Inside Travel Talk
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Inside Travel Talk
Adventures Unfold: London & Edinburgh, Hawaii Bargains and Cruise Specials
Get ready to uncover the latest travel secrets and insider deals on this episode of Inside Travel Talk! We'll take you through the demolitions of the legendary Tropicana and Mirage hotels in Las Vegas and the ripple effects of ongoing hotel worker strikes sweeping across major cities like Boston, San Francisco, Honolulu, and Seattle. Plus, stay ahead of the curve as we break down Edinburgh's 5% tourist tax, coming into play in 2026. We'll also tackle a listener's burning question about UK travel, recommending a comprehensive nine-day escorted tour by Globus and offering essential tips for crafting your perfect London and Scotland itinerary.
Next, find out how the post-pandemic travel trends are shaping up, with prices becoming more traveler-friendly than ever. You'll hear about the much-anticipated Universal Helios Grand Hotel opening in 2025, featuring a magical How to Train Your Dragon suite and exclusive access to the Epic Universe theme park. And don't miss our hot travel deal of the week—score up to $550 off Hawaii packages when booked by September 26th for travel between January and March 2025. This deal includes roundtrip airfare from Salt Lake City and luxurious five-night stays in select Honolulu hotels.
Finally, stay informed with the latest on airport security and cruise line updates. Learn about the temporary return to old x-ray scanners at some European airports and the implications for your travel experience. We also dive into Princess Cruises' recent hike in crew appreciation fees and an enticing promotion from Norwegian Cruise Line that includes discounts, free airfare for a second guest, and more perks. Listen to our exclusive chat with Laura Okunowski from MSC Cruises about their exciting new home port in Galveston, Texas, starting in November 2025, and year-round Western Caribbean itineraries. Don’t miss out—tune in now for all these updates and more!
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 BluePlanetVacations. com. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at Insideidetraveltalk. com. And now here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:I cannot believe that it is another Saturday. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, alongside Mark Faldmo, coming up on this edition of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Mark, it's officially happening. Iconic Las Vegas hotels are coming down. We'll get to that story here in just a little bit, but the hotels coming down are Tropicana, which it's so old, it needed to come down anyway. The one that surprised me, though, was the Mirage. I've stayed there before. Honestly, I thought it was kind of a nice hotel, so I was a little bit surprised that the demo work is already taking place. They're getting ready for bigger and better things in Vegas.
Patrick Wiscombe:It really was a busy Labor Day travel season, and we're also going to be talking about the MSC Cruises Labor Day cruise sale. It is continuing, and we're going to have part two of the interview that I did a little bit earlier last week with Laura Okonowski of MSC Cruises. I said this last week, but I'll say it again Get your credit card warmed up, get it ready. You will want to book one of these vacations, and that's coming up a little bit later in the show. In this segment, we have the travel news of the week and we've also got a text. Was this a text from Elena or was this a phone call that you got?
Mark Faldmo:It was a phone message from Elena let's get to the travel news of the week.
Patrick Wiscombe:If you were in an airport really anywhere in the United States, it was very busy, very busy. Over 17 million airline passengers were going through airports over the weekend. I didn't hear about too many delays, it was just busy, just a lot of people going through security and going from point A to point.
Mark Faldmo:B. I have not seen the TSA statistics yet. In the last about six weeks they've had two of their busiest days ever and I bet one of these days over Labor Day will top that.
Patrick Wiscombe:This is a big story, but there are thousands of hotel workers that are beginning to strike in eight cities. What's the latest?
Mark Faldmo:They started Labor Day weekend and they're going to continue doing two or three strikes until they get their labor dispute resolved. So this is for members of the Unite here Union, which includes employees of Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott in 24 cities, their biggest ones being Boston, san Francisco, Honolulu and Seattle. A few of the hotels the Fairmont Copley Plaza and Hilton Boston Park Plaza in Boston, the Royal Hawaiian and the Sheraton Waikiki in Honolulu, the Grand Hyatt Union Square and Hilton Union Square in San Francisco are some of the larger hotels that have gone on strike and they do say this could spread to some of their other cities, including Baltimore and Oakland. That's something for travelers to be aware of. Is these labor disputes by some of these, especially Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott hotels in 24 cities?
Patrick Wiscombe:So what I'm hearing? You say translation pack your patience. Yes, pack your patience.
Mark Faldmo:The hotels are still open, but it'll be a rough go of it if you are happening to stay at one of these hotels, if you are happening to stay at one of these hotels, Edinburgh.
Patrick Wiscombe:One of the places that I want to go is planning to introduce a tourist tax.
Mark Faldmo:Do you know what is being proposed? Yeah, so it just went through. I don't know what they called over there, a ballot initiative or whatever. It was just approved, which is a 5% tourism tax that will go into effect in 2026. And that would be tacked on to hotel bills, bread and breakfast, hostels, airbnbs, so any type of lodging, except for campsites, which are mostly local, so they don't want to tax locals. And now that that is approved, it's going to go into a 12-week consultation period, whereas residents can argue for against higher it, lower it and then they'll put that into effect in 2026.
Patrick Wiscombe:That kind of leads in. It's not a great way to lead in but it does lead into the destination of the week. But you received a call from Elena and let me just give you the office phone number that she called it's 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. She was calling you because she wanted to take a trip to the UK and her priority, at least according to the message that I have UK and her priority, at least according to the message that I have, is that London and Scotland are a priority for her. And I guess the question that I have, but she is also asking, is what is the best way to go see the UK?
Mark Faldmo:Well, there are two ways to do this. Last week we talked about Globus and their escorted tours, their hosted tours. They have a really good UK tour which is nine days, which I really like. I'll go over that tour in just a minute. Or you could do an independent tour and I'll tell you how I would do it if I were doing it on an independent basis. First let's talk about the Globus tour.
Mark Faldmo:Again, this is nine days, so it spends two nights in London, then goes to, has a stop in Stonehenge on the way to Bath, and Bath is a Roman city with Roman baths there. It's quite a nice little city. You spend one night in Bath. The next day you have a few stops in Wales on the way to Liverpool. Oh, wow, a lot of people, beetles fans, Liverpool history there. Also, Liverpool's where a lot of ships left to come to the US, so there's a lot of US heritage from Liverpool.
Mark Faldmo:After Liverpool, you'll go to spend two days in Edinburgh, with a couple stops in the Lake District and the Highlands on your way up to Edinburgh. And then, after spending time in Edinburgh, you'll go down to York, which is one of my favorite cities, and then you go back and spend one last night in London, with a stop in Stratford-upon-Avon on the way down, and that is Shakespeare country. That's where Shakespeare's birth house is. It's a really good tour and again, the reason why I think people should do a tour, especially if you haven't been there, is the commentary and help you get while doing that. And then, if you wanted to do it more on an independent basis, I would do four days in London and three days in Edinburgh and I would take the train up to Edinburgh and on the way you could stop and spend a night in either Chester or York.
Mark Faldmo:And Chester is interesting. It's a walled city and it was a Roman outpost when Rome controlled this part of Great Britain. They have an interesting Roman museum. You can go up on the city walls and walk out around the city walls. The old city it's called the rose, which is a shopping district and it kind of has a two-level covered arcade with Tudor style half timber buildings. Or you could go to York, which is the, the heart of Viking rule. Vikings ruled this part of UK, I think, from 800 to 1200 AD. They have a really good Viking museum there. It's known for chocolate. It's known as the most haunted city in England. My favorite place to visit there is the Shambles, and that's just a maze of little narrow streets with local shops and restaurants. When you think of those narrow streets in Europe, it is the shambles of York that you're thinking about.
Patrick Wiscombe:I think it would be interesting just to go walk around there.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, I guess you could do this around trip out a few more days. You could train up and down, spend York on the way back and Chester on the way up to Edinburgh.
Patrick Wiscombe:That sounds like an amazing vacation, whether you go on a tour or whether you do it independently. What would you do when you're in London?
Mark Faldmo:So the first thing, especially if you've not been there, I would spend your first day on the hop-off, hop-off tour. I would spend your first day on the hop-off, hop-off tour which I like to do those and just get on, stay on for one whole circuit and then decide where you want to get on and off.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, wow, okay.
Mark Faldmo:The main sites of London. Westminster Abbey wonderful place to go in. There's a lot of history there. That's where a lot of the kings are buried. There's a stained glass memorial to World War II in Westminster Abbey. Yeah, I'd want to see that. Going to the Tower of London, which is where the Crown Jewels are at. Take a Thames River cruise, Watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Those are kind of the top things that you would want to see in London. Also, something that is really interesting is the Churchill War Room. To go see where D-Day was planned, where a lot of the direction of World War II was done, with Dwight Eisenhower and Winston Churchill in the Churchill War Room yeah, that would be fascinating. And then you can also take some day trips out. A day trip that I like to do is Warwick Castle and Stratford-upon-Avon. So you go in the morning to Warwick Castle, which is a nice medieval castle. It's actually owned by I think we've talked about this before, but it's owned by Madame Tussauds.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah.
Mark Faldmo:And they've put period wax figures there. And then go to Stratford-upon-Avon get Shakespeare. You can also take a day trip out to Bath and Stonehenge.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about some of the things to do in Edinburgh.
Mark Faldmo:So in Edinburgh I definitely do. Edinburgh Castle, and I think it's 12 noon they fire off a cannon, so you want to be there when they fire the cannon from Edinburgh Castle. And then right near Edinburgh Castle is a place called Mary King's Close, which I think we've also talked about. This Edinburgh is a city built on top of a city on top of a city. There are actually four levels of Edinburgh. Yes, okay, and so this goes down. They've left the buildings as they are and just built another city on top of it.
Mark Faldmo:So you can go down kind of explore, and they're not really catacombs, but you can go down kind of explore. I mean, they're not really catacombs, but you can go down and see how they lived back in the. I don't know when it was, I think it was the 1500s when that part was. You know? Another thing some day tours to do from Edinburgh. You can do a William Wallace Braveheart tour. Go out to the Scottish Highlands and see that history. A popular thing to do is the Harry Potter tour. So and that's a full day tour goes out to the Scottish Highlands, see a lot of the Harry Potter sites, but the highlight is the Jacobite train, which is the steam train that was on Harry Potter.
Patrick Wiscombe:Platform nine and three quarters. Yep Platform nine and three quarters.
Mark Faldmo:Yep. So me being the train lover, that's one thing on my bucket list that I have not done yet is that steam train through the Scottish?
Patrick Wiscombe:Islands. That surprises me. I thought you would have done that a few times by now.
Mark Faldmo:I think I should have too, but I haven't.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, I don't know about you, but that sounds spectacular. London just has always fascinated me, Paris has always fascinated me and it's the two places I have never gone. So that means I'm going to be calling you mark. Yeah, give me a call. Yeah, I know, call mark in his office. If you want to book the uh, the Globus tour, the nine days starting in London, or do an independent tour, just call Mark, he'll price it all out. He'll get everything set up. The one thing I will say about Mark take advantage of his knowledge. He knows everything about travel and if he doesn't know the answer, which is rare, he finds the answer for you. Call him in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.
Patrick Wiscombe:Coming up in the next segment, we've got the hot travel deal of the week. We've also got the cruise news of the week and we're going to do part two of the MSC Cruises interview that I did a little bit earlier last week with Laura Okonowski. I'm telling you, warm up the credit card, you're going to want to go to the Bahamas and their other destinations. That is next. The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo continues. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your Saturday morning. 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 and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Every time I hear this music, it always puts a smile on my face, smile in my heart, because that means we are going to Hawaii. This segment you are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. This is the hot travel deal of the week. Always in segment two of the show, we're going to detail a very, very awesome offer that's coming up in January 2025 here from Salt Lake City and, of course, we can always price it out from wherever you are listening to the show. But first let's get to the travel news of the week Now, in spite of the opening of the show, when we were talking about how busy the airport was, how many people was it was it 17 million?
Patrick Wiscombe:passengers 17 million man, that's a lot, but there is some good news. If you are looking for a travel deal for this fall, because, uh, it's being predicted that the demand for travel is going to soften up a little bit, is that what you're seeing from?
Mark Faldmo:your side, yeah, and a lot of the data is also showing that. After the pandemic there was this thing called revenge travel, where people are just traveling as much as they could Late. Last year we started seeing that plateauing and now June July showed a slowdown, especially for domestic travel, and this fall is down about 3% overall compared to last year for international and domestic is down about 8%. Oh really. And how that pans out is the average round-trip ticket now domestically is $240 round-trip and that is about 8% lower than it was last year. There's more seats, there's more hotel rooms, which is making prices come down, and so this fall, probably into the first quarter next year at least, we should see a lot better prices and we'll actually see that in our hot deal update of the week. I haven't seen prices like this in probably two years.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, wow, okay, We'll get to that here in just a second. That's the Hawaii deal, right? Yes, okay, there were some new details revealed about the Universal Helios, the Grand Hotel. What do we know about the new hotel?
Mark Faldmo:This new hotel, the Universal Helios Grand Hotel, will be the hotel that is attached to the new theme park Epic Universe, which is coming in 2025.
Mark Faldmo:But this hotel will be a 500-room hotel which will be co-owned and operated by Lowe's Hotels room hotel, which will be co-owned and operated by Lowe's Hotels, who also does a lot of the other Universal hotels in that Universal Orlando area. They are really trying to make this hotel an attraction in and of itself the lobby and guest rooms it's kind of a Mediterranean style and also astrologically inspired hotel which goes along with some of the areas of the new Epic Universe theme park. One thing that I think is unique as one of the suites is the how to Train your Dragon suite, which those that like that movie will probably love that suite, and then it also has its own entrance to that new theme park.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the hot travel deal of the week. Always in segment two, you can plan on us like clockwork. We are going to Hawaii. Let me just play the music again, only because it makes me happy and the deal that we are giving listeners this week is become one with Hawaii where you can get up to 550 off. Is that per person?
Mark Faldmo:that's per package, oh per package okay, that's per package, whether there's one, two or four or five on the package, but you do have to book.
Patrick Wiscombe:Book by September 26th.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, so this is with FunJet Vacations Book by September 26th up to $550 off packages that are paid in full. And that's the catch to this one is, when you book it, you have to pay in full in order to get that discount.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and it is for 2025. It is for travel next year, so for travel starting January 1st through the end of March. Some of the other things they're adding on is hotel savings up to 45% off. Fifth night free at some hotels. So this is a pretty rich offer and that $550 will kind of be tiered on the price of the package. So for the lower end hotels it could be $50, $75. The higher the price hotel, the more off you'll get. Yeah, the bigger the savings. The bigger the savings would be.
Patrick Wiscombe:What specifically are we offering this week and what hotels Do we have? What three, four hotels We've?
Mark Faldmo:got four hotels that I've chosen this time, and this is for a January 9th date. This is Roundtrip Airfare from Salt Lake City and Five Nights Hotel. Again, if you're from another city, we can call and check on the price. It includes Roundtrip Airfare from Salt Lake City and Five Nights Hotel. Is this Honolulu? Yeah, we're going to Honolulu. I was really surprised at these prices. The first hotel is called the Roamer Waikiki at the Ambassador. This is a four-star hotel. It includes fifth night free and also kids up to 16, I believe stay free. Wow, okay, yeah, and so for that time January 9th, five nights the price is $869 per person based on double occupancy.
Patrick Wiscombe:Does that include the airfare? I think it does. It does.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and you know that some of the softening that we talked about at the beginning of this segment yeah, when we were just a few weeks ago when we looked at Honolulu, we were above $1,000 per person. Yeah, for a three-star hotel. This is a four-star hotel.
Patrick Wiscombe:That is significant, especially with the round-trip airfare, that's a big deal.
Mark Faldmo:And that hotel is set off from the beach. Fair, that's a big deal. And that hotel is set off from the beach. It's about three blocks off of the beach, but it's kind of has the fort duress a in front of it, so there's a park there and then you can just walk through the park to get to the beach in Waikiki, in Waikiki or if you have siri, because you will use siri.
Patrick Wiscombe:there it's waikiki, waikiki.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, okay, what other hotels? And then another hotel. It's called the Twin Fin Hotel. This is a four-star hotel. If you've traveled there in the past, you may have heard of the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel. Yeah, this is now the Twin Fin Hotel. They have new management. But this one is right across the street from the beach and it starts at $999 per person, and again that's the airfare and Five Nights Hotel. Wow. And then another four-star Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach from $1069 per person. We've talked about this one before because it is across the street from the beach. It's also across from the Outrigger Waikiki that has dukes in it.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, it is a beautiful hotel, this Hyatt Regency Wow.
Mark Faldmo:And then moving up to four and a half star hotels. We've got two of those on the list. We've got the Alohalani Resort Waikiki, four and a half star from $1199 per person. And then my favorite hotel, the Hilton Hawaiian Village, four and a half star from $1299 per person. And then my favorite hotel, the Hilton Hawaiian Village, four and a half star from $1299 per person. Now, the last time we looked at this that was nearly $2,000. That's what I thought, and this is also for January 9th.
Mark Faldmo:This is the start of the peak season for us, especially in the Salt Lake area where we've got snow and cold. Everyone wants to get out. This is a great deal. Actually, any of these hotels I'd stay at, I would lean towards the Hilton Hawaiian Village. I like that because you kind of feel like you're on an out island, which is another island of Hawaii, because that's kind of isolated, so you don't get all the hustle and bustle of Waikiki. But if you want it, that hustle and bustle is there to go shopping, all the restaurants, everything is there. But it is kind of more of a laid-back hotel at the Hilton Hawaiian.
Patrick Wiscombe:Village. Yeah, and it's right on the beach. So Nikki and I did we stay in the Rainbow Tower. I think we did.
Mark Faldmo:You did.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yes, that was a spectacular hotel. If you've always wanted to go to Hawaii, just go do it. Quit talking about it. Just go do it. Warm up the credit card, go. You get the initial sticker shock of like I'm sorry, it's how much. Once you get there and you have the experience, you just go. You know that was worth every penny. Go to Hawaii. I love Hawaii. Love, love, love, love, Hawaii. Call mark in his office at the break right now if you would 888. Obviously you don't need to book anything right now, but if you just want to get the conversation started, call him during the break 888-771-7888 718-7717. Or you can also go to blueplanetvacations. com one more time on the phone number 888-718-7717. When we come back, it is the infamous cruise deal of the week. You are listening to the inside travel talk podcast and radio show Alongside Mark Faldmo. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. He and I will be right back.
Show Voice:You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700. That's 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. We'll be right back.
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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:This is 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 now here are your hosts Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Segment number three of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Mark and I hope you are having an absolutely terrific morning. It's been great. Yes, our newest affiliate, radio affiliate here in Salt Lake City radio station KKAT in Salt Lake City, am 860. Our thanks to Tom Spangler for getting this on the air and anyone else who contributed to it. Tom's the only person, or the only name, that I've heard so far, so that's why I'm singling him out.
Patrick Wiscombe:If you can't catch the show live on Saturday morning at 11 o'clock, between 11 am and noon, we also have an encore presentation of the show on Sunday morning, where Mark and I aren't live. It's just a rebroadcast of what we're talking about right now. That takes place Sunday morning at 11 am to noon. Is that right? I think that's right, correct. Yes, okay, but if you can't catch the show live in any of the cities in which we air, you can go to insidetraveltalk. com and subscribe to the podcast. We're on all of the major podcast platforms. We've already talked about the trip to London and Scotland and last segment we talked about the awesome pricing and I do mean awesome pricing to Honolulu in January of 2025. Take advantage of those offers by calling Mark in his office, 888-718-7717. And we'll give the phone number again throughout the show.
Patrick Wiscombe:This is the infamous Just Cruising segment. We're going to do a twofer this week. Normally we just have one Just Cruising segment, but we are going to do the Just Cruising segment just because NCL has some really great cruising promotions right now that we want to talk about. And then in the next segment we'll talk about the MSC Cruises Labor Day sale that they're extending for a while and you'll want to warm up your credit card. But let's get to the cruise news of the week. The liquid rules and I'm talking about the three ounce rules are changing at some European airports. What do we know about that?
Mark Faldmo:This, we're actually going backwards. A few weeks ago we talked about some new scanners where in Europe at least in the UK you no longer needed to pull your liquids out. You could keep them in your bag. These are in a few of the European Union airports, but now they are going to go backwards. Some airports are going to have to go back to x-ray scanners until they get the go-ahead for these new scanners. There have been some glitches in the scanner, so now you'll have to take your liquids out, your laptops out, or they're hoping not to do that. There are a few airports that have struggled to put these new units in because they are so heavy. They have to go in and reinforce the floor in order to put the x-ray scanners in their facilities. So until some of these kinks get worked out, you're going to have to stick with the old 3-1-1 rule.
Patrick Wiscombe:Princess Cruises is raising its crew appreciation fee. Now my first question is what is a crew appreciation fee and why am I paying it, and how much is it raising in this particular case? As Princess calls it a crew appreciation fee and why am I paying it and how much is it raising in this particular case? As Princess calls it.
Mark Faldmo:The crew appreciation fee is actually your gratuities that you would pay to your cabin steward, pay to your waiter, pay to your assistant waiter. Since most cruise lines now have some version of anytime dining, it's harder to pay these fees, and so now they just automatically add it to the bill at the end of your cruise. I mean, you can adjust it up or down based on the service that you received, but they do add it to your bill. For passengers booked in suites, it will go up to $19 per person per day, that is up $1. And in inside, outside balcony mini suites, it will increase from $16 to $17.
Patrick Wiscombe:If you haven't cruised before. Normally I'm just kind of annoyed by any increase, but I really kind of want to give kudos to especially the cabin stewards and especially the servers, because they really do a great job. In fact, you know, here it is a year later. Less than a year later, Nenga was our cabin steward. I'm still talking about the guy. He did such a great job. These guys, they work hard and they do to make your room great every single day.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, they work hard and they they make your vacation better.
Patrick Wiscombe:They really do so.
Mark Faldmo:I enjoy interacting with my cabin steward with all of the restaurants. Heather and I had a really good restaurant waiter on our last princess cruise and we actually asked to go back and get assigned to her table for the whole rest of the cruise. Oh wow, you know, and so they really do make a better vacation.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the cruise deal of the week. This is cruise deal of the week number one of two. Let's just keep it to Norwegian Cruise Lines. This is a terrific promotion from NCL. Let's share it with listeners.
Mark Faldmo:So this one is booked by September 13th with NCL or Norwegian Cruise Line and what they are offering is 70% off the second guest Wow. So basically it's 35% off per person If you look at it that way. Free airfare for the second guest, basically buy one, get one free on airfare and they do have some pretty good airfare rates across the country and across the world. A free beverage package, free specialty dining package, free shore excursion credit and kids sail free or on other sailings from $9 plus taxes.
Patrick Wiscombe:They must have some vacancy that they got to fill real quick.
Mark Faldmo:They are really pushing, especially for fall dates. This is a great option, wow, you know, I think if I had to choose one of those, the best one is the free airfare for the second guest. Oh yeah, we've looked at these in the past because they have this promotion every once in a while and you can get to Europe, sometimes for $500 or $600 a person, using this promotion.
Patrick Wiscombe:I've never heard them stack second guest free. Airfare, beverage, specialty dining, shore excursion credit, kids sale free. I've never heard them stack it quite like that. That is a phenomenal offer.
Mark Faldmo:One thing. How that works is if you're in a balcony and higher, you get all of those offers. If you're in an inside or outside, or a studio, which are cabins for single cruisers, you get to choose, I believe, two of those offers.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, is it anywhere in CL sales, or is it the Caribbean Alaska? What is it? It is anywhere CL sales, or is it the Caribbean Alaska? What is it?
Mark Faldmo:It is anywhere. Norwegian sales too. Now some of those like the free airfare, I believe you do have to book either 90 or 120 days prior, because then they start booking your airfare at that point. So once you're within a certain amount of time, you can't get the airfare offer. Caribbean cruise I looked again. We're looking in January, so you know when it's cold where we're at. So to get out of the cold, I looked at a round trip sailing from New Orleans that goes to Costa Maya, harvest Key, which is a private island just off of Belize, Roatan, which is an island in Honduras, Cozumel, and then back to New Orleans. That price starts.
Patrick Wiscombe:You going for a dramatic pause there, Mark.
Mark Faldmo:I am, yeah, just waiting for the prices to load. They're so good that I had a hard time loading them. So, for an inside cabin, the price is $820 per person. Again, this is January, the peak season, and then also, if you missed it a few weeks ago, cruise prices now include all of the required taxes. Yeah, so this price includes all of the required taxes, and then if you go up to a balcony cabin, it's $1,220 per person. As we always say, balcony cabin is worth it. Once you go balcony, it's hard to go back, although there are lots of people that the inside cabin is just fine for them.
Patrick Wiscombe:And they are nice.
Mark Faldmo:They are nice.
Patrick Wiscombe:If you're the kind of person that you're not going to stay in your room inside cabin is fine, but if you kind of want to relax in your own room and have a balcony, that's when it really pays off.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, what about Alaska? We're actually coming on about a year from when you went to Alaska. Yeah, Alaska, one of my favorite cruise destinations. I'm going to go kind of early season Alaska. So this is a May 3rd departure on Norwegian and its port sleeves round trip. Seattle goes to Sitka, which I really like that was kind of the Russian headquarters for Alaska when Russia owned the territory of Alaska. Goes to Juneau, glacier viewing and the cut arm icy straight point catch a can, which is a great place for fishing, if you like fishing, or to go into misty fjords and see the fjords. And then Victoria Canada, which is a great place to visit, and then ends in Seattle.
Patrick Wiscombe:Victoria. It's such a beautiful place. Alaska is a great place. The tagline of the company is explore your world, and I can't think of a better place to go explore the world than in Alaska. And, by the way, you dropped something on me that I've never heard that Russia actually owns Sitka. But that would also explain the name.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, Sitka, there's a Russian church there which is very fun to go in. Yeah, they owned that whole territory of Alaska before it was purchased, wow, okay. And then, after it was purchased, they found the gold, and so Russia wishes they didn't. They didn't sell it because of the golden oil that was there seems to be Russian yeah, and that one.
Mark Faldmo:we'll go over the prices quickly on that, because I know we're running out of time here Inside cabins starts at $1,023, and a balcony cabin starts at $1,654. Those are per person based on double occupancy.
Patrick Wiscombe:Book it. Call Mark in his office as soon as we get to the break here 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. When we come back more Just Cruising segment. This is a twofer. Thank you so much for listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show. Mark and I will be right back.
Show Voice:Explore your world. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700. That's 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. We'll be right back.
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Show Voice:This is the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by blueplanetvacations. com America's best travel advisors. Call the show right now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And now your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Fulton Moe.
Patrick Wiscombe:Final segment of this week's inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Mark and I want to thank you for tuning in, whether it's Saturday morning, whether it's Sunday morning or if you're listening to the podcast a little bit later. You can also podcast us on InsideTravelTalk. com and we're on all of the major podcast platforms. We are going to do a bonus edition of the Just Cruising segment. Normally it's just in the third segment.
Patrick Wiscombe:We have so much cruise news that we need to talk about Coming up in this segment. We're going to talk with Laura Okonowski of MSC Cruises and, like the last segment where NCL was giving 70% off, a second guest free airfare, etc. MSC Cruises has a killer promotion that they're extending beyond Labor Day, which is why we're still talking about it, and we'll get to the interview that I did a little bit earlier last week with MSC Cruises. Warm up, the credit card, gather everyone together. Hey, let's choose a destination and then let's go. This is a phenomenal deal. We'll talk about that coming up here in just a second. A couple of quick news stories and I mentioned this at the top of the show that Las Vegas now has a date for the demolition of the Tropicana, which needed to come down what's the date and the time on the demolition.
Mark Faldmo:So they're going to have a firework show the evening of October 8th to mark the end of the hotel, and then it is scheduled to be demolished at 2.30 am, so the middle of the night on October 9th, really 2.30 in the morning. Yeah, they're going to wake a lot of people up with that explosion. Oh yeah, they are. It does have some history. It was partially owned by Sammy Davis Jr at one point.
Patrick Wiscombe:I love that guy, that guy's so funny.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, it was part of a mob skimming operation in the 1970s, exposed by an FBI operation called Operation Straw man. It does have some of that classic Las Vegas history. It'll be sad to see it go, will it? Well, I have a good memory there and I think we've talked about this when they announced that they were going to tear it down. You could win money if you could beat the chicken playing tic-tac-toe, that's right Beat the chicken.
Mark Faldmo:You could never beat the chicken playing tic-tac-toe. That's right, beat the chicken, you could never beat the chicken.
Patrick Wiscombe:Playing tic-tac-toe is a pretty good tic-tac-toe player they're putting the Las Vegas a's meaning the Oakland A's. That's what they're putting in the play. So which, by the way, that ballpark? Just the renderings look amazing. Yeah, it looks pretty cool. Just a quick other news story united flight attendants have voted to strike is that official they voted.
Mark Faldmo:They can't officially strike until the end of a 30-day mandatory 30-day cooling off period. Their union has trademarked the term chaos, which stands for create havoc around our system, which means they are not going to announce when, where and how their employees will strike. They won't all strike at the same time, but no one's going to know what is happening or what is coming until it happens. Oh boy, so that could cause some chaos if you're a United flyer.
Patrick Wiscombe:Last week I did a two-part interview with MSC Cruises. Laura Okonowski is the business development manager. Mark and I invited her to come on the show to talk about their Labor Day cruise sale and I will just let her do all the speaking during this interview. But I will say that at the end of the interview just have your credit card ready. I remember it was about six, maybe nine months ago you and I, when you were on the show last, you had just made the announcement that, instead of having to fly all the way to the East Coast, to New York, Brooklyn, specifically Port Canaveral which, by the way just quick side story was June 23rd or June 24th we had actually come back to Port Canaveral and we saw a SpaceX launch which was just off the port side, excuse me, I'm sorry the starboard side of the ship, which was. I didn't even know that was going to happen. All of a sudden, there goes the rocket, right. Anyway, it was pretty spectacular and it was easily visible from the port. It was amazing. That was a special thing.
Laura Okanowski:That would be amazing. That's very much so. That's a once in a lifetime opportunity, right? To be, at the right place at the right time. When a rocket is being launched right next to the ship departing how cool is that.
Patrick Wiscombe:So you have Brooklyn, you have Port Canaveral, but the big announcement from six to nine months ago was that you're coming to Galveston, Texas. I think that is a huge development. When does that go live?
Laura Okanowski:That is starting November of 2025. So MSC Cruises will call on Galveston, we will call it home for the MSC Seascape and we are going to be offering year-round sailings to the Western Caribbean. So the itinerary that this will entail it'll be a seven-night round trip Leaving out of Galveston. The first two days on board will be days at sea so you can enjoy all the amenities of the beautiful ship, and then the first stop will be Costa Maya, Mexico, followed by Roatan, Honduras.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, wow Followed by Cozumel Mexico.
Laura Okanowski:Yeah, Cozumel Mexico is on day six, and then you'll have another day at sea before returning to Galveston, so this opportunity really opens things up for the country. If you will, I'm based in Arizona, as you know, and I understand it could be like an 18 to 16 hour drive, but Galveston is going to open up a drive market for a lot of different states and we are just over the moon excited about this. They actually broke ground last week, so MSC Cruises is partnering with the city of Galveston to transform. It is Pier 16, which used to be a former Del Monte pineapple banana terminal, and now what they're going to do is turn it into an exclusive MSC Cruises terminal. I was actually Patrick just in Dallas, Texas, yesterday and getting some feedback from local travel advisors and they are just as excited as everyone at MSC about this, so I want everyone listening to check out those itineraries beginning November of 2025.
Patrick Wiscombe:Is it just going to be the MSC Seascape, that particular ship?
Laura Okanowski:It will be. Yes, the MSC Seascape will call Galveston home for that duration, beginning November of 2025. But you know what? It is open for bookings and reservations right now. Oh, it is, yeah. So if people are planning that far in advance which people really are they are back to planning travel one year in advance and beyond. And that's really my best tip and best practice for guests who may be coming on board. They have a certain stateroom, they like a certain stateroom type, they want to be mid-ship. Best pricing is usually always an advantage, too, to booking early, so this would be my best tip of the day for getting your bookings in at least a year in advance, if you're the type of individual that can make those forward-reaching plans. And how about the Swarovski crystal staircases throughout?
Mark Faldmo:the ship.
Patrick Wiscombe:Did you?
Laura Okanowski:get some photos of you and Nikki on those.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yes, I could not believe it was spectacular. In fact, she and I interrupted what appeared to be some kind of a I'll call it glamor shot, but it was really just for Instagram. Someone was just can we get through here please? And she goes oh, I'm so sorry, you know she moves out of the way and yeah, it was kind of funny.
Laura Okanowski:The influencer photo shoot. So it is a place where people like to congregate and gather and snap a few pics. For sure, the ships that we have at MSC Cruises, I mean they're they're all very unique in their design and that's one thing that we are really synonymous for is just the stunning lines of the vessels. So if someone is finding themselves, even overseas, in a port and they're, you know, looking over and wondering, wow, look at that beautiful ship. I've never seen a ship like that before. Nine and a half times out of 10, it's one of our ships, because they catch a lot of glimpses, they are very stylish, they're very contemporary and they have just a great feeling and flow on board.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, but one of the best embarkation and disembarkation processes I've ever been through. It was so organized and it was getting on and getting off. It can be a pain, but MSC had it down to a science. This is spectacular, and that was just getting on and off the ship.
Laura Okanowski:Thank you for mentioning that, Patrick, because you know the embarkation process really sets the tone for what's to come with a cruise and likewise you know, at the end of the trip, the disembarkation process, when everyone's ready, their suitcases are packed, sadly, they have to leave and go home. Suitcases are packed, sadly, they have to leave and go home. So to expedite perhaps 3,000 plus people who want to get off the ship at the same time, it is a logistic feat which they are able to conquer on board. The ship staff does a very good job of that to coordinate and make it as easy and seamless as possible.
Laura Okanowski:So I always say in any travel situation if it's on MSC cruises or going through an airport, or even simply you have your suitcases in the car and you're trying to get from home to airport to travel we all have to remember to pack our patience right. This is kind of the new theme as we embark on any travel journey is pack your patience, because you have to be ready for anything, you have to take things in great stride. But I do have to say that with MSC Cruises we try to make things as comfortable for our guests as possible and we are creating the lifetime memories for guests who come join us. So I hope that your listeners today will consider MSC Cruises and take a look at what Blue Planet Vacations is offering. You know, if you get in touch with our friends at Blue Planet Vacations, they will make your travel process as easy as possible and take care of all the logistics from A to B for you, or A to Z, rather, a B right to Z.
Patrick Wiscombe:Mark has no idea I'm going to say this. His wealth of knowledge about traveling will benefit everyone. It's helped me enormously when booking travels. As we finish up, let's recap the Labor Day promotions that you have going on.
Laura Okanowski:I really want to emphasize that this Labor Day sale that's going on right now. It is a wonderful opportunity for guests to book the lowest prices of the season, starting at as little as $229 per person. Now that includes your accommodation, your three meals plus plus plus and your entertainment. Plus on Select Voyage is kids sale free. So for your listeners in the audience who have kiddos and you know we do have complimentary kids programs on board they're going to want to check this out. So now is the best time to discover, I really think, the beauty of cruising and enjoy our world-class cuisine, pop-notch entertainment, captivating shore excursions and explore possible destinations such as the Caribbean, the Bahamas, the Mediterranean, northern Europe and the Far East.
Patrick Wiscombe:In addition to that promotion, can I just say one thing about the pizza Best pizza I've ever tasted in my entire life?
Laura Okanowski:We make a lot of things on board from scratch, including the pizza crust, the dough, our breads. We grind our own beans for coffee. We make our own chocolate on board. So there's a lot of extras that we do to really bring just more of a refined experience to our guests. It's not bread out of a bag, it's not coffee syrup that turns into coffee in your cup, right, it's fresh ground beans. It's roasted. The beans are even roasted on board. It's chocolate that is made by chocolatiers by hand on board. It hasn't been shipped across the oceans first and, and you know, been freezed and then thawed. I mean, everything we do on board really is to bring the freshest opportunity to our guests and make it a lasting experience.
Patrick Wiscombe:To book your vacation, call Mark in his office. His number is 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. My thanks to Laura Okonowski. It's good to talk to you again.
Laura Okanowski:Thank you, Patrick. Always wonderful to be with you.
Patrick Wiscombe:Book your vacation. Call Mark. Always wonderful to be with you. Book your vacation. Call mark in his office as soon as we get off the air 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. We've gone to London. We've gone to Scotland, we've been to Hawaii, Honolulu. Specifically, we've got two cruise deals one from from NCL 70% off the second guest free airfare. For a second guest free beverage package free specialty dining free shore excursion credit, kids sale free, or $99. Unbelievable. That's going to the Caribbean and Alaska. And of course, we've got all of the promotions from MSC Cruises themselves. Just call Mark. The only thing we need you to do 888-718-7717. Mark, have a terrific week and everyone who's listening. Explore your world. Live your life intentionally. Live your life deliberately. Today's a good day for a good day. Have a great week. We'll talk to you next Saturday. That's it.
Show Voice: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. That's 888-718-7717. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.