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
Luxurious Escapes: Fiji Wonders, South American Cultures and Night Sky Marvels
Ready to elevate your travel experiences? Tune in to our latest episode of Inside Travel Talk, where we promise to unlock the secrets of luxurious getaways and thrilling cruise adventures. We dive into Mark's detailed review of the renowned Sandals Royal Bahamian in Nassau, uncover the vibrant cultures of South America through cruise experiences, and explore the hidden gems of Fiji. Our special guest, Laura Okanowski from MSC Cruises, shares exclusive insights into the magnificent MSC World America, offering a glimpse into the future of cruising. Plus, we bring you the latest from the travel industry, including updates on Holland America Cruise Lines' Denali Lodge and shifting preferences in Hawaii's vacation rentals.
Experience the marvels of the night sky as we journey to the world's top stargazing destinations. Explore Bolivia's breathtaking salt flats, Utah's astonishing vistas, and the enchanting Mont-Mégantic in Quebec, the first dark sky reserve. We also spotlight Delta Airlines' strategic shift from Lyft to Uber and the introduction of the luxurious Airbus A330s on the Salt Lake City to Honolulu route. These developments promise more comfort and a refined travel experience. Whether you're a celestial enthusiast or a comfort-seeking traveler, this segment is packed with insights and inspiration to satisfy your wanderlust.
Sustainability meets luxury in our exploration of MSC Cruises' latest offerings. Prepare for the Big Game with their first-ever commercial and discover enticing promotions like the wave promotion, featuring incredible savings and free perks. Learn about the debut of MSC World America, complete with lavish amenities, family-friendly programs, and the exclusive Yacht Club experience. We delve into the company’s commitment to eco-friendly travel, from LNG-powered vessels to the transformation of Ocean Cay. Embrace life with intention, and let us guide you on a journey enriched by responsible travel and unforgettable experiences.
Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. On today's show, mark is back from the Bahamas Nassau Bahamas. He's going to give us a quick review of the Sandals Royal Bahamian. We're also going to talk about South America Cruises, fiji, and we have an interview with MSC Cruises' Laura Okanowski and their brand new ship called MSC World America. Let's start the show. The Inside Travel Talk podcast radio show presented by BluePlanetVacationscom contains travel deals, promotions and offers that may be time sensitive. All offers and information were accurate with the show aired. Travel deals and offers change constantly and are capacity controlled and subject to change without notice.
Show Voice:Explore your world. It's the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacationscom. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalkcom. And now here are your hosts, patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:It is the weekend, which means it's time to talk travel. Hi there, I'm Patrick Wiscombe. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Thank you so much for taking your time to stop and listen to the show. And, if you are brand new to the show, the entire purpose of this show is to help you plan and book your next vacation, or we can just simply give you ideas of where you want to go on vacation next, and Mark and I are presented by blueplanetvacationscom and, for regular listeners of the show, we have a little bit different format.
Patrick Wiscombe:This week Coming up in this segment, we are going to have the cruise deal of the week. We have a little bit different format. This week Coming up in this segment, we are going to have the cruise deal of the week, because we do have an extended interview with MSC's Laura Okanowski in segment three of the show, where we talk extensively about the brand new not even out yet brand new MSC World America. It is a gigantic ship and it is beautiful. But let's first get to the travel news headlines. I saw that Holland America Cruise Lines is making improvements to its Denali Lodge in Alaska. What kind of improvements are they making?
Mark Faldmo:First, we should talk about what is the purpose of this lodge. One of the topics we often talk about is Alaska cruises one of our favorite cruise itineraries on this show and we've talked about the cruise tours, which is where you spend a few days in the heart of Alaska and then you take a cruise either before or after that, and this is the lodge that Holland America uses for their Denali portion of the Alaska cruise tour. They own the lodges where you'll stay at for the most part when you take a cruise tour with Holland America.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, I didn't know that.
Mark Faldmo:So yeah, Holland America and Princess both own their own lodges in Alaska that are used exclusively for cruise tour guests.
Patrick Wiscombe:What kind of upgrades are they doing to the lodge?
Mark Faldmo:It's a three-year project. This year, in 2025, they're going to be making improvements to their interpretive trails around the resort, adding and renovating scenic viewpoints, and then they're also going to change their menu and make some improvements to their restaurant. Next year, in 2026, they're going to remodel all of the rooms at Denali Lodge, add a coffee shop and expand their restaurant, which they need to expand their restaurant for what they plan on doing in 2027, which is to build an additional building with 120 units in it.
Mark Faldmo:So, the demand for the cruise tours is such that they need to build more rooms to accommodate more passengers on the cruise tours.
Patrick Wiscombe:If you've never gone on a cruise, Alaska is a good first starter cruise you can't go wrong with that one.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I would agree with that. I love Alaska cruises, that and Hawaii, yes, yeah, those two places are probably my favorite places. I have lots of favorites, but probably the ones I visited the most is Alaska and Hawaii.
Patrick Wiscombe:Hawaii vacation rental demand drops dramatically. Why is the demand for rentals dropping?
Mark Faldmo:This is through services like Airbnb and VRBO, and according to those companies and some other studies, that's done. It's just a changing traveler. More and more travelers are opting for hotels because of their expanded amenities and generally better locations. In November of 2024, of the 803,000 vacation rental units available in Hawaii, only 388,000 were rented. That's less than half of all the available vacation rentals were used in the month of November. It's a decrease of about 5% compared to 2023. And then, when we go back to pre-COVID numbers, that's a 40% drop from 2019. All of the studies are showing that it's just a shift in what travelers are looking for. They're looking for more amenities that hotels have to offer, and one thing that the study did note is now the average nightly rate of a vacation rental is the same as a hotel. They used to be a lot less, but now it's the same price. So again, people are opting for the same price but more amenities at a hotel.
Patrick Wiscombe:I saw that Disney's new ship class are going to be about 30% smaller. That surprises me, because I thought that they would have gone the other direction Right now the Wish class, which is the most recent class.
Mark Faldmo:there's one more of those still to come out. That's 144,000 gross tons, but this new class is only going to be about 100,000 gross tons and carry 3,000 guests. I mean it's still a lot of people, but it's still a lot of people, but it's smaller, and the reason Disney is doing this is to have access to more ports and destinations globally.
Mark Faldmo:A lot of ports are unable to take the big, huge ships. We've talked about the Panama Canal. A lot of people want to go through the old Panama Canal and I believe this ship it's right on the edge, but I believe it's the size where it can go through the old Panama Canal, which is much more scenic. But there are some Caribbean islands that can't take the big ships. Now this is still larger than the first few ships Disney built. They were about 84,000 gross tons. So they do have some smaller ships in their fleet already, but they're not continuing that big trend of large mega ships, like other cruise lines are.
Patrick Wiscombe:Always in this segment is the destination of the week and we are just talking about cruising. Normally we save that for segment three of the show, but we're just going to put it here right now. Let's talk about South America cruises. What are the cruise options and where do they go?
Mark Faldmo:There are several different options to cruise in South America. Probably the most popular are the Cape Horn cruises, which would be like Ushuaia, Antarctica. So they're the cruises that sail between, like either Rio or Buenos Aires and Santiago Chile, so they go around Cape Horn. Other cruises there are Amazon cruises that you can take.
Patrick Wiscombe:I would want to do that.
Ad Voice:Parts of Amazon.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, yeah, amazon would be wonderful to do. There are in the Southern Caribbean. You can have some stops that include Columbia and maybe some Amazon stops. So I think a few months ago we talked about a cruise that left Miami and it did Amazon. It was a Caribbean cruise but it included the Amazon River. So there are cruises like that and the other part is repositioning cruises, so they're repositioning cruises between South America and Europe. Or there are cruises that are Panama Canal cruises, where they're repositioning the cruise from, say, the Caribbean, so Miami through the Panama Canal, ending in Santiago Chile, to start those Cape Horn cruises, wow. So there's a lot of options in South America and I've been getting a lot of requests on cruising in South America. That's kind of why I put it in the topics this week for the show.
Patrick Wiscombe:What is the best time to go do this type of?
Mark Faldmo:cruise. Well, you have to keep in mind their seasons are opposite of ours, right. So right now is the best time to go. So, especially if you're looking for Antarctica cruises, january, february, maybe March, are the best times to do the Antarctica cruises because it's their summer, pretty much. Our winter time is the best time to go because of their seasons.
Patrick Wiscombe:So if it's cold here, go there. Yes.
Mark Faldmo:It's their summer.
Patrick Wiscombe:What repositioning cruises do we have for listeners this week? I?
Mark Faldmo:chose one repositioning cruise. This was kind of last minute. It's March 9th, oh quick, so about a month and a half away. Okay, but it is quite an amazing price. So this is a cruise that leaves from Rio de Janeiro and sails to Rome.
Mark Faldmo:It has a few ports in South America, a few ports in Africa, a few ports in the Mediterranean, and I'll quickly go over some of those ports in just a moment. But the best part of this is the price. Inside cabin starts at $1,036 per person and a balcony cabin starts at $1,476 per person For 18 days. For 18 days, so that's less than $100 per person per day. Rio to Rome this starts in Rio, goes to Santos in Brazil, and then goes to an island called again I can't pronounce it, I think it's Maceo, which is an island off of Africa, and then goes to the Tenerife Islands, goes to Casablanca in Morocco, barcelona, spain, naples, in Italy, and then ends in Rome. So pretty good itinerary. And that one's quick. Spain, naples in Italy, and then ends in Rome. Wow, so pretty good itinerary.
Patrick Wiscombe:And that one's quick, so that's coming up in about six weeks, 45 days or so.
Mark Faldmo:Six weeks, 45 days, but I think the price is right for that. Oh yeah, and that is on MSC Cruise Lines, on the MSC Orchestra.
Patrick Wiscombe:Give the price again, if you would. That was an unbelievable price Rio to.
Mark Faldmo:Rome Inside cabin starts at $1,036 and balcony starts at $1,476 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe:What's the other travel deal we have for listeners of?
Mark Faldmo:the show, I chose the Cape Horn cruise. There are not really any that you could really do this year. So this is a 2026 sailing in February of 2026. And this one goes Santiago, chile, to Buenos Aires, in Argentina. And so this is a Cape Horn cruise cruise ports. It goes to Port Amant cruises the Chilean fjords, the Magellan Strait.
Patrick Wiscombe:Now hold on. Stop on the Chilean fjords. Those are beautiful, to put it mildly. They are Breathtaking beauty.
Mark Faldmo:They are quite amazing, and there's another port on here that I'll get to in just a moment, which is similar and amazing as well. So then it goes through the Beagle Channel, and as part of that there's a place called the Glacier Alley, and it's where you just sail past tidewater glaciers Similar to Glacier Bay, but I think this is a little bit more spectacular than Glacier Bay is in Alaska.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's hard to imagine.
Mark Faldmo:Glacier Bay is pretty amazing, and then it goes to Ushuaia, which is on a lot of people's bucket list cruises. The Cape Horn Place I'd like to go to goes to the Falkland Islands, then Montevideo and ends in Buenos Aires. Pretty amazing itinerary down around Cape Horn, oh yeah, and that one start. That's a 14-day cruise starts at $21.39 per person for an inside or $31.89 for a balcony. Those are a lot higher than the repositioning cruises that we mentioned, Right, but this is a very good price for this itinerary, oh yeah, absolutely.
Patrick Wiscombe:It is Cruising. It's just really a great way to go see the world, because then you've got a floating hotel. Get out, go see the world Really. Call Mark in his office, just get the conversation started. His number is 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. And he'll also post this on blueplanetvacationscom when we come back. We've got the hot travel deal of the week. We're going to recap the Southwest Vacations offer that we talked about I think it was last week, yeah, it was and we're also going to give you eight of the world's best places for stargazing. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast or radio show continues. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscom. Thank you so much for allowing this to be part of your weekend. We will be right back.
Show Voice:Taking you to destinations around the world. The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show is presented 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. Thanks for listening. We'll be right back.
Ad Voice:This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by El Dorado Spa Resorts. Escape to Cancun's Riviera Maya with authentic all-inclusive luxury at an El Dorado Spa Resort To book your romantic beach getaway.
Show Voice:Contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718 presented by BluePlanetVacationscom. America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show right now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalkcom. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Welcome back inside of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. I hope you're having a terrific weekend. My name is Patrick Wiskum. Alongside my good friend, mark Faldmo, you are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. This show is all about travel. It's only about travel, where we encourage people to get out and see the world and if you don't know where to go, we will give you ideas Coming up in this segment of the show we are going to be talking about I got to find my notes, mark.
Patrick Wiscombe:I forgot what we're talking about. We're going to talk about the eight of the world's best places for stargazing and in this segment we'll be talking about the hot travel deal of the week. We're going to recap last week's Southwest vacations promotion, where you can save up to $500 when you go to Hawaii, mexico and the Caribbean. We'll get to those details here in just a second. But let's continue on with the travel news headlines. This one kind of surprised me when I saw that Delta, because right within the Delta app, delta is ditching Lyft and they're going to start promoting Uber. If you have the Delta app, they've got their partner stuff. So I guess Lyft is going to go away and you're going to see Uber there now at some point, and I'm kind of torn on this one.
Mark Faldmo:I was always an Uber rider and then, when Delta introduced this partnership with Lyft, I switched to Lyft, and now I don't know what I'm going to do, because Lyft is typically a lot less expensive than Uber is. I'm not really sure why Delta did this. The only thing it says in the press release is they're going with the larger company, uber, so I guess to give more options.
Patrick Wiscombe:When you are a Delta member and you use one of their partner websites, does that go towards your medallion qualifying dollars? That does, oh, it's okay. So that's why you're kind of torn on that because you want to get all of the medallion qualifying dollars so you can get status each and every year, each year.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, but then, as I mentioned, lyft is usually about 20% less than Uber. That's a hard one to decide. I usually shop on both, but probably 90% of the time I end up going with Lyft.
Patrick Wiscombe:I saw a story that has to do with Hawaii, but there's another airline that's bringing new wide body jets and flights to Hawaii. Now let's explain the seating, generally speaking, on a wide body jet. Let's go traditional and then let's contrast that with wide body jets.
Mark Faldmo:Yep, so a wide body is a plane that has two aisles seats, an aisle seats an aisle, so that's a wide body. Traditional would just be like your three seats, aisle, three seats. So just with the single aisle aircraft, and this is one particularly for us in Salt Lake City, delta is adding the A330 300 planes on the Salt Lake City to Honolulu route starting April 15th of this year.
Ad Voice:Oh, really Okay.
Mark Faldmo:So they're replacing the 767s with the newer Airbus A330s. Now, what this will do is there are some days of the week where Delta has had two flights a day, but since the Airbus A330s, now, what this will do is there are some days of the week where Delta has had two flights a day, but since the Airbus A330 is a larger aircraft, that's going to go to one daily flight to Honolulu.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about the eight of the world's best places for stargazing, and then we'll get to the hot travel deal of the week.
Mark Faldmo:This kind of plays on. I think it was two weeks ago. We talked about the, not tourism, the rise in popularity seeing the Northern Lights stargazing, so I came across this story. That was pretty interesting. So it lists them from one to eight. Some of them I'll comment on and others I'll just mention because I don't know a whole lot about them. The number one spot is the Salar de Uyuni. How would you say that, patrick? I think you looked it up earlier, but in Bolivia, I have no idea, keep saying it Seems like every week, the last few weeks. I shouldn't put things on that I can't pronounce, but this is a desert in Bolivia and it actually, looking at the pictures, reminds me of the Salt Flats here in western Utah.
Mark Faldmo:So it's just a salt, flat desert with unobstructed views to the sky.
Patrick Wiscombe:Have you ever been out to the Bonneville salt flats? I have, dude, amazing. It's kind of weird to think that that whole thing used to be a lake. Yes, it's just bizarre. I don't know why. That just freaks me out.
Mark Faldmo:I'm like, oh man, I'm underwater Number two close to home. It says Utah and Arizona in the Southwestern US. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that, but they actually do mention the Bonneville Salt Flats. It's a great place to look at the sky, and then also the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, Grand Canyon. I used to think it's just a big hole, and then I got older. I'm like man, this is really magnificent here. How did I just get kind of bored with it? Yep.
Mark Faldmo:Number three is Mont Magnantique in Canada. It's in Quebec and it is actual the world's first dark sky reserve, so it's one of the first places to protect dark skies. Number four is the Nambiran Nature Reserve in Nambia. Number five, mount Bromo in Indonesia, which is actually on the island of Java, so it's an active volcano that you can hike on and stargaze at the same time. Number six is the Irokai Mackenzie Dark Sky Reserve in New Zealand. So another dark sky reserve, another place that is protecting those dark skies.
Mark Faldmo:Number seven is a little bit interesting for me. I would have not thought this, but it's the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland. It's spots in between Dublin and Cork is where that is. Number eight is the one I want to talk about, which is the Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan. You've been there, I've been there, so that's why I wanted to talk about that a little bit. It is just so fascinating and I was there at nighttime and I remember we had a dinner at a Bedouin tent out there, had some Bedouin food, and I just remember walking out and looking up and seeing how many stars there were. So that is definitely one I think is good for stargazing.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the hot travel deal of the week and let's just go over last week's Southwest vacation promotion.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and again, as we mentioned last week, I think this is one of the better or best deals that I've seen out there for Hawaii, mexico and the Caribbean on Southwest vacation. So this is the one you have to package with a flight and a hotel, but it's saved up to $500 per package and book by February 10th.
Patrick Wiscombe:So you still have a couple. What about two weeks?
Mark Faldmo:two and a half weeks Two and a half weeks to book this. The reason why I say this is so good is because of the tiers. Most of these are tiered, but this is the best tiers I've ever seen for a discount. So it saved $300 on packages between 500 and 999. If you were able to find a package which I don't think you can but for $500, they would take $300 off of that. That is significant. That is significant. And then it is $400, 1,000 to $1,499. So you may be able to find some packages in that to Hawaii, mexico or the Caribbean, but then just save $500 on packages of $1,500 or more. Last week I looked at this. I found a Hawaii package about $2,200. And it took $500 off of that.
Patrick Wiscombe:So it is automatically taking that discount, taking that discount off.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, so it made that $2,200 package down to $1,700. That's really good. So it is a great deal there, especially to get to Hawaii and Mexico Hawaii, mexico and the Caribbean.
Patrick Wiscombe:You have to book by February 10th but you have to travel by when you have to travel by October 1st of 2025. Okay, so you basically have, if my math is right, about eight months, about eight months, to travel Like that.
Mark Faldmo:Okay, and Southwest doesn't have their schedule out past then anyway, so that's all you could book anyway.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, let's talk about the hot travel deal of the week, deal number two. Where are we going on this one? We're going to go to Fiji.
Mark Faldmo:Oh, you love Fiji. Yeah, I love Fiji and I chose this one just again. It's a very good airfare deal. So from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Nadi in Fiji is $799 per person round trip, which is an amazing deal. So I took that airfare and combined that with a couple of hotel options, and I'll just mention two the Novo Hotel Nandi, which is a four-star hotel $13.19 per person. And so that's for a five-night hotel package airfare from Los Angeles or San Francisco and transfers to and from the hotel. How much, $13.19 per person, wow.
Mark Faldmo:So to go to Fiji, that's a five-night hotel that actually will be seven calendar days because of the international date line. Five nights hotel but seven nights total travel. And then the next hotel is probably my favorite resort to stay at. There is the Outrigger Resort and Spa, yeah, which is a four star, and that one starts at $19.29 per person, again, airfare from San Francisco or Los Angeles, for both of those hotels. This was for a departure date of April 9th, so April 9th to the 16th, but there are other days where that $7.99 airfare is available that we can look at.
Patrick Wiscombe:Which airline is it that's on Fiji Airways? Oh, fiji. Okay, man, take advantage of that offer to Fiji. Well, both, really Southwest Vacation, save up to $500. Hawaii, mexico and the Caribbean, and that deal to Fiji? Good grief, that's awesome. All right, get the conversation started with Mark in his office. Call him during the break 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And he'll also put that deal on blueplanetvacationscom when we come back. It's the infamous Just Cruising segment. We're going to be talking about MSC's brand new ship, msc World America. Mark will be on that ship. Did you say it was April 4th? I think is what you said.
Mark Faldmo:I think, yeah, that first second weekend of April.
Patrick Wiscombe:We're going to have a conversation with Laura Okunowski of MSC Cruises. You're going to want to hear some of the features of this ship. It is unbelievable and we are excited to go. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show, continues Alongside Mark Faldmo. My name is Patrick Wiscom. Thank you so much for listening and allowing us to be part of your weekend.
Show Voice:We will be right back You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmoe, presented by BluePlanetVacationscom 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 InsideTravelTalkcom. We'll be right back.
Ad Voice:This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by StarCippers. For over 30 years, starcippers has offered unique authentic tall ship sailing experiences featuring creative itineraries throughout the Mediterranean Caribbean and Central America. To book your unique Star Clipper sailing adventure, contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or blueplanetvacationscom.
Patrick Wiscombe:Welcome back and thanks for listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Coming up. In the next 30 minutes we will be talking about MSC's brand new ship coming out in April. We will be on that ship, the MSC World America, and we've got our interview with Laura Okunowski with MSC Cruises, and Mark is going to give his review of Sandals Royal Bahamian. Let's get back to the show his review of Sandals Royal Bahamian. Let's get back to the show. The Inside Travel Talk podcast radio show presented by BluePlanetVacationscom contains travel deals, promotions and offers that may be time sensitive. All offers and information were accurate when the show aired. Travel deals and offers change constantly and are capacity controlled and subject to change without notice.
Show Voice:This is the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacationscom, 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 Faltmoe.
Patrick Wiscombe:All aboard for segment number three of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. This is the infamous Just Cruising segment, where we only talk about cruising in this section of the show. And we've got a treat for listeners this week where we had a conversation with Laura Okunowski a little bit earlier this week with MSC Cruises and we went in-depth about MSC's new ship called World America. Mark and I will be on the inaugural cruise on April 4th. I'm excited to go.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, that'll be very fun to go on.
Patrick Wiscombe:Where are we going out of? I think it was Miami.
Mark Faldmo:Out of Miami.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the interview that we did with Laura Okunowski a little bit earlier this week, and it was her birthday. The birthday girl herself, Laura Okunowski, business development manager for MSC Cruises, joins Mark and I on the show. It's good to see you.
Laura Okonowski:Well, thank you both for having me and Happy New Year to both of you and all your listeners.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about some of the promotions that you have going on at MSC Cruises right now.
Laura Okonowski:I am so excited to tell you that it is currently wave season Now. Wave season traditionally is a time of year, usually first quarter of the year, when cruise lines offer their best savings promotions to get people to determine what their vacations and travels will be for the rest of the year. Right now we currently have a promotion it is our wave promotion offering 35% off multiple voyages throughout the world, including free wifi and kids sail free. So this is especially helpful for families who have kiddos that they like to take on vacation with them. It will be good for select sailings and what I encourage people to do is contact Mark with Blue Planet Vacations and he can check to see which voyages it will be applicable to to see if that works out for their travel plans.
Patrick Wiscombe:I also understand that there are some plans for the Big Game.
Laura Okonowski:You got it, Patrick the Big Game coming in February, February 9th to be exact, MSC Cruises, for the first time in our history, is going to have a commercial.
Laura Okonowski:It is going to be a full 60-second commercial and I've gotten word that it's actually going to take place during the second bank of commercials. That happens in the first quarter. So if you are standing by watching that big game and there's a commercial break, go get your extra snacks and chips and take your bathroom break during the first set of commercials, but make sure you stay put in front of that TV screen or device wherever you're watching the big game from, because you don't want to miss the MSC Cruises commercial spot.
Mark Faldmo:One thing on the special savings is a particular area. On the blueplanetvacationscom website Under the cruises I have the top five cruise deals of the week. There's really about 15 cruises listed there and I do have several MSC cruises that are valid for this promotion posted under that top five cruise deals of the week.
Patrick Wiscombe:Restate the promotion if you would one more time.
Laura Okonowski:Yeah. So, patrick, we have a wave promotion happening right now. It began January 7th and will run till February 10th, and what it includes is a 35% savings, plus free Wi-Fi and kids sale free on a great majority of voyages.
Patrick Wiscombe:Utah is very family centric. As you know, we have 800 kids per family.
Laura Okonowski:It's a lot of diapers, Patrick.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about going on vacation with your family and the real value of that, because you did it with your family in not too long ago.
Laura Okonowski:You're absolutely right. Yes, my family and I we traveled in October, so my 12 year old son he has a fall break every October and we went on an MSC cruise out of Miami and it was wonderful. So not only does MSC cruises do a lot and have a lot to interest adults, with all the amenities on board, but we really do an amazing job for the kids too. In fact, we have complimentary kids programs determined for all age groups, starting from three years old all the way on up to the teens. And with my 12-year-old son, you know he might have a tendency to roll his eyes when we want to drop him off at a kids program, but then once he gets there and he hangs out with the other kids and makes friends. He made a friend from Britain, he made another friend from Germany. They started playing video games. He had just an amazing time. There's also different activities water slides that both kids and parents or families can participate in together. We have video arcades. We have actually a Formula One racing car too where they can jump in that and it's a you know, it's a module driving game. So tons of fun there.
Laura Okonowski:But the value in cruising you know when you think about three meals a day, plus, plus, plus for all your family members, the price of accommodation, all the great amenities and spaces and things to do on board a ship, plus the evening entertainment, plus free kids programs. I mean, Patrick, I can't tell you how much I've spent through the years on camps for my son. During a spring break, when we're not going away, or summer break, fall break, it almost is the best idea to just pack up the suitcase and go somewhere as a family, because we're going to pay quite some fees in these camp dollars here and there. So when we have the kids programs that are complimentary on board each of our MSC vessels, there's tremendous value in that, and when you have happy kids, you know what else you have.
Patrick Wiscombe:Happy parents, oh yes.
Laura Okonowski:In fact, we did book for next October as well, so you've already done it. I have. I pulled the trigger, I made the deposit and, yes, we're going back again and guess which ship it's going to be?
Patrick Wiscombe:It's either going to be the Maravia, or the Seascape, or the Seashore assuming you're going out of Miami or the World America oh, I'm sorry, world America.
Laura Okonowski:Mark is the winner.
Laura Okonowski:We are going to be on the new World America. So the new World America debuts in April just a couple of months away. But our first opportunity as a family to get to go with our schedules is going to be October. So I did lock that in because it's a very popular ship. There have been a lot of people making bookings in the last six or eight months that the reservations have been open. So I really encourage anyone listening. If you like that new ship smell and all the new fangled amenities and things to do, do think about World America as your next vacation choice.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about just the sheer size of World, america and the number of rooms, some of the things that to be highlighted about that ship.
Laura Okonowski:I'm happy to say that she is going to be our biggest and most beautiful vessel at sea, for our entire fleet. Wow. So, 215,000 tons gross tons, that is, and carrying near 7,000 guests. It's actually 6,762 if it's full ship and exact numbers, 6, which equates to about 2600 staterooms. Wow.
Laura Okonowski:Yeah, it's a floating city. However, we have so many different venues and amenities on board that you never see everybody all in the same space. That's one of the beauties I think of cruising is you can still get on a big ship, but you can still tailor, make and customize your cruising experience. A couple of ways you can do that is you can look at booking the Yacht Club, which is our special ship within a ship experience. So it comes with a lot of extra bells and whistles, such as priority embarkation and disembarkation, such as priority embarkation and disembarkation. So you are just checking in in an expedited line with maybe a couple hundred people and not a couple thousand people. So that really bodes well for me. I enjoy that. I also enjoy the dedicated restaurant that Yacht Club has where, if you like your steak cooked to a certain temperature and doneness, it will be cooked to order to your liking. And I mean, who doesn't like that?
Ad Voice:right.
Laura Okonowski:There's also a special dedicated butler that is assigned to every suite within the Yacht Club accommodations and the butler is there to help you with certain things, like maybe escort you to the show lounge at night for the evening entertainment, or they can help you with disembarkation and embarkation when you're arriving at a port of call. So there are ways to really navigate a big ship and still have a personalized, customized experience.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yep, absolutely agree. It's funny that when you talk about just the sheer number of people on ships, that you can truly find quiet spots that almost to yourself. It's kind of amazing.
Laura Okonowski:It really is One of my favorite pro tips, if you will, Patrick and Mark, is when everybody gets off the ship to go ashore and do their shore excursions or take a walkabout in the port. I like to hang back and stay on the ship for a couple of hours, because the ship is your own at that time.
Mark Faldmo:Oh yeah.
Laura Okonowski:Yes, it is just wonderful to go sit by the pool and have almost an entire deck to yourself, and then our family will eventually navigate me under off the ship. But I do like to pause and wait a couple of hours before doing that. I mean, of course, unless I have a shore excursion scheduled and I need to get ashore for that. But that's one of my pro tips, that if you're not in a hurry and you didn't book a shore excursion, then just linger on the ship a little bit longer and just check out to see how that feels. It's a really cool feeling.
Mark Faldmo:You know, and on that topic of ship size, it's amazing how the shipbuilders design these. When I was on the seaside back I think it was on its inaugural sailing out of New York I asked is this the full ship? And they said yes, it's the full ship, and it didn't feel like it. The way they flow people through and the way there are so many different things that you can do, it doesn't feel like there's that many people on.
Laura Okonowski:Another thing that MSC, I think, is being recognized for as well in the cruising space is our sustainability. So when we go to create these big, beautiful ships, you know we're very conscious of the footprint that we are leaving around the ocean waters. World America vessel will be powered with LNG power, liquefied natural gas, and that's a big deal. That's one of the things that working for the company makes me feel really good about what we're doing out there. We're trying to better the ocean's waters and leave places and spaces better than we found them, which is what we did with our private island, ocean Key.
Laura Okonowski:That used to be an industrial wasteland off the coast of the Bahamas, and what we've done with that island is just stunning. We cleaned it up. It took three years actually to clean it. We've created these beautiful coral reefs. We have employed Bahanian employees to be on board the island so they anticipate the ship's arrival when the ship gets there and they get everything set up for the guests. So we've really done a wonderful job and it makes me proud as an employee to work for MSC Cruises.
Patrick Wiscombe:Mark and I were talking about MSC Ocean Key. Was it last week, Mark, or a couple weeks ago?
Mark Faldmo:It was on last week's episode.
Patrick Wiscombe:I was just painting the picture of what the island is. Of course you have the ocean around it, but then you have that amazing lagoon powder, sugar sand, white sand lagoon. The water is warm. It's, you know, two to three feet deep in the middle. It is honestly just breathtaking to be in the middle of all of that and see the ship in the distance. Msc couldn't have done a better job.
Laura Okonowski:And you know they vowed to keep it very natural, natural habitat, and so they don't want to clutter that space with zip lines or roller coasters or anything like that. We want to keep it very natural for snorkeling, for enjoying, for water sports and just relish that natural beauty. It's hard to find, I think, a quiet natural space these days without having a lot of extra noise and distraction, but Ocean Key does serve as a beautiful oasis.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about some of the features of World of America. We've already talked about how big it is, how long it is, how heavy it is, but let's talk about the creature comforts.
Laura Okonowski:So, as we began 2025 with MSC Cruises, we actually have a new tagline slogan, if you will European style and American comfort, and that truly does depict what an MSC cruise experience is.
Laura Okonowski:We know the hardware of the ship itself is beautiful lines, stunning curvatures, stainless steel, swarovski crystal stairs but when you take that and you add the soft goods of wonderful linens and thick plush towels, and then all the amazing food, restaurants and outlets throughout the vessel that we, as Americans, really come to enjoy, not only on land, in our homes, in restaurants we visit, but we have this expectation when we go on cruises as well. Right, we want the bed to be comfortable, we want wonderful linens, we want multiple restaurants to be able to dine in and lounges to visit. So we are actually going to be offering five different main dining rooms, a lot of international buffets too, I'm being told, with a whole bevy of specialty restaurants, including a Mexican restaurant, sushi bar, tip and yaki, our butcher's cut steakhouse. They're also building this promenade area of wonderful restaurants, including a pub type of atmosphere juice bar. I mean, it just seems to be whatever people can think of. We're doing it or it's there.
Patrick Wiscombe:And don't forget the pizza, the best pizza I've ever had in my life on that ship.
Laura Okonowski:People do love the pizza. Now for the listeners, in case you're wondering, because there's been this endless battle right in the United States Chicago style thin versus or excuse me Chicago style thick versus New York style thin. Well, you could probably attest it's more the New York thin.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yes, it is.
Laura Okonowski:Yes, and they make it fresh and people queue up in a line and they wait for it during lunch and they wait for it at midnight and if you peruse the buffet at dinnertime you are probably going to have to stop and wait for the next pizza to come out of the oven, because it moves quick.
Patrick Wiscombe:I know that pizza is subjective, but it truly was the best pizza I've ever had in my life. This is going to sound gross, but the cheese juice was good.
Laura Okonowski:Well, I was going to ask you do you think it's the crust, do you think it's the cheese, or do you think it's the sauce? What do you think?
Patrick Wiscombe:Yes.
Laura Okonowski:All of it right, all of it together, but the crust is great, I would say yes to all as well.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, it's good.
Laura Okonowski:You know, another thing that sets MSC Cruises apart from other cruise lines is being that we have a European heritage. There's a lot of European things that we still do on board that maybe some other lines don't. We bake our own bread.
Ad Voice:We make our own pasta.
Laura Okonowski:So when we're baking bread and making things like that, we're making our own pizza dough as well. We will roast our own coffee beans and we make our own chocolate on board. So there's a lot of goodies that we oh gelato. How could I forget the gelato? And ice cream? We make those on board too.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let me just go rooms, because I know we've hit food pretty hard. The rooms are comfortable and they're big.
Laura Okonowski:You're right. The rooms are very spacious and when you look at the entire accompaniment of accommodations that we offer, we have suites, we have duplex suites, we have balconies. In fact, this new ship, the World America, is going to have a promenade type feature as well. So the back aft of the ship is like a double hull for part of it.
Laura Okonowski:So if you are booking into an aria suite with a promenade balcony, what that means is when you step out onto your balcony, you're looking at the interior of the ship and you can see across to another set of balconies where guests would be on the other far side. Then, as you're sitting out there, if you turn to the left or the right, depending on which side of the ship you're positioned on you'll be able to see the water as well. So it's a really cool feature. It's like a hybrid balcony, I feel, because you're getting that promenade feel of the interior of a ship, but you still have the water view and it's all open air. It's really really cool. So only two ships offer that. That's the World Europa, which typically sails over in Europe and other parts of the world, and then, with the new vessel coming to Miami, world America is going to also have that feature.
Patrick Wiscombe:I'm excited for all of us to get on this ship.
Laura Okonowski:Yes, I can't wait. I can't wait. She's going to be a beauty and we're going to see a lot more ramping up in 2025 with advertising and that big game commercial. So stay tuned, make sure you're all ready for game time.
Patrick Wiscombe:So the second break in the first quarter is what I'm hearing you say.
Laura Okonowski:You got it, that's right. February 9th.
Patrick Wiscombe:And then more promotions to follow.
Laura Okonowski:Yes. So I don't even know what promotion is going to follow yet. That's how super secret it is. But we were told that on Monday, february 10th, there will be something to continue the wave of wave season. But I would encourage all the listeners to mark February 9th, of course, on their calendars, and February 10th to reach out to Mark with Blue Planet Vacations, because we'll have all the details on February 10th.
Patrick Wiscombe:The birthday girl herself, laura Okunowski, with MSC Cruises. It is so good to see you.
Laura Okonowski:Thank you, patrick and Mark. Happy New Year again and take good care. Everyone Happy cruising.
Patrick Wiscombe:We are very fortunate that we get to go on the inaugural sailing. I know that you've done a few of those, but I have not yet, yep, I'm looking forward to it.
Mark Faldmo:They're a great experience.
Patrick Wiscombe:We're going to take a break here. We went a little bit long with Laura on that one. If you're interested in sailing on MSC's World America or just any of the ships that we've already discussed during the show, call Mark in his office during the break. You're not obligated to do anything, just get the conversation going 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. You can also see everything that we've talked about on blueplanetvacationscom. When we come back we've got Mark's travel tips and he just got back from Sandals, royal Bahamian in Nassau, bahamas. He's going to give us his review of that particular resort. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. 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 Fultmo. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700. That's 801-649-3700.'s 801-649-3700, and check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalkcom. We'll be right back.
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Patrick Wiscombe:And now your hosts, Patrick Wiskam and Mark Faldmo and Mark Faldmoe Final segment of this week's Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. First of all, let me just say thank you for allowing us to be part of your weekend each and every weekend for the past year and a half. Mark and I love traveling the world and we love sharing adventures with you. It's not to make you envious or hey, what a great life they have. It has nothing to do with that. Getting out and traveling the world is one of the great ways to experience not only the world but different cultures, different people. It just makes you appreciate what you really have. It's just a special way to travel with friends, family, because it's a common bonding experience that you can have with your friends and family, and that's why we like to share our adventures with everyone.
Patrick Wiscombe:Coming up in this final segment of the show. This will be kind of a quick one because we went long with Laura in the previous segment. We've got a couple of travel news headlines, but let's start. Mark. You just got back from Sandals, royal Bahamian in Nassau, bahamas. Let's hear a 30 second to one minute recap. This was a great vacation.
Mark Faldmo:I've never really had any interest in traveling to Nassau, bahamas I think we talked about this a little bit last week but I really enjoyed it. It's different than if you visit on a cruise. I'd really recommend people that if they're somewhere on your bucket list and you hear other people talking bad about it, just go because it's probably a good vacation for you. The Sandals Resort was amazing. They have their own beach club, private island. You can take a boat out too, and Sandals is a pretty high-end resort. I just loved it. It was great. Now we were complaining about how cold it was there, because it was about 70 degrees, but to come back to where we are, in the teens, 70 degrees was great.
Patrick Wiscombe:They were complaining about 70?.
Mark Faldmo:Really it was a little bit windy, so we had some events outside and it was cold.
Patrick Wiscombe:So your blood does get thinner once you get used to the warm. Yeah, a couple of quick news stories. The UK government has made a move to raise electronic travel authorization visa prices by 60%.
Mark Faldmo:And this is interesting because that just started January 8th and they're already moving to increase it from about 10 US dollars to about 19 US dollars. Jeez, you know they're saying they want to get their whole border and security funded through this visa, so it doesn't come from any private citizen taxpayers in the UK.
Patrick Wiscombe:You're going to reference the website travelstategov. For this reason, the United States State Department has issued a level two warning if you're going to Chile. Now let's go over the different levels level one, two, three and four. I was surprised that a level two was issued. Level one is exercise normal caution.
Mark Faldmo:Level two is exercise increased caution. Level three is reconsider travel and level four is do not travel. So the interesting thing about this is, they say, pickpocketing. You know, petty crime, muggings is on the rise in Chile and there's also some government protest marches have been going on, particularly in Santiago. They have raised that. But keep in mind, level two is the same level as France, Sweden, United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands. A lot of places that we visit are this level two, which is just exercise increased caution. All right.
Patrick Wiscombe:So basically, most countries around the world are level two anyway, correct?
Patrick Wiscombe:It was just kind of weird to see it go from level one to level two. Level two yeah, it is time to wrap up for the week. Go to blueplanetvacationscom to book any of the deals that we've talked about this week, or just call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. You can listen to this show again tomorrow morning, sunday, at 11 am Mountain Time, right here on this radio station, and you can stream, download and subscribe to the podcast at insidetraveltalkcom. We are on all of the major podcast platforms. Well, we've done our job. Now it's your turn to 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. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. Have a great week, mark, and I will talk to you next week, allowing this to be part of your weekend.
Show Voice:Have a great week, mark, and I will talk to you next week, helping you get out and see the world. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmoe, presented by BluePlanetVacationscom America's best travel advisors. Book your vacation now 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717.
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