Luxury CruisesAbout Tasteful Voyages
Tasteful Voyages is a luxury travel advisory built on a simple idea: the finest trips are the ones made for you. We design custom luxury itineraries around each traveler’s interests, pace, and curiosities — so every journey feels personal, from the first consultation to the final farewell.
Meet Joan Qualls
Joan Qualls is the founder of Tasteful Voyages and a Virtuoso travel advisor. After a 30-year career in healthcare finance, she turned a lifelong love of travel into a calling: crafting unforgettable journeys for discerning travelers. To Joan, luxury is more than comfort — it’s meaning, access, and the small details that turn a trip into a memory.
What We Do
We focus on a few things and do them exceptionally well:
- Luxury expedition cruises — Partnerships with leading cruise lines open the door to the finest ships, suites, and amenities at sea.
- Luxury river cruises — All-inclusive riverside travel on small ships, sailing the world’s most beautiful rivers in unhurried comfort.
- Escorted and group travel — Curated large-group journeys where we manage every detail, so you simply enjoy the trip.
- Custom itineraries — Personalized luxury travel designed entirely around you.
Personalized Trip Planning
Every Tasteful Voyages journey begins with a conversation, not a catalog. Joan starts by getting to know how you travel — the pace you enjoy, the experiences that move you, the things you’d rather skip — then designs an itinerary around the answers.
From there, she personally handpicks every destination, hotel, and experience, drawing on years of expertise and the connections of a Virtuoso travel advisor. Those connections open doors most travelers never see: a private after-hours museum visit, a table that isn’t on the public reservation list, a local guide who shows you the side of a city you’d never find alone.
And the care doesn’t end when you board the plane. Joan stays a text away throughout your trip, ready to adjust a reservation, smooth over a hiccup, or add a last-minute experience — so the only thing you have to manage is enjoying yourself.
The Virtuoso Difference
As a Virtuoso travel advisor, Joan belongs to a by-invitation network of the world’s leading luxury travel agencies — with direct relationships at the finest hotels, cruise lines, tour operators, and rail journeys around the globe. It’s access you can’t get by booking on your own, and it comes at the same rate you’d pay the hotel directly.
At most participating hotels, that access typically includes:
- Complimentary breakfast for two, daily
- A room upgrade on arrival, when available
- Early check-in and late check-out, when available
- A property credit — often around $100, sometimes more — toward dining, the spa, or resort activities
- Rotating Virtuoso-only extras, such as a complimentary additional night on select stays
Better still, these perks stack on top of any hotel loyalty points or status you already earn — you give up nothing by booking through Joan.
When it comes to cruising, the same relationships work in your favor. Joan helps you choose the best luxury cruise company and ship for your trip — whether that’s an ocean expedition or one of the world’s great luxury river cruises — then layers in Virtuoso amenities and exclusive onboard touches you couldn’t arrange yourself.
Itineraries We Love
A sample of the journeys we design — each one a starting point we’ll tailor to you:
Italian Bliss Begin in Rome with the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, a private viewing of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel, and a coin tossed into the Trevi Fountain before dinner in lively Trastevere. Drift north into Tuscany for a private vineyard lunch in Chianti and Brunello wine country, with time for Florence’s Renaissance treasures and the golden hill towns of the Val d’Orcia. Finish in Venice, gliding by gondola through quiet back canals, standing beneath the mosaics of St. Mark’s Basilica, and watching glassblowers at work on the island of Murano.
Greek Odyssey Cruise Open in Athens with a guided tour of the ancient Acropolis and the Parthenon, the treasures of the Acropolis Museum, and a wander through the Plaka. Set sail for Mykonos — its whitewashed windmills, the sunset glow of Little Venice, and a side trip to Delos, the sacred UNESCO World Heritage island. Then on to Santorini, where you’ll sail the volcanic caldera, watch the famous sunset from the blue domes of Oia, and taste the island’s crisp Assyrtiko wine, grown in black volcanic soil.
And many more — from African safaris to Southeast Asian river journeys, we’d love to design yours.
Why Choose Tasteful Voyages
One advisor, start to finish. You work directly with Joan from your first consultation to the day you return home — no call centers, no handoffs, no starting over with someone new.
Virtuoso access worldwide. Exclusive perks, preferred rates, and VIP recognition at the world’s finest hotels, ships, and resorts — value you can’t unlock on your own.
Meticulous attention to detail. Joan anticipates and handles every logistic — transfers, timing, reservations, the small contingencies — before they ever reach you.
You, fully present. We carry the entire weight of planning and coordination, so your only job is to be in the moment and enjoy the trip.
Let’s Plan Your Journey
Whether you’re dreaming of a luxury river cruise, a milestone celebration, or a once-in-a-lifetime expedition, Joan would love to hear about it. Tell us how you like to travel, and we’ll craft something seamless, personal, and genuinely unforgettable.
[Request a consultation with Joan →] memorable.
