Inside Travel Talk

Island Rhythms and Blooming Delights: Jamaican Getaway Packages & Tulip Time Festivities

Mark Faldmo & Patrick Wiscombe Season 2 Episode 20

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Get ready to explore the vibrant heartbeat of Jamaica and the unfolding drama in the world of travel. Our latest episode takes you from Hawaii's crackdown on Airbnb to Southwest Airlines' new delay vouchers, then onto Westin's heavenly bed that's got us dreaming of a test snooze. Our packed itinerary also includes a detailed breakdown of Jamaican vacation packages departing from Salt Lake City, featuring plush stays like the Hyatt Ziva and adventurous escapades, such as a James Bond tour that'll leave you shaken and stirred. And of course, no visit to Jamaica would be complete without diving into the fiery delights of authentic jerk chicken!

We're not just about the sun and the sand; tune in as I share the saga of my rebooked cruise and the latest scoop on Port Canaveral's expansion. Plus, for those enchanted by the fleeting beauty of tulips, we've got you covered with the best spots to catch these blossoms in all their glory. Whether you're dreaming of the quaint charm of Holland, Michigan's Tulip Festival or Europe's historic streets, we're bringing the vibrant colors and stories right to your ears. So grab your headphones and let's set sail on an auditory adventure that promises to fill your travel bucket list with new must-see destinations and experiences.

Patrick Wiscombe:

The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com contains travel deals, promotions and offers that may be time-sensitive. All offers and information were accurate when the show aired. Travel deals and offers change constantly and are capacity-controlled and subject to change without notice.

Show Voice:

Explore your world. It's the Inside travel talk podcast and radio show presented by blue planet vacations dot com. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700 and check out the podcast at inside travel talk dot com. And now here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Oh my goodness, Mark and I are back from the Caribbean. I guess that would have been a couple of weeks ago. Yours truly has been off for the last couple of weeks taking care of some personal things, but, man, are we glad to be back on the air. Thank you for listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, mark Faldmo. He decided to build a studio for himself. Very, very cool. You've been busy.

Mark Faldmo:

I have. Yeah, I'm broadcasting now from the comfort of my home.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I saw your studio because I came up to your house and you have really put together a very, very cool studio for yourself.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah it's great Makes it a lot easier to do these podcasts instead of you coming all the way down to linden yes, although I do like the drive.

Patrick Wiscombe:

That's my thinking time, yeah that's true yeah, coming up on this edition of the inside travel talk podcast and radio show for Saturday, May 18th, 2024 mark is going to make a return trip to Jamaica. Do you remember when we had Diane on? What was that a couple weeks ago?

Mark Faldmo:

A couple weeks ago, yeah, but there's some really good rates out there, so excited to talk about that and also take a deeper dive into some of the things to do.

Patrick Wiscombe:

We're going to be talking about Jamaica, and we're also going to be talking about the Tulip Time Cruises. Those are just a couple of the stories that we're going to be talking about in this edition of the show, but let's first get to the travel news of the week. Let's start with this. This, I think, is a huge travel story. Hawaii is set to ban Airbnb and short-term rentals statewide. This is going to be a huge story moving forward.

Mark Faldmo:

A few weeks ago, we talked about Venice that was also banning Airbnbs, or actually it was Florence, I believe it was the city of Florence and it was because it moved tourists into the residential areas which was causing some problems with local residents. Now Hawaii has some of the similar issues, but it's mainly the percentage of housing. Statewide, five and a half percent of all housing units are short term rentals, and that number in Maui is 15 percent, and even higher on the island of Kauai which is causing home prices to go up and pricing a lot of locals out of the market when they try and buy new homes. And so that's what this law is trying to fix is the high housing prices, especially after the Maui wildfire which is almost impossible for residents to find an affordable home.

Patrick Wiscombe:

The devastation in Maui. You can't oversell it.

Mark Faldmo:

You know, another thing why they said is because most of the rental units are not owned by locals. They're owned by people from outside of the state. New York City did a similar thing in 2022, and short-term rentals dropped by more than 83% since that went into effect last August.

Patrick Wiscombe:

actually, that went into effect last August. Actually, Southwest Airlines has begun offering what are called DOT or Department of Transportation Required Vouchers I just saw that story before coming on the air. What's that about?

Mark Faldmo:

So that is a result of the meltdown that Southwest had in the 2022 holiday season.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Oh, that was bad.

Mark Faldmo:

So this was part of their fine that the DOT gave. So first of all, last week I talked about the new rule about refunds. So this is on top of that Any flight that's canceled or delayed significantly for a controllable reason, southwest has to give a voucher to customers of $75 or more, and that actually has to be a transferable voucher that is valid for at least one year. With the new rule, if your flight is delayed more than three hours, if you don't want to accept their protection, so they will protect you on another flight. If you don't want to accept that, the airlines now have to refund you the full amount. But on top of that, Southwest has to give you a $75 voucher for future travel. I think that's good for travelers and also will probably help Southwest get a few of those customers back, because that was quite the bad meltdown they had.

Patrick Wiscombe:

You'll like this story. Westin Hotels and Resorts is bolstering their best in bed reputation with the debut of the next generation of the heavenly bed. Now, I've never stayed at a Westin hotel, and I've never stayed in a uh, a heavenly bed, but just before coming on, you mentioned that they have the best beds in the industry. It's not even close.

Mark Faldmo:

Westin beds are so comfortable. They've actually been doing this since 1999, their heavenly bed and they actually have a little placard that you can fill out and purchase a heavenly bed and have it shipped to your house when you're done, and they actually sell lots of beds. So they are now in collaboration with some of the leading sleep experts around the world to develop this next generation heavenly bed and I can't wait to try it out.

Patrick Wiscombe:

You're going to book a stay. A book a stay just to stay at the heavenly bed and I can't wait to try it out.

Mark Faldmo:

You're going to book a stay?

Patrick Wiscombe:

I'll book a stay just to stay at the heavenly bed. Let's get to the hot travel deal of the week. Let's talk Jamaica and I know that you're going to talk about the jerk chicken. It's got to be in the rundown.

Mark Faldmo:

It is. Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute, but first of all let's talk about the deal. There are really three areas of Jamaica, three main areas. There's Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Negril, but for all three of those you'd really fly into Montego Bay, and so it's just a matter of driving. Ocho Rios is about an hour and a half away, same with Negril, roughly an hour and a half away from the airport, but they're all on spectacular beaches.

Mark Faldmo:

So now for the pricing. This is an August 22nd departure from Salt Lake City. It's a five-night package, although it's only four nights hotel, because the flight from Salt Lake, where we're at, requires an overnight flight to get to Jamaica. So, depending on where you're at, if there's a daytime flight, we can look at different prices, but this is flights and four nights hotel with transfers. The first hotel that I'd recommend staying in is the Rio Montego Bay. It's a four-star hotel. The price starts at $1299 per person from Salt Lake. My overall favorite hotel is the five-star Hyatt Ziva, which starts at $1449 per person. Wow, and just as a side note, that's kind of two hotels in one for $80 more. You could upgrade to the other hotel, the Hyatt Zilara, for $80.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I love Hyatt properties. They are consistently great.

Mark Faldmo:

Yep, they are, and this one it's relatively close to the airport so you only have about a 10 or 15-minute transfer, but I love their beach. They also have a little jerk shack on the beach where you can go get your jerk chicken for lunch. You know great food there. You know everything's about food for me. So if I find a hotel with a little special eating place, that's my favorite. If I find a hotel with a little special eating place, that's my favorite. And then I'll just give two other hotels. The Secret St James Bay, which is an adult only, starts at $1539. That's also a five star. And the Azul Beach, Negril. This is over in Negril on a very pristine beach Probably one of the best beach areas in Jamaica on that and it starts at $1579 per person.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Let's talk food. I know that we have to talk about Scotchie's jerk chicken.

Mark Faldmo:

Scotchie's. I love because it is a pretty authentic jerk chicken meal. It's smoked. They also have other meats, some sausages, different things, but it is smoked using local pimento, wood and hot coals. It is just the best, especially dipped in some Scotch bonnet sauce.

Patrick Wiscombe:

You've talked about that.

Mark Faldmo:

Patrick, you don't like hot things, but the Scotch bonnet sauce is so good. Add some Festival which is deep-fried sweet bread, and a bottle of ting, and you have the best meal ever.

Mark Faldmo:

Ting, by the way, is like fresca all right, so kind of light it tastes a lot like fresca, okay, so I think that's the perfect Jamaican meal. They have a couple locations one in Montego Bay, one in Ocho Rios and I think there's one or two other places for it. It's an outdoor place and a picnic style. I love it. The scotch bonnet sauce might really make you sweat, but that's the best part of it, in my view.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Okay, all right, while you're down in Jamaica, you've got to mention some of the fun activities that you do. I know that you're probably going to mention something about bamboo rafting. Explain to listeners well, I'm assuming that is explain to them why bamboo rafting is so much fun.

Mark Faldmo:

My favorite activity to do in Jamaica is bamboo rafting. We've talked about this before. I think that made it in my top five excursions around the world when we did that segment a few weeks back.

Mark Faldmo:

But I like the bamboo rafting just because it's relaxing. The bamboo drivers make these bamboo rafts. There is bamboo logs tied together, there's a seat on it and they kind of just guide you down the river, giving you Jamaican history, talking about the culture, talking about everything. It is just nice, relaxing activity. That's why I like it. It's a little romantic, you know, so that's something to do with your significant other.

Patrick Wiscombe:

You and Heather have done that together right.

Mark Faldmo:

We've done it several times, okay.

Mark Faldmo:

That's what I thought, yeah, so we like that. Another one of my favorite places to visit is the Rose Hall Great House. It's an old plantation and it has some interesting history behind it. My favorite thing is to take the evening tour, which is a haunted tour. So the Rose Hall Great House haunted tour, it's just a fantastic activity both in day and night.

Mark Faldmo:

The next two things I'm going to talk about are a little bit touristy, but one is the bobsled adventure. You have to do that. Yeah, it's great. It's a roller coaster that goes down the mountain. Just a great little fun activity to do.

Mark Faldmo:

And then Dunn's River Falls, which again touristy but I think well worth it. So you get water socks on or whatever and you go and you actually hike up the waterfall. It's not a straight down waterfall, it's an angle so you can hike the waterfall, an angle so you can hike the waterfall. It's one of the most beautiful places in the Caribbean that I've been is Dunn River Falls. You can get not really heckled bit but a little walking through the shops it's the everyone asking you to come buy their stuff. So getting in and out of it can be a little. I don't like that part, but the falls itself I love.

Mark Faldmo:

And then another thing that I love to do in Jamaica is a James Bond tour. Jamaica is where Ian Fleming wrote all of the Bond books in his Jamaican home, which is called GoldenEye, so that's the name of his home. But there's also several places you can go to see James Bond filming locations from no Time to Die, which I think is the isn't that the newest movie? So part of that was filmed in Jamaica. Oh, I didn't know that. And then Dr no Live and Let Die. So there's several other places, but it's a pretty interesting tour to go see all the James Bond stuff.

Patrick Wiscombe:

So Nikki and I were literally talking about watching no Time to Die last night.

Mark Faldmo:

Well, you should do it See those places in Jamaica and then plan a trip there.

Patrick Wiscombe:

So I can call you and we can book it All right. So if you, let me just recap quickly here. So all of these prices are from Salt Lake City. We've got Rio Montego Bay from $1,300. The Hyatt Ziva, which is Mark's recommendation, for $1,449, so about $150 more. And what were the other?

Mark Faldmo:

three just quickly as we had to break. There was the Secret St James Bay and the Azul Beach. Negril were the other two on there.

Patrick Wiscombe:

So basically, anything from about $1,300 up to about $1,579, if I got that right. Yeah, okay, if you're interested in booking that vacation, just call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. When we come back, it is segment two, the Just Cruising segment. I think you found something very, very cool in Port Canaveral, I think. Is that our cruise deal of the week? Oh, no, no, no, no, we're talking about tulips, aren't we?

Mark Faldmo:

We're talking about tulips, okay.

Patrick Wiscombe:

That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. He is Mark Faldmo. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your Saturday morning. We will be right back.

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Taking you to destinations around the world. The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show is presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. Thanks for listening. We'll be right back.

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They'll help you plan and book your next vacation. Yeah, really, you're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And now here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo is in his own studio that he built himself. What the last couple weeks while I was off? Yep, are you glad you did it? I'm here.

Mark Faldmo:

I'm glad I did it.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Coming up in this segment of the show. It's the Just Cruising segment. We are going to be talking about tulips, tulip cruises. That's Kathy's question. She sent a text to Mark a little bit earlier this week. We'll get to your question, Kathy, but before we get there I want to talk about there is something that has just been driving me nuts and I think you would probably agree with me on this one Mark that Royal Caribbean, a passenger on Royal Caribbean, which, by the way, nick, Nikky, mark and I were down in Miami three weeks ago, I think three or four weeks ago, mark and I were in the car together. We saw Icon of the Seas, the biggest ship on earth. I can't even begin to describe how big that ship is.

Mark Faldmo:

It is bigger, quite amazing.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Oh, my goodness, when we were going up and over the bridge, not Star Island, but you know, just the bridge that connects downtown, Miami, Miami Beach, that whole area, and we're coming what back, kind of north, northwest.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Holy cow that thing was amazing enormous anyway. So a royal Caribbean passenger has sparked a debate on what an obstructed view room is, and then there's a link to the story and what she's complaining about. I don't know what she's smoking, but there is no problem with this view. Explain to listeners what she's looking at.

Mark Faldmo:

First of all, an obstructed view usually means there's a piece of the ship's equipment or a lifeboat that's either wholly or partially blocking your view out of a window or a balcony. What she is complaining about is a mechanical railing that runs on the deck she was on. It runs at the bottom of the balcony and sticks out about six to eight inches and it's a railing where basically the ship's cleaning tool hangs on and it rolls along that track, and so she thinks that is an obstructed view balcony. She says she wants to look straight down and see nothing but water. If she sticks her head out about another three inches, she could look down and see nothing but water. I think it's very interesting that she's complaining about this.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Just applying logic, Any reasonable person if you saw this picture, it's not even close to obstructed. She's crazy.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, it's just a little railing or track for a piece of equipment. Yeah, that's it.

Patrick Wiscombe:

You'll be in the Bahamas this week, yeah.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I think you're taking off on tomorrow. Actually, you are going into Port Canaveral. You're actually flying to New York City. This was the cruise you and I were going to take, but because of some you know, some personal circumstances, Nikki and I won't be going with you, but we did rebook a cruise for about a month later, which you've taken care of. Thank you, by the way. Yep, so Nikki and I are going to go out of Port Canaveral. You're sailing from New York City down to Port Canaveral and then you're going to the Bahamas. You're going to stay at Ocean Key. You've not been to that island, right?

Mark Faldmo:

I've not been to Ocean Key. I am looking forward to that.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yeah, are you going to get a cabana umbrella, or are you just going to work on the ship? I don't know what I'm going to do?

Mark Faldmo:

I'll probably just hang out. Okay, I'm not as much of a beach person, but I do want to explore the island.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Well, when you and I were at the Everglades, what was it? The Everglades National Park, yes, you know. When we went to the valley yeah, shark Valley, my right arm, you know this because we were at where were we? Oh, we were at the Marlins baseball game. My arm was just beet red, short of purple. That night.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yes, it was yeah, I show, I come home and I show Nikki my arm and she goes really got Got burned, huh, yeah. And I said you're not seeing the right light. She goes really, you're playing the lighting card on me. Yeah, she thought I was like you're just playing this up. Anyway, let's get back to the Port Canaveral story. Port Canaveral is building another cruise terminal. This is a significant development. Let's tell listeners why.

Mark Faldmo:

It is, and I actually didn't know this until I started looking into this story. But Port Canaveral, which is close to Orlando, is the second busiest cruise port in the world and they are adding another berth. They'll call it. Well, it's at the existing North 8 berth is what they call it, so they're just adding another berth for a cruise ship. There's also adding another parking terrace, so some additional parking. That's actually the first cruise I ever took was out of Port Canaveral and I can just remember I was probably 10 years old and I remember getting out on the promenade deck watching the dolphins escort the ship out. So I love Port Canaveral. That'll be good that they're adding more parking and they can accommodate more ships, because Orlando is a pretty easy place to get to. I think it's actually easier and usually less expensive than Miami to get to. I'm just going to go over the top four because it's pretty interesting. Miami is number one 7.3 million cruisers in 2023. They set a record a one-day record of over 68,000 passengers in one day in Miami.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Okay, hold on just a second. Think about that. You know how many Icon of the Seas had to be in there? Oh, no, no, no, no, that was 2023.

Mark Faldmo:

That was 2023. Oh, never mind.

Patrick Wiscombe:

No, that's not. That would not be applicable then.

Mark Faldmo:

So they must have had two of those similar ships to icon of the seas and then probably Norwegians and MSC big ships in there can you imagine you pull up to the port like what is going on here today?

Patrick Wiscombe:

yeah you try to get an uber. You can't, you're not getting out.

Mark Faldmo:

you can't get in and out. Yeah, all right. So, Miami, largest. And then Port Canaveral, number two, at 6.9 million in 2023. Port Everglades, which is Fort Lauderdale, so relatively close to Miami, yeah, but there's a big drop 3.2 million. And then Barcelona is Europe's number one cruise port and makes the fourth busiest cruise port in the world at 2.5 million passengers in 2023.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Let's get to the cruise deal of the week we had. You received a listener question. Kathy has asked about the best vacation to go on to see tulips in the spring. Are we going to Europe on this one?

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, we're going to go to Europe for the main deal, but I am just going to mention, on this one, yeah, we're going to go to Europe for the main deal, but I am just going to mention the side note Probably the best place in the US for tulips, which is pretty interesting Holland, Michigan. They have an amazing tulip festival in early May and they have parades, fireworks and Dutch celebrations. In Holland, Michigan, the main attraction is the Windmill Island Gardens, which has an authentic Dutch windmill. You can pretend like you're in Holland to watch that. Another good place, I think, is Mackinac Island, which is also in Michigan. Mackinac Island is interesting. The only way to get there is by ferry or by flight. There are no cars allowed on the island.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Oh, wow.

Mark Faldmo:

So you take a ferry there, or if you take a flight in, your taxi is a three-horse carriage and so it's all horse-drawn carriages to get you around the island. Oh see that's pretty cool, pretty interesting vacation spot. It is actually on my bucket list to go. I have not done that. It's where the movie Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour was filmed.

Patrick Wiscombe:

You know what I really like that movie. That's an old movie.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, that is. That's a good one, though, and so Mackinac Island is more known for their lilac festival in June, but they also do have great tulips there as well. Okay, so those are kind of two places in the US that you could go that I think, are great kind of distinct spots with unique history and unique things to see.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I'm going to show my naivete here. Is that really something that people ask for? I mean, obviously Kathy's asking this, but what I'm saying is are they really that popular, those kind of destination cruises?

Mark Faldmo:

They are. You know river cruises kind of have in Europe have kind of two specialty. They have the two uptime cruises and they have the Christmas market cruises. You know Christmas markets focus on the Christkindl markets in various European cities. The tulip time cruises really focus on the tulips in Amsterdam and the Netherlands. They usually go in March and April. You know I was there in March and it had been warm so we actually missed the tulips. So it's kind of hit or miss, but March and April is when you so we actually missed the tulips. So it's kind of hit or miss, but March and April is when you would go to see the tulips in the Netherlands.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Wait, you were there this past March.

Mark Faldmo:

No, when I did, I did a tulip time cruise back probably five years ago or so.

Patrick Wiscombe:

It was like you were holding out on me. You didn't tell me no, you just disappeared.

Mark Faldmo:

No, I would have invited you along if I was on it this March. So these are all usually round-trip Amsterdam. Amsterdam known for its canals, rich history. You can go see the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. But I think the ports on the Tulip Time cruises these are just some Different cruise lines do different ports.

Mark Faldmo:

This is an Ammer Waterways that I looked at here. One of the stops is Middleburg. Middleburg is in the province of Zeeland, was found in the 9th century. It's a fortified town so it has a wall with a moat around it that was to protect against Viking raids. So it was a place that was pretty heavily raided by the Vikings, so it has some pretty interesting history. It also was one of the main trading points for the Dutch East Indies Trading Company, so it was kind of a transit point where they'd bring stuff in, send it out to the UK London at that time and also right by there is the. You can go see the lock system and see how Netherlands is all protected by dikes and locks and different. You see how all of that works.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Now I have seen some videos on YouTube about the uh, the dike system. That is fascinating. That is absolutely. I mean, I'm I'm not kind of inclined for that kind of stuff, but the way that they interconnect all that stuff, that was actually pretty amazing, and some of it was featured in the Amazing Race, if memory serves.

Mark Faldmo:

I remember driving along the dike there and the coach driver says on the other side of the ocean, and the ocean's about 25 feet higher than where we're driving right now.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Really.

Mark Faldmo:

So, you know, pretty interesting to see how all of that works.

Patrick Wiscombe:

So it's all downhill from there.

Mark Faldmo:

Yep and then other ports. Ghent, which is famous for the movie Monuments Men, the Ghent altarpiece that they were trying to collect. So you know that was a real story where the when World War II broke out, they sent that altarpiece to France for safekeeping. It wasn't so safe when the Nazis took it over and they took that, and so that's one of the famous parts in Ghent. They also go to Bruges.

Mark Faldmo:

I think we've talked about Bruges before that's where my favorite waffles are Just a great place. Antwerp, the diamond capital of the world, and then probably the highlight of that is Kinderdijk, which is the windmills. Yeah, that would be cool. Go to see that, which is interesting. And then there's also tours from there. Or Amsterdam, where you go to Kukenhof Gardens, which is where the tulips are. That's right in the prime tulip area. And so Kukenhof Gardens if you want to see tulips, that's where you go. You go there because their tulips aren't for harvesting. A lot of people don't know this. You have to hit the tulips, just right, because as soon as the blossoms open, the farmers cut off the colorful blossoms. Oh wow, because that makes the bulbs reproduce underground. That starts them reproducing, and if they don't cut off the colorful bulb or the colorful bud, the bulbs don't reproduce as much. So as soon as you start to see color in the fields, you might have a day or two and then they're cut off.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I can see how it could be hit and miss. Yeah, that's on Amo Waterways. Is that a seven night cruise?

Mark Faldmo:

That's a seven night cruise, and they do it's on several different ships. They run four or five ships that do this itinerary or a similar itinerary.

Patrick Wiscombe:

So do you go in and out of?

Mark Faldmo:

Amsterdam, then In and out of Amsterdam on this.

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Oh, wow.

Mark Faldmo:

We talked about a few weeks ago, their special's still going, where you get a free or post cruise stay, and then their discounted airfare. I think it was $800 a person.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yeah, it was like $800 or $900. Yeah.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, so they have some pretty good deals and all river cruise lines do two uptime cruises. I'm partial to Amo Waterways. I think they have the best overall product out there.

Patrick Wiscombe:

So let's recap. So $800 or $900, can't remember per person airfare and then, of course, the cost of the cruise. Now, is it two or three days pre or post-cruise?

Mark Faldmo:

It's two or three days pre or post. It's two or three days pre or post and you definitely want to spend that time in Amsterdam. You know there's lots of things to do in Amsterdam.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Most people probably have the most energy before the cruise.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, I probably would do that before the cruise. Yeah, okay, take the canal cruise. You can buy basically a hop-on, hop-off tour in Amsterdam, but it's done by canal and so you know you can see that there's another windmill place you can go to. To see the windmills you can go to Delft, which is famous for its dishes.

Patrick Wiscombe:

If you're interested, Kathy, and it sounds like you are, if you're asking the question, call Mark in his office. And, by the way, if you have any travel related questions, just call the studio number. You can also text Mark directly 801-649-3700,. 801-649-3700. That's how Kathy got in touch with the show, but I'm going to give you another phone number the show, but I'm going to give you another phone number. If you're interested in booking any of the things that we've talked about on today's show, call Mark directly. It goes right to him 888. This is the number I need you to hold on to 888-718-7717,. 801,. I'm sorry, excuse me, 888-71-7171. 888-771-7171. I'm sorry, excuse me, 888-718-7717. And blueplanetvacations. com is where you find Mark online. I know that you've got a busy evening ahead as you prep, as you're headed to the Bahamas here in a little less than 24 hours, about 24 hours. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your Saturday Alongside Mark Faldmo. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Have a terrific weekend. We will talk to you next Saturday.

Show Voice:

That's it. That's the end of the show You've been listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Book your adventure right now. Call 888-718-7717. That's 888-718-7717. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.

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