March 15, 2025 • 53 mins
Travelers seeking extraordinary experiences should consider French Polynesia's cruise offerings. Despite setting records with 52,000 cruise passengers in 2024, these numbers represent what busy Caribbean ports handle in a single week. This relative solitude creates a more authentic, uncrowded experience whether you choose Windstar's tall ships, the luxury Paul Gauguin line, or the unique half-cargo, half-cruise vessel Aranui. For maximum value, consider repositioning cruises connecting Hawaii, French Polynesia, and Australia/New Zealand, with 14-day voyages starting at just $1,640 per person.
Wildlife enthusiasts will find paradise in Costa Rica's biodiversity hotspots, particularly the Arenal volcano region and Manuel Antonio National Park. The hanging bridges, Sky Tram, La Fortuna Waterfall, and natural hot springs near Arenal provide thrilling encounters with howler monkeys, sloths, toucans, and countless other creatures. Mark recommends splitting your vacation between these two regions for the perfect balance of adventure and relaxation.
American Airlines' upcoming carry-on policy changes reflect a broader industry trend toward stricter enforcement of baggage dimensions, now including wheels and handles in measurements. And beware the dangerous TikTok "airport theory" suggesting 15-minute arrival windows before flights – a recipe for missing your vacation entirely.
Looking for incredible cruise value? Norwegian Cruise Line just dropped Caribbean prices by $300-$400 per person for fall sailings, with 7-day voyages starting at just $642 from New Orleans. Contact Mark at 888-718-7717 to take advantage of these limited-time offers before they disappear.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Patrick Wiscombe (00:00):
It is time for the Inside Travel Talk podcast,
a radio show.
Hello there.
On today's show, Mark and Iwill be talking about a sad
goodbye to carry-on luggage aswe know it.
Yes, it's true, and it hasnothing to do with Southwest
saying goodbye to free luggageand no, I'm not making that up,
that is a real thing.
(00:20):
That is happening a little bitearlier this week A French
Polynesian repositioning cruise,the best wildlife destinations
around the world and a specialservice for those of you who are
in love Marriage licenses uponarrival.
Let's start the show.
The Inside Travel Talk podcastand radio show presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com contains travel deals,promotions and offers that may
(00:43):
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 (00:58):
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
(01:22):
.
Patrick Wiscombe (01:32):
Back from Phoenix Arizona.
Welcome to the Inside TravelTalk podcast, a radio show.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe,alongside Mark Faldmo, he is
back from his travels.
I am back from my travels andcan I just say how glorious
Phoenix Arizona was in March,early March, before the 100
(01:54):
degree temperature showed upAwesome down there.
Went to go see some springbaseball Coming up on this show
Southwest saying goodbye to freeluggage and no, we're not
making that up, that happened alittle bit earlier this week and
a goodbye to carry-on luggageTotally separate story.
We'll give you the details onthat coming up here in just a
(02:16):
few minutes.
But let's first get to thetravel news headlines.
I saw that French Polynesia howmany times have you been there,
Mark?
Been there five or six?
Okay, French Polynesia sets anew record for cruise visits
last year 2024.
Mark Faldmo (02:32):
This is a record for them, but I want people to
pay attention to these numbers.
So in 2024, they set a recordof 52,000 cruise passengers that
embarked on a cruise from theisland of Tahiti, and that's up
20% from 2023 and up 15% frompre-pandemic levels.
(02:53):
And then also, 62,000passengers visited the island in
transit, which is up 45% from2023.
Patrick Wiscombe (03:03):
When you say in transit, you mean literally
going from one place to theother, but they stopped there.
Mark Faldmo (03:07):
Yes, like on a repositioning cruise or so a
cruise that doesn't start or endin Tahiti.
One thing that struck me wasit's a record, but yet only
52,000 passengers.
A port like Nassau, Bahamas,gets that number of cruise
passengers in a week probably,and so, even with these record
(03:29):
levels, French Polynesia isstill a great place to sail.
We are most likely going to bethe only ship there, no matter
what cruise line you decide togo on.
Very rarely do ships overlap.
You really get that laid backless crowded feel when you're in
French Polynesia on a cruise.
(03:49):
I've done French Polynesiaseveral times on a cruise.
I've done it on bigger shipsand I've done it on smaller
ships and I've loved it everytime.
Patrick Wiscombe (03:57):
Speaking of French Polynesia, Mark, what's
the best way to cruise to FrenchPolynesia there?
Mark Faldmo (04:03):
are three cruise lines that are based there
pretty much year round WindstarCruise Line, which is one of the
tall sailing ships that doesFrench Polynesia.
There's Paul Gauguin CruiseLine, which is a small ship,
luxury cruise line.
And then there's Aranui thatwe've talked about, which is
more of a unique it's halfcontainer ship and half cruise
(04:24):
ship.
Patrick Wiscombe (04:24):
And you've been on that.
Mark Faldmo (04:26):
I've been on the Aranui.
I have not been on Windstar orPaul Gauguin.
The best way, I think, if youwant to see French Polynesia is
by a repositioning cruise or atype of specialty cruise that
visits there but doesn't beginor end there.
That'll help keep the expenseslow.
I did pick out three differentitineraries that I think are a
(04:49):
great way to see Tahiti andFrench Polynesia.
Patrick Wiscombe (04:53):
Let's go, option number one.
Mark Faldmo (04:55):
This is a repositioning type cruise and
this is pretty close in.
It goes from Hawaii to Papeetein French Polynesia.
It's on Norwegian Cruise Line.
It leaves May 12th of this year.
They do this also in Novemberand then they do it again in
2026, may and November.
Patrick Wiscombe (05:16):
Did you say May 12th or May 21st?
Mark Faldmo (05:19):
May 21st.
Oh, okay, yep.
So this is a 14-day cruise.
It starts in Papeete, goes toMorea, Raiatea, bora Bora, with
an overnight in Bora Bora, andthen it cruises up to Hawaii,
goes to Hilo, Maui, Kauai, andthen ends in Honolulu.
Oh, wow, that specific region,but particularly Tahiti.
(05:43):
Now, this is a 14 day cruise.
It starts at $1,640 per personfor an inside cabin and for a
balcony cabin, $2,575 per person, which, for a 14 day cruise,
those are pretty good rates.
Oh yeah, the next cruise that Ifound is this fall.
This is one that I would jumpon it and do in a heartbeat if I
(06:07):
had the time.
It's a 20-day cruise and thisone sails from Honolulu down to
French Polynesia I'll go overthe full Itinerary in a minute
and then hits New Zealand andends in Sydney, Australia.
Oh wow.
So this is on Celebrity CruiseLine on the Celebrity Solstice.
Leaves October 2nd Again.
Leaves Honolulu, visits Papeete, Raiatea in French Polynesia,
(06:31):
Morea and then three ports,including Auckland in New
Zealand, ending in Sydney.
Ad Voice (06:38):
Wow.
Mark Faldmo (06:39):
Yeah, it's an amazing itinerary.
So this 20-day cruise, aninside cabin starts at $23 99
per person, a balcony at $3134per person.
Patrick Wiscombe (06:50):
Okay so inside cabin about $100 a day and just
a little bit more than that fora balcony you mentioned.
There are three ways.
What's the third way?
Mark Faldmo (06:59):
Now this way is for people that don't like to fly,
so you actually can get toFrench Polynesia without flying,
or without flying very long.
So Princess Cruises has a32-day cruise that is round-trip
Los Angeles.
I'm curious about this one.
This one leaves October 15ththis fall.
(07:21):
Leaves from Los Angeles,cruises down October 15th this
fall.
Leaves from Los Angeles,cruises down, hits Kauai and
Honolulu in Hawaii, then cruisesto Pago Pago in Samoa, Apia
Samoa.
Then hits Fiji has a coupleports in Fiji and then across to
Papeete and Morea in FrenchPolynesia before returning to
(07:43):
Los Angeles.
How many sea days is that one?
So that has lots of sea days ithas.
Of the 32 days it probably has.
Let me just count them upquickly.
Looks like there's about 16 seadays.
Patrick Wiscombe (08:00):
So literally half the cruise is just sea days
, half the cruise is just seadays.
See, I love sea days,absolutely love them.
Yeah, but you do get to seefantastic parts of the world, oh
my goodness, you know, there'sone thing that I just can't
erase from my brain, that I justnever get tired of, and that's
either being up on the aft ofthe ship or just sitting on a
(08:22):
balcony, or just being outsidein general and just watching the
horizon, the sunrise, thesunset.
I just never get tired of it,ever, yeah, and that's why I
love sea day so much.
I love being at sea.
Mark Faldmo (08:37):
This may be a little bit too long for me.
Um, the longest segment haseight sea days in a row.
Okay, that's a lot.
So, and that's that last, fromTahiti back to Los Angeles that
has those long days at sea.
Price-wise, that's 32 days$2788 per person for an inside
cabin or $5847 for a balcony.
(09:00):
What ship is that?
On the Sapphire Princess, onPrincess Cruises.
Patrick Wiscombe (09:04):
I'm getting to the point in life where I just
want to live on cruise ships,yes, and just sail the world.
We can do the radio show viaStarlink.
I can work from wherever thissounds.
I might be calling you afterthe show.
During this past week, you gota text from Susan asking the
question what are the bestwildlife watching destinations
(09:25):
in the world?
So a big question.
What would you say?
Mark Faldmo (09:29):
Well, there's several places for wildlife
viewing, and it also depends onthe type of wildlife viewing
that you want to do.
The five places that come tomind right away are Kenya for
safaris.
One of the most wonderful tripsI've ever taken was to Kenya to
see that.
The Galapagos Islands, whereyou get to see a lot of the rare
(09:49):
wildlife.
I have a really good contactand every time I talk to them
about the Galapagos Islands Ijust go crazy.
I want to go there.
Alaska again, for differenttypes of wildlife.
You have the whales, the bears,the moose, the elk.
Another one is the OkavangoDelta in Botswana, similar to
Kenya, but it's less visited,and so you get a little bit more
(10:14):
intimate experience when you dothat.
And then Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is going to be ourtravel deal of the week, so we
will talk about that nextsegment a little bit more.
The monkeys, the crocodiles,the toucans, the macaws just
everything you see in that areaof the world is quite
(10:34):
interesting and amazing.
So if you're looking forwildlife watching destinations,
those would be my top five.
Patrick Wiscombe (10:42):
You realize that we could do an entire
segment on each one of thoseKenya Galapagos Islands which do
want to go visit.
Well, actually, all of them.
Susan, if you have follow-upquestions, just call mark in his
office or just call him duringthe break he will answer the
phone 888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
(11:03):
Just get the conversationstarted.
Man, you came out swinging hardtoday with the infamous just
cruising segment.
I didn't know we were going togo that heavy.
Take advantage of those offersfrom Mark the NCL repositioning
cruise, Princess Round TripCruise Los Angeles and Honolulu
to Sydney Awesome, you willnever be disappointed when you
(11:28):
go on vacation.
Call him in his office,888-718-7717,.
Or you can see all of this onblueplanetvacations.
com.
When we come back, we've gotthe hot travel deal of the week,
as Mark mentioned, and we'vegot additional travel news
headlines and you can pick upyour marriage license right at
the airport.
(11:48):
We'll tell you where that isnext when the Inside Travel Talk
podcast, a radio show,continues alongside Mark Faldmo.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
Thank you so much for listening.
We will be right back.
Show Voice (12:03):
Helping you get out and see the world.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show with Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo, presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com.
America's best travel advisors.
Book your vacation now888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.
(12:25):
The show will continue afterthis.
Ad Voice (12:31):
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
itineraries throughout theMediterranean Caribbean and
Central America.
To book your unique StarClipper sailing adventure,
contact Blue Planet Vacations at888-718-7717 or
(12:52):
blueplanetvacations.
com.
Show Voice (13:02):
You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast
and radio show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700, and
check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
(13:23):
Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe (13:31):
Welcome back inside of the Inside Travel Talk
podcast and radio show.
Alongside Mark Faldmo, my nameis Patrick Wiscombe and, if you
are just tuning into the showthis very moment, the entire
purpose of our radio show andpodcast is to help you plan and
book your next vacation.
And if you have no idea whereyou want to go, our job is
(13:55):
simple as to give you ideas ofwhere you should consider next,
and this show is presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com.
And just a genuine thank youfor taking the time to stop and
listen.
Coming up in this segment bignews, big news.
I need some kind of soundeffect.
Should I call it the furiousmeter?
Big news and furious meter.
(14:17):
Oh boy, mark is locked andloaded for this one, and let's
just start with SouthwestAirlines.
So this happened a little bitearlier this week.
Mark is not happy.
Mark Faldmo (14:29):
Anyone who travels on Southwest should not be happy
Southwest actually this weekmade five major changes to its
customer policies, and the firstand biggest one being no more
bags fly free on Southwest man.
Patrick Wiscombe (14:45):
That's been a staple for literally decades,
and that's been a differentiatorfor Southwest.
Mark Faldmo (14:51):
Southwest was different and that's what made
them fun to fly on Right, andnow they're going to be just
like the rest of them, startingon May 28th.
So any ticket booked after May28th, no more free checked bags,
unless you're a Rapid RewardsA-list member, which is the
highest status level, or ifyou're traveling in business
(15:13):
select fares.
One exception that they're kindof matching other airlines If
you do have the Rapid Rewardscredit card, you do get a free
checked bag.
Patrick Wiscombe (15:22):
So a checked bag with one checked bag with
the credit card.
Mark Faldmo (15:27):
Four months ago there were rumors about this and
the CEO said bags fly free isthe number one reason why people
choose Southwest.
He said this is never going tochange.
And now it's four months laterand it's changed.
Patrick Wiscombe (15:43):
So it's a must-lie situation, is what I'm
hearing you say yes, he knew itwas coming, but he didn't want
to rock the stock, basically.
Mark Faldmo (15:51):
Yeah, and so the other big change they made was
how you earn Rapid Rewards, orthe number of Rapid Rewards
points you make per ticket.
So if you buy Southwest, wantto get away the very basic fares
, you'll now only earn two rapidrewards points per dollar spent
where it used to be five.
Patrick Wiscombe (16:09):
Oh, wow.
Mark Faldmo (16:09):
Big changes.
And then they've also loweredtwo of their other fare
categories.
But if you buy their businessselect, you actually earn two
more rapid rewards than you usedto.
So on the higher end ticketsthey're giving you more rewards
and on the lower end they'regiving you less rewards.
That just makes me want to useall my rapid rewards up before
(16:31):
they make it harder to redeemrapid rewards points.
Patrick Wiscombe (16:34):
Well, you know which I fear is the next?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they'rerolling this out in phases.
Mark Faldmo (16:39):
Yes, I've got about 600,000 rapid rewards points
that I need to use in the nextsix months, so I'll be traveling
a lot.
Patrick Wiscombe (16:46):
So you and I, heather Nikki, will be taking
off and going someplace, PerhapsFrench Polynesia?
Oh wait, maybe they don't fly.
Mark Faldmo (16:54):
Actually they don't fly there.
Patrick Wiscombe (16:57):
One place I know you can fly.
I know you're married alreadyto Heather, but if you want to
get married, las Vegas airportis offering marriage licenses
upon arrival.
If you just have to have itimmediately, they'll just give
it to you upon arrival.
Mark Faldmo (17:13):
It's a pop-up marriage license bureau.
You know, in Las Vegas, thewedding capital of the world,
the one thing is the airport isnot a legal place to get married
.
So you you can't land, get alicense and get married right
there.
You'll have to go to one of thewedding chapels, or I think
McDonald's has a drive-thruwedding chapel in Las Vegas.
Patrick Wiscombe (17:34):
I'll have my wife's hand in marriage and I'll
have the quarter pounder,please.
The US State Department isissuing a warning about bringing
guns and ammunition.
Why do I see them wagging theirfinger and just getting a
haughty look of derision?
Mark Faldmo (17:48):
Yeah, well, it's because of problems that they
had last year, particularly toone destination, which is the
Turks and Caicos.
Because of this, they increasedthe travel warning to a level
two oh, they did which isexercise increased caution.
Sure, you know that's the samelevel as France and Sweden,
united Kingdom, Italy, but theydid have to raise the warning
(18:11):
over this, just so people willlook at the warning.
And the main bulk of thewarning is don't travel with
guns or ammunition, which Ididn't think you could do anyway
.
Yeah, even in checked bags.
But what has happened and Iactually have a friend who was a
retired police officer thatthis happened to he used his
shooting bag that he went to thegun range with and a bullet had
(18:34):
fallen down underneath thething and TSA found it for him.
But if you're traveling tocountries like Mexico, even if
you have empty shell casingssome people have an empty shell
casing on a necklace orsomething and even that will get
you in hot water.
But in the Turks and Caicos,even the most minimum offenses
can get you up to 12 years inprison.
(18:55):
They've had a couple ofAmerican travelers detained for
many months while it worked outand they just released them on
time served, but that's a greatway to ruin a vacation that's a
definite damper if you go to agun range, make sure you don't
use that bag for travel, or makesure it's all.
The nooks and crannies aresearched thoroughly, because
(19:16):
there are a lot of countrieswhere this can cause problems.
Patrick Wiscombe (19:19):
Oh boy always in this segment of the show.
Segment number two is the hottravel deal of the week and we
talked about it, briefly touchedon it in the first segment
Costa Rica yeah, Costa Rica isone of my favorite destinations
in the world and I love itparticularly for that wildlife
watching.
Mark Faldmo (19:38):
I like the monkeys and sloths, and when you spot a
toucan in the wild, it's amazing.
Patrick Wiscombe (19:44):
When is the best time to visit Costa Rica?
Mark Faldmo (19:47):
Costa Rica has their dry season and their green
season.
Green is code word for rain Wet, so the dry season is December
through April.
The green season is May throughNovember.
The Caribbean coast has alittle bit of a different season
.
Even during the green or rainseason you can get sun.
(20:09):
It's more of the tropicaldownpours that you'll see.
And then, if you want to avoidthe crowds, the shoulder seasons
, the best months to visit areMay, june and November.
That's still putting you in therainy season, but not quite in
the rainiest part of the rainyseason, and so those are good
(20:30):
times to travel.
Patrick Wiscombe (20:32):
What areas do you personally like to visit?
So?
Mark Faldmo (20:36):
there are kind of four main areas.
There's Guanacaste, which isknown for its beaches.
It's in the northwestern partof the country.
There's the Central Pacific,which is kind of in the center
west, on the Pacific side of thecountry.
Patrick Wiscombe (20:50):
There's the Caribbean side, and then I
didn't even think about theCaribbean side.
Yeah, you're right.
Mark Faldmo (20:55):
Yeah, it's not very , it's probably not very large.
Well-visited?
Yeah, not very many peoplevisit that, but there are some
interesting hotels there.
There are some hotels on theCaribbean side where you have to
boat into the hotels to getthere.
You just you have to take acanal, a waterway to get to them
.
So they're pretty remote andisolated.
And then the fourth area is thevolcano area, which you like,
(21:17):
which I love.
Patrick Wiscombe (21:19):
I know you've done the volcano.
In fact, the volcano has wokenyou up when it's exploding Not,
I mean not catastrophicexploding, just making noises,
Just burping.
But it's loud.
Had to die coke, yeah.
What do you suggest as anitinerary in Costa Rica then?
Mark Faldmo (21:39):
In Costa Rica, I'd break it up in two different
areas.
I would spend some time inArenal, which is the volcano
area, and I'd spend some time inManuel Antonio, which is in the
Central Pacific area.
In Arenal, my three favoritethings to do there are the
hanging bridges, which aresuspension bridges hung through
(22:01):
the canopy of the forest.
You walk through them you seelots of wildlife.
Usually, now, wildlife iswildlife, so sometimes it's not
there, but you get to see theflora and fauna of Costa Rica.
The next one is the Sky Tram,which is a gondola that takes
you up to the top of a mountain.
You can either hike down fromthere, take the gondola back, or
(22:23):
you can zipline down, and thiszipline has amazing views of the
volcano as you're going down.
And then I like to also go toLa Fortuna Waterfall, which is
just a nice waterfall area to goto.
And then I guess one more thingis hot springs, lots of hot
springs around Costa Rica,around this area.
Patrick Wiscombe (22:42):
Manuel Antonio , you brought that up.
What do you like doing there?
Mark Faldmo (22:45):
This is where you'll see lots of monkeys.
Take a tour guide into thenational park.
They'll walk you to the beacharea and then you'll have the
rest of the time free there, butthey'll give you an explanation
of everything.
It's a very fun activity to doand it's probably one of my most
favorite beaches to visit,although, as you mentioned
earlier, this is a place.
(23:06):
Don't leave your stuffunattended.
Monkeys will steal your stuff.
And then there's other thingsto do in the area.
There's mangrove adventuretours.
It's a great area to visit, soI would say, do those two things
.
Patrick Wiscombe (23:18):
One thing that I remember you doing was the,
was it?
Mark Faldmo (23:26):
a CIA plane that's basically been turned into a
restaurant, or it is arestaurant.
Yeah, it's a restaurant calledEl Avion and one of the CIA
planes that was abandoned inCosta Rica after the Iran-Contra
scandal Got it.
They took it, hauled it up amountain.
Contra scandal Got it.
They took it, hauled it up amountain, built a restaurant
around it some of the bestsunsets you'll ever see, good
food and a very interestingatmosphere.
Patrick Wiscombe (23:46):
El Avion.
Mark Faldmo (23:48):
Nice, el.
Patrick Wiscombe (23:48):
Avion Yep.
I've never been to Costa Rica,but I know that it's going to
happen.
Mark Faldmo (23:57):
Do you have deals on this one?
I do so I actually just updateda new page on
blueplanetvacations.
com where you can go to see whatthese deals include.
The first thing, what I like todo is actually build a custom
trip for people.
I think that's the best way toget what you want out of it.
But I also have put togethersome preset Costa Rica vacations
.
There's an eight day volcanoesand beaches tour, or there's
(24:18):
just a six day volcano tour or asix day beach escape.
The eight day volcano andbeaches tour starts at $15.99
per person plus airfare, andthat includes seven nights hotel
, hot springs tour, EmmanuelAntonio tour and all the
transportation within thecountry and daily breakfast.
(24:38):
But for the rest of the tours Iknow we're running out of time
here Just go toblueplanetvacations.
com and you can see theinformation on those three
out-of-the-box tours.
Or I'd be happy to set up acustom vacation to other areas
of the country as well.
Patrick Wiscombe (24:53):
I am excited to get to Costa Rica and you
know that I'll do it.
That sounds like a threat andyou know that I'll do it.
That sounds like a threat andyou know that I'll do it, Mark,
yes, I'm going to go see theworld.
Call Mark in his office duringthe break 888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
(25:14):
When we come back, it is theinfamous Just Cruising segment.
It's only about cruise news andit's only about cruising and
we've got the cruise deal of theweek.
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast, a radio
show, continues.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
He is Mark Faldmo.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend.
(25:36):
We will be right back.
Show Voice (25:38):
They've literally traveled millions of miles to
answer your travel relatedquestions.
Yeah, they really have.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com.
America's best travel advisors,Patrick and Mark, will be back
after these messages.
Ad Voice (25:59):
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.
To book your romantic beachgetaway, contact Blue Planet
Vacations at 888-718-7717 orblueplanetvacations.
com.
Patrick Wiscombe (26:18):
Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk
podcast and radio show Coming up.
In the next 28 minutes we willbe talking about MSC's World
America, the brand new ship,MSc's godmother, drew Barrymore
and I'm kind of curious ifOrlando Bloom's going to be
there A new ship christening inKey West, a not so good TikTok
(26:39):
trend Of course I don't knowthat.
There's a lot of good tiktoktrends and ncl's new lower
Caribbean prices.
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.
(26:59):
Travel deals and offers changeconstantly and are capacity
controlled and subject to changewithout notice.
Show Voice (27:13):
Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com America's best traveladvisors.
Hit us up right now,801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe (27:45):
All aboard for segment number three of the
Inside Travel Talk podcast andradio show, the infamous Just
Cruising segment.
We'll be talking about MSC'snew World America ship.
Mark will be on the media tour.
I will not, but I willliterally get on the ship as
he's getting off.
I'm very, very excited to geton that ship and during the
(28:08):
break I've got some excitingnews, mark, I didn't even put it
on the rundown so I had toclear out of the studio because
my daughter-in-law just sent thefamily text that she and my son
, Brandon, are expecting anothergrandchild.
Congratulations, I'm grand dudetimes two.
(28:29):
Well, at least the upcomingnumber two.
How exciting is that?
That's exciting.
I'm pretty young to be a granddude though you are.
I'm 35.
No, I'm just kidding.
That'd be something.
My head is kind of spinningfrom getting that news.
Thank you for indulging me forjust a moment.
We'll get to the cruise deal ofthe Week here in just a moment,
(28:49):
but let's first get to theCruise News headlines and let's
start with MSC's World AmericaDrew Barrymore and in case you
haven't seen the MSC WorldAmerica ad, it's Drew Barrymore
and Orlando Bloom.
She has been named MSC WorldAmerica's godmother.
Mark Faldmo (29:11):
The christening and naming ceremony will take place
on April 9th, which I'm excitedto have been invited to.
That I'm looking forward tothat.
I always enjoy those ceremonies.
Patrick Wiscombe (29:17):
What happens at a naming ceremony.
Mark Faldmo (29:17):
I always enjoy those ceremonies.
What happens?
at a naming ceremony Christeningand naming ceremony.
It's a long-standing maritimetradition.
It goes way back.
They usually choose a female tobe the godmother of the ship
the godmother that's when thechampagne is thrown against the
hull.
They give it the name, theygive it a blessing for safety
(29:39):
and good luck on the ship'sjourneys.
It's a really festive time.
These days, most of thegodmothers are celebrities.
You know, I remember back to Ithink it was the Norwegian
breakaway I actually had agodfather which was Pitbull.
That was a fun naming ceremony.
I think with Drew Barrymore,that will be a fun naming
(30:02):
ceremony as well.
This is a break from MSC.
Every other MSC ship'sgodmother is Sophia Loren
because the family has aconnection to that family.
The World America will be thefirst MSC ship that has a
different godmother, which isDrew Barrymore.
Patrick Wiscombe (30:20):
Does the Christine happen on land or does
it happen on the ship and theybash it?
Mark Faldmo (30:25):
How does that work it happens on land Others I've
been to.
They set up temporary bleacherstands around the bow of the
ship so everyone that's invitedusually goes and sits in those
bleachers.
I guess it depends on the port,because I've done some where
they do it in the theater.
They have different venuesaround the ship where it's done,
so it can be done either way,but it's done in port before it
(30:49):
sets sail on that first voyage.
Patrick Wiscombe (30:52):
And you're on the ship.
Is it the April 9th through the12th?
I think that sounds right.
Mark Faldmo (30:58):
Yes, Okay, so I'll go that afternoon They'll do the
naming ceremony and thenthey'll set sail that evening.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:06):
And what are the ports on that one?
Probably MSC's Ocean Key MarineReserve, their private island.
Mark Faldmo (31:12):
Yeah, so that's what it is.
We just spend overnight there,oh, is it?
Oh, okay, so we just have twodays at MSC Ocean Key.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:20):
So you're going to dock there overnight?
Yes, that naturally brings upthe question since it was a
commercial about Drew Barrymoreand Orlando Bloom, do you think
he's going to be there?
Mark Faldmo (31:32):
I think he's going to be there.
That's what my wife asks meevery day.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:37):
Was Legolas going to be there?
Mark Faldmo (31:39):
Yes.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:40):
You know, the first time I remember seeing him
obviously it was Lord of theRings and he had a really
breakout career at that momentbut I always pictured him with
white hair.
So when I actually saw who hewas, with dark, almost blackish
hair, I was like that's not thesame guy.
Yeah, kind of freaked me out.
Heather asking hey, uh, youthink he's gonna be there?
Uh, no, no, honey, no, not atall.
(32:02):
Is heather going with you onthis one?
does she get going with me, okay, good see if you can get a
selfie with him.
Mark Faldmo (32:08):
She would like I will try that, because every
inaugural I've been on with herI've gotten a selfie with the
godparents of the ship.
So, um, the ones I like themost.
One of Norwegian ships was therocket, so I got my picture with
12 rockets.
Another ship was the Miamidolphins cheerleader, so I got
my picture with the Miamidolphins cheerleader.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:30):
So so that's the tradition I will try and
keep with Drew Barry more andjust drew Barry more in this
case.
Yeah, but he'll probably bethere too.
Mark Faldmo (32:38):
Yes.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:40):
Speaking of christening ships, American
legend coastal ship waschristened, or is going to be
christened in Key West, Florida,one of my new favorite places
on this planet.
Yeah, I love Key West.
Oh, so awesome there.
Mark Faldmo (32:54):
We've talked about American Cruise Line before.
This is one of their newcoastal cat ships which, going
through that same ceremonyactually last week it had its
christening in Key West.
So it's going to sail aroundthe Florida Keys and around the
Gulf Coast area and then it'sgoing to move up to Washington
DC and cruise around theChesapeake Bay and then move up
(33:17):
into Canada, new England and theHudson River area.
These ships are I think they'dbe fantastic to go on.
There are a hundred passengersand you get to go some really
unique out-of-the-way places.
One of the interestingitineraries that this does in
the Chesapeake Bay.
It has a whole itineraryfocused on the Revolutionary War
(33:37):
.
Patrick Wiscombe (33:37):
Oh, I'd do that in a minute.
Mark Faldmo (33:39):
I'm actually going to see if we can get them to be
on a guest one of these timesand see if we can't get out to
see one of their ships.
Interestingly enough for ushere in Salt Lake City, their
training center is in Draperwhat.
They have a place where theytrain their crew, where they
have full cabins.
They have their whole culinarythere where they do a lot of
(34:00):
their training.
They're based in, I think, NewHampshire, somewhere in New
England, but they have atraining center here in Salt
Lake City.
Patrick Wiscombe (34:07):
I think going around the Florida Keys on that
ship would be terrific.
Chesapeake Bay, but also theHudson man, that would be
spectacular.
To see New York like that itwould.
Ncl is, from what I can read,leaning heavily on music
nostalgia with four new shows.
(34:28):
What ships is this going to beon and how much nostalgia are
they bringing to their ships?
Mark Faldmo (34:33):
Norwegian, I think, has always done a very good job
with their shows and with someof these kind of nostalgic shows
.
So their new show is calledBring Back the 90s.
It is going to be in productionby the end of this summer on a
couple of Norwegian ships.
It's going to feature musicthrough the decade with
(34:56):
Destiny's Child, Salt-N-Pepa,Alanis Morrissette.
Bring in really that popculture.
Patrick Wiscombe (35:02):
Well, that's ironic, don't you think?
Yes, did you get that?
Mark Faldmo (35:06):
reference?
I did get that reference.
They did a test run onNorwegian Getaway and it will be
officially be aboard theNorwegian Joy on July 7th, which
is Alaska Sailings from Seattle.
What other shows?
Another show that Norwegian isbringing on is called Brits who
Made it Big in America.
(35:27):
Norwegian is bringing on iscalled Brits who Made it Big in
America.
It is called Red, white andBritish and it is going to have
musical performances featuringsongs from David Bowie and Queen
and that has actually startedon the Norwegian Breakaway and
will be on Norwegian Epicstarting in May and then it'll
move into Norwegian Prima on itsEurope season.
(35:50):
They will have two more shows.
One is called Icons the Bandsand it's going to just feature
songs from legendary bands fromdifferent generations and this
will be more of a show which hasa nine-person cast.
And then the other show iscalled Ignite the Night, which
is kind of like a Dancing withthe Stars type presentation.
(36:11):
So those are the four new showson Norwegian.
Patrick Wiscombe (36:15):
Let's get to the cruise deal of the week,
which is going to be all aboutNCL.
They've announced lower pricesin the Caribbean.
What deals do we have forlisteners this week?
Mark Faldmo (36:26):
So there are several different sailings where
Norwegian has lowered the pricefor Caribbean sailings.
I am going to focus on just one, and it's the Norwegian Escape
which departs Round Trip.
New Orleans goes to Costa Maya,Mexico.
Harvest Cay, which is in Belizeyeah, it's kind of a private
(36:49):
island experience and thenRoatan in Honduras and Cozumel.
I would call it exotic WesternCaribbean, although now more and
more ships are going to Roatanand Belize.
Patrick Wiscombe (37:04):
So Roatan was one of your favorite places it
is.
Mark Faldmo (37:07):
I loved Roatan.
It reminds me a lot of Tahitiand the South Pacific, tropical
and green.
One of my favorite destinationsin the Caribbean, and actually
Costa Maya, is as well.
Patrick Wiscombe (37:19):
So is that Costa Maya still technically the
Caribbean?
It is, oh, it's the MexicanCaribbean.
What are the actual deals thatour listeners can call you about
this week?
Mark Faldmo (37:29):
The prices have actually dropped about $400 per
person compared to last week.
I noticed this because this isone of the sailings that I've
had on the top five cruise dealson the blueplanetvacations.
com and I was just amazed at theprice drop, particularly in the
balcony cabin category.
(37:50):
This is November dates.
Leaving from New Orleans Insidestarts at $642 per person and
balcony starts at $872 perperson For a seven day cruise.
For a seven day cruise Wow.
Now I said November dates.
The date over Thanksgiving isnot have a price drop, it's
(38:14):
still up there in price becausethat's a good time to cruise,
but the other dates in Novemberdid drop anywhere from three to
four hundred dollars compared towhat they were about two weeks
ago.
Patrick Wiscombe (38:24):
Oh wow, that's a significant drop.
Mark Faldmo (38:27):
I've also noticed, if you're interested in shorter
cruises, five-day cruise fromMiami dropped about $300.
Starts at $509 for an insidecabin.
The ports on that Miami, Nassau, Bimini Islands which you're
going to get- to go to in.
Patrick Wiscombe (38:44):
April.
Yeah, I'm excited about thatone.
Mark Faldmo (38:46):
One of my favorite stops, and then Norwegian's
Private Island.
Those are October and Novemberdates that had that price drop
for the shorter cruises out ofMiami, the five-day cruise.
Is that also NCL?
Patrick Wiscombe (38:58):
on that one.
Mark Faldmo (38:59):
That is also Norwegian on the Norwegian
Getaway.
So these are newer ships.
Then these are some ofNorwegian's newer ship.
Patrick Wiscombe (39:06):
I don't know what it is is.
It might be the new ship smell.
But wow, those new ships arespectacular.
They are.
Those are great prices.
Call mark during the break.
Just get the conversationstarted.
Call them 888-718-7717,888-718-7717.
(39:27):
And you will post this onblueplanetvacations.
com, correct, or it's probablyalready there.
Mark Faldmo (39:33):
It is.
Most of these are in the topfive cruise deals of the week,
which there's about 15 on thereright now.
Top five.
Patrick Wiscombe (39:40):
There's a lot of good cruise deals.
Yeah, there is.
When we come back, we'll get toMark's travel tips.
We'll wrap everything up forthis week.
That is next.
Oh, and we also have additionaltravel news headlines and we're
saying goodbye to carry-onluggage as you know it.
And no, this is not Southwestrelated.
This is different.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your Saturday
(40:03):
and Sunday.
We will be right back.
Show Voice (40:08):
Explore your world.
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.
We'll be right back.
801-649-3700.
Ad Voice (40:30):
We'll be right back Inside.
Travel Talk is brought to youby Anna Waterways.
From castles and capitals tovistas and villages visit some
of Europe's most remarkablesites and cities To set out on
your own river cruise journey.
Contact Blue Planet Vacationsat 888-718-7717 or at
888-718-7717 orblueplanetvacations.
(40:51):
com.
Show Voice (41:00):
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.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
(41:21):
And now here's Patrick Wiscombeand Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe (41:29):
Faldmo.
Welcome back inside of theInside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe,alongside Mark Faldmo, and if
you're just joining the show, wehave had some tremendous offers
travel offers, cruise offersfrom the infamous Just Cruising
(41:50):
segment.
We'll recap those coming up andwe will also be talking about
saying goodbye.
Goodbye to carry-on luggage aswe have always known it.
We'll get to that story here injust a second.
And anything TikTok related?
Generally speaking, not good,especially if it's a trend
(42:17):
probably not good.
Tiktok trends are causingpeople to miss flights.
I am not sorry for people whoare doing this at all.
No, not at all.
Earlier in the show, you and Iwere talking about the
significant and I do meandecades long change that
Southwest Airlines is sayinggoodbye.
You have to pay for yourcarry-on bags from now on.
That was the one differentiatorbetween all of the airlines and
(42:39):
Southwest.
That is now gone.
But this is a different storyMark about.
American Airlines has said thatthey are going to be changing
their baggage policy.
What are the details on thisone?
I feel like we're just gettingkidney punched this week.
Mark Faldmo (42:56):
Flying with a carry-on bag has always been
kind of a rite of passage forthe modern traveler.
Yeah, I've gone up to 10 daysin a small carry-on before and
the small carry-on before.
But now American Airlines andprobably others are going to
start shaking things up in airtravel.
It is following moves ofregulatory changes in Europe.
(43:18):
And so American says.
I haven't heard any news fromother airlines that are going to
do this, but American has saidthey're going to start
tightening their baggage policyto more closely match the
regulations in Europe.
Patrick Wiscombe (43:34):
My understanding of that is
basically the carry-ons aregoing to be a little smaller.
Is that right?
Mark Faldmo (43:40):
Yes, and they're going to enforce it more.
Everyone who's traveled hasprobably seen the size-wise and
so they are going to make surethat you have one carry-on that
will fit in the size-wise andyour other personal item has to
fit in the seat in front of you.
(44:00):
This story got me going.
I went and measured every bagin the house to see what I could
have.
Luckily, the bag I fly withmeets that the item that fits in
the seat underneath you.
So your personal item has to beno more than 18 by 14 by 8.
That's right about what mylaptop bag is, which you've seen
(44:21):
.
My laptop bag that's pretty bigand full of stuff, so that'll
fit in those dimensions.
That's a big a big bag.
Patrick Wiscombe (44:29):
I mean the way that you pack it.
I mean you get some stuff inthere.
Mark Faldmo (44:32):
Yes, I get lots in there.
It has all my radio equipmentand everything in it when I
travel, so that you know we cando things like this.
So, but the big change is goingto be the roll-on carry-on bags
, which will now have a limit of22 inches by 14 inches, by nine
inches.
Isn't that what it's alwaysbeen?
(44:54):
It has, but now it includes thewheels and handles.
Oh, or, before the wheelsdidn't necessarily count.
So some bags that 22 incheswill be a lot of carry-on bags
will be slightly too high.
So my bag makes it that Itravel with.
But you'll just have to watchthat if this policy goes into
(45:17):
effect.
Patrick Wiscombe (45:17):
Oh see, I thought it was going to take
effect already.
Mark Faldmo (45:21):
No, the American has said they'll probably move
into it later next year.
Oh, okay, you know.
So this is something.
They're just trying to get theword out to people, because some
people will show up and we'vetalked about travelers behaving
badly.
This policy will result inseveral travelers behaving badly
because they're going to bestrict about these sizing limits
(45:42):
on carry-on bags.
Patrick Wiscombe (45:44):
I think I'm going to be okay then with my
luggage, the Samsonite.
What do I have?
What is this called the freeform?
21 inch hard side carry onluggage with spinner wheels,
hard shell carry on suitcase,tsa airline approved.
That was a mouthful, but it istechnically 21.25 inches by
(46:04):
15.25 inches by 10 with thewheels and meets the cabin size
restrictions of most airlines.
So I should be okay there.
Yeah, you should be okay.
It was the wheels part of itthat I was getting kind of
concerned about.
I was like, uh-oh, anythingtiktok trend always kind of
makes me go okay, how immatureare you?
(46:25):
And I sound like an old man.
Get off my lawn.
What's the trend?
Mark Faldmo (46:28):
This TikTok trend that's called the airport theory
, and it advises that, arrivingat the airport just 15 minutes
prior to departure, you canstill make it through the gate
and make your flight.
No, you won't.
So years ago I would show up 30minutes and be fine, but there
are so many factors that go intothat.
(46:50):
Do you need to check a bag?
Do you have priority securityscreening?
Do you have any special needs?
A big part of it is whichairport are you flying from?
Airports are created equally.
Patrick Wiscombe (47:02):
No and I saw that firsthand.
Earlier this week, Monday,going from Phoenix back to Salt
Lake Phoenix was by far slowerthan anything I experienced at
Salt Lake, not even close.
Mark Faldmo (47:13):
It's a bad trend.
Don't take any advice fromTikTok.
Generally speaking, Arriving 15minutes before the flight,
that's when airlines usuallyclose the doors to the flight
Just by default.
Patrick Wiscombe (47:27):
I just by default.
That's a bad idea.
Mark Faldmo (47:30):
Yeah, if you're not on board between 10 and 15
minutes, they'll give your seataway to stand by travelers.
So this trend has causedseveral people to miss their
flights.
According to Google, there'sactually been an 8,000% increase
in what to do if you miss yourflight.
Type related searches oh boy.
(47:50):
So arrive at the 90 minutesbefore, which is recommended, or
a little bit longer if you'retraveling internationally.
Patrick Wiscombe (47:58):
In Salt Lake.
Let me tell you what happenedlast Friday, eight days ago.
Salt Lake International toPhoenix is where Nikki and I
went and we have digital ID.
So we were flying on Delta.
We also had TSA pre and we justwalked into the TSA pre line,
stood in front of a camera andthen they waved us on, didn't
(48:20):
even present a driver's license.
That's normal.
So let me fast forward.
Three days later we are cominghome this past Monday in Phoenix
.
So I was expecting the sameexperience to happen where we
jump in line, but this time theytook our driver's license.
They still took our picture.
I mean, that part is normal,but it was the driver's license
piece.
That kind of surprised me.
(48:41):
We've got TSA pre.
They have all of ourinformation.
Is that normal?
Mark Faldmo (48:46):
That is so.
The digital ID, which is whatyou want, where you don't have
to pull anything out right isonly available at select
airports so that's, why okayyeah, not all airports are
created equally, right.
Some airports don't have any ofthat stuff.
There are actually a fewairports that don't have tsa
pre-check.
Now they're they're small Iknow that, but there are some
(49:06):
that don't, and there are somethat don't, and there are some
that don't have that line openat all the all times.
Patrick Wiscombe (49:12):
If you're used to one thing, you can assume
that it's going to be the sameat any other airport that you're
using so you leave three hoursbefore and then basically, if
you get through fast, you justhang out in delta sky club or
and or an airline lounge, yeah,lounge yeah, yeah.
Mark Faldmo (49:30):
Or if there's not a lounge at the airport, I'm at.
I just go find a quiet place inthe airport, because there's
usually one you can find, youknow, and wait for the fight
while we're talking aboutphoenix to salt lake, I had
shake shack in phoenix, the phowhich is right, right near the
gate.
Patrick Wiscombe (49:49):
Why has nobody ever told me about Shake Shack?
That was one of the bestburgers I've ever had in my life
.
And there's a Shake Shack in.
Mark Faldmo (49:56):
Salt Lake airport.
How did I miss that?
I like Shake Shack.
Oh so I've actually only evereaten at a Shake Shack in an
airport in Los Angeles, in SaltLake and a few other airports
but it is a great burger.
Patrick Wiscombe (50:13):
Just another quick news story Discount
carriers are starting to droptransatlantic routes as network
airlines expand.
So the key here is there'sdiscount airlines and then
there's regular airlines, anddiscount carriers, if I've got
it right, are starting to justsay no, we won't go over the
(50:33):
Atlantic.
Mark Faldmo (50:34):
These are airlines that were primarily
transatlantic airlines.
So North Atlantic, which is aNorwegian airline, Play Airlines
, which is Iceland.
You say Play, Play is theirname yes.
I've never even heard of them,and then another one called
Contour Airlines, and theymainly do transatlantic flights
(50:56):
from different cities in the US,but they are starting to cut
back because the competition isgetting so much We've talked
about the last few weeks.
It seems like every other weekwe have a new story about United
, American, Delta adding a newinternational route Right, and
so it is making it harder forthese more budget airlines to
(51:16):
compete in that transatlanticspace.
You know, a lot of thesestarted or really gained
prominence during the pandemic,when the big airlines were
afraid to do anything.
These are the guys that reallyjumped on the demand.
That was there, that earlydemand, but now it's starting to
tailor off and people arebecoming more comfortable flying
(51:38):
the mainline airlines.
Patrick Wiscombe (51:39):
As we start to wrap up during the infamous
Just Cruising segment, thecruise deal of the week, which
was really really good a $400price drop.
What are the details again?
Mark Faldmo (51:49):
So this is on Norwegian Cruise Line.
Their Caribbean cruises forthis fall have dropped in price
anywhere from $300 to $400 aperson, inside cabins starting
at $649.
A balcony cabin starting at$879.
And those were cruises leavingout of New Orleans.
Get the conversation started.
And those were cruises leavingout of New Orleans.
Patrick Wiscombe (52:06):
Get the conversation started.
Go travel, go see the world.
Awesome, you will never regretseeing the world.
That's going to do it, mark.
We're done.
You can listen to the showagain tomorrow morning, Sunday,
at 11 am, right here on thisradio station and around the
country, and you can stream,download and subscribe to the
(52:28):
podcast on InsideTravelTalk.
com.
If you don't want to subscribe,you can just stream the show
right from InsideTravelTalk.
com.
But if you do, subscribe topodcasts, we're on all of the
major podcast platforms and youcan find all of the links also
at InsideTravelTalk.
com.
All right, our job is done.
(52:49):
It is now your turn to get outand explore the world, because
you never know what curveball'slife is going to throw at you.
Live your life deliberately.
Live your life intentionally.
Thank you so much for listening, mark, and I will talk to you
again next week.
Have a great week.
Show Voice (53:08):
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.
(53:29):
Thanks for listening.
Have a great week.
It is time for the Inside Travel Talk podcast,
a radio show.
Hello there.
On today's show, Mark and Iwill be talking about a sad
goodbye to carry-on luggage aswe know it.
Yes, it's true, and it hasnothing to do with Southwest
saying goodbye to free luggageand no, I'm not making that up,
that is a real thing.
(00:20):
That is happening a little bitearlier this week A French
Polynesian repositioning cruise,the best wildlife destinations
around the world and a specialservice for those of you who are
in love Marriage licenses uponarrival.
Let's start the show.
The Inside Travel Talk podcastand radio show presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com contains travel deals,promotions and offers that may
(00:43):
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 (00:58):
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
(01:22):
.
Patrick Wiscombe (01:32):
Back from Phoenix Arizona.
Welcome to the Inside TravelTalk podcast, a radio show.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe,alongside Mark Faldmo, he is
back from his travels.
I am back from my travels andcan I just say how glorious
Phoenix Arizona was in March,early March, before the 100
(01:54):
degree temperature showed upAwesome down there.
Went to go see some springbaseball Coming up on this show
Southwest saying goodbye to freeluggage and no, we're not
making that up, that happened alittle bit earlier this week and
a goodbye to carry-on luggageTotally separate story.
We'll give you the details onthat coming up here in just a
(02:16):
few minutes.
But let's first get to thetravel news headlines.
I saw that French Polynesia howmany times have you been there,
Mark?
Been there five or six?
Okay, French Polynesia sets anew record for cruise visits
last year 2024.
Mark Faldmo (02:32):
This is a record for them, but I want people to
pay attention to these numbers.
So in 2024, they set a recordof 52,000 cruise passengers that
embarked on a cruise from theisland of Tahiti, and that's up
20% from 2023 and up 15% frompre-pandemic levels.
(02:53):
And then also, 62,000passengers visited the island in
transit, which is up 45% from2023.
Patrick Wiscombe (03:03):
When you say in transit, you mean literally
going from one place to theother, but they stopped there.
Mark Faldmo (03:07):
Yes, like on a repositioning cruise or so a
cruise that doesn't start or endin Tahiti.
One thing that struck me wasit's a record, but yet only
52,000 passengers.
A port like Nassau, Bahamas,gets that number of cruise
passengers in a week probably,and so, even with these record
(03:29):
levels, French Polynesia isstill a great place to sail.
We are most likely going to bethe only ship there, no matter
what cruise line you decide togo on.
Very rarely do ships overlap.
You really get that laid backless crowded feel when you're in
French Polynesia on a cruise.
(03:49):
I've done French Polynesiaseveral times on a cruise.
I've done it on bigger shipsand I've done it on smaller
ships and I've loved it everytime.
Patrick Wiscombe (03:57):
Speaking of French Polynesia, Mark, what's
the best way to cruise to FrenchPolynesia there?
Mark Faldmo (04:03):
are three cruise lines that are based there
pretty much year round WindstarCruise Line, which is one of the
tall sailing ships that doesFrench Polynesia.
There's Paul Gauguin CruiseLine, which is a small ship,
luxury cruise line.
And then there's Aranui thatwe've talked about, which is
more of a unique it's halfcontainer ship and half cruise
(04:24):
ship.
Patrick Wiscombe (04:24):
And you've been on that.
Mark Faldmo (04:26):
I've been on the Aranui.
I have not been on Windstar orPaul Gauguin.
The best way, I think, if youwant to see French Polynesia is
by a repositioning cruise or atype of specialty cruise that
visits there but doesn't beginor end there.
That'll help keep the expenseslow.
I did pick out three differentitineraries that I think are a
(04:49):
great way to see Tahiti andFrench Polynesia.
Patrick Wiscombe (04:53):
Let's go, option number one.
Mark Faldmo (04:55):
This is a repositioning type cruise and
this is pretty close in.
It goes from Hawaii to Papeetein French Polynesia.
It's on Norwegian Cruise Line.
It leaves May 12th of this year.
They do this also in Novemberand then they do it again in
2026, may and November.
Patrick Wiscombe (05:16):
Did you say May 12th or May 21st?
Mark Faldmo (05:19):
May 21st.
Oh, okay, yep.
So this is a 14-day cruise.
It starts in Papeete, goes toMorea, Raiatea, bora Bora, with
an overnight in Bora Bora, andthen it cruises up to Hawaii,
goes to Hilo, Maui, Kauai, andthen ends in Honolulu.
Oh, wow, that specific region,but particularly Tahiti.
(05:43):
Now, this is a 14 day cruise.
It starts at $1,640 per personfor an inside cabin and for a
balcony cabin, $2,575 per person, which, for a 14 day cruise,
those are pretty good rates.
Oh yeah, the next cruise that Ifound is this fall.
This is one that I would jumpon it and do in a heartbeat if I
(06:07):
had the time.
It's a 20-day cruise and thisone sails from Honolulu down to
French Polynesia I'll go overthe full Itinerary in a minute
and then hits New Zealand andends in Sydney, Australia.
Oh wow.
So this is on Celebrity CruiseLine on the Celebrity Solstice.
Leaves October 2nd Again.
Leaves Honolulu, visits Papeete, Raiatea in French Polynesia,
(06:31):
Morea and then three ports,including Auckland in New
Zealand, ending in Sydney.
Ad Voice (06:38):
Wow.
Mark Faldmo (06:39):
Yeah, it's an amazing itinerary.
So this 20-day cruise, aninside cabin starts at $23 99
per person, a balcony at $3134per person.
Patrick Wiscombe (06:50):
Okay so inside cabin about $100 a day and just
a little bit more than that fora balcony you mentioned.
There are three ways.
What's the third way?
Mark Faldmo (06:59):
Now this way is for people that don't like to fly,
so you actually can get toFrench Polynesia without flying,
or without flying very long.
So Princess Cruises has a32-day cruise that is round-trip
Los Angeles.
I'm curious about this one.
This one leaves October 15ththis fall.
(07:21):
Leaves from Los Angeles,cruises down October 15th this
fall.
Leaves from Los Angeles,cruises down, hits Kauai and
Honolulu in Hawaii, then cruisesto Pago Pago in Samoa, Apia
Samoa.
Then hits Fiji has a coupleports in Fiji and then across to
Papeete and Morea in FrenchPolynesia before returning to
(07:43):
Los Angeles.
How many sea days is that one?
So that has lots of sea days ithas.
Of the 32 days it probably has.
Let me just count them upquickly.
Looks like there's about 16 seadays.
Patrick Wiscombe (08:00):
So literally half the cruise is just sea days
, half the cruise is just seadays.
See, I love sea days,absolutely love them.
Yeah, but you do get to seefantastic parts of the world, oh
my goodness, you know, there'sone thing that I just can't
erase from my brain, that I justnever get tired of, and that's
either being up on the aft ofthe ship or just sitting on a
(08:22):
balcony, or just being outsidein general and just watching the
horizon, the sunrise, thesunset.
I just never get tired of it,ever, yeah, and that's why I
love sea day so much.
I love being at sea.
Mark Faldmo (08:37):
This may be a little bit too long for me.
Um, the longest segment haseight sea days in a row.
Okay, that's a lot.
So, and that's that last, fromTahiti back to Los Angeles that
has those long days at sea.
Price-wise, that's 32 days$2788 per person for an inside
cabin or $5847 for a balcony.
(09:00):
What ship is that?
On the Sapphire Princess, onPrincess Cruises.
Patrick Wiscombe (09:04):
I'm getting to the point in life where I just
want to live on cruise ships,yes, and just sail the world.
We can do the radio show viaStarlink.
I can work from wherever thissounds.
I might be calling you afterthe show.
During this past week, you gota text from Susan asking the
question what are the bestwildlife watching destinations
(09:25):
in the world?
So a big question.
What would you say?
Mark Faldmo (09:29):
Well, there's several places for wildlife
viewing, and it also depends onthe type of wildlife viewing
that you want to do.
The five places that come tomind right away are Kenya for
safaris.
One of the most wonderful tripsI've ever taken was to Kenya to
see that.
The Galapagos Islands, whereyou get to see a lot of the rare
(09:49):
wildlife.
I have a really good contactand every time I talk to them
about the Galapagos Islands Ijust go crazy.
I want to go there.
Alaska again, for differenttypes of wildlife.
You have the whales, the bears,the moose, the elk.
Another one is the OkavangoDelta in Botswana, similar to
Kenya, but it's less visited,and so you get a little bit more
(10:14):
intimate experience when you dothat.
And then Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is going to be ourtravel deal of the week, so we
will talk about that nextsegment a little bit more.
The monkeys, the crocodiles,the toucans, the macaws just
everything you see in that areaof the world is quite
(10:34):
interesting and amazing.
So if you're looking forwildlife watching destinations,
those would be my top five.
Patrick Wiscombe (10:42):
You realize that we could do an entire
segment on each one of thoseKenya Galapagos Islands which do
want to go visit.
Well, actually, all of them.
Susan, if you have follow-upquestions, just call mark in his
office or just call him duringthe break he will answer the
phone 888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
(11:03):
Just get the conversationstarted.
Man, you came out swinging hardtoday with the infamous just
cruising segment.
I didn't know we were going togo that heavy.
Take advantage of those offersfrom Mark the NCL repositioning
cruise, Princess Round TripCruise Los Angeles and Honolulu
to Sydney Awesome, you willnever be disappointed when you
(11:28):
go on vacation.
Call him in his office,888-718-7717,.
Or you can see all of this onblueplanetvacations.
com.
When we come back, we've gotthe hot travel deal of the week,
as Mark mentioned, and we'vegot additional travel news
headlines and you can pick upyour marriage license right at
the airport.
(11:48):
We'll tell you where that isnext when the Inside Travel Talk
podcast, a radio show,continues alongside Mark Faldmo.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
Thank you so much for listening.
We will be right back.
Show Voice (12:03):
Helping you get out and see the world.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show with Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo, presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com.
America's best travel advisors.
Book your vacation now888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.
(12:25):
The show will continue afterthis.
Ad Voice (12:31):
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
itineraries throughout theMediterranean Caribbean and
Central America.
To book your unique StarClipper sailing adventure,
contact Blue Planet Vacations at888-718-7717 or
(12:52):
blueplanetvacations.
com.
Show Voice (13:02):
You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast
and radio show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700, and
check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
(13:23):
Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe (13:31):
Welcome back inside of the Inside Travel Talk
podcast and radio show.
Alongside Mark Faldmo, my nameis Patrick Wiscombe and, if you
are just tuning into the showthis very moment, the entire
purpose of our radio show andpodcast is to help you plan and
book your next vacation.
And if you have no idea whereyou want to go, our job is
(13:55):
simple as to give you ideas ofwhere you should consider next,
and this show is presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com.
And just a genuine thank youfor taking the time to stop and
listen.
Coming up in this segment bignews, big news.
I need some kind of soundeffect.
Should I call it the furiousmeter?
Big news and furious meter.
(14:17):
Oh boy, mark is locked andloaded for this one, and let's
just start with SouthwestAirlines.
So this happened a little bitearlier this week.
Mark is not happy.
Mark Faldmo (14:29):
Anyone who travels on Southwest should not be happy
Southwest actually this weekmade five major changes to its
customer policies, and the firstand biggest one being no more
bags fly free on Southwest man.
Patrick Wiscombe (14:45):
That's been a staple for literally decades,
and that's been a differentiatorfor Southwest.
Mark Faldmo (14:51):
Southwest was different and that's what made
them fun to fly on Right, andnow they're going to be just
like the rest of them, startingon May 28th.
So any ticket booked after May28th, no more free checked bags,
unless you're a Rapid RewardsA-list member, which is the
highest status level, or ifyou're traveling in business
(15:13):
select fares.
One exception that they're kindof matching other airlines If
you do have the Rapid Rewardscredit card, you do get a free
checked bag.
Patrick Wiscombe (15:22):
So a checked bag with one checked bag with
the credit card.
Mark Faldmo (15:27):
Four months ago there were rumors about this and
the CEO said bags fly free isthe number one reason why people
choose Southwest.
He said this is never going tochange.
And now it's four months laterand it's changed.
Patrick Wiscombe (15:43):
So it's a must-lie situation, is what I'm
hearing you say yes, he knew itwas coming, but he didn't want
to rock the stock, basically.
Mark Faldmo (15:51):
Yeah, and so the other big change they made was
how you earn Rapid Rewards, orthe number of Rapid Rewards
points you make per ticket.
So if you buy Southwest, wantto get away the very basic fares
, you'll now only earn two rapidrewards points per dollar spent
where it used to be five.
Patrick Wiscombe (16:09):
Oh, wow.
Mark Faldmo (16:09):
Big changes.
And then they've also loweredtwo of their other fare
categories.
But if you buy their businessselect, you actually earn two
more rapid rewards than you usedto.
So on the higher end ticketsthey're giving you more rewards
and on the lower end they'regiving you less rewards.
That just makes me want to useall my rapid rewards up before
(16:31):
they make it harder to redeemrapid rewards points.
Patrick Wiscombe (16:34):
Well, you know which I fear is the next?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they'rerolling this out in phases.
Mark Faldmo (16:39):
Yes, I've got about 600,000 rapid rewards points
that I need to use in the nextsix months, so I'll be traveling
a lot.
Patrick Wiscombe (16:46):
So you and I, heather Nikki, will be taking
off and going someplace, PerhapsFrench Polynesia?
Oh wait, maybe they don't fly.
Mark Faldmo (16:54):
Actually they don't fly there.
Patrick Wiscombe (16:57):
One place I know you can fly.
I know you're married alreadyto Heather, but if you want to
get married, las Vegas airportis offering marriage licenses
upon arrival.
If you just have to have itimmediately, they'll just give
it to you upon arrival.
Mark Faldmo (17:13):
It's a pop-up marriage license bureau.
You know, in Las Vegas, thewedding capital of the world,
the one thing is the airport isnot a legal place to get married
.
So you you can't land, get alicense and get married right
there.
You'll have to go to one of thewedding chapels, or I think
McDonald's has a drive-thruwedding chapel in Las Vegas.
Patrick Wiscombe (17:34):
I'll have my wife's hand in marriage and I'll
have the quarter pounder,please.
The US State Department isissuing a warning about bringing
guns and ammunition.
Why do I see them wagging theirfinger and just getting a
haughty look of derision?
Mark Faldmo (17:48):
Yeah, well, it's because of problems that they
had last year, particularly toone destination, which is the
Turks and Caicos.
Because of this, they increasedthe travel warning to a level
two oh, they did which isexercise increased caution.
Sure, you know that's the samelevel as France and Sweden,
united Kingdom, Italy, but theydid have to raise the warning
(18:11):
over this, just so people willlook at the warning.
And the main bulk of thewarning is don't travel with
guns or ammunition, which Ididn't think you could do anyway
.
Yeah, even in checked bags.
But what has happened and Iactually have a friend who was a
retired police officer thatthis happened to he used his
shooting bag that he went to thegun range with and a bullet had
(18:34):
fallen down underneath thething and TSA found it for him.
But if you're traveling tocountries like Mexico, even if
you have empty shell casingssome people have an empty shell
casing on a necklace orsomething and even that will get
you in hot water.
But in the Turks and Caicos,even the most minimum offenses
can get you up to 12 years inprison.
(18:55):
They've had a couple ofAmerican travelers detained for
many months while it worked outand they just released them on
time served, but that's a greatway to ruin a vacation that's a
definite damper if you go to agun range, make sure you don't
use that bag for travel, or makesure it's all.
The nooks and crannies aresearched thoroughly, because
(19:16):
there are a lot of countrieswhere this can cause problems.
Patrick Wiscombe (19:19):
Oh boy always in this segment of the show.
Segment number two is the hottravel deal of the week and we
talked about it, briefly touchedon it in the first segment
Costa Rica yeah, Costa Rica isone of my favorite destinations
in the world and I love itparticularly for that wildlife
watching.
Mark Faldmo (19:38):
I like the monkeys and sloths, and when you spot a
toucan in the wild, it's amazing.
Patrick Wiscombe (19:44):
When is the best time to visit Costa Rica?
Mark Faldmo (19:47):
Costa Rica has their dry season and their green
season.
Green is code word for rain Wet, so the dry season is December
through April.
The green season is May throughNovember.
The Caribbean coast has alittle bit of a different season
.
Even during the green or rainseason you can get sun.
(20:09):
It's more of the tropicaldownpours that you'll see.
And then, if you want to avoidthe crowds, the shoulder seasons
, the best months to visit areMay, june and November.
That's still putting you in therainy season, but not quite in
the rainiest part of the rainyseason, and so those are good
(20:30):
times to travel.
Patrick Wiscombe (20:32):
What areas do you personally like to visit?
So?
Mark Faldmo (20:36):
there are kind of four main areas.
There's Guanacaste, which isknown for its beaches.
It's in the northwestern partof the country.
There's the Central Pacific,which is kind of in the center
west, on the Pacific side of thecountry.
Patrick Wiscombe (20:50):
There's the Caribbean side, and then I
didn't even think about theCaribbean side.
Yeah, you're right.
Mark Faldmo (20:55):
Yeah, it's not very , it's probably not very large.
Well-visited?
Yeah, not very many peoplevisit that, but there are some
interesting hotels there.
There are some hotels on theCaribbean side where you have to
boat into the hotels to getthere.
You just you have to take acanal, a waterway to get to them
.
So they're pretty remote andisolated.
And then the fourth area is thevolcano area, which you like,
(21:17):
which I love.
Patrick Wiscombe (21:19):
I know you've done the volcano.
In fact, the volcano has wokenyou up when it's exploding Not,
I mean not catastrophicexploding, just making noises,
Just burping.
But it's loud.
Had to die coke, yeah.
What do you suggest as anitinerary in Costa Rica then?
Mark Faldmo (21:39):
In Costa Rica, I'd break it up in two different
areas.
I would spend some time inArenal, which is the volcano
area, and I'd spend some time inManuel Antonio, which is in the
Central Pacific area.
In Arenal, my three favoritethings to do there are the
hanging bridges, which aresuspension bridges hung through
(22:01):
the canopy of the forest.
You walk through them you seelots of wildlife.
Usually, now, wildlife iswildlife, so sometimes it's not
there, but you get to see theflora and fauna of Costa Rica.
The next one is the Sky Tram,which is a gondola that takes
you up to the top of a mountain.
You can either hike down fromthere, take the gondola back, or
(22:23):
you can zipline down, and thiszipline has amazing views of the
volcano as you're going down.
And then I like to also go toLa Fortuna Waterfall, which is
just a nice waterfall area to goto.
And then I guess one more thingis hot springs, lots of hot
springs around Costa Rica,around this area.
Patrick Wiscombe (22:42):
Manuel Antonio , you brought that up.
What do you like doing there?
Mark Faldmo (22:45):
This is where you'll see lots of monkeys.
Take a tour guide into thenational park.
They'll walk you to the beacharea and then you'll have the
rest of the time free there, butthey'll give you an explanation
of everything.
It's a very fun activity to doand it's probably one of my most
favorite beaches to visit,although, as you mentioned
earlier, this is a place.
(23:06):
Don't leave your stuffunattended.
Monkeys will steal your stuff.
And then there's other thingsto do in the area.
There's mangrove adventuretours.
It's a great area to visit, soI would say, do those two things
.
Patrick Wiscombe (23:18):
One thing that I remember you doing was the,
was it?
Mark Faldmo (23:26):
a CIA plane that's basically been turned into a
restaurant, or it is arestaurant.
Yeah, it's a restaurant calledEl Avion and one of the CIA
planes that was abandoned inCosta Rica after the Iran-Contra
scandal Got it.
They took it, hauled it up amountain.
Contra scandal Got it.
They took it, hauled it up amountain, built a restaurant
around it some of the bestsunsets you'll ever see, good
food and a very interestingatmosphere.
Patrick Wiscombe (23:46):
El Avion.
Mark Faldmo (23:48):
Nice, el.
Patrick Wiscombe (23:48):
Avion Yep.
I've never been to Costa Rica,but I know that it's going to
happen.
Mark Faldmo (23:57):
Do you have deals on this one?
I do so I actually just updateda new page on
blueplanetvacations.
com where you can go to see whatthese deals include.
The first thing, what I like todo is actually build a custom
trip for people.
I think that's the best way toget what you want out of it.
But I also have put togethersome preset Costa Rica vacations
.
There's an eight day volcanoesand beaches tour, or there's
(24:18):
just a six day volcano tour or asix day beach escape.
The eight day volcano andbeaches tour starts at $15.99
per person plus airfare, andthat includes seven nights hotel
, hot springs tour, EmmanuelAntonio tour and all the
transportation within thecountry and daily breakfast.
(24:38):
But for the rest of the tours Iknow we're running out of time
here Just go toblueplanetvacations.
com and you can see theinformation on those three
out-of-the-box tours.
Or I'd be happy to set up acustom vacation to other areas
of the country as well.
Patrick Wiscombe (24:53):
I am excited to get to Costa Rica and you
know that I'll do it.
That sounds like a threat andyou know that I'll do it.
That sounds like a threat andyou know that I'll do it, Mark,
yes, I'm going to go see theworld.
Call Mark in his office duringthe break 888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
(25:14):
When we come back, it is theinfamous Just Cruising segment.
It's only about cruise news andit's only about cruising and
we've got the cruise deal of theweek.
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast, a radio
show, continues.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
He is Mark Faldmo.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend.
(25:36):
We will be right back.
Show Voice (25:38):
They've literally traveled millions of miles to
answer your travel relatedquestions.
Yeah, they really have.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com.
America's best travel advisors,Patrick and Mark, will be back
after these messages.
Ad Voice (25:59):
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.
To book your romantic beachgetaway, contact Blue Planet
Vacations at 888-718-7717 orblueplanetvacations.
com.
Patrick Wiscombe (26:18):
Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk
podcast and radio show Coming up.
In the next 28 minutes we willbe talking about MSC's World
America, the brand new ship,MSc's godmother, drew Barrymore
and I'm kind of curious ifOrlando Bloom's going to be
there A new ship christening inKey West, a not so good TikTok
(26:39):
trend Of course I don't knowthat.
There's a lot of good tiktoktrends and ncl's new lower
Caribbean prices.
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.
(26:59):
Travel deals and offers changeconstantly and are capacity
controlled and subject to changewithout notice.
Show Voice (27:13):
Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com America's best traveladvisors.
Hit us up right now,801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe (27:45):
All aboard for segment number three of the
Inside Travel Talk podcast andradio show, the infamous Just
Cruising segment.
We'll be talking about MSC'snew World America ship.
Mark will be on the media tour.
I will not, but I willliterally get on the ship as
he's getting off.
I'm very, very excited to geton that ship and during the
(28:08):
break I've got some excitingnews, mark, I didn't even put it
on the rundown so I had toclear out of the studio because
my daughter-in-law just sent thefamily text that she and my son
, Brandon, are expecting anothergrandchild.
Congratulations, I'm grand dudetimes two.
(28:29):
Well, at least the upcomingnumber two.
How exciting is that?
That's exciting.
I'm pretty young to be a granddude though you are.
I'm 35.
No, I'm just kidding.
That'd be something.
My head is kind of spinningfrom getting that news.
Thank you for indulging me forjust a moment.
We'll get to the cruise deal ofthe Week here in just a moment,
(28:49):
but let's first get to theCruise News headlines and let's
start with MSC's World AmericaDrew Barrymore and in case you
haven't seen the MSC WorldAmerica ad, it's Drew Barrymore
and Orlando Bloom.
She has been named MSC WorldAmerica's godmother.
Mark Faldmo (29:11):
The christening and naming ceremony will take place
on April 9th, which I'm excitedto have been invited to.
That I'm looking forward tothat.
I always enjoy those ceremonies.
Patrick Wiscombe (29:17):
What happens at a naming ceremony.
Mark Faldmo (29:17):
I always enjoy those ceremonies.
What happens?
at a naming ceremony Christeningand naming ceremony.
It's a long-standing maritimetradition.
It goes way back.
They usually choose a female tobe the godmother of the ship
the godmother that's when thechampagne is thrown against the
hull.
They give it the name, theygive it a blessing for safety
(29:39):
and good luck on the ship'sjourneys.
It's a really festive time.
These days, most of thegodmothers are celebrities.
You know, I remember back to Ithink it was the Norwegian
breakaway I actually had agodfather which was Pitbull.
That was a fun naming ceremony.
I think with Drew Barrymore,that will be a fun naming
(30:02):
ceremony as well.
This is a break from MSC.
Every other MSC ship'sgodmother is Sophia Loren
because the family has aconnection to that family.
The World America will be thefirst MSC ship that has a
different godmother, which isDrew Barrymore.
Patrick Wiscombe (30:20):
Does the Christine happen on land or does
it happen on the ship and theybash it?
Mark Faldmo (30:25):
How does that work it happens on land Others I've
been to.
They set up temporary bleacherstands around the bow of the
ship so everyone that's invitedusually goes and sits in those
bleachers.
I guess it depends on the port,because I've done some where
they do it in the theater.
They have different venuesaround the ship where it's done,
so it can be done either way,but it's done in port before it
(30:49):
sets sail on that first voyage.
Patrick Wiscombe (30:52):
And you're on the ship.
Is it the April 9th through the12th?
I think that sounds right.
Mark Faldmo (30:58):
Yes, Okay, so I'll go that afternoon They'll do the
naming ceremony and thenthey'll set sail that evening.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:06):
And what are the ports on that one?
Probably MSC's Ocean Key MarineReserve, their private island.
Mark Faldmo (31:12):
Yeah, so that's what it is.
We just spend overnight there,oh, is it?
Oh, okay, so we just have twodays at MSC Ocean Key.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:20):
So you're going to dock there overnight?
Yes, that naturally brings upthe question since it was a
commercial about Drew Barrymoreand Orlando Bloom, do you think
he's going to be there?
Mark Faldmo (31:32):
I think he's going to be there.
That's what my wife asks meevery day.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:37):
Was Legolas going to be there?
Mark Faldmo (31:39):
Yes.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:40):
You know, the first time I remember seeing him
obviously it was Lord of theRings and he had a really
breakout career at that momentbut I always pictured him with
white hair.
So when I actually saw who hewas, with dark, almost blackish
hair, I was like that's not thesame guy.
Yeah, kind of freaked me out.
Heather asking hey, uh, youthink he's gonna be there?
Uh, no, no, honey, no, not atall.
(32:02):
Is heather going with you onthis one?
does she get going with me, okay, good see if you can get a
selfie with him.
Mark Faldmo (32:08):
She would like I will try that, because every
inaugural I've been on with herI've gotten a selfie with the
godparents of the ship.
So, um, the ones I like themost.
One of Norwegian ships was therocket, so I got my picture with
12 rockets.
Another ship was the Miamidolphins cheerleader, so I got
my picture with the Miamidolphins cheerleader.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:30):
So so that's the tradition I will try and
keep with Drew Barry more andjust drew Barry more in this
case.
Yeah, but he'll probably bethere too.
Mark Faldmo (32:38):
Yes.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:40):
Speaking of christening ships, American
legend coastal ship waschristened, or is going to be
christened in Key West, Florida,one of my new favorite places
on this planet.
Yeah, I love Key West.
Oh, so awesome there.
Mark Faldmo (32:54):
We've talked about American Cruise Line before.
This is one of their newcoastal cat ships which, going
through that same ceremonyactually last week it had its
christening in Key West.
So it's going to sail aroundthe Florida Keys and around the
Gulf Coast area and then it'sgoing to move up to Washington
DC and cruise around theChesapeake Bay and then move up
(33:17):
into Canada, new England and theHudson River area.
These ships are I think they'dbe fantastic to go on.
There are a hundred passengersand you get to go some really
unique out-of-the-way places.
One of the interestingitineraries that this does in
the Chesapeake Bay.
It has a whole itineraryfocused on the Revolutionary War
(33:37):
.
Patrick Wiscombe (33:37):
Oh, I'd do that in a minute.
Mark Faldmo (33:39):
I'm actually going to see if we can get them to be
on a guest one of these timesand see if we can't get out to
see one of their ships.
Interestingly enough for ushere in Salt Lake City, their
training center is in Draperwhat.
They have a place where theytrain their crew, where they
have full cabins.
They have their whole culinarythere where they do a lot of
(34:00):
their training.
They're based in, I think, NewHampshire, somewhere in New
England, but they have atraining center here in Salt
Lake City.
Patrick Wiscombe (34:07):
I think going around the Florida Keys on that
ship would be terrific.
Chesapeake Bay, but also theHudson man, that would be
spectacular.
To see New York like that itwould.
Ncl is, from what I can read,leaning heavily on music
nostalgia with four new shows.
(34:28):
What ships is this going to beon and how much nostalgia are
they bringing to their ships?
Mark Faldmo (34:33):
Norwegian, I think, has always done a very good job
with their shows and with someof these kind of nostalgic shows
.
So their new show is calledBring Back the 90s.
It is going to be in productionby the end of this summer on a
couple of Norwegian ships.
It's going to feature musicthrough the decade with
(34:56):
Destiny's Child, Salt-N-Pepa,Alanis Morrissette.
Bring in really that popculture.
Patrick Wiscombe (35:02):
Well, that's ironic, don't you think?
Yes, did you get that?
Mark Faldmo (35:06):
reference?
I did get that reference.
They did a test run onNorwegian Getaway and it will be
officially be aboard theNorwegian Joy on July 7th, which
is Alaska Sailings from Seattle.
What other shows?
Another show that Norwegian isbringing on is called Brits who
Made it Big in America.
(35:27):
Norwegian is bringing on iscalled Brits who Made it Big in
America.
It is called Red, white andBritish and it is going to have
musical performances featuringsongs from David Bowie and Queen
and that has actually startedon the Norwegian Breakaway and
will be on Norwegian Epicstarting in May and then it'll
move into Norwegian Prima on itsEurope season.
(35:50):
They will have two more shows.
One is called Icons the Bandsand it's going to just feature
songs from legendary bands fromdifferent generations and this
will be more of a show which hasa nine-person cast.
And then the other show iscalled Ignite the Night, which
is kind of like a Dancing withthe Stars type presentation.
(36:11):
So those are the four new showson Norwegian.
Patrick Wiscombe (36:15):
Let's get to the cruise deal of the week,
which is going to be all aboutNCL.
They've announced lower pricesin the Caribbean.
What deals do we have forlisteners this week?
Mark Faldmo (36:26):
So there are several different sailings where
Norwegian has lowered the pricefor Caribbean sailings.
I am going to focus on just one, and it's the Norwegian Escape
which departs Round Trip.
New Orleans goes to Costa Maya,Mexico.
Harvest Cay, which is in Belizeyeah, it's kind of a private
(36:49):
island experience and thenRoatan in Honduras and Cozumel.
I would call it exotic WesternCaribbean, although now more and
more ships are going to Roatanand Belize.
Patrick Wiscombe (37:04):
So Roatan was one of your favorite places it
is.
Mark Faldmo (37:07):
I loved Roatan.
It reminds me a lot of Tahitiand the South Pacific, tropical
and green.
One of my favorite destinationsin the Caribbean, and actually
Costa Maya, is as well.
Patrick Wiscombe (37:19):
So is that Costa Maya still technically the
Caribbean?
It is, oh, it's the MexicanCaribbean.
What are the actual deals thatour listeners can call you about
this week?
Mark Faldmo (37:29):
The prices have actually dropped about $400 per
person compared to last week.
I noticed this because this isone of the sailings that I've
had on the top five cruise dealson the blueplanetvacations.
com and I was just amazed at theprice drop, particularly in the
balcony cabin category.
(37:50):
This is November dates.
Leaving from New Orleans Insidestarts at $642 per person and
balcony starts at $872 perperson For a seven day cruise.
For a seven day cruise Wow.
Now I said November dates.
The date over Thanksgiving isnot have a price drop, it's
(38:14):
still up there in price becausethat's a good time to cruise,
but the other dates in Novemberdid drop anywhere from three to
four hundred dollars compared towhat they were about two weeks
ago.
Patrick Wiscombe (38:24):
Oh wow, that's a significant drop.
Mark Faldmo (38:27):
I've also noticed, if you're interested in shorter
cruises, five-day cruise fromMiami dropped about $300.
Starts at $509 for an insidecabin.
The ports on that Miami, Nassau, Bimini Islands which you're
going to get- to go to in.
Patrick Wiscombe (38:44):
April.
Yeah, I'm excited about thatone.
Mark Faldmo (38:46):
One of my favorite stops, and then Norwegian's
Private Island.
Those are October and Novemberdates that had that price drop
for the shorter cruises out ofMiami, the five-day cruise.
Is that also NCL?
Patrick Wiscombe (38:58):
on that one.
Mark Faldmo (38:59):
That is also Norwegian on the Norwegian
Getaway.
So these are newer ships.
Then these are some ofNorwegian's newer ship.
Patrick Wiscombe (39:06):
I don't know what it is is.
It might be the new ship smell.
But wow, those new ships arespectacular.
They are.
Those are great prices.
Call mark during the break.
Just get the conversationstarted.
Call them 888-718-7717,888-718-7717.
(39:27):
And you will post this onblueplanetvacations.
com, correct, or it's probablyalready there.
Mark Faldmo (39:33):
It is.
Most of these are in the topfive cruise deals of the week,
which there's about 15 on thereright now.
Top five.
Patrick Wiscombe (39:40):
There's a lot of good cruise deals.
Yeah, there is.
When we come back, we'll get toMark's travel tips.
We'll wrap everything up forthis week.
That is next.
Oh, and we also have additionaltravel news headlines and we're
saying goodbye to carry-onluggage as you know it.
And no, this is not Southwestrelated.
This is different.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your Saturday
(40:03):
and Sunday.
We will be right back.
Show Voice (40:08):
Explore your world.
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.
We'll be right back.
801-649-3700.
Ad Voice (40:30):
We'll be right back Inside.
Travel Talk is brought to youby Anna Waterways.
From castles and capitals tovistas and villages visit some
of Europe's most remarkablesites and cities To set out on
your own river cruise journey.
Contact Blue Planet Vacationsat 888-718-7717 or at
888-718-7717 orblueplanetvacations.
(40:51):
com.
Show Voice (41:00):
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.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
(41:21):
And now here's Patrick Wiscombeand Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe (41:29):
Faldmo.
Welcome back inside of theInside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe,alongside Mark Faldmo, and if
you're just joining the show, wehave had some tremendous offers
travel offers, cruise offersfrom the infamous Just Cruising
(41:50):
segment.
We'll recap those coming up andwe will also be talking about
saying goodbye.
Goodbye to carry-on luggage aswe have always known it.
We'll get to that story here injust a second.
And anything TikTok related?
Generally speaking, not good,especially if it's a trend
(42:17):
probably not good.
Tiktok trends are causingpeople to miss flights.
I am not sorry for people whoare doing this at all.
No, not at all.
Earlier in the show, you and Iwere talking about the
significant and I do meandecades long change that
Southwest Airlines is sayinggoodbye.
You have to pay for yourcarry-on bags from now on.
That was the one differentiatorbetween all of the airlines and
(42:39):
Southwest.
That is now gone.
But this is a different storyMark about.
American Airlines has said thatthey are going to be changing
their baggage policy.
What are the details on thisone?
I feel like we're just gettingkidney punched this week.
Mark Faldmo (42:56):
Flying with a carry-on bag has always been
kind of a rite of passage forthe modern traveler.
Yeah, I've gone up to 10 daysin a small carry-on before and
the small carry-on before.
But now American Airlines andprobably others are going to
start shaking things up in airtravel.
It is following moves ofregulatory changes in Europe.
(43:18):
And so American says.
I haven't heard any news fromother airlines that are going to
do this, but American has saidthey're going to start
tightening their baggage policyto more closely match the
regulations in Europe.
Patrick Wiscombe (43:34):
My understanding of that is
basically the carry-ons aregoing to be a little smaller.
Is that right?
Mark Faldmo (43:40):
Yes, and they're going to enforce it more.
Everyone who's traveled hasprobably seen the size-wise and
so they are going to make surethat you have one carry-on that
will fit in the size-wise andyour other personal item has to
fit in the seat in front of you.
(44:00):
This story got me going.
I went and measured every bagin the house to see what I could
have.
Luckily, the bag I fly withmeets that the item that fits in
the seat underneath you.
So your personal item has to beno more than 18 by 14 by 8.
That's right about what mylaptop bag is, which you've seen
(44:21):
.
My laptop bag that's pretty bigand full of stuff, so that'll
fit in those dimensions.
That's a big a big bag.
Patrick Wiscombe (44:29):
I mean the way that you pack it.
I mean you get some stuff inthere.
Mark Faldmo (44:32):
Yes, I get lots in there.
It has all my radio equipmentand everything in it when I
travel, so that you know we cando things like this.
So, but the big change is goingto be the roll-on carry-on bags
, which will now have a limit of22 inches by 14 inches, by nine
inches.
Isn't that what it's alwaysbeen?
(44:54):
It has, but now it includes thewheels and handles.
Oh, or, before the wheelsdidn't necessarily count.
So some bags that 22 incheswill be a lot of carry-on bags
will be slightly too high.
So my bag makes it that Itravel with.
But you'll just have to watchthat if this policy goes into
(45:17):
effect.
Patrick Wiscombe (45:17):
Oh see, I thought it was going to take
effect already.
Mark Faldmo (45:21):
No, the American has said they'll probably move
into it later next year.
Oh, okay, you know.
So this is something.
They're just trying to get theword out to people, because some
people will show up and we'vetalked about travelers behaving
badly.
This policy will result inseveral travelers behaving badly
because they're going to bestrict about these sizing limits
(45:42):
on carry-on bags.
Patrick Wiscombe (45:44):
I think I'm going to be okay then with my
luggage, the Samsonite.
What do I have?
What is this called the freeform?
21 inch hard side carry onluggage with spinner wheels,
hard shell carry on suitcase,tsa airline approved.
That was a mouthful, but it istechnically 21.25 inches by
(46:04):
15.25 inches by 10 with thewheels and meets the cabin size
restrictions of most airlines.
So I should be okay there.
Yeah, you should be okay.
It was the wheels part of itthat I was getting kind of
concerned about.
I was like, uh-oh, anythingtiktok trend always kind of
makes me go okay, how immatureare you?
(46:25):
And I sound like an old man.
Get off my lawn.
What's the trend?
Mark Faldmo (46:28):
This TikTok trend that's called the airport theory
, and it advises that, arrivingat the airport just 15 minutes
prior to departure, you canstill make it through the gate
and make your flight.
No, you won't.
So years ago I would show up 30minutes and be fine, but there
are so many factors that go intothat.
(46:50):
Do you need to check a bag?
Do you have priority securityscreening?
Do you have any special needs?
A big part of it is whichairport are you flying from?
Airports are created equally.
Patrick Wiscombe (47:02):
No and I saw that firsthand.
Earlier this week, Monday,going from Phoenix back to Salt
Lake Phoenix was by far slowerthan anything I experienced at
Salt Lake, not even close.
Mark Faldmo (47:13):
It's a bad trend.
Don't take any advice fromTikTok.
Generally speaking, Arriving 15minutes before the flight,
that's when airlines usuallyclose the doors to the flight
Just by default.
Patrick Wiscombe (47:27):
I just by default.
That's a bad idea.
Mark Faldmo (47:30):
Yeah, if you're not on board between 10 and 15
minutes, they'll give your seataway to stand by travelers.
So this trend has causedseveral people to miss their
flights.
According to Google, there'sactually been an 8,000% increase
in what to do if you miss yourflight.
Type related searches oh boy.
(47:50):
So arrive at the 90 minutesbefore, which is recommended, or
a little bit longer if you'retraveling internationally.
Patrick Wiscombe (47:58):
In Salt Lake.
Let me tell you what happenedlast Friday, eight days ago.
Salt Lake International toPhoenix is where Nikki and I
went and we have digital ID.
So we were flying on Delta.
We also had TSA pre and we justwalked into the TSA pre line,
stood in front of a camera andthen they waved us on, didn't
(48:20):
even present a driver's license.
That's normal.
So let me fast forward.
Three days later we are cominghome this past Monday in Phoenix
.
So I was expecting the sameexperience to happen where we
jump in line, but this time theytook our driver's license.
They still took our picture.
I mean, that part is normal,but it was the driver's license
piece.
That kind of surprised me.
(48:41):
We've got TSA pre.
They have all of ourinformation.
Is that normal?
Mark Faldmo (48:46):
That is so.
The digital ID, which is whatyou want, where you don't have
to pull anything out right isonly available at select
airports so that's, why okayyeah, not all airports are
created equally, right.
Some airports don't have any ofthat stuff.
There are actually a fewairports that don't have tsa
pre-check.
Now they're they're small Iknow that, but there are some
(49:06):
that don't, and there are somethat don't, and there are some
that don't have that line openat all the all times.
Patrick Wiscombe (49:12):
If you're used to one thing, you can assume
that it's going to be the sameat any other airport that you're
using so you leave three hoursbefore and then basically, if
you get through fast, you justhang out in delta sky club or
and or an airline lounge, yeah,lounge yeah, yeah.
Mark Faldmo (49:30):
Or if there's not a lounge at the airport, I'm at.
I just go find a quiet place inthe airport, because there's
usually one you can find, youknow, and wait for the fight
while we're talking aboutphoenix to salt lake, I had
shake shack in phoenix, the phowhich is right, right near the
gate.
Patrick Wiscombe (49:49):
Why has nobody ever told me about Shake Shack?
That was one of the bestburgers I've ever had in my life
.
And there's a Shake Shack in.
Mark Faldmo (49:56):
Salt Lake airport.
How did I miss that?
I like Shake Shack.
Oh so I've actually only evereaten at a Shake Shack in an
airport in Los Angeles, in SaltLake and a few other airports
but it is a great burger.
Patrick Wiscombe (50:13):
Just another quick news story Discount
carriers are starting to droptransatlantic routes as network
airlines expand.
So the key here is there'sdiscount airlines and then
there's regular airlines, anddiscount carriers, if I've got
it right, are starting to justsay no, we won't go over the
(50:33):
Atlantic.
Mark Faldmo (50:34):
These are airlines that were primarily
transatlantic airlines.
So North Atlantic, which is aNorwegian airline, Play Airlines
, which is Iceland.
You say Play, Play is theirname yes.
I've never even heard of them,and then another one called
Contour Airlines, and theymainly do transatlantic flights
(50:56):
from different cities in the US,but they are starting to cut
back because the competition isgetting so much We've talked
about the last few weeks.
It seems like every other weekwe have a new story about United
, American, Delta adding a newinternational route Right, and
so it is making it harder forthese more budget airlines to
(51:16):
compete in that transatlanticspace.
You know, a lot of thesestarted or really gained
prominence during the pandemic,when the big airlines were
afraid to do anything.
These are the guys that reallyjumped on the demand.
That was there, that earlydemand, but now it's starting to
tailor off and people arebecoming more comfortable flying
(51:38):
the mainline airlines.
Patrick Wiscombe (51:39):
As we start to wrap up during the infamous
Just Cruising segment, thecruise deal of the week, which
was really really good a $400price drop.
What are the details again?
Mark Faldmo (51:49):
So this is on Norwegian Cruise Line.
Their Caribbean cruises forthis fall have dropped in price
anywhere from $300 to $400 aperson, inside cabins starting
at $649.
A balcony cabin starting at$879.
And those were cruises leavingout of New Orleans.
Get the conversation started.
And those were cruises leavingout of New Orleans.
Patrick Wiscombe (52:06):
Get the conversation started.
Go travel, go see the world.
Awesome, you will never regretseeing the world.
That's going to do it, mark.
We're done.
You can listen to the showagain tomorrow morning, Sunday,
at 11 am, right here on thisradio station and around the
country, and you can stream,download and subscribe to the
(52:28):
podcast on InsideTravelTalk.
com.
If you don't want to subscribe,you can just stream the show
right from InsideTravelTalk.
com.
But if you do, subscribe topodcasts, we're on all of the
major podcast platforms and youcan find all of the links also
at InsideTravelTalk.
com.
All right, our job is done.
(52:49):
It is now your turn to get outand explore the world, because
you never know what curveball'slife is going to throw at you.
Live your life deliberately.
Live your life intentionally.
Thank you so much for listening, mark, and I will talk to you
again next week.
Have a great week.
Show Voice (53:08):
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.
(53:29):
Thanks for listening.
Have a great week.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!