Captivating Cruises: Canada's Fall Foliage, Mexico's Ancient Marvels & Mekong River Cruise

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Patrick Wiscombe (00:00):
It is the weekend, which means it's time
to talk travel.
Welcome to the Inside TravelTalk podcast and radio show
Coming up.
On today's show, mark and Iwill be talking about Canada and
New England cruises, MekongRiver cruises and Cancun
all-inclusive vacations.
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 (00:58):
This is the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio
show with Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo, presented by
com America's best traveladvisors.
Call the show right now801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
And now your hosts, PatrickWiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

It is time to talk travel.
Welcome to the Inside TravelTalk podcast and radio show.
Hello there, I'm PatrickWiscombe.
Mark Faldmo will be in thestudio here in just a second.
Thank you so much for takingthe time to stop and listen and,
if you are brand new to theshow or you've been listening to

(01:40):
the show for the last year anda half, the entire purpose of
this show is to help you planand book your next vacation.
And if you don't know where togo, our job is very, very simple
is to give you ideas of whereto go next, and this show is
presented by blueplanetvacations.
com.
And let me bring in my co-hostand good friend, mark Faldmo.

(02:03):
I haven't talked to you allweek.
How are you doing?
I'm doing pretty good.
We're going to talk aboutCanada and New England cruises,
and I think we may have reallytouched a nerve with listeners
last week because that seemed tobe the call and text highlight
of last week's show.

Mark Faldmo (02:18):
We just mentioned it in passing.
Last week it was one of the topfive cruise deals we mentioned
and I got lots of calls on itand a few questions.

So we are going to talk extensively about
Canada and New England cruises.
This is during the fall Becauseof the NFL's big game.
Last Sunday we called MSCCruises' Laura Okonowski to talk
about MSC's promotions that arecoming out, so they had their
commercial in the second blockof the first quarter of

(02:47):
commercials.
They did a big reveal on MSCWorld America with Orlando Bloom
and Drew Barrymore.
I thought that was actually apretty good choice.

It was.
That was a great commercial.

But before we get there, let's get to the
travel news headlines.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings,so NCL, has just confirmed that
they are placing amulti-billion dollar order for
four new ships.

This is an order for four mega ships worth more
than $9 billion.
These ships are going to be thelargest ever They'll sell in
the Norwegian Cruise Line brand.
For Norwegian Cruise Lineholding There'll be 226,000
gross tons, which is larger thanthe Icon of the Seas that we've

(03:34):
been talking about this year.
I'm sure Royal Caribbean willprobably announce a larger ship
after that, because Norwegianand Royal Caribbean go after
similar clientele, kind of oneup each other.
Norwegian has always been theinnovator in the cruise industry
.
They were first with theprivate island.
They were really the first tostart Caribbean cruises, their

(03:58):
freestyle dining, which is theanytime dining.
They were the first with that.
All the other cruise lines saidit would never work, and now
everybody does anytime dining.
They were the first with that.
All the other cruise lines saidit would never work, and now
everybody does anytime dining.

Ad Voice (04:08):
And.

Norwegian was the first in some of the
entertainment things theybrought on the Blue man Group,
which was kind of the firstmainline Broadway-ish type show
on a cruise ship.
It'll be interesting to seewhat they do with these four new
ships.

Did they announce a time when they're
coming out?

Yes, the first ship will come out in 2030 and then
they'll come out every two yearsafter 2030.

Okay, so we got a little time here.

Yeah, we've got five years or so.
I'm sure it takes a long timeto build a ship that size.

You and I have been down to Florida multiple
times and we've seen Icon of theSeas.
Last year in person, I thinkyou saw it more than I did.
I saw it once with you and Iwas like good grief, how much
larger could they?

make these ships At some point.
They can't get much larger,although we did talk about two
or three weeks ago where RoyalCaribbean is actually building
some smaller ships, yeah, sothat's a little bit against this
trend, but it will certainly beinteresting.

Makes me wonder if it'll be the NCL
behemoth.
What's bigger than Icon.
Good grief, Royal Caribbean.
They're creating an uneatenfood initiative.
What is that initiative?

It's a goal to reduce food waste by 50%.
Cruise Lines first starteddoing this by adding, for
instance, charging a roomservice delivery fee.
They found that room servicewas a big part of food waste.
They found people would ordereverything off the menu and then
most of it would get sent outin the hall after.

(05:38):
People just wouldn't eat it.
So that's where it firststarted, but now they're doing
things.
It's called microwave-assistedpyrolysis.
It's a system basicallyconverting food waste into
energy to be used for the ship,and then the waste that comes
that's left out of that is justsold back on land as topsoil or

(06:07):
as a soil nutrient, I should say.
So they're now integrating AIinto this system to figure out
how much to make at buffets andwhen to make it really trying to
eliminate the food waste.
It was estimated once that thefood waste Royal Caribbean put
out in a year could fill like 25Olympic swimming pools.
So they did reduce it by about30% in 2023.

(06:30):
And now they're even trying toget that number reduced by
another 50%.

Anyone who's been listening to this show for
the past year and a half knowsthat we are big train people and
you found a sleeper train inEurope that has a good value.
Now, this is not thedestination of the week.
This is just a news story.
What are the details?

The name of the train.
It's just called the EuropeanSleeper, but it goes between
Brussels and Prague, with mainstops in Amsterdam and Berlin,
but it has stops in between.
It runs three times per weekand this is a great way to get
around Europe.
They also have a winter train,and this is mainly to get to the
ski destinations.

(07:11):
That runs between Brussels andVenice with stops in Cologne,
Germany, and Innsbruck, Austria,again with stops in between.
What I found interesting aboutthis is the price.
You can go from Brussels toPrague.
Price on that starts at $109,which is a very good price to go
that distance.
They have three different levelsof service.

(07:32):
Everything's in a cabin, sothey have cabins with six seats
in them.
So it's $109 per person, andyou're just by one of those six
seats.
They have couchettes which alsohold three people.

And these are private rooms.

These are private rooms.
Oh, interesting.
Okay, I guess you could buy oneout and make it private.
Yeah, I guess you could.
If you just buy a seat, you'lljust have five other people in
the cabin with you.
And then they have couchettes,which there are six seats in
there, and then those seats turn, fold down into two beds, and
then there's three other kind offold-out beds that fold out

(08:06):
from the walls so it sleeps sixpeople.
And then there's actual sleepercars that have three seats and
three beds.
You could buy out a fullsleeper car for about $600.
That's just an alternative wayto get around parts of Europe.

So I guess you could say you could sleep with
strangers, yeah.

I would just buy out the sleeper car.

I'm like well.
I like getting to know people,but that's, let's go to our
trade car.
No thanks.
Always in this first segment ofthe show is the destination of
the week and, as I mentionedright at the very start of the
broadcast, that Mark received atext from one of the week and,
as I mentioned right at the verystart of the broadcast, that
Mark received a text from one ofour listeners.
Let me give out the studio andthe text number 801-649-3700,

(08:53):
801-649-3700, if you have atravel related question.
So Mark, not Mark Faldmo, but adifferent Mark phone number
ending in 1382.
He said in his text he'slooking for a New England and
Canada cruise.
I know you can't predictweather and fall colors, but

(09:14):
what part of October would beprime fall colors in your
opinion, and when would justsimply be too late?
First of, all.

let's talk about the cruise.
There are two main ways you cando Canada and New England.
The first is round trip, wheremost of the cruises leave round
trip either New York or Boston.
There's some that leave fromother ports, but that's probably
the most common way.
And then the other way to do itis one-way cruises, so similar

(09:43):
to Alaska where there's one-waycruises, Canada, new England,
also has one-way cruises whereyou cruise either between New
York and Boston and Quebec.
Canada Fall colors, as we'vetalked about a few times on the
show.
It's always hard to projectwhen the peak is.
Traditionally the second weekof October, for where the

(10:04):
cruises go is one of the betterweeks to go.
This year the peak day wasOctober 2nd.
Last year the peak date was thelast week in September and so
if you want to go and try andcatch the fall colors, I
probably would say the last weekof September, first week of
October, are going to be yourbest bet.

So that begs the question.
If we're talking about the lastweek of September, first week
of October, probably your bestbet, the round trip Boston, what
is the price?
And then let's get to the othertwo.

I looked for this coming October.
The very best price I found wason a seven-day round trip
Boston Goes Boston, Portland,Maine, St John, Halifax and
Sydney, nova Scotia, back toBoston.
The very best price was October26th.
Okay, so a little later, alittle bit later, a balcony
cabin on that started at $1,267.

(11:00):
Now, by contrast, if you movethat to October 5th, a balcony
cabin is $1,693.
So it is, what's that about?
$400, $500?

Well, the difference might be $400.
You might have a completelydifferent experience, different
experience, $400, lessexperience if you go late.
What company and what ship?
So?

that's on the Brilliance of the Seas by Royal
Caribbean.

Okay, All right, okay, let's talk about
Quebec to Boston, then this isthe one way.

Yeah, the one way Quebec to Boston.
This is on Holland America.
It's on the Zuerdiderdam, thatone.
A balcony starts at $1824 andthis is October 11th.
An inside cabin on that, by theway, is pretty good at 1,064.

Yeah okay.

But one thing that's nice about this Quebec
City and then cruising up the StLawrence River, the St Lawrence
Gulf Ever since I saw the Huntfor Red October, I've always
wanted to do that Then thatending scene of the Hunt for Red
October.
So one of these days I'll getto do this.

Sean Connery not included.

Not included.

Yeah.

And then Charlottetown, which is on
Prince Edward Island for thosefans of Anne of Green Gables, oh
, that's your stop for that.
Then Sydney, nova Scotia,Halifax, Portland, Maine, and
then ends in Boston.
That's pretty good.
That probably would be thecruise that I choose.

And who's that on?
Oh, that was.

Holland.

America, Holland America.
Okay, by the way, I was lookingat the Holland America
Rotterdam, that vessel, dude,that's a nice ship, yes.

Wow, Holland America has some nice ship.

And then, lastly, let's do the
repositioning cruise.
Where's this coming from andwhere does it?

end.
I just stumbled upon this.
This is on Virgin Voyages andit goes Quebec to Miami, so
they're moving the ship fromthat Canada New England down to
Miami.
This is a 13 day cruise.
Balcony cabin is $1653.

Ad Voice (12:55):
Whoa.

So pretty good price for a balcony cabin.
And it stops Quebec, Halifax,St John, Eastport, boson, and
then it does stop in Charleston,south Carolina, which is an
interesting port.

And then it ends in Miami and that's pretty
good.
If you've never heard this showbefore and you've always
wondered, how do I score a greatdeal.
Repositioning cruises,generally speaking, most of the
time, are the best bang for thebuck period.

If you look at that 13-day cruises, that's less
than the previous two seven-daycruises that we talked about.

What were the dates on that one, the
repositioning cruise?

That one leaves on October 3rd from Quebec.

Okay, all right, so you're going to catch
those colors.
That's going to be perfect then, or real close to perfect.
Take advantage of thisparticular offer and Mark, call
Mark Faldmo to book that.
Call him in his office,888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.

(13:58):
Just call him during the break.
There's no obligation to book,but just get the conversation
started.
This is going to be one ofthose things where you get a
bill and you go, ah, do I wantto spend that much?
I'm telling you, if you just doit, you'll come back with a
lifetime of memories and alwaysa point that you can reflect for
the rest of your life.

(14:18):
You will not be disappointed.
888-718-7717 is the number toget a hold of Mark or
blueplanetvacations.
com.
When we come back.
We've got the hot travel dealof the week and we've got the
most impressive pyramids tovisit in Mexico and we've got
the hot travel deal of the weekwe're going to Cancun,

(14:40):
all-inclusive vacations.
Stick around.
Thanks for listening, mark andI will be right back.

Show Voice (14:51):
If you have travel questions, they have the answers
.
We'll be right now.
801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
We'll be right back.

Ad Voice (15:17):
This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by El
Dorado Spa Resorts.
Escape to Cancun's Riviera Mayawith authentic all-inclusive

(15:38):
luxury at an El Dorado sparesort.
To book your romantic beachgetaway, contact Blue Planet.

Show Voice (15:41):
Vacations at 888-718-7717 or
com.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.

(16:04):
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
Here's Patrick and Mark.

I think the music is a dead giveaway where
we're headed Mexico.
Welcome back to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show.
Hello there, I'm PatrickWiscombe alongside Mark Faldmo.
Thank you so much for allowingthis to be part of your weekend
Coming up in this segment, we'retalking about all-inclusive

(16:38):
vacations to Cancun.
But let's first get to thetravel news headlines.
Hyatt is going to purchasePlaya Hotel and Resorts by the
end of 2025.
That kind of surprised me.

They've had quite a long partnership, actually
because Hyatt Hotels wanted toget into the all-inclusive
business but didn't necessarilywant to open up their own brands
, and so they contracted withPlaya Hotels and Resorts.
They created the Hyatt Zivabrand, which we've talked about
several times on this show.

(17:13):
One of my favorite hotel brandswas Playa Resorts, and now
Hyatt is going to fully acquirethe company and incorporate it
into their brand.
A few years ago, Hyatt alsobought ALG, which was then AM
Resorts, which is Secrets ohSecrets, yeah.
The then AM Resorts, which isSecrets oh Secret, yeah, the
Secrets Resorts, secrets.
And those brands.

(17:33):
And so Hyatt already does ownsome all-inclusive in its
portfolio, but now they areacquiring Playa Resorts.
I think this will be a goodmove.
Marriott has done the samething.
In fact, one of Playa Resortshotels in Dominican Republic is
an autograph collection byMarriott, so I don't know what's
going to happen with that, butMarriott has now taken a similar

(17:55):
path in contracting out to dosome other all-inclusive brands.
But I think Marriott is nowalso going to start opening up
their own all-inclusive resortsoon.

You, Mark, were instrumental in helping me
get my global entry pass.
There's a little lesser knownperk to having a global entry
pass.
What is it?

I just learned about.
The global entry will give youexpedited entry into Australia
and New Zealand, with morecountries to come soon.

So getting into Australia and New Zealand
is the perk.

Yes, so you'll get to go into a special line?
Yes, it would be a global entryline, like you would if you're
coming back to the US, so you'llget that expedited screening
and not have to wait in thoselong lines at the international
airports.

Oh man, what a pain in the tuchus.
Yes, Some of those lines arepretty bad too.

They can be.
I just saw actually one of myfriends going to Cancun, which
we're talking about here in aminute.
He landed just at the wrongtime, took him two hours and 30
minutes to get through customsat the Cancun airport Yikes.

And I'm going to assume that he didn't have a
global entry pass, correct?

Which global entry doesn't work in Mexico, but if
you travel there a lot, they dohave a similar program that US
citizens can buy.
That does get you to anexpedited line.

True story.
So let's rewind the clock about10 months ago.
You and I are in FortLauderdale.
We were actually in Palm Beach.
Okay, yeah, so Palm Beach.
Mark and I had just gotten offa ship in Palm Beach and he had
global entry, and this wasbefore I had global entry
basically escorted him to thefront of the line because he had
global entry and Patrick didnot, and Patrick had to wait

(19:41):
quite a while a long while I hadtime to go to the airport, get
a rental car, and you had justgotten out by the time I got
back from getting the rental car.

Yeah, that was the right call.

Yeah, let's talk about the most impressive
pyramids to visit in Mexico.
First of all, I did not realizehow many pyramids there really
were, so let's talk about thebest ones.

This is one of the questions I get quite a bit what
are the best ones to visit andwhere to visit what you just
stated?
You were surprised at how manythere are.
Actually, the answer is nobodyknows, because any hill in the
Yucatan is probably a peninsulaor is probably a pyramid and it
has not been discovered yet.
And so there are probably lotsand lots of pyramids in Mexico.

Nobody knows Nobody knows.

Yeah, wow, they're all over the country.
Probably the most known one isChichen Itza.
Yeah, that's the one thateveryone wants to visit.
It's very impressive.
It's main pyramid, it's a sitethat's been completely unearthed
from Cancun.
It's about a two to three hourdrive from the city of Cancun to

(20:50):
get out to Chichen Itza.
You're driving from Cancun,which is on the east side of the
Yucatan, and you drive aboutthree quarters of the way across
the Yucatan to get to ChichenItza.

All right, so you're going for a drive.

Yeah, if you continue further, you'd get on
to the city of Merida, which isanother big city there.

Are there other pyramids that you've been
to that are pretty impressive.

Coba is one that's probably my favorite pyramid and
it is south of Cancun, so youwould drive about three hours
south of Cancun to get to Coba.
We've talked about Tulum before, which is about two hours or so
now south of Cancun.
Those are kind of the ones thatif you're visiting Cancun that

(21:33):
you would want to try and visit.
So there's kind of a tight-ishgroup there.
There is.

Yeah.

And I actually have a guide in Cancun that will do.
It's a several-day tour, butyou'll kind of do a circle
Yucatan and you'll see all ofthe archaeological sites that
are around there.
And there's so many, I meanmore than what we've said here.
Another one that's kind of easyfor tourists to get to is
Teotihuacan, which is in MexicoCity.

(22:01):
I remember flying in MexicoCity, flying right over that.
It's a quite impressive site.

Just because I have never been to pyramids.
Once you've seen a pyramid, isit?
Once you've seen one you'vekind of seen them all, or do
they?

vary.
You know, I think they varyfrom location to location.
They're all unique.
They all have different things,maybe different stories and
different stories as well.
For instance, there's a pyramidin Veracruz, which is also on
the Gulf of Mexico, halfwaybetween Merida and Texas, called
El Tajin, and I think that's aninteresting name because Tajin

(22:36):
kind of sounds Asian.

Yeah, that's what.

I thought, this looks like an Asian temple Going
back to when we were talkingabout Uxmal.
It's a very steep, verydifferent design than, say,
Chichen Itza is, and so I thinkyou could spend the week seeing
different archaeological sitesand have a great time.

Since we're talking about pyramids and
visiting Mexico, that naturallyleads into the hot travel deal
of the week, which is Cancunall-inclusive vacations.
What promotion or offer do wehave for listeners this week?

Our promotion this week is Cancun.
Well, it's all of Mexico, butwe're talking about Cancun in
this segment.
So save up to $300 onall-inclusive vacation packages.
And something that I've noticedthe last two or three weeks is
some of the five-star hotelshave really come down in price,

(23:32):
and so I think it might be thetime of year that I'm looking,
which is May, so this is a May8th departure date.
This was the very best datewhen I searched, which was a May
8th departure, where thefive-star hotels were such a
good deal.
I thought we'd highlight those,and the first one is the
Catalonia Yucatan Beach, and itstarts at $1169 per person.

(23:54):
So that's round-trip airfarefrom Salt Lake City, five nights
hotel and transfers between theairport and hotel.
And then another five-star isthe Margaritaville Island
Reserve.

Now, is this tied in with Jimmy Buffett?
It is.
Is this the Margaritaville?

Yeah, Margaritaville, I've stayed at
this one.

It's a fabulous hotel and it starts at
$1569 per person.
Knowing you, you don't throwout those compliments all the
time.
When you say it's a spectacularplace, you mean it I really
like the feeling of theMargaritaville Resort.

They just have Jimmy Buffett relaxed feeling,
but it's still upscale, and sothat's what I like about that.
And then we'll throw in onemore, which is the El Dorado
Seaside Palms, which starts at$1599.
Yeah, that's one of yourfavorites, that is one of my
go-tos, and I'll just say theMargaritaville and El Dorado

(24:48):
have dropped about $300 perperson since last time I looked.

All right.
So the offer this week, the hottravel deal of the week, is
Cancun all-inclusive vacations.
Save up to $300 on thosevacations and you can call Mark
for those details to save themost amount of money.
Call him during the break888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.

(25:17):
He will also post this onblueplanetvacations.
com when we come back.
We've got the infamous JustCruising segment.
Laura Okonowski with MSCCruises is going to make a
return appearance talking aboutthe MSC World America and we've
also got the cruise deal of theweek that is next when the

(25:38):
Inside Travel Talk podcast orradio show continues Alongside
Mark Faldmo.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
We hope you're having aterrific weekend.
We'll be right back, Wiscombe.
We hope you're having aterrific weekend.

Show Voice (25:51):
They've literally traveledmillions of miles to answer your
travel related questions.
Yeah, they really have.
com.
America's best travel advisors,Patrick and Mark, will be back
after these messages thissegment of inside travel talk is

(26:19):
sponsored by star clippers.

Ad Voice (26:21):
for over 30 years, star clippers has offered unique
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To book your unique StarClipper sailing adventure,
contact Blue Planet Vacations at888-718-7717 or
com.

Welcome back inside of the Inside Travel Talk
podcast and radio show Comingup.
In the next 30 minutes we willbe talking about MSC's new World
America ship, Beautiful ship.
Disney Cruise Line is settingsail to Alaska and, of course,
we've got the cruise deal of theweek and this time we're headed
to Vietnam and Cambodia.
Let's get back to the show.

(27:01):
The Inside Travel Talk podcastand radio show presented by
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 (27:28):
You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast
and radio show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700, and
check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.

(27:49):
Here's Patrick and Mark.

All aboard.
You are listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show.
Alongside Mark Faldmo, my nameis Patrick Wiscombe.
Thank you so much for allowingboth of us to be part of your
weekend Coming up in thisparticular segment of the show.
Always in segment three, we'vegot the infamous Just Cruising

(28:22):
segment.
This week we are going toVietnam and Cambodia and we've
got a good deal.
If you've always wanted tovisit that part of the world,
stay tuned.
That's coming up here in thissegment.
We will also be talking withLaura Okonowski, with MSC
Cruises and Mark did you watchthe big game we can't say it for

(28:46):
trademark purposes Did youwatch the big game last Sunday,
six days ago?
I?

did?

Yep had a good little party ate some good food
, watched kind of a boringfootball game.
Before we get to Laura, let'sdo the cruise news headlines,
and I saw this story that DisneyCruise Line is sending a second
ship to Alaska.
Now I think this is a brilliantmove on their part, because
Alaska is so popular it is.

The Disney Wonder has been doing Alaska for a few
years and now they're sendingthe Disney Magic to double their
presence.
They do round-trip voyages andthey hit the typical port
Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, andmost sailings will visit Dawes,
glacier, and then the Magic'sitineraries will feature a stop
in Icy Strait Point.

With the second ship going to Alaska,
meaning Disney.
Is it on sale yet?
What's the plan there?

Yes, and no Right now it's in an early booking
period for Disney's CastawayClub members and that will go
through Monday and so on TuesdayDisney is releasing their
summer 2026 sailing.
These Alaska Cruises, alongwith their summer schedule to
Europe, all of that will be onsale to the general public.

(30:01):
You can book that right.
I can If you're a Castaway Clubmember.
As long as you have your number, I can book that.

I want to get your opinion.
What'd you think about MSCCruises commercial I?

loved the commercial.
Being a marketer, I thought itwas brilliant.
One of the problems that MSChas had is it's a very European
brand and some Americans justdon't get that when they sail on
MSC, and so they built thisship purpose-built the MSC World
America to sail in the USmarket.

(30:31):
So how they did that commercialwith Orlando Bloom and Drew
Barrymore was perfect.
They had Orlando Bloom playingthe European kind of like the
tomato, tomato type thing youknow, and so they were showing
how they're keeping theirEuropean heritage while still
catering to the American market.

Let's bring in one of my favorite people, MSc
Cruises' Laura Okonowski.
Hi there, hi, let's talk aboutthe big game commercial, about
MSC's World America.
That ship is beautiful.

Laura Okonowski (31:05):
Stunning.
Yes, the MSC World America isreally, I think, going to be a
game changer in terms ofvacation experiences, given the
commercial.
We are now launching a campaignand it is really echoing
European style and Americancomforts and, when you think
about it, if you've ever been toEurope, have you?

I never have no, mark has quite a bit.

I've been several times.
Yeah, Okay.

There is a feeling of tradition, there's a
feeling of renaissance, there'sa feeling of just refinery.
I think when you visit Europe,I think when you visit Europe

(32:12):
and when you come on board theships that MSC Cruises offers in
its fleet, you feel that assoon as you walk on board and
when we now look to the launchof this beautiful brand new ship
in April World America she isgoing to be just decked out in
European styling and have allthe comforts that us Americans
are accustomed to in terms ofrestaurants galore 19
restaurants, 18 bars and loungesthroughout a full family
Aventura district, which isgoing to have gaming areas.
Oh, and the best part, oh mygosh, I can't wait to do this.
You can go up to deck 11 andyou can take an interior slide

(32:35):
that will come down to thepromenade area.
It's 250 feet long and thereare just so many fun
family-centered things to do,and I'm just very much looking
forward to seeing the ship inperson.

What's the response been to World America,
the new vessel?

People are eager to get on board.
People have been makingbookings for several months and
we are seeing a surge ofinterest now on our MSC Cruises
website.
In talking with the traveladvisors that I work with, they
are getting inquiry afterinquiry regarding this.
So people were watching the biggame on Sunday and they sure

(33:17):
did see MSC Cruises commercialcome to life.

The main theme of the commercial was Europeans
going on holiday and Americansgoing on vacation.
I want to zero in on that partof the ad.

Yes, Patrick, you got it.
The campaign really is calledlet's Holiday.
You know, here in Americareally is called let's holiday.
You know, here in Americapeople go on vacation.
But Europeans, they go onholiday.
While a vacation is a breakfrom life, a holiday really is
more of a celebration of it.
And at MT Cruises we holidayand we want to set that stage

(33:54):
for guests when they come onboard, when they see our ships.
They are very stylish, there's acertain panache about them and
there's really thatsophistication that is the
essence of the vessels as youwalk throughout.
Yet it has all those wonderfulAmerican comforts.
We, as Americans, we associatea lot of comfort and emotion

(34:15):
with food.
We want certain foods when wetravel, don't we?
We might want a burger andfries, a burger on the go, we
might want pizza at midnight.
So we have all these customarythings that Americans love.
But I think we can maybe take apage out of the European
playbook and linger a little bitlonger.
Maybe sip sangria by the pool,maybe have that two hour five

(34:41):
course dinner, not every night,but maybe once in a while.
So that's really, I think, whatwas coming across in that
wonderful commercial the otherday.

You've seen a ton of traffic on MSC Cruises.
You've had travel advisorscalling you about MSC World
America.
Let's get people on the shipnow.
Calling you about MSC WorldAmerica.
Let's get people on the shipnow.
What promotions do you have forWorld America and just MSC
Cruises in general?
But let's start with WorldAmerica.

Well for World America.
You know the voyages will beginApril of this year.
So if you are looking to bookthat special holiday be it a
family reunion, maybe agraduation party, maybe a summer
come along, family fun Now isthe time to lock in those best

(35:26):
prices.
We are very competitive in themarketplace with the launch of
the ship and the onboardamenities will not disappoint.
You can give a call to BluePlanet Vacations and talk to
Mark and his team there, orreach out to them in other ways.
But beyond World America, thereare some amazing things

(35:47):
happening as well in Galveston,Texas, not too far away,
starting in November of 2025.
And you know we're about tocelebrate a holiday on Monday,
the 17th of February.
We're about to celebrate aholiday on Monday, the 17th of
February, that holiday beingPresident's Day, and of course,
MSC has a very special promotionin conjunction with the coming

(36:07):
holiday.
So, beginning on the 14th ofFebruary through Monday the 17th
, we will be offering up to 40%off on several cruises on both
World America leaving out ofMiami, wonderful western and
eastern Caribbean itineraries,also offering Galveston
opportunities leaving out ofthat area on November of 25, and

(36:31):
the Galveston departures willbe the seascape ship where a
beautiful terminal is actuallybeing built right now and
underway for the departure andhome porting of that particular
ship.

Wait, so is Seascape moving from Miami over
to Galveston now.

Show Voice (36:48):
It is.

Oh, that's a change.

Yes, it will be so that it'll be home, ported
right there in Galveston, to dothe seven night voyage that will
be visiting Costa Maya, Mexico,Roatan, Honduras and Cozumel,
Mexico, with some sea daysspeckled in.
So great opportunity there.
And I'm not afraid to say it,I'm going to mention it.
My colleagues at MSC Cruiseshave done the math and I'm just

(37:13):
going to put it out there.
Our voyages at MSC leaving outof Galveston are literally 30%
lower in cost of cruise fareversus some of our competitors.
A big competitor starting witha C.
Do you have an idea who thatmight be?

Patrick, I know Carnival yes.

So our voyages are 30% lower.
Why are we doing this?
You know, someone asked me theother day well, what's wrong
with the voyage?
Why is it 30% off?
Well, we just really need toget our name on the map for
Galveston.
So MS Cruises is coming to townand we want people to know it.

I am genuinely surprised how aggressively
priced less than competitors toget in the market and I think
that the way that MSC is goingfirst came on the scene in
America.

We had been known as a challenger, a
challenger cruise line in the US, because we were really kind of
challenging the way of cruisingand the bear of cruising and
the way that we position ourcruises.
And now I really have to say,and I'm proud to say, that we
are right alongside all of thesebig brands that have been in

(38:40):
existence for a very long time,MSc is gaining a lot of momentum
and a lot of interest and itfeels really great.
I've personally been on theships and we do an amazing job
with service, with food, withentertainment.
Oh, and one of my favoritethings about World America too.
And oh, and one of my favoritethings about World America too.

(39:01):
I grew up in the era of dirtydancing.
I remember when I was 13 yearsold and that was like a you know
a big deal because I think itwas PG-13.
So you had to be 13.
And dating myself with thatyou're probably going to look up
the year that it launched, butwe will have one of our
entertainment venues is going tobe Dirty Dancing Live, so we

(39:22):
are so excited about that.
There's also a nod to themusical group Queen, where
there's going to be a tribute tothem with a lot of songs and
costuming and we are just doinga lot of fun.
Amazing things coming up hereon our ships.

No one puts Laura Okonowski in a corner baby
.

You got it, Patrick.
Msc may have been a littleunknown in the past, but we are
definitely known now and inprior podcasts with you I have
shared that MSC doesn'tnecessarily stand for
Mediterranean Shipping Company.
It should stand for more shipscoming.
But I just pull it and I thinkit should stand for more

(40:04):
surprises coming, because we allwant more surprises on the way
with MSC, so let's getholidaying together, shall we?

Are you going on the inaugural sailing?
I am.

I haven't seen my booking yet, but I've been
told that I should be packing abag for that inauguration.
Yes, out of Miami on April 9th.

Next segment I promise we will get to it.
And we are headed to Vietnamand Cambodia on the Mekong River
in 2025, because space is stillavailable.
I promise we'll get to it.
Next segment if you'reinterested in booking getting on
any really any MSC cruise, callMark in his office.
Call Mark in his office888-718-7717, 888-718-7717, or

(41:03):
visit blueplanetvacations.
com.
When we come back, not only dowe have the cruise deal of the
week, but we've also got Mark'stravel tips and Margaritaville
at Sea Paradise.
That particular ship is goingunder some much-needed
refurbishment.

(41:24):
We'll talk about that next whenthe Inside Travel Talk podcast
and radio show continues.
Alongside Mark Faldmo, my nameis Patrick Wiscombe.
Thank you, truly thank you, formaking this part of your
weekend.

Show Voice (41:38):
They've literally traveled millions of miles to
answer your travel-relatedquestions.
Yeah, they really have.
com.
America's best travel advisors,Patrick and Mark, will be back
after these messages.
Patrick and Mark will be backafter these messages.

Ad Voice (42:02):
Inside Travel Talk is brought to you by Anna.
Waterways, from castles andcapitals to vistas 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
com.

Show Voice (42:32):
They'll help you plan and book your next vacation
.
Yeah, really, you're listeningto the Inside Travel Talk
podcast and radio show presentedby BluePlanetVacations.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.

(42:54):
And now here's Patrick Wiscombeand Mark Faldmo.

Welcome back inside of the Inside Travel Talk
podcast and radio show.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe,alongside Mark Faldmo.
We are so grateful that you arelistening to this show.
Without you, we don't have aradio show, we don't have a
podcast, we don't have abusiness.
Thank you so much.
We are really starting to makesome traction, not only

(43:29):
connecting with customers, butwe're also getting a lot of
traction with our listeners.
So thank you again.
The number of downloads that weget each and every single week,
the number of people who listento us on the radio network
Honestly, we couldn't do itwithout you.
So thank you so much forallowing us into your ears.
As we come back from break,let's get to the travel news

(43:50):
headlines Now.
Mark and I were on thisparticular ship, Margaritaville
at Sea Paradise.
What was it about 10 months ago?
Yeah, it was April of 2024.

Yeah, April of 2024 .

And they just announced what appears to be a
refurbishment.

Yeah, this is a major refurbishment which the
ship needs.
It's an older ship so it has togo through these refurbishments
a lot more often than mostships.
It was originally built in 1991for Costa Cruises.
There aren't very many, atleast, of the ships that we're

(44:26):
familiar with sailing that areolder than about 2000.
Most of them are newer and so,as we noticed, it did have lots
of areas where it probablyneeded some refurbishment.
But they're going to completelyredo the dining and beverage
experience, new entertainment,and they are going to make some

(44:46):
changes to the cruise terminalthere in Palm Beach to make the
boarding process a little bitsimpler.

That was an issue, yeah.

So hopefully Patrick doesn't have to wait in
line for two hours while mark gogets the car.

That was bad hey, anyone here have a global
entry mark.
Raises his hand front of theline see if.
Okay, I'll see in two hours.

That was pretty rough, this ship it's probably
not a ship that a lot of peoplelistening would go on.
It mainly does-night cruises toGrand Bahama Island, but it has
started doing three andfour-day cruises as well, where
it also adds in NASA.
It mainly does short cruises.
Its main target audience isbasically the Florida market,

(45:32):
but they do get some people fromelsewhere.
If I had two or three days toburn, I might do that.
I like to be out on the oceanand it's a fairly affordable
product.

Very affordable.
Did you say they're redoing thefood Just?

the dining room.
So they're not doing thequality of the food, but they're
redoing how the dining roomlooks.

Okay, all right, because I was going to
say the main dining room foodwas excellent, at least when we
were there.
It was really really good.
It was really good Buffet.
They could probably tweak that.
They do need to improve thatone for sure.

Yeah, the dining room was good and the Burger in
Paradise was good.

Oh, my goodness, how many burgers did I
have?

It was a two night.
You probably had 12.

No, I didn't, it was lunch and dinner.

I didn't have 12.
I know.

Okay, maybe six, five or six.
Italy is proposing a new law toprotect accommodations and
restaurants from fake andpaid-for online travel reviews.
I'm curious about this story.

They're targeting online reviews because far too
often, many of the reviews arefake or paid for.
There are a lot of businessesthat go out and pay for reviews.
There are some businesses thatpay for reviews bad reviews for
their competitors.

That's pretty greasy to me.

Yeah, and so Italy is trying to combat this.
One thing that they are goingto require for reviews that are
displayed in Italy are, forhotels and restaurants, proof of
stay or proof of using thatservice.
So provide a receipt orsomething before the review can

(47:16):
actually be posted on the reviewsite.

So there's a pause, basically for
verification.

Correct.
I don't know how they're goingto do that, because I assume
this is going to apply toTripAdvisor and all of those
sites Airbnb, all of those sitesthat have review services.
Looking at some of the reviewsand comparing to my experiences
there, a lot of times I'm likeis this a real review?
It's always hard to say.
So if Italy can get that down,I hope the industry just adopts

(47:45):
that, because I think you shouldonly be able to leave a review
if you actually used the service.

Yeah, agreed.
As we went to break, I promisedthat we would get to the cruise
deal of the week, which isVietnam and Cambodia, the Mekong
River, in 2025, because spaceis still available, what
promotion do we have forlisteners this week, mark?

The promotion is save it up to $1,500 or get a
two-for-one land package, andI'm actually looking at some of
these prices.
I don't think I've ever seenthis Vietnam and Cambodia, so
Mekong cruise this low.
This is on Ama Waterways, whichis that's your favorite of the
river cruises.

(48:26):
That is.
That's my favorite brand.
One thing that I like aboutthis is we've talked about river
cruising.
You're on a smaller ship, notas many people.
This ship in Mekong is evensmaller.
It has 64 cabins on it, so 128guests.
Oh wow, it is about a thirdsmaller than even the river

(48:46):
cruise ship.

So what ship is this from Ama?

It's called the Amadara.
Have you been on this one, thisship?
I've not.
I've not been on this one.
I do look forward to doing thisone day.
And one thing that I reallylike about this is you do start
in Ho Chi Minh City or end in HoChi Minh City, depending on
which direction you go, and thenyou do go to Sem Reap and Ngor

(49:15):
Wat area.
There is a land portion of this.
That's really interesting.
What's the price?
On the Mekong River, as wementioned, there still are
several dates in 2025 that areavailable.
The very best price.
I don't think I've ever seenthis river cruise this low
starts at $2,089 per person.

Wow.

Wow, and that's August 11th.
Now I can tell you why it'sthat low because August 11th is
a pretty hot and humid time tobe there, compared to other
dates.
If you get later into October,November, that's $1,200 to
$1,400 lower than other dates,so that August 11th or September

(49:58):
8th is also a pretty good dateand on both of those you can
either get $1,500 off per personor get a two-for-one land.
I probably would do the landand go see the stay a little bit
longer before the cruisebecause logistically the
beginning and end of this cruiseare a little bit challenging.

Well, it'll give you time to adjust your
body clock as well.
Yes, how far ahead of ustime-wise are they right now,
from here in Salt Lake.

I believe they're 14 hours ahead.
Of us.

Okay, that will mess with you.

Yes.

I think you're right.
Do the land portion?
I mean, you're going to savethe money.
You just pick and choose whereyou want to save the money.
Have I got that right?
That's correct.
Yeah, pick and choose where youwant to save the money.
Have I got that right?
That's correct.
Yeah, that's going to do it.
Man, every week I say this.
This hour goes by so fast.

(50:51):
Call Mark in his office If youwant to book any of the
vacations that we have talkedabout for the last hour.
Call him, just get theconversation started.
There's no obligation.
It is An amazing time to bealive, because all you have to
do is pick a destination, get ona plane, get on a boat, get on
a train However you decide toget there.

(51:11):
It's amazing that we even havethat option.
You can listen to this showagain tomorrow morning, Sunday
at 11 am, right here on thisradio station, and you can
stream, download and subscribeto the podcast at
InsideTravelTalk.
com.
We are on all of the majorpodcast platforms and you can

(51:36):
just stream the show onInsideTravelTalk.
com.
Just press play if you don'twant to subscribe.
Well, we've done our job.
It is now your turn to get outand explore the world, and the
reason I'm saying this isbecause you never know what
Curveball's life is going tothrow at you.
Live your life deliberately.
Live your life intentionally.
Thank you for listening.

(51:57):
Have a great week.
We'll talk to you again nextSaturday and Sunday.

Show Voice (52:03):
That's it.
That's the end of the showYou've been listening to the
Inside Travel Talk podcast andradio show with Patrick Wiscombe
and Mark Faldmo, presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com.
Book your adventure right now.
Call 888-718-7717.
That's 888-718-7717.

(52:24):
Thanks for listening.
Have a great week.

Ad Voice (52:39):
Inside Travel Talk is brought to you by Travelex
Insurance Services.
Their travel insurance planscan help protect you and your
vacation.
Travelex is known for theiraward-winning customer service
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Contact Blue Planet Vacationsat 888-718-7717 or
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