Inside Travel Talk
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Inside Travel Talk
Dopamine Destinations: Scandinavian Cool, London Getaway & Hawaii Cruises
Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Coming up. On today's show, we will be talking about dopamine travel. Yep, such a thing really does exist. The stunning beauty of the Faroe Islands, London in the springtime, which is really not that far away, cruising in Hawaii and the documents you absolutely need to board a cruise ship. Let's get started. The Inside Travel Talk podcast radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com 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:Helping you plan your next vacation. This is the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com America's best travel advisors. Call us now 801-649-3700 801-649-3700 and check out the podcast at insidetraveltalk. com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick WIscombe:Coming to you live from the Wiscombe-Faldmo Radio Studios right here in Salt Lake City. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Hello there, I am Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo will be in the studio here in just a moment and coming up on this edition of the show.
Patrick WIscombe:If you're feeling blue, we have actually got some dopamine travel ideas to help you feel good, and part of that is we're going to take you to Hawaii. That is just a portion of the show that is coming up here in the next hour. We want to thank you for taking the time to stop and listen and, if you are brand new to the show, the entire purpose of this radio show is to help you plan and book your next vacation or just give you ideas of where you want to go on your next vacation and, by the way, the Faroe Islands is officially on my to-do list now, and this radio show is presented by BluePlanetVacations. com and Mark Faldmo is what? A couple of weeks back from Nassau, Bahamas, and what other travel do you have coming up here in the next week or so?
Mark Faldmo:The next thing I have on my official list is the MSC World America that we talked about last week in April, but hopefully I'll get a few more things on my travel list in the next few weeks, because it's been too long. I've been home for about 10 days now. I'm ready to go again. It just makes me laugh.
Patrick WIscombe:Most people would say oh man, I haven't gone for a long, long time. I've been home for 10 days. Well, let's get to the travel news headlines. I saw that Southwest Airlines has signed a partnership agreement with Iceland Air. What's that about?
Mark Faldmo:This is good news for those that want to connect to Europe. This really opens up Iceland and Europe more to US travelers. So Southwest Airlines and Iceland Air have started a strategic agreement which will allow them to code share each other's flights. This was signed earlier this month. The first airport that this is going to happen in is Baltimore, Washington, which will happen in February. A little bit later on in the year they're going to have connections from Nashville and Denver Iceland Air. Obviously they fly to Iceland, but they also fly to points beyond in Europe. You'll be able to use Southwest Airlines and get to Europe in this situation.
Patrick WIscombe:You said code share agreement. What is a code share?
Mark Faldmo:A code share agreement is where you might buy your ticket all on Southwest Airlines, but one or more portions will be operated by Iceland Air.
Patrick WIscombe:Okay, so that's not uncommon.
Mark Faldmo:It's not uncommon, so it's like one ticket, but there might be multiple airlines on one ticket. Oh, okay, and it's not uncommon to international destinations.
Patrick WIscombe:It has been very, very cold. It's warming up, so it's going to feel like springtime here this weekend, which is kind of nice. But in case you've got the winter blues, we've got some dopamine travel ideas. We've got 10 destinations that will boost your mood.
Mark Faldmo:What are they? There's actually a study done and they found these 10 destinations that have these particular things that help boost your dopamine levels, make you feel happy, and that's fun spontaneity, sensory stimulation, connection and movement. So those are the criteria they used for these destinations. Most of these I agree with and some I scratch my head a little bit, but I can see where they're coming from. So the number 10 destination for dopamine travel is Oslo, Norway. It sounds cold. It sounds cold right now, yes, but in the summertime it's wonderful. If you're looking at those criteria, sensory overload, fun, movement Oslo is a great place for that. The next place and this is one I find interesting it's Vancouver, British Columbia. Now, I love Vancouver. Oh, I do too.
Mark Faldmo:I think it's really underrated it is. I've mainly done Vancouver before or after a cruise, but it's a great destination. Number eight spot this is all probably just for one reason is Liverpool, England. It's the birthplace of the Beatles, so that gives certain people high amounts of dopamine.
Patrick WIscombe:If you just happen to run into Paul McCartney. Yes, yeah.
Mark Faldmo:It's actually ranked as Europe's most walkable city and so very easy to get around. Number seven on the list is Malaga. Spain, on the shores of the Mediterranean, has the most sunshine of any area in Europe, and there's plenty of beaches there, so lots of vitamin D and dopamine created there. For similar reasons, Cadiz Bay in Spain. Have you been to Cadiz? I have not.
Patrick WIscombe:Oh, I thought you had.
Mark Faldmo:One place I haven't been, but again similar reasons to Malaga, Lisbon, Portugal. Another place I've not been, but it's on my list Now. Number four on their list is one that I find interesting, and it's New Orleans, Louisiana.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, you're a fan Place that's got 12 inches of snow. Yeah, I'm a big fan of New Orleans and we'll probably in the next few weeks we'll talk about New Orleans again. The reason why this was on there is just because it is another walkable city, the French Quarter. There's just something different about New Orleans. Number three on the list, one of my favorite places it's Calin, Estonia. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's just so different of a destination and I think that's where that dopamine comes from. Number two is Amsterdam Unique city, very walkable, lots of parks, and it's just kind of a feel-good city to be in Amsterdam. Number one, and this is one that I agree with, is split, Croatia.
Mark Faldmo:I'd say anywhere in Croatia but the beaches in Croatia. I've only been there on a cruise ship and there is just a feeling of excitement.
Patrick WIscombe:You love Croatia. For the entire time that we've been doing this radio show and podcast, you rant and rave about Croatia.
Mark Faldmo:Croatia should be on everyone's bucket list. In fact, this last week I just did a travel agent event and there was a person there who was from a company called Katarina Line and they sail small yachts, I guess like 20 people, and they just sail around the Croatian islands and we're going to talk about the Faroe Islands in a little bit, which was just added to my bucket list, but taking one of these small cruises around the islands of Croatia has also been recently added to my bucket list.
Patrick WIscombe:Isn't that funny. The more you travel, the more that you find things that you're like man. I want to go do that.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I want to go do that. Yeah, there's just so many amazing places in the world to visit.
Patrick WIscombe:I saw this story. This one was funny because you were just down in Nassau Bahamas, literally 10 days ago. When I saw this story, I thought of you, Atlantis, which is in Nassau Bahamas, the iconic coral colored exterior building. It's coming to Hawaii, did they say, where.
Mark Faldmo:They're going to build an Atlantis resort in Hawaii in the Ko'olina area. So it's by the JW Marriott Ko'olina by the Alani Hotel, the Disney Hotel.
Mark Faldmo:When I saw this story, I was yeah, I'll believe it when I see it, Because this has been talked about for 20 years. However, the land has been purchased and a developer has started developing that. It's on 26 acres there in the Ko'olina area and this will actually be the third Atlantis in the world. There is also another Atlantis in Dubai. Oh, I didn't know that. They're going to have 500 hotel rooms and 500 condos. They're saying it should take roughly five years to complete.
Patrick WIscombe:And while you're over there, just by way of things to do, go to the Dole Plantation and go get a Dole Whip Delightful.
Mark Faldmo:I like to ride the pineapple train there.
Patrick WIscombe:The gardens there are pretty stunning. Yes, Always in the opening segment of the show we've got the destination highlight and we are talking about the Faroe Islands. In case you're wondering where the Faroe Islands are, they are east off the coast of Iceland. I won't say just off the coast because it seems like it's a little more ocean-y than just off the coast. Mark, it is beautiful.
Mark Faldmo:I would encourage everyone out there to just go, do a Google search for Faroe Islands and click on images and look and see what we're talking about here. So the Faroe Islands are, as you mentioned they're right about in between Iceland and Scotland. I actually have a client that I'm working on a Faroe Islands trip to them. His question was I want to go there at one of my bucket lists, but how do I get there? You can get there on flights from Denmark or Iceland. If coming from the US, we would get there connecting through Iceland. You can also take ferries there, but those are two day long ferries or overnight ferries and the tourist infrastructure at the ferry piers is not very good. Flights is the recommended way to get there and I have a company that I work with that just does the Faroe Islands and they have four to 10 night packages that they do. Usually, people go for four or five nights in the Faroe Islands and then three to five nights in Iceland kind of combine those, and so we can definitely package that together.
Mark Faldmo:Looking at some of these pictures, Patrick, the Faroe Islands has stunning coastal villages. Oh my word. You know they really go to their Viking roots in history. What you think of as a Scandinavian oceanfront village. That is, the Faroe Islands Breathtaking scenery, you know, to stunning waterfalls, mountains. We were talking about dopamine travel earlier. I think this would definitely be one of those locations, just because of the stunning beauty. Now I've been to the Shetland Islands, which is similar to this, but I think this would be even a step up from what I experienced in the Shetland Islands Wow, you can't go wrong with this one.
Patrick WIscombe:I'm telling you if you can get to the Faroe Islands too, just go do it. Like Mark said, google search Faroe Islands F-A-R-O-E Islands Unbelievable, I don't even know how to describe it. Just go look for yourself. You will not be disappointed, but don't do it while you're driving. Yes, awesome. Coming up in the next segment, we've got the hot travel deal of the week, regardless of the destination. But we are going to be talking about London in the springtime. But we are going to be talking about London in the springtime. Oh, just awesome. I love traveling. We love traveling. We want to inspire you to get out and travel. Go see the world. Quit putting it off. Call Mark in his office. Just get the conversation started 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. Or you can also go to blueplanetvacations. com. When we come back the hot travel deal of the week we're headed to London. That is next. Thanks for listening. We'll be right back.
Show Voice:If you have travel questions, they have the answers. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Call or text the show right now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. We'll be right back.
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Show Voice:You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700, and check out the podcast at insidetraveltalk. com. Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick WIscombe:Welcome back inside of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, alongside Mark Faldmo. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend If you're listening to us on the radio either Saturday or Sunday at 11 am Mountain Time, or if you subscribe to the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com Coming up in this segment of the show. This is always the segment for the hot travel deal of the week, regardless of the destination, and we will be talking about London in the springtime, which is kind of hard to believe that it's February already, literally the first day of February today, and it is time to start talking springtime travel. It feels like we just started winter.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, wow, okay. Last week was winter, now it feels like starting to feel like springtime, but we'll get cold again, it always happens that way.
Patrick WIscombe:Let's start off with the travel news headlines for this segment. I saw that Quintana Roo, which is? Is it a state in Mexico?
Mark Faldmo:It is, it's the state that Cancun is in Cancun and the Riviera Maya.
Patrick WIscombe:So Quintana Roo's governor has promised to regulate airport taxi rides in Cancun.
Mark Faldmo:A few weeks ago maybe a few months ago we talked about how to avoid travel scams, and some of them were scams that taxi drivers pull, and the Cancun airport has a really bad reputation. This is one reason why I always recommend using a travel advisor, because we'll set you up with either shared or private transfers from the airport and you don't have to deal with these taxi drivers.
Patrick WIscombe:Which, by the way, you did that for me and Nikki when we traveled. I tell you having a private car was nice.
Mark Faldmo:The governor points to two specific things that went viral. Nice the governor points to two specific things that went viral. One is some American travelers were charged a million pesos to go 74 miles between the airport and their hotel in Tulum. That is about $4,800 when that's converted to go 74 miles, and the driver wanted the money up front. He said there will be no internet access there so you won't be able to pay me. They did it, but I would use a travel agent to go that same distance. A shared transfer is probably about $60 a person and if you wanted a private car or a private driver there, it's probably about $250, $270 for a private car to go that distance. You just have to watch out for those. And there are several other stories about these high prices being charged by taxis in Cancun. They're actually trying to get them to be metered because it is a problem in Cancun.
Patrick WIscombe:By the way, unrelated and not on the rundown I saw that there was a hotel, a Mexican hotel. It was in Tulum, One of the coolest hotels I've ever seen. It is called I got to find it here. It's La Valise Tulum V-A-L-I-S-E. In Tulum, where it is a breathtaking oceanfront or jungle view, and you literally take your king size bed and you roll it out onto your porch. It's like it's on a track and you can just roll outside. Amazing. I got to show you this. You haven't been there, right, I have not been there.
Mark Faldmo:No, that sounds very interesting.
Patrick WIscombe:I think both of us our wives we need to go check this out, because the bed literally is on a track that goes outside so you can have an ocean front view, amazing, yep, I'm looking at it now, that's pretty cool. The only reason I bring it up is because of that taxi ride from Cancun to Tulum, I saw this story that Nice, France, is set to ban large cruise ships and reduce Airbnbs. What do we know about this, so Nice?
Mark Faldmo:is looking to limit cruise ships carrying more than 900 passengers, which actually affects most cruise ships out there. Even some of the smaller ships are right at that 900, 1,000 passenger limit. They say it's to combat over tourism. I think these bans are bad for the traveling community. There will be other cities in the area that will allow the cruise ships to come in. They'll want that money from the cruise ships and get to Nice from these other cities. Nearby Cairns is also looking for a similar ban and they're also looking to ban Airbnbs, just because of the impacts that has on local residents and local housing prices.
Patrick WIscombe:It is time for the hot travel deal of the week and, as I mentioned at the top of the show and at the very beginning of this segment, we are headed to London in the springtime. Where do you recommend staying I?
Mark Faldmo:like to stay in the Mayfair District by Hyde Park Corner. That is a little bit more high end, so the hotels are a little bit more expensive there, but kind of on the outskirts of that you can find things. You know, one thing that we've talked about on this show quite a bit is location matters. You can save a little bit of money by being outside of town or staying a little further away from things, but in many cases you spend that getting back into town to see the things you want to see. So location matters. In London I'd say you want to be near a tube station and then within walking distance to a few of the attractions. Another area is the Regent Street Piccadilly Circus area, which that's kind of the main shopping area. So I like to be within walking distance of that.
Patrick WIscombe:If you're not there for very many days. What do you recommend? I like to do the hop on hop off pass.
Mark Faldmo:You can get a multi-day pass and you can use that to get around the city. Most cities have multiple different buses. You know they have a red line and a green line, so you can switch buses and get to some different areas of the city. One thing that I do like in London is there's a company and they're called Golden Tours. Their hop-on, hop-off has a live guide, so you could ride the bus five different times and get a whole different tour each time. Oh, interesting.
Mark Faldmo:You'll be seeing the same things, but you'll get different stories. I really like that option of a live guide on the hop-on hop-off.
Patrick WIscombe:What's it called again, did you say Golden?
Mark Faldmo:Tours Golden.
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Mark Faldmo:And that's something I can sell that hop on, hop off. If people are looking for that, and in combination with the hop on, hop off, I kind of have like a London in a day that I do. So I would start at Westminster Abbey. That's where all the royalty gets married, that's where many of the kings are buried. Take a tour of Westminster Abbey, which is also near Parliament and Big Ben, and then from there take a Thames River cruise which takes you it's short, it's five miles or so to the Tower of London. Take a tour of the Tower of London. You can spend hours there. That's where the crown jewels are at. Very interesting to see the bee feeders there, which is the guard kind of royal guard of the Tower of London. That'll take you the good part of a day just to do that, but from there just get on the hop on, hop off and continue the tour.
Mark Faldmo:What else do you recommend If you're in London, changing of the guard? Find a good pub for fish and chips as well. And then I'd also recommend taking a day trip. My favorite day trip it's a full day, it's like 12 hours long, but you start off, go to Warwick Castle in the morning. Warwick Castle is owned by Madame Tussauds, the wax museum people. They've made wax figures of kind of period pieces, so it's not cheesy like the wax museum, as it really helps you experience the castle. And then from there you go to Stratford, which is Shakespeare's birthplace. You can go see Shakespeare's home that he grew up in, then after that go to Oxford, which is where Christchurch College is famous, most recently for Harry Potter. It's the dining room scene in Harry.
Patrick WIscombe:Potter at.
Mark Faldmo:Christchurch College, but that's also where Alice in Wonderland is from. Now, oxford is interesting. When you take a tour of Christchurch College, it's usually done by a student, so they're student-led tours, and when they point out the imagery of Alice in Wonderland, it's amazing. It really kind of immerses you into those books and then you know also all the Harry Potter fans enjoy it because of that dining room that's there.
Patrick WIscombe:Isn't that funny how we associate things with movies, with movies. Oh it's important. It's been in a movie now Is Stonehenge worth going to.
Mark Faldmo:I would say, yes, there are a lot of people that say that's a one and done thing, and I used to think that until I went back there last year, I had a whole different experience, and so I like Stonehenge. And you can combine it with another thing, and combine it with the city of Bath, which is where Roman baths are, and you can combine it with Salisbury, which has a one of the largest cathedrals in Europe. I would say, yes, Stonehenge is worth going to.
Patrick WIscombe:What promotions do we have for listeners to get over to London and what timeframe are we talking about?
Mark Faldmo:So I looked at something that was mid-April, so this is April 15th to the 22nd. It was six nights hotel and since this is shorter six nights I only look at the nonstop from Salt Lake City. So there may be some slightly better fares than this. In fact I know there are because I looked at main cabin and there were airfares for economy comfort down in the $700 range for this time frame. So these prices are in main cabin and on the nonstop from Salt Lake City. The hotel that I like to use is the Thistle Marble Arch. It's a four-star hotel and for the flights and hotel that starts at $1,702 per person, which is a great price, and that is right near that Marble Arch.
Mark Faldmo:I've used this hotel for several groups before. I really like that. It's fairly close to a tube station and it's also fairly close to a hop-on, hop-off station.
Mark Faldmo:Oh, okay, so that's what you were talking about earlier, yes, and then another hotel, London Marble Arch, another four-star, and that one is $1829 per person. Similar reasons why that's probably just a slightly nicer hotel to Marriott brand that we're familiar with. But the one I really wanted to talk about is the Royal Horse Guards. It's a five-star hotel. For the airfare and five nights hotel it does start at $2111 per person, so $2111 per person but it is in the best location. It's right on the Thames River, within walking distance to Westminster Abbey, within walking distance to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. I had some clients actually stay there a few months ago and they said it's one of the favorite hotels they've ever stayed at. So that's a good option. And again, as we talked about earlier, location matters and I think these are three hotels that are really good locations and good value for what you're getting.
Patrick WIscombe:The Thistle Marble Arch four star $1,702 a person. The London Marriott Marble Arch, a four star hotel is $1,829 per person and the Royal Horse Guard five star hotel $2,111 per person. And you're saying that that is probably the best location just because it's so central to everything. That's correct. Call Mark, get the conversation started 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. And he'll also post this on blueplanetvacations. com when we come back. It is the infamous just cruising segment. We are going to Hawaii. We're actually cruising Hawaii. That is next with the Inside Travel Talk podcast. The radio show continues. Alongside my good friend Mark Faldmo, I'm Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. We'll be right back.
Show Voice:They've literally traveled millions of miles to answer your travel-related questions. Yeah, they really have. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. America's best travel advisors, Patrick and Mark, will be back after these messages.
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Patrick WIscombe:Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. I'm Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo will be back here in just a second, coming up in the next 30 minutes we will be talking about cruising in Hawaii and we're talking about actually cruising around all of the islands. We've got a repositioning cruise from Tahiti to Hawaii and a situation that Mark is dealing with right now documents you absolutely have to have when boarding a cruise ship. Let's get back to the show. The Inside Travel Talk podcast radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com 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:Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com America's best travel advisors. Hit us up right now, 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at insidetraveltalk. com. Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick WIscombe:All aboard for the infamous Just Cruising segment on the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show. Hello again, I'm Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo will be back in the studio here in just a second. This is the infamous Just Cruising segment, and if you've always wanted to take a cruise around the islands of Hawaii, if you just want to go see everything, that is what we're talking about. It's a seven-day Hawaiian cruise and we're also going to give you an idea of when the best time to go is. But let's get back to the news headlines. Mark, are you back in the studio? I think you are. I'm back.
Patrick WIscombe:Okay, all right, let's get to the travel news headlines. American Cruise Lines has added a second ship in Alaska.
Mark Faldmo:American Cruise Lines is a. They're a smaller ship, so they carry just 170 passengers. They have ships that sail the Mississippi River We've talked about their ocean cats before that do the east coast of the US and they do have now two ships, the American Constitution and the American Constellation, which will be on the west coast for summer Alaska cruises and they'll also do fall Puget Sound cruises. I think this is an interesting option. They've introduced new national parks itineraries which start in Fairbanks, they do Denali, Kenai fjords by land and then they do Glacier Bay National Park and cruise down to Juneau. This is one of the rare ships that actually does have permission to overnight inside glacier bay, so you spend a whole night and a day inside glacier bay probably because they're so small.
Patrick WIscombe:I mean just because they're so small, I mean just because they're small yeah.
Mark Faldmo:Wow, yeah, some of those smaller ships have some. They get to do things that the larger ships can't do. These are usually a little bit more expensive, but you do get just that much better of an experience.
Patrick WIscombe:That was one of the great experiences of my life going to Glacier Bay National Park and I know you've been there too. You've been there way more than I have, but that's the one thing that I wish I could have done longer is just hang out in there. When Nikki and I went to Alaska, you really helped us not incur such a gigantic cell bill. So let's talk about Wi-Fi and cell service and how to stay connected on a cruise ship.
Mark Faldmo:This is a question I get quite a lot the cruise lines all have about Wi-Fi and cell service and how to stay connected on a cruise ship. This is a question I get quite a lot. The cruise lines all have their Wi-Fi internet packages, as we've talked about a few times. They're all now getting Starlink. You can stream movies. It used to be really slow internet that you would get on board.
Mark Faldmo:But a common question I get is cell service and yes, cruise lines do have cell service, but I would still recommend staying in airplane mode and only using the ship's Wi-Fi.
Mark Faldmo:I have a Skype number that I purchased, I think, for like $60 a year or something, and so I just use that Skype number and have my phone forward to the Skype number when I'm on a cruise ship because it can add up. And then you know, as we've talked about before, you do want to stay in airplane mode. If you let your phone run data while on a cruise ship, oh boy, I've had customers come back with $1,500 phone bills from leaving it on and using the data on the cruise ship. Oh yeah, you know. Another question I have, because this is typical to do when you're traveling internationally, is to get a foreign SIM or eSIM for your phone, but on a cruise ship, that really doesn't work because you're still using that ship cell tower, which, no matter what. There's not a SIM card just for cruise ships, because they're using satellite data which is very expensive for the cell phones.
Patrick WIscombe:I've got the NCL SIM card.
Mark Faldmo:Yes. So that trick works if you're traveling internationally by land, but does not really work on a cruise ship.
Patrick WIscombe:Save yourself the hassle airplane mode and just get the Wi-Fi. We know it's expensive at times. Just get it. It will either cost you a little bit upfront or it's going to cost you dearly in the end.
Mark Faldmo:At the end.
Patrick WIscombe:HX Expeditions has debuted an industry first, a Greenland cruise package.
Mark Faldmo:I guess first we should say what HX is. They're an expedition cruising company. They have smaller expedition ships and they have a package that cruises around Greenland and includes airfare round trip from Newark Airport, and so it's a 12-day Greenland cruise. And this is interesting because it's the industry's first battery-powered cruise ship, purpose built to go into these areas that are a little bit more sensitive to the exhaust pollution. So it is a hybrid battery-powered cruise ship. Just hope the battery stays charged. Oh yeah, what?
Patrick WIscombe:do you pull up to? I'm sorry, we'll need to get towed. I'm sorry. Do you have a charge on board?
Mark Faldmo:yeah, no, that's when they turn on the generators yeah, okay, I get it.
Patrick WIscombe:I'm all for that kind of stuff, but every once in a while you just have to like I hope you have engines on board and they do right.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, okay, they do I'm sure they have a generator of of some sort. So in fact most cruise ships run on electric power anyway. They just have onboard generators that generate the electricity to drive the engine.
Patrick WIscombe:Do we have a price on the Greenland cruise package on HX Expeditions?
Mark Faldmo:I don't have a price on that one, but you can call me, I can easily get it.
Patrick WIscombe:Okay, let's get to the cruise deal of the week, and we are cruising Hawaii. This is something that Mark and I have done with our wives, and what do we have for listeners?
Mark Faldmo:this week, I've had several requests on this the last little while. People just want to go to Hawaii. A lot of people want to see multiple islands and I think a cruise is the best way to do that. One thing that's a little bit unique about this cruise is the amount of port time that they spend in port. They have an overnight in Maui and they have an overnight in Kauai, so you basically have two full days in each of those ports. The seven-day cruise has over 100 hours of port time. This is NCL's Pride of America. This is NCL's Pride of America, where most cruises on a seven-day itinerary might have 30 or 40. So this has nearly double the port time, which makes it unique. The next thing is people ask when is the best time to go. So if you're looking for price, it's November, and December is when you're going to find the best prices. So I look for this is December 6th of 2025. Inside cabin starts at a little over $2,000 a person and a balcony cabin starts at about $3,100 a person.
Patrick WIscombe:We usually talk about prices that are half that when going over. But it's also not a cruise, it's a you just stay in one spot hotel, fly over five nights and come back. Yeah, why is this cruise more expensive than other cruises?
Mark Faldmo:If you looked at a multi-island package, say, you went to three islands and you took into account all of your food, your flights, your rental car, all of that, you would be more expensive than this in most cases. So to see multiple islands, this is a pretty good deal.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah it is, but it is true. This is a little bit more expensive than your typical seven-day cruise. A few reasons for that this cruise does not have an international port. It only cruises within the US, which there are some laws out there. The ship has to have been built in the US and it has to be crewed by US passengers, and they also have to follow US employment laws, which means the crew can only work eight hours a day, which causes them to need more employees because they have to pay higher wages, they have to pay overtime, they have to pay all of that which you don't in an internationally crewed ship. Oh, interesting, the costs of this are more expensive. I've said many times, I think this is the best way to see Hawaii if you want to see multiple islands.
Patrick WIscombe:Right, it was fun to experience all of the islands. Now I can hear someone say well, how different are the islands? And then I didn't realize how absolutely different each and every island was. You wouldn't think that for a chain of islands that are relatively close together that there would be that much geographical change. It's just different.
Mark Faldmo:It is yeah, it's one of our favorite places to go. Yeah, I love Hawaii All right.
Patrick WIscombe:As we go to break here, just recap the Norwegian Cruise Line, or NCL, pride of America, seven-day Hawaii cruise. So again.
Mark Faldmo:This is December 6, 2025. Inside cabin started a little over $2,000 a person. A balcony cabin a little over $3,100 a person.
Patrick WIscombe:Check it out. Call Mark, just get the conversation started. There's no obligation. Check it out. Call Mark, just get the conversation started. There's no obligation. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. I'm telling you, just go to Hawaii. Awesome, when we come back we've got Mark's travel tips and we are going to do the repositioning crows from Tahiti to Hawaii. We ran a little bit long. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues, we will be right back.
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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:Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Travel Talk podcast and radio show. I am Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo is on the other end of this connection. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend for the last year and a half. Without you, we don't have a show. Without you, we don't have a business. We are just grateful that you will take the time to stop and listen to the show Coming up. In this final segment of the show, we went a little bit long talking about Hawaii and NCL's pride of America. We've got some additional travel news that we need to get to, but as we come back from break, we promised listeners that we would talk about the repositioning cruise from Tahiti to Hawaii. What was the price on that and when was it?
Mark Faldmo:Mark, and so this is May of this year, may 21st. This is an amazing itinerary. I actually was able to do the reverse of this itinerary about two years ago, very high on my list. I'll go over the itinerary first, and then the pricing. It starts in Papeete, overnights in Papeete, goes to Morea Raiatea, then everyone's favorite, bora Bora, where it actually overnight. So it spends a full day and a half there in Bora Bora, a couple of days at sea, goes to Kilo on the big island, goes to Kona on the big island, oh so you start on the east side of the island and then go to Kona, kind of that southwest side.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, so it does two ports on the big island. Okay, yeah, and then goes to Kauai, Maui, and then ends in Honolulu. Now this is a 14-day cruise that actually has lots of overnights, three places with overnights but the price is very good. 14 nights inside cabin start at $18.95, and a balcony cabin starts at $28.75.
Patrick WIscombe:Wow, if you are just listening to this show for the first time, never even heard the show repositioning cruises. If you want the most bang for your buck, that's what you do. If you take nothing else away from this show, just take that away. If you want to start cruising, repositioning cruises are the way to go.
Mark Faldmo:Yep, they are. They're a great way to go and you get to see some unique things on repositioning cruises.
Patrick WIscombe:Just because Mark is dealing with a real situation right now. We wanted to bring this up, and when we started the show, you have a client who was trying to board a cruise ship, and so we wanted to talk about the documents that every person needs to have when boarding a cruise ship. Now let's talk about where they were about 45 minutes ago, and then do you have an update on the story?
Mark Faldmo:I do. I have an update. So, first thing, there are some cruises that you don't need a passport, but I would highly encourage you to get a passport and travel with a passport. Cruises that leave from a US port come back to the same US port. Most of them you do not need a passport, you only need proof of citizenship, which is your birth certificate.
Mark Faldmo:A lot of people are confused about their birth certificate, so the official birth certificate is the one that has a state seal on, usually a raised state seal, and what happened to this client is they showed up to the port with their hospital birth record. It's the one that has the baby feet and all of that even right on it that says this is not a legal document. And so that's why I say just travel with a passport. You know you're going to be fine with a passport.
Mark Faldmo:And I just got literally right before we started this segment, so like two minutes ago, that they did make it on the ship. Oh, they did. So they had an expired passport which they had to have a family member go to their house, find their expired passport, take a picture of it and send it so they could prove that they had a passport, a valid passport at one time, oh wow. And I think they also got the state records office to fax them a copy of their official birth certificate. So not having the right documentation when traveling can cause a lot of stress, oh and sadly we went over this before the trip.
Mark Faldmo:Oh, you did. It's something that I go over with everyone what counts, what can't. And you know we say not the hospital certificate, it has to be the state issued one. This is not the first time that this has happened to me either. I've had probably three or four other occasions where clients have shown up without the right documentation.
Patrick WIscombe:Well, I'm just glad they made it on the ship. Me too, and they literally texted you.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, just a minute ago that they made it on the ship, wow.
Patrick WIscombe:Make a long story short get a passport period. It just makes things everything easier.
Mark Faldmo:And it's not hard to get a passport these days? No, and it's fairly quick. The processing times have gone way down. Are you a Reddit guy? I, fairly quick. The processing times have gone way down. Are you a Reddit guy? I'm not. Sometimes I do. I get a lot of these travel stories from Reddit.
Patrick WIscombe:Well, reddit users had an issue with United with a reservation. First of all, what happened, and then how can people avoid it? So what?
Mark Faldmo:happened is he booked, and it's not clear whether he booked directly with United, although, reading this article, I don't think he booked directly with United.
Mark Faldmo:I think he booked through a third-party site. He said he got an email with a confirmation and that email said look for an email in a few days with your ticket numbers, ticket numbers. And so even though you have a reservation number especially if you're booking through a third-party site does not mean that your ticket has been ticketed. You actually need to make sure that you have ticket numbers. This is one reason why I strongly advocate that you book with a travel advisor, because you just don't know how a lot of those third-party booking sites work. As a travel advisor, we make sure that everything is ticketed, that you have ticket numbers. If something goes wrong, it's our mistake, not your mistake or the airline's mistake, and we fix it. A lot of these, especially when you're traveling internationally, they have contracts that are paid to the airline in cash, so when you book it on their site, they charge your card and then they're supposed to have someone turn around and ticket that flight.
Mark Faldmo:And so what I think happened is that just didn't get in the queue, it got missed.
Patrick WIscombe:It never got ticketed by that online website, oh so it could be an innocent mistake, but man did it, cause a headache.
Mark Faldmo:It did, and so you know again. That's why book with a live person, a book with a travel advisor, or make sure you're booking directly on the airline's website. As a travel agent, I do use some of these that are called air consolidators for international trips, because I do this all the time. I know what to look for and I know to make sure that that's actually ticketed. This is also a story like we talked about with the documents that are just a minute ago. This is quite common. People book online, they show up and there's no hotel reservation, there's no airline reservation. So, with the travel agent, we're always here to help resolve that. If it's our mistake, we fix it.
Patrick WIscombe:I saw a news story that cruise line passengers are being warned over hidden fees by fake cruise reps.
Mark Faldmo:Yes. So this is interesting, the first paragraph of the story. Cruise lines have faced unexpected fees in the past. A Royal Caribbean passenger in particular warned others after an unexpected $1,300 bill. Surprisingly, this was not a fake fee. Instead, it was a phone bill after he failed to put his phone in airplane mode. Didn't we just talk about that? Literally, that part is not a fake fee. But what some cruisers, particularly on Carnival Cruise Line, are facing is people calling them after their cruise saying they have an unpaid bill, trying to collect for an unpaid bill. People are calling the phone numbers and clicking on the links. I think we've talked about this before. If you get an email and this is good for just anything in life, don't do anything right then Call back to a number you know is a verified number to that company and make sure that if you do owe something, you're paying the right people.
Patrick WIscombe:I closed my eyes and just went, oh no.
Mark Faldmo:And that's something similar that I just saw on the local news that there's scams going around with people getting parking tickets, emails of parking tickets, needing to pay parking tickets, and all the police departments are saying they're fake. So this is a similar thing, with scammers just figuring out how to steal people's money.
Patrick WIscombe:What was interesting about that part of the story is how they knew the scammers the hidden fee people scammers how they knew that they had been on a cruise and that they just knew how to target them. That's terrifying, at least it is to me.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, that is unfortunately come from what people post online, so if you're scouring people's Facebook pages or finding things, you can probably easily find people that have recently been on a cruise.
Patrick WIscombe:And that's a low tech way of how to scam people. I didn't even think about that.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, it is. So this came out particularly from Carnival Cruise Line to watch out for this particular scam.
Patrick WIscombe:Okay, so they meaning Carnival Cruise Line to watch out for this particular scam? Okay, so they meaning Carnival, are warning their customers, Correct?
Mark Faldmo:Oh, okay, there we go. It's small amounts, like the scam was that some of them were asking for like $80, $100. Isn't?
Patrick WIscombe:that the perfect scam, though. Like something that doesn't raise alarm bells. You know something that's reasonable.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, yeah, oh something that's reasonable.
Patrick WIscombe:Yes, yeah, oh, wow. Mark's been doing this for 30 years over 30 years being a travel advisor. He is the man and a good person too. Call him in his office. If you want to book any of the vacations that we've talked about for the last hour. Call him 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717, or go to blueplanetvacations. com. You can listen to this show the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show tomorrow morning, Sunday, at 11 am Mountain Time, right here on this radio station, and you can stream, download and subscribe to the podcast. Just go to insidetraveltalk. com. You can stream the show there. We're on all of the major podcast platforms if you just want to sign up. We've done our job. It is now your turn to get out and explore the world while you can, because you never know what curveball's life is going to throw at you. Travel is a great way to have a common bonding experience with your family. Live your life deliberately. Live your life intentionally. Thanks for listening. Have a great week, mark, and I will talk to you again next Saturday and Sunday.
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. That's 888-718-7717. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.
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