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
Vibrant Escapes: Budapest Charm and Hidden Mexican Gems
Ready to transform your travel game? Join us on the Inside Travel Talk podcast as we explore Budapest's vibrant allure and unravel Delta Airlines' upcoming service class overhaul. Curious about the best time to explore Budapest or whether a river cruise is the way to go? We've got you covered. Plus, get the scoop on Disney's Hollywood Studios' exciting new plans to bring the Muppets into the mix with a family-friendly attraction replacing the Aerosmith-themed ride.
Cruise enthusiasts, prepare for a whirlwind of insider news! We'll break down the 2025 cruise rankings, highlighting how Viking and Disney are leading the charge in various categories, and delve into Norwegian Cruise Line's strategic Caribbean redeployment. For those craving sun-kissed adventures off the beaten path, discover Mexico's hidden gems like Huatulco and Oaxaca's unique culinary treasures. These spots promise an authentic escape from the well-trodden tourist trails.
Tired of cramped flights and airplane etiquette woes? We tackle these head-on with witty solutions to improve your in-flight experience, and even explore the peculiar trend of selling canned air as a quirky keepsake. Discover why a travel agent might just be your new best friend, offering invaluable insights and a personal touch to ensure your adventures are nothing short of extraordinary. Tune in for these travel tales and more with Mark Faldmo and Patrick Wiscombe!
Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. On today's show, mark and I are going to be talking about vacationing in Budapest, one of his favorite locations in the entire world A cruise ship that wants to take on Icon of the Seas If you haven't seen Icon of the Seas, that's a big ship and alternate beach destinations in Mexico. Let's start 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 are capacity controlled and subject to change without notice.
Show Voice:Explore your world. It's the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. And now here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:It must be the weekend. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Hello there, hope you're having a great weekend. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo will be here in just a minute. Thank you so much for taking the time to stop and listen to the radio show and the podcast, and if you are brand new to the show, and even if you are a long time listener, the entire purpose of our radio show is to help you plan and book your next vacation. And if you don't know where to go, mark and I are going to give you some ideas to consider, and one of those ideas is coming up in this segment. We're going to talk about vacationing in Budapest, but before we get there, let's get to the travel news headlines. Should we start with Delta? Let's do. I think this is an interesting story Delta Airlines is going to launch their new main cabin fare in 2025. What is this about?
Mark Faldmo:Delta wants to further segment their classes of service. Right now you have basic economy, main cabin, comfort plus and first class, and they have not laid out a start date on this. But they want to divide the coach into good, better, best. So they want to add a third tier, that's in between main cabin and comfort plus, and they also want to do the same thing in first class. They want to have basic first class and main first class in the coach seats. I can see that I don't know how it's going to work in the first class, but they do want to segment that because they want to try and actually sell more of the first class rather than upgrade their frequent flyers. So they're really trying to find ways to sell more seats.
Patrick Wiscombe:Does this minimize? I mean you have 4 million miles in the air. Are they trying to water down medallion members then?
Mark Faldmo:I don't think that's their intention. I've seen lots of talk on frequent flyer channels where they kind of feel like Delta really wants to sell everything rather than upgrade their loyal flyers and those loyal flyers spend lots of money on Delta. So we'll see how that goes by allowing people to purchase first class upgrades when they're checking in and things like that, if it's available. They've already watered down the first class upgrades for medallion members. They've in the last year they've been cut by nearly 50% the available seats for upgrades Wow. But it'll be interesting to see what they come up with for that good, better and best in the coach section.
Patrick Wiscombe:Like you said, the main cabin I get first class. There's only so many seats. I mean I'm sorry you're sitting a row behind somebody who's getting better service. I don't see that going well. I've got good news for you the Muppets, oh, hey ho. Hey, mark Kermit the Frog here, that's a pretty good voice. Anyway, the Muppets are going to have a new home at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Mark Faldmo:This is both good and bad news. So where Muppet Vision 3D was is going to close to make room for a new Monsters Inc themed area. This is in Florida. In Florida. This is good and bad news because the Muppets are going to replace one of my favorite rides, which is the Rocket and Roller Coaster, which is Aerosmith themed roller coaster, so that's going away. But it's going to be a Muppets roller coaster, so that'll be fun Much more tame. I can just see that roller coaster with loops and twists and turns and animal as they're driving the roller coaster.
Patrick Wiscombe:I do like animal, though. So no more love in an elevator.
Mark Faldmo:Correct. Yeah, I haven't been to Hollywood studios in quite a while, but I'm excited for that to go try that. It's one of my favorite roller coasters.
Patrick Wiscombe:It is time for our destination of the week and you received was this a text or an email? This was a text actually. Let me just give out the text number so people can get in touch with the show it's 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. So you can ask your specific travel related question. Philip is asking he wants to go to Budapest. Now. I just know by default, that's one of your favorite places on this entire planet.
Mark Faldmo:It is. I could talk about it for a long time. It's a great place to visit.
Patrick Wiscombe:His question is when is the best time to go and how many days should he plan? And should he do a river cruise or should he spend more time just in the city? What are your thoughts on that? I?
Mark Faldmo:guess it depends on how in-depth you want to actually get into Budapest. On a river cruise you can go in two to three days before with the river cruise, you know. Three to four days seeing Budapest or five to six nights in Budapest, I think would be plenty to see an experience of One of my favorite cities that has lots of influences from around the world. Budapest actually started as a Celtic village and it's been ruled and influenced by Romans, Mongolians, Ottomans, and so there's lots of history in the city. The best time to visit is in April or May and September, October. This is when the weather's a little bit more mild and the crowds are not quite as much. In the summertime Budapest can get pretty busy, especially when there's lots of river cruise traffic there.
Patrick Wiscombe:What places or what sites should he consider when going to Budapest?
Mark Faldmo:Budapest has several fascinating places to visit. Probably the most popular and also my favorite place is Castle Hill, up on a hill on the Buda side of the Danube River. It's home to Buda Castle, which was built in the year 1265. There's also Fisherman's Bastion, which was a fortification for the castle. A lot of people ask why is it called Fisherman's Bastion? That's because that was the section of the wall where they think the fishermen were in charge of the defense of the castle there.
Patrick Wiscombe:You also said something there about the Buddha side, and I'm not trying to be funny here. So is there a pest side?
Mark Faldmo:There is, oh there is it actually used to be two different cities and at times it was two different countries? Oh, I didn't know that.
Mark Faldmo:Divided by the Danube, and so that's why it's Budapest. It's just, it's a combination of the two sides of the Danube, oh really, okay. Also, as far as landmarks go, my favorite place on Castle Hill is Matthias Church. I think it's one of the most interesting buildings in Europe. It was first built in the year 1015. It's been destroyed and rebuilt several times, but one thing I find interesting is it was a really ornate church when the Ottomans took over. The Ottomans came and they destroyed a lot of the ornate churches, but in this one they didn't. They turned it into a mosque oh really and they simply plastered over everything. In theory, they preserved everything because they plastered over it. Some of the little chapels there. They just walled off and plastered it. No-transcript, All of those historic landmarks are just lit up.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, that would be spectacular.
Mark Faldmo:Visually it's fascinating. A lot of the river cruises will do that, although there's been some limitations. One of the most unique places it's called the House of Terror and it was the headquarters for the communist secret police in Budapest, so it goes over all of that communist history. Market Hall, which is a public market Public markets in Europe are just fascinating and interesting to visit, so that's definitely a place that you'll want to visit.
Patrick Wiscombe:What type of food do they have, generally speaking, in that public market?
Mark Faldmo:Well, there are several restaurants, but I like to go there to buy paprika and they have. You know, one level is kind of like the meat and fish market and then the upper level is like souvenirs, trinkets, things like that Some good Christmas shopping to be done there. The backpack I use for travel was purchased there. It's one of the best backpacks I've ever seen. So everything from food to clothes and souvenirs, trinkets is there. And when you're in Hungary, you've got to have Hungarian goulash Right on the Danube by the Intercontinental Hotel. Just behind that there's a sidewalk cafe. I like to sit out there, eat goulash and watch the river traffic and you're looking right across to the castle hill. So you have the castle, the Matthias Church, and when it's all lit up it's fascinating.
Patrick Wiscombe:Explain what goulash is, because it sounds not good. What is goulash?
Mark Faldmo:It's just like a stew kind of a mix between stew and chili. It's just got lots of paprika in it.
Patrick Wiscombe:There's the paprika connection there.
Mark Faldmo:Budapest is a wonderful place to visit. I would put that on anyone's bucket list if it were up to me to come up with their bucket list of travel destinations.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, that's going to do it for Budapest, then We'll take a break here. Philip, if you have more questions about Budapest, call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. You have made me single-handedly, mark, because of all of the conversations, not just this one. I do want to go to Budapest, for sure.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, we'll have to get there, We'll. We'll find a nice river cruise to go on.
Patrick Wiscombe:I'm fine with that Coming up in the next segment. We've got the hot travel deal of the week. We're going to talk about Viking and Disney cruise dominating the cruise line market and we're going to talk about alternate beach destinations in Mexico and, of course, we always have the hot travel deal of the week. That is next when the inside travel talk podcast, a radio show, continues. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you, really. Thank you so much for listening.
Show Voice:We will be right back 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.
Ad Voice:Inside Travel Talk is brought to you by Anna. Waterways, from castles and capitals to vistas and villages visit some of Europe's most remarkable sites and cities To set out on your own river cruise journey. Contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or blueplanetvacations. com dot com.
Show Voice:Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by Blue Planet Vacations dot com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show right now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Serving travelers here in the great state of Utah, but really around the world. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiska. Mark Faldmo will be back here in the studio here in just a minute. He went to go print some stuff off for the hot travel deal of the week and this is a good deal. You're going to want to stick around for this of the week and this is a good deal. You're going to want to stick around for this.
Patrick Wiscombe:If you want to listen to this show again, go to InsideTravelTalk. com to listen and subscribe to the podcast. We're on all of the major podcast platforms and, just on a personal note, thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. Really, Mark, and I don't take that lightly and we are sincerely grateful that you take the time and listen and that you download the show and that you subscribe to it. We're starting to see some real traction with the podcast and with the radio show. So I just want to let everyone know how grateful we are to you for listening, Coming up in this segment of the show. We've got the hot travel deal of the week. Mark is finally back in the studio. We're going to be talking about alternate beach destinations in Mexico, but before we do, let's talk about the travel news headlines. Here I saw this story Mark that Viking and Disney are dominating best cruise line.
Mark Faldmo:This is a ranking done by US News and World Report for the 2025 best cruise line rankings. There are five categories here that we'll go over, and this covers 18 cruise lines. Best cruise line for the money number one is Celebrity, number two was Virgin Voyages, number three was MSC, number four was Royal Caribbean and number five was Holland America.
Patrick Wiscombe:MSC. They are aggressive on their pricing and their ships are terrific.
Mark Faldmo:They are, and they've really climbed that list compared to where they were last year. In this category, virgin Voyages has held the top spot for best cruise line for the money, but this year it was Celebrity Cruise Line. The next one is Best Cruise Line for Families. No surprise here, Disney Cruise Line Best for Families, followed by Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Carnival and then Costa Costa. I find interesting because they've really never been high up on any rankings Right Interesting that they show up on this list.
Patrick Wiscombe:I know that this is literally probably 10 to 15 years ago at this point, but the first thing I think of about Costa is off the Mediterranean coast when it crashed or when it sunk. Yeah, terrible.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and then the next category best cruise line for couples Viking was number one Seabourn, celebrity, regent Seven Seas and Virgin Voyages. Personally, I would put Virgin Voyages a little bit higher up. Both Virgin and Viking are adult only, so there's no children on those. But I'd put Virgin Voyages a little bit higher on that list.
Patrick Wiscombe:One thing I learned was that Celebrity is the what the luxury brand of Royal Caribbean.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, and also they're part of the Royal Caribbean family.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, and then what was the other one? The Regent Seven Seas, I think, is the luxury brand or an upscale brand of Norwegian cruise lines NCL.
Mark Faldmo:Norwegian. Yeah, we'll just cover two more of these Best cruise line in the Caribbean Disney number one Celebrity, virgin Seabourn and Royal Caribbean. I agree with that.
Mark Faldmo:I probably actually would add Norwegian somewhere on that list because they do a good job in the Caribbean yeah, they do Best cruise line in the Mediterranean Viking Seabourn. Yeah, they do Best Cruise Line in the Mediterranean Viking Seabourn, celebrity, regent and Silversea. All of those, with the exception of Celebrity, are kind of in the luxury market and that's interesting actually that Celebrity has shown up on so many of these lists as well. The story is about Viking and Disney, but I'd also say Celebrity, and you actually have a celebrity cruise book coming up.
Patrick Wiscombe:We're taking off in March One of the favorite things that you have mentioned, but I saw online. We're going to Maho Beach, which is where the airplanes fly in about 20 feet over your head. We're talking about full on jets flying over your head.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I think when I was there a 7th 47 from Amsterdam landed. Oh boy, I don't think planes that big land there anymore. But it's interesting to be that close to those airplanes when they land.
Patrick Wiscombe:That would be terrifying to have that thing fly over your head, or? Just take off over your head, depending on the direction. NCL, Norwegian Cruise Line, has revealed their redeployment itineraries for three ships. What three ships and where are they going? These?
Mark Faldmo:are some of their smaller ships the Norwegian Jewel, the Norwegian Star and the Norwegian Dawn. One was originally scheduled to sail South America, one of them was in Asia and one of them, I think, was in the South Pacific. They are all being redeployed to the Caribbean there is huge demand for the Caribbean.
Mark Faldmo:I don't know what's going on. Yeah, it's quite amazing that they're going away from some of these higher revenue sailings, or they get a higher per person, but they just actually aren't selling as much. So the cruise lines have figured they can bring them back closer to home and sell them, probably at a lower per person, but they can sell more of them.
Patrick Wiscombe:If you want the best bang for your buck, go on a repositioning cruise, which is basically what this would be.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, yeah. So when they're bringing these, I'm sure there'll be some great repositioning cruises, and I'm actually going to look for that when we're after the show here and I will post them on the blueplanetvacations. com in the top five cruise deals on the website, so look for that and I'll post them there.
Patrick Wiscombe:This was a phone call that you received that George wants to go to Mexico, but not one of the main tourist areas. His specific question is what are some alternate beach destinations that are in Mexico? There's?
Mark Faldmo:I think, a lot of good options here for George, and we've actually noticed this as a trend and we've talked about this before People are looking for a little bit more authentic, less crowded destinations. So in Mexico there are three that I would choose two on the West Coast, one on the East Coast. The first one is Huatulco coast, one on the east coast. The first one is Huatulco. Huatulco is an area that has nine bays, 20 of some of the best beaches on the west coast of Mexico. It's located in Oaxaca and has, I think, some of the best food in Mexico. This is where mole is from.
Patrick Wiscombe:My son Brandon loves, mole loves it.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, so he would love Huatulco. When I was in Huatulco, one of my favorite things to try I don't know that I'd really do it again, but it was the mole-covered grasshoppers. That's one of the most famous things in Huatulco and Oaxaca that's what I would be doing Oaxaca. Yeah, but the mole covers it all up.
Patrick Wiscombe:I can't get past the crunch. I couldn't do it.
Mark Faldmo:So that's one place To get there from the US. You'd most likely connect through Mexico City to get to Huatulco. The next destination I'd recommend is Zihuantanejo Ixtapa area. It's two cities. Zihuantanejo is a little bit more of the traditional area. There are several hotels in Ixtapa, which is where most of the forests stay there, and Ixtapa interesting in the 1970s was a big coconut plantation. Oh really, lots of coconut trees I love coconut Fresh coconut.
Mark Faldmo:Wow, awesome, yes, yeah, very good. And Zihuantanejo kind of traditional Mexican fishing village. It's on a bay. I like walking around the town square and waterfront. There in Zihuantanejo, one of the main divers from Jacques Cousteau started a nature reserve on an island that's in the main bay. I think that's since been closed since I've been there, but an interesting thing to do if it is open. And then let's move over to the east coast of Mexico.
Mark Faldmo:I think one of the most unique places you can go to is an island called Holbox. You would fly to Cancun and then you drive about an hour and a half or two hours to a port and then you take about a 30 minute ferry ride to the island of Holbox. There are no cars there. All the taxis are golf carts. All of the hotels are smaller. I doubt there's a hotel that's over 50 rooms there, but there are some all-inclusives there. Holbox when I visited there I was just enamored by it. I want to go spend more time there. I guess there are some paved roads, but for the most part it's all dirt roads and golf carts to get around. Very nice beach, as it's on the Gulf of Mexico, so it's not on the Caribbean side, it's more in the Gulf of Mexico, part of the Yucatan Peninsula there, but fascinating way to get there and island to visit. If you don't want to do that long drive, there are helicopter transfers. You can, but those are quite expensive.
Patrick Wiscombe:That sounds even more delightful. Well, I guess that's the perfect way to lead into the hot travel deal of the week, always in segment number two of the show. What was the promotion that you gave, George?
Mark Faldmo:The promotion is with Funjet Vacations, who's one of our preferred suppliers at Blue Planet Vacations.
Mark Faldmo:They have Black Friday deals that are still going on, and one of them is save up to $650 if you pay your vacation in full at the time of booking. And then I did look at some vacation costs to the Zihuantanejo Ixtapa. So these prices are roundtrip airfare from Salt Lake City, five nights hotel and transfers. I looked fairly close in January 29th date. The flights on this were flying through Houston on United Airlines. Four-star hotel at the Sunscape All-Inclusive started at $1199 per person. Wow. Four-and-a-half star Azul Ixtapa Beach Resort started at $1399 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe:And that's coming up in about what 45 days from now.
Mark Faldmo:About 45 days from now if you want to go, and obviously you can go anytime you want, right, but this was kind of our typical midweek, about six weeks away, which is where we're finding the sweet spot right now in the good prices and to get to a destination like that. Ix tapa is kind of the hotel zone of Zihuantanejo, but compared to other hotel zones, there's like 10 hotels there, oh wow, maybe a little bit more than that, but it's not the 40, 50, 60 hotels that you see in other of the larger tourist destinations in Mexico.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's the deal that he took you up on, George. Yes, yep, George, well done. All right, we'll take a break here. Do what George did. Go to Mexico. Some of these alternate beach destinations Huatulco. You know what my Spanish is, not what it used to be. I'll just stop there. Go to Mexico. Call Mark in his office if you would please 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717 to book that vacation. And you can also go to blueplanetvacations. com. When we come back, it is time for the infamous Just Cruising segment. We'll be talking about MSC World America. This is the ship that is rivaling Icon of the Seas. Mark and I have some thoughts on Icon of the Seas. It is mind-blowing how big this ship is Unbelievable. We'll give you those details when we come back. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show alongside my good friend, mark Faldmo. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend.
Show Voice:We will be right back to be part of your weekend. 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.
Ad Voice:We'll be right back travel insurance plans can help protect you and your vacation. Travelex is known for their award-winning customer service and high claims paid rate. Contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or blueplanetvacations. com for more information.
Patrick Wiscombe:Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Coming up. In the remaining 30 minutes, mark and I are going to be talking about MSC's World America. It's going to take on icon of the seas in terms of width and length Huge, gigantic ship. We're also going to talk about the value of using the travel agent, and American Airlines is expanding their crackdown of group jumpers. Let's get back to the show.
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 Fulton-Mo.
Patrick Wiscombe:All aboard. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. This segment is always the Just Cruising segment, always in segment three of the show. We're talking huge cruise ships in this segment and, as Mark makes his way back into the studio, let's just start there. What do we have? Is it a 14-day or is it kind of a combination of seven days in the eastern, seven days western Caribbean?
Mark Faldmo:It's a back-to-back on two seven-days eastern western.
Patrick Wiscombe:It's kind of a cheater's code to go on two cruises on one trip.
Mark Faldmo:So you get really good value in that.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, you know they do cost a little more, but you're already there anyway. But before we get there, let's get to the cruise news of the week. Let's start with this, mark, let's talk about Disney's new ship called the Treasure.
Mark Faldmo:It will be debuting here, I think in a week or two. It will be its first passenger sailing. It's been christened and it's doing some preview cruises for media and travel industry right now.
Patrick Wiscombe:Were we invited on that?
Mark Faldmo:No, we weren't. So I wish there's two things on here that I really want to see. The first one is the Haunted Mansion Parlor.
Patrick Wiscombe:On the ship.
Mark Faldmo:Yep, they have a lounge which is a 1900s ocean liner themed lounge, also themed after the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney. So just looking at the picture or the renderings of it, it looks like a pretty cool lounge to hang out in. The next one is one of the restaurants, Plaza de Coco, which is part of the dining system. It's Mexican themed and it's themed after Pixar's Coco. That's a first for Disney to have something themed after that. When you said Plaza de Coco.
Patrick Wiscombe:I was like, oh sweet, it's a chocolate, Chocolate. I'm like, all right, I can get behind this.
Mark Faldmo:All ships need that. Well, they need to go back to the midnight chocolate buffets. There's not very many ships that do that anymore. No, death by chocolate. Death by chocolate, yeah. And then probably the third that's new to Disney and this was probably the one I would be most excited about. It's called the Periscope Pub and it's a sports bar. It is themed after 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea submarine voyage. I've always liked that movie and I like that ride at Disney submarine voyage. I've always liked that movie and I like that ride at Disney. There's actually two more ships in this class of ship that Disney is putting out, so it'd be interesting to see what type of things they include on those two ships that follow the Disney treasure.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, so this is version one of this ship, and then there's two more coming. Let's talk about MSC's new cruise ship. Called what is it? Is it World America? Yeah?
Mark Faldmo:MSC World America Okay.
Patrick Wiscombe:So they're the new cruise ship that's going to be released. I think it was in April of this year 20, no, no, no, I'm sorry, April of 2025. 2025. And that it's going to take on not only in sheer size technically it's smaller but Icon of the Seas, which is Royal Caribbean's ship. Yeah, I can't even tell you how big Icon of the Seas is Kind of takes your breath away.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and so MSC is going that route. This will be the biggest ever MSC cruise ship and it will be sailing alternating Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises out of Miami and, as we alluded to before, they also sell them as back-to-back so you can do a 14-day cruise. This new ship, the world America, is going to have a one-of-a-kind plaza that runs down the middle of the ship, with bars, restaurants, multi-stories and and the activities they are going to have one of the largest water slides at sea and their whole water complex and gaming complex will be fantastic. They are trying to break into more of the family market, which Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line kind of control. This ship is going to be amazing for families.
Patrick Wiscombe:There's so much to do on these ships. If you say that you're bored on a cruise that is on you, there's so much to do on these ships. If you say that you're bored on a cruise that is on you, there is so much to do.
Mark Faldmo:Just the technology that's going into these new ships. Cruise lines are almost starting to compete with Las Vegas for some of the new and fascinating attractions, and cruise lines are really going after that.
Patrick Wiscombe:It's a good move on their part. I saw a story that Viking River Cruises Viking the company is 70% booked already for 2025. That's astonishing to me.
Mark Faldmo:You have to book a lot earlier than you used to. With Viking being 70% sold out for 2025, that pretty much means most of the good dates are gone and all of the peak dates are probably gone If you're looking to travel not just on Viking, but on any cruise line. I've seen similar reports from other cruise lines, like Norwegian has had four record-breaking sales weeks in a row. All of these cruise lines are just selling like crazy.
Patrick Wiscombe:When you and I went to the Miami Marlins game. I've never seen a cruise line advertised inside of a baseball stadium ever.
Mark Faldmo:Being in Miami I'd expect it, you know kind of the cruise capital of the world there. But yeah, that was interesting to see in the Marlins that Norwegian was advertising.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the cruise deal of the week, which is always in this segment of the show at the bottom of the hour. Let's stick with MSC's World America, the gigantic ship that's taking on Icon of the Seas. One of the favorite things that I did this year in I think it was June 20th to June 30th Nikki and I took a back-to-back cruise. It was fantastic. Let's give listeners the details here.
Mark Faldmo:I'll first start out with the Eastern Caribbean part of this. And this is the first passenger sailing of the ship, so it's April 12th 2025. It cruises from Miami, goes to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, San Juan, Puerto Rico and then also Ocean Cay, MSC Marine Reserve.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh so it is going to.
Mark Faldmo:Ocean Cay. It is going to Ocean Cay. I think, MSC is probably going to include that in most of their sailings. Yeah, I would hope so. The inside cabins start at $923 per person. That includes all taxes and fees. Balcony cabins start at $1220 per person. Now for an MSC cruise. This is a little bit more than you're used to seeing, but keep in mind it's a new ship and if you compare to these rates the first few months of the icon of the seas, they're probably half the cost oh yeah, icon of the seas.
Patrick Wiscombe:In fact, Nicky and I were looking at a cruise on that now it's still double it's still double.
Mark Faldmo:yeah. So for a brand new big cruise ship with all the bells and whistles, this is a pretty good rate. Yeah, phenomenal. And then the Western Caribbean, and I really like this itinerary. It's a four-stop itinerary. So it goes Miami, goes to Costa Maya, goes to Roatan in Honduras I like it because it reminds me a lot of Tahiti and then it goes to Cozumel and it also goes to Ocean Key MSC Marine Reserve.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let me just stop you there for a second If listeners don't know what Ocean Key Marine Reserve is. It is MSC's private island and it is spectacular, absolutely spectacular. The scenery, things to do, the lighthouse show, the beach bonfire, just all of it. It is an amazing experience.
Mark Faldmo:And Ocean Key. Both of those itineraries have 12 hours there, 8 am to 8 pm, so it's a full day. You get a full day and this one started. This was an April 19th sailing and it was 1120 per person for an inside or 1673 per person for a balcony, and then you can book those again, like we said, as back to back, and that's a great way. You get a both parts of the Caribbean eastern and western, if people can only do one.
Patrick Wiscombe:Which one do you like?
Mark Faldmo:I'm gonna say probably the western yeah, I like the western because it has one more stop. Yeah, okay, I do like sea days, but the two sea days in a row sometimes can get a little bit long for me, so I like the extra stop that it adds.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, all right. So if you can only do one, recap the price on that if you would, for the Eastern first and then let's recap the Western, if you would.
Mark Faldmo:The Eastern starts at $923 per person for an inside or $1220 per person for a balcony, and the Western starts at $1120 per person for an inside or $1673 per person for a balcony.
Patrick Wiscombe:And what were the dates on the Eastern one?
Mark Faldmo:The Eastern was April 12th and the Western was April 19th Makes sense. These are the first two passenger sailings that this ship has.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, if you can only choose one, just go. First of all, MSC's cruise ships are visually stunning and they're equally as stunning on the inside.
Mark Faldmo:I think MSC is really going to start to pick up here for the US market as soon as they get a little bit more known. They're just kind of an unknown entity right now.
Patrick Wiscombe:Nikki and I went to where did we go? We went to Ocean Key, the private resort, but we went. We went western. That's what we did western.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, your Cozumel, Costa Maya, I believe we did not get to row a town and, uh, I know that's one of your favorite stops but it just wasn't on the itinerary. Phenomenal, call mark in his office. If you're all pumped up and, man, we got to book this. Call them right now. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. You can also look at the deal at blueplanetvacations. com. When we come back, we are going to talk about travelers want to ban reclining seats on planes. I have a story on that one too and we're also going to talk about the practice of selling destinations canned air Just bizarre. Mark's travel tips. And we'll wrap up the show that's next Travel tips. And we'll wrap up the show that's next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my good friend, I'm Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. 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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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: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:Final segment of this week's Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. He is Mark Faldmo. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. If you want to listen to this show again, we'll be on the air tomorrow morning, Sunday, right here on 860 KKAT in Salt Lake City. We're also on, obviously, Saturday, because you're listening to us right now and you can also pick up the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. We're on all of the major podcast platforms. You can stream the show on that website, insidetraveltalk. com, and if you would subscribe to the show, we're really starting to get some traction with the podcast networks and the search engines and we owe all of that to you, our listeners. So thank you for allowing this to be part of your weekend for the last.
Patrick Wiscombe:What year and a half? Mark, year and a half now Pretty amazing. By the way, one of the things that I was doing this past week was building out the studio here in the house, and I know that you have your home studio, but I wanted to finish up building my studio here. We're in two separate locations, but it sounds like we're in the same studio, although I do miss having you come to the house.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I like the drive. It's my thinking time. This is a good way to do it. Technology is amazing.
Patrick Wiscombe:And no one would know that we were what? 50 miles apart right now, 50 miles apart. Yeah, let's start with the travel news, shall we? Let's dive in. Let's start with this news item that 41% of travelers want to ban reclining seats on planes. Okay, that is a controversial topic, just to begin with. But what details do you have about this particular news story? This?
Mark Faldmo:survey was put out after an incident on Cathay Pacific, which is an Asian carrier, so it was a long-haul flight. A woman refused to put her seat upright. The couple behind them could not see the television screens, so they started kicking and shaking the seat.
Mark Faldmo:Oh boy and it turned into a whole full-fledged issue and we've actually talked about a couple of stories about reclining seats the past couple of months. It's becoming more and more of an issue, especially as airlines start to redesign their cabins and actually take out some space. Even though the seats recline just a matter of inches, it really takes out the person behind you, personal space. For instance, if someone reclines their seat on most airplanes I can't put down the tray table. It's that bad. So my rule with reclining seats is less than four hours I don't recline my seat, although I generally don't recline my seat, I'm a window person.
Mark Faldmo:And so I would rather lean against the side of the airplane than recline my seat. That's kind of the rule I go by If it's shorter than four hours, don't recline your seat. That's something that the airlines and passengers are going to have to figure out, because it is a pain point for a lot of passengers.
Patrick Wiscombe:Honestly, if I were the airlines, I wouldn't even have reclining seats Problem solved. Just lock them up.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I've seen some European carriers where they have reclining seats. Problem solved, just lock them up. Yeah, I've seen some European carriers where they have reclining seats, but it doesn't recline back into the person behind you, it shifts the seat you're sitting on forward. Oh, interesting so it gives you less legroom, but you do get to still kind of experience the reclining seat. So that's a little bit better way to do it, I think, because then it does not affect the person's space behind you.
Patrick Wiscombe:I like that idea of it better. Yeah, American Airlines is expanding their crackdown. This sounds like something in China. Yeah, on what are called group jumpers let's just start the definition of group jumpers there and what they're doing to crack down.
Mark Faldmo:Second, Most airlines board in groups so they have, you know, group or zone one, group or zone two, and there's a big problem with people just boarding whenever they want to board. And we talked about this, I think about four or five weeks ago that Americans started this at some of their airports, where now you get the green go or a red buzz that stops you. So if you're not boarding in your zone, it pulls you out of line, it does not let you board, and I know people are antsy to get on the plane. People are antsy if they're going to get overhead space, but it really does slow down because a lot of those zones take out the first few zones, which are people that need extra time and assistance, and some of the top flyers. A lot of those are built to board the plane from the back and from the windows in, and so they're designed to help you board the plane quicker with how they do those zones.
Patrick Wiscombe:You mentioned in a previous episode your solution for group jumpers, which was the gong show the big gong Stephen. Smith gong. Yeah, you are in violation. Back to you know, back to the end of the line. I also like the idea of maybe having a wipeout, that TV show wipeout. Good night, big balls. Yep, what you think is safe passage all of a sudden just absolutely slams you into the side of the wall or something for violators.
Mark Faldmo:And then you get to go back to the beginning.
Patrick Wiscombe:There is a strange trend that has recently popped up, and it's the practice of selling destinations canned air Behold the great air of Cancun here, just you know and then breathe it in.
Mark Faldmo:This started in Italy's Lake Cuomo, up in the mountains, the crisp mountain air. So someone got the idea to sell canned air. So they sell lake Cuomo's canned air for ten dollars. It contains a precise mixture of gases, including 21 oxygen, 0.93 argan and four percent carbon dioxide and trace amounts of nitrogen and neon. I guess that's on the ingredients on the side of the can.
Patrick Wiscombe:When Mark and I have decided to sell the air of Salt Lake City during winter, during an inversion. If you want the authentic experience, we've got it here. We've got it. Might get lung cancer from breathing it in, but nevertheless here it is.
Ad Voice:By the way, it's $10.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, and we do accept Venmo and apple pay. I would do it just so I have the story. Hey, I bought some canned air and then everyone would be like what is wrong with you? Yeah, as we close out, this is a question that I've had for you for a while why you should use a travel agent.
Mark Faldmo:There's several reasons, and actually, if you go to the blueplanetvacations. com, they're at the very top of the page. There's a link to why you use a travel agent, which lists some really good reasons why. A lot of it is personal touch and knowledge. Travel agents that sell travel every day, all day long know some good ins and outs. They also have clients that are consistently giving them feedback about different places. Rather than looking at online reviews, which you might be looking at something that's one or two years old that really has no relevance now because that property could be better or worse. Travel agents are really important, and there was an interesting study that was just put out that a majority of travelers prefer to use a travel agent to get that personal touch. The interesting thing is younger travelers are flocking to using a travel agent. They're tech dependent, they don't know how it works or anything like that, and so you know that's a one reason to use a travel agent, and I've actually got kind of two interesting stories.
Mark Faldmo:I was at a meeting with Delta Airlines about 10 days ago and they really look closely at their net promoter scores. For those of you that don't know what net promoter score is, it's a good measure of what your customers think of your product. So what Delta Vacations found is those travelers that use a travel agent have a much higher net promoter score. They're happier with their vacations. Oh, interesting.
Mark Faldmo:And then I, on Thanksgiving morning, I was just listening to Fox News and they had a travel expert come on talking about Black Friday deals, how to find the best travel deals, and he says well, the first thing you need to do is have a good travel agent that can help you sort through all of these things, because a lot of these deals and a good travel agent will tell you this might be good for a few days, so you don't have to book now.
Mark Faldmo:You can really take your time and make sure you get fit into the right vacation for what you want. And another thing that he said which I totally agree with was a lot of travel agents do get better deals from suppliers. Suppliers see their customer satisfaction rankings, go online retailers because it's a better customer and also, as for a selfish reason for those suppliers, they get a higher revenue passenger. Oh sure, booking with a travel agent? Yeah, because the travel agents do. As we've talked about many times price versus value. Travel agents will work to get not only the best price, but the best value, which may not be the best price, but you'll be happier with your trip.
Patrick Wiscombe:I can't tell you the number of times that Mark has helped Nikki and I book vacations. How many vacations have we been on this year? Is it three or four, something like that? Probably four, I think, yeah, I think so. Good vacations before. I think, yeah, I think so Good vacations.
Patrick Wiscombe:And the insight that Mark has given me and Nikki has just been invaluable. You talk about value, mark, is it? Four million miles, traveling around over 150 cruises. He's been everywhere. Awesome. Call him in his office If we have whet your appetite. There's no cost or obligation, just call him.
Patrick Wiscombe:Hey, we want to go to this place or we want to go to the place that you, both of you, were talking about. Call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And you can also check out blueplanetvacations. com. We'll be back right here on this radio station tomorrow morning 860 KKAT, 11 am Mountain Time. And if you want or need to listen to the show again, you can download and subscribe to the podcast at insidetraveltalk. com. All right, we're done, but now it's your turn to get out and explore the world, because you never know what curveballs life is going to throw at you. Live your life deliberately. Live your life intentionally. Thank you for listening. Really, have a great week. We'll talk to you again next Saturday and deliberately Live your life intentionally. Thank you for listening. Really, have a great week. We'll talk to you again next Saturday and Sunday. Have a great 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.