Inside Travel Talk
Explore Your World! The Inside Travel Talk Podcast is filled with destination information and travel, cruise and vacation tips and tricks. Its the Christmas catalogue of Travel! We are here to help you get out there and Explore Your World.
Inside Travel Talk
Jet Set Journeys and Expedition Cruise Adventures
Ready for a rollercoaster ride of travel insights and laughs? Imagine being pranked at Sydney Airport with a hilarious sign by Specsavers—our episode kicks off with this funny tale. Then, we dive into a serious debate brewing in Paris over the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower. Hear firsthand the conflicting views between the Paris mayor and Gustav Eiffel’s descendants. Plus, get the scoop on Delta Airlines’ record-setting transatlantic expansion for 2025, connecting more U.S. cities to European destinations, and why Delta’s new codeshare agreement with SAS will make your Scandinavian trips a breeze.
What’s on the horizon for international travelers? Discover the UK's new electronic travel authorization requirements for US and Canadian visitors starting January 8, 2025, and rejoice as Hawaiian Airlines rolls out free Starlink Wi-Fi on long-haul flights. Learn about Southwest Airlines’ innovative move towards assigned seating and celebrate the return of the Polynesian Cultural Center's water show in Oahu. Don't miss our hot travel deal to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with unbeatable discounts on all-inclusive packages for early 2025.
Cruise enthusiasts, this one’s for you! From Disney Cruise Lines’ new passport policy to Norwegian Cruise Line's game-changing "More at Sea" program, we’ve got essential tips and updates. Explore our top Caribbean shore excursions, including the serene bamboo rafting in Jamaica and the thrilling cave tubing in Belize City. And if expedition cruises are your thing, get excited about Windstar Cruises' luxury sailings in the South Pacific and learn about top expedition lines like HX and Viking that guarantee bucket-list experiences. Tune in for all these incredible travel insights 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 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:Ah, good morning. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo will join me here in just a second. If you are new to the show, the entire purpose of this show is to help you plan and book your next vacation. Whether it's one of the vacations that we're going to talk about the show today, or a vacation that you want to go on and just need assistance, some guidance and what to do, you have found the right show.
Patrick Wiscombe:This is a fun show. It's all about travel. You can get the podcast of this show at insidetraveltTalk. com or wherever you get your podcasts, and if you're in the Salt Lake City area, we are also on the air right now, obviously, because you're listening to us every Saturday and Sunday morning at 11 am Mountain Time and we are presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Mark is the owner of the company Coming up on today's show. Oh boy, what do you do if you're traveling during hurricane season? What are the rules and regulations that apply to you? That is a question that we've been getting all week long, really last week as well. We're also going to head to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta specifically, and we're also going to be talking about cruises in the Caribbean that is coming up in this hour of the Inside Travel Talk podcast, our radio show. Let me introduce to everyone my friend and owner of blueplanetvacations. com, mark Faldmo. Let's get to the travel news of the week. I saw this story. It was some kind of an airport prank that was in Sydney. What was that about?
Mark Faldmo:It's a welcome to Melbourne sign hanging right on the main escalator when you're coming down to the baggage claim area. What it is? It's actually an advertisement. It's for a company called Specsavers, which is a eyeglass group, and so it has big welcome to Melbourne. And then do you need to check your glasses?
Patrick Wiscombe:That is pretty funny. I saw that the mayor of Paris plans to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower. I think that's a great move.
Mark Faldmo:It is. They want to kind of memorialize the Olympics. Now there are some dissenters. The family of Gustav Eiffel, who built the tower, has expressed their displeasure in keeping the Olympic rings on there.
Patrick Wiscombe:I can see their point as well. Maybe you keep it up for a year, maybe one or two years, and then go ahead and bring them down Looking at the pictures of it.
Mark Faldmo:with the rings on there, I think it fits perfect.
Patrick Wiscombe:Delta plans a record transatlantic expansion starting next summer. So what is that 2025?
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and this is exciting. It opens up more of the world to traveling especially for those of us in Salt Lake with Delta. So here are some of the new routes that they're going to be adding Boston to Milan, Minneapolis to Rome, Atlanta to Naples and New York and Sicily are some of the routes, and then other new routes Detroit to Dublin, Atlanta to Brussels, Boston to Barcelona, and then they're also going to expand service, so add more daily flights between Atlanta and Athens, Rome, Barcelona and Zurich, all between Atlanta, and then also add more flights between Detroit and Munich. So overall, Delta will operate more than 700 weekly flights to 33 European destinations.
Patrick Wiscombe:That is impressive. Delta and SAS sign a co-chair agreement. Now, my first thought when I saw the story is what's a co-chair agreement?
Mark Faldmo:A co-chair agreement is basically when airlines cooperate together. You might book a flight, let's say, salt Lake City to Copenhagen, Denmark. We're gonna use SAS. Since that's part of this, SAS just recently announced service from Seattle to Copenhagen, so now you can fly all on one ticket. So you might fly on Delta Salt Lake City to Seattle and then switch to SAS Airlines Seattle to Copenhagen, but your ticket will say it's all either on Delta Airlines or all either on SAS Airlines. As we've talked about in the past, when SAS joins SkyTeam, this is really going to open up Scandinavia to Delta flyers.
Patrick Wiscombe:I think it will also be less confusing because then you just open up the app, whatever app you're using, delta, SAS and all your information is there. So you don't have to go between the apps.
Mark Faldmo:It also makes it easy for those redeeming frequent flyer miles. Codeshares have pros and cons. I think generally, this is a good move.
Patrick Wiscombe:There's a gentleman by the name of Jim. He's asking well, since you're talking about hurricanes, should I even plan on going on a trip to the Caribbean? That's generally Bahamas, Caribbean, that's generally where most of the hurricanes happen for us here in the United States. But should he plan a trip during hurricane season? And I think that we should just talk about this because the Hurricane Helene has just been dominating the news- First of all, when is hurricane season?
Mark Faldmo:Hurricane season is June 1st to November 30th. There are outliers before and after, but September is the most active month. If you're concerned about traveling during hurricane season, maybe avoid September. You know I've traveled to Mexico and the Caribbean during September before I've run into some tropical storms. The challenges of traveling during hurricane season your trip could get canceled, it could get cut short, it could be modified. If you're on a cruise, they'll change the itinerary around and you could get stuck in the destination. So that's some of the challenges to consider when traveling during hurricane season, especially the month of September. But there are some benefits of traveling during hurricane season Lower prices, there's more availability of deals and there's also less people traveling, so there are fewer crowds.
Patrick Wiscombe:If you're the kind of person that can be flexible on this kind of stuff, now's the time to go.
Mark Faldmo:It is. I've done most of my traveling to Cancun and Mexico in September and October. I've been in some tropical storms. I've been in one hurricane. Luckily the hurricane was a category two so it wasn't too big but there are some considerations when doing that. Let's give listeners what?
Patrick Wiscombe:six tips, seven tips.
Mark Faldmo:Here are the tips that I would. Some of these are for travel in general, but especially when traveling during hurricane season. The number one tip is purchase travel insurance that will cover hurricanes, and also purchase the insurance when you purchase your trip. If you wait until there's a named storm, it will not cover you, so you have to purchase it when you purchase your trip.
Patrick Wiscombe:And it's really pretty inexpensive too.
Mark Faldmo:It is yeah. And also don't assume that the travel insurance that comes with your credit cards will cover that. A lot of them will not cover hurricane insurance or the coverage is not sufficient for what you need. Number two travel tip is don't assume you can cancel your trip because of a hurricane. You know airlines and hotels may let you reschedule, but without insurance you won't get your money back in most cases. Number three is know what your travel insurance will cover. Some of them have limits as far as what they'll cover per day If your trip is delayed or if you need extra hotel nights. There are some limits, so know what your insurance will cover. Number four I think this is a big one is stay informed. The best resource is the National Hurricane Center, and you can just Google National Hurricane Center or the web address is nhc. noaa. gov. Currently right now, as we're recording this show, it shows there's a tropical storm named Kirk out there and a disturbance.
Patrick Wiscombe:When I looked at this In the Caribbean right now.
Mark Faldmo:In the Caribbean. When I looked at this yesterday, there were actually six different places of disturbance, so most of them have gone away. What I like about this is it shows tropical disturbances and their percentage of forming into a tropical storm. It'll show tropical depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes. And you can look at the Atlantic, the Eastern Pacific, which is the West Coast of Mexico, or the Central Pacific, which would cover Hawaii. Yeah, so it's a very good resource.
Mark Faldmo:And the number six tip is plan for some disruption during your vacation. If there's a storm in your vicinity and you won't always take a direct hit, but you might be on the outskirts of storms make sure and pack extra medicine. I usually always pack at least a week's worth of medicine. I pack snacks those have to be non-perishable, sealed snacks and have the power bricks to charge your electronics. Make sure they're charged before the storm hits so you can have things, so you can charge your tablets and phones. And then I always download some entertainment, some movies, tv shows to watch. Download some entertainment, some movies, tv shows to watch. If the power's out, if the internet's out, it's nice to be able to just watch movies during that. And then the number six tip is be flexible, know that your vacation could experience bad weather or severe weather, and just approach that trip with the proper mindset, positive attitude and make all the difference in having a good trip. Embrace the unexpected and enjoy the adventure.
Patrick Wiscombe:Those are all good suggestions and Mark knows what he's talking about because he has traveled over four and a half million miles, or nearly four and a half billion miles. He's been on over 150 cruises. He knows what he's talking about. So if you need help planning your vacation, call him in his office. He's open Monday through Friday, standard business hours. His number is 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. When we come back, we've got the hot travel deal of the week. Regardless of the destination. We are going to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta specifically, we've got some killer deals. If you want to go to Mexico, that is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. My name is 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. 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:It is such a beautiful Saturday morning. There's just something about this time of year. We talked about going to see all of the colors, all the foliage around the country. Last week we were talking about the Rocky Mountaineer. Go, look at all the trees and how they're changing. Mount Timpanogos really the whole Wasatch Front is just a blaze in color. It is absolutely spectacular outside. Coming up in this segment of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show, let me just remind listeners, if you are new to the show, the entire purpose of this show is to help you plan and book your next vacation and in this segment we've got the hot travel deal of the week, regardless of the destination. This week we are headed to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta specifically, but before we get there we've got the quick hit travel news headlines. I saw that Delta has unveiled the first ever flights from Salt Lake City to Seoul, south Korea.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, so this is exciting news for those of us in Salt Lake City. It opens up the whole Asia market. Delta does have a co-chair agreement with Korean Air, so you'll be able to take the Delta flight to Seoul and then connect just as if you're flying on South Korea, to anywhere in Asia that Korean Air flies to. That flight is going to start June 12th of 2025. It's just under 6,000 miles from Salt Lake to Seoul.
Patrick Wiscombe:It's funny you should say that and you had no idea I was going to say this, but I just hit 6,000 miles on my bike, so I can say, in terms of miles, that I've ridden my bike from Salt Lake City to Seoul.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, yes.
Patrick Wiscombe:The UK has set dates for launch of electronic travel authorization visa requirements for the United States and Canada. What else do we know about that?
Mark Faldmo:They have announced they're going to have this. This is for people that are part of the visa waiver countries, which the US and Canada are. You're not going to have to get a visa, but you do have to go online and refill out and get pre-approved to travel to the UK and the cost will be about $10. So this starts on January 8th 2025. If you are traveling to the UK on or after January 8th 2025, you will need to go to their site, put in all of your information and pay the $10 or so per person to be able to get authorization to travel to the UK.
Patrick Wiscombe:Hawaiian Airlines is now offering free Starlink which, by the way, hats off to Elon Musk for coming up with Starlink Wi-Fi to serve countries but in this particular case, Hawaiian Airlines is now offering free Starlink Wi-Fi on most flights.
Mark Faldmo:So this is on all of their long-haul flights. So it does not include the inter-island flights, but those flights are like 10 minutes of flying time anyway. So well, 10 minutes of flying time above 10,000 feet, where they turn the Wi-Fi on all flights mainland to the US and some of their flights to Asia.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oahu's Polynesian Cultural Center, which Nikki and I were just there in March, has relaunched the water show.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, so I'm really excited about this. This is the canoe show, which was the world-famous canoe show, where all of the villages of the Polynesian Cultural Center would come out on canoes and do a little parade and dance and show off some of the things from their area of the world. This is something that went away with COVID. When I was there in November for Thanksgiving, we were talking to someone at the Polynesian Cultural Center and they just didn't have the people back to do the canoe show, and so I'm glad that this is finally back up and going, because it is a special part of visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center.
Patrick Wiscombe:Southwest Airlines says that they're going to take their time to implement assigned seating.
Mark Faldmo:They are going to start retrofitting the planes in the middle part of next year, but they're not going to sell them. So this means that you can use their old boarding system and you could get the extra room seats. They're not going to start actually selling the seats until the first half of 2026. They'll have most of their fleet outfitted with the extra legroom seats, but you won't be able to start purchasing them until 2026. And those will just be on a first come, first serve basis until they start selling them.
Patrick Wiscombe:The new redesign of Southwest Airlines on some of their planes. Visually pretty amazing, Looks good.
Mark Faldmo:It is. Yeah, I'm probably not going to be as big of a fan of this new seating. I have my little quirks about Southwest, where I like to sit and how I like to board. I think the seating was one thing that made Southwest different and a little bit special. It should help them attract more of the business travelers, the kind of higher revenue travelers. So it's probably overall good for Southwest. I personally don't like it.
Patrick Wiscombe:It is time for the hot travel deal of the week, always in segment number two of the show, and we are going to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta specifically.
Mark Faldmo:So first we have a little bit of news here. A few weeks ago we talked about save up to $550. Oh, that's right. Vacations to Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean yes, when you pay your vacation in full. For 2025 trips, that promotion has been extended until October 24th, so they've given us about another month of this promotion, the details of this travel between January 1st and December 15th 2025, which that's been extended because previously it was only traveled to the middle of June.
Mark Faldmo:So now they've extended it out through the whole year of 2025. You pay in full at the time of booking to get the discount and it is valid for Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, Costa Rica.
Patrick Wiscombe:I want to talk specifically about the different areas of Puerto Vallarta and where to stay. What do you recommend?
Mark Faldmo:In Puerto Vallarta there are several different areas to stay. There's the downtown area, there's the hotel zone, there's the marina area, there's also what they call the south zone and then there's Riviera Narita, which is the north area of Puerto Vallarta. If you're going from the airport as kind of your major landmark, the closest area is the marina area and then the hotel zone and then it kind of branches out from there. Personally, I like to stay in the downtown or kind of the southern end of the hotel zone if it's my personal travel. Or I like the south zone because there's not as much down there, so the hotels are a little bit more spread out, a little bit less people.
Patrick Wiscombe:What hotels are participating in the hot travel deal of the week?
Mark Faldmo:Five Nights Air round trip. Air from Salt Lake City Other cities are available I will just have to check the price on that Five Nights Hotel and then transportation between the airport and the hotel. These are all inclusive hotels, so literally you could just pay these prices and be done with it, and not spend another dime if you didn't want to. These deals are all departing January 8th 2025. They're per person, based on double occupancy, and they also include all of the taxes and fees, so they include the total end price of the trip.
Mark Faldmo:What's the first hotel? So the first hotel is the Rio Jalisco. It's a four-star hotel and that price starts at $1,019 per person. I really like the location of it. It's kind of in the Riviera Narita area Not really because it's not technically on that side of the border between the state of Jalisco and Narita, but it's right up there, really good, located closer to the airport, and a hotel that I really like is called the Grand Park Royale Luxury Hotel. It's a four-star hotel, and now this one is in the south zone.
Mark Faldmo:This one is about 30, 40 minutes South of the airport, but it's kind of located on its own little Bay and so you have a really good beach you don't have a lot of other people around. That one starts at $1,049 per person. So 30 bucks more per person. 30 bucks more, I think, for a better location. But then these last two, I think, are some of my favorite hotels, just like I say, almost everything is my favorite. I think that's funny. But the Buena Ventura Grand Hotel, which is a four-star hotel, and this one is very close to downtown. This is, I think, probably one of the best located if you're looking for that culture of Puerto Vallarta, to get down to the Malecon, to experience all of that, and it starts at $1219 per person. And then the Fiesta Americana Puerto Vallarta, which is a four and a half star hotel. It also starts at $1219 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe:It also starts at $1219 per person, and that is in the hotel zone, which is the. Again, the hotel zone is the area between the marina area and the downtown area. You love Puerto Vallarta. You've said that for years. What was the?
Mark Faldmo:hotel that you stayed at just in. Was that April? Yeah, in April. Now that was the Villa Premier. Oh, that's right Again, that's a five-star small boutique hotel. It's actually right next to the Buena Ventura Grand that we talked about. Okay, yeah. That sounds familiar, so that's another one.
Patrick Wiscombe:I didn't include that because I was trying to get hotels in the different areas that we talked about, but that's another one to consider the Villa Premier Boutique Hotel. If you are interested in booking a trip to Mexico, call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. You just can't go wrong with Mexico, especially when it's all inclusive. It includes all the food, the transportation, round trip, air, five nights hotel. Call them 888-718-7717. When we come back, we've got the infamous cruise deal of the week and this time we are headed to Jamaica, the Eastern Caribbean. That is next when the inside travel talk podcast, a radio show, continues alongside Mark Faldmo. My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
Show Voice:we will be right back 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.
Ad Voice:This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by Star Clippers. Imagine yourself on the deck of a timelessly elegant clipper ship a warm breeze blowing softly. As the captain and his crew unfurl the sails above you. You begin to tingle from head to toe as you sail into the sunset to tomorrow's next hidden cove. Years, star Clippers has offered unique, authentic tall ship sailing experiences, featuring creative itineraries throughout the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Central America. Itineraries are handcrafted based on wind patterns to enable these majestic ships to take advantage of the power of the wind. To book your unique Star Clipper sailing adventure, contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or blueplanetvacations. com.
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:All aboard. This is the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. You are just joining the show. This is the infamous Just Cruising segment where it's only about cruising In the cruise news of the week coming up, only about cruising. In the Cruise News of the Week Coming up, we are going to talk about a seven-day Eastern Caribbean and a seven-day Western Caribbean. We'll explain the destinations coming up here in this segment, but before we do, let's get to the Travel News of the Week. Travel news of the week. I saw that Disney Cruise Lines is no longer accepting photocopies of guest birth certificates. I think the headline there is what you were still accepting photocopies of birth certificates.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, yeah, this actually surprised me. The last 15 years or so, I don't think I've ever told anyone they could use a photocopy of a birth certificate to get on to a cruise ship. Yeah, never a passport. If you have a passport, or if you're going on a cruise, get a passport, because if you have to fly home from a foreign port, something happens. Your birth certificate won't cut it. You'll have to wait until you can get a passport or an emergency passport to get home.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, this is a big deal and that could be a friendly country. We're not even talking about Europe, we're talking about Canada. We're talking about Mexico. Yeah.
Mark Faldmo:Countries right at our border. I didn't even know photocopy of your birth certificate was allowed. But what the official rule is. As long as you're a round trip sailing departing from the same US port, you can use a passport to travel. For instance, if you left from Miami but came back to Fort Lauderdale you would need a passport, but if you do roundtrip Miami, you can just use your birth certificate. Just use a passport. If you don't have one, get one for emergency purposes, if nothing else.
Patrick Wiscombe:Carnival Cruise Lines has issued a clarity over food restrictions in port. What is that about?
Mark Faldmo:This has always been a rule since I've cruised. I've taken a lot of cruises and you've never been able to take off rolls, meat, cheese, fresh fruits. You can take off some sealed snacks.
Patrick Wiscombe:Are you talking from the ship into the port city?
Mark Faldmo:Into the port.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, and the same thing getting back on.
Mark Faldmo:You can't take food back on the ship, and I guess this was in response to a Facebook post that kind of went viral. Here's the exact words of the person I was victimized on my carnival cruise. Oh boy, it's pretty normal to grab a few rolls and some meat, cheeses, fruit cookie to take off the boat when you're in port. I was putting this into a plastic container when the worker told me I could not do it. He took the food and threw it away. You've never been able to take that type of stuff off of the ship. Now, some people may have put it in backpacks and snuck it off, but legally you're not allowed especially fresh fruits and vegetables, because they have certain insects in them and stuff that the other countries don't want spreading in their country. So it's pretty normal to not be able to take that off.
Patrick Wiscombe:So don't be surprised if your food gets taken Correct. Port Canaveral a great port city, by the way, in Florida has backed off plans for a new cruise terminal. Man, they were all gung-ho and now it's off.
Mark Faldmo:They announced this a few weeks ago. It was mainly going to be used as a pier to help support the space industry there, but it was going to double as a cruise ship pier, and so the cruise port commissioner says we're just going to have to go back to the drawing board. They're full. Fort Everglades and Fort Lauderdale is full. Miami is full, so ships are going elsewhere. So they were really hoping to get this extra cruise terminal. Plans are off for now.
Patrick Wiscombe:I saw this promotion from NCL that it is changing its free at sea to more at sea.
Mark Faldmo:For the contemporary cruise lines. It was kind of a game changer, kind of a revolutionary thing in the industry where they were making their cruises basically more all-inclusive. The new Morrissey provides an enhanced beverage package and there's no limit. It used to be up to $15 per drink but now there's no limit. Enhanced specialty dining, which, based on the length of your cruise, it's actually giving you more nights that you can choose to use the specialty dining. And Enhanced Wi-Fi is giving you more free minutes. And all of their ships are now converted to Starlink. That's a good change. The program still does keep the free shore excursion credits. Third and fourth guests sell for free or a discounted rate and the free airfare for the second guest. There we go. One thing that I actually like about this now is if you don't want the unlimited bar, you can now choose to take that off and they'll actually give you a credit back on that portion of your accrued.
Patrick Wiscombe:This person's name sounds familiar because I think we've talked about Debbie before. She sent you a text earlier this week and she wants to take a Caribbean cruise, but wants to choose an itinerary that has the best shore excursions. And basically her question is Mark, help me, what are your favorite excursions?
Mark Faldmo:My number one shore excursion in the Caribbean is from Belize City and that's Lamani Archaeological Site. I like this one because you take a speedboat up a river for about an hour and then you get to this huge pyramid that's just out in the middle of the jungle and every time I've been there there's not very many people, oh wow. So it's really interesting to get to and then you have a nice lunch prepared there and then you take the speedboat back. The next one and we've talked about this one before is in Jamaica. I love the bamboo rafting. I like the calmness of that activity, where you just get on and you have a local driver on the rafts and you just have a conversation with them as you float down the river and he points you out points of interest, tells you about the local flora and fauna. It's a relaxing activity. I really like that one.
Mark Faldmo:My number three short excursion is in St Thomas and it's to actually take the ferry over to st john and either do a drive around the island or snorkel. Trunk Bay is one of the most gorgeous beaches and bays, I think, in all of the world. Number four excursion is back in Belize City, which is cave tubing. All over the Yucatan Peninsula. There's cenotes and underground caves and this is one where you go cave tubing in Belize City, wow. Number five shore excursion is in the port of Tortola and it's actually to take a ferry or a boat over to the smaller island of Virgin Gorda, one of the most beautiful settings you'll be for water. I kind of pictured this as all the really nice super yachts pulling up to these beaches, anchoring and having a little beach bay to themselves. That's what I felt like when I was in this, going to Virgin Gorda.
Mark Faldmo:And then number six excursion Cayman Islands, stingray City and we've talked about that one where you go out and swim with the stingrays. Tell that to Steve Irwin. Yes, I'm sorry, that's terrible. And then number seven is in St Martin. This is a place, not really an excursion. I like to go over to Maho Beach and the Sunset Beach Bar. This is the beach that's right under the runway of the International Airport. Okay, so planes literally fly like. The end of the runway is probably 50 feet from the start of the beach yeah, that looks horrifying, but I would do it.
Patrick Wiscombe:At least I don't think I would do it the beach bar.
Mark Faldmo:You can just sit there. I just get a good meal, watch the planes come in, watch people get blown over.
Mark Faldmo:People stand behind the planes as they're taking off and get blown over. Not smart people stand behind the planes as they're taking off and get blown over. My number eight short excursion is in the port of Costa Maya, or Mahual, which is Chochcoban, which is an archaeological site combined with the Seven Color Lagoon. It's a lagoon that has seven shades of blue. You can kayak there or just relax on the side of the lagoon and have a nice meal.
Patrick Wiscombe:This will be the cruise deal of the week. Let's start with the Western Caribbean. Let's start with the NCL Miami. What day is that and how much is it?
Mark Faldmo:This one is Western Caribbean. It does include two of the ports that we mentioned above. It includes Costa Maya and Belize City. It's those two ports that have my favorite excursions in. This is a January 25th sailing and the inside price starts at $788 per person and again, this includes all taxes and fees. That's the end price of the cruise and then obviously plus airfare, if you want to do airfare Balcony, and I think this is a great price for that middle of the cruise. And then obviously plus airfare if you want to do airfare Balcony, and I think this is a great price for that middle of the winter Balcony cabin $1,068 per person for the cruise. Again includes all taxes and fees.
Mark Faldmo:What about the Eastern Caribbean? Yep, so in the Eastern Caribbean, this is a January 11th date and this is also on Norwegian Cruise Line. That's, on the Norwegian Epic Leaves from Port Canaveral and it includes Portola and St Thomas. So again, two of the ports we just talked about Also includes Porta Plata in the Dominican Republic and their private island in the Bahamas. That one starts at $839 per person and a balcony cabin starts at $1219 per person. Those are great prices and you?
Patrick Wiscombe:know what you're talking about because you've done over 150 cruises. So when we talk about the cruise deal of the week, chances are that either one of us, but mostly Mark, has been on one of these cruises.
Patrick Wiscombe:You cannot go wrong going to the Caribbean. You've never seen so many shades of blue in your life. It's just amazing To book one of those vacations. Call Mark in his office. He's open Monday through Friday, 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. It is hard to believe that we're already to the end of the show. We'll take one more break. When we come back, we've got Mark's travel tips and we'll wrap up and we'll summarize everything that we've talked about for the past hour. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your Saturday and Sunday mornings. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. He is Mark Faldmo. We 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:America's best travel advisors. Call the show right now. 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And now your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Sometimes I think I have the greatest job in the world alongside Mark Faldmo. This show is only about travel Places to go, great prices to go experience the world. Mark is the owner of BluePlanetVacations. com, he's the sponsor of the show and I am his humble sidekick that gets to travel with him from time to time. Mark and I have known each other for a few years now and he's honestly, not only a good person, but he's really become a great friend.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, it's been good these last few years, as we, as we've been doing the show. Yeah, you're right, talk about travel or traveling it's fun.
Patrick Wiscombe:It is a great job, it's fun, yeah you are listening to the inside travel talk podcast or radio show. He is mark faldmo. My name is patrick wiskam. Coming up in this final segment of this week's show we've got mark's travel tips and, uh, we're going to kind of extend the infamous just cruising segment and we're going to talk about expedition cruises and how they differ from regular cruises. I guess you can kind of figure it out, but there's some really cool niche niche I can't say that with a straight face cruise lines and we'll get to that here in just a second. But as we start this, the final segment of this week's show, we've got some quick hit travel news headlines and cafe pacific has banned a couple over a reclining seat issue. Was this the one that was making the headlines on Instagram a little bit earlier?
Mark Faldmo:It was. It garnered lots of views on social media. This comes back to airplane etiquette. So basically, someone was harassed for putting their seat back and you can do that. Yeah, you know, it escalated so much that the airline had to ban the aggressors in that which were the people harassing the person.
Patrick Wiscombe:Putting the seat back. That reclined their seat. Yeah, he was kicking the seat.
Mark Faldmo:We've had segments before on airplane etiquette when I think of reclining the seats if the flight is less than three hours, personally I don't recline the seat. If it's longer than three hours, I recline the seat if needed, but those seats don't recline a seat. If it's longer than three hours, I recline the seat if needed, but those seats don't recline a whole lot. It doesn't take a whole lot of your space if the person in front of you reclines the seat.
Patrick Wiscombe:Ponant Transatlantic Voyage reaches the North Pole of Inaccessibility. My question is what is the North Pole of Inaccessibility?
Mark Faldmo:The North Pole of Inaccessibility is a sailor's measurement. It's the point in the Arctic Ocean where pack ice is the furthest from any landmass.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, so we're talking about ice.
Mark Faldmo:So this cruise is the first, and here's what I learned. There are three different North Poles. There's the magnetic North Pole Okay. There's the magnetic North Pole Okay. There's the true North Pole Yep. And there's this North Pole of inaccessibility, and this ship, in mid-September, was the first cruise line to visit all three North Poles.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, I think the headline there is huh, there's three North poles.
Mark Faldmo:Yep, and this story kind of goes along with the expedition cruises that we're going to be talking about. These are the type of experiences that you get on expedition cruises.
Patrick Wiscombe:So we've learned that there's three North poles on this show. That feels like a trivia question. Windstar Cruises is expanding South Pacific presence to Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands.
Mark Faldmo:Windstar is typically known for their tall sailing ships, but they have purchased some luxury yachts and they have one that has been sailing in Tahiti, and now they are introducing new itineraries to lots of other places in the South Pacific, including Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands. They're introducing also two more seven-night cruise that goes to the Tuamotu Islands and an 11-night Marquesas Islands itinerary. This Windstar is more of a luxury product to get to some of those fairly less traveled places in the world and in the South Pacific.
Patrick Wiscombe:One of the reasons I travel is for the stories that you get to share with people, because that's what really essentially what we do every week. We get to share the journal of our travels More so you than me, because you're on the road way more than I am. I think the challenge that people have is getting the word out that these kinds of experiences even exist.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, there are so many interesting, fun and wonderful things to see in the world. A lot of these companies are making them more accessible to us but, like you said, getting the word out Also for some of these, that might be getting over a little bit of sticker shock for some people, but they are wonderful travel experiences and if they're within your budget, there is. We'll learn in just a minute when we talk more about the expedition cruises. There's lots of opportunities out there.
Patrick Wiscombe:Actually, let's just segue into it. Expedition cruises are, from what I read are, the fastest growing segments of the cruise industry. So let's just start kind of basic here. What are expedition cruises, expedition- cruises are smaller ships.
Mark Faldmo:They go to unique, harder to get to regions of the world. Most of the expedition cruises are in the polar regions, Arctic or Antarctic, but they also go to places like Galapagos Islands. They're mainly just unique cruises that go to very interesting places.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about the reasons to take an expedition cruise.
Mark Faldmo:They go to bucket list destinations or experiences. You're cruising on smaller ships with fewer guests. You know some of these expedition cruises have maybe 40 guests on them. Wow, Expedition cruises are also the best way to experience some of the most pristine and natural areas of the world. And the main reason explore the unknown, Go to places that very few people get to visit. That's the reason to take an expedition cruise.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about the expedition cruise lines specifically and where they go or what they focus on.
Mark Faldmo:There's probably about 20 expedition cruise lines operating in the world today. I've kind of narrowed down to my top favorite five cruises. The first one we're going to talk about is HX, and we've talked about HX before on the show. They're a Norwegian company. They mainly focus on the polar regions, you know, Arctic and Antarctic. They're very good If you're looking to that Norway, Iceland, Greenland. A unique thing about them is they have that Northern Lights guarantee certain times of the year If you've never seen the Northern Lights.
Patrick Wiscombe:Just go do it. It's one of those things that you can't. It is special, it is, it's moving, it stirs the soul when you do it. It's one of those things that you can't. It is special, it is, it's moving, it stirs the soul. When you see it, you realize how insignificant you are when you see the majesty of the heavens.
Mark Faldmo:Especially if you're on some of these Arctic cruises where you're out in the middle of the Arctic Ocean and see the Northern Lights just away from anything. I think that's an experience I personally would want to have.
Mark Faldmo:Is Viking part of this. Yes, Viking has an expedition division. They actually have two expedition ships. Their expedition ships sail again the Arctic regions, South America, the Great Lakes. That they do, I think, one of the most interesting itineraries they have. They have a couple of cruises that are called longitudinal world cruises. So rather than going around the world from east to west, they do it.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh really, south to north, north to south.
Mark Faldmo:South to north or north to south? Oh, really, south to north, north to south, south to north or north to south? Oh wow, when I was looking at this, you tell me what sticks out for you on this cruise. Longitudinal world cruise Buenos Aires to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's incredible. Those are two port cities that I don't normally put together. Something a little closer to home would be the Baja cruises, meaning Baja, Mexico. That's incredible. Those are two port cities that I don't normally put together.
Mark Faldmo:Something a little closer to home would be the Baja Cruises, meaning Baja Mexico. So this cruise line is Lindblad Cruise Line and National Geographic. They have some pretty unique cruises in Baja. They have anything from five to 11 day cruises that sail in that area and they have whale intense cruises. They go up into Magdalena Bay, which is on the west coast of the Baja Peninsula, there, which is just whale watching heaven, and so you know, on National Geographic they're smaller ships and with that name of National Geographic they're very nature-focused cruises. Another expedition cruise line is Atlas Ocean Voyages. Now, this is a luxury cruise line. They have basically ice-breaking yachts. They have custom-designed inflatable zodiac rafts so they can land you on Antarctica and land you on really inaccessible places. Atlas ocean voyages are relatively new.
Patrick Wiscombe:They started in 2019, oh, but they're a wonderful company let's talk about Alaska here for a second. There's a company that does that the company that does Alaska.
Mark Faldmo:They do Alaska in the summer and then they do Hawaii and Central America in the winter, but they are called UnCruise and I think they are probably the best way to see Alaska if you're looking for that unique experience. They're a locally owned company in Alaska. Un Cruise is their name because they don't like to be associated with the big mega cruise lines that go there. They have much smaller cruise ships. Most of them leave from like Juneau area, so you're flying to Juneau. They have kayaking at glaciers, they have historians on board, they have naturalists on board.
Patrick Wiscombe:They really get you immersed into Alaska I cannot oversell how great Alaska was one of my favorite, one of my favorite cruises how many times have you been to Alaska?
Mark Faldmo:probably 15 or 20, somewhere in there.
Patrick Wiscombe:If we have whet your appetite to go to Mexico, to go to the eastern or western part of the Caribbean with the deals that we've talked about, Puerto Vallarta, call Mark in his office. He knows his stuff. He's traveled nearly 4.5 million miles, over 150 cruises. He has seen the planet. It's your turn now to go explore the world. Call him in his office. He's open Monday through Friday 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.
Patrick Wiscombe:If you have missed any part of the show, you can listen to the podcast on insidetraveltalk. com or wherever you get your podcasts. We are on all of the major podcast platforms. Just do a search for Inside Travel Talk. And while you're at it, may I ask you to subscribe to the show and leave us a five-star review. It really does help us get traction with the podcast platform. So I'll just thank you in advance. Now it's your turn. Get out, explore the world while you can, because you never know what curve balls life is going to throw at you. Live your life deliberately, live your life intentionally and just remember today is a good day for a good day. Have a great week. We'll talk to you again next week.
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. Thank you.