Episode Transcript
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Patrick Wiscombe (00:00):
It is time to talk travel.
Welcome to the Inside TravelTalk podcast and radio show
Coming up.
On today's show we will betalking about Avalon Waterways,
love, this river cruise company,Jamaica, and we're going to
give you some great ideas how tobook a great shore excursion.
Let's start the show.
The Inside Travel Talk podcastand radio show presented by
(00:22):
BluePlanetVacations.
com contains travel deals,promotions and offers that may
be time sensitive.
All offers and information wereaccurate when the show aired.
Travel deals and offers changeconstantly and are capacity
controlled and subject to changewithout notice.
Show Voice (00:41):
Explore your world.
It's the Inside Travel Talkpodcast and radio show presented
by BluePlanetVacations.
com.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
And now here are your hosts,Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo
(01:05):
.
Patrick Wiscombe (01:15):
Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend as
we get to talk about travel.
And, if you are a longtimelistener of the show, this show
is only about travel and we wantto help you plan and book your
(01:37):
next vacation.
Or, if you have no idea whereto go, we want to give you some
ideas of where you shouldconsider to vacation next, and
this show is presented byblueplanetvacations.
com.
And just a very sincere thankyou for taking the time to stop
and listen.
Coming up on this show, we aretalking about Avalon Waterways,
(02:01):
a terrific river cruisingcompany, Jamaica, and how to
book a great shore excursion.
And, mark, this is going tosound kind of funny, but, dude,
I'm tired.
We've just spent fourback-to-back-to-back-to-back
four cruises right in a row andit's good to be home, but I got
(02:22):
to be honest, I kind of miss italready, and it's only been a
day?
Mark Faldmo (02:26):
Yeah, only been a day.
You just got off the.
What was it?
The Norwegian Aqua?
Yeah, so another brand new shipthat you are on.
Patrick Wiscombe (02:34):
Beautiful ship .
I love the new ship smell but,mark, it was a genuinely I'll
show you the video later but itis a genuinely beautiful ship.
It had a great experience.
Ncl, I've never had a badexperience.
They do a great job.
Yeah, food was good too.
In case anyone wants to know,this week we're going to cut
right to the destinationhighlight.
(02:55):
I won't say it's a destination,it's multiple destinations, but
it's using a terrific companycalled Avalon Waterways and
we're bringing on TJ McAvoy.
Had him on the show before andhe's making a triumphant return.
It's good to have you back onthe show and it's good to see
you too.
TJ McAvoy (03:11):
Yeah, you too Great to see you, Patrick.
I always appreciate your timeand having me on this great show
.
Patrick Wiscombe (03:16):
Let's talk about Avalon Waterways.
Let's just go Avalon Waterways101.
What is Avalon Waterways?
TJ McAvoy (03:23):
So we're river cruising.
We like to think of ourselvesas relaxed luxury.
It's got to be my favorite wayto travel.
Just think of a five-starfloating hotel with everything
you want food, excursions, youname it.
Patrick Wiscombe (03:36):
You have several competitors in the river
cruise market.
What sets Avalon apart fromyour competitors?
TJ McAvoy (03:43):
Cabins is where it all starts.
So we have award-winning200-square-foot panorama suites.
We win awards from all thesepublications, like five years in
a row, best River Cruise Cabinsfor Cruise Critic.
We've gotten Best River CruiseLine and Cabins through USA
Today's Reader's Choice Awardsthis year as well as previous
years.
So definitely the cabins.
(04:04):
So the 200-square-foot suitesare about 85% of our cabins.
So with the larger cabins wehave fewer people on our ships.
So you're looking about 30 to50 fewer people on the ships,
which is a great for the onboardexperience.
Mark Faldmo (04:17):
Oh yeah.
TJ McAvoy (04:19):
So that really, yeah, that really separates us.
So we're going to average about150 passengers.
Our competitors are going tohave around 190.
But that's by design on our end.
Best cabins.
And then another staple ischoices.
So we offer choices.
So excursions this is really abig staple of ours because we
have all the connections throughbeing also part of Globus,
(04:40):
where we have all theconnections with all the local
suppliers and vendors.
So we give you two to threechoices pretty much every time,
every port for the excursions,the excursions are included.
Choices also goes to the dining,which we call Panorama Bistro.
We do barbecue lunches on theSky Deck, or you can yes, we
just have various venues thatway, but we're going to give you
(05:01):
various choices on the cuisineas well.
Venues that way, but we'regoing to give you various
choices on the cuisine as well.
We can satisfy any dietaryrestriction except for kosher.
So any dietary restriction,we're always going to have
vegetarian or vegan options withevery meal.
Also, I think what reallyseparates us is the views.
So we really pride ourselves.
No matter where you're on theship, you can see both sides of
(05:22):
the ship, because you could begoing down the Rhine and maybe
you're in the dining area andthe other side of the ship is
where all the castles are.
You could see 360 degree views,floor to ceiling windows
throughout the ship.
So I'd say those three thingscabins, choices, views which
also for people on the ship is ahuge difference.
Patrick Wiscombe (05:43):
Where does Avalon Waterways sail?
I know you're in Europe, butwhere else?
TJ McAvoy (05:48):
So we have 16 ships in Europe.
We also have our own ship onthe Mekong, so that's only 36
passengers.
Our ships in Europe are either128 passengers or 166.
We're also on the Douro, alsoEurope.
But then you did ask where elsewe sail.
So we have a taste of Egypt, sowe have a cruise there.
Also the Galapagos Islands andthe Amazon, all those
(06:10):
destinations we're going to haveAvalon.
Patrick Wiscombe (06:13):
What do you recommend for first time river
cruisers?
What do you recommend?
TJ McAvoy (06:18):
Just to kind of give you an idea, I started with
Globus 22 years ago and I thinkwe've had Avalon going on 20
years.
So historically this is prettymuch across the board for the
last 20 years.
First time cruisers either dothe Rhine or the Danube, in
either order.
So those are typically going tobe the first two that you do.
I personally, I love them both,but my first cruise was the
(06:39):
Danube, which was Budapest toNuremberg, but then you could
extend in Prague.
So I would recommend a couplenights in Prague, at least on
land, do the seven-night cruiseand do extra time in Prague and
then, if you're doing the Rhine,spend extra time in Amsterdam.
So I'd say one of those two andthen, whichever one you don't
pick first, you do that second.
Patrick Wiscombe (07:03):
Can you go back to back?
TJ McAvoy (07:05):
Yeah, so actually majority of our cruises are
really going to be seven-nightcruises.
But what we do if you have a14-night cruise, we have one
called the Magnificent Europe.
It's a back-to-back of ourRomantic Rhine cruise and our
legendary Danube cruise, sold asone itinerary.
So that's back-to-back.
We also have in France.
We have the Seine, which isnorthern France, and then the
(07:27):
Rome, which is going down tosouthern France.
Those are each seven nightcruises.
We build that as a 14 nightcruise, as one cruise, and now
we're on the Bordeaux, so youcan do a back to back to back,
so a 21 night cruise.
We already built those in foryou, so it's very, very seamless
.
Patrick Wiscombe (07:42):
Give us your top three to five cruises that
you just go, just do it, do it.
I recommend it to anybody.
TJ McAvoy (07:48):
So I've done the Danube like four times.
It's the first one by choiceand then the fourth one by
choice.
The other two times they had mehosting.
I had to go work on a cruise tohost some people.
It was so rough but amazing.
Ad Voice (08:03):
So so.
TJ McAvoy (08:03):
Danube was fantastic, and then the Rhine.
So I really want to do theRhine again, because I did our
active and discovery rivercruise on the Rhine.
I would love to do the Rhineagain, so those two Also.
What is getting very popular isthe lower Danube, so that's
Budapest to Bucharest, and thereason that intrigues me so much
(08:24):
is I become good friends withone of our cruise directors
that's been with the Globusfamily for 40 years and he's
been a cruise director on Avalonsince we started 20 years ago
and that's his favorite river tocruise the Lower Danube,
Budapest to Bucharest or reverse.
Also, I just spent time with atour director that I was doing
travel shows with and he's beenon Avalon as well and he said
(08:45):
that was his favorite cruise.
So I would say the Rhine, theDanube and then the Lower Danube
.
Mark Faldmo (08:50):
That's my favorite river cruise as well.
I've had the opportunity to dothat.
It's a fantastic itinerary todo that Budapest-Bucharest.
My favorite part of that LowerDanube is sailing through.
It's called the Iron Gates.
There's a big head carved intothe mountain, not like Mount
Rushmore, but it's just afantastic area of that part of
(09:11):
the Danube.
Patrick Wiscombe (09:12):
We've already talked about the cabins 200
square feet, beautiful cabins.
What makes the cabins great?
TJ McAvoy (09:18):
What's really fantastic about our cabins is we
don't have a separate balcony.
So separate balconies thatclose off to the room are really
worthless, honestly, becauseyou can't sit out there
comfortably.
So we bring all that livingspace back, so you truly do have
200 square feet of living space.
I like to think of it as yourcabins, your balcony, your
(09:38):
balconies, your cabin.
So when that wall of glassopens up, you have seven feet.
So it truly is your balcony.
I recently went on a rivercruise.
We buddied up with some of theKiwis, some of the New Zealand
folks, and we would meet up andhave snacks and hang out before
dinner, and it's plenty of room.
So it really gives you so muchmore room.
Another big staple on our buildwe actually angle the wall
(10:01):
between the bed and the bathroom.
The bathrooms are by far thebiggest I've seen on big ship
cruising and river cruising,because I've been on both
numerous times.
But the bathrooms, the bedsfacing out, you're always
looking at the view, 100% themost.
Patrick Wiscombe (10:15):
Hold on, the beds are facing, I guess, the
window, the floor-to-ceilingwindow.
TJ McAvoy (10:21):
Yes, absolutely.
So.
We're the only.
Yeah, oh yeah, just picturethis.
So you're cruising down theRhine, you're in your balcony
and you're also in your cabin.
You're laying down, you'rewatching all the castles and
beautiful scenery go by.
It's fantastic.
Mark Faldmo (10:37):
By far.
It's the best cabin layout ofany cruise that I've been on.
I love, as TJ just mentioned,being able to lay in the bed and
look out at the scenery as youcruise past it.
That sounds delightful.
TJ McAvoy (10:49):
It's truly unforgettable.
I mean, as you go through life,there's certain things that are
like pictures in your head thatyou'll never forget, and many
of those, I mean there's so manyof those times cruising on
Avalon, just laying there andwatching the beautiful scenery
go by.
Patrick Wiscombe (11:02):
Do you ever have a hard time getting up
going?
It's so beautiful I don't evenwant to get up.
TJ McAvoy (11:07):
Exactly Well.
The great thing about rivercruising, though, is the ships
are small, so I mean you couldbe up and get a snack within a
few feet.
But yes, that is true, I'vegotten a little bit lazy and
stay in my room a little bit toolong a few times just enjoying
that scenery.
Patrick Wiscombe (11:22):
There is a perception out in the industry
that river cruising is for theold folks or the older folks.
What about river cruising formulti-generational families?
So you know, grandpas, parents,kids Is there enough to do for
kids on these types of cruises?
TJ McAvoy (11:39):
Younger kids probably not going to have a great time.
So older teenagers andmulti-generational I see that
quite often.
So I've done two of our what wecall them is our active and
discovery cruises.
So we have our classic cruisesand then our active and
discovery are more focused onactivist excursions or very
immersive off the beaten pathtype excursions.
(12:00):
So you either have like hiking,biking, canoeing, or you have
painting classes, cookingclasses, vineyard tours.
You actually can visit a localfarmer where you enjoy a meal on
their property, so veryimmersive.
And then so we're focusing moreon those and we're on all the
rivers with our active anddiscovery.
So we're getting a lot ofmulti-gen older teenagers,
(12:23):
parents, grandparents we'reseeing a lot of that on our
active and discovery.
Patrick Wiscombe (12:26):
Let's talk about Christmas cruises.
TJ McAvoy (12:28):
Our Christmas time cruises are.
They sell out right away.
So if you're looking to get ona Christmas time cruise, book
those well in advance.
So I've been with the companysince we started Avalon.
In the first few seasons thatwas one of the last things to
sell, but after that people weregetting.
(12:49):
You know, it's getting more andmore popular.
So now, basically, ourChristmas cruises are selling
out very, very quickly.
The Christmas markets, it'samazing.
It's a great time to travel too, because you get to see all the
beauty of the festive seasonand it's great for
multi-generational families.
We're already have everythingopen for 26 as well.
They're so popular.
I just spoke with our presidentof Avalon Waterways, pam Hoffey
(13:09):
.
I did an event with her and webasically are going to move
every ship that is done for theseason over to the Christmas
markets to create moreChristmastime cruises.
Ad Voice (13:19):
Oh huge.
TJ McAvoy (13:21):
Yeah, exactly so what's going to happen?
As we get closer to theChristmas markets, we're going
to open more and more sailingsand that could sometimes be
risky, but it's never risky onthe Christmas markets because we
know they're going to sell out,so great for families, if
you're looking, and people getmore time off during that time.
So no better way to travelduring the holiday season than a
Christmastime cruise.
Patrick Wiscombe (13:46):
As we start to wrap up.
TJ McAvoy (13:46):
What trends are you seeing in river cruising right
now?
It's been amazing over the lastfew years.
I mean the awareness Now when Istarted I actually used to book
all of our charters in ourgroups department and so I've
been involved in Avalon from thebeginning and the awareness now
.
So everywhere I go now peopleknow about river cruising.
People want to do rivercruising, they want to
experience river cruising.
10 years ago there wasn't muchawareness around it, but now
(14:09):
everybody knows that, everybodywants to do it, seeing a lot of
first-time cruisers and what Isee a lot is they go on Avalon
and they fall in love with theirfirst cruise and then they just
go from one river to another.
So I'm just saying, once you goon your first Avalon cruise,
there's probably four to fivemore in your future.
And then, like we werementioning, the active and
discovery, that's been great fora multi-generational and it's
(14:33):
great for families because it'smore active and immersive.
But then we also have themust-see sites.
So just the standardsightseeing city tours that all
the cruise lines do.
Just the popularity is amazing.
So the river cruise lines, weall do a great job and we're all
selling really well.
So I would say, the mostpopular type of travel right now
, in my estimation.
Patrick Wiscombe (14:53):
TJ McEvoy with Avalon Waterways.
Thank you so much for coming on, Mark.
How many times have you been onAvalon Waterways?
I've been on Avalon.
Mark Faldmo (15:00):
Waterways twice, and it is fantastic, especially
the rooms as we talked about inthere.
Yeah, that's probably myfavorite part of it the way that
room is laid out.
They have by far the largestbathrooms, and then your bed
faces out to the river, so youjust lay in bed and watch the
scenery go by on your sceniccruise days, if you want.
Patrick Wiscombe (15:21):
When he was talking about the Christmas
markets.
And they're already selling out.
They're bringing all theirships over.
You've been on a Christmasmarket cruise.
Just paint briefly whatlisteners will experience.
Mark Faldmo (15:31):
Very festive cities pulling over into these small
villages.
They all have their littleChristmas markets or Chris
Kendall markets, set up withbooths and kiosks and food, hot
chocolate, warm cider.
It's just a great experience todo the Christmas markets cruise
.
Patrick Wiscombe (15:46):
What an interesting way to see the world
, just from a river.
Yes, because we were able totalk to TJ McAvoy.
He came up with an offer forour listeners, exclusively on
Avalon Waterways.
What is that deal and how much?
Mark Faldmo (16:02):
Now this deal is for their longer cruises in 2026
.
So that's 14 days or longercruises, up to $6,000 off per
cabin, so 3000 per person.
But this is booked in prettyquick.
You have about 10 days to bookthis.
So if you just go to theblueplanetvacations.
com website, there is a pagethat'll show a couple of the
(16:26):
highlighted.
There's about 30 differentdepartures that have this on and
I have three of themhighlighted on the Blue Planet
Vacations, but you can call anyof our agents to walk you
through and find the othercruises.
Patrick Wiscombe (16:39):
Take advantage of it, because this is only for
our listeners.
You'll only get this on thisshow, no one else.
Call Mark or his agents, or andhis agents, 888-718-7717,
888-718-7717.
And, as Mark already mentioned,blueplanetvacations.
(16:59):
com is where you can see that aswell.
Coming up in the next segment,it is always the hot travel deal
of the week and this week weare going to answer one of our
listeners' questions, Jessica,she wants to go to Jamaica.
She wants to know when is thebest time to go and what to do.
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
(17:22):
show continues alongside Faldmo.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend.
We will be back in just a fewminutes.
Show Voice (17:32):
Taking you to destinations around the world.
The Inside Travel Talk podcastand radio show is presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
Thanks for listening.
(17:52):
We'll be right back.
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This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by El
Dorado Spa Resorts.
Escape to Cancun's Riviera Mayawith authentic all-inclusive
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To book your romantic beach getaway, contact
Blue Planet Vacations at888-718-7717 or
blueplanetvacations.
com Now back to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
(18:30):
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show right now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
Here's Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe (18:54):
Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk
podcast and radio show.
Hello there, I'm PatrickWiscombe, alongside Mark Faldmo,
coming up in this segment ofthe show.
We are taking listenerquestions.
This one will be from Jessica,who is considering a trip to
Jamaica and she wants to knowwhat to do there.
And if you want to become partof the show and ask your
(19:18):
travel-related question, you cantext the show right now.
Just do it.
Well, except if you're driving801-649-3700.
801-649-3700 to answer yourtravel-related question.
And Mark, I have.
This is a text from Patrick toMark.
(19:39):
I'm kidding, but I do have aquestion.
So Nikki and I just got home.
We've been on the road forbasically the last four weeks,
four cruises back to back, toback to back.
The question I have for you,and it was absolutely
spectacular Do you ever gettired when traveling?
Mark Faldmo (19:59):
I don't get tired when traveling.
I love to travel.
Sometimes it can wear on me.
It was a physical.
Do you get physically tiredtraveling?
Patrick Wiscombe (20:04):
I love to travel.
Sometimes it can wear on me.
Okay, it was a physical.
Do you get physically tiredtraveling?
Mark Faldmo (20:08):
Yes, physically tired, you know.
A lot of times I'm travelingand it's for meetings or stuff
where I'm on a pretty strictschedule, but it does wear on me
, but I never get tired oftraveling.
Oh no, I agree, I can get tiredfrom traveling, but not tired
of traveling.
Patrick Wiscombe (20:26):
We got home late last night it was about 2
am and I was just excited tocome in and talk about
everything that we'd done onvacation.
But I'm finding that, as theadrenaline is starting to wear
off, I'm starting to go.
All right, Patrick, bring theenergy.
Bring the energy for the radioshow, because Patrick is pooped
right now.
Anyway, let's get to the hottravel deal of the week, always
(20:48):
in this segment, and this is thetext from Jessica.
She says she is considering atrip to Jamaica and wants to
know what there is to do there,and she texted 801-649-3700.
What should Jessica do whengoing to Jamaica?
Mark Faldmo (21:04):
There's lots of things to do in Jamaica and one
thing that I really like to dois climb Duns River Falls.
There are a lot of people thatsay, oh, it's too touristy.
I wouldn't do that, but Ireally enjoy Duns River Falls.
It is so beautiful and you dohike up this waterfall.
It's a great experience.
The next thing is Seven MileBeach.
(21:27):
There are several hotels thereand this is over in the Negril
area.
But one thing there is Rick'sCafé.
Rick's café, best place on theisland to watch the sunset, and
they also have cliff divers andyou know some interesting things
there.
But it's a great atmosphere,kind of great Jamaican laid-back
atmosphere.
Patrick Wiscombe (21:46):
Again, the best sunsets so is Dunn's rivers
fall also in Negril now DunnRiver Falls is in the Ocho Rios
area.
Mark Faldmo (21:52):
Oh, ocho Rios Okay, to go back to the beginning,
most people to vacation therewould fly into Montego Bay.
So Ocho Rios is about an hourfrom Montego Bay, negril is
about an hour from Montego Bayand those are kind of the three
places you would stay MontegoBay, Ocho Rios or Negril or
somewhere in between.
One of those Bob Marley toursGo to the Village of Nine Mile
(22:17):
where Bob Marley grew up.
Patrick Wiscombe (22:19):
He really is a tourist attraction to himself,
isn't he?
Yes, he is man.
He is celebrated in Jamaicalike nothing I've ever seen
before.
Mark Faldmo (22:28):
He is and it's a great history great part of
Jamaica.
Another thing you can do is theRose Hall Great House, which
has an interesting story behindus.
It's a plantation house.
You can go there in the eveningand have haunted tours.
The house is supposedly haunted, but it is a fun activity to do
.
My all-time favorite thing inJamaica is bamboo rafting.
(22:48):
We've talked about this before.
It's just so relaxing.
You sit on a bamboo raft, godown with a friendly guide that
explains things to you.
Probably one of the funestthings to do is Mystic Mountain,
which is the bobsled rollercoaster.
It goes down the mountain.
Jamaican bobsled team.
That's an important culturalpart of Jamaica.
Patrick Wiscombe (23:11):
You have done that right?
I think you have.
I have done that.
Yeah, I think you have.
I have done that.
Yeah, I don't know why I laughBobsledding in Jamaica.
That just blows my mind.
Mark Faldmo (23:19):
It's a fun thing to do James Bond tours also.
I do James Bond tours there.
That's where almost all of theJames Bond books were written.
It was in Jamaica.
There you can go to Goldeneye,which is the home that Ian
Fleming built where he wrotemost of those.
And then, as you know,everything comes back to food
for me.
Go to Scotchie's, which is ajerk chicken.
(23:41):
Get their platter.
That includes jerk chicken,smoked sausage festival and ting
Ting is like Fresca.
That's a famous drink there,okay.
Patrick Wiscombe (23:51):
So where is Scotchie'sotchies?
Because my son, Brandon isgoing to be there in I think
it's July of this year.
Where is Scotchies?
Mark Faldmo (23:58):
he's looking for some awesome jerk chicken, so
that's the best place for jerkchicken.
Patrick Wiscombe (24:03):
There's a Scotchies in Montego Bay and the
Scotchies in Ocho Rios anythingin Falmouth, Jamaica, because I
think that's where the cruiseship is going in that you
recommend.
That that's fairly close toOcho Rios, oh, okay and also
from there.
Mark Faldmo (24:12):
Um, that's where the cruise ship is going in that
you recommend.
That's fairly close to.
Patrick Wiscombe (24:14):
Ocho.
Ad Voice (24:15):
Rios, oh, okay.
Mark Faldmo (24:15):
And also from there .
That's actually where thebamboo rafting is, is very close
to there.
That I like to do, okay, andthen also you can do the Bob
Marley tours from there, the twothings in that area.
Patrick Wiscombe (24:30):
Go to Jamaica Such a great place, Jessica.
We will continue answering yourquestion.
We're just up against a breakright now.
To get your question on theradio or the podcast, call us
801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
(24:52):
And, as I mentioned, Jessica,we will answer your question.
I'll give you prices of how toget to Jamaica.
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show continues.
We've got the infamous JustCruising segment coming up.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend.
We will be right back.
Show Voice (25:14):
You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast
and radio show with PatrickWiscombe and Mark Faldmo,
presented by BluePlanetVacations.
com America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
That's 801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
(25:35):
com.
We'll be right back.
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Contact Blue Planet Vacationsat 888-718-7717 or
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com.
Patrick Wiscombe (26:01):
Okay, we're back.
Thank you for listening to theInside Travel Talk podcast, a
radio show Coming up.
In the next 28 minutes, markand I will be talking about
Jamaica.
We'll be finishing up Jessica'squestions about what to do in
Jamaica booking shore excursions, very unique cruise itineraries
and the best reasons to use atravel advisor.
(26:23):
Let's get back to the show.
The Inside Travel Talk podcastand radio show presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com, contains travel deals,promotions and offers that may
be time sensitive.
All offers and information wereaccurate when the show aired
Travel deals andBluePlanetVacations.
com contains travel deals,promotions and offers that may
be time-sensitive.
All offers and information wereaccurate when the show aired.
Travel deals and offers changeconstantly and are
capacity-controlled and subjectto change without notice.
Show Voice (26:51):
This is the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio
show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show right now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
And now here are your hostsPatrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo
(27:13):
.
Patrick Wiscombe (27:23):
All aboard for the infamous Just Cruising
segment right here on the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show.
Hello there, hope you're havinga terrific weekend.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe,alongside Mark Faldmo.
It is time At the bottom of thehour.
Every single week, it's theinfamous Just Cruising segment
(27:47):
where we give you unique cruiseitineraries and we've definitely
got a doozy this week.
And we've also got the doozythis week and we've also got the
cruise deal of the week.
So, mark, let's finishJessica's questions about things
that she should do when she isin Jamaica and let's recap what
we've already talked about.
Mark Faldmo (28:06):
We talked about my favorite things to do in Jamaica
Dunn-Trover Falls, rick's Cafeand Seven Mile Beach, bob Marley
tours, bamboo rafting, JamesBond tours.
And then you have to go toScotchie's get some Jamaican
jerk chicken.
It's just a great experience toget that authentic Jamaican
jerk chicken.
Patrick Wiscombe (28:26):
Let's talk about the deal to go to Jamaica.
Let's start there.
Mark Faldmo (28:30):
This one is pretty close in for Caribbean vacations
, save up to $200 off, but itdoes have to be booked by April
30th next Wednesday, so it'sbooked pretty quick here.
Jessica did mention she wantedto go in the fall time, so I
looked at end of September.
This was the 18th of September.
For five nights.
This includes round-tripairfare from Salt Lake City and
(28:54):
five nights hotel.
One thing that's nice is weused to have to take an
overnight flight from Salt LakeCity, but now American Airlines
and United Airlines both haveflights where you can get to
Jamaica on the same day.
This is on American AirlinesNow.
That flight does leave at 5.30AM, so you have to be there
pretty early, but you don't haveto take an overnight flight.
(29:17):
I chose two hotels in Jamaica.
I would recommend a four orfive star hotel.
I won't go any lower qualitythan that.
The first hotel called theIberostar Waves Rose Hall Beach,
which is right near Montego Bay.
Round-trip airfare from SaltLake City, five nights hotel and
transfers between the airportand hotel starts at $1,299 per
(29:42):
person.
How many days?
Patrick Wiscombe (29:44):
Six days five nights so $1,299.
Mark Faldmo (29:47):
And the second hotel I'd recommend.
It's called the Hideaway atRoyalton Blue Waters.
This is a five-star hotel andit's right in between Montego
Bay and Ocho Rios.
About 45 minutes from theairport is where this one is
located, and the price on thatone is $1,459 per person.
(30:11):
And these are some really goodprices for Jamaica.
Yeah, they are.
Jamaica is one of my favoriteCaribbean islands to visit.
When I visited it by cruise, Idid not like Jamaica, but when I
actually visited it by land, Ilove Jamaica and I want to go
back as much as I can.
Patrick Wiscombe (30:29):
Jessica, call Mark in his office when you're
ready to book or if you haveadditional questions.
The office phone number is888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.
Let's get to Seth's question.
By the way, if you have travelrelated questions, call or text
(30:50):
the studio 801-649-3700,801-649-3700 to ask or text your
travel related question.
Seth, I thought this was prettyfunny.
He is challenging you to findthe most unique cruise itinerary
.
I know this is short notice.
(31:12):
What?
Mark Faldmo (31:13):
did you find?
So I found three itineraries.
These are all on HollandAmerica.
This cruise is round trip FortLauderdale and it's an Amazon
River cruise.
So it goes down, it does kindof a Southern Caribbean cruise,
then goes down and cruises upthe Amazon River to Manaus and
(31:34):
then does a little bit moreSouthern Caribbean before
returning to Fort Lauderdale.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:40):
How many days is?
Mark Faldmo (31:41):
that it's a 30-day cruise, very interesting.
Oh yeah, that one is November21st of this year and it starts
at $4,599 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:55):
I want to go sail the Amazon.
I think that would be amazing.
Mark Faldmo (31:59):
Yeah, I think that would be amazing as well.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:01):
What else did you find?
I was kind of surprised youfound three yeah.
Mark Faldmo (32:06):
So well, and this is one that I like.
This one a little bit closer tohome.
It's a 12-day Mexican Rivieracruise and Sea of Cortez cruise.
It's round-trip San Diego, soit goes down, it does your Cabo
San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta,Mazatlan, but then it sails up
into the Sea of Cortez.
(32:26):
It's La Paz, Laredo, Guaymas,probably my favorite port, just
because I like saying itTopolobombo, Topolobombo.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:36):
Topolobombo.
Mark Faldmo (32:37):
That's actually right near where the stories of
Zorro were based on.
That's where that person wasborn, in Topolobombo.
That one is February of nextyear.
Inside Cabin starts at $16.69per person and the Balcony Cabin
starts at $16.69 per person anda balcony cabin starts at
$22.69.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:57):
What ship is this on the Holland America?
Which one?
Mark Faldmo (32:59):
Zoeterdam.
Patrick Wiscombe (33:00):
Okay, zuitterdam, yeah, okay, I got to
ask what's the third one then.
Mark Faldmo (33:06):
So the third one.
This is 130 day round trip FortLauderdale.
I'm not going to go over thewhole itinerary, I'm just kind
of the regions it visits, but itstarts Fort Lauderdale.
I'm not going to go over thewhole itinerary, just kind of
the regions it visits, but itstarts in Fort Lauderdale,
cruises down the east coast ofSouth America, visits Ushuaia,
Antarctica.
Yeah, we're going south thenway south yeah.
(33:28):
Okay.
Then through the Strait ofMagellan up to Santiago, Chile,
and then sails across thePacific, hits Easter Island,
hits Tahiti, hits Auckland, hitsSydney, and then cruises up the
north coast of Australia toSingapore and then visits
Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan,Tokyo, a few other ports in
(33:53):
Japan, and then sails across toKodiak, Alaska, does a full
Alaska cruise, does a fullMexican Riviera cruise, sails
through the Panama Canal andends back in Fort Lauderdale.
130 days, 130 days, Wow.
But you can take that and docertain segments of that.
(34:15):
You don't have to do the whole130 days, but it is quite the
itinerary.
Patrick Wiscombe (34:21):
That is absolutely spectacular.
I would do that in a second.
Mark Faldmo (34:27):
Yes, you're right.
Patrick Wiscombe (34:28):
Those are some crazy places to visit.
Which ship is that on Mark?
So that's on the HollandAmerica Voland Dam.
That is absolutely spectacular.
Sign me up because I can do theradio show from the deck of the
Zoider Dam.
Is that what you said?
Mark Faldmo (34:47):
Yes, the Voland dam .
Patrick Wiscombe (34:48):
Oh, the Voland Dam I'm sorry yeah.
Seth, I think challenge acceptedand I think Mark absolutely
slayed it.
If you have a travel-relatedquestion, text us.
We want you to be part of theshow.
We want to answer yourquestions.
801-649-3700.
(35:09):
801-649-3700.
That is the studio in the textline.
If you want to book thevacation, I'm going to give you
a separate number here888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
And of course, you can alwaysgo to blueplanetvacations.
com.
(35:30):
When we come back we'll wrap upthe show.
We've got Mark's travel tipsand we are going to talk about
the benefits of using a travelagent or a travel advisor.
That is next when the insidetravel talk podcast or radio
show continues.
Alongside my good friend MarkFaldmo, my name is Patrick
(35:51):
Wiscombe.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend.
We will be right back.
Show Voice (35:57):
Explore your world.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show with Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
That's 801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
We'll be right back.
Ad Voice (36:20):
This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by
Star Clippers.
For over 30 years, starClippers has offered unique
authentic tall ship sailingexperiences.
Featuring creative itinerariesthroughout the Mediterranean
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(36:47):
contact Blue Planet.
Show Voice (36:48):
Vacations at 888-718-7717 or
blueplanetvacations.
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They'll help you plan and bookyour next vacation.
Yeah, really, you're listeningto the Inside Travel Talk
podcast and radio show presentedby BluePlanetVacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
(37:11):
801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
And now here's Patrick Wiscombeand Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe (37:23):
Literally been on the road for the last 30
days.
Mark, it's good to be home.
I love traveling, but I think Ineed a break after 30 days on
the road.
Yep, you know, 30 days can belong.
What is the longest trip thatyou and Heather or just you, you
(37:43):
know, because this is yourbusiness what's the longest trip
you've ever been on before I?
Mark Faldmo (37:49):
think the longest I've been gone is 19 days, so
not too terribly long.
Well, I guess that's long, but19 days is the longest I've been
gone.
That was the trip where we flewto Tahiti, stayed there a few
days and then we took theMarquesas Islands cruise.
Patrick Wiscombe (38:08):
Oh, the ship.
Mark Faldmo (38:09):
Yeah, when we got off that cruise, our flight was
actually canceled, so we spenttwo extra days in Tahiti.
I didn't complain, but it didmake for a long trip.
Patrick Wiscombe (38:19):
Was that the Aranui 5,?
The ship that's half freighter,half cruise line?
Yes, the Aranui 5.
Mark Faldmo (38:25):
Just since you brought it up, I just want to
say anyone that is interested inthat in the container ship
freighter ship cruising.
There's a great blog on theBlue planet website about the
Aranui 5.
It is probably the most uniquething I've ever done and
probably the most memorablething I've ever done you have
referenced that for the lastyear and a half.
Patrick Wiscombe (38:44):
Now I can finally put it in context,
because it was one of the firstthings that we ever discussed,
and now it's like oh, now I getwhy he keeps coming back to that
.
It was an amazing experience.
You are listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast, a radio
show.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
That is the voice of MarkFaldmo.
We are finally broadcastingtogether in the studio here in
(39:07):
Salt Lake City.
It's good to be home Coming up.
In this segment of the show weare talking about Mark's travel
tips.
We get a big response to thisshow, generally speaking anyway,
but I've noticed a real trendthat when we do your travel tips
the last segment of the show itseems to really resonate with
customers.
(39:27):
I found an article of why youshould use a travel agent.
Now, this is going to sound alittle bit self-serving.
It is not.
I subscribed to an email calledthe Points Guy and he
accumulates credit cardinformation, how to maximize
your miles, et cetera.
But he also has some reallygood travel tips, and one of the
things that we wanted to talkabout is why use a travel
(39:48):
advisor?
So let's start there.
Mark Faldmo (39:51):
One of the things that he says is you should use a
travel advisor for yourvacations.
He lists several reasons whyI've included a lot of these
that he talked about on the list, as well as some of my own.
The first thing that I'm oftenasked is how do travel agents
get paid?
Does it cost me more to use atravel agent?
Patrick Wiscombe (40:12):
I've even asked you that question, but
let's go in depth on this.
How do you get paid Travel?
Mark Faldmo (40:17):
agents are generally paid by commissions
from the suppliers, from thecruise lines, from the different
things that we sell.
People say does it cost me more?
It doesn't.
For a cruise, what you see onthe cruise lines website is the
same price that I would sell itfor as a travel agent.
With a few exceptions thatwe've talked about, I may have a
(40:39):
better price than what's on theairline's website If I have a
group or there's somethingspecial that's offered to the
membership of agencies that Ibelong to, but generally the
price is the same.
I've heard even travel agentsexplain you're paying for it
anyway.
If you book it yourself, you'restill paying the travel agent
fee or the cruise line just getsto keep it.
Patrick Wiscombe (41:00):
Well, I'm going to take it a step further.
You have access to more roomsand you have access to better
deals.
Is that fair to say?
Mark Faldmo (41:08):
Generally speaking, yes, so the group that I'm a
part of.
They go in and reserve groupspace and in most cases they get
advanced notice.
So these are reserved beforethe ships even go on sale to the
general public.
So they're the best price and Ican sell into those groups
(41:28):
which, depending on when you'relooking, can be several hundred
dollars lower than what thecruise line is selling it.
For Cruise lines generally, astime goes on they generally
increase their prices.
So with these groups I get ineven before they are on sale to
the general public and haveaccess to sell that space.
There are some fees that travelagents do charge and I should
explain those.
(41:48):
First thing is on airlinetickets.
Airlines are the one thing thatthey do not pay a travel
advisor, so most agencies willcharge a ticketing fee just for
their time.
Patrick Wiscombe (41:59):
If you have multiple people, you've got to
get all their information, alltheir documents.
You've got to do everything andit can be time consuming.
Mark Faldmo (42:06):
It definitely can be time consuming.
And then also, a lot of travelagencies do charge a.
They either called it a plan togo or a good faith deposit.
If someone's calling forsomething pretty complicated,
they'll charge this deposit, butit will be applied to the cost
of your trip.
In many cases Travel can becomplex.
(42:27):
A lot of people are intimidatedby the complexity, so they'll
go to a travel agent.
They'll have the travel agentplan it out and then, once it's
all been figured out, they won'tuse the travel agent.
They will go just book it ontheir own once everything has
been explained to them.
Patrick Wiscombe (42:42):
That's pretty slimy, honestly.
Mark Faldmo (42:44):
That is so, yeah, so a lot of travel agents do
charge that plan to go or goodfaith deposit, which in most
cases is applied to the cost oftheir trip.
So it still doesn't cost youany more, even if that fee is
charged in advance.
Now, on some very complex tripswe will charge a fee, but if
(43:05):
it's a very complex trip, thatfee is well worth it to get the
trip that you want and need.
Patrick Wiscombe (43:11):
What a lot of people don't know is how you got
into the travel industry.
How did you get started?
Mark Faldmo (43:18):
I'm actually third generation in the travel
industry.
I grew up in the industry,everything from mowing the lawn
at my grandparents' agency tosorting through brochures, to
eventually delivering airlinetickets back when there were
paper airline tickets.
Patrick Wiscombe (43:36):
You literally drove them to people's houses,
to people's houses and tobusinesses.
Mark Faldmo (43:41):
Yeah, wow, that goes back a ways, then that does
so, and that's one thing Ifound with many of my colleagues
in the travel industry.
Many of them have deep-rootedconnections to the industry,
almost more than a love oftravel, because a lot of people
have the love of travel.
But really being a travel agentor being a good travel agent,
(44:02):
is more than just that love oftravel.
Patrick Wiscombe (44:05):
You have to have a love of logistics too.
Mark Faldmo (44:08):
Of logistics.
And one thing I've been in theindustry for a long time.
I've interviewed a lot ofpotential travel agents.
There are some people that sayI just want to be a travel agent
because I get to travel and Iget to do it for cheap or free.
Patrick Wiscombe (44:24):
Which is true, but that's a fraction of what
you do.
Mark Faldmo (44:27):
Yeah, and we've hired some that have that.
Most of them with that mindsetdon't work.
You really have to have a lovefor destinations, a love for,
like you said, logistics, kindof have pride in what you want
to do.
It's not all about travel.
I've been lucky.
I have been able to travel tosome pretty interesting things.
(44:48):
Yeah, my goal, which is thetagline of Blue Planet Vacations
, of explore your world, Ireally want to help people get
out there to make thoseconnections to different
cultures, different countries.
That's my passion.
Patrick Wiscombe (45:02):
That also comes through education.
You have to stay up on things.
Mark Faldmo (45:05):
Yeah, being a travel advisor, travel agent
there's a lot of education.
A good travel agent will putthemselves through these
different training programs.
I was just talking to someonewho's a potential agent for me
the other day and when I saidwell, you're going to have to
learn 20 or 30 different bookingsystems because every entity
(45:27):
has its own booking system thatyou have to book through.
That's kind of one thing thatI've been frustrated with as a
travel advisor is there's somuch out there that could be
consolidated.
That's not really consolidated.
Committing to be a travel agentyou have to be a lifelong
learner.
Everything's changing, there'slots of systems and there are
(45:47):
some agencies and some agentsthat really specialize in key
destinations.
So finding the right traveladvisor for consumers is
important and in our area herein Salt Lake, there are lots of
great travel advisors.
So I obviously would likeeveryone to book through Blue
Planet Vacations through me,through my agents.
But just book your vacationsthrough a travel advisor.
(46:12):
Advocates of experiences, nottransactions, Because you can go
online, do a transactionalthing, buy a trip but travel
advisors really advocate forexperiences and, as we've talked
about better value, while priceis important, I think good
travel advisor will really helpyou get a better experience in
(46:35):
travel, and we're always workingto get you the best price, but
also get you the best price forthe money paid.
One thing that we've talkedabout on this show a lot is a
lot of the experiential journeys.
There's lots out there.
There are a lot of ways you cando this, and putting it all
together is what a good traveladvisor will do.
Patrick Wiscombe (46:56):
That's what you've done for me.
You have recommended thingsthat I hadn't even considered
that we ended up doing, and I'vetold you numerous times
throughout the last year and ahalf.
But really, you know, I'veknown you for quite a while, but
since we started doing the show, you've pointed us in
directions that I've always said, man, I'm glad we did that.
Mark Faldmo (47:14):
I guess if I could do kind of the five bullet
points of a travel advisor.
Yeah, One is personalizeditineraries.
Work really hard to make surethat your experiences are
tailored towards your individualpreferences and that you have a
unique journey.
The second thing is expertknowledge.
A good travel advisor does havethat extensive destination
(47:36):
expertise and supplier expertise.
Not all products are right forall people, so we can really
help guide you in that.
Time-saving travel advisorsreally help people save time.
It probably was about a yearago.
We talked about a neighbor ofmy father where he said he put
in I think it was like about 20or 25 hours of research on this
(47:58):
trip.
I remember this and my dadlooked at it and said I could
have put all of that togetherfor you, had it back to you in
about an hour Because it wasIreland, which is one of my
father's favorite destinationsthat he really knows about, and
the person eventually camethrough to basically everything
my dad would have recommended,but he spent that 20 plus hours
(48:20):
researching that.
The last thing and I think it'sone of the more important things
is problem solvers.
Travel advisors are greatproblem solvers, not only to
help you find the trip that fitsyour needs but, as we all know,
travel doesn't always go asexpected.
Having a travel advisor on yourside can really help get you
(48:44):
through those things.
We can't always fix it, but alot of times we have access to
special numbers and specialpeople at cruise lines and
airlines and different thingswhere we can help fix those
things and get things right.
Patrick Wiscombe (48:59):
Access to help solve the problem.
Or I would even take it a stepfurther, mark what to expect if
something goes wrong and talkyou through it.
Yes, mark has helped me numeroustimes, as I've mentioned here,
but it really I've mentioned itmany times over the past year
and a half.
Take advantage of Mark'sexperience Book with him.
(49:21):
He will stand by you as youtravel.
I've called him numerous times,not only as a friend, but just
say hey, listen, such and suchis happening to me right now how
should I handle it?
And he's always been there.
If you want to take advantageof any of the offers that we've
made during this week's show,call Mark in his office,
(49:42):
888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
We'll have everything posted onblueplanetvacations.
com.
You can listen to the InsideTravel talk podcast and radio
show tomorrow morning.
We're on every Saturday andSunday morning at 11 am mountain
(50:05):
time, right here on this radiostation and around the country.
Plus, you can stream, downloadand subscribe to the podcast at
inside travel talk dot com.
And if you're a podcastsubscriber, we're on all of the
major podcast platforms.
Just do a search for InsideTravel Talk.
That's it.
We're done.
(50:25):
It's your turn.
Get out and explore the worldwhile you can, because you never
know what curveball's life isgoing to throw at you.
Live your life deliberately.
Live your life, lifeintentionally, and thank you so
much for listening.
We really don't have a show.
We don't have a businesswithout you.
Thank you for allowing us to bein your ears each and every
(50:47):
Saturday and Sunday.
Have a great week.
We'll talk to you again nextweek that's it.
Show Voice (50:54):
That's the end of the show You've been listening
to the Inside Travel Talkpodcast and radio show with
Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com.
Book your adventure right now.
Call 888-718-7717.
That's 888-718-7717.
Ad Voice (51:31):
Thanks for listening.
Have a great week.
Their travel insurance planscan help protect you and your
vacation.
Travelex is known for theiraward-winning customer service
and high claims paid rate.
Contact Blue Planet Vacationsat 888-718-7717 or
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It is time to talk travel.
Welcome to the Inside TravelTalk podcast and radio show
Coming up.
On today's show we will betalking about Avalon Waterways,
love, this river cruise company,Jamaica, and we're going to
give you some great ideas how tobook a great shore excursion.
Let's start the show.
The Inside Travel Talk podcastand radio show presented by
(00:22):
BluePlanetVacations.
com contains travel deals,promotions and offers that may
be time sensitive.
All offers and information wereaccurate when the show aired.
Travel deals and offers changeconstantly and are capacity
controlled and subject to changewithout notice.
Show Voice (00:41):
Explore your world.
It's the Inside Travel Talkpodcast and radio show presented
by BluePlanetVacations.
com.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
And now here are your hosts,Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo
(01:05):
.
Patrick Wiscombe (01:15):
Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend as
we get to talk about travel.
And, if you are a longtimelistener of the show, this show
is only about travel and we wantto help you plan and book your
(01:37):
next vacation.
Or, if you have no idea whereto go, we want to give you some
ideas of where you shouldconsider to vacation next, and
this show is presented byblueplanetvacations.
com.
And just a very sincere thankyou for taking the time to stop
and listen.
Coming up on this show, we aretalking about Avalon Waterways,
(02:01):
a terrific river cruisingcompany, Jamaica, and how to
book a great shore excursion.
And, mark, this is going tosound kind of funny, but, dude,
I'm tired.
We've just spent fourback-to-back-to-back-to-back
four cruises right in a row andit's good to be home, but I got
(02:22):
to be honest, I kind of miss italready, and it's only been a
day?
Mark Faldmo (02:26):
Yeah, only been a day.
You just got off the.
What was it?
The Norwegian Aqua?
Yeah, so another brand new shipthat you are on.
Patrick Wiscombe (02:34):
Beautiful ship .
I love the new ship smell but,mark, it was a genuinely I'll
show you the video later but itis a genuinely beautiful ship.
It had a great experience.
Ncl, I've never had a badexperience.
They do a great job.
Yeah, food was good too.
In case anyone wants to know,this week we're going to cut
right to the destinationhighlight.
(02:55):
I won't say it's a destination,it's multiple destinations, but
it's using a terrific companycalled Avalon Waterways and
we're bringing on TJ McAvoy.
Had him on the show before andhe's making a triumphant return.
It's good to have you back onthe show and it's good to see
you too.
TJ McAvoy (03:11):
Yeah, you too Great to see you, Patrick.
I always appreciate your timeand having me on this great show
.
Patrick Wiscombe (03:16):
Let's talk about Avalon Waterways.
Let's just go Avalon Waterways101.
What is Avalon Waterways?
TJ McAvoy (03:23):
So we're river cruising.
We like to think of ourselvesas relaxed luxury.
It's got to be my favorite wayto travel.
Just think of a five-starfloating hotel with everything
you want food, excursions, youname it.
Patrick Wiscombe (03:36):
You have several competitors in the river
cruise market.
What sets Avalon apart fromyour competitors?
TJ McAvoy (03:43):
Cabins is where it all starts.
So we have award-winning200-square-foot panorama suites.
We win awards from all thesepublications, like five years in
a row, best River Cruise Cabinsfor Cruise Critic.
We've gotten Best River CruiseLine and Cabins through USA
Today's Reader's Choice Awardsthis year as well as previous
years.
So definitely the cabins.
(04:04):
So the 200-square-foot suitesare about 85% of our cabins.
So with the larger cabins wehave fewer people on our ships.
So you're looking about 30 to50 fewer people on the ships,
which is a great for the onboardexperience.
Mark Faldmo (04:17):
Oh yeah.
TJ McAvoy (04:19):
So that really, yeah, that really separates us.
So we're going to average about150 passengers.
Our competitors are going tohave around 190.
But that's by design on our end.
Best cabins.
And then another staple ischoices.
So we offer choices.
So excursions this is really abig staple of ours because we
have all the connections throughbeing also part of Globus,
(04:40):
where we have all theconnections with all the local
suppliers and vendors.
So we give you two to threechoices pretty much every time,
every port for the excursions,the excursions are included.
Choices also goes to the dining,which we call Panorama Bistro.
We do barbecue lunches on theSky Deck, or you can yes, we
just have various venues thatway, but we're going to give you
(05:01):
various choices on the cuisineas well.
Venues that way, but we'regoing to give you various
choices on the cuisine as well.
We can satisfy any dietaryrestriction except for kosher.
So any dietary restriction,we're always going to have
vegetarian or vegan options withevery meal.
Also, I think what reallyseparates us is the views.
So we really pride ourselves.
No matter where you're on theship, you can see both sides of
(05:22):
the ship, because you could begoing down the Rhine and maybe
you're in the dining area andthe other side of the ship is
where all the castles are.
You could see 360 degree views,floor to ceiling windows
throughout the ship.
So I'd say those three thingscabins, choices, views which
also for people on the ship is ahuge difference.
Patrick Wiscombe (05:43):
Where does Avalon Waterways sail?
I know you're in Europe, butwhere else?
TJ McAvoy (05:48):
So we have 16 ships in Europe.
We also have our own ship onthe Mekong, so that's only 36
passengers.
Our ships in Europe are either128 passengers or 166.
We're also on the Douro, alsoEurope.
But then you did ask where elsewe sail.
So we have a taste of Egypt, sowe have a cruise there.
Also the Galapagos Islands andthe Amazon, all those
(06:10):
destinations we're going to haveAvalon.
Patrick Wiscombe (06:13):
What do you recommend for first time river
cruisers?
What do you recommend?
TJ McAvoy (06:18):
Just to kind of give you an idea, I started with
Globus 22 years ago and I thinkwe've had Avalon going on 20
years.
So historically this is prettymuch across the board for the
last 20 years.
First time cruisers either dothe Rhine or the Danube, in
either order.
So those are typically going tobe the first two that you do.
I personally, I love them both,but my first cruise was the
(06:39):
Danube, which was Budapest toNuremberg, but then you could
extend in Prague.
So I would recommend a couplenights in Prague, at least on
land, do the seven-night cruiseand do extra time in Prague and
then, if you're doing the Rhine,spend extra time in Amsterdam.
So I'd say one of those two andthen, whichever one you don't
pick first, you do that second.
Patrick Wiscombe (07:03):
Can you go back to back?
TJ McAvoy (07:05):
Yeah, so actually majority of our cruises are
really going to be seven-nightcruises.
But what we do if you have a14-night cruise, we have one
called the Magnificent Europe.
It's a back-to-back of ourRomantic Rhine cruise and our
legendary Danube cruise, sold asone itinerary.
So that's back-to-back.
We also have in France.
We have the Seine, which isnorthern France, and then the
(07:27):
Rome, which is going down tosouthern France.
Those are each seven nightcruises.
We build that as a 14 nightcruise, as one cruise, and now
we're on the Bordeaux, so youcan do a back to back to back,
so a 21 night cruise.
We already built those in foryou, so it's very, very seamless
.
Patrick Wiscombe (07:42):
Give us your top three to five cruises that
you just go, just do it, do it.
I recommend it to anybody.
TJ McAvoy (07:48):
So I've done the Danube like four times.
It's the first one by choiceand then the fourth one by
choice.
The other two times they had mehosting.
I had to go work on a cruise tohost some people.
It was so rough but amazing.
Ad Voice (08:03):
So so.
TJ McAvoy (08:03):
Danube was fantastic, and then the Rhine.
So I really want to do theRhine again, because I did our
active and discovery rivercruise on the Rhine.
I would love to do the Rhineagain, so those two Also.
What is getting very popular isthe lower Danube, so that's
Budapest to Bucharest, and thereason that intrigues me so much
(08:24):
is I become good friends withone of our cruise directors
that's been with the Globusfamily for 40 years and he's
been a cruise director on Avalonsince we started 20 years ago
and that's his favorite river tocruise the Lower Danube,
Budapest to Bucharest or reverse.
Also, I just spent time with atour director that I was doing
travel shows with and he's beenon Avalon as well and he said
(08:45):
that was his favorite cruise.
So I would say the Rhine, theDanube and then the Lower Danube
.
Mark Faldmo (08:50):
That's my favorite river cruise as well.
I've had the opportunity to dothat.
It's a fantastic itinerary todo that Budapest-Bucharest.
My favorite part of that LowerDanube is sailing through.
It's called the Iron Gates.
There's a big head carved intothe mountain, not like Mount
Rushmore, but it's just afantastic area of that part of
(09:11):
the Danube.
Patrick Wiscombe (09:12):
We've already talked about the cabins 200
square feet, beautiful cabins.
What makes the cabins great?
TJ McAvoy (09:18):
What's really fantastic about our cabins is we
don't have a separate balcony.
So separate balconies thatclose off to the room are really
worthless, honestly, becauseyou can't sit out there
comfortably.
So we bring all that livingspace back, so you truly do have
200 square feet of living space.
I like to think of it as yourcabins, your balcony, your
(09:38):
balconies, your cabin.
So when that wall of glassopens up, you have seven feet.
So it truly is your balcony.
I recently went on a rivercruise.
We buddied up with some of theKiwis, some of the New Zealand
folks, and we would meet up andhave snacks and hang out before
dinner, and it's plenty of room.
So it really gives you so muchmore room.
Another big staple on our buildwe actually angle the wall
(10:01):
between the bed and the bathroom.
The bathrooms are by far thebiggest I've seen on big ship
cruising and river cruising,because I've been on both
numerous times.
But the bathrooms, the bedsfacing out, you're always
looking at the view, 100% themost.
Patrick Wiscombe (10:15):
Hold on, the beds are facing, I guess, the
window, the floor-to-ceilingwindow.
TJ McAvoy (10:21):
Yes, absolutely.
So.
We're the only.
Yeah, oh yeah, just picturethis.
So you're cruising down theRhine, you're in your balcony
and you're also in your cabin.
You're laying down, you'rewatching all the castles and
beautiful scenery go by.
It's fantastic.
Mark Faldmo (10:37):
By far.
It's the best cabin layout ofany cruise that I've been on.
I love, as TJ just mentioned,being able to lay in the bed and
look out at the scenery as youcruise past it.
That sounds delightful.
TJ McAvoy (10:49):
It's truly unforgettable.
I mean, as you go through life,there's certain things that are
like pictures in your head thatyou'll never forget, and many
of those, I mean there's so manyof those times cruising on
Avalon, just laying there andwatching the beautiful scenery
go by.
Patrick Wiscombe (11:02):
Do you ever have a hard time getting up
going?
It's so beautiful I don't evenwant to get up.
TJ McAvoy (11:07):
Exactly Well.
The great thing about rivercruising, though, is the ships
are small, so I mean you couldbe up and get a snack within a
few feet.
But yes, that is true, I'vegotten a little bit lazy and
stay in my room a little bit toolong a few times just enjoying
that scenery.
Patrick Wiscombe (11:22):
There is a perception out in the industry
that river cruising is for theold folks or the older folks.
What about river cruising formulti-generational families?
So you know, grandpas, parents,kids Is there enough to do for
kids on these types of cruises?
TJ McAvoy (11:39):
Younger kids probably not going to have a great time.
So older teenagers andmulti-generational I see that
quite often.
So I've done two of our what wecall them is our active and
discovery cruises.
So we have our classic cruisesand then our active and
discovery are more focused onactivist excursions or very
immersive off the beaten pathtype excursions.
(12:00):
So you either have like hiking,biking, canoeing, or you have
painting classes, cookingclasses, vineyard tours.
You actually can visit a localfarmer where you enjoy a meal on
their property, so veryimmersive.
And then so we're focusing moreon those and we're on all the
rivers with our active anddiscovery.
So we're getting a lot ofmulti-gen older teenagers,
(12:23):
parents, grandparents we'reseeing a lot of that on our
active and discovery.
Patrick Wiscombe (12:26):
Let's talk about Christmas cruises.
TJ McAvoy (12:28):
Our Christmas time cruises are.
They sell out right away.
So if you're looking to get ona Christmas time cruise, book
those well in advance.
So I've been with the companysince we started Avalon.
In the first few seasons thatwas one of the last things to
sell, but after that people weregetting.
(12:49):
You know, it's getting more andmore popular.
So now, basically, ourChristmas cruises are selling
out very, very quickly.
The Christmas markets, it'samazing.
It's a great time to travel too, because you get to see all the
beauty of the festive seasonand it's great for
multi-generational families.
We're already have everythingopen for 26 as well.
They're so popular.
I just spoke with our presidentof Avalon Waterways, pam Hoffey
(13:09):
.
I did an event with her and webasically are going to move
every ship that is done for theseason over to the Christmas
markets to create moreChristmastime cruises.
Ad Voice (13:19):
Oh huge.
TJ McAvoy (13:21):
Yeah, exactly so what's going to happen?
As we get closer to theChristmas markets, we're going
to open more and more sailingsand that could sometimes be
risky, but it's never risky onthe Christmas markets because we
know they're going to sell out,so great for families, if
you're looking, and people getmore time off during that time.
So no better way to travelduring the holiday season than a
Christmastime cruise.
Patrick Wiscombe (13:46):
As we start to wrap up.
TJ McAvoy (13:46):
What trends are you seeing in river cruising right
now?
It's been amazing over the lastfew years.
I mean the awareness Now when Istarted I actually used to book
all of our charters in ourgroups department and so I've
been involved in Avalon from thebeginning and the awareness now
.
So everywhere I go now peopleknow about river cruising.
People want to do rivercruising, they want to
experience river cruising.
10 years ago there wasn't muchawareness around it, but now
(14:09):
everybody knows that, everybodywants to do it, seeing a lot of
first-time cruisers and what Isee a lot is they go on Avalon
and they fall in love with theirfirst cruise and then they just
go from one river to another.
So I'm just saying, once you goon your first Avalon cruise,
there's probably four to fivemore in your future.
And then, like we werementioning, the active and
discovery, that's been great fora multi-generational and it's
(14:33):
great for families because it'smore active and immersive.
But then we also have themust-see sites.
So just the standardsightseeing city tours that all
the cruise lines do.
Just the popularity is amazing.
So the river cruise lines, weall do a great job and we're all
selling really well.
So I would say, the mostpopular type of travel right now
, in my estimation.
Patrick Wiscombe (14:53):
TJ McEvoy with Avalon Waterways.
Thank you so much for coming on, Mark.
How many times have you been onAvalon Waterways?
I've been on Avalon.
Mark Faldmo (15:00):
Waterways twice, and it is fantastic, especially
the rooms as we talked about inthere.
Yeah, that's probably myfavorite part of it the way that
room is laid out.
They have by far the largestbathrooms, and then your bed
faces out to the river, so youjust lay in bed and watch the
scenery go by on your sceniccruise days, if you want.
Patrick Wiscombe (15:21):
When he was talking about the Christmas
markets.
And they're already selling out.
They're bringing all theirships over.
You've been on a Christmasmarket cruise.
Just paint briefly whatlisteners will experience.
Mark Faldmo (15:31):
Very festive cities pulling over into these small
villages.
They all have their littleChristmas markets or Chris
Kendall markets, set up withbooths and kiosks and food, hot
chocolate, warm cider.
It's just a great experience todo the Christmas markets cruise
.
Patrick Wiscombe (15:46):
What an interesting way to see the world
, just from a river.
Yes, because we were able totalk to TJ McAvoy.
He came up with an offer forour listeners, exclusively on
Avalon Waterways.
What is that deal and how much?
Mark Faldmo (16:02):
Now this deal is for their longer cruises in 2026
.
So that's 14 days or longercruises, up to $6,000 off per
cabin, so 3000 per person.
But this is booked in prettyquick.
You have about 10 days to bookthis.
So if you just go to theblueplanetvacations.
com website, there is a pagethat'll show a couple of the
(16:26):
highlighted.
There's about 30 differentdepartures that have this on and
I have three of themhighlighted on the Blue Planet
Vacations, but you can call anyof our agents to walk you
through and find the othercruises.
Patrick Wiscombe (16:39):
Take advantage of it, because this is only for
our listeners.
You'll only get this on thisshow, no one else.
Call Mark or his agents, or andhis agents, 888-718-7717,
888-718-7717.
And, as Mark already mentioned,blueplanetvacations.
(16:59):
com is where you can see that aswell.
Coming up in the next segment,it is always the hot travel deal
of the week and this week weare going to answer one of our
listeners' questions, Jessica,she wants to go to Jamaica.
She wants to know when is thebest time to go and what to do.
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
(17:22):
show continues alongside Faldmo.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend.
We will be back in just a fewminutes.
Show Voice (17:32):
Taking you to destinations around the world.
The Inside Travel Talk podcastand radio show is presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
Thanks for listening.
(17:52):
We'll be right back.
Ad Voice (17:59):
This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by El
Dorado Spa Resorts.
Escape to Cancun's Riviera Mayawith authentic all-inclusive
luxury at an El Dorado SpaResort.
Show Voice (18:09):
To book your romantic beach getaway, contact
Blue Planet Vacations at888-718-7717 or
blueplanetvacations.
com Now back to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
(18:30):
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show right now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
Here's Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe (18:54):
Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk
podcast and radio show.
Hello there, I'm PatrickWiscombe, alongside Mark Faldmo,
coming up in this segment ofthe show.
We are taking listenerquestions.
This one will be from Jessica,who is considering a trip to
Jamaica and she wants to knowwhat to do there.
And if you want to become partof the show and ask your
(19:18):
travel-related question, you cantext the show right now.
Just do it.
Well, except if you're driving801-649-3700.
801-649-3700 to answer yourtravel-related question.
And Mark, I have.
This is a text from Patrick toMark.
(19:39):
I'm kidding, but I do have aquestion.
So Nikki and I just got home.
We've been on the road forbasically the last four weeks,
four cruises back to back, toback to back.
The question I have for you,and it was absolutely
spectacular Do you ever gettired when traveling?
Mark Faldmo (19:59):
I don't get tired when traveling.
I love to travel.
Sometimes it can wear on me.
It was a physical.
Do you get physically tiredtraveling?
Patrick Wiscombe (20:04):
I love to travel.
Sometimes it can wear on me.
Okay, it was a physical.
Do you get physically tiredtraveling?
Mark Faldmo (20:08):
Yes, physically tired, you know.
A lot of times I'm travelingand it's for meetings or stuff
where I'm on a pretty strictschedule, but it does wear on me
, but I never get tired oftraveling.
Oh no, I agree, I can get tiredfrom traveling, but not tired
of traveling.
Patrick Wiscombe (20:26):
We got home late last night it was about 2
am and I was just excited tocome in and talk about
everything that we'd done onvacation.
But I'm finding that, as theadrenaline is starting to wear
off, I'm starting to go.
All right, Patrick, bring theenergy.
Bring the energy for the radioshow, because Patrick is pooped
right now.
Anyway, let's get to the hottravel deal of the week, always
(20:48):
in this segment, and this is thetext from Jessica.
She says she is considering atrip to Jamaica and wants to
know what there is to do there,and she texted 801-649-3700.
What should Jessica do whengoing to Jamaica?
Mark Faldmo (21:04):
There's lots of things to do in Jamaica and one
thing that I really like to dois climb Duns River Falls.
There are a lot of people thatsay, oh, it's too touristy.
I wouldn't do that, but Ireally enjoy Duns River Falls.
It is so beautiful and you dohike up this waterfall.
It's a great experience.
The next thing is Seven MileBeach.
(21:27):
There are several hotels thereand this is over in the Negril
area.
But one thing there is Rick'sCafé.
Rick's café, best place on theisland to watch the sunset, and
they also have cliff divers andyou know some interesting things
there.
But it's a great atmosphere,kind of great Jamaican laid-back
atmosphere.
Patrick Wiscombe (21:46):
Again, the best sunsets so is Dunn's rivers
fall also in Negril now DunnRiver Falls is in the Ocho Rios
area.
Mark Faldmo (21:52):
Oh, ocho Rios Okay, to go back to the beginning,
most people to vacation therewould fly into Montego Bay.
So Ocho Rios is about an hourfrom Montego Bay, negril is
about an hour from Montego Bayand those are kind of the three
places you would stay MontegoBay, Ocho Rios or Negril or
somewhere in between.
One of those Bob Marley toursGo to the Village of Nine Mile
(22:17):
where Bob Marley grew up.
Patrick Wiscombe (22:19):
He really is a tourist attraction to himself,
isn't he?
Yes, he is man.
He is celebrated in Jamaicalike nothing I've ever seen
before.
Mark Faldmo (22:28):
He is and it's a great history great part of
Jamaica.
Another thing you can do is theRose Hall Great House, which
has an interesting story behindus.
It's a plantation house.
You can go there in the eveningand have haunted tours.
The house is supposedly haunted, but it is a fun activity to do
.
My all-time favorite thing inJamaica is bamboo rafting.
(22:48):
We've talked about this before.
It's just so relaxing.
You sit on a bamboo raft, godown with a friendly guide that
explains things to you.
Probably one of the funestthings to do is Mystic Mountain,
which is the bobsled rollercoaster.
It goes down the mountain.
Jamaican bobsled team.
That's an important culturalpart of Jamaica.
Patrick Wiscombe (23:11):
You have done that right?
I think you have.
I have done that.
Yeah, I think you have.
I have done that.
Yeah, I don't know why I laughBobsledding in Jamaica.
That just blows my mind.
Mark Faldmo (23:19):
It's a fun thing to do James Bond tours also.
I do James Bond tours there.
That's where almost all of theJames Bond books were written.
It was in Jamaica.
There you can go to Goldeneye,which is the home that Ian
Fleming built where he wrotemost of those.
And then, as you know,everything comes back to food
for me.
Go to Scotchie's, which is ajerk chicken.
(23:41):
Get their platter.
That includes jerk chicken,smoked sausage festival and ting
Ting is like Fresca.
That's a famous drink there,okay.
Patrick Wiscombe (23:51):
So where is Scotchie'sotchies?
Because my son, Brandon isgoing to be there in I think
it's July of this year.
Where is Scotchies?
Mark Faldmo (23:58):
he's looking for some awesome jerk chicken, so
that's the best place for jerkchicken.
Patrick Wiscombe (24:03):
There's a Scotchies in Montego Bay and the
Scotchies in Ocho Rios anythingin Falmouth, Jamaica, because I
think that's where the cruiseship is going in that you
recommend.
That that's fairly close toOcho Rios, oh, okay and also
from there.
Mark Faldmo (24:12):
Um, that's where the cruise ship is going in that
you recommend.
That's fairly close to.
Patrick Wiscombe (24:14):
Ocho.
Ad Voice (24:15):
Rios, oh, okay.
Mark Faldmo (24:15):
And also from there .
That's actually where thebamboo rafting is, is very close
to there.
That I like to do, okay, andthen also you can do the Bob
Marley tours from there, the twothings in that area.
Patrick Wiscombe (24:30):
Go to Jamaica Such a great place, Jessica.
We will continue answering yourquestion.
We're just up against a breakright now.
To get your question on theradio or the podcast, call us
801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
(24:52):
And, as I mentioned, Jessica,we will answer your question.
I'll give you prices of how toget to Jamaica.
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show continues.
We've got the infamous JustCruising segment coming up.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend.
We will be right back.
Show Voice (25:14):
You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast
and radio show with PatrickWiscombe and Mark Faldmo,
presented by BluePlanetVacations.
com America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
That's 801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
(25:35):
com.
We'll be right back.
Ad Voice (25:43):
Inside Travel Talk is brought to you by Amar Waterways
.
From castles and capitals tovistas and villages.
Visit some of Europe's mostremarkable sites and cities To
set out on your own river cruisejourney.
Contact Blue Planet Vacationsat 888-718-7717 or
blueplanetvacations.
com.
Patrick Wiscombe (26:01):
Okay, we're back.
Thank you for listening to theInside Travel Talk podcast, a
radio show Coming up.
In the next 28 minutes, markand I will be talking about
Jamaica.
We'll be finishing up Jessica'squestions about what to do in
Jamaica booking shore excursions, very unique cruise itineraries
and the best reasons to use atravel advisor.
(26:23):
Let's get back to the show.
The Inside Travel Talk podcastand radio show presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com, contains travel deals,promotions and offers that may
be time sensitive.
All offers and information wereaccurate when the show aired
Travel deals andBluePlanetVacations.
com contains travel deals,promotions and offers that may
be time-sensitive.
All offers and information wereaccurate when the show aired.
Travel deals and offers changeconstantly and are
capacity-controlled and subjectto change without notice.
Show Voice (26:51):
This is the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio
show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show right now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
And now here are your hostsPatrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo
(27:13):
.
Patrick Wiscombe (27:23):
All aboard for the infamous Just Cruising
segment right here on the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show.
Hello there, hope you're havinga terrific weekend.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe,alongside Mark Faldmo.
It is time At the bottom of thehour.
Every single week, it's theinfamous Just Cruising segment
(27:47):
where we give you unique cruiseitineraries and we've definitely
got a doozy this week.
And we've also got the doozythis week and we've also got the
cruise deal of the week.
So, mark, let's finishJessica's questions about things
that she should do when she isin Jamaica and let's recap what
we've already talked about.
Mark Faldmo (28:06):
We talked about my favorite things to do in Jamaica
Dunn-Trover Falls, rick's Cafeand Seven Mile Beach, bob Marley
tours, bamboo rafting, JamesBond tours.
And then you have to go toScotchie's get some Jamaican
jerk chicken.
It's just a great experience toget that authentic Jamaican
jerk chicken.
Patrick Wiscombe (28:26):
Let's talk about the deal to go to Jamaica.
Let's start there.
Mark Faldmo (28:30):
This one is pretty close in for Caribbean vacations
, save up to $200 off, but itdoes have to be booked by April
30th next Wednesday, so it'sbooked pretty quick here.
Jessica did mention she wantedto go in the fall time, so I
looked at end of September.
This was the 18th of September.
For five nights.
This includes round-tripairfare from Salt Lake City and
(28:54):
five nights hotel.
One thing that's nice is weused to have to take an
overnight flight from Salt LakeCity, but now American Airlines
and United Airlines both haveflights where you can get to
Jamaica on the same day.
This is on American AirlinesNow.
That flight does leave at 5.30AM, so you have to be there
pretty early, but you don't haveto take an overnight flight.
(29:17):
I chose two hotels in Jamaica.
I would recommend a four orfive star hotel.
I won't go any lower qualitythan that.
The first hotel called theIberostar Waves Rose Hall Beach,
which is right near Montego Bay.
Round-trip airfare from SaltLake City, five nights hotel and
transfers between the airportand hotel starts at $1,299 per
(29:42):
person.
How many days?
Patrick Wiscombe (29:44):
Six days five nights so $1,299.
Mark Faldmo (29:47):
And the second hotel I'd recommend.
It's called the Hideaway atRoyalton Blue Waters.
This is a five-star hotel andit's right in between Montego
Bay and Ocho Rios.
About 45 minutes from theairport is where this one is
located, and the price on thatone is $1,459 per person.
(30:11):
And these are some really goodprices for Jamaica.
Yeah, they are.
Jamaica is one of my favoriteCaribbean islands to visit.
When I visited it by cruise, Idid not like Jamaica, but when I
actually visited it by land, Ilove Jamaica and I want to go
back as much as I can.
Patrick Wiscombe (30:29):
Jessica, call Mark in his office when you're
ready to book or if you haveadditional questions.
The office phone number is888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.
Let's get to Seth's question.
By the way, if you have travelrelated questions, call or text
(30:50):
the studio 801-649-3700,801-649-3700 to ask or text your
travel related question.
Seth, I thought this was prettyfunny.
He is challenging you to findthe most unique cruise itinerary
.
I know this is short notice.
(31:12):
What?
Mark Faldmo (31:13):
did you find?
So I found three itineraries.
These are all on HollandAmerica.
This cruise is round trip FortLauderdale and it's an Amazon
River cruise.
So it goes down, it does kindof a Southern Caribbean cruise,
then goes down and cruises upthe Amazon River to Manaus and
(31:34):
then does a little bit moreSouthern Caribbean before
returning to Fort Lauderdale.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:40):
How many days is?
Mark Faldmo (31:41):
that it's a 30-day cruise, very interesting.
Oh yeah, that one is November21st of this year and it starts
at $4,599 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:55):
I want to go sail the Amazon.
I think that would be amazing.
Mark Faldmo (31:59):
Yeah, I think that would be amazing as well.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:01):
What else did you find?
I was kind of surprised youfound three yeah.
Mark Faldmo (32:06):
So well, and this is one that I like.
This one a little bit closer tohome.
It's a 12-day Mexican Rivieracruise and Sea of Cortez cruise.
It's round-trip San Diego, soit goes down, it does your Cabo
San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta,Mazatlan, but then it sails up
into the Sea of Cortez.
(32:26):
It's La Paz, Laredo, Guaymas,probably my favorite port, just
because I like saying itTopolobombo, Topolobombo.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:36):
Topolobombo.
Mark Faldmo (32:37):
That's actually right near where the stories of
Zorro were based on.
That's where that person wasborn, in Topolobombo.
That one is February of nextyear.
Inside Cabin starts at $16.69per person and the Balcony Cabin
starts at $16.69 per person anda balcony cabin starts at
$22.69.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:57):
What ship is this on the Holland America?
Which one?
Mark Faldmo (32:59):
Zoeterdam.
Patrick Wiscombe (33:00):
Okay, zuitterdam, yeah, okay, I got to
ask what's the third one then.
Mark Faldmo (33:06):
So the third one.
This is 130 day round trip FortLauderdale.
I'm not going to go over thewhole itinerary, I'm just kind
of the regions it visits, but itstarts Fort Lauderdale.
I'm not going to go over thewhole itinerary, just kind of
the regions it visits, but itstarts in Fort Lauderdale,
cruises down the east coast ofSouth America, visits Ushuaia,
Antarctica.
Yeah, we're going south thenway south yeah.
(33:28):
Okay.
Then through the Strait ofMagellan up to Santiago, Chile,
and then sails across thePacific, hits Easter Island,
hits Tahiti, hits Auckland, hitsSydney, and then cruises up the
north coast of Australia toSingapore and then visits
Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan,Tokyo, a few other ports in
(33:53):
Japan, and then sails across toKodiak, Alaska, does a full
Alaska cruise, does a fullMexican Riviera cruise, sails
through the Panama Canal andends back in Fort Lauderdale.
130 days, 130 days, Wow.
But you can take that and docertain segments of that.
(34:15):
You don't have to do the whole130 days, but it is quite the
itinerary.
Patrick Wiscombe (34:21):
That is absolutely spectacular.
I would do that in a second.
Mark Faldmo (34:27):
Yes, you're right.
Patrick Wiscombe (34:28):
Those are some crazy places to visit.
Which ship is that on Mark?
So that's on the HollandAmerica Voland Dam.
That is absolutely spectacular.
Sign me up because I can do theradio show from the deck of the
Zoider Dam.
Is that what you said?
Mark Faldmo (34:47):
Yes, the Voland dam .
Patrick Wiscombe (34:48):
Oh, the Voland Dam I'm sorry yeah.
Seth, I think challenge acceptedand I think Mark absolutely
slayed it.
If you have a travel-relatedquestion, text us.
We want you to be part of theshow.
We want to answer yourquestions.
801-649-3700.
(35:09):
801-649-3700.
That is the studio in the textline.
If you want to book thevacation, I'm going to give you
a separate number here888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
And of course, you can alwaysgo to blueplanetvacations.
com.
(35:30):
When we come back we'll wrap upthe show.
We've got Mark's travel tipsand we are going to talk about
the benefits of using a travelagent or a travel advisor.
That is next when the insidetravel talk podcast or radio
show continues.
Alongside my good friend MarkFaldmo, my name is Patrick
(35:51):
Wiscombe.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend.
We will be right back.
Show Voice (35:57):
Explore your world.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show with Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
That's 801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
We'll be right back.
Ad Voice (36:20):
This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by
Star Clippers.
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authentic tall ship sailingexperiences.
Featuring creative itinerariesthroughout the Mediterranean
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(36:47):
contact Blue Planet.
Show Voice (36:48):
Vacations at 888-718-7717 or
blueplanetvacations.
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They'll help you plan and bookyour next vacation.
Yeah, really, you're listeningto the Inside Travel Talk
podcast and radio show presentedby BluePlanetVacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
(37:11):
801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
And now here's Patrick Wiscombeand Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe (37:23):
Literally been on the road for the last 30
days.
Mark, it's good to be home.
I love traveling, but I think Ineed a break after 30 days on
the road.
Yep, you know, 30 days can belong.
What is the longest trip thatyou and Heather or just you, you
(37:43):
know, because this is yourbusiness what's the longest trip
you've ever been on before I?
Mark Faldmo (37:49):
think the longest I've been gone is 19 days, so
not too terribly long.
Well, I guess that's long, but19 days is the longest I've been
gone.
That was the trip where we flewto Tahiti, stayed there a few
days and then we took theMarquesas Islands cruise.
Patrick Wiscombe (38:08):
Oh, the ship.
Mark Faldmo (38:09):
Yeah, when we got off that cruise, our flight was
actually canceled, so we spenttwo extra days in Tahiti.
I didn't complain, but it didmake for a long trip.
Patrick Wiscombe (38:19):
Was that the Aranui 5,?
The ship that's half freighter,half cruise line?
Yes, the Aranui 5.
Mark Faldmo (38:25):
Just since you brought it up, I just want to
say anyone that is interested inthat in the container ship
freighter ship cruising.
There's a great blog on theBlue planet website about the
Aranui 5.
It is probably the most uniquething I've ever done and
probably the most memorablething I've ever done you have
referenced that for the lastyear and a half.
Patrick Wiscombe (38:44):
Now I can finally put it in context,
because it was one of the firstthings that we ever discussed,
and now it's like oh, now I getwhy he keeps coming back to that
.
It was an amazing experience.
You are listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast, a radio
show.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
That is the voice of MarkFaldmo.
We are finally broadcastingtogether in the studio here in
(39:07):
Salt Lake City.
It's good to be home Coming up.
In this segment of the show weare talking about Mark's travel
tips.
We get a big response to thisshow, generally speaking anyway,
but I've noticed a real trendthat when we do your travel tips
the last segment of the show itseems to really resonate with
customers.
(39:27):
I found an article of why youshould use a travel agent.
Now, this is going to sound alittle bit self-serving.
It is not.
I subscribed to an email calledthe Points Guy and he
accumulates credit cardinformation, how to maximize
your miles, et cetera.
But he also has some reallygood travel tips, and one of the
things that we wanted to talkabout is why use a travel
(39:48):
advisor?
So let's start there.
Mark Faldmo (39:51):
One of the things that he says is you should use a
travel advisor for yourvacations.
He lists several reasons whyI've included a lot of these
that he talked about on the list, as well as some of my own.
The first thing that I'm oftenasked is how do travel agents
get paid?
Does it cost me more to use atravel agent?
Patrick Wiscombe (40:12):
I've even asked you that question, but
let's go in depth on this.
How do you get paid Travel?
Mark Faldmo (40:17):
agents are generally paid by commissions
from the suppliers, from thecruise lines, from the different
things that we sell.
People say does it cost me more?
It doesn't.
For a cruise, what you see onthe cruise lines website is the
same price that I would sell itfor as a travel agent.
With a few exceptions thatwe've talked about, I may have a
(40:39):
better price than what's on theairline's website If I have a
group or there's somethingspecial that's offered to the
membership of agencies that Ibelong to, but generally the
price is the same.
I've heard even travel agentsexplain you're paying for it
anyway.
If you book it yourself, you'restill paying the travel agent
fee or the cruise line just getsto keep it.
Patrick Wiscombe (41:00):
Well, I'm going to take it a step further.
You have access to more roomsand you have access to better
deals.
Is that fair to say?
Mark Faldmo (41:08):
Generally speaking, yes, so the group that I'm a
part of.
They go in and reserve groupspace and in most cases they get
advanced notice.
So these are reserved beforethe ships even go on sale to the
general public.
So they're the best price and Ican sell into those groups
(41:28):
which, depending on when you'relooking, can be several hundred
dollars lower than what thecruise line is selling it.
For Cruise lines generally, astime goes on they generally
increase their prices.
So with these groups I get ineven before they are on sale to
the general public and haveaccess to sell that space.
There are some fees that travelagents do charge and I should
explain those.
(41:48):
First thing is on airlinetickets.
Airlines are the one thing thatthey do not pay a travel
advisor, so most agencies willcharge a ticketing fee just for
their time.
Patrick Wiscombe (41:59):
If you have multiple people, you've got to
get all their information, alltheir documents.
You've got to do everything andit can be time consuming.
Mark Faldmo (42:06):
It definitely can be time consuming.
And then also, a lot of travelagencies do charge a.
They either called it a plan togo or a good faith deposit.
If someone's calling forsomething pretty complicated,
they'll charge this deposit, butit will be applied to the cost
of your trip.
In many cases Travel can becomplex.
(42:27):
A lot of people are intimidatedby the complexity, so they'll
go to a travel agent.
They'll have the travel agentplan it out and then, once it's
all been figured out, they won'tuse the travel agent.
They will go just book it ontheir own once everything has
been explained to them.
Patrick Wiscombe (42:42):
That's pretty slimy, honestly.
Mark Faldmo (42:44):
That is so, yeah, so a lot of travel agents do
charge that plan to go or goodfaith deposit, which in most
cases is applied to the cost oftheir trip.
So it still doesn't cost youany more, even if that fee is
charged in advance.
Now, on some very complex tripswe will charge a fee, but if
(43:05):
it's a very complex trip, thatfee is well worth it to get the
trip that you want and need.
Patrick Wiscombe (43:11):
What a lot of people don't know is how you got
into the travel industry.
How did you get started?
Mark Faldmo (43:18):
I'm actually third generation in the travel
industry.
I grew up in the industry,everything from mowing the lawn
at my grandparents' agency tosorting through brochures, to
eventually delivering airlinetickets back when there were
paper airline tickets.
Patrick Wiscombe (43:36):
You literally drove them to people's houses,
to people's houses and tobusinesses.
Mark Faldmo (43:41):
Yeah, wow, that goes back a ways, then that does
so, and that's one thing Ifound with many of my colleagues
in the travel industry.
Many of them have deep-rootedconnections to the industry,
almost more than a love oftravel, because a lot of people
have the love of travel.
But really being a travel agentor being a good travel agent,
(44:02):
is more than just that love oftravel.
Patrick Wiscombe (44:05):
You have to have a love of logistics too.
Mark Faldmo (44:08):
Of logistics.
And one thing I've been in theindustry for a long time.
I've interviewed a lot ofpotential travel agents.
There are some people that sayI just want to be a travel agent
because I get to travel and Iget to do it for cheap or free.
Patrick Wiscombe (44:24):
Which is true, but that's a fraction of what
you do.
Mark Faldmo (44:27):
Yeah, and we've hired some that have that.
Most of them with that mindsetdon't work.
You really have to have a lovefor destinations, a love for,
like you said, logistics, kindof have pride in what you want
to do.
It's not all about travel.
I've been lucky.
I have been able to travel tosome pretty interesting things.
(44:48):
Yeah, my goal, which is thetagline of Blue Planet Vacations
, of explore your world, Ireally want to help people get
out there to make thoseconnections to different
cultures, different countries.
That's my passion.
Patrick Wiscombe (45:02):
That also comes through education.
You have to stay up on things.
Mark Faldmo (45:05):
Yeah, being a travel advisor, travel agent
there's a lot of education.
A good travel agent will putthemselves through these
different training programs.
I was just talking to someonewho's a potential agent for me
the other day and when I saidwell, you're going to have to
learn 20 or 30 different bookingsystems because every entity
(45:27):
has its own booking system thatyou have to book through.
That's kind of one thing thatI've been frustrated with as a
travel advisor is there's somuch out there that could be
consolidated.
That's not really consolidated.
Committing to be a travel agentyou have to be a lifelong
learner.
Everything's changing, there'slots of systems and there are
(45:47):
some agencies and some agentsthat really specialize in key
destinations.
So finding the right traveladvisor for consumers is
important and in our area herein Salt Lake, there are lots of
great travel advisors.
So I obviously would likeeveryone to book through Blue
Planet Vacations through me,through my agents.
But just book your vacationsthrough a travel advisor.
(46:12):
Advocates of experiences, nottransactions, Because you can go
online, do a transactionalthing, buy a trip but travel
advisors really advocate forexperiences and, as we've talked
about better value, while priceis important, I think good
travel advisor will really helpyou get a better experience in
(46:35):
travel, and we're always workingto get you the best price, but
also get you the best price forthe money paid.
One thing that we've talkedabout on this show a lot is a
lot of the experiential journeys.
There's lots out there.
There are a lot of ways you cando this, and putting it all
together is what a good traveladvisor will do.
Patrick Wiscombe (46:56):
That's what you've done for me.
You have recommended thingsthat I hadn't even considered
that we ended up doing, and I'vetold you numerous times
throughout the last year and ahalf.
But really, you know, I'veknown you for quite a while, but
since we started doing the show, you've pointed us in
directions that I've always said, man, I'm glad we did that.
Mark Faldmo (47:14):
I guess if I could do kind of the five bullet
points of a travel advisor.
Yeah, One is personalizeditineraries.
Work really hard to make surethat your experiences are
tailored towards your individualpreferences and that you have a
unique journey.
The second thing is expertknowledge.
A good travel advisor does havethat extensive destination
(47:36):
expertise and supplier expertise.
Not all products are right forall people, so we can really
help guide you in that.
Time-saving travel advisorsreally help people save time.
It probably was about a yearago.
We talked about a neighbor ofmy father where he said he put
in I think it was like about 20or 25 hours of research on this
(47:58):
trip.
I remember this and my dadlooked at it and said I could
have put all of that togetherfor you, had it back to you in
about an hour Because it wasIreland, which is one of my
father's favorite destinationsthat he really knows about, and
the person eventually camethrough to basically everything
my dad would have recommended,but he spent that 20 plus hours
(48:20):
researching that.
The last thing and I think it'sone of the more important things
is problem solvers.
Travel advisors are greatproblem solvers, not only to
help you find the trip that fitsyour needs but, as we all know,
travel doesn't always go asexpected.
Having a travel advisor on yourside can really help get you
(48:44):
through those things.
We can't always fix it, but alot of times we have access to
special numbers and specialpeople at cruise lines and
airlines and different thingswhere we can help fix those
things and get things right.
Patrick Wiscombe (48:59):
Access to help solve the problem.
Or I would even take it a stepfurther, mark what to expect if
something goes wrong and talkyou through it.
Yes, mark has helped me numeroustimes, as I've mentioned here,
but it really I've mentioned itmany times over the past year
and a half.
Take advantage of Mark'sexperience Book with him.
(49:21):
He will stand by you as youtravel.
I've called him numerous times,not only as a friend, but just
say hey, listen, such and suchis happening to me right now how
should I handle it?
And he's always been there.
If you want to take advantageof any of the offers that we've
made during this week's show,call Mark in his office,
(49:42):
888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
We'll have everything posted onblueplanetvacations.
com.
You can listen to the InsideTravel talk podcast and radio
show tomorrow morning.
We're on every Saturday andSunday morning at 11 am mountain
(50:05):
time, right here on this radiostation and around the country.
Plus, you can stream, downloadand subscribe to the podcast at
inside travel talk dot com.
And if you're a podcastsubscriber, we're on all of the
major podcast platforms.
Just do a search for InsideTravel Talk.
That's it.
We're done.
(50:25):
It's your turn.
Get out and explore the worldwhile you can, because you never
know what curveball's life isgoing to throw at you.
Live your life deliberately.
Live your life, lifeintentionally, and thank you so
much for listening.
We really don't have a show.
We don't have a businesswithout you.
Thank you for allowing us to bein your ears each and every
(50:47):
Saturday and Sunday.
Have a great week.
We'll talk to you again nextweek that's it.
Show Voice (50:54):
That's the end of the show You've been listening
to the Inside Travel Talkpodcast and radio show with
Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com.
Book your adventure right now.
Call 888-718-7717.
That's 888-718-7717.
Ad Voice (51:31):
Thanks for listening.
Have a great week.
Their travel insurance planscan help protect you and your
vacation.
Travelex is known for theiraward-winning customer service
and high claims paid rate.
Contact Blue Planet Vacationsat 888-718-7717 or
blueplanetvacations.
com for more information.
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