11/17/2024 were given the opportunity to participate in the BIG Give (as described at our Fall Travel Reception) and/or to offer a gift to the young woman, Amanda, who lost her home and car. Many participated in this opportunity to support Amanda and while I do not know the amount that was given in sealed envelopes, I believe it was a significant amount of cash, checks and gift cards.
The first photo is of Mable presenting the gift for Amanda to one of the Biltmore staff members as Amanda was taking time off of work to help with the recovery of Asheville and work through the "what now" phase of her own life. The second photo is of Amanda receiving the gifts that were given by Land Cruise travelers and staff.
Please read the following email that I have copy/pasted that Amanda sent to me after receiving the gifts...

Hi Monica,

I hope this message finds you well and enjoying a wonderful holiday season with your friends and loved ones!

I recently had the opportunity to meet with my Conference Services team, and they shared the incredibly generous gifts that you and the Land Cruise team presented during your group’s visit. I wanted to take a moment to personally thank you and everyone at Land Cruise for the kindness and support you have shown me. I am truly overcome by your generosity, and while words feel inadequate, I hope this email conveys even a fraction of my deep gratitude.

The past few months have been an incredibly challenging time for both the community and personally. The destruction in Western North Carolina is unprecedented although I know that with the assistance fThe shock of losing so much, both physically and emotionally, has been immense. However, your support has truly been a lifeline, and I can not express how much it has meant. Your kindness has been a beacon of hope in the midst of this challenging period. Your generosity is not just a financial contribution; it is a reminder that even in the most chaotic times, there are individuals such as yourselves who care deeply and act with unwavering compassion.

Thanks to the Land Cruise community’s generosity, I have begun to make significant strides in rebuilding my home, my community, and my spirit. While it is hard to fully articulate how much this support has impacted me, please know that it has given me the strength and resources to move forward. You all have made a world of difference in my life, and I will never forget the kindness you all have shown me.

Thank you, once again, for everything. I am forever grateful.

Warm regards,
Amanda Miller

12/30/2024

Alison Orth is the newest member of the Land Cruise team and she fits right in with the Crew. Alison's unique skill set of being super organized and detail oriented, plus her experience in planning her family's multi-week summer road trips, makes her well equipped for her role with Land Cruise. Plus, she is an optimist and an extrovert. She is fun-loving and ambitious.
Everything that Alison has been involved with has been better because of her help. Setting up for the Fall Travel Reception, helping on the Fall Foliage tour and the Christmas at Branson tour, completing miscellaneous tasks in the office, etc. She brings a fresh take on things and a humble confidence to the table.
Although most of her time will be in the office, it's possible to catch her on a tour from time to time. If you are on a trip with Alison, you can count on her to be engaging, insightful and caring.

If you traveled on either of the two tours with Alison this year, do you have a favorite memory with her? If you have not met her yet, leave a comment with a warm welcome for her.

12/29/2024

On the last trip of 2024, Ed Mendoza completed his 20th Land Cruise tour and earned his red fleece jacket. This is so shocking, because it feels like Ed and Mable have always been part of Land Cruise...hard to believe it's only been 20 trips. (Mable has a few more under her belt since she started with us 8 months before Ed did.)
Ed and Mable are always ON. When they depart on a tour, they are 110% enthusiasm and 110% energy. For most of us, by the time we return to the Port, we've hit a wall when it comes to energy. Not so for the Mendozas...they return home after a trip of 4 or 13 days with the same 110% enthusiam and 110% energy as the day the trip departed.
Before we really knew the Mendozas, we heard them say that they "love people, love to travel and love ice cream" and that further confirmed that we should explore them working with Land Cruise. They would tell you that those things are still true, but what they really love about Land Cruise is being able to serve the travelers.
They are fun, energetic and enthusiastic. You can count on a very positive experience when traveling with Ed and Mable.
This year, they took the BIG Give idea for Asheville and shephereded the group of travelers in this way of ministering to the people they came in contact with. It was a beautiful experience for our group. For this reason, I think Christmas at the Biltmore Estate was their best trip of 2024.

If you traveled with Ed and Mable in 2024, what fun memories do you have with them, or what impact did they make on your life?

12/28/2024

Steady. Consistent. Patient. Calm. Focused.
Mark Settle writes the book when it comes to the above adjectives. His personality is as described, and his driving style can be described with the same adjectives. These are very good traits to have when driving a full size tour bus with precious cargo on board.
Mark always shows up prepared for the tour. He does his homework and reviews the route and studies ALL of the parking lots using satelite images to visualize the best place to park to load/unload.
Mark is always making sure that everyone has what they need at each stop and is at the door of the bus with a steady hand for anyone who needs it.
Interestingly, Mark is not an employee of Land Cruise, but for at least two years in a row, he has been part of more Land Cruise tours than any of the other crew members. Therefore, we consider Mark to be "part of the crew" as he truly is as much a part of the Land Cruise experience as anyone.
Mark's best trip this year was the Colonial Williamsburg tour where he calmly maneuvered the bus away from a truck that was changing lanes into the space our bus was in.
A word of caution...don't ever go head to head with Mark on trivia. He will beat you every time.

Is there a recent trip that you took with Mark this year? How did you feel as a passenger with him at the wheel?

12/27/2024

Keith and Tracy Kuehnert were the first to join our Land Cruise team. Keith has been a long time driver of Land Cruise tours and having him at the wheel means a safe, smooth and relaxing ride. He goes above and beyond day after day to make sure the bus experience is top notch. (The bus is always warm in the winter, cool in the summer, smells like pine sol from being freshly mopped, and Keith is usually found hand washing the exterior of the bus midway through a long tour.)
Tracy joined our team in 2022 as a Cruise Director and she has done a wonderful job leading groups. Keith and Tracy are an excellent team and they aren't afraid to tackle the big, long tours. Their group return with hugs galore when it is time to say goodbye.
This year, Keith and Tracy faced several traffic delays (completely unavoidable and no fault of their own), and they handled these with calmness, confidence, care and professionalism.
It is hard to pick a best trip for Keith and Tracy, but some of their best trips this year were Montreal/Quebec City/1000 islands, Nova Scotia, BIG Western Adventure and Fall Foliage #1.
We are so grateful for the Kuehnerts and their care for Land Cruise and our travelers.
Have you traveled with Keith and Tracy? How have they made your trip extra special?

12/26/2024

From all of us at Land Cruise, we hope you had a peaceful and joyful Christmas!
Merry Christmas!

12/23/2024

Continuing on with comments about specific crew members...

"Monica, the kids were a treat to have on the trip. So helpful to you and Russ-and us travelers. Trash p*k up on the bus will never be the same without Anna's singing. Hopefully they enjoyed it as much as we did."

A different note concluded with "P.S. Will and Anna are delightul...so glad they were with us."

Will has always been the one who prefers to fly under the radar. He's quiet and pensive. He's incredibly smart (straight A's without studying...he gets that from his dad!) and has a great sense of humor. He has a strong sense of justice and has always been a helper. On the first trip of the year, I watched as he began to look for needs that could arise and took the initiative to meet those needs without being asked. As a mother, I could not be more proud.

Anna has a gift of being able to talk to anyone, and when she does, she lights up the room (or the bus). She is not afraid to step into the spotlight. I would say she was "made for the stage", but like her older brother, she is dominant on the soccer field (she is currently playing in a high school girls' leage and holding her own). In science class this year, she built a bridge out of toothpicks and engineered the bridge able to withstand the greatest weight of the class...she stood on it and it held together!

Will and Anna are in such a FUN stage to parent! Big kids are the BEST!

Have you had the chance to travel with Will and Anna? Did they make a positive impact on your experience?

12/22/2024

It's impossible to reflect on just the last 12 months with Merrill and Cindi (dad and mom) as their influence has been consistent since the day I was born.
I can count on them for literally everything...the variety of ways they have helped me this year include assembling folders, proofreading Cruise Compasses, advising, scouting new trips, leading a few tours, driving the kids to to activities to lighten my load, and on and on and on. I receive a call or text almost daily with an offer to help in some way.
They have fostered a legacy of generosity in our family over many decades and that makes it easy to follow their example they have set. The truth is, that the idea for the BIG Give for Asheville was rooted in an annual family tradition of giving that dad started a decade ago.
One thing we talked about at our staff Christmas party was the sacrifices that mom made in the early years of Land Cruise. She worked full time and then would come home and create all of the documents (seating charts, passenger manifests, rooming lists, itineraries, etc.). She would stay up until the work was done and never complained about it. She supported my dad and was willing to take the risk with him to start Land Cruise. Without her support and her efforts, Land Cruise would not exist.
I am grateful beyond measure to be their daughter. To work closely with them in Land Cruise has been one of the sweetest blessings from God.

Have Merrill and Cindi been a blessing in your life, too? Do any memories with them come to mind from this past year?

12/21/2024

We recently wrapped up the end of the 2024 travel season with our staff Christmas party. I truly love each member of our crew, and any time we are all together it feels like all is right in the world.
Over the next few days, I will celebrate each of them by sharing the comments I made at our Christmas party.

Russ,
You are always the first to offer accolades on my behalf. Sometimes it's just silly (ie when you call me a CEO in public). Sometimes you are helping me see strengths in myself that I don't see and sometimes you are instilling confidence in me.
You juggle a lot as a public servant, business owner, father and husband, and you make it look relatively easy, even though it isn't easy at all.
You always know what a trip needs to tip the scale from good to great.
I think your best trip this year was Colonial Williamsburg. You encouraged everyone to wander the streets of Williamsburg and to allow themselves to get lost in their imagination of the days of the Colonial era. Most of our group spent the full day soaking it in and their trip was better because you guided them into experiencing living history in a meaningful way.

Do you have a favorite memory from a trip with Russ?

12/19/2024

Classy Christmas in Nashville 2024: Day 4
Ending days are every bit as important as beginning days. How we close out a chapter helps us write the first paragraph of a new chapter.
Between the food, LC fashion show, and frivolity of the band, breakfast was another banner experience. We actually had a lady from another tour approach and ask us how she could get one of our Land Cruise t-shirts. She thought they were so cool! We invited her to come to Fort Wayne and travel with us three times and she wouldn't even have to pay for it. 😉
Our departure in the rain was exactly on time...what great coordination on everyone's part. We soon were engaged in our morning finger calisthenics, reviewing all the trips' activities and ready to take the Final Exam, and had a drawing for first time travelers.
Vince Gill and Amy Grant music filled the bus, along with tons of laughter when Buddy, the Elf, popped the movie of his life into the DVD player and once again a Christmas tradition came to life.
An appearance by Santa with a bag of gifts, was our last Christmas surprise as we had a spirited Christmas trivia game give away.
We had a rare consensus that the favorite part of this trip was "the whole trip"! What a cohesive, loving group!
And on that note, we bring to a close Land Cruise season 2024. As Carol Burnett would say, "I'm so glad we had this time together".
The experiences we've had this year, the friendships that were formed, the lessons learned, the grace we received, all serve to lead us into the future with hope, inspiration, and anticipation in what God has for us in the New Year.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, DEAR FRIENDS!

12/18/2024

Classy Christmas in Nashville 2024:
Day 3
When you're eating breakfast AND hangin' out with Ten Year Town, it becomes a real treat. Rarely are we entertained at breakfast but on Classy Christmas in Nashville, it's a morning routine! Some Land Cruisers took the opportunity to meet the guys and found out one of them lives in Fort Wayne. No kidding!
After a leisurely morning, we took a field trip across the parking lot to the General Jackson Showboat for a delicious lunch and Christmas show while cruising down the meandering Cumberland River to downtown Nashville. It was a lively and entertaining Christmas show which put us in a happy mood topped off with excellent peppermint cheesecake for dessert.
And what could be better than another water adventure with the Delta River flat boats at the Opryland Hotel? There was a lot of hand waving and friendly banter as we took a river journey around the Delta Atrium in the middle of tropical paradise!
And then it was time. What we had all been waiting for: a Christmas Concert at The Ryman with Amy Grant & Vince Gill. It was every bit as intimate, and cozy, and nostalgic, entertaining and inspiring as we had dreamed it would be. In other words, it was perfect for us! We sang along with Christmas carols, enjoyed many Christmas standards, and were treated to some AMAZING piano playing and electric guitar picking.
Undeniablly, this was a rare day of incredible entertainment and appreciation for the creative arts. What a Christmas blessing!
It was unanimous. This was a GREAT Land Cruise day!

12/17/2024

Classy Christmas in Nashville 2024:
Day 2
Can you have too much fun in one day?
No. No. Not with our Land Cruise gang!
The fun began on the way to breakfast and lasted till the guitars played their last chords!
The breakfast buffet was hot and delicious and the live entertainment with Ten Year Town kept us laughing and tapping our toes.
Our local guide, Kat, gave us a very entertaining and insightful tour of Nashville. She kept the stories coming from a local point of view and we fell in love with Nashville all over again. Music row, H***y Tonk Hwy, the Ryman, Vanderbilt University, and the Parthenon were some of the sites we had the opportunity to see and learn about.
After our excellent tour and lunch, we reveled in the 9 degree exhibition of ICE! Over 40 world-renowned artisans spent over 6 weeks hand carving 6,000 blocks of ice to create these amazing immersive ice sculptures. Just Wow!
It was a pleasure to take a few hours to relax and enjoy this beautiful resort before our Christmas Dinner Show. The food was hot and delicious and the dessert so rich and decadent! "The Frontmen" gave us a nostalgic concert with many songs from the 80s & 90s along with Christmas songs like Jingle Bell Rock and O Holy night.
We ate, we played hard, we laughed, we learned, we deepened our friendships, and closed the day with the loudest cheer of any group when Land Cruise was introduced at dinner! It's how we roll!

12/16/2024

Classy Christmas in Nashville 2024:
Day 1
Neither the dark nor the rain could dampen our spirits this morning as friends gathered, chatting excitedly about our journey to Nashville. Land Cruise travelers are SO amazing and it was no surprise that we headed out at 8:29 am, 1 minute ahead of schedule!
Our Sunday morning included the traditional "Thought of the Day" which was scripture from Luke 2 and singing Christmas carols together.
Then we laughed (and cried) our way through the movie "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever", where the most terrible kids in the world (the Herdman's) taught some self-righteous people what Christmas was really all about.
Ed led us in a "pre-test" of Nashville true and false questions, once again proving the intelligence of our Land Cruise Travelers!
Upon entering the vast, stunningly beautiful Opryland Hotel, we oooed and awwed in amazement at the tropical paradise we will call home for three nights. The synchronized light and fountain show was a spectacular backdrop to our dinner hour as we all chose a favorite dinner location of our own.
We are incredibly grateful to relax and celebrate the Christmas season together in this absolutely delightful environment!

Land Cruise, Inc

01/20/2025

01/15/2025

01/14/2025

01/03/2025

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12/31/2024

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12/29/2024

12/28/2024

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