Inside Travel Talk
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Inside Travel Talk
Vacation Vibes: Maui Adventures, Mexican Riviera Cruises, and Travel News
What if your next travel adventure could be both luxurious and affordable? Tune in to our latest episode of Inside Travel Talk as we unveil a slew of travel updates. We kick off by diving into Spirit Airlines' game-changing introduction of four new fare classes, designed to cater to every type of traveler, from budget-conscious explorers to those craving European-style business class comfort. We also shed light on the State Department's updated travel advisory for Jamaica, stressing the importance of travel insurance given the upfront payment policies at private hospitals. Plus, catch up on Maui's ongoing efforts to make housing more affordable for locals by curbing short-term rentals, and get the latest on the recovery status of Lahaina and Kaanapali after recent fires.
Planning a trip to Maui? We've got you covered with three distinct hotel options that cater to various budgets and tastes, including the Royal Lahaina Hotel, Outrigger Kaanapali Beach Resort, and the Hyatt Regency Maui. If beachside bliss is your priority, the Sheraton Maui with its iconic cliff diving spot at Black Rock is a must-consider. But a vacation in Maui isn’t just about where you stay; it’s about what you do! We highlight unforgettable activities—from the scenic Road to Hana and the Seven Sacred Pools to sunrise biking down Haleakala and snorkeling at Molokini. Whale watching between Lahaina and Lanai and exploring the Ayo Valley nature preserve are also on our list of top recommendations for making the most out of your Maui experience.
Ever thought a passport stamp could ruin your travel plans? Learn why getting novelty stamps from places like Machu Picchu and Easter Island could be risky. We then shift gears to discuss Royal Caribbean's exciting announcement: the Ovation of the Seas will be porting in Los Angeles starting May 2025, opening up fantastic new short cruise options to Mexico. So, get ready to sail into your next adventure with us, and don't miss our cruise deal of the week, featuring enticing cold weather escape cruises with Princess and Holland America!
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. com. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700 and check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. And now here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Can I have your attention, please, your attention, please. Can I have your attention, please, your attention, please? You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Yes, I would like fries with that. Good morning. It is Saturday morning a little after 10 am. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, alongside Mark Faldmo, who is in the Faldmo radio studio, and Mark, I have good news. Nicky and I have moved to a brand new house and I'm happy to say that the studio is set up and it sounds better than ever.
Mark Faldmo:That's good. It was a fun wait getting everything moved.
Patrick Wiscombe:It was not no no, it is not coming up on this edition of the inside travel talk podcast, a radio show. We are going to Lahaina. We're going to Maui it's been a while since we've talked about Maui. We do have the hot travel deal of the week, which is going to include Maui, and we're also going to take a look at tourism in Kaanapali and, of course, we'll give you the Maui travel offer. What is this? For November 2024? Somewhere right in there For November? Yeah, this fall. But let's first get to the travel news of the week. Spirit Airlines, known for discounted airlines. They have a new fare option.
Mark Faldmo:So they actually have four new fare options, and this is on the heels of other low-cost carriers like Southwest recently announcing their change. Alaska Airlines also recently announced they're adding more first-class and premium seats. But Spirit is adding four fare classes. One will include priority check-in and boarding, another one has seats with extra legroom, and then another one will have online streaming access. And then they have an offer, a fourth offer called Go Big, which includes all of that. Plus, it includes European style business class seats. European style business seats is still three seats across, but they just block out the middle seat, so there's no one sitting in between you. It's not anything different in the seats. There's just nobody sitting in the seat next to you, so the middle seat is not assigned to anyone.
Patrick Wiscombe:So you know that they're charging a premium for sure, yes, yeah, because they got to make up that revenue somehow. They do.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, so those are the four fares that Spirit has done Comes on the hills of some pretty rocky quarters of financial reporting for them and for a lot of the budget carriers.
Patrick Wiscombe:This was an interesting story that the State Department updates Jamaica Travel Advisory with a travel insurance warning. That is an interesting headline.
Mark Faldmo:They are encouraging everyone that travels to Jamaica to get travel insurance that includes medical. We always advise everyone to travel anywhere they go with insurance, but Jamaica, along with a few other countries around the world, have some interesting policies regarding health insurance. So here's what the State Department advisory says Private hospitals require payment upfront before admitting patients and may not have the ability to provide specialized care. Ambulance services are not always staffed with EMTs or readily available, especially in rural areas. Us citizens should bring extra prescription medications, as common medications such as insulin can be difficult to obtain. And then it says we strongly encourage you to obtain travel insurance, including medical evacuation insurance, before traveling. The State Department does not pay medical bills for US citizens. They've had several requests, I guess, for the State Department to pay their bills up front because people have traveled without medical coverage. Sometimes that's thousands of dollars that they make you pay just to be admitted to the hospital. That's a stunning warning.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yes, that's thousands of dollars that they make you pay just to be admitted to the hospital. That's a stunning warning. Yes, I don't think I've ever heard a warning quite like that one.
Mark Faldmo:It's always good to travel with travel insurance, but especially country specific.
Mark Faldmo:We've been talking about this for a little bit but Maui is taking steps towards cracking down on short-term rentals. They are hoping to eliminate 7,000 short-term rentals across the island of Maui. That's a lot. That's almost 45% of the total short-term rentals on the island, and this will apply to those short-term rentals that are in apartment districts. What they're hoping to do is open up more housing for locals. Right now, those short-term rentals are just driving up the cost in these apartment districts because people are just getting the apartments and renting them out, and so locals are having a hard time purchasing or renting in these areas. They're hoping that it's going to make it more affordable for local people.
Patrick Wiscombe:What's the latest on Maui, specifically Lahaina, and I think right near there is Kaanapali.
Mark Faldmo:So Lahaina and Kaanapali are kind of the same area. Lahaina is the town, Kaanapali is kind of the beach area off to the north of Lahaina. The town of Lahaina is not back to normal yet. No, there are things that have been built and there are some things that are slowly coming back. Kaanapali, which was not really touched by the fire, has been back up and pretty much going since December. They did have lots of people housed in hotels there, which was driving up the cost of hotels for vacationers, but now that's down to about 260 of the total. Hotel rooms in that area are being used to house displaced families. That area of Kaanapali is back to normal, with one exception Tourism is just down to the island. With one exception tourism is just down to the island. So I think we talked about this two or three weeks ago that the Hawaiian total is down about 25 percent year to date. Yep, but Maui has been down 35 to 40 percent year to date in total number of visitor arrivals.
Mark Faldmo:That's a significant hit. Yes, yeah, that's significant, and you know what that does is. I think that makes for a more enjoyable vacation because, there's less people there you know so. So now is a pretty good time. Maui has traditionally been the most expensive island to visit. The prices have come down quite a bit. The prices for similar hotels are still higher than they were, say, compared to when we talked a few weeks ago about Hawaii, but it's a pretty good deal for Maui right now. Let's talk prices here.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let me set the mood which, by the way, I can agree that Maui was one of my favorite islands. When Nicky and I were there in late February I think it was march actually I could not believe, just visually, the devastation that happened in Lahaina town. When you see ashes that are white, you know that things were hot and I could not believe the extent of the damage. So to have tourism down, which I get, it's nice that the prices are starting down, so let's go support the people.
Mark Faldmo:This is a five night package. I looked at November 14th date, so just before Thanksgiving. It's airfare and again five nights hotel. This is from Salt Lake City, with the airfare, and again Five Nights Hotel. This is from Salt Lake City, With the usual disclaimer on that we can price things out from other cities, Just give us a call. But this is from Salt Lake City.
Mark Faldmo:And we'll start off with one of my favorite hotels on the island, which is the Royal Lahaina Hotel. It's a three and a half star hotel on a great stretch of that Kaanapali beach and that price is out at $1129 per person, and that's with airfare. That's airfare and five nights hotel. Dude, that's amazing. There are hotels that are less than this. You know there are some two and a half three star hotels. I really like this one, so that's why I chose this one to start off with. I like the location, the beach, and it has a really good location. And then the next resort is the Outrigger Kaanapali Beach Resort. This one is a four star resort, again on the Kaanapali Beach area $1399 per person for the five nights and airfare from Salt Lake City Wow. And the restaurant that's open for breakfast. I love to go eat at that, get some macadamia nut pancakes and Portuguese sausage with coconut syrup on the whole plate. Really good.
Patrick Wiscombe:We need to cut the show short. I have to go eat.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, I'm hungry, I'm, yeah, I'm literally salivating right now and then we'll do one more hotel, and this is a five-star hotel, the Hyatt Regency Maui, and it starts at $1879 per person. You kind of have your range of quality of hotels on that, and those are the three one. One other that I'd recommend that I like is the Sheraton Maui. It's probably one of the best beach. It has a little cove. There's a rock where people do cliff jumping into the ocean there at the called Black Rock at the Sheraton, but I don't have a price on that one. That's another one you could consider when going to Maui.
Patrick Wiscombe:And you can go rest before you go to Thanksgiving with your family. Yes, all right, let's talk about a couple of minutes that we have left. Let's talk about the things that you can do in Maui, and I'm really hoping that Haleakala.
Mark Faldmo:It is on the list, oh good, the first one probably one of the most scenic drives is the road to Hana. It's a smaller road, has lots of curves in it, so you have to drive slow and be careful when you go there.
Mark Faldmo:But, when you get to Hana town. It's just a nice little place to go have lunch at the end of your road to Hana. There are a few places that you can stop along the way, although they've eliminated a lot of the stopping because it just got too congested, with people stopping. Yeah, but it's very scenic there. And then, if you go a little bit past Hana Town, there's the Seven Sacred Pools and it's actually part of Haleakala Volcano National Park. It's a river that comes down and there's seven waterfalls with pools.
Mark Faldmo:Oh wow the bottom so you can hike up. It's a really scenic point to go to the seven sacred pools, the place you asked us to talk about Haleakala Volcano. Driving up Haleakala Volcano is an experience. Oh, it is. Getting up there, driving through the volcanic rock, getting up to the observatory, it's an amazing view. Once you get up there, you can see all of the Hawaiian islands. If it's a clear day, you're above the clouds.
Patrick Wiscombe:You go up on Haleakala and when you're above the clouds, visually it's one of the most spectacular things you'll ever see and then, coming down, you really have to kind of go slow because yeah, Because the scenery will take you in and your attention will be on the scenery, not the road. So you really do have to be careful.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, well, you know, taking that one step further, one of the most popular things to do is to wake up really early and go up and watch the sunrise on top of Haleakala and then bike down Haleakala. A lot of people like to do that. It would not be fun to bike up it, but biking down would be pretty fun.
Patrick Wiscombe:We were going to do the bike down but it rained and I'm like you know what. I don't want to be on a bike hitting those corners on two wheels. Two wheels, yeah. What about snorkeling?
Mark Faldmo:Is there a good snorkeling? There is. There's a good place called Molokini and it's actually the top of a volcano.
Ad Voice:That's just barely sticking out of the water.
Mark Faldmo:It's kind of sunk back in so it's kind of like a crescent moon, a half moon shape, and the boats just pull up in there. Lots of good snorkeling in there. There's also a place I think it's called Turtle Cove. That's another good place where you can snorkel and there are lots of sea turtles in that area In between Lahaina and the island of Lanai. It's just a great place for snorkeling all the way out or for whale watching. All of the whales kind of just come in that area in the wintertime. So January, February, March are the best times for that. I've had some pretty good whale watching trips there.
Patrick Wiscombe:I think you've been lucky enough that you've been able to see a lot of whales.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, Not quite as good as Alaska. I've seen, had better whale watching in Alaska, but this area of Maui is pretty good and it's actually probably the same whales that I saw in Alaska or the same whales in Maui. Oh look, there's Irv Yep. And then just one last place to mention. It's called the Ayo Valley in Maui and it's a little nature preserve with hiking and some waterfalls. It's called the Ayo Needle, which is just a piece of volcanic rock that sticks straight up, Kind of a scenic area to go.
Patrick Wiscombe:As we go to break, let's recap the prices. This is November 14th through the 19th, I think is what you said. Airfare and Hotel from Salt Lake City. Royal Lahaina a 3.5 star hotel $1129 a person. Outrigger Kaanapali Beach Resort a four star hotel $1129 a person. Outrigger Kaanapali Beach Resort a four-star hotel $1399 per person. And Hyatt Regency Maui five-star, from $1879 a person.
Patrick Wiscombe:This is one of those vacations that you'll go. Thank you, Patrick and Mark. Thank you for recommending it. This is one of those vacations that you hear the price a little bit and go. I don't know if I should Trust us. Money well spent. Call Mark in his office 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. Or you can visit him online at blueplanet vacations. com. Mark knows his stuff. Anything you want to know, he does his research for you so you have the best vacation possible. I'm not joking and it's not because I'm doing the show. He knows his stuff. 888-718-77. When we come back, it's the infamous Just Cruising segment. We're going to talk about common passport mistakes and some killer deals. Mexican Riviera from Los Angeles that is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. I am Patrick Wiscombe, he is Mark Faldmo. We will be right back.
Show Voice: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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Show Voice:Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Presented by blueplanetvacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show right now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe.
Patrick Wiscombe:That is the unmistakable sound of the cruise ship calling everyone back on board. Thank you so much for allowing us, Mark and I, to be part of your Saturday morning. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Coming up in this segment. It is the Just Cruising segment, always in segment number two, and this week we are going to the Mexican Riviera on Princess and Holland America. We'll give you the details coming up in this segment, but before we get there, let's do the cruise news of the week. And you want to start with the common passport mistakes?
Mark Faldmo:Yep, let's start there and we actually have a few things I guess could be related to cruise news, but we do have one cruise story. This is common passport mistake not to make, oh, not to make, not to make, yeah, and that is getting novelty stamps from destinations. You know there are a lot of destinations that have a novelty stamp in them, yeah, and they say if you want novelty stamps, take a stamp book or a journal to do and don't get these novelty stamps in your official passport. For instance, Machu Picchu has a passport stamp. There's a stamp for Antarctica, a stamp for a city in Wales that has the longest city name, it's like 60 characters long. Easter Island in Chile has a stamp. I know Skagway has a stamp. Yeah, there are these passport stamps that people like to get but do not put them in your passport because that counts as an alteration and many countries, if they see these alterations, invalidate your passport. They don't allow you to get into the country.
Patrick Wiscombe:Are you serious? I have never heard you talk about this.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, so there have been stories of people that have these and they're not allowed to board the airlines, depending on what country they're going to. Some people have traveled and then not been allowed back into their home country until they can get that rectified. Don't invalidate your passport by getting a novelty stamp.
Patrick Wiscombe:That seems like something that could you just happen to have it with you here. Put it here, yes.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and there are things. I know this doesn't really relate to the novelty stamps, but I remember had a client one time applying for a visa to go to China and they had been there. So it's a sticker that goes on the page of your passport and they just tore their old one out. So when they sent it back to China, they said why did you remove the old visa? This is not valid. So they made them get a whole new passport in order to go to China.
Patrick Wiscombe:Wow, that just seems like something. Oh hey, I've got a piece of paper, Just stamp this.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, but just don't get these novelty stamps.
Patrick Wiscombe:You know that that's happened way more than once. Yes, wow, I thought this story was pretty funny. It seems kind of common sense, but don't leave your valuables on the beach in Honolulu or really, for that matter, anywhere else.
Mark Faldmo:This was a warning that the Honolulu Police Department sent out that said don't leave anything unattended on the beach because it will get stolen. That's basically what they said. You go to the beach, take the bare minimum, take a waterproof bag. If you want to go into the ocean, put everything in the waterproof bag and keep it with you.
Patrick Wiscombe:Are you kidding? It's getting to that point. Now it is.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, that's terrifying. A lot of places in Hawaii are like that and a lot of popular tourist beaches around the world are even like that. There are havens for pickpocket and petty theft. Your wallet, your phone, your car keys keep it with you at all times.
Patrick Wiscombe:Ovation of the Seas from Royal Caribbean has made their announcement that they are actually porting in Los Angeles, and I think this is a big deal.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, this is so. This will be Royal Caribbean's second ship from Los Angeles. They have the Navigator of the Seas that's there year-round and now they're bringing the Ovation of the Seas starting May of 2025. It'll sail through the summer before the Quantum of the Seas comes in in the fall, and these are big ships. Quantum of the Seas is one of the larger ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet, not as big as the Icon, but they are large ships.
Mark Faldmo:And this kind of continues the trend. Last week we talked about Norwegian putting a ship in Philadelphia. This is Royal Caribbean's second ship on the West Coast and this ship was actually slated to go to China and just looking at the market, they felt that Los Angeles would be a better fit for this ship. We talked about Carnival Cruise Lines that put their ship there and that ship was actually originally supposed to be a Costa ship sailing in China but they took it and moved it and put it in Los Angeles and that's good news for us here in the West.
Mark Faldmo:That adds some more options. This Ovation of the Seas is going to be doing three, five and six day cruises, so shorter cruises. We actually also talked about that. Cruise lines are putting in some shorter cruises on these bigger, newer ships.
Patrick Wiscombe:And it kind of makes sense because they have such an enormous expense up front that they want to recoup that as quickly as possible. And I would think that if you turn the ship over that new fares, the excitement of people getting on the ship, the excitement wanes the longer you're on a cruise ship. So if you can pack the money in tight windows, you're probably going to make more money anyway. Yes, yeah, you mentioned three, five and six day cruises. Do we know where they're sailing to? Generally speaking, obviously it's Mexico.
Mark Faldmo:So the three day is probably going to Ensenada, Mexico. The five and six days are going to Cabo and I do know the six day cruise actually overnight spends two full days in Cabo. And I do know the six-day cruise actually overnight spends two full days in Cabo and then has Ensenada.
Patrick Wiscombe:And so you can go see Sammy Hagar at his bar.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, go to Cabo Wabo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, I still want to do that. I love Sammy Hagar. You know what I love most about him. He's such a positive guy. He is a very positive person and I really like that kind of energy. Let's talk about the cruise deal of the week. We've talked about Ovation of the Seas coming to Los Angeles, going to Mexico, but now we actually need to talk about the cruise deal of the week, which is the Mexican Riviera from Los Angeles on Princess and Holland America. What options do we have for listeners this week?
Mark Faldmo:I didn't really want to do the Ovation of the Seas that we talked about, just because it doesn't start until May. So I wanted to get some cold weather cruises in there so people can start thinking about cold weather, I think one of the best prices. Cold weather is hard to think of when we're 100 degrees here. Yeah, it's pretty hot, but it will be coming. Plan to get out of the cold in January.
Mark Faldmo:Princess Cruises, which is on a new ship, is a typical Mexican Riviera. So it goes from Los Angeles, goes to Cabo Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta. It is on the Discovery Princess, which is a newer ship, and I like this one, these newer princess ships, because they only have inside cabins and balcony cabins. They don't have ocean view cabins, so their balcony cabins, their lead-in balconies, are pretty well-priced, oh wow. So an inside cabin starts at $628 per person and again, remember, that includes all of the taxes and fees now but a balcony cabin starts at $838 for a seven day cruise. So that is a great deal it is.
Mark Faldmo:And then this next one, on Holland America, is an 11-day Mexican Riviera cruise. It's March 22nd and this one has an interesting, a very interesting itinerary. So it leaves from San Diego. It goes to Cabo San Lucas, la Paz, Laredo, so this is going up into the Sea of Cortez. And then it does Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo. So Manzanillo is just a little bit south of Puerto Vallarta and it also has a pretty good price. So $984 for the inside cabin and then an ocean view, so no balcony starts at $1,084. So this is a smaller ship that does not have balcony cabins.
Patrick Wiscombe:As we wrap up, let's go over the seven-day, January 18th 2025, princess Mexican Riviera. Will you say the price again as we go to?
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, so January 18th it's $628 for an inside or $838 for a balcony, so for an inside or $838 for a balcony and then the Holland America 11 days, March 22nd 2025. The price on that again, yeah $984 for an inside or $1084 for an outside cabin Call.
Patrick Wiscombe:Mark as soon as we get off the air. Call him in his office, 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. You can also go to his website blueplanetvacations. com. All right, what do you have planned for the rest of the day? Anything fun? Probably go do some yard work? Yeah, all right, good to talk to you. As always, I'm glad you're home from Cancun. Give my best to Heather. I will Call Mark to book any of the vacations. 888-718-7717. As we leave, may I ask you to go to insidetraveltalk. com. Insidetraveltalk. com. Subscribe to the podcast. We're on all major podcast platforms and thank you to the people who have left us five-star ratings. Did not know that was going to happen, so thank you so much. We're starting to get some real traction with our listeners. Again, insidetraveltalk. com. Have a terrific week. Explore your world. Live your life intentionally. Live your life deliberately. Make it a great week. We'll talk to you next Saturday morning.
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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