Inside Travel Talk

Captivating Cruises: Canada's Fall Foliage, Mexico's Ancient Marvels & Mekong River Cruise

• Mark Faldmo & Patrick Wiscombe • Season 3 • Episode 7

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Unlock the secrets to unforgettable vacations as we explore the most exciting trends in travel and cruising today. Discover the allure of Canada and New England cruises, especially during the fall when nature adorns itself in a stunning display of vibrant foliage. You’ll learn the best times to embark on these journeys, explore diverse cruise routes, and uncover strategies for budget-friendly adventures. We also shed light on Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings' bold move with their new mega ships and Royal Caribbean's innovative strategies to slash food waste in half, reflecting a broader commitment to sustainability in the cruise industry.

Join us as we journey through the ancient wonders of Mexico, where the timeless beauty of pyramids like Chichen Itza and Teotihuacan awaits. Listen to personal tales about the convenience of Global Entry and how it can transform your travel experience. We delve into the rich culture of Mexico, highlighting affordable all-inclusive Cancun vacation packages perfect for both thrill-seekers yearning to explore ancient ruins and those looking to indulge in luxury at a five-star resort. With amazing insights from our guest Laura Okunowski from MSC Cruises, we also examine how MSC World America is setting new standards by blending European elegance with American comforts.

Finally, we turn our attention to exciting developments in ship refurbishment and travel experiences. From the updated Margaritaville at Sea Paradise to Italy's efforts to combat fraudulent travel reviews, we cover the latest happenings you won't want to miss. We also share exclusive cruise deals, like an exceptional Mekong River cruise offer for 2025. If you're ready to book your next adventure, our travel tips and insights will ensure you're prepared and inspired to make your dream vacation a reality.

Patrick Wiscombe:

It is the weekend, which means it's time to talk travel. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Coming up. On today's show, mark and I will be talking about Canada and New England cruises, Mekong River cruises and Cancun all-inclusive vacations. Let's start the show. The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com contains travel deals, promotions and offers that may be time sensitive. All offers and information were accurate when the show aired. Travel deals and offers change constantly and are capacity controlled and subject to change without notice.

Show Voice:

This is the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com America's best travel advisors. Call the show right now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And now your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe:

It is time to talk travel. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Hello there, I'm Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo will be in the studio here in just a second. Thank you so much for taking the time to stop and listen and, if you are brand new to the show or you've been listening to the show for the last year and a half, the entire purpose of this show is to help you plan and book your next vacation. And if you don't know where to go, our job is very, very simple is to give you ideas of where to go next, and this show is presented by blueplanetvacations. com. And let me bring in my co-host and good friend, mark Faldmo. I haven't talked to you all week. How are you doing? I'm doing pretty good. We're going to talk about Canada and New England cruises, and I think we may have really touched a nerve with listeners last week because that seemed to be the call and text highlight of last week's show.

Mark Faldmo:

We just mentioned it in passing. Last week it was one of the top five cruise deals we mentioned and I got lots of calls on it and a few questions.

Patrick Wiscombe:

So we are going to talk extensively about Canada and New England cruises. This is during the fall Because of the NFL's big game. Last Sunday we called MSC Cruises' Laura Okonowski to talk about MSC's promotions that are coming out, so they had their commercial in the second block of the first quarter of commercials. They did a big reveal on MSC World America with Orlando Bloom and Drew Barrymore. I thought that was actually a pretty good choice.

Mark Faldmo:

It was. That was a great commercial.

Patrick Wiscombe:

But before we get there, let's get to the travel news headlines. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, so NCL, has just confirmed that they are placing a multi-billion dollar order for four new ships.

Mark Faldmo:

This is an order for four mega ships worth more than $9 billion. These ships are going to be the largest ever They'll sell in the Norwegian Cruise Line brand. For Norwegian Cruise Line holding There'll be 226,000 gross tons, which is larger than the Icon of the Seas that we've been talking about this year. I'm sure Royal Caribbean will probably announce a larger ship after that, because Norwegian and Royal Caribbean go after similar clientele, kind of one up each other. Norwegian has always been the innovator in the cruise industry. They were first with the private island. They were really the first to start Caribbean cruises, their freestyle dining, which is the anytime dining. They were the first with that. All the other cruise lines said it would never work, and now everybody does anytime dining. They were the first with that. All the other cruise lines said it would never work, and now everybody does anytime dining.

Ad Voice:

And.

Mark Faldmo:

Norwegian was the first in some of the entertainment things they brought on the Blue man Group, which was kind of the first mainline Broadway-ish type show on a cruise ship. It'll be interesting to see what they do with these four new ships.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Did they announce a time when they're coming out?

Mark Faldmo:

Yes, the first ship will come out in 2030 and then they'll come out every two years after 2030.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Okay, so we got a little time here.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, we've got five years or so. I'm sure it takes a long time to build a ship that size.

Patrick Wiscombe:

You and I have been down to Florida multiple times and we've seen Icon of the Seas. Last year in person, I think you saw it more than I did. I saw it once with you and I was like good grief, how much larger could they?

Mark Faldmo:

make these ships At some point. They can't get much larger, although we did talk about two or three weeks ago where Royal Caribbean is actually building some smaller ships, yeah, so that's a little bit against this trend, but it will certainly be interesting.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Makes me wonder if it'll be the NCL behemoth. What's bigger than Icon. Good grief, Royal Caribbean. They're creating an uneaten food initiative. What is that initiative?

Mark Faldmo:

It's a goal to reduce food waste by 50%. Cruise Lines first started doing this by adding, for instance, charging a room service delivery fee. They found that room service was a big part of food waste.

Mark Faldmo:

They found people would order everything off the menu and then most of it would get sent out in the hall after. People just wouldn't eat it. So that's where it first started, but now they're doing things. It's called microwave-assisted pyrolysis. It's a system basically converting food waste into energy to be used for the ship, and then the waste that comes that's left out of that is just sold back on land as topsoil or as a soil nutrient, I should say. So they're now integrating AI into this system to figure out how much to make at buffets and when to make it really trying to eliminate the food waste. It was estimated once that the food waste Royal Caribbean put out in a year could fill like 25 Olympic swimming pools. So they did reduce it by about 30% in 2023. And now they're even trying to get that number reduced by another 50%.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Anyone who's been listening to this show for the past year and a half knows that we are big train people and you found a sleeper train in Europe that has a good value. Now, this is not the destination of the week. This is just a news story. What are the details?

Mark Faldmo:

The name of the train. It's just called the European Sleeper, but it goes between Brussels and Prague, with main stops in Amsterdam and Berlin, but it has stops in between. It runs three times per week and this is a great way to get around Europe. They also have a winter train, and this is mainly to get to the ski destinations. That runs between Brussels and Venice with stops in Cologne, Germany, and Innsbruck, Austria, again with stops in between. What I found interesting about this is the price. You can go from Brussels to Prague. Price on that starts at $109, which is a very good price to go that distance.

Mark Faldmo:

They have three different levels of service. Everything's in a cabin, so they have cabins with six seats in them. So it's $109 per person, and you're just by one of those six seats. They have couchettes which also hold three people.

Patrick Wiscombe:

And these are private rooms.

Mark Faldmo:

These are private rooms. Oh, interesting. Okay, I guess you could buy one out and make it private. Yeah, I guess you could. If you just buy a seat, you'll just have five other people in the cabin with you. And then they have couchettes, which there are six seats in there, and then those seats turn, fold down into two beds, and then there's three other kind of fold-out beds that fold out from the walls so it sleeps six people. And then there's actual sleeper cars that have three seats and three beds. You could buy out a full sleeper car for about $600. That's just an alternative way to get around parts of Europe.

Patrick Wiscombe:

So I guess you could say you could sleep with strangers, yeah.

Mark Faldmo:

I would just buy out the sleeper car.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I'm like well. I like getting to know people, but that's, let's go to our trade car.

Patrick Wiscombe:

No thanks. Always in this first segment of the show is the destination of the week and, as I mentioned right at the very start of the broadcast, that Mark received a text from one of the week and, as I mentioned right at the very start of the broadcast, that Mark received a text from one of our listeners. Let me give out the studio and the text number 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700, if you have a travel related question. So Mark, not Mark Faldmo, but a different Mark phone number ending in 1382. He said in his text he's looking for a New England and Canada cruise. I know you can't predict weather and fall colors, but what part of October would be prime fall colors in your opinion, and when would just simply be too late? First of, all.

Mark Faldmo:

let's talk about the cruise. There are two main ways you can do Canada and New England. The first is round trip, where most of the cruises leave round trip either New York or Boston. There's some that leave from other ports, but that's probably the most common way. And then the other way to do it is one-way cruises, so similar to Alaska where there's one-way cruises, Canada, new England, also has one-way cruises where you cruise either between New York and Boston and Quebec. Canada Fall colors, as we've talked about a few times on the show. It's always hard to project when the peak is. Traditionally the second week of October, for where the cruises go is one of the better weeks to go. This year the peak day was October 2nd. Last year the peak date was the last week in September and so if you want to go and try and catch the fall colors, I probably would say the last week of September, first week of October, are going to be your best bet.

Patrick Wiscombe:

So that begs the question. If we're talking about the last week of September, first week of October, probably your best bet, the round trip Boston, what is the price? And then let's get to the other two.

Mark Faldmo:

I looked for this coming October. The very best price I found was on a seven-day round trip Boston Goes Boston, Portland, Maine, St John, Halifax and Sydney, nova Scotia, back to Boston. The very best price was October 26th. Okay, so a little later, a little bit later, a balcony cabin on that started at $1,267. Now, by contrast, if you move that to October 5th, a balcony cabin is $1,693. So it is, what's that about? $400, $500?

Patrick Wiscombe:

Well, the difference might be $400. You might have a completely different experience, different experience, $400, less experience if you go late. What company and what ship? So?

Mark Faldmo:

that's on the Brilliance of the Seas by Royal Caribbean.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Okay, All right, okay, let's talk about Quebec to Boston, then this is the one way.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, the one way Quebec to Boston. This is on Holland America. It's on the Zuerdiderdam, that one. A balcony starts at $1824 and this is October 11th. An inside cabin on that, by the way, is pretty good at 1,064.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yeah okay.

Mark Faldmo:

But one thing that's nice about this Quebec City and then cruising up the St Lawrence River, the St Lawrence Gulf Ever since I saw the Hunt for Red October, I've always wanted to do that Then that ending scene of the Hunt for Red October. So one of these days I'll get to do this.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Sean Connery not included.

Mark Faldmo:

Not included.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yeah.

Mark Faldmo:

And then Charlottetown, which is on Prince Edward Island for those fans of Anne of Green Gables, oh, that's your stop for that. Then Sydney, nova Scotia, Halifax, Portland, Maine, and then ends in Boston. That's pretty good. That probably would be the cruise that I choose.

Patrick Wiscombe:

And who's that on? Oh, that was.

Mark Faldmo:

Holland.

Patrick Wiscombe:

America, Holland America. Okay, by the way, I was looking at the Holland America Rotterdam, that vessel, dude, that's a nice ship, yes.

Mark Faldmo:

Wow, Holland America has some nice ship.

Patrick Wiscombe:

And then, lastly, let's do the repositioning cruise. Where's this coming from and where does it?

Mark Faldmo:

end. I just stumbled upon this. This is on Virgin Voyages and it goes Quebec to Miami, so they're moving the ship from that Canada New England down to Miami. This is a 13 day cruise. Balcony cabin is $1653.

Ad Voice:

Whoa.

Mark Faldmo:

So pretty good price for a balcony cabin. And it stops Quebec, Halifax, St John, Eastport, boson, and then it does stop in Charleston, south Carolina, which is an interesting port.

Patrick Wiscombe:

And then it ends in Miami and that's pretty good. If you've never heard this show before and you've always wondered, how do I score a great deal. Repositioning cruises, generally speaking, most of the time, are the best bang for the buck period.

Mark Faldmo:

If you look at that 13-day cruises, that's less than the previous two seven-day cruises that we talked about.

Patrick Wiscombe:

What were the dates on that one, the repositioning cruise?

Mark Faldmo:

That one leaves on October 3rd from Quebec.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Okay, all right, so you're going to catch those colors. That's going to be perfect then, or real close to perfect. Take advantage of this particular offer and Mark, call Mark Faldmo to book that. Call him in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. Just call him during the break. There's no obligation to book, but just get the conversation started. This is going to be one of those things where you get a bill and you go, ah, do I want to spend that much? I'm telling you, if you just do it, you'll come back with a lifetime of memories and always a point that you can reflect for the rest of your life. You will not be disappointed. 888-718-7717 is the number to get a hold of Mark or blueplanetvacations. com. When we come back. We've got the hot travel deal of the week and we've got the most impressive pyramids to visit in Mexico and we've got the hot travel deal of the week we're going to Cancun, all-inclusive vacations. Stick around. Thanks for listening, mark and I will be right back.

Show Voice:

If you have travel questions, they have the answers. We'll be right now. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. 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, contact Blue Planet.

Show Voice:

Vacations at 888-718-7717 or blueplanetvacations. com. 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:

I think the music is a dead giveaway where we're headed Mexico. Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Hello there, I'm Patrick Wiscombe alongside Mark Faldmo. Thank you so much for allowing this to be part of your weekend Coming up in this segment, we're talking about all-inclusive vacations to Cancun. But let's first get to the travel news headlines. Hyatt is going to purchase Playa Hotel and Resorts by the end of 2025. That kind of surprised me.

Mark Faldmo:

They've had quite a long partnership, actually because Hyatt Hotels wanted to get into the all-inclusive business but didn't necessarily want to open up their own brands, and so they contracted with Playa Hotels and Resorts. They created the Hyatt Ziva brand, which we've talked about several times on this show. One of my favorite hotel brands was Playa Resorts, and now Hyatt is going to fully acquire the company and incorporate it into their brand. A few years ago, Hyatt also bought ALG, which was then AM Resorts, which is Secrets oh Secrets, yeah. The then AM Resorts, which is Secrets oh Secret, yeah, the Secrets Resorts, secrets. And those brands.

Mark Faldmo:

And so Hyatt already does own some all-inclusive in its portfolio, but now they are acquiring Playa Resorts. I think this will be a good move. Marriott has done the same thing. In fact, one of Playa Resorts hotels in Dominican Republic is an autograph collection by Marriott, so I don't know what's going to happen with that, but Marriott has now taken a similar path in contracting out to do some other all-inclusive brands. But I think Marriott is now also going to start opening up their own all-inclusive resort soon.

Patrick Wiscombe:

You, Mark, were instrumental in helping me get my global entry pass. There's a little lesser known perk to having a global entry pass. What is it?

Mark Faldmo:

I just learned about. The global entry will give you expedited entry into Australia and New Zealand, with more countries to come soon.

Patrick Wiscombe:

So getting into Australia and New Zealand is the perk.

Mark Faldmo:

Yes, so you'll get to go into a special line? Yes, it would be a global entry line, like you would if you're coming back to the US, so you'll get that expedited screening and not have to wait in those long lines at the international airports.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Oh man, what a pain in the tuchus. Yes, Some of those lines are pretty bad too.

Mark Faldmo:

They can be. I just saw actually one of my friends going to Cancun, which we're talking about here in a minute. He landed just at the wrong time, took him two hours and 30 minutes to get through customs at the Cancun airport Yikes.

Patrick Wiscombe:

And I'm going to assume that he didn't have a global entry pass, correct?

Mark Faldmo:

Which global entry doesn't work in Mexico, but if you travel there a lot, they do have a similar program that US citizens can buy. That does get you to an expedited line.

Patrick Wiscombe:

True story. So let's rewind the clock about 10 months ago. You and I are in Fort Lauderdale. We were actually in Palm Beach. Okay, yeah, so Palm Beach. Mark and I had just gotten off a ship in Palm Beach and he had global entry, and this was before I had global entry basically escorted him to the front of the line because he had global entry and Patrick did not, and Patrick had to wait quite a while a long while I had time to go to the airport, get a rental car, and you had just gotten out by the time I got back from getting the rental car.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, that was the right call.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yeah, let's talk about the most impressive pyramids to visit in Mexico. First of all, I did not realize how many pyramids there really were, so let's talk about the best ones.

Mark Faldmo:

This is one of the questions I get quite a bit what are the best ones to visit and where to visit what you just stated? You were surprised at how many there are. Actually, the answer is nobody knows, because any hill in the Yucatan is probably a peninsula or is probably a pyramid and it has not been discovered yet. And so there are probably lots and lots of pyramids in Mexico.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Nobody knows Nobody knows.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, wow, they're all over the country. Probably the most known one is Chichen Itza. Yeah, that's the one that everyone wants to visit. It's very impressive. It's main pyramid, it's a site that's been completely unearthed from Cancun. It's about a two to three hour drive from the city of Cancun to get out to Chichen Itza. You're driving from Cancun, which is on the east side of the Yucatan, and you drive about three quarters of the way across the Yucatan to get to Chichen Itza.

Patrick Wiscombe:

All right, so you're going for a drive.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, if you continue further, you'd get on to the city of Merida, which is another big city there.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Are there other pyramids that you've been to that are pretty impressive.

Mark Faldmo:

Coba is one that's probably my favorite pyramid and it is south of Cancun, so you would drive about three hours south of Cancun to get to Coba. We've talked about Tulum before, which is about two hours or so now south of Cancun. Those are kind of the ones that if you're visiting Cancun that you would want to try and visit. So there's kind of a tight-ish group there. There is.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yeah.

Mark Faldmo:

And I actually have a guide in Cancun that will do. It's a several-day tour, but you'll kind of do a circle Yucatan and you'll see all of the archaeological sites that are around there. And there's so many, I mean more than what we've said here. Another one that's kind of easy for tourists to get to is Teotihuacan, which is in Mexico City. I remember flying in Mexico City, flying right over that. It's a quite impressive site.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Just because I have never been to pyramids. Once you've seen a pyramid, is it? Once you've seen one you've kind of seen them all, or do they?

Mark Faldmo:

vary. You know, I think they vary from location to location. They're all unique. They all have different things, maybe different stories and different stories as well. For instance, there's a pyramid in Veracruz, which is also on the Gulf of Mexico, halfway between Merida and Texas, called El Tajin, and I think that's an interesting name because Tajin kind of sounds Asian.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yeah, that's what.

Mark Faldmo:

I thought, this looks like an Asian temple Going back to when we were talking about Uxmal. It's a very steep, very different design than, say, Chichen Itza is, and so I think you could spend the week seeing different archaeological sites and have a great time.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Since we're talking about pyramids and visiting Mexico, that naturally leads into the hot travel deal of the week, which is Cancun all-inclusive vacations. What promotion or offer do we have for listeners this week?

Mark Faldmo:

Our promotion this week is Cancun. Well, it's all of Mexico, but we're talking about Cancun in this segment. So save up to $300 on all-inclusive vacation packages. And something that I've noticed the last two or three weeks is some of the five-star hotels have really come down in price, and so I think it might be the time of year that I'm looking, which is May, so this is a May 8th departure date. This was the very best date when I searched, which was a May 8th departure, where the five-star hotels were such a good deal. I thought we'd highlight those, and the first one is the Catalonia Yucatan Beach, and it starts at $1169 per person. So that's round-trip airfare from Salt Lake City, five nights hotel and transfers between the airport and hotel. And then another five-star is the Margaritaville Island Reserve.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Now, is this tied in with Jimmy Buffett? It is. Is this the Margaritaville?

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, Margaritaville, I've stayed at this one.

Patrick Wiscombe:

It's a fabulous hotel and it starts at $1569 per person. Knowing you, you don't throw out those compliments all the time. When you say it's a spectacular place, you mean it I really like the feeling of the Margaritaville Resort.

Mark Faldmo:

They just have Jimmy Buffett relaxed feeling, but it's still upscale, and so that's what I like about that. And then we'll throw in one more, which is the El Dorado Seaside Palms, which starts at $1599. Yeah, that's one of your favorites, that is one of my go-tos, and I'll just say the Margaritaville and El Dorado have dropped about $300 per person since last time I looked.

Patrick Wiscombe:

All right. So the offer this week, the hot travel deal of the week, is Cancun all-inclusive vacations. Save up to $300 on those vacations and you can call Mark for those details to save the most amount of money. Call him during the break 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. He will also post this on blueplanetvacations. com when we come back. We've got the infamous Just Cruising segment. Laura Okonowski with MSC Cruises is going to make a return appearance talking about the MSC World America and we've also got the cruise deal of the week that is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast or radio show continues Alongside Mark Faldmo. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. We hope you're having a terrific weekend. We'll be right back, Wiscombe. We hope you're having a terrific weekend.

Show Voice:

We'll be right back. They've literally traveled millions of miles to answer your travel related questions. Yeah, they really have. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. America's best travel advisors, Patrick and Mark, will be back after these messages this segment of inside travel talk is sponsored by star clippers.

Ad Voice:

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Patrick Wiscombe:

Welcome back inside of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Coming up. In the next 30 minutes we will be talking about MSC's new World America ship, Beautiful ship. Disney Cruise Line is setting sail to Alaska and, of course, we've got the cruise deal of the week and this time we're headed to Vietnam and Cambodia. Let's get back to the show. The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com contains travel deals, promotions and offers that may be time sensitive. All offers and information were accurate when the show aired. Travel deals and offers change constantly and are capacity controlled and subject to change without notice.

Show Voice:

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:

All aboard. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for allowing both of us to be part of your weekend Coming up in this particular segment of the show. Always in segment three, we've got the infamous Just Cruising segment. This week we are going to Vietnam and Cambodia and we've got a good deal. If you've always wanted to visit that part of the world, stay tuned. That's coming up here in this segment. We will also be talking with Laura Okonowski, with MSC Cruises and Mark did you watch the big game we can't say it for trademark purposes Did you watch the big game last Sunday, six days ago? I?

Mark Faldmo:

did?

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yep had a good little party ate some good food, watched kind of a boring football game. Before we get to Laura, let's do the cruise news headlines, and I saw this story that Disney Cruise Line is sending a second ship to Alaska. Now I think this is a brilliant move on their part, because Alaska is so popular it is.

Mark Faldmo:

The Disney Wonder has been doing Alaska for a few years and now they're sending the Disney Magic to double their presence. They do round-trip voyages and they hit the typical port Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, and most sailings will visit Dawes, glacier, and then the Magic's itineraries will feature a stop in Icy Strait Point.

Patrick Wiscombe:

With the second ship going to Alaska, meaning Disney. Is it on sale yet? What's the plan there?

Mark Faldmo:

Yes, and no Right now it's in an early booking period for Disney's Castaway Club members and that will go through Monday and so on Tuesday Disney is releasing their summer 2026 sailing. These Alaska Cruises, along with their summer schedule to Europe, all of that will be on sale to the general public. You can book that right. I can If you're a Castaway Club member. As long as you have your number, I can book that.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I want to get your opinion. What'd you think about MSC Cruises commercial I?

Mark Faldmo:

loved the commercial. Being a marketer, I thought it was brilliant. One of the problems that MSC has had is it's a very European brand and some Americans just don't get that when they sail on MSC, and so they built this ship purpose-built the MSC World America to sail in the US market. So how they did that commercial with Orlando Bloom and Drew Barrymore was perfect. They had Orlando Bloom playing the European kind of like the tomato, tomato type thing you know, and so they were showing how they're keeping their European heritage while still catering to the American market.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Let's bring in one of my favorite people, MSc Cruises' Laura Okonowski. Hi there, hi, let's talk about the big game commercial, about MSC's World America. That ship is beautiful.

Laura Okonowski:

Stunning. Yes, the MSC World America is really, I think, going to be a game changer in terms of vacation experiences, given the commercial. We are now launching a campaign and it is really echoing European style and American comforts and, when you think about it, if you've ever been to Europe, have you?

Patrick Wiscombe:

I never have no, mark has quite a bit.

Mark Faldmo:

I've been several times. Yeah, Okay.

Laura Okonowski:

There is a feeling of tradition, there's a feeling of renaissance, there's a feeling of just refinery. I think when you visit Europe, I think when you visit Europe and when you come on board the ships that MSC Cruises offers in its fleet, you feel that as soon as you walk on board and when we now look to the launch of this beautiful brand new ship in April World America she is going to be just decked out in European styling and have all the comforts that us Americans are accustomed to in terms of restaurants galore 19 restaurants, 18 bars and lounges throughout a full family Aventura district, which is going to have gaming areas. Oh, and the best part, oh my gosh, I can't wait to do this. You can go up to deck 11 and you can take an interior slide that will come down to the promenade area. It's 250 feet long and there are just so many fun family-centered things to do, and I'm just very much looking forward to seeing the ship in person.

Patrick Wiscombe:

What's the response been to World America, the new vessel?

Laura Okonowski:

People are eager to get on board. People have been making bookings for several months and we are seeing a surge of interest now on our MSC Cruises website. In talking with the travel advisors that I work with, they are getting inquiry after inquiry regarding this. So people were watching the big game on Sunday and they sure did see MSC Cruises commercial come to life.

Patrick Wiscombe:

The main theme of the commercial was Europeans going on holiday and Americans going on vacation. I want to zero in on that part of the ad.

Laura Okonowski:

Yes, Patrick, you got it. The campaign really is called let's Holiday. You know, here in America really is called let's holiday. You know, here in America people go on vacation. But Europeans, they go on holiday. While a vacation is a break from life, a holiday really is more of a celebration of it. And at MT Cruises we holiday and we want to set that stage for guests when they come on board, when they see our ships.

Laura Okonowski:

They are very stylish, there's a certain panache about them and there's really that sophistication that is the essence of the vessels as you walk throughout. Yet it has all those wonderful American comforts. We, as Americans, we associate a lot of comfort and emotion with food. We want certain foods when we travel, don't we? We might want a burger and fries, a burger on the go, we might want pizza at midnight. So we have all these customary things that Americans love. But I think we can maybe take a page out of the European playbook and linger a little bit longer. Maybe sip sangria by the pool, maybe have that two hour five course dinner, not every night, but maybe once in a while. So that's really, I think, what was coming across in that wonderful commercial the other day.

Patrick Wiscombe:

You've seen a ton of traffic on MSC Cruises. You've had travel advisors calling you about MSC World America. Let's get people on the ship now. Calling you about MSC World America. Let's get people on the ship now. What promotions do you have for World America and just MSC Cruises in general? But let's start with World America.

Laura Okonowski:

Well for World America. You know the voyages will begin April of this year. So if you are looking to book that special holiday be it a family reunion, maybe a graduation party, maybe a summer come along, family fun Now is the time to lock in those best prices. We are very competitive in the marketplace with the launch of the ship and the onboard amenities will not disappoint. You can give a call to Blue Planet Vacations and talk to Mark and his team there, or reach out to them in other ways.

Laura Okonowski:

But beyond World America, there are some amazing things happening as well in Galveston, Texas, not too far away, starting in November of 2025. And you know we're about to celebrate a holiday on Monday, the 17th of February. We're about to celebrate a holiday on Monday, the 17th of February, that holiday being President's Day, and of course, MSC has a very special promotion in conjunction with the coming holiday. So, beginning on the 14th of February through Monday the 17th, we will be offering up to 40% off on several cruises on both World America leaving out of Miami, wonderful western and eastern Caribbean itineraries, also offering Galveston opportunities leaving out of that area on November of 25, and the Galveston departures will be the seascape ship where a beautiful terminal is actually being built right now and underway for the departure and home porting of that particular ship.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Wait, so is Seascape moving from Miami over to Galveston now.

Show Voice:

It is.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Oh, that's a change.

Laura Okonowski:

Yes, it will be so that it'll be home, ported right there in Galveston, to do the seven night voyage that will be visiting Costa Maya, Mexico, Roatan, Honduras and Cozumel, Mexico, with some sea days speckled in. So great opportunity there. And I'm not afraid to say it, I'm going to mention it. My colleagues at MSC Cruises have done the math and I'm just going to put it out there. Our voyages at MSC leaving out of Galveston are literally 30% lower in cost of cruise fare versus some of our competitors. A big competitor starting with a C. Do you have an idea who that might be?

Mark Faldmo:

Patrick, I know Carnival yes.

Laura Okonowski:

So our voyages are 30% lower. Why are we doing this? You know, someone asked me the other day well, what's wrong with the voyage? Why is it 30% off? Well, we just really need to get our name on the map for Galveston. So MS Cruises is coming to town and we want people to know it.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I am genuinely surprised how aggressively priced less than competitors to get in the market and I think that the way that MSC is going first came on the scene in America.

Laura Okonowski:

We had been known as a challenger, a challenger cruise line in the US, because we were really kind of challenging the way of cruising and the bear of cruising and the way that we position our cruises. And now I really have to say, and I'm proud to say, that we are right alongside all of these big brands that have been in existence for a very long time, MSc is gaining a lot of momentum and a lot of interest and it feels really great. I've personally been on the ships and we do an amazing job with service, with food, with entertainment. Oh, and one of my favorite things about World America too. And oh, and one of my favorite things about World America too.

Laura Okonowski:

I grew up in the era of dirty dancing. I remember when I was 13 years old and that was like a you know a big deal because I think it was PG-13. So you had to be 13. And dating myself with that you're probably going to look up the year that it launched, but we will have one of our entertainment venues is going to be Dirty Dancing Live, so we are so excited about that. There's also a nod to the musical group Queen, where there's going to be a tribute to them with a lot of songs and costuming and we are just doing a lot of fun. Amazing things coming up here on our ships.

Patrick Wiscombe:

No one puts Laura Okonowski in a corner baby.

Laura Okonowski:

You got it, Patrick. Msc may have been a little unknown in the past, but we are definitely known now and in prior podcasts with you I have shared that MSC doesn't necessarily stand for Mediterranean Shipping Company. It should stand for more ships coming. But I just pull it and I think it should stand for more surprises coming, because we all want more surprises on the way with MSC, so let's get holidaying together, shall we?

Patrick Wiscombe:

Are you going on the inaugural sailing? I am.

Laura Okonowski:

I haven't seen my booking yet, but I've been told that I should be packing a bag for that inauguration. Yes, out of Miami on April 9th.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Next segment I promise we will get to it. And we are headed to Vietnam and Cambodia on the Mekong River in 2025, because space is still available. I promise we'll get to it. Next segment if you're interested in booking getting on any really any MSC cruise, call Mark in his office. Call Mark in his office 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717, or visit blueplanetvacations. com. When we come back, not only do we have the cruise deal of the week, but we've also got Mark's travel tips and Margaritaville at Sea Paradise. That particular ship is going under some much-needed refurbishment. We'll talk about that next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you, truly thank you, for making this 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 presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. America's best travel advisors, Patrick and Mark, will be back after these messages. Patrick and Mark will be back after these messages.

Ad Voice:

Inside Travel Talk is brought to you by Anna. Waterways, from castles and capitals to vistas and villages visit some of Europe's most remarkable sites and cities To set out on your own river cruise journey. Contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or blueplanetvacations. com.

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 inside of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, alongside Mark Faldmo. We are so grateful that you are listening to this show. Without you, we don't have a radio show, we don't have a podcast, we don't have a business. Thank you so much. We are really starting to make some traction, not only connecting with customers, but we're also getting a lot of traction with our listeners. So thank you again. The number of downloads that we get each and every single week, the number of people who listen to us on the radio network Honestly, we couldn't do it without you. So thank you so much for allowing us into your ears. As we come back from break, let's get to the travel news headlines Now. Mark and I were on this particular ship, Margaritaville at Sea Paradise. What was it about 10 months ago? Yeah, it was April of 2024.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, April of 2024.

Patrick Wiscombe:

And they just announced what appears to be a refurbishment.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, this is a major refurbishment which the ship needs. It's an older ship so it has to go through these refurbishments a lot more often than most ships. It was originally built in 1991 for Costa Cruises. There aren't very many, at least, of the ships that we're familiar with sailing that are older than about 2000. Most of them are newer and so, as we noticed, it did have lots of areas where it probably needed some refurbishment. But they're going to completely redo the dining and beverage experience, new entertainment, and they are going to make some changes to the cruise terminal there in Palm Beach to make the boarding process a little bit simpler.

Patrick Wiscombe:

That was an issue, yeah.

Mark Faldmo:

So hopefully Patrick doesn't have to wait in line for two hours while mark go gets the car.

Patrick Wiscombe:

That was bad hey, anyone here have a global entry mark. Raises his hand front of the line see if. Okay, I'll see in two hours.

Mark Faldmo:

That was pretty rough, this ship it's probably not a ship that a lot of people listening would go on. It mainly does-night cruises to Grand Bahama Island, but it has started doing three and four-day cruises as well, where it also adds in NASA. It mainly does short cruises. Its main target audience is basically the Florida market, but they do get some people from elsewhere. If I had two or three days to burn, I might do that. I like to be out on the ocean and it's a fairly affordable product.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Very affordable. Did you say they're redoing the food Just?

Mark Faldmo:

the dining room. So they're not doing the quality of the food, but they're redoing how the dining room looks.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Okay, all right, because I was going to say the main dining room food was excellent, at least when we were there. It was really really good. It was really good Buffet. They could probably tweak that. They do need to improve that one for sure.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, the dining room was good and the Burger in Paradise was good.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Oh, my goodness, how many burgers did I have?

Mark Faldmo:

It was a two night. You probably had 12.

Patrick Wiscombe:

No, I didn't, it was lunch and dinner.

Mark Faldmo:

I didn't have 12. I know.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Okay, maybe six, five or six. Italy is proposing a new law to protect accommodations and restaurants from fake and paid-for online travel reviews. I'm curious about this story.

Mark Faldmo:

They're targeting online reviews because far too often, many of the reviews are fake or paid for. There are a lot of businesses that go out and pay for reviews. There are some businesses that pay for reviews bad reviews for their competitors.

Patrick Wiscombe:

That's pretty greasy to me.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, and so Italy is trying to combat this. One thing that they are going to require for reviews that are displayed in Italy are, for hotels and restaurants, proof of stay or proof of using that service. So provide a receipt or something before the review can actually be posted on the review site.

Patrick Wiscombe:

So there's a pause, basically for verification.

Mark Faldmo:

Correct. I don't know how they're going to do that, because I assume this is going to apply to TripAdvisor and all of those sites Airbnb, all of those sites that have review services. Looking at some of the reviews and comparing to my experiences there, a lot of times I'm like is this a real review? It's always hard to say. So if Italy can get that down, I hope the industry just adopts that, because I think you should only be able to leave a review if you actually used the service.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yeah, agreed. As we went to break, I promised that we would get to the cruise deal of the week, which is Vietnam and Cambodia, the Mekong River, in 2025, because space is still available, what promotion do we have for listeners this week, mark?

Mark Faldmo:

The promotion is save it up to $1,500 or get a two-for-one land package, and I'm actually looking at some of these prices. I don't think I've ever seen this Vietnam and Cambodia, so Mekong cruise this low. This is on Ama Waterways, which is that's your favorite of the river cruises. That is. That's my favorite brand. One thing that I like about this is we've talked about river cruising. You're on a smaller ship, not as many people. This ship in Mekong is even smaller. It has 64 cabins on it, so 128 guests.

Mark Faldmo:

Oh wow, it is about a third smaller than even the river cruise ship.

Patrick Wiscombe:

So what ship is this from Ama?

Mark Faldmo:

It's called the Amadara. Have you been on this one, this ship? I've not. I've not been on this one. I do look forward to doing this one day. And one thing that I really like about this is you do start in Ho Chi Minh City or end in Ho Chi Minh City, depending on which direction you go, and then you do go to Sem Reap and Ngor Wat area. There is a land portion of this. That's really interesting. What's the price? On the Mekong River, as we mentioned, there still are several dates in 2025 that are available. The very best price. I don't think I've ever seen this river cruise this low starts at $2,089 per person.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Wow.

Mark Faldmo:

Wow, and that's August 11th. Now I can tell you why it's that low because August 11th is a pretty hot and humid time to be there, compared to other dates. If you get later into October, November, that's $1,200 to $1,400 lower than other dates, so that August 11th or September 8th is also a pretty good date and on both of those you can either get $1,500 off per person or get a two-for-one land. I probably would do the land and go see the stay a little bit longer before the cruise because logistically the beginning and end of this cruise are a little bit challenging.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Well, it'll give you time to adjust your body clock as well. Yes, how far ahead of us time-wise are they right now, from here in Salt Lake.

Mark Faldmo:

I believe they're 14 hours ahead. Of us.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Okay, that will mess with you.

Mark Faldmo:

Yes.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I think you're right. Do the land portion? I mean, you're going to save the money. You just pick and choose where you want to save the money. Have I got that right? That's correct. Yeah, pick and choose where you want to save the money. Have I got that right? That's correct. Yeah, that's going to do it. Man, every week I say this.

Patrick Wiscombe:

This hour goes by so fast. Call Mark in his office If you want to book any of the vacations that we have talked about for the last hour. Call him, just get the conversation started. There's no obligation.

Patrick Wiscombe:

It is An amazing time to be alive, because all you have to do is pick a destination, get on a plane, get on a boat, get on a train However you decide to get there. It's amazing that we even have that option. You can listen to this show again tomorrow morning, Sunday at 11 am, right here on this radio station, and you can stream, download and subscribe to the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. We are on all of the major podcast platforms and you can just stream the show on InsideTravelTalk. com. Just press play if you don't want to subscribe. Well, we've done our job. It is now your turn to get out and explore the world, and the reason I'm saying this is because you never know what Curveball's life is going to throw at you. Live your life deliberately. Live your life intentionally. Thank you for listening. Have a great week. We'll 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. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.

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