Inside Travel Talk
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Inside Travel Talk
Travel Triumphs: Thanksgiving Tactics, Luxurious Fiji, and Small Ship Alaska Cruises
What if you could navigate the Thanksgiving travel frenzy like a pro? Learn the secrets to a stress-free journey as we unpack the chaos expected at airports, particularly in Salt Lake City. Delve into the record-breaking travel trends, with coveted destinations like Florida and Cancun taking the spotlight. Plus, stay informed on Spirit Airlines' bankruptcy and how to safeguard your travel plans with insurance. We've got the inside scoop on which airports to avoid and special perks that could make all the difference, including a parking promotion in Salt Lake City.
Switching from the hustle of travel to the splendor of luxury, we explore the rising interest in Fiji and how Florence is tackling over-tourism. Discover exclusive deals like Rocky Mountaineer's Black Friday discounts on scenic rail adventures across North America. Hear about my recent visit to the El Dorado Royale in Cancun, and engage in a discussion on what defines luxury travel for you. From budget-friendly tips to maximize your high-end experiences to the most extraordinary journeys that won't break the bank, we've got ideas to inspire your next indulgent getaway.
Set sail on an Alaskan adventure with small ship cruises, where UnCruise, American Cruise Lines, and National Geographic Expeditions offer unforgettable experiences. Navigate through icy waters, explore charming fishing villages, and learn from onboard scientists as we lay out what each cruise line has to offer. Concluding with essential travel tips, we expose TSA PreCheck scams, outline new European travel requirements, and introduce Uber's latest airport options. Don't miss our advice on keeping your luggage safe with Apple AirTags, ensuring every part of your journey is as smooth as possible.
Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. On today's show we're going to talk about vacations to Fiji, Alaska's small ship cruising and let the Thanksgiving madness begin. Let's start the show. The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacation s. 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:Helping you plan your next vacation. This is the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call us now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700, and check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let the Thanksgiving travel madness begin. We will just simply say pack your patience, because it is going to be fairly chaotic as you travel out of Salt Lake City and regardless of where you're flying into, it is going to be complete madness. Thank you so much for allowing Mark and I to be part of your Saturday and Sunday mornings. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Mark will be here in just a second as he's running in to the studio.
Patrick Wiscombe:I want to thank you for taking the time to stop and listen and, if you're brand new to the show, the entire purpose of this radio show and podcast is to help you plan and book your next vacation and to help you create memories, not only for yourself but for your friends, your family. And if you have no idea where you would like to go, then our job is really, really simple and that is to give you ideas about where to go on vacation and great destinations to consider at a great price and a great value. You can get the podcast of this show at insidetraveltalk. com or wherever you get your podcasts, and if you're in the Salt Lake City area, we're also on the air every Saturday and Sunday morning at 11 am Mountain Time on 860 KKAT, and we are presented by Blue Planet Vacations Mark. It is time for the Thanksgiving travel madness to begin.
Mark Faldmo:It is. We've got some interesting stories about Thanksgiving travel coming up.
Patrick Wiscombe:You just got back from Cancun, literally last night. How are things going from Cancun into Salt Lake?
Mark Faldmo:Well, when I got in Salt Lake it actually was the easiest it's ever been. So of course it was. I was lucky I had been upgraded to first class. I was one of the first off the airplane, so when I went through customs it literally took me two minutes to get once I stepped off the airplane to get to the curb to catch a shuttle to the rental car company. But that's also the convenience of global entry.
Patrick Wiscombe:Two minutes that's amazing From plane to curbside. This isn't on the rundown, but only because you're mentioning two minutes from airplane to curbside to pick up Park Jet. Let's talk about the special offer we have for listeners who park at Park Jet.
Mark Faldmo:So if you're in the Salt Lake City area which we have the radio and a lot of podcast listeners in the Salt Lake area, we do have a special promotion Get 20% off parking at Park and Jet, which I think is the easiest and best offsite parking for the Salt Lake Airport. There's a coupon on blueplanetvacations. com. Just down at the bottom there's a Park n Jet logo. Click on that and it'll take you to all of that information to get 20% off the regular parking rates.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the travel dues headlines. Probably the biggest story of the week is Spirit Airlines filing for bankruptcy.
Mark Faldmo:We've been hinting at this for the past year. You could have seen these signs there. Frontier made a bid to buy Spirit, got outbid by JetBlue and then that was denied by the government. Since 2020, Spirit Airlines has lost $2.5 billion or nothing new. Probably every airline out there has filed for bankruptcy one, two, three, maybe four times. It's fairly common. Spirit is going to continue to operate as normal. They've cut back, depending on the market. Some markets up to 20% of flights, but what this means for the traveler you know. We always recommend getting travel insurance. So if you purchased travel insurance before they declared bankruptcy, then anything related to the insurance and the airline is covered. But now, since it's a known issue, travel insurance will not cover. Say, Spirit did decide just to quit operating. Travel insurance would not cover that if you purchase insurance now.
Patrick Wiscombe:This year's Thanksgiving travel is expected to break US records. That's why we're saying at the very top of the show just pack your patience if you're flying or driving really.
Mark Faldmo:AAA puts out its annual Thanksgiving projection report and they project this year nearly 80 million travelers are expected to hit the roads and the skies between November 26th and Monday, December 2nd. Compared to last year, that's 1.7 million more than traveled last year. In terms of the busiest domestic routes, Orlando, Miami, fort Lauderdale, Tampa are the top four, followed by Los Angeles and New York, so a lot of people wanting to go to Florida. Internationally, Budapest has had the highest demand over Thanksgiving. After Budapest, you have San Juan, Cancun and Punta Cana.
Patrick Wiscombe:In the Dominican Republic, All I'm hearing is warm weather, warm weather. Let's get out of here. Yes, what were the airports with the highest Thanksgiving wait times?
Mark Faldmo:last year. The airport with the longest wait time last year was Miami Airport. That had 54 minutes of average wait over the Thanksgiving holidays.
Patrick Wiscombe:Now when you say wait, wait, from what? Going through security to the gate, oh, security.
Mark Faldmo:To get through security. And then Los Angeles was number two at 53. New York was also right around 53. And then Seattle and Fort Lauderdale.
Patrick Wiscombe:Miami I get, but Fort Lauderdale I'm surprised how much traffic they get.
Mark Faldmo:They do. Some of those terminals are a little bit of a bottleneck so that can cause quite the wait, especially if you're there on a cruise day. Fort Lauderdale and Orlando had the most flight delays of any airport over Thanksgiving. Both of them, at or above 20% of the flights, were delayed out of those two airports over Thanksgiving last year.
Patrick Wiscombe:Always in segment one of the show, we talk about the destination of the week, and let's talk about more warm weather and the top four reasons to visit Fiji.
Mark Faldmo:The first is exploration or for the explorer. Fiji has been chosen for lots of shows and films you know, like Survivor and Castaway have been filmed there. For the explorer, there's lots of unspoiled rainforest. We've previously talked about the Sigatoka River, where you can take a jet boat up the river. Visit traditional Fijian village. There's jungle hikes, river rafting including. You can visit the extinct volcano which is in the middle of the main island of Viti Levu. The second reason you'd visit is, if you're a water lover, beautiful beaches in Fiji. It's also known as the soft coral reef of the world. So snorkeling and scuba, you know you can dive with bull sharks. They have a floating bar that's just floating out in the middle of the ocean.
Patrick Wiscombe:On my virgin pina colada, please, yes, so tasty.
Mark Faldmo:The next reason is for the romantics out there. Probably some of the best sunsets I've seen have been in Fiji. Just the relaxed beach lifestyle of Fiji if you want a romantic vacation. And the next is if you're a dreamer Again, as we've talked about sitting back on a beach reading a book, you just want to relax, stay on a de-stress. You can certainly find that in Fiji.
Patrick Wiscombe:So let's talk about special airfare promotion To go from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Fiji. How much is it?
Mark Faldmo:$799 per person round trip. How much is it? $799 per person round trip? I found actually some last minute like traveling in December that are lower than that, but their official advertised price is $799. And I found that in April and May when I was looking earlier today. Wow, you know. So if you want to go to Fiji, great airfare, my favorite hotel there Well, I have lots of favorite hotels there, but I like the Outrigger on the Coral Coast which is on the main island. Or if you want to kind of escape and get away off the main island, there's an island called Castaway Island in the Mamanuka Islands which is a small, I think 50 room kind of boutique hotel just out on an island.
Patrick Wiscombe:By itself, wonderful stay warm up the credit card, Patrick. Here you go, mark. The card number is call Mark in his office if you want to go to Fiji. 799 airfare from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Nandi, Fiji. And when is that? Did you say it was for April or May? April or May. Book it. Now, call him as we get off the air here in this first segment 888-718 7717, 888-718-771-7888. 718-771-7. Coming up in the next segment, we're going to have the hot travel deal of the week. We're going to be talking about Cancun, because Mark just got back from there and we have some special promotions that we want to share with listeners, and we're also going to talk about the top five travel trends for 2025. That is coming up when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your morning.
Show Voice:We will be right back If you have travel questions, they have the answers. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Call or text the show right now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700.
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Show Voice:You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700, and check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe:Serving travelers around the world. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. We have some of the best travel advisors including Mark, who is the owner of BluePlanetVacations. com that you will ever have, that you will get the assistance that you need planning and booking a vacation. Call him in his office 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And, if you are just joining the show, the entire purpose of this show is to help you plan and book your next vacation. And if you don't know where to go, our job is really very, very simple just give you ideas of where to go. Last segment, we talked about going to Fiji out of Los Angeles or San Francisco in April or May for $799 per person. That's just the airfare to get there, which is a phenomenal deal. I've never heard 800 bucks to Fiji ever. Okay, let's get to the travel news headlines. Let's start with the top five travel trends for 2025.
Mark Faldmo:This is kind of a compilation of different travel vendors and what they're seeing in their own internal reports. The number one that popped up baby boomers are spending the most money on travel. Trend number two is big changes in air seats will impact air fares. Several companies are reporting they're seeing air fares drop for flights between the East Coast, US and European destinations, especially the hubs like Paris, London, Amsterdam.
Patrick Wiscombe:Number three solo travel is becoming more mainstream, especially on cruise ships if you're just joining us, we're talking about the top five travel trends for next year, 2025.
Mark Faldmo:Number four is new and notable travel products. So a lot of companies are introducing new and unique types of trips. The main one is culinary, so food tours on cruise ships and on land, different types of safari camps. I just read the other day that in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington there's a tent hotel that's opening next year. What's number five? It's that Europe and Japan are still the hottest destinations out there. Really, interest in Japan has really increased. There's been a high demand for Japan. In my whole travel career probably sold six or seven things to Japan this year alone. I've sold that many. Oh wow. So lots of interest in Japan, yeah.
Patrick Wiscombe:And Florence in Italy is banning key boxes and tour guide loudspeakers. The loudspeakers I get the key boxes probably have something to do with Airbnb and them cracking down on it.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, as we talked about in the previous segment, Europe is a hot destination. Italy is amongst the hottest destinations in Europe, and cities like Florence are just having a hard time with over-tourism. They've put some bans on short-term rentals and now they're banning the key boxes that a lot of Airbnb owners use to get their tenants into those houses. They've had problems with those being taped and glued shut, vandalized and cut off, and so they are just banning those. And then, as you mentioned, loudspeakers I've seen those on occasion, but most tour groups have switched over to the whisper headsets, where you just have a little transmitting device that you wear in your piece and hear your tour guide talking.
Patrick Wiscombe:I love New York City. Times Square is loud by default, and so when those tour buses come through and they have the loudspeakers, now look over to the left and that's where the ball drops. I'm just like whoa, whoa man. It's already loud here and I can hear your tour.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah.
Patrick Wiscombe:One of the things that you did. I think it was late August, September timeframe. Rocky Mountaineer has just released that they're a train company. They've released their Black Friday deal. What are they promoting, so?
Mark Faldmo:their Black Friday deal is $2,000 off a six-night or longer Canadian route or off five-plus nights on the US route, the Rockies to Red Rocks route.
Patrick Wiscombe:Wait, hold on. You can actually go five nights on that thing.
Mark Faldmo:Or are they taking it a little bit further, east and west too, those, all include a rail segment which is either two or three days long, okay, and the others are a hotel type, or that they do so, like the one, the Red Rock to the Rockies, which is between Denver and Moab, Utah, has a two day train ride and then they have a tour like in Moab. That will you stay in Moab stay?
Mark Faldmo:a little bit there, and then they take you to Salt Lake or Las Vegas, then the same thing in the Canadian route. So again, up to $2,000 off, which is a pretty good offer for Rocky Mountaineer.
Patrick Wiscombe:I want to spell something out that's really important. You do not sleep on the train, correct? So when you pull into a city, you actually get off the train and usually it's very, very close. Sometimes it's right across the tracks where you stay in an actual hotel, not a motel, but a hotel, a hotel, that's nice. So if you're having visions of sleeping on a train, don't. It's much better. You get to enjoy the train during the day.
Mark Faldmo:So it leaves you time in the evening to explore the town that you're in. They usually end by dinnertime, and so you have. You know you have dinner in the intermediate city and then your hotel. It is a very nice experience. Yeah, you loved it, absolutely loved it. Yeah, I just need to go try the Canadian Rocky route now too.
Patrick Wiscombe:So me too, because then we could do that and then we could jump on a cruise ship with our wives. I think that would be terrific. That would be All right. Let's get to the hot travel deal of the week Mark is just getting back from Cancun literally last night and let's talk about the types of trips that our listeners can take if they go to Cancun.
Mark Faldmo:So I went and stayed at one of my favorite hotels, the Eldorado Royale, and it was with a group of travel agents and there was a lot of talk about what is luxury. Why is this considered luxury? Some agents had different opinions. Luxury is subjective, and so do you really have to do your research or again rely on a trusted travel advisor, because I consider the El Dorado Royale a luxury property. There were a few travel advisors there that said I don't think this is luxury and so you really have to look at that. There are some hotels that have a lot of bells and whistles, kind of sleek. What I like about the El Dorado Royale, and why I consider it luxury, is it's kind of authentic luxury. It does have amenities of a luxury hotel, but it also has laid back atmosphere. There are different types of luxury. When you see a hotel that say this is a luxury product, really look in or ask the questions what makes it luxury and does it conform to what I think luxury is? In Cancun there are several luxury hotels that probably are nicer than what the El Dorado Royale is, but I love the El Dorado Royale because it's so authentic in its culture and its grounds and how it's designed Great view, great landscaping.
Mark Faldmo:What is the deal of the week? This is again the El Dorado Resorts, and we've talked about this before, but I think it's a great thing. More inclusive, which is their concept. So with this more inclusive concept, you get free transportation between the airport and the hotel. You get free activities, included snorkeling at Maroma Beach. They have a ranch. You can go to an animal rescue place that they have at a ranch, with mainly horses, and then just their great food and atmosphere they have. So the more inclusive concept at El Dorado is the travel deal of the week, this week.
Patrick Wiscombe:If you've always wanted to go to Cancun and didn't know where to stay, mark is your man. How many times have you been there? If you had to guess A couple dozen, probably close to 40. All right, so almost four dozen times you really do love it there, I do.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, to book a Cancun vacation. This is the hot travel deal of the week. Call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717 and you can also go to blueplanetvacations. com. When we come back we've got more travel news that we need to get to, but it is the infamous Just Cruising segment. It's only about cruising and we've got some amazing prices and values to talk about. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thanks for listening. We will be right back.
Show Voice:They've literally traveled millions of miles to answer your travel related questions. Yeah, they really have. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. America's best travel advisors, Patrick and Mark, will be back after these messages.
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Patrick Wiscombe:Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show Coming up. In the next 30 minutes, mark and I will be talking about cruises to Alaska, not your typical cruises, a new Disney cruise out of Port Canaveral and yet another Black Friday sale of up to 50% off. Let's get back to the show. 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:Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com America's best travel advisors. Hit us up right now, 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe:All aboard for segment number three of the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show. This is the infamous just cruising segment of the show where we talk about only about cruises. That's coming up here in just a couple of moments, but before we do we need to get to the cruise news headlines of the week, and I saw mark that port Canaveral is welcoming a brand new Disney ship into port. I think it's called the Disney treasure, is that right? Yeah, it's the, the Disney Treasure.
Mark Faldmo:Is that right? Yeah, it's the Disney Treasure. It arrived earlier this month into Port Canaveral. Right now it's just doing some testing, some different things. It's maiden voyage out of Port Canaveral will be December 21st. It's going to sell seven-day cruises out of Port Canaveral. The maiden voyage is an Eastern Caribbean and I'm not sure if this ship is going to alternate Eastern Western. This will be the third ship there, so they have one ship doing the shorter three and four day and probably two ships doing seven day cruises. So, but I'm not sure if the ships alternate Eastern Western.
Patrick Wiscombe:HX has a Black Friday sale of up to 50% off all-inclusive expedition sailings. This is more of the adventurous type sailing. Let's tell listeners what they're offering.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, it is. So their Black Friday sale, as you mentioned, is 50% off all-inclusive expedition sailings. This could be to the Arctic, to the Antarctic sailings. This could be to the Arctic, to the Antarctic. Hurtigruten is probably my favorite expedition cruise. There's also their sister company. They're now two separate. So there is Hurtigruten, which does Norwegian coastal voyages, and then here we're talking about HX, which stands for Hurtigruten Expeditions. If you're looking to go on one of those kind of adventurous explorations, look at some of the things that HX has to offer, especially with this 50% off expedition sailings, the one thing I like, especially on their Antarctica. There are some cruise lines that say they go to Antarctica and they go cruise around for a day or two. With Hertig ruten you actually get to well, weather permitting, I should say you get to step foot on Antarctica. There we go, take the ExoDx over, then you get to do that.
Patrick Wiscombe:I would do that in a second.
Mark Faldmo:It would be amazing.
Patrick Wiscombe:I would make the argument that maybe people listening to the show don't even know. Most people think of cruising, as you know, just to hop on a big boat, but there are adventure cruises and that's what we're talking about here. So if you have a streak of doing what most people don't want to do, or don't do it all, HX is your company.
Mark Faldmo:They are. They also have some Northern Lights Expedition Cruises Iceland, Greenland, northern Norway so they have lots of good options out there for interesting itineraries.
Patrick Wiscombe:And if you've never seen the Northern Lights, it is worth seeing, and especially from a ship. That's where I saw them on the cruise to Alaska. It was spectacular. So you had the blackness of the sea, so obviously it's night and you just see these orange and green lights overhead. It was spectacular. So you had the blackness of the sea, so obviously it's night and you just see these orange and green lights overhead. It was spectacular. Just do it One of those things you would go. I'm so glad we did that. Yes, I've always wanted to ask this question and since this is the Just Cruising segment, let me just ask it here If there are itinerary changes on a cruise, what are cruise passengers owed for those itinerary changes?
Mark Faldmo:This depends on the cruise line's terms and conditions. Most cruise lines technically say that if they change a port time like I've got a lot of these changing from departing port at 5 pm moving up to 4 pm. Some have changed the order of the ports.
Patrick Wiscombe:Generally speaking, that's usually for weather-related reasons.
Mark Faldmo:For weather-related or Safety or safety or just berths. You know, sometimes ships do get double booked and so they do change ports around. To accommodate that. If this happens while you're sailing, even though they don't technically owe money back per the terms and conditions, a lot of cruise lines will give you an extra onboard credit. They will give you a partial refund of the day. In some cases they might give you a future cruise credit and they for sure, if you miss a port, they'll give you back the government taxes and fees that were paid. They didn't have to pay because they didn't go to that port. Oh, interesting.
Mark Faldmo:Now you know, I've had several ports like private islands in the Bahamas, for instance. I've had a lot of those canceled due to high winds. They just can't get in to those ports. It's just not safe to visit those ports. I've also had, for instance, in Cabo. The seas were just too rough. It's a tender port and it wasn't safe to operate the tender boat. So things like that can happen and the cruise lines do try and compensate you in some way, even though they're not obligated to. And then you know, for instance, there are some things like a Princess ship the end of October, 1st of November, had an engine issue and they actually had to cancel three weeks worth of cruises. Oh wow, because they couldn't get the engine issue resolved as they had hoped. And so in that case people got a full refund plus a 50% future cruise credit. So they basically got 150% worth of funds to purchase another cruise on that. But this case that we're talking about here, this is another reason to purchase travel insurance or travel protection.
Patrick Wiscombe:Who do you like to use for travel?
Mark Faldmo:insurance. Personally, I like TravelEx. A lot of people might purchase the cruise lines insurance in this case, which would cover this. However, it wouldn't have covered any airfare. If you're on one of these three sailings canceled, your cruise is covered, but what about the airfare that you have? That's non-refundable. That's a great point. You would get most airlines, depending on how you booked, you probably will get to reuse those funds at a future point, but insurance would cover any of that that you can't reuse. I recommend travel insurance on every trip.
Patrick Wiscombe:Because this is the infamous just cruising segment. Let's get to the cruise deal of the week, and you received a text a little bit earlier this week. Let me just give the text number it's 801-649-3700. That's how you get in touch with the show to ask your travel related questions. Mary wants to sail to Alaska, but sail on a small ship, not a big mega ship, she says. Is that an option? The answer is yes. Let's give her some choices here.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, so there are a couple of cruise lines that I think do a very good job in Alaska that are smaller ships. They all have kind of different unique flavors and fills of kind of what they're all about. You know, kind of like when we were talking earlier about the luxury, you know there's people conceive luxury as different, so these small ships have their own unique brand. For small ships, my favorite is UnCruise. They have several smaller ships that sail in Alaska. They range from 36 to 84 guests. Oh, small ships, they're very small ships. These are kind of like the expedition ships that we were just talking about previous with Hertig ruten. I would characterize UnCruise as an adventure cruise. They have several itineraries that range. Most of them are round trip Juneau, Alaska, but I think one of the unique cruises that they offer. They have an itinerary that it's a seven night cruise but it spends two full days inside exploring Glacier Bay. Oh, two days, Two days exploring Glacier Bay.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, hold on just a second, so can you get off the ship there.
Mark Faldmo:I believe you can. I believe they have some places where you can get off and do a few things in that Glacier Bay area. That's incredible. They have some hikes to the glacier some different things, some hikes to the glaciers some different things. So just looking at this itinerary, they do have prices starting at about $4,700 per person. These are a little bit more on the expensive side, but what you get with them and where you get to go are very much worth it. Oh yeah, that would have been fun to get off in Glacier Bay to go hike around.
Patrick Wiscombe:And again, this one, two full days in Glacier Bay, is very unique. Oh, oh yeah, that would have been fun to get off in Glacier Bay to go hike around.
Mark Faldmo:And again. This one, two full days in Glacier Bay, is very unique.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh yeah, most cruise ships are there. What? Three to four hours? That might even be a little bit long.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, the big cruise ships are usually there. Well, they're in Glacier Bay for about six hours, but really, the heart of Glacier Bay, you're only there for an hour or so. Yeah, yep To see. And then the next cruise line is American Cruise Lines. They're a little bit larger. Their ships are right about 170 guests. So you know about the size of your average river cruise ship.
Patrick Wiscombe:How many Did you say?
Mark Faldmo:170 guests. 170 guests, okay, yeah, and they have. You know, I just pulled out one of their itineraries that I thought was unique, which was Round Trip Juneau, and it was eight nights. One of the thing about these small ships are some of the places that they get to go. For instance, this one that I look goes to a place called Petersburg, Alaska, and it's kind of a Norwegian fisherman's type village. It retains the authentic charm of a Norwegian fishing village and so you do get to go to some of these places that the big ships just can't go to. Their deal actually is really good. It's free airfare plus up to $2,000 off per person on select cruises this eight-day cruise and again this one's a little bit more expensive than that UnCruise, but again a different kind of feeling of what you get. So their cruises start at just about $6,000 per person, but again that includes free airfare and that also includes the up to $2,000 off. Depending on the sailing, it really ranged from $1,000, $1,500, or 2,000 off on their Black Friday sale.
Patrick Wiscombe:This one interests me just because National Geographic is involved. Their ship sizes accommodate how many guests, generally speaking?
Mark Faldmo:They are 62 to 138. So still very small, yeah. And so this is National Geographic Expedition. This would be kind of similar to the UnCruise product, but with that National Geographic flair. On these ships they have scientists on board. It's kind of run like if you would watch a show on National Geographic about Alaska. So for mid-season, this is June and July departures. So for mid-season, this is June and July departures. So this just goes off to some of those small islands in Juneau Ketchikan type area and you explore these small islands and it starts at $7,800 per person. But those are for June and July dates.
Patrick Wiscombe:So peak season? Yeah, that is way peak season.
Mark Faldmo:I've actually had several customers go on the National Geographic expedition and they've booked it every year or every other year. They love the Alaska cruise on National Geographic. Those are my three picks for small ship cruising in Alaska. They all do a great job. They all have a little bit different flavor depending on what type of trip you're looking for.
Patrick Wiscombe:You just can't go wrong with Alaska period. Whether you go big ship, small ship, that's a decision that you're going to have to make, but Mark can help you with it because he's been there so many times, literally dozens of times, literally dozens of times. Call him in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. When we come back final segment of the show we're going to talk about the TSA warning about pre-check enrollment scams oh man, don't get caught up in one of those and we're also going to talk about going to Vietnam, and Mark is going to talk about a site called Sherpa. We'll tell you why. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. We will be right back.
Show Voice:Explore your world. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700.
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Show Voice:Contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or blueplanetvacations. com for more information. They'll help you plan and book your next vacation. Yeah, really, you're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And now here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Helping you get out and explore the world. That's the entire purpose of our radio show and podcast. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, mark Faldmo. He's running back into the studio again. He had to just print some stuff off for listeners. We're going to be talking about going to Vietnam using a website called Sherpa. We'll tell you why that's so important, but we also want to give you Mark's travel tips and talk about a new scam that TSA is warning travelers about. In fact, let's just go ahead and start there, mark. I guess I shouldn't. Just you shouldn't be running in from the printer. I'll give you a second to catch your breath here. I'm good Because I'm motioning to you through the glass. Hey, get in here. We're starting. Here we go. TSA is warning about a pre-check TSA pre, I'm assuming uh enrollment and renewal scam. If you are part of TSA pre, uh, listen up. Or you want to become part of it?
Mark Faldmo:listen up yeah, so they're just warning. There are several scams out there and fake websites. So TSA just wants everyone to know these three things about TSA PreCheck and how to spot a scam. First-time applicants you can only pay for TSA at an enrollment center. You cannot get TSA PreCheck online for the first time. You actually have to physically go to an enrollment center. Oh, so if there's any site out there saying apply for the first time and pay us. It's a scam.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, so it just really is that simple. Yeah, okay, so. I didn't have to do that. Now I did global entry, which includes TSA pre-check. Is TSA pre-check easier to get, generally speaking, than global entry?
Mark Faldmo:It is yeah, yeah, it's easier to get. You don't have to go through quite as many hoops as global entry.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, there was a lot of hoops for global entry, but now that I have it, it's like oh good.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, yeah. And then you know another scam is renewing. You can pay online and they are just warning that a lot of scammers create fake websites to mimic the official TSA webpage. So you know, make sure if you're paying that renewal, I'm global entry, I'm not TSA, but I believe there's a login. So you should just log into your account and pay that renewal. Don't pay it through a fake site. And then also they're saying a lot of the scammers use pressure tactics. TSA will never pressure you to complete your enrollment or renew quickly. So any communications like right away, last chance, anything like that, it is a scam site. Don't feel pressured into completing your enrollment or renewal.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about what to know about Europe's new travel authorizations. There's a whole bunch of acronyms here.
Mark Faldmo:There's three that we're mainly concerned with now. One is EES, which is European Union's Entry and Exit System. The other one is ETIAS, which is the European's entry authorization system, which is pre-travel. And then the United Kingdom also has an ETA, which is electronic travel authorization. This is a lot to unpack. The EES, the entry and exit system, is one. A few weeks ago we talked about that. They're delaying implementing that and it was going to be the foundation of their ETIAS system. Sorry about all of these acronyms, it's interesting but they're so. Both of those programs for European Union are kind of on hold until they can get it figured out and worked out. But the United Kingdom, their electronic authorization starts January 8th. So if you're traveling to the United Kingdom after January 8th, you do need to go on to their site, fill out an application, pay the small fee. Fill out an application, pay the small fee.
Patrick Wiscombe:I think it's about $10, equivalent of about $10, and they will approve you to enter the United Kingdom and you can help listeners with all of this right, we can help listeners with this.
Mark Faldmo:And then it's a lot, and I wish travel wasn't so complicated. There are things like this that just seem to make things more complicated. Yeah, but we can help walk you through all of that. What is needed to enter? In fact, that's what we're going to talk about a little bit later in this segment.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the new Uber options for people traveling from their house or wherever they are to the airport. One of my favorite options is the Uber XXL and the budget ride. I guess it depends on what your needs are From certain airports.
Mark Faldmo:Currently, there are 60 airports worldwide and 40 in the US that have this XXL option, which is a vehicle that will hold more luggage.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, it's basically think of like suburban size.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, of like suburban size. Yeah, and you know I've I've gotten an Uber with just one suitcase and sometimes it doesn't fit in that little car that showed up to pick me up, so, um. So it's good to know that you can order a car that hopefully will hold all of your luggage. And the other new option is the UberX Share, which is where you can share a ride from certain airports, which again, I think is a good option. It's currently available at 10 airports worldwide Austin, Denver, Newark, Washington, Dulles, Miami, New Orleans, San Francisco, Phoenix and Madrid airport. So I guess there's, they say, worldwide, but there's only one airport, I guess technically outside of the U?
Patrick Wiscombe:S. One of the favorite things that I have is now. I'm a huge Apple fan. One of the best products that they have is their Apple air tags, and so I want to talk about some of the best ways not to lose luggage.
Mark Faldmo:Right now on Amazon you can get a pack of four Apple AirTags for about $70. Oh, that is a discount.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's like 30% off.
Mark Faldmo:That is a 30% discount from the regular price. An Apple AirTag or a similar device. I think is well worth it. I actually have some practical experience in Cancun. This wasn't the trip that I just took, but had some clients on a trip. They arrived at the airport as a big group, so they're all getting on a bus. Outside of airports can be pretty hectic. They got to the hotel and their bags weren't on the bus. Oh boy. Luckily they had air tags and were able to follow that baggage to where it was at. Sometimes those bags are just put somewhere and there's no outreach trying to find the owner of that bag. Having something like an Apple air tag is a great way to keep tabs on your luggage.
Patrick Wiscombe:It's funny you were talking about this because just this morning I got a low battery alert for my luggage, and so I know where the luggage is, I know where the AirTag is, but this is the sound that you can trigger, anyway, so I've got to change the battery in it, and it also shows you on a map, if you're not familiar, right where you're since we're talking about luggage it tells you right where it is which is a great feature.
Mark Faldmo:Good little travel tip there to keep track of bags.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yes, you received. Was this a text or an email? I think it was an email. This was an email. Okay, jason is going to Vietnam and wants to know what is needed to enter the country. Well, I know that some of these resources are on blueplanetvacations. com, your website.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, so if you go to blueplanetvacations. com, down in the bottom footer there's a link to travel resources and one of those links is to travel requirements. It actually says country entry requirements and this will take you to a site called Sherpa, which I really like. You can go in and put in where you're departing, from, where you're going to, where you're connecting through, put in the dates of travel, and it will tell you all of the entry requirements for that country. Oh, wow, very helpful. He specifically asked about Vietnam. So this tells you you need a visa for Vietnam, gives you the choice of a single entry or a multiple entry visa, and then gives you links to the official government website where you can apply for those. It also tells you passport requirements.
Mark Faldmo:Vietnam does require your passport be valid at least six months from the time of entry, and then it'll tell you any health risks or requirements and any additional information about entering that country. And so this is a great resource and website to just go country by country and it'll walk you through the steps. It'll link you to official government pages. We were just talking earlier about the scams for TSA PreCheck. There are a lot of visa scams out there you want to make sure you go to an approved vendor or directly to the country's website to get your visa processed.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's some really helpful information. Mark BluePlanetVacations. com, Did you say it was down in the footer?
Mark Faldmo:In the footer and travel resources. Yeah.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, Sherpa, very, very helpful. Blueplanetvacations. com Just go right there If you want to take advantage of all of the deals that we've talked about, or some of them. Call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717, $799 per person airfare from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Fiji Go to Fiji. We've got the hot travel deal of the week. Mark has been there 40 times to Cancun and, of course, we've got the cruise deal of the week. Again, just call him in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. You can listen to us again tomorrow morning, Sunday, at 11 am, right here on 860 KKAT, and if you want or need to listen to the show again, you can download and subscribe to the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. Well, now it's your turn. Get out and explore the world while you can, because you never know what curveballs life is going to throw at you. Live your life deliberately, live your life intentionally and remember what you're not changing you are choosing. Thanks for listening. Have a great week. We'll talk to you next Saturday and Sunday mornings.
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.