Inside Travel Talk
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Inside Travel Talk
Luxe Journeys: Virgin Voyages, Puerto Vallarta Deals & Mediterranean Wonders
Unlock the secrets of luxurious travel experiences as Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, guide you through the latest and greatest in the world of travel. Ever wondered how a cruise vacation can transform your perspective? Discover the allure of Virgin Voyages and Mediterranean Cruises, and understand why Puerto Vallarta is stealing the spotlight this wave season. We unpack the nuances of Florida's booming tourism industry and also address the challenges facing Santorini due to recent earthquakes and the implications for travelers.
Get ready for irresistible travel deals and news! From Hawaii's potential all-inclusive option to Venice's extended tourist tax, we cover the spectrum of exciting opportunities and considerations for curious travelers. Puerto Vallarta emerges as the hot travel deal of the week with substantial savings for adventures from Salt Lake City. Plus, Royal Caribbean's new cruise itineraries and Princess Cruise Lines' enticing offers are bound to have you dreaming of Mediterranean shores. Our insights into the Cruise Globe app and state-by-state favorite cruise lines add an extra layer of excitement for cruise enthusiasts.
As we head into the future of travel, payment innovations and luxury journeys take center stage. Norwegian Cruise Line's acceptance of PayPal simplifies your booking experience, while stories of AI in travel planning bring both humor and caution. For those with a taste for opulence, the growing trend of luxury train travel offers a unique escape. We wrap up with a heartfelt reminder to seize life's adventures and explore the world with intention. Catch the full episode to stay inspired and ready to embark on your next unforgettable journey.
It is time to talk travel. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. On today's show, we are going to be talking about Virgin Voyages, Mediterranean Cruise Lines, and we are headed to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta, specifically. 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: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 Fulton.
Patrick Wiscombe:It is the weekend, which means it is time to talk travel. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Hello there, I am Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Fulton will be here in the studio here in just about 30 seconds. The entire purpose of this show is to help you plan and book your next vacation, and if you have no idea where to go, mark and I will be giving you some ideas of maybe where you should consider going on your next vacation. And this show is presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, and I just want to say thank you for taking the time to stop and listen. As I mentioned at the very start of the show, we're talking about Virgin Voyages, Mediterranean Cruises, Puerto Vallarta. But before we get to those specific topics, let me bring in my co-host and friend, mark Faldmo. I don't like this trend that we're on that I just don't even talk to you during the week, like the last three weeks, and then we jump in the studio together and we have to quickly catch up and plan the show.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, yeah, I have to get back to talking more regularly, absolutely.
Patrick Wiscombe:Been busy, though it has been busy. We're in wave season right now.
Mark Faldmo:Traditionally in the travel world wave season is January, February and March and we can sell up to sometimes a little bit more of 50% of all of our total sales happen in those three months, so it's a busy time in the travel world.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the travel news headlines and then we'll get to Virgin Voyages. I saw a news story that Florida has set an all-time tourism record. Now you and I were there last year. I get it. Florida is awesome.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, it is. Florida has lots of advantages. They have the theme parks, they have the top two busiest cruise ports. Plus they also have the sixth busiest cruise port. Air arrivals in Florida in 2024 were up 3.1%. Room nights sold in Florida were up 1.6%. So that's over their biggest years ever. It's one of my favorite places to go. We've talked about this before, but I love Miami area, going out to the Everglades, going out to some of those places that aren't, as I guess, touristy as some of the places in Florida. Interestingly enough, the cities that saw the most growth were Tallahassee, panama City and Pensacola. Really so it wasn't what we'd think of Miami, Orlando, Tampa area. It was these kind of secondary cities that saw the largest growth.
Patrick Wiscombe:It's just awesome down there it is, although you do have to get used to the humidity, or at least Patrick does.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, no, Mark does too. Mark doesn't like humidity. Yeah, no, Mark does too. Mark doesn't like humidity.
Patrick Wiscombe:I'm a desert rat. I saw some of the pictures coming out of Santorini, Greece, the earthquake that happened and it's leaving, or it has left, at least the pictures that I saw. Santorini just deserted. There's some destruction for sure.
Mark Faldmo:Santorini is probably one of the most popular, or at least on everyone's bucket list when they think of Greece. It's up on a hill, an island that has the whitewashed buildings with blue-tone-topped buildings. It is just a picturesque Greek isle when you think of that. But they have, over the past three to four weeks, been suffering from a series of earthquakes which actually this past week, caused the first cruise ship of the year, which was the Viking Star from Viking Cruises, to cancel its port, and they also canceled.
Mark Faldmo:I believe, two other cruises to Santorini. But one thing that makes Santorini beautiful is its location. If you look at Santorini on a map from above, it's kind of a half moon island with other little islands that complete and make a full circle. Santorini is actually a caldera, the top of a volcano. So what you're seeing on Santorini is the top of an inactive volcano, but that's what makes it such a scenic island.
Patrick Wiscombe:I hope they can recover quickly.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, santorini is an island that's almost completely dependent on tourism, so if there's no tourism, the residents would have a very hard time making a living.
Patrick Wiscombe:Airlines are calling for scrapping the passenger compensation proposal.
Mark Faldmo:Last year we talked about the new rule that went into effect where, if a flight was canceled due to an airline issue so not weather the passenger either could take the rescheduling that the airline offered or the airline had to refund them in with, I believe, at seven days, so they can get a full refund. A few months ago, there was a new proposed rule where, on top of that for domestic delays, the airline would have to pay $200 to $300 per passenger on top of refunding them. Oh really, and so that's what the airlines are asking the new administration to scrap? As a passenger, I think that sounds great. If my flight is delayed, they pay $200, just for a flight delay. Sure, what that's going to do is raise the cost of air travel for everyone, because they'll have to build that cost into the tickets.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, they will I kind of agree with the airlines here that that shouldn't be an additional step. I think a full refund or taking what the airline can offer for a reschedule is fair compensation. The one thing I don't want is airlines to start increasing their fares to start covering all of these government regulations that are being proposed or going into effect.
Patrick Wiscombe:Always in the first segment of the show is the destination of the week, and this week we're going to take a deep dive into Virgin Voyages. Where do you want to start here?
Mark Faldmo:We've talked about Virgin Voyages a few times, but I thought it'd be nice to occasionally do some segments where we kind of take a deep dive into some of the lesser known cruise lines, hotels, destinations, and so this week I just want to start with how different they are. They have whole new lingo. They've crafted lingo. If you notice, it's Virgin Voyages.
Mark Faldmo:So, they use the term voyage instead of cruise. You're not a passenger on Virgin Voyages, you're a sailor. Kind of their theme is rebellious luxe, which is luxury, yet cheeky vibe. Vitamin C is termed. So vitamin C is S-E-A, which is their wellness program. They don't have a buffet on board, they call it the galley. It's almost like food trucks. I think by far it is the best concept I've seen at sea for that kind of traditional buffet area. They really cater to those with food allergies or special food needs. My wife, she's allergic to just about everything food-wise but in that galley that's the first cruise she's ever been able to go to that buffet area and have almost a full selection of food she can eat. They cater to it. One of the big things is she's allergic to dairy Desserts are always hard. She had five or six different dairy-free choices of desserts, so they really do cater to that.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about Virgin Voyage as being an adults-only cruise. So this is the anti-Disney cruise, basically.
Mark Faldmo:It is. It's the perfect getaway for couples.
Patrick Wiscombe:I know that we've already talked about the food just a little bit, but I do know that they have some interesting culinary offers. What are they?
Mark Faldmo:They have 20 dining experiences on board. They don't have a main dining room as you would think on a cruise ship. They don't have a main dining room as you would think on a cruise ship. Most cruise lines have a main dining room and you go either first or second dining or you go anytime dining, but they have five or six main restaurants and you eat at a different restaurant every night. One night you might go to Korean barbecue, the next night you might go to a steakhouse. They have a vegan themed restaurant which, by the way, I did order a cauliflower steak there at their vegan restaurant. It was one of the best things I've eaten. I'd say it's in one of my top 10 meals I've ever had was their cauliflower steak. It actually wasn't a sliced cauliflower steak, it was a whole thing of cauliflower, but it was very good.
Patrick Wiscombe:So I'll have a head of cauliflower, please.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, that's something that's different and unique is you don't really eat at the same restaurant every night. Basically, they're like specialty restaurants on other cruise lines and you rotate through these restaurants.
Patrick Wiscombe:What about entertainment on Virgin Voyages?
Mark Faldmo:It kind of breaks the traditional mold compared to other cruise lines. They really try and offer a little bit more immersive experiences, from thought-provoking shows to interactive shows. They are a little bit more edgy. Some of the shows you kind of have to watch they might have some language in them, but generally overall very good entertainment.
Patrick Wiscombe:When you say the entertainment is more inclusive, you're not talking about people watching the show. They're including the audience in the show. That's correct.
Mark Faldmo:Okay, so they really try and immerse the audience into the show. That's correct. Okay, yeah, so they really try and immerse the audience into the show that's going on.
Patrick Wiscombe:While we're talking about vitamin C S-E-A, let's talk about some of the wellness amenities.
Mark Faldmo:Yep. So again, that's their wellness program on board. They do it differently than a lot of cruise lines. Like yoga programs, their detox programs, they have personalized fitness on board. Wellness is probably one of their main building blocks of their brand. They do have a traditional spa, but it goes well beyond the traditional spa.
Patrick Wiscombe:For the fare that you pay when you get on Virgin Voyages. Is all of this stuff just included? What about Wi-Fi drinks? Are they extra charges?
Mark Faldmo:So your fare includes Wi-Fi tips and gratuities, all dining options, beverages which is complimentary, soda, water and various other drink options, all of the fitness center classes and all of the entertainment. So there's nothing more on board other than shore excursions really, that you would need to pay. They do offer some upgraded experiences that you can buy, but it's different than most cruise lines, especially in the beverages, where you have included soda on the ship.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay. So, unlike other cruise lines, virgin Voyages just includes all of that, rather than getting nickeled and dimed for each one of those things.
Mark Faldmo:That's correct. Okay, and one thing if you look at Virgin Voyages fares, they're very competitive to other cruise lines. Even with all of those additions, it doesn't add that much more when you compare it to other cruise line itineraries.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, see that might be very appealing to a lot of listeners then yes, oh see that might be very appealing to a lot of listeners then.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, I think all of those inclusions plus the adults only is perfect.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, that's going to do it for the deep dive into Virgin Voyages. What about current Virgin Voyages promotions, Mark?
Mark Faldmo:Right now, if you book by February 28th, virgin Voyage's current promotion is 80% off the second guest free drinks up to $300. That is for their premier alcohol and mixed drinks. So, as we said earlier, you do get sodas and certain other drinks are included. But if you want kind of that top shelf, upscale experience, they will pay up to $300. And then if you pay in full, you get an additional 10% off your cruise when you pay in full.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, so that means as soon as you book it, you just pay for the whole thing. I'll just call it a layaway plan.
Mark Faldmo:Correct.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, so just pay for the whole thing and get another 10%, get an extra 10% off. How many times have you sailed with Virgin Voyages, Mark? I've been on Virgin Voyages one time and it was a good experience for you.
Mark Faldmo:It was very good, I would go again, and again.
Patrick Wiscombe:Call Mark in his office if you are interested in sailing with Virgin Voyages. Call him in his office during the break 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And he will also post this on blueplanetvacations. com. When we come back it is the hot travel deal of the week and this week we're headed to Puerto Vallarta. So if that is on your bucket list or someplace that you want to return to, we've got a $300 savings that you'll want to cash in on. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend.
Show Voice:We'll be right back allowing us to be part of your weekend. We'll be right back. If you have travel questions, they have the answers. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Call or text the show right now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. 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. We hope you are having an absolutely terrific weekend and thank you for allowing us to be part of your weekend by allowing us to be inside of your ears and hopefully entertain you and give you ideas of where to go on vacation next. Coming up in this segment of the show always segment two of the show we have the hot travel deal of the week and this week we're going to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta specifically. But before we do, let's get to the travel news headlines. I thought this was kind of interesting, mark how Hawaii is considering if I've got this right an all-inclusive vacation option on the Big Island.
Mark Faldmo:I get lots of calls that say they want to go to Hawaii and stay at an all-inclusive resort and there really aren't any full all-inclusive resorts like you would think of in Mexico. Yeah, I think there's one that tried it a few years ago. It didn't go well, but the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island is offering an all-inclusive promotion. What this includes is when you book this room rate, so it's one of the room rates you can book. You can get just a regular room or you can book the all-inclusive promotion. So it includes daily breakfast at their buffet and then it includes dinner at one of their restaurants. They have three restaurants that you can eat at or you can upgrade to their Luau. It includes drinks at mealtime. It also includes one hour of the Lagoon Beach toy rental, so you can rent a kayak, stand up, paddleboard, water tricycle or paddle boat.
Patrick Wiscombe:Have you ever done a tricycle? I have Me too.
Mark Faldmo:It's harder than it looks. Also, one thing that this offers that I think is a good perk is it includes daily self-parking, which is $50 a day if you pay for it, so it's a really good offer. Again, it is going to be more expensive than just buying the regular room rate, but if you do want everything included and it to work like an all-inclusive in Mexico, this is a good option.
Patrick Wiscombe:Where is Hilton Waikoloa? I know it's the big island. Is that Hilo or is that Kona?
Mark Faldmo:It's in Kona. That's what you would fly into, so it's about 20 minutes from the airport. I love the big island.
Patrick Wiscombe:I saw that Venice and their day tripping tourist tax has been extended through 2025.
Mark Faldmo:It is Yep, so it's extended through 2025 and they've doubled the price, so it's now 10 euros. It was five euros, it's now 10 euro. Anyone going into Venice for the day will have to pay this day tripper tourist tax. If you are staying at a hotel, you do not have to pay it.
Patrick Wiscombe:And you like staying in Venice instead of trekking into Venice?
Mark Faldmo:Correct. If I were visiting Venice, I would stay on the island. There's nothing like Venice in the evening.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the hot travel deal of the week, which is Puerto Vallarta, in Mexico. Let's first talk about the areas of Puerto Vallarta that you like to stay, and so when traveling to Puerto Vallarta, there are several that you can choose from.
Mark Faldmo:In Puerto Vallarta, the main area where people stay is the hotel zone. The hotel zone is kind of best for convenience and it's where all of the all-inclusive resorts are. It's kind of right in between the airport and the downtown zone. And then the downtown zone is where I like to stay just because I like going to the Malecon, I like everything there is to do in the downtown zone. I would say for first-time visitors, the downtown zone is probably the best place to stay.
Patrick Wiscombe:So stay out of the hotel in this case to stay.
Mark Faldmo:So stay out of the hotel in this case, yeah, out of the hotel zone, yeah. And then there's also the Marina Vallarta. That's right next to the airports, where all the cruise ships come into, but there are some pretty nice all-inclusive resorts there, and this is where a lot of the resorts for families are based. The next zone is the Zona Romantica, so the romantic zone, which I don't necessarily like to stay there, but I like to go visit there because it's probably the most traditional. You'll get there and just feel like you're in that colonial Mexico Probably. My next favorite place to stay is the I would call it the South Beach area. This is the area that's kind of on the other side of downtown, but it has the best beaches. It has hotels, like the Hyatt Ziva that we've talked about, but it's just kind of on its own little bay, its own little secluded beach, and so this is the area that has the best beaches in Puerto Vallarta.
Patrick Wiscombe:So let's get to the actual hot travel deal of the week. What are the promotions that we have for listeners this?
Mark Faldmo:week. So right now, book by February 27th and you can save up to $300 for trips to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta in particular here that we're talking about, and this includes Five Nights Hotel, round-trip airfare from Salt Lake City and this also includes Roundtrip transfers from the airport to the hotel. Lately I've kind of only been looking at four-star and above hotels because those prices have been so good. The Crystal Puerto Vallarta starts at $1,089 for Airfare, five Nights Hotel from Salt Lake City and the transfers between the airport and hotel. And then if we bump up to a five-star hotel, there's a few that will go over here. But the IberoStar selection Playamita starts at $1329 per person.
Mark Faldmo:Now this is an area that we did not talk about. It's about an hour kind of north of the airport, so it's a ways away from the airport, but it's kind of in the newer. It's kind of an upscale area for vacations in the Puerto Vallarta area. And then the Villa Premier Boutique Hotel, five-star boutique. There's 72 rooms, so it's small, located in the downtown area. It's the closest hotel to the Malecan, which I really like. It starts at $1739 per person and this date I can't remember if we mentioned that or not it's May 7th, but we can also look at other dates on that.
Patrick Wiscombe:What was the first one where he had to book by the? Did you say February 27th?
Mark Faldmo:Correct, yeah, booked by February 27th to get the up to $300 off.
Patrick Wiscombe:How many times have you actually physically been in Puerto Vallarta?
Mark Faldmo:So including times when I've stopped on the cruise, probably 30 or 35.
Patrick Wiscombe:I was expecting you to say, like I don't know, five, 30 to 35. Wow.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, quite a bit. I love Puerto Vallarta.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, you do Take advantage of those offers. Call Mark in his office during the break. Just get the conversation started. There's no obligation 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. Or you can also go to blueplanetvacations. com. When we come back after the break, it is time for the infamous Just Cruising segment, and this week we're going to the Mediterranean. Stick around, If you've always wanted to go to that part of the world. That's what we're talking about next and we've got some awesome deals for listeners this week. Thank you so much for listening. We will be right back.
Show Voice:They've literally traveled millions of miles to answer your travel related questions. Yeah, they really have. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. America's best travel advisors, Patrick and Mark, will be back after these messages.
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Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, we're back. Thank you so much for listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Coming up. In the remaining 30 minutes we will be talking about Royal Caribbean having a new home port in San Diego, cruising in the Mediterranean. That will be the cruise deal of the week. Let's get back to the show. The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by blueplanetvacations. com contains travel deals, promotions and offers that may be time sensitive. All offers and information were accurate when the show aired. Travel deals and offers change constantly and are capacity controlled and subject to change without notice.
Show Voice:Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com America's best travel advisors. Hit us up right now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe:All aboard for the infamous Just Cruising segment on the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, in studio with Mark Faldmo Coming up. In this final segment of the show, we're going to be talking about Royal Caribbean and their brand new ship that's going to home port in San Diego. That's good news. Cruising in the Mediterranean that will be the cruise deal of the week, and how to find the most popular cruise line in your state. That's coming up in this segment, and it's only about cruise news, so let's go ahead and start right there, mark. Royal Caribbean has just announced that they're going to home port one of their ships in San Diego. What details do we have on that, though? This?
Mark Faldmo:will be the third ship on the West Coast for Royal Caribbean 2026 and 2027 winter season. They will move the Serenade of the Seas to San Diego. It will run three, four and seven night destinations and include a new port for Royal Caribbean, which will be La Paz, Mexico. So this won't be the typical Mexican Riviera cruise. It'll have that additional unique port of La Paz, Mexico. This year Royal Caribbean added the Navigator of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas, so this will be the addition of a third ship on the West Coast for Royal Caribbean.
Patrick Wiscombe:A new Royal Caribbean ship, Legend of the Seas, is now for sale to the public. Do we know the itineraries?
Mark Faldmo:Just a few days ago they put their brand new ship, the Legend of the Seas, itineraries up for sale, and it will spend the summer of 2026 sailing the Mediterranean from Barcelona, and then it will move to Fort Lauderdale for the winter season of 2026, where it will do Caribbean cruises. So if you're interested in sailing on the newest, biggest and best that Royal Caribbean has, this is a ship for you.
Patrick Wiscombe:That is one of the things that you and I love to do just to jump on new cruise ships. Got that new cruise ship smell? Yes, I thought this was kind of cool, Mark, that you can track all of your cruises in one place with the Cruise Globe.
Mark Faldmo:This is a unique app that someone's come up with called thecruiseglobe. com, and you can go in and put all of your past cruises back to 2015, in and it will show you a map on the world of every cruise port and itinerary that you have. All of these ships have satellite data, so it actually tracks the exact path that your cruise ship went.
Patrick Wiscombe:Did it really Okay. I'm going to have to do that then, cause that sounds like a lot of fun just to see the lines of where we went Sometimes.
Mark Faldmo:You know Google has a thing everywhere you went this year, and so Delta also has a thing, so I like to see that where I've been, but it doesn't track any of the cruises released. So this is an interesting app to do that. There are a lot of people that actually do go out and purchase professionally done, framed photos of their cruise itinerary, okay, and so this is kind of an alternate to doing that. I am going to do this and see what my map shows up. Again, they have all data going back 10 years to 2015. So it will only have a small portion of my cruises, but it'll be interesting to see that.
Patrick Wiscombe:This was kind of interesting that you can actually find out what the most popular cruise line in your state is, Because we're broadcasting from Salt Lake City. Let's start with Utah. What is Utah's most popular cruise line?
Mark Faldmo:As with most of the country, Utah's most popular cruise line is Disney Cruise Line.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, that makes sense.
Mark Faldmo:This was actually a survey study done by USA Today. West Coast, us US is Princess Cruises, and then you kind of have the middle and northern part of the US which is Disney Cruise Line, and then Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, the Carolinas is Carnival Cruise Line. In Florida it's Celebrity Cruise Line, whoa Celebrity. Yeah, in New York it's Celebrity Cruise Line, whoa Celebrity. In New York it's MSC Cruise Line, and then in Georgia, new Jersey and Delaware it's Virgin Voyages. I know I left a couple states out of that, but those cruise lines cover the survey. I find it interesting.
Ad Voice:Royal Caribbean did not show up as a favorite in the state as an all-out favorite.
Mark Faldmo:Royal Caribbean did not show up as a favorite in the state as an all out favorite. Well, especially in Florida with Icon of the Seas man, there's a lot of Royal Caribbean ships down there Norwegian didn't show up on this no-transcript and a couple of states that have Virgin Celebrity and MSC.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, interesting, that is not anything that I thought you were going to say. I guess you could say Celebrity is owned by Royal Caribbean.
Mark Faldmo:Correct. Yeah, but they are their own distinct brand. Yeah, they are.
Patrick Wiscombe:Always in this segment of the show, at the bottom of the hour, we always have the cruise deal of the week, and this week we're going to the Mediterranean. And what offer do we have for listeners this week?
Mark Faldmo:So this is on Princess Cruise Lines. They have their standard 40% off the cruise fare, free cabin upgrades and third and fourth guests free in the same cabin. But on top of that, for Mediterranean cruises booked by February 28th, they're giving up to an additional $800 instant saving discount and deposits of $99 on select voyages.
Patrick Wiscombe:So you're saying that you're going to be very busy this week? Listeners have to take advantage of these offers between now and like the 25th through the 28th.
Mark Faldmo:Correct, so it's close in. We have from today, Saturday February 22nd. We do have a week left to book those. So these are on Princess's newest ships which are sailing over in the Med right now. You're not only getting pretty much brand new ships, but you're getting very interesting itineraries.
Patrick Wiscombe:You, me and our wives. We like cruising on the newest cruise ships. I was looking at Sun Princess. That's a nice ship. That's a way nice ship.
Mark Faldmo:It is, and in the Med it has some very good pricing. So on the Sun Princess they have a seven-day Western Mediterranean cruise that sails between Barcelona and Rome. It visits Gibraltar, so that's a stop I've not been to but then it goes to Marseille, genoa, Italy port that'd be closest to Florence and Pisa, and then ends in Rome, and on August 9th. So this is in the summertime and I'm just going to give the balcony cabin on this starts at $1,609 per person for that seven-day cruise. Wow, the reason on that the inside cabin is only like $200 a person less, and so for that price difference you might as well go in a balcony.
Patrick Wiscombe:But it is available, just in case.
Mark Faldmo:It is available if you want that lower inside price. There's also an ocean view price in between that.
Patrick Wiscombe:Now, when you talk about ocean view, I won't say it's called a porthole, but basically that's what you're talking about Some kind of a porthole or pitcher window.
Mark Faldmo:Or pitcher window, yeah, and that's an ocean view. And then the cruise that I think I find most interesting is on the Majestic Princess. This is a 10-day Greece and Turkey cruise, so it sails between Athens and Rome. This one's a little bit closer in, it's on June 20th, but it sails from Athens. Goes to Mykonos in Greece, goes to Kusadasi in Turkey, so from there you can go to Ephesus, which I think is one of the most fascinating archaeological sites you can visit in that whole region. Then it goes to Rhodes in Greece, goes to Crete in Greece, goes to Katoclone, which is near Olympia, so that would be the port where you can go see where the first Olympics were held. Goes to Valletta in Malta, which we've talked about before that.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, you love.
Mark Faldmo:One of the most fascinating ports. Sailing into Valletta, Malta, is amazing. That's probably one of the top five cruise experiences that you can have, I think, just because of the scenery and how Valletta is laid out. It goes to Naples, go to Capri, go to Pompeii. You can go eat at the restaurant where the very first pizza was made. I would do that. In Naples, Italy, and then ends in Rome, so it's a 10-day cruise. Balcony cabins start at $17.99 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe:This sounds like very, very port intensive.
Mark Faldmo:It is yeah, so it only has two sea days in 10. You're in port every other day.
Patrick Wiscombe:How much was that again? Did you say $1799?
Mark Faldmo:Yeah $1799 for a balcony cabin. Again, there are insides available. They're about $200 a person less than that, but for this sailing into Malta I think the balcony cabin is worth it, just for that experience.
Patrick Wiscombe:This might seem like a strange question, but what side of the ship for this cruise would you be? On the port side, the left side, or starboard side, the right side?
Mark Faldmo:You would want to be on the starboard side for the sail into Valletta, Malta. Okay, that's where all the scenery is. When they sail out, it'll be on the other side of the ship. All the scenery is when they sail out, it'll be on the other side of the ship.
Patrick Wiscombe:But you know, I think the sailing is the time when it's I guess you'd say it's most magical when you're sailing in. You have raved about Malta for as long as we've been doing this show over a year and a half now.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I think of all the cruise ports I've been to, that is definitely in the top five of my favorite cruise ports.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, and I mentioned that you've done 150 cruises before and so, if it gets your attention, 150 plus cruises is a lot for anybody. But what I'm saying is, if it got your attention, just do it the way Mark did it, because if he was moved, just do it.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and you know, in this itinerary again, Kusadasi is also one of my favorites. Going to Ephesus I loved right there by the port in Kusadasi they had a bazaar those Turkish bazaars are to, so it's a very good itinerary. And also starting in Athens, going a few days before and see Athens. My favorite experience there is just going to a street café and getting a euro. Nothing like a good Greek authentic euro.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, I know what we're going to do, Nicky and I. Man, we are loading up on the cruises. Have you noticed that?
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, this week has lots of cruises. There's even a little bit more to come in the next segment.
Patrick Wiscombe:All right, more cruises coming up in the next segment. We've also got Mark's travel tips and we're going to talk about NCL accepting PayPal for cruise payments. That's kind of cool. And we'll talk about the top five cruise deals good Mexican Riviera and Alaska cruises. The goodness just continues in the next segment. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show. Call Mark in his office if you want to book any of these vacations 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717,. 888-718-7717.
Show Voice:We will be right back. Explore your world. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. We'll be right back.
Ad Voice:This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by Star Clippers. For over 30 years, Star Clippers has offered unique authentic tall ship sailing experiences featuring creative itineraries throughout the Mediterranean Caribbean and Central America. To book your unique Star Clipper sailing adventure, contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or 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.
Patrick Wiscombe:And now here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo. Welcome back inside of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, alongside Mark Faldmo, coming up in this final segment of the show, we have got the top five cruise deals that we're just going to mention. We're extending the cruise deal of the week, or the infamous just cruising segment, into this section of the show, and we're also going to be talking about NCL. Norwegian Cruise Line Holding is now going to accept PayPal for cruise payments, so that is not something that we have seen quite yet. In fact, mark, let's just go ahead and start there. As we come back from break, NCL has announced that they are going to take PayPal for cruise payments. When did that?
Mark Faldmo:start. That just barely started, and so that's for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings brands, which is Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceana Cruises and Regent Seven Seas. They did some testing on this and found that customers using PayPal get a 43% faster checkout than those using some of the traditional methods of checkout.
Patrick Wiscombe:So friction creates delay.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and you know, I think last week or maybe the week before we talked about I think it was JetBlue they're starting to take Venmo. A lot of travel companies don't take these kind of alternate payment methods, so I think this is a good thing for travel brands to start taking PayPal, Venmo, Google Pay, Apple Pay, things like that. Just making it easier is a good thing.
Patrick Wiscombe:Apple Pay I'm a huge fan of. There is just something magical about sending money through air. It's just amazing.
Mark Faldmo:In the past and I guess this segment we talk about travel tips. I always would have Google Pay or Apple Pay added to your phone when you're traveling. Make sure your phone is secure so it's behind a password or some type of biometric ID. I lost my wallet on an airplane Really and I landed in New York. I don't know what happened. I walked off the plane. I did the airplane dance, which I call it, which is check for my keys, wallet and all of the important things, and I was walking off. I didn't see it. I went back to my seat no wallet.
Patrick Wiscombe:Really.
Mark Faldmo:So I had no money, no credit cards. I did have my phone. Luckily, I knew my credit card number and so I set up a Google Pay account. With that, I got that all taken care of. I had the Uber app on my phone so I could get to where I needed to get, but Google Pay saved me. I do like these alternative payments. Without that, I wouldn't have been able to check into my hotel. You would have been hosed, I would have. Yeah, it would have not been fun.
Patrick Wiscombe:I saw a survey that Gen Z does not trust AI for booking travel. Gen Z is so tech savvy but I can see that AI could go horribly wrong.
Mark Faldmo:And I've got some stories about this. Ai is a great tool, especially for travel advisors. I use it every day. I've had some interesting stories. In fact. Just two weeks ago, we had a person come into the office and they said we found this perfect trip and here's what we want to do. And I looked at it and I was like how did you come up with this?
Mark Faldmo:It's like oh, I just said I want to do a trip to England and Scotland in AI and I had it planned me out. I suppose I could put that together, but it would have been a miserable vacation with the amount of travel AI had them doing. One of the things they told AI is they wanted to see lots of castles. I had like six different castles a day and it was the craziest itinerary I've ever seen.
Mark Faldmo:It probably made logistic sense. It didn't, and so there was another study done I think we talked about this last year where someone said I want to take a family vacation to Mexico. Plan it out. Yeah, I remember this. It was like to Mexico Cancun area and it had them staying in four different places and two of them were adult only hotels that AI recommended. So there is a place for AI and travel. It can give you some good ideas, but I would not rely on it. That's another reason why to use a professional travel advisor. Some of these AI tools are great, but they don't. I mean, AI has all of this information and it just kind of spits it out and hopes it's good. Going back to that main story, the Gen Zs, which are, I think, 18 to 35 year old's right now, just don't trust AI for much right now.
Patrick Wiscombe:So call Mark yeah.
Mark Faldmo:Call Mark is what we're saying. Call Mark, no matter what generation you're a part of and we can help.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let AI plan something for you, but let Mark check your work. If you've been listening to the show for any amount of time, you know that Mark and I love traveling on trains and we have the biggest train travel trends. Wow, say that 10 times For 2025, what are the train travel trends?
Mark Faldmo:The trend is there's more and more of these train companies operating all around the world. There's a new train in UK, the Belmond Express, which operates two to three night train tours with sleeper cars. It's a luxury train that goes around the UK. There's some new additions to the Orient Express which we've talked about. Now. Both of these first two options are in the luxury category, so they're very, very luxurious. In fact, off-air, we were talking about this new car that Orient Express has added, which is where a person buys the whole car and it has a bedroom, a big bathroom, a sitting room with a fireplace. It's probably pretty pricey, but if you can afford it, it's probably amazing. That'd be awesome.
Mark Faldmo:Also launching in 2025 that we've talked about the La Doce Vita Orient Express, which is an Italian train tour. I think last week we talked about the night train. There's actually several of these night trains starting around Europe. There's one starting in Italy called the Espresso train, which is a night train to get people from Rome to the Italian Alps and then further away outside of Europe. Most of what we've talked about is in Europe. We've talked a lot about the Rocky Mountaineer, which has Canadian travel, as well as Southern Utah train travel.
Patrick Wiscombe:And you were on it in August of last year, 24.
Mark Faldmo:24. Yeah.
Patrick Wiscombe:And you loved it. It was two days.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I went from Denver to Moab. I would do it again in a heartbeat. And then there's two brand new trains out there. There's a train starting in Saudi Arabia, so it will be the first rail service. It's called Dream of the Desert and I don't have a lot of details on this, but I think that would be interesting to do. And then there's a train called the Trans-Mongolian Railway, which is an 11-day train from China to Mongolia. So that starts in Beijing on a bullet train to Inner Mongolia and then you explore all of Mongolia, including the Gobi Desert, some other interesting sites there in Mongolia. That's kind of our train report for this, but lots of new and exciting things when it comes to train travel. I like train travel because it's kind of a laid back way to travel.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, and you don't have to watch the road.
Mark Faldmo:You don't have to watch the road or the tracks yeah, you get scenery. I kind of like that slower pace of rail travel.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, before we close up shop for the week, let's mention the top five cruise deals for this week. This will just be an extension of the infamous Just Cruising segment from last segment. What are the top five cruise deals?
Mark Faldmo:So I just wanted to point out on the blueplanetvacations. com, under cruise deals, there is a link to the top five cruise deals of the week. As I was preparing for the show, I decided to add in these last two cruise deals and I put them at the top of the top five cruise deals just because the prices are so good. One is a seven-day Mexican Riviera cruise. This goes November 8th. An inside cabin starts at $699 per person and a balcony cabin starts at $829 a person.
Patrick Wiscombe:Wow, what ship is that on? Do you remember?
Mark Faldmo:That is, on the Royal Princess, which is one of Princess Cruises' newer ships. And then the next cruise deal I wanted to point out and this one is a little bit close in, but again the price point on this is amazing it's a seven-day Alaska cruise. It's a northbound cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line, on the Norwegian Jade, which is one of Norwegian's older ships, but it's also one that I really like. I like the layout of it. I think the ship interior flows really well. This is a cruise that goes from Vancouver to Whittier, stops at Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Hubbard Glacier, which is one of my favorite glaciers. Departure date is May 12th, so close in.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, it is.
Mark Faldmo:Inside cabin starts at $499 per person. Balcony cabin starts at $799 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe:For Alaska. How many days For an Alaska cruise? Seven days.
Mark Faldmo:That's the seven-day northbound cruise, holy cow, may 12th. Wow. So again, both of those, along with about eight other cruise deals, are on that top five cruise deals on the blueplanetvacations. com website. So just in the upper navigation area click on cruise deals top five and then click on the top five cruise deals and that will come up.
Patrick Wiscombe:I'm going to give an unsolicited plug. You have no idea I'm going to do this, but I have spent quite a bit of time on blueplanetvacations. com. This is going to sound like a promo piece, it's not. Mark doesn't even know. I'm going to say this. I don't know if you've noticed that Patrick has spent a ton of time looking at cruises this week on the site. You probably have noticed a lot of time on the site from you know, but, uh, you know some IP address. It's me, yeah, and I will just simply say that if you know what you're looking for, go to blueplanetvacations. com and then, in the right side, just do a cruise search and you can book it online and it does a phenomenal job explaining the deck plans, what your cruise is, what your room is. And I don't know if you've noticed, but I did book some cruises. Did you get emails that I actually booked? I did.
Mark Faldmo:Oh, I saw a reservation come through for you, so only one. No, you've been busy. You've actually booked a few. I was just only one yesterday, but before that there were two others. Okay.
Patrick Wiscombe:So that's my point is, I was a little bit of self-service there, just because I knew that you are in the middle of wave season and I could just do it myself. You and I have not discussed this, but your website in terms of booking cruises is phenomenal BluePlanetVacations. com yeah.
Mark Faldmo:And you said that if you know what you're looking for, go there.
Patrick Wiscombe:But even if you don't know what you're looking for.
Mark Faldmo:You can go to some of the resources like the top five cruise deals, or just search. You can put in you want to look for a med cruise. It'll tell you every ship and every cruise line and all of their prices for whatever time period you put in.
Patrick Wiscombe:So it was phenomenal. And I'm not trying to talk about the website. All I'm saying is that I know how busy you were this week. I'm glad that you got everything then. Yeah, all right, we'll wrap it up there thing then. Yeah, all right, we'll wrap it up there. In case I didn't make it clear, go to blue planet vacations dot com for the deals that we have already discussed.
Patrick Wiscombe:But if you have additional questions and inevitably you will, because even I have had questions I just happen to have mark's cell phone so he was able to respond even though he was incredibly busy Call him in his office. Get the conversation started. There's no obligation. Call him 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And thank you so much for listening. You can listen to this show again tomorrow morning, Sunday, at 11 am, right here on this radio station and around the country, and you can stream, download and subscribe to the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. Mark and I are on all of the major podcast platforms. We've done our job. Now it is your turn to get out and explore the world while you can, because you never know what curveballs life is going to throw at you. As we like to say here, live your life deliberately, live your life intentionally. And again, thank you so much for listening. Have a great week.
Show Voice:That's it. That's the end of the show You've been listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Book your adventure right now. Call 888-718-7717. That's 888-718-7717. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.