Kensington Tours · Private Guided Travel
Your Own Guide, Your Own Pace: What a Kensington Private Tour Is Really Like
- Tailor-made in 100+ countries
- Private guide — no group, no set dates
- Singapore, traveled & filmed
- Planning is always complimentary
That's us on the Marina Bay waterfront in Singapore, Marina Bay Sands behind us. I'm Melissa, and this trip was our own Kensington Tours itinerary: no group, no set departure date, just a journey handcrafted for the two of us. If you've loved the ease of Disney-style guided travel but want it fully private, this is the page for you.
What Kensington Actually Is
Kensington Tours builds tailor-made, privately guided journeys in more than 100 countries. The difference from a group tour is the whole point: there are no set departure dates and no strangers on your itinerary. You choose when to travel, a destination expert designs the trip around your family's interests and pace, and on the ground you have your own local, English-speaking private guide — someone who knows where to stand, when to arrive, and which door the crowds never find. Want to linger an extra hour or swap an afternoon on the fly? It's your trip. You can.
I book Kensington alongside Adventures by Disney and National Geographic Expeditions, and I reach for it whenever a family tells me: we want it handled, but we want it private.
Our Singapore Trip — the Proof
We put Kensington to the test ourselves in Singapore, in true VIP style. Home base was the Ritz-Carlton; our days were built around Marina Bay, the city's icons, and the food that makes Singapore famous — with our private guide smoothing every transfer and every entrance. And because my families love theme parks, we spent a day inside the ultra-exclusive Universal Studios Singapore VIP Experience, arranged seamlessly through the partnership between Melissa VIP Magic and Kensington Tours. Red-carpet treatment at a world-class park, half a world from Orlando — it absolutely travels.
Watch our Kensington days in Singapore
When I Recommend Kensington
- The bucket-list trip, your way — the destination you've dreamed about, built around your dates, your hotels, and your pace instead of a brochure's.
- Pre- and post-cruise land extensions — land a few days early in the port city, see it deeply with your own guide, and step aboard already relaxed. Singapore before a Disney Cruise Line sailing is a perfect example.
- The add-on around an Adventure — many of my families bolt a private Kensington segment onto an Adventures by Disney itinerary to reach the sites the group itinerary doesn't, while they're already in-country.
- Multigenerational and celebration trips — when the party spans ages and paces, a private itinerary bends in a way no group departure can.
✦ Browse my Kensington Tours video library →
Ready to Go Private?
My planning is always complimentary — tell me the destination you're dreaming about and how your family likes to travel, and I'll work with Kensington's destination experts to handcraft a completely customized, seamless itinerary just for you.
Questions I get all the time
- What is Kensington Tours?
- Kensington Tours is an award-winning tour operator that builds tailor-made, privately guided journeys in more than 100 countries. There's no group to join and no set departure dates: you travel with your own local, English-speaking private guide — and in most destinations your own driver — on an itinerary designed around your family, your pace, and your interests. I work hand-in-hand with Kensington's destination experts to handcraft the trip, and my planning is complimentary.
- How is Kensington different from Adventures by Disney?
- Adventures by Disney is guided group travel — set itineraries, set departure dates, and the fun of traveling alongside other Disney-loving families, with two Adventure Guides carrying the logistics. Kensington is the private version of that promise: the same everything-handled ease, but the itinerary is built just for your party and the guide is yours alone. My family loves both — it comes down to whether you want the energy of a group or the freedom of your own schedule. Tell me the destination and how you like to travel, and we'll pick the right fit.
- Can we add a Kensington tour before or after a cruise?
- Yes — and it's one of my favorite ways to use Kensington. A private pre-cruise or post-cruise land extension lets you land early, see the port city deeply with your own guide, and step aboard already relaxed. That's exactly what we did in Singapore, and many of my families add a Kensington extension around an Adventures by Disney itinerary to hit additional sites while they're already in-country.
- What did your own Kensington trip look like?
- Singapore, in true VIP style: we stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, explored Marina Bay and the city with our private guide, and spent a day in the ultra-exclusive Universal Studios Singapore VIP Experience — the whole day seamlessly arranged through the partnership between Melissa VIP Magic and Kensington Tours. I filmed it all for my channel, so you can see exactly what a Kensington day feels like before you book one.
- Is a private tour more expensive than a group tour?
- Kensington is a premium, tailor-made product, and the price depends on the destination, the hotels you choose, the season, and the size of your party — a private tour for a family of four can be surprisingly competitive with a group departure. My planning is complimentary either way, so the easiest path is to tell me your dream destination and let me bring you a real quote to compare.
✦ Travel Like a VIP. Experience the Magic.