The Travel Show: Hawaii & Mexico Offers; Larry's "Never List"; Best Travel Advice

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
You're listening to the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks, that
get away guru, and we have a blockbuster show today.
There is a seismic change with airlines that will rock
the industry. We're gonna be headed to Maui in the
road to Haina. Saint Patrick's Day is today. Celebrate it, well,
we celebrate it today. The actual holiday is Monday. I'm

(00:27):
gonna give you Larry's Never List. It's the Never travel List.
We'll be talking about Hawaii and Mexico specials. The business
development manager from Alma Waterways, the premiere river cruise company
in the world, will be joining us, and I'm gonna
take you down to French Polynesia and then wrap up

(00:49):
the show with absolutely positively my best travel advice. I
am so glad to be back. Kathy and I just
arrived yesterday from Maui, and I'll be telling you about
an incredible trip that we had.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
You know, we.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Returned from Australia and New Zealand on Sunday, March the second.
We're home two days and then on Wednesday, March fifth,
we left for Maui and just got home yesterday morning.
And it's kind of an interesting story about that tight
flight schedule. We had a wonderful group of travel show

(01:25):
listeners in Australia New Zealand. That very cruise and Tour
Australian New Zealand I'll be doing again next February of
twenty twenty six. We've already got a nice group of
travel show listeners on that one. But why did we
leave for Maui two days later? I'll tell you that
later in the show. All right to rock the airline

(01:46):
industry a shocker, a seismic shift in airlines bags. Your
check in luggage will no longer fly free on Southwest
Airlines unless your will to pay up for a high priced,
overpriced fair boast elites at US or carry one of
their co branded credit cards. Southwest Airlines made an announcement

(02:10):
that will shake the very foundation of its relationship with customers.
The Dallas based carrier, on just a few days ago,
announced it will end its two free check bags policy
later this spring. That later this spring is going to

(02:31):
be made twenty eighth. Now, as you know, airlines have
never met a fee. It's called an ancillary fee that
they didn't like. You want to get a premier seat,
a good seat, an aisle a window in some cases
you have to pay for if that's an ancillary fee,
check luggage, an ancillary feed, rebook change, an selary fees,

(02:55):
buy food on board an selary fees. By the way,
airlines made over seven billion dollars. That's billion with a
B in ancillary fees picking our pockets.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
What it really is.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Do you know why they love the fees? Well, first
of all, they don't really care if you like it
or not. The only issue to an airline and I
don't say this disrespectfully, but it's true. I worked in
the airline industry. Is the only issues. Will you pay it? Now?
Let me tell you why airlines prefer fees over increasing

(03:29):
the airfare. Airfares are taxed by the government at seven
and a half percent, So you buy a thousand dollars
airline ticket, seventy five bucks of that ticket are going
to the Feds. But ancillary fees are not taxed. So
if airlines want to increase their revenue, they can avoid

(03:53):
paying to the government that's seven and a half percent
of the ancillary charge by simply calling it a fee,
and they're called airline imposed fees. They just add something
to it. If you break it down, sometimes say a
five hundred dollars ticket, the actual the actual and this

(04:14):
is a hypothetical example. The actual cost of the airfare
is say three hundred dollars, airline imposed fees of one
hundred bucks and government taxes of one hundred bucks. Well,
the airline really is collecting four hundred but only paying
tax on three hundred. Anyway, starting with bookings on Southwest

(04:35):
on May twenty eighth, most Southwest passengers will have to
pay for every check bag. And this really is a
seismic shift away from the standout policy that Southwest Airlines
even last fall, made clear they will never change. Now
let me tell you why it's so important. Think of

(04:59):
any product or service where there's competition Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge,
American Airlines, United Southwest, Delta, Royal, Caribbean, Carnival, a Norwegian
cruise line, Viking River Cruises, Almah Waterways Cruises, you know, Ivory,
Soap or dial So every product or service wants to

(05:23):
differentiate itself from the competition. This is why you should
fly XYZ Airlines over ABC. They all do it, and
it's something that you really need to do. And how
do you differentiate your product, well, the quality of the
product or service, the price and service. And this is

(05:44):
where Southwest had such an advantage because with most airlines,
a standard sized suitcase which is up to fifty pounds
and sixty two linear inches. Linear inches is length, height,
and width all combined. So it's a normal sized suitcase
for the first bag. With most airlines domestically thirty five bucks,

(06:07):
second forty five. You take two suitcases, you into it
eighty dollars each way, one hundred and sixty bucks round trip.
So how does Southwest, which flies domestically in a few
international and not transoceanic but you know Mexico and Caribbean

(06:27):
and some other Latin American destinations, how do they differentiate
their product by free bags? And so when you look
at the cost of your picket, you have to factor
that in. Well, now, how does Southwest make themselves different

(06:48):
There's several obvious reasons why charging for checks bags is
going to be really hard on Southwest Airlines. Number one,
it was the real product differentiator which we just talked about.
Customers would choose Southwest Airlines because of this benefit, and
they usually are booking direct with Southwest, which lowers distribution

(07:13):
cost and Southwest, I'm telling you, is gonna lose ticket
sales because of it. Now, this is where brilliance comes
in the airline. Southwest recently estimated that they would gain
one and a half billion dollars from ancillary checked in

(07:35):
baggage fees, but they also estimated they're gonna lose one
point eight billion in lost customer revenue. You're gonna lose
one and a half or gain one and a half
and lose one point eight Well, it's like we just
have to have more lemonade, don't we. It also makes
their flying less efficient because people are gonna be bringing

(07:58):
a lot more care carry on bags to avoid check
in fees. Now currently Southwest checks in more bags than
any other airline by a mile. Pushing bags into the
cabin will slow the boarding process down. It means longer turntimes.
A turntime is when the plane arrives, the door opens,

(08:20):
and then they disembark the people, they load the new
passengers for the next sight and close the doors. How
fast can they turn the plane around? And Southwest does
it as good as anybody. But now those turntimes, which
means less frequency of flights, is going to take place.
And the third reasons why this is going to be
a tough one is that you're going to have a

(08:42):
lot more unhappy customers in the cabin and delayed flights.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Well, you know, there's actually a strong case for charging
separately for check bags at Southwest. Once management capitulated to
all the other changes in their new buy which demanded them,
there is simply no longer going to be enough differentiation

(09:09):
at the airline for check bags enough to create customer loyalty.
So the airline's changing in many ways. How are they
different than anybody else? And Southwest has been struggling. You know,
they had an investment group, the Elliott Investment Group come
in and pour in I think it was two billion

(09:31):
dollars and they came in, you know, as a hedge fund.
And some people speculated they want to take over Southwest,
make all these changes, increase some revenue, and then sell
it or move it on. That's what some people have reported. Well,
if check bag fees will no longer be enough to

(09:53):
DIFFERENTI Southwest, they may as well pick up extra revenue
from all these other ancillary affairs.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
This leaves the.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Airline in a rather troubling predicament the loyalty program is
not as generous or especially rewarding, and becoming even less
so with loyalty it's called rapid rewards changes their program.
I think Southwest is trying to mimic Jet Blue in
others with an in flight product that really is not

(10:26):
up to snuff. Well, it'll be interesting to see how
this all plays out. I am sad to say that
Southwest has made this change.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Listen what's coming? Hey more when.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
We come back on the Travel Show, We're going to
be headed to Ireland, Mauwi and Scotland here on the Travel.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
Show on Talk Radio one oh five nine knrs. Just
listen and you'll know.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwick's the
Getaway Guru, and I want to wish you a very
happy Saint Patrick's Day. Now, the actual holiday March seventeenth,
which coincides with the date that Saint Patrick passed away
on March seventeenth in the year four sixty one. But

(11:24):
we you know, largely the celebrations are going to be
today and Tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, as the actual holiday
falls on Monday. Of course, there'll be some Monday celebrations. Also,
you know, the story of Saint Patrick is quite interesting.
And by the way, Patrick was not his name. I'll
let you in on that. But Saint Patrick of Ireland

(11:47):
has to be one of the world's most popular saints. Now,
he was not born in Ireland, is actually born in
Scotland in the year three eighty five, and his real
name was Mayway Sioux Cat Maywey siu Cat. Now there's
quite a name, isn't it. But he was born in

(12:09):
three eighty five in Scotland. At age fourteen, he was
captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland from
what we call today Scotland. It was part of the
Roman Britain Empire at that time. He was taken as
a slave and his assignment was the herd in ten

(12:29):
sheep Well. Ireland at this time was the land of
the Druids and the Pagans. He learned the language and
practices of the people who held him, but during his
captivity Maywn Sukt turned to God in prayer, he later wrote,
during this time as a slave fourteen fifteen years old,

(12:51):
he later wrote of this time as he turned to
God in prayer, the love of God grew in me
and more as did the faith, and my soul was roused,
so that in a single day I have said as
many as one hundred prayers. And in the night nearly

(13:11):
the same close quote, he prayed in the woods and
on a mountain, even before dawn. He said, some days
he offered over a hundred prayers. Well, his slavery lasted
about six years, and when he was twenty years old,
he had a dream and he escaped, but he didn't
know where to go, and he reports that he had

(13:32):
another dream of the direction which he would go. So
he walked about two hundred miles to the coast, and
there he found some sailors who took him back to Britain,
where he reunited with his family. He had another dream
in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him,
We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk amongst

(13:54):
us again. Because of this dream, because of his experience
with prayer, he began his studies for the priesthood and
was ordained a priest. Now this is where his name
from Maywin sookat. He changed it to Patricius Patricius, and

(14:17):
then later in English Patrick, so as we call it Patrick,
and later Patrick was ordained a bishop and was sent
to Ireland to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or
bring Christianity to them. He arrived in Ireland on March
twenty fifth, four thirty three, and one legend says he

(14:40):
met with the chieftain of one of the tribes who
tried to kill Saint Patrick, but Patrick ended up converting
him to Christianity. Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland,
converting many. He and his disciples preached and converted thousands
and thousands, beginning to build churches all over the country. Kings,

(15:02):
their families and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity and with
hearing Patrick's message well, he preached and converted in people
in Ireland for over forty years. He worked many miracles
and wrote of his love for God in his treatise Confessions.

(15:24):
After years of living in poverty, traveling, blessing people, and
enduring much suffering, he died March seventeenth, for sixty one,
and he died in Saul, not the apostle Sault, but
he died in Saul, Ireland, where he had built his

(15:45):
first church. Now you look at some of the traditions,
why the shamrock. Will you find them everywhere? With ninety
nine point nine percent of shamrocks have a three leaf clover,
don't you.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
See?

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Saint Patrick used the clover the shamrock to teach the trinity,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and it
later became in the sixteenth century the kind of the
national symbol of what we call today Ireland. Now some

(16:25):
of the interesting Saint Patrick's Day traditions, what do you
have in your own family?

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Well, eating corn.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
Beef and cabbage is a Saint Patrick's Day tradition and
actually corn beef and cabbage is actually more of an
Irish American tradition than an Irish one. Historically, Irish bacon,
it's a form of cured pork was actually the meat
of choice in Ireland for Saint Patrick's Day.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
Why because it was cheaper.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
It wasn't until the early nineteen hundreds that Irish Americans
in New York began to eat corn beef instead because
it was it then became more affordable. So we talked
about the the shamrocks. You know, another tradition is wearing green.

(17:17):
Now it turns out a leprecaun on Saint Patrick's Day.
If you are this is the tradition. If you're not
wearing green, the leprechaun will pinch you. Well, supposedly, lepre
cons are color blind to green.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
They can't see the color.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
So that's why if you wear any piece of green,
they can't see any part of you and you can
avoid the pinching.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
Now, let me just give you a caution.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
You see somebody out on the street that's not wearing green,
don't go and pinch him in the rear end or
anywhere else.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
You'll probably get arrested.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
Interesting too, Blue was once closely associated with Saint Patrick's
Day instead of green. According to legend, Saint Patrick wore
blue garments rather than green. In fact, blue was part
of Ireland's very first coat of arms. It later became
green because of the shamrock and all that's surrounded around it.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
Anyway, Hey, later, I'll tell you. Have you ever heard
the expression kiss me? I'm irish?

Speaker 1 (18:23):
I'll tell you where that comes from later on here
in the travel should we come back? I want to
take you to Maui and the Road to Hannah. Welcome

(18:48):
back to the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks. They get
away Guru fresh from the islands of Hawaii, Australia and
New Zealand. It's great to be back here in Salt
Lake City to have you join me on the show.
You know, you really are the star of the show.
Give me a ring here on the air triple eight
five seven oh eight oh one. Oh that's eight eight

(19:10):
eight five seventy eighty ten. With your comments, suggestions, your experiences,
what do you recommend? How have you celebrated Saint Patrick's Day?
What about your visits to Hawaii, particularly the island of Maui,
And if you have any travel questions that I can
help you with. It's great to have you here joining

(19:33):
me every week here on the Travel Show. Do you
know this my thirty fourth year of hosting the Travel Show.
Can't believe it. I'm a young man trapped in an
old man's body. By the way, every Monday, for those
of you in Utah, Southern Idaho, and of course we
broadcast all over the country, but for those of you

(19:55):
in Utah and Wendover and you know Grand Junction and
places close to Utah, every Monday on KUTV Channel two,
which is the CBS affiliate for this area. The CBS
National Network affiliate. I am on the New News as
a reporter. It's not a commercial. It's a travel report

(20:18):
and it can be anywhere between twelve to one, but
usually it's aired twelve forty to twelve fifty.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
I'll give you a.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
Little backstory on this, and what I do as a
reporter is I give travel news, travel updates, promotion, sales,
all of that. Well, I've been doing that for about
fifteen years, and for most of that time up until COVID,
I would go in the studio here in Salt Lake
City and I'd sit with the anchors on the set.

(20:50):
Now they're in a night Iran would wear a nice
suit and marrying a beautiful dress, and others they dress
up as you can see them on television. I'm different
in many ways, but I would wear the loudest Aloha shirts.
I'm about a dozen or more Aloha shirts at home.
And it's really nice because as I get fat, I

(21:13):
don't have to buy a new polo shirt or something.
Maybe I'll start wearing a moumo. How would that go across?
You know? Then I really can eat whatever I want
anyway I would. It's just for marketing. It's for branding.
I'm sitting in this loud Aloha shirt every Monday, I'm
on the set live. Well, when COVID came, they said, listen,

(21:36):
we want to reduce the foot traffic in the TV
studio at KUTV Great Station, Channel two, and so film
your Getaway Guru travel news report outside the studio and
just email it to us, which I did. And then
COVID is over and they said, okay, Larry, you can

(21:59):
come back in the studio and I said, no, thanks.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
I really like this filming anywhere and everywhere in the
world and just emailing it in. So since COVID, I
just send it in to him.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
You've seen over the last few weeks a Getaway Guru
travel report again, not a commercial, a travel news report
as a reporter from Australia from New Zealand. And this Monday,
which is Saint Patrick's Day, March seventeenth, you will see
me in Maui.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
Now.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
The report I'm doing from Maui is on the rebuild
of Leahina. You think of the most visitor friendly areas
on the island of Maui, and they would include why
Lea and Keihi. Hannah, Leahina Connapali and Coppolua. We stayed

(22:58):
up in Coppolua, had a wonderful full time. Of course,
in August of twenty twenty three was the devastating fire
that virtually destroyed the city of Leahina, and we want
to treat it with great respect for that. Richard Besson,
the Maui County Mayor, just reported that the clearing of

(23:19):
lots of homes and businesses is largely completed. In fact,
they cleared over fifteen hundred business and home lots, yielding
over four hundred thousand tons of debris. It's all been
removed and the good news is the rebuild has started. Now.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
If you're visiting.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
Maui and you want to talk to one of the
kamma ainas, that's the Hawaiian word for a local somebody
who lives in Hawaii, the Maui kamma ainas, if you
want to talk to them about the fire, always be
respectful of Lehina and her residence. If you want to
talk to someone about the fire, wait until he or

(23:59):
she brings the subject up. Don't you bring how you
doing after the fire. It's still a very sensitive topic there.
But in my news report, you will see some of
the rebuild going on and an update on what's happening
in line. I hope you'll join me every Monday on

(24:21):
KUTV Channel two News. Typically it can be anywhere from
twelve to one, but typically my travel report airs between
twelve forty and twelve fifty and it's called the Getaway
Guru Travel Segment Travel Report, and you will see me
literally all over the world with that travel report.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
Well, so we have some dear friends. During my three
years as.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
A man of the Cloth that Kathy and I served
as mission leaders down in the California Friends New Mission,
we met many wonderful people, some friends that we met
down there and have kept the friendship, you know, in
close contact. These just wonderful people have a condo in

(25:12):
Maui and so every year for the last six years
or so, they've invited Kathy and I to come with
them during their time there, but we never could because
we're always hosting a tour group with Morris Columbus Travels
somewhere in the world. Well, our friends just got called
as new mission leaders.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
They'll be leaving in June.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
He'll serve as Mission President of the Mexico Cancun mission
for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.
And so they said to us, hey, here are three weeks.
Why didn't you come and join us for all or
part of that. Well, that's why we just got home.
They started in mid February, their three weeks and it's

(25:57):
kind of their last hurrah before they leave. We got
home from Australia, New Zealand on Sunday, March the second.
On Wednesday, March the fifth, we left for Hawaii because
that was their last week, and that's why it was
such a turnaround there, you know, for me, one of
the real joys of Maui.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
And it's kind of an interesting Maui itself. Now, when
you think of Maui, what do you think of?

Speaker 1 (26:29):
I think beautiful beaches, kind of poly beach has been
rated one of the best in the world, blue ocean waters,
lush tropical landscapes. You know. The name Maui is rich
in history and mythology. In Polynesian culture, Maui is the
name of a demi god known for his cunning and bravery,

(26:50):
and according to legend, the demi god Maui performed incredible feats,
including he hooked the sun to slow path and length
in the day. I'm guessing that's where daylight savings time
probably came from. Is Maui hooking the sun and stopping it.
I guess he stopped it for an hour.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
Well.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
His stories are deeply ingrained in oral traditions in various
South Pacific island cultures, including Hawaiian, the Maoris of New Zealand,
Samoan Tahitian narratives. Anyway, the name Maui was given to
the island, according to legend, by Hawaiiloa, who was a

(27:34):
Polynesian navigator and named it after one of his sons,
Hawaii Iloa. Anyway, lots of traditions there. The road to Hannah, now,
that is if you have motion sickness, don't do this.
From the airport at Kahlui to Hanna it's about fifty

(27:56):
excuse me, about fifty two miles from the airport. The
entire Hanah Highway is sixty four miles. But if you
were to pick it up at kaha Lui airport, it's
about fifty two miles. It'll take you two to two
and a half hours to drive. You may want to
make some stops. You know, what's really interesting on that
road is some of the comma Ina ladies will set

(28:18):
up a little fruit stand and the specialty that they make.
They have all the fresh tropical fruits. You can stop
and buy some. It's just kind of a it's not
a store, it's just ladies on the side.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
Of the road.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
They make homemade banana nut bread. Yeah, it's absolutely fantastic.
Well on this drive there are you ready for this?
It's a very windy road, six hundred and seventeen turns
and there are fifty nine bridges. Fifty six of them

(28:52):
are one lane, so you got to see if anybody's coming,
and then you kind of give and take so much
to see along the way, and this sleepy little village
of Hannah.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
At the other end.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
I'll tell you a story about maryon Hanks and Hannah.
That's it, just a touch. I'll do that later in
the show maryon d Hanks and Hannah. But there's so
many things there, you know. Kathy and I once we've
driven this many times, but one day after there'd just
been some ranges. Was the day afterwards we counted ninety

(29:29):
eight waterfalls on the road to Hannah. Down the Hannah Highway,
So a couple of bits of advice, you know, stock
up on some snacks and food and drinks some There
are a couple of little restaurants and food trucks there
in Hannah, but fill up with a full tank of

(29:52):
gas before starting. And there's virtually no cell service most
of the way, so have a physical map and make
make sure you know where you're going. If you have time,
spend a night or two. There's some little lodges there
in Hannah. And just past Hannah there's an area called
the Seven Sacred Pools. Now that is a name given

(30:14):
to it, I think for advertising in the nineteen fifties.
The original name, the native name is the ohel Gulch
oh he ohey o Goulch.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
And there's more than seven pools there, but you can
go swimming.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
It's part of the Hockey Mount Haleakala National Park. Lots
of fun headed to Maui. Now when we come back,
I want to talk about some questions that you want
to ask yourself before.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
You book your next cruise. You know, I love cruising.

Speaker 1 (30:50):
I pack and unpacked one time, enjoy exciting ports to call.
All my meals and entertainment included in one very affordable price,
and I'm flat out to Yeah, cruising is absolutely, positively
the best travel value. Well, what are the questions for
new travelers, new cruisers and experienced cruisers. What are some

(31:13):
questions you really need to ask yourself before you book
your next cruise? All that and more on today's Travel Show.

(31:34):
Listen and you'll know welcome back to the travel shows.
Should I say Aloha or gooday or Kyota? Yeah, In
the last week or so, I've been in Australia, New
Zealand and Hawaii. Love to have you joined me here
on the Travel Show one triple A five seven oh

(31:55):
eight oh one oh that's eight eight eight five seventy
eighty ten. We did have a caller who didn't want
to be on the air, and that's okay, but had
a question about destination escorted tours rather than cruises. Now,
keep in mind, on cruises, if you come with me
and some of our other Morris Columbus travel hosts, you

(32:19):
will have a destination escorted shore excursion off the cruise.
But let's talk about what we call a land tour
as opposed to a cruise tour. And by the way,
our cruise tours also generally include a land tour option
pre and post a shortened version of a longer land tour.

(32:43):
What you want to look for if it's a land
tour is first of all, who is the company that's
doing it. Now there are national international companies like Talk Tours, Globus, Gateway, Keoni,
and others where your travel advisor can secure you a

(33:05):
reservation with a tour company and they're pulling people from
all over everywhere. You know, it's into a group hosted
by a tour company. Then you can also join a
land tour that is hosted by Morris Columbus Travel or
some other company.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Now, I want to give you a real caution.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
There was a there's a Salt Lake Travel Company, Utah
based travel company that filed for bankruptcy is reported by
the news with two point one million dollars in liabilities
basically people's money and deposits and payments and about one
hundred thousand dollars in assets. And they filed for bankruptcy

(33:48):
and you know, people lost everything.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
It was so sad.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
And then reportedly they've resurfaced yet again under a new name,
and I see their ads everywhere. There's another Utah company
that if you read the fine print, they say if
if after making a deposit, if you cancel, you'll lose
your deposit. Now, I don't have an issue with that
as long as it's fully disclosed. But the part I

(34:16):
have a problem with is this same Utah based company
that's doing business now says that if they cancel the tour,
you still lose your deposit. Now, figure out the fairness
of that. They said, Well, maybe you can use it
on another tour. Well, I wanted to go to Europe.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
I don't want to go to Branson, you know, I
don't want to go to Lubbock, Texas tour or something
like that. So know who you are dealing with.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
And I see travel companies popping up all the time
in somebody's basement. They're not bonded, they're not insured. And
I know during COVID, how many people do you know
that lost money? Tons of them. I know that Morris
Columbus Travel we refunded over five million dollars of people's

(35:05):
deposits and monies because we keep them separate from operating capital,
and most people don't.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
So you want to know who you are dealing with.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
And one of the critical look the itinerary over do
you have enough time? You know, I see some tours
that are going to pull into Paris or Rome for
a day. I mean, give me a break. You can't
see Paris or Rome or London in the day. How
much time do you have? And then most critical is
who is your tour host? Who is the person that's

(35:40):
going to be responsible for you giving you the information
some of the the tour guide commentary now oftentimes, and
I do this myself on some destinations, I give you
all the commentary. In other destinations, I will have a
local day guide with us, and he or she and

(36:02):
me we share the commentary. You want to know who
you're going with. I'd love to have you look at
some of the Morris Columbus travel tours. Our escorted tours
are under the brand name of Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours.
The name of the company is Morris Columbus, but it's

(36:23):
like General Motors and Chevrolet, there's two different names. If
you go to our website Morriscolumbus dot Commorriscolumbus dot com,
and I'm looking at the homepage right now, you'll see
some promotions, some sales, but then If you scroll down
on the homepage, the first item is a cruise search engine.

(36:44):
The second island item is a land tour and these
are where we can book you on to say a
Globus Gateway or a top tour, something with a national company.
The third item down simply click on it Morris Murdoch
Escorted Tours and there the page will come up and

(37:07):
right at the top it has cruises, Holy Lands, the
America's Europe, LDS, Faith based tours, Asia, Africa, South Pacific.
You click on the geographic area or cruise if you want,
and then it will show you all of our offerings.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
And I got to tell you in the next hour
about a tour. I'd love to have you join me on.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
I'll be your personal tour host, which is maybe as
a reason to book a different tour, but if you
think you could put up with me. It's England, Scotland
and Wales this August, including the International Bagpipe and Drum
Corps Festival. It's a world famous event viewed by over

(37:52):
one hundred million people worldwide. It's set right in the Edinburgh,
Scotland Castle and tickets to it that is August fourth
to the eleventh Scotland, Wales and England. More when we
come back with our number two of the greatest show
on radio. Yeah, it's the Travel Show. Our number two

(38:18):
of the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwiz, that get away Guru.
The Travel Show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel where
you always travel more and pay less. Take a look
at their website Morriscolumbus dot com. That's Morriscolumbus dot com,
or give them a call at eight hundred triple nine
forty six forty six. That's eight hundred triple nine forty

(38:41):
six forty six. And any of the Morris Columbus Travel
advisors have their own direct line. If you have that number,
call that number first. If you don't have a Morris
Columbus Travel advisor, call eight hundred triple nine forty six
forty six. Again the website Morriscolumbus dot com. We were

(39:01):
talking about questions that should be asked before you book
your next cruise, whether you're an experienced cruiser or it's
new to you. Here's some of the questions. The first
of all, what are you looking for? Are you looking
for what I call a destination cruise or an experienced cruise.
Let me explain the difference A destination cruise is. You

(39:24):
know I really want to see Alaska.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
Well, I'm not going to.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
Book a Caribbean cruise because I want to see Alaska
the focus. There are many reasons, many motivations to book
this cruise, but my primary motivation is I want to
see that place, that destination, that country or countries. Where
I call an experienced cruise is you want to get away.
And yes, you want a cool cruise, a cool destination

(39:52):
of fun times, but it doesn't really matter. You could
do Alaska, the Mexican River, the Caribbean, Hawaii, the South Europe, whatever.
I think back some years ago, about eight years ago,
Kathy and I celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary. You know,
in that forty years, she's never thrown me out of

(40:12):
the house. She's had cause trust me, but she hasn't
pulled the trigger yet. Every Sunday night I have to
say to Kathy, hey, can I stay another week?

Speaker 2 (40:20):
She says, check back with me about ten.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
I'll let you know. So far, so good. So I
guess I'll find out tomorrow night if I can stay
another week. But we're going to celebrate our forty eighth
wedding anniversary on April the fifth. And I love this woman.
She's the greatest thing that's ever happened to me in
my life. And so eight years ago, on our fortieth

(40:45):
wedding anniversary, we wanted to just get away, the two
of us. We both love cruising. So I'm looking around
at the Mexican Riviera, the Southern Caribbean, I'm looking at
at the western Eastern.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
I didn't care.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
We didn't care where we're going, and so I picked
a great cruise out of Miami with Norwegian Cruise Line
on a new ship to the Eastern Caribbean. See that,
I wanted the experience. I didn't care where we went.
I found a great price, a beautiful balcony cabin, and
everything worked out for that. So is it a destination

(41:25):
primarily or just you want to get away primarily? Again,
you want a good destination, whatever it is. Now you
also want to find out is the cruise line adults
only or family friendly? Some cruisers, like Virgin Voyages or
Viking are adults only, adults being defined as eighteen years
of age or older. Now you're going to make some

(41:47):
exciting ports of call, and you want to check the
port times. I remember one Alaska cruise that I was
looking at and as a wonderful itinerary a great price.
It was round trip out of Seattle, but they had
one glacier day, which most round trip Seattle itineries just
have one glacier day. The north South Vancouver to Anchorage

(42:10):
or vice versa generally have two glacier days. So this one,
I'm looking at the glacier days and they have to
get a permit and they can be in there a
few hours. You want to see the port times. Now
this the port time is. We're on board the ship,
but we're up close and personal fronting a glacier. The

(42:33):
time on their permit, the time they advertise was six am.
Who's up at six am? You know you want to
see the glacier, but heaven forbid you should miss a
meal in the process. But six So you want to
check the port times. You want to look at the
age of the ship. Now, the new ships generally tend

(42:55):
to be bigger, except Holland America. Most of their ships
are about twenty five hundred people. But the big ships
like Icon of the Seas, I've sailed that it's a
beautiful ship, but it's like three football fields in length
holes like five thousand plus people. You've got to stop
at the buffet just to re nourish yourself going from

(43:16):
stem to stern. So that's the size that the age.
The older ships tend to be on the more exotic itineraries.
Now they've been refurbished, there's nothing wrong with it, but
the older the ship generally the less whistles and bells
and offerings from dining options to shopping and entertainment options.

(43:38):
They're just not available on the older ships, but they
tend to put them in really exotic itineraries. Now that's
not always the case. We were on the Royal Princess,
it is a fantastic ship on last month on our
Sydney to Auckland cruise group for travel show listeners. And
by the way, I'm going to be doing that same

(43:59):
cruise Sydney to Auckland and everything in between with pre
cruise tour of Sydney and post in Auckland and Hobiton
next year twenty twenty six. The cruise dates are February
fifteen to March one. We're gonna be sailing with Holland America.
It's a premium cruise line. Love to have you join

(44:20):
me February fifteen to March the first next year, twenty
twenty six, and again we'll be sailing with Holland America
and I really love halland America.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
They just do everything right.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
And it does have a lot of whistles, and that's
only about twenty five hundred people, so it's easy to
get around the ship. But so you want to know
the age of the ship. And yes, size does matter
when it comes to cruise ships. We talked about the
big ones and the smaller ones. There's no right or wrong,
but look at what activities interest you. And sometimes, especially

(44:53):
for those who have limited mobility, a megaship that is
three football fields in length is a little.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Bit tough to deal with.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
Now, as far as your cabin category, you generally have
four categories. The inside or interior, the ocean view which
is a window on the newer ships, a porthole on
the older ships, the balcony of veranda, and then sweets
and penthouses. I love the balcony of Veranda. And if

(45:24):
I can get a mini sweet or suite at a
good price, it's just more room there's no right or wrong.
Some people say, some dear friends of ours that Kathy
and I'll be having lunch with today, they tend to
go to an inside cabin. It's like, we don't want
to spend the extra money. We're not going to spend
a lot of time in that inside cabin. I'm a

(45:46):
little bit different. I like the balcony. It's a larger cabin,
it's a better location, and it's those sliding glass doors
on the outside wall just open up the entire room
that Now you say, well, in Alaska, I'm not going
to be sitting out on the balcony. Probably that's correct,

(46:06):
but it's a visual The whole wall becomes a window
and you see the splendors of Elasta.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
Again, there's no right or wrong.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
Now, I'll tell you an inside joke when I'm talking
to people about the cabin category, just to see if
they're listening. And I may pull this on you the
next time I see you and talk to you. Is
I describe the inside cabin as the small smallest square
footage it's inside. Here's what's funny, I tell them, And

(46:34):
there's no windows or doors. Are you thinking about that?
Did that one sync?

Speaker 2 (46:39):
In with you.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
There's no windows or doors. And if they just nod
their head, I know they're not paying attention. I wrap
it up pretty quickly. But yes it does have a door.
There's no right or wrong. It's whatever you want. Now,
if you get a a ocean view, which is a window,
porthole or a balcony, you want to ask this question

(47:02):
of your travel advisor, is it obstructed or unobstructed view?
You see, you can have a window, you can have
a balcony that may you may see the orange only
the side of a lifeboat or partially obstructed. Half your veranda,
half your balcony is a lifeboat or the window. So

(47:22):
just ask is it obstructed or unobstructed? Find out what's
really included. And then this is critically important. Who is
the target audience of the cruise line? You see that
every product, every service has a target audience. Now they'll
take anyway. So you take a look at say Crystal

(47:45):
Cruises and Disney Cruises. Well, Crystal is more of an
upscale fifty five and up. Now they'll take anybody. Will
they take kids, Yes, they'll take kids, but their target
audience is more of a a fifty five and up
a kind of a warm and comfortable country club Atfish

(48:07):
not stuff at all. I love Crystal Cruises. But you
look at Disney, now, how do you know the target audience?
Look at their website, look at their brochure. What photos
are on their media and brochure. That's who they're appealing to. Now,
will Disney take just grandma and grandpa by themselves, Well,

(48:28):
of course they will.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
But what photos do you see on a Disney brochure?
You see thousands of kids and families. That's who they're
appealing to. Disney Cruise is a fantastic cruise line. Crystal
is a fantastic cruise line, but they have a different
target audience. So ask yourself, am I comfortable with this demographic? Hey,

(48:52):
when we come back, we're gonna be talking to Scottie.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Horn, the business development manager with Alma Waterways, my favorite
cruise company. Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm Larry
Keellwick's to get away into the route.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
I've joined today on the Travel Show, I should say
welcome back to my good friend Scottie Horn, business development
manager with Almah Waterway. Scotty, welcome back to the Travel Show.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
Thank you very much, Larry it's great to be with you.
Thanks so much for having me on.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
And we all saw you at the Utah Travel Expo
there the end of January, and here you are again,
absolutely great to be with you.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
It is it is. You know, I've said there are
many good river cruise companies.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Why our Waterways which is my favorite?

Speaker 3 (49:55):
Yeah, well, you know, it's it comes down to the
fact that you want to provide genuine hampering service. And
there are ten real big reasons that go along with
that for choosing and selecting Alma, Because, like you said,
there are several out there that are great and you

(50:15):
are going to have a good time with any one
of them. But there are just some things that Alma
does better I think, but definitely does differently, and that's
what separates this from our competition. And it starts with
that genuine pampering that we give our guests from the
minute they step on board the very first time.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
You know, it really does, and nobody beats Alma in
service or in the dining room. A very short story,
this was several years ago that Kathy and I had
a group on a Rhine River Amsterdam to Basel, one
of my favorite cruise itineraries, and Kathy and I both
love a diet coke with a lime wedge at lunch

(50:56):
and dinner, and of course wine and soft drinks or
included with your lunch and dinner. Fact, we even have
a diet coke for breakfast, at least Kathy does sometimes.
So catch this Scottie, you know, after the first day
our waiter and it's open seating, but we always sat
in the same way. We had a great server before

(51:18):
we even said anything to him, would have a diet
coke with a lime wedge.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
In front of us.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Six months later, we're doing a Rhine River seme itnative,
but we add the Christmas markets to it.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
So it's December the same year. Happened to be the
same ship.

Speaker 1 (51:37):
Happened to be the same waiter on our first meal,
sitting down before we said anything, he must have remembered us.
I recognized him, but I said nothing. He comes He's
got two diet cokes with lime wedges. Somehow. I don't
want to ask why he remembered me that, but that

(51:58):
is the level of service. And tell us about the
choice of shore excursions at different activity levels, all included.

Speaker 3 (52:09):
Oh, absolutely, that is one of the biggest differences, and
that is exactly as you said. AMA provides all the
excursions that you could possibly want to take all day long,
every day complimentary. Let's just start there. There are many
times you can get four excursions in in a day,
and if you're really an active go get them. You

(52:30):
can sometimes do five. There's an early bird early morning excursion,
normally one after breakfast, one after dinner, and again one
in the evening. Sometimes there's two in the afternoon, depending
on how short they are, but whether it's three, four
or getting all five in in a day, they're all complimentary.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
Now.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
They include entrances to castles, cathedrals, museums, food pairings, and
other times will include other elements as well. But you
also have three styles of excursion to choose from. From
our high impact or high energy, climb those eighty eight
stairs and get to the monastery or the hillside where

(53:12):
you know Richard the lionhard was kept captive. But you've
got that high energy, high impact excursion, and that's an option.
There's the general where maybe there's a motor coach involved,
but we get you into the city center, tour the
city a little bit, and like I said, take you
into a church or a cathedral, take you into a museum,

(53:32):
that all those aspects are included. And then there's a
third style and that's called gentle and that one of
our owners came up with and I like that because
it's for those who need to go just a little
bit slower, go at their own pace, if you will.
And that way, when they get done viewing a cathedral
or a museum, maybe they need to have a seat

(53:54):
for a little bit, have a water or a cafe
or a juice, and the guide will sit and do
that with them and go at their pace. The other
really interesting aspect all this is that we will do
an excursion for just one person. You don't have to
have a certain number for it to go. We also
don't sell out. You don't have to reserve in advance.

(54:17):
If you want to, you can. That helps you in planning,
That helps us in planning. But each night, the cruise
manager is going to talk about the activities for the
next day, and that's when many guests decide on the
excursion they want to take. Maybe you're going to wait
until you wake up in the morning and check out
the weather and then decide what type of excursion you
want to take, that's fine too. Five minutes before we

(54:37):
walk out the door, pick your excursion or change your mind.
But the neat thing is we also don't have extra
large groups. Because you're waiting till the last minute. You'd think, then, oh,
your groups have to be huge. They're not. We keep
them small. We get to a magic number of maybe
eighteen to twenty, we get a second guide, break the
group up, and now we have two small groups again,

(55:00):
so they don't sell out, we keep them small. We'll
do an excursion for one person. You choose the style
or the pace of your excursion, and they're all included.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
You know my experience with these tours, they're so well run.
The smallest and you will do it for one or two.
But the smallest group I've ever been on, and I've
been a lot of Alma waterways and I've got more
planned is the smallest group has been six. The largest
was eighteen or something. But on the gentle a few

(55:32):
years ago on the Rhine River my aunt and uncle.
She was ninety two years old and used a walker,
and the gentle tours were perfect for her. Now we
went on the more active ones. I never go crazy
with I'm not climbing Mount Everest or anything like that,

(55:53):
but it really works. Hey, Scotty, we've got about thirty
seconds left. I'm going to ask a fa can you
hold over on our break so we can finish our
conversation in the next segment. Do you have a few
extra minutes?

Speaker 2 (56:07):
Of course? Okay?

Speaker 1 (56:08):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
What i want to talk about is where you.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Cruise, and I'm going to have you talk briefly about Europe,
Africa and Southeast Asia that I want to introduce a
cruise group with Alma Waterways that I your doctari of Travel,
will be personally hosting on the Makon.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
I've done this before. I love the Macon Cruise. So Scottie,
hold on. When we come back, I'm going to take
you to Southeast Asia. Alma Waterways, welcome back to the

(56:58):
Travel Show. I'm Leary get Away a guru. Great to
have you with me every weekend at this time on
this station.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Do you know we're syndicated now on nineteen different stations,
going all the way from the Rocky Mountains to the
Great State of Florida and everything in between. I want
to welcome Scotty Horn back to the show. Scotty, thank
you for joining us. Scotty is a business development manager
with Alma Waterways. I've said, you know, Scotty, I could

(57:30):
name four or five river cruise companies that I think
are just top notch. You go with any one of
these five and you're going to have a great time.
But I've said privately and publicly Alma Waterways, in my view,
is a step up, not a gigantic step, but a

(57:50):
noticeable step up in every aspect.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
I'm sure you'd agree with that statement, and I would
thank you. Can you tell us where all Ma Waterways cruises.

Speaker 3 (58:03):
Absolutely, we have Europe really well covered. In central Europe,
from Amsterdam down the Rhine to the Main, down the
Danube all the way out almost to the Black Sea
in Bucharest, down the rivers of France from the Rhone
and the Sone. We're also in the Bordeaux region, from
Paris to Normandy. We're on the Dwarro between Portugal and Spain.

(58:25):
We've got Europe well covered. And so where there's a
river in central Europe, we're there. And yes, in Africa,
we are on the Choba in South Africa. Four nights
on the river with no real itinerary other than to
follow the migration patterns of the wildlife, which always need

(58:47):
the river for their bathing and drinking, so you're bound
to see wildlife. And then there's twelve additional nights on
land rails of Eastern Africa, or including three days and
nights with African land Safaris in Kruger National Park. You
get Johannesburg, Cape Town and the Falls. You've got a
number of different options in Africa. We're in Egypt on

(59:10):
the Nile and that is wonderful, and we're in Asia
and starting this month we're in Columbia, South America.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
You know, I had a group a couple of years ago.
I think I need to do this one again. Scotty
in Egypt and you know, it's a whole package. Is
a land and cruise folks. We spent three days in Cairo.
I don't know where you're staying now, but we stayed
at the Four Seasons which is just over the top,
saw all of Memphis, Geesus, Sokara and Cairo, and then

(59:40):
flew up to Luxor.

Speaker 2 (59:41):
A one week.

Speaker 1 (59:42):
Now most on the Nile River, most now cruises are
three or four days. One week is what you want
and then flew back to Cairo, and then the next
day flew to wherever we went to Israel for a
shortened toory or you can come home.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
I'll tell you.

Speaker 1 (59:56):
One of the highlights I hope you're still doing was lunch,
A private lunch at the Presidential Palace in Cairo was
part of ours.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
Now. That is the equivalent of the White House in Washington,
d c.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Lunches in the Egyptian White House are not part of
the public offering. You can't do this on your own.
Alma has some connection with the government of Egypt, and
then we got a tour of i'll call it the
Egyptian White House. This is the official residence or office

(01:00:33):
of the President of Egypt. I'm going to turn my
attention in just for a couple minutes, and we're talking
to Scottie Horn, a business development manager with Alma Waterways,
about a group that I'll be taking in November of
twenty twenty six. The actual cruise dates are November ninth

(01:00:55):
to the sixteenth with Alma Waterways through the make this
will be Cambodia and Vietnam.

Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
Any comments on this, Oh.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
It's an incredible itinerary starting in ho Chi Minh. It
goes down to see them reef and on the way.
The visits are unique there private. Like you said, with
that experience in Egypt being at the Prime Minister's home,
it is very much the same. In Kaibei, we visit
an old Kiet house. You really see the local little

(01:01:27):
markets in sad Deck. Take a rickshaw through tan Chow,
the Trasu forest. It's a river forest and it's a
rowboat that you take through and it's guided. It's just private,
with a handful of people per little vessel. Phenomen pen
in Cambodia, the temples, the Buddhist blessing in Audung and

(01:01:48):
then in Kanate Village in Cambodia, the Silk island. Take oh,
you want to come on with silks and then you
can add you gotta then add the extras. The two
nights either in s cm Reap, two nights ho Chi
Minh city and even get Hanoi and Howlong Bay. It's amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
It's a lot of fun. Now you mentioned tan Chow,
which is the border crossing between Vietnam, we're actually doing
it in the opposite direction. We start in Camboda and
sail to Ho Chi Minh City, which most of us
remember is Saigon.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
I got to tell you.

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
At Tan Chow we're coming down. Uh we say we
start at cn Reap. We really don't, but that's the airport.
We start at Kempong Chong, which is about a three
three and a half hour drive south of c and
Re think c and rep think Anchor watt Uh and anyway,
so we have our group at ten Chow. It happens

(01:02:45):
to be at the same time as an the Asian
Economic Conference, of which President Biden attended.

Speaker 2 (01:02:54):
They shut the.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
The border down and river cruise companies had to fly
people from this Tan Chow area down to Saigon and
keep them in a hotel. We accept one river cruise company.
One actually got permission to sail through the border, and

(01:03:19):
we were alone, and that was Alma Waterways. They had
closed the border for security reasons. You probably didn't know that, Scotty,
but they closed it for security reasons, and somebody at
Ama knew somebody in the both Cambodian and Vietnam government,
and they opened the Vietnam border and we sailed through

(01:03:43):
looking at all these other riverboats that they had to
fly them down to Hochimen City.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
True story.

Speaker 3 (01:03:48):
Absolutely, it's our owner. As our owners, we're family owned
and operated. And Rudy Schriner, Christine Karst and Gary Murphy,
the three of them have tight connections with you're at
the Walkmaster in Europe, or it's the White House, or
it's government official in Cambodia. They've got connected.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
They've got it, so they use.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
It very briefly. The river cruise dates, it's on our website.
Go to morriscolumbus dot com. Scroll down to Morris Murdoch
Escorted Towards click on that and then just go to
twenty twenty sixth November and you'll see the Maykong Cruise.
Click on more info and then what comes up, Click

(01:04:33):
on itiners. That's where the day by day by day
itiner is listed. Now I'll tell you what we will
be offering. Since we start in Cambodia, we will offer
a pre cruise option to Bangkok and to Anchor Watt.
If you just do the cruise, and that's fine. You
don't see sand Rip, you don't see Anchor Watt, you

(01:04:54):
don't see Thailand. So we will offer both a Thailand
and an anchorwa option. You can do one or both
and then at the end of the cruise we have
a two night option to see Ho Chi Minh City
and all of that. So, Scotty, why don't you, why
don't you come with us?

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
We'd love to have you.

Speaker 3 (01:05:15):
Yeah, I'd love to so thank You'll be glad to
join you.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
Folks. This is a smaller ship. What does it have?
About forty to fifty cabins on it?

Speaker 3 (01:05:26):
It carries about eighty guests.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
Yeah, about forty forty cabins. Yeah, it's somewhere around. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
The capacity actually in on the Amidhara is a one
twenty four sixty two state rooms to be exactly. Oh,
in Cambodia.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
I'll tell you one thing, uh, Scotty, I got to
swear you the secrecy on this one. We have, Yes,
we have what's called a part charter, meaning we have
bought half the ship or so and right, which means
the prices that you can get from us or anywhere

(01:06:02):
from several hundred dollars to almost one thousand dollars less
per person. Sorry, Scotty, Then if you buy it direct
from Almah, why, because we've bought half the ship.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
And we love to do that.

Speaker 3 (01:06:15):
I want you to go through that. Yeah, we want
you as guests to go with Larry and his group
and Morris Columbus. We really do. That's our goal is
to sell through our travel partners.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
Yeah, and you do it well.

Speaker 1 (01:06:28):
And by the way, it's not on the website yet,
but we have another part charter, and part charter means
we don't take the whole boat.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
We like to take about half of it. In December.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
This one's not on the website yet, but it's a
Christmas market cruise on the Rhine and the next week
I'll give you all the details. Scotty Horn, business development manager,
Almah Waterways. Hopefully with this on the makon anyway, Scotty,
thanks for joining.

Speaker 3 (01:06:53):
Me my pleasure, thanks for having me, and thanks for
your support of Alma Waterwave. We are more than grateful.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
All the best. Hey, listen, you know I love Hawaii
and Mexico.

Speaker 1 (01:07:06):
I just got back from Hawaii and here's some really
great deals with Morris Columbus Travel. I've talked to you
about secret airfares an that's my term. Airlines will deeply,
deeply discount airfares to a handful of tour operators across

(01:07:27):
the country. Morris Columbus being one of them, and the
only one that I'm aware of in the great state
of Utah and southern Idaho that has these contracts. So
we get these deeply discounted airfares, but we cannot sell
them air only. They say you gotta bundle it with something.
Maybe it's a car rental, maybe it's a hotel. Let

(01:07:47):
me give you some examples. Down to Puerto Ayarta. I
love Puerto Ayarta at the Riu Jalisco. Now I've been
to this hotel. Rio is a one of the best
hotel chains in Mexico. At the Rio Jalisco I looked
at May eighth to the thirteenth, gives you, you know,

(01:08:07):
a couple months to plan all inclusive. That's airfare, round trip, airport,
resort transfers, all your meals, entertainment taxes, gratuities, fees, and
of course your beach resort. May eighth through the thirteenth,
all inclusive. Are you sitting down? Rates start at nine
hundred and ninety two dollars per person all inclusive. Now

(01:08:29):
keep in mind on all cruises, tours, air and hotel packages,
rates vary by departure date and are subject to change.
In availability at the time of booking. This is for
six days, five nights. You could easily add on to
that in appropriate cost adjudgment adjustment to that can kun

(01:08:49):
at the Rio Tequila. No, you don't have to drink
tequilam that you can if you want all inclusive, same
dates in May, nine hundred and twenty one bucks per person.
This is double occupancy. These are just fantastic deals. I
will tell you I tend to avoid Cancun in the

(01:09:11):
ocean all from August to October. They have the Sargassum
seaweed invasion and it is an invasion of five thousand
mile mass of sargassum seawood every year.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
Now it's in the water, So I like the pool.
I much prefer the pool. It's not a problem.

Speaker 1 (01:09:33):
When we come back, I want to take you to
Tahiti with me. Yeah, right here on the travel show.
Wellcome back to the Travel Show. I don't know where
two hours go, but may you know we have a

(01:09:55):
lot of fun here, lots of last But on a
serious note, may I just say thank you for joining
us on the Travel show. Love to spend this time
with you and share my experiences. Forty six years in
the travel industry, been to one hundred and fifteen countries,
most of them many many times over. I do want
to briefly share in our final segment two cruise tours

(01:10:19):
that I would love to have you join me. And
now we've already talked about the Maykong. Go to Morriscolumbus
dot com. Scroll down on the homepage to Morris Murdoch
Escorted Tours. Click on cruises, then go to twenty twenty
six November. Click on my Makekong and then you can

(01:10:40):
see all that you can click on more information, Click
on itineraries. The itineraries click will give you the day
by day itinerary. Now space is limited on this We
alway have a wonderful group and we will be coming out.
We don't have the pre and post details out yet,
but you don't worry about that. We're and a half away,

(01:11:01):
but this thing's going to fill up so fast. We
will have a pre cruise anchor Watt option and if
you want to join me in Bangkok before that, we'll
be a Bangkok Thailand option. And after the cruise, a
couple of days in Ho Chi Minh City, which we
remember as Saigon. Love to have you join me on

(01:11:23):
the Maikong November of twenty twenty six. You know, I
love the South Pacific. I've spent so much of my
life there. Can speak some of the languages enough.

Speaker 2 (01:11:36):
To get by.

Speaker 1 (01:11:39):
I love There's just something about Polynesia that grabs you.

Speaker 2 (01:11:44):
The mana.

Speaker 1 (01:11:46):
It just it's the spirit of aloha, the spirit of
the islands. I'd love to have you join me as
we explore the South Pacific May of next year. I
have a two week cruise. It's fourteen calendar days, thirteen nights.
We'll board the ship with Norwegian Cruise Lines in Papieti, Tahiti.

(01:12:09):
We start in Tahiti and we cruise the Society Islands,
we cruise French Polynesia, we cruise Bora, Bora, Yetea Moorea,
of course the island of Tahiti. We then venture north,
sailing through the Tuomotu Archipelago of islands mostly uninhabited. I've

(01:12:29):
been to some of the villages there. Head north past
the Marquesas and cross the equator. Yeah, you're going to
do any equator crossing.

Speaker 2 (01:12:39):
And then we explore Hawaii, the Big Island Maui, Kawaii,
and then Oahu and we disembark in Honolulu.

Speaker 1 (01:12:49):
Now you can go early, you can stay late. But
the actual cruise itself is Tahiti to Honolulu. The cruised
bates are May fifteenth to the twenty seventh of next year,
twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (01:13:02):
This one is on the Morris Columbus website.

Speaker 1 (01:13:05):
Just click on the cruises and go to twenty twenty
six May, and I'll be your personal host and tour guide. Now,
this is where it is so fantastic, absolutely fantastic. I'm
going to give you the rates today. Now, keep in
mind that all rates, all promotions are subject to change

(01:13:27):
and availability at the time of booking, and so will
the You know, I'm hoping these will be the same
Monday when you call, but I'm going to give them
to you right now. For an inside cabin, it's eighteen
eighty seven per person. Now it's a two week cruise,
so that is just nine hundred and forty dollars a week.
Compare that to any Caribbean cruise Mexico. It's cheaper than Alaska.

(01:13:50):
It's a two week cruise. We're seeing Polynesia, we're seeing
the South Pacific. An ocean view today is twenty four thirteen.
That I really like that because it opens it up,
it has a window or porthole. That's about twelve hundred
bucks a week. The balcony, absolutely my first choice is

(01:14:10):
about four thousand bucks, about two thousand per week. Now
that's the price of a balcony in Alaska, so the
prices are comparable. That's the price of a balcony on
some of the newer ships in the Caribbean. So the
pricing is fantastic.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
But catch this.

Speaker 1 (01:14:28):
There's a free air promotion. It's really a buy one,
get one free, and right now airfares can change. You
will pay over two thousand dollars yourself. It's about twenty
two hundred dollars if you bought the ticket yourself, Salt
Lak to poppy Eti, Tahiti and home from Honolulu. With
the air promotion, the first person pays one thousand, seven

(01:14:52):
hundred and forty nine dollars. The second person flies absolutely free.
So if you divide that by two, you're paying round
trip air of about eight seventy four fifty per person.
Buy the tickets on your own twenty two hundred bucks.
Take the free air promotion about eight seventy five per

(01:15:13):
person for two now here's the thing you have to understand.
If you take the free air promotion. Norwegian Cruise Line
chooses the airline. You don't get to pick. They choose
the airline. And yeah, I want to go Delta because
I want the skymouse. By the way, Delta flies to
Hawaiian and they fly to Tahiti. But you have several

(01:15:35):
airlines flying to the air Tahiti Nui, French, be United Airlines,
Air France, and Delta five airlines from the US to
Tahiti could be any one of those. They're major airlines. Anyway,
love to have you join me. Tahiti to Honolulu May
fifteenth to the twenty second. These rates will skyrocket. I'm

(01:15:57):
promising you they're going to go up a lot, so
we can get in there on the cheap right now.
Tahiti to Honolulu May fifteenth to the twenty seventh, twenty
twenty six with the free air promotion.

Speaker 2 (01:16:10):
Well, that brings us to the end of another travel
show off docre next week.

Speaker 1 (01:16:14):
God bless and have a great week, and we love travel,
don't we talk to you later.