Inside Travel Talk
Explore Your World! The Inside Travel Talk Podcast is filled with destination information and travel, cruise and vacation tips and tricks. Its the Christmas catalogue of Travel! We are here to help you get out there and Explore Your World.
Inside Travel Talk
Navigating Europe and Caribbean Adventures: Insider Tips for Travel Planning
Traveling with a family of five presents unique challenges, especially when it comes to cruise accommodations. Most standard cabins are designed for a maximum of four guests, forcing larger families to book separate rooms—an expensive and sometimes impractical solution. Today, we unveil the cruise lines that offer cabins specifically designed for families of five, including Royal Caribbean's family ocean view cabins, Norwegian's accommodations on their Breakaway class ships, and specialized options from Disney, Carnival, and even Holland America's Koningsdam.
For travelers drawn to European adventures, we explore the innovative "hub and spoke" tour concept from Globus and Cosmos. These tours allow you to unpack just once while enjoying guided excursions to surrounding areas—perfect for those who want to experience multiple destinations without the hassle of constantly changing hotels. The London Country tour from Globus lets you stay in London while venturing out to the Cotswolds, Oxford, and Stonehenge, while Cosmos offers unique culinary experiences in Tuscany and the lesser-known Puglia region.
Princess Cruises is making waves with their announcement of San Juan departures beginning in fall 2025. These Southern Caribbean itineraries reach stunning destinations like Grenada, Dominica, and the British Virgin Islands—ports that are rarely included on standard Caribbean cruises from Miami or Fort Lauderdale. We discuss why San Juan is an underrated gem and how these itineraries offer a rich cultural tapestry with British, Dutch, and French influences throughout the region.
The travel industry continues to evolve, with airlines reporting decreased demand leading to surprisingly affordable fares. We break down what this means for your travel plans and how you might capitalize on these savings. Additionally, we cover essential travel tips including the importance of traveling with a passport even on closed-loop cruises and how to avoid increasingly sophisticated hotel scams.
Whether you're planning a family cruise, European adventure, or Caribbean getaway, this episode provides the practical advice and insider tips you need to make informed decisions. Contact us to turn these travel insights into your next unforgettable vacation experience.
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, we will be talking about cruise cabins that will accommodate a family of five. In case you don't know, that's a big deal. Princess Cruises has announced that they will be sailing from San Juan a totally underrated island, by the way, a simple way to visit Europe with Globus and Cosmos, and Delta is officially teaming up with Uber. Oh sure, now they do it. Let's start the show. The Inside Travel Talk podcast, a 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:Explore your world. It's the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by planet vacations dot com. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700 and check out the podcast at inside travel talk dot com. And now here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, good morning. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Hello there, I am Patrick Whisker. Mark Faldmo will be here in just a moment Coming up on today's episode of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show.
Patrick Wiscombe:We will be talking about cruise cabins that will accommodate a family of five. Now, if you're new to cruising, this is a big deal. You wouldn't think that going from four to five people in the same room would be an issue, but it is and we've got a solution for it. Princess Cruises has now announced that they will be sailing from San Juan, Puerto Rico which, by the way, Nicki and I were there about two what was it three weeks ago? Really like San Juan, beautiful place, and we have a simple way to visit Europe with Globus and Cosmos.
Patrick Wiscombe:If you are brand new to the show, the entire purpose of this radio show and podcast is to help you plan and book your next vacation. And if you don't know where to go, we're going to give you ideas of where to go. And this show is presented by blueplanetvacations. com. And just a big thank you, truly thank you, for taking the time to stop and listen, because without you, we don't have a company, we don't have a radio show. We don't have a podcast Coming up. In this segment we've got the destination of the week and we want you to be part of the show. So if you have travel-related questions, text us now or call us 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700, and we'll get to the text here just a little bit later. But let's get to the travel news headlines. I saw that Delta and LATAM, which is Latin American Airlines, expanded their joint venture agreement to Argentina.
Mark Faldmo:So this is exciting because this connects more of South America to Delta Airlines network. This new part of the joint venture is adding Argentina. This actually started in 2019. So it already includes destinations in Chile, Peru, Colombia and Brazil, but now they are adding five airports, including Buenos Aires, to their network.
Patrick Wiscombe:Argentina is one of those surprisingly awesome destinations.
Mark Faldmo:It is Great steaks there. I wasn't expecting you to go food there. I always come back to food. So Argentina is a great destination. It's also the starting point for many of those South American cruises that go to Antarctica and around the Cape to Chile. So this new partnership will make it easier for at least Delta Flyers to get to those destinations.
Patrick Wiscombe:I thought this was kind of funny. How to survive your 2025 European vacation. Was this a text from one of our listeners?
Mark Faldmo:No, that's a little bit later. This was just a story that kind of goes along with that, because now people are starting to begin their trips to Europe. The busy season kind of starts mid-May, goes through mid-September. So these are just a couple tips. Some of these things we've talked about before, other things are just kind of tips for people to remember. The first thing is remember there's a new entry requirement for the United Kingdom. You do have to purchase an electronic travel authorization to enter the United Kingdom. It's not hard. You fill out an online form, pay about $20 a person and it's just attached to your passport number. But you do have to get that authorization before traveling to the United Kingdom.
Patrick Wiscombe:And you can help people with that right.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, it's easy. I actually just helped one of my customers with that last week. Okay, so it's something you have to do on your own, but I can help walk you through it. Okay, the next thing is check your passport expiration date. Many countries require that your passport be valid for three or six months after your last date of travel. This is probably the biggest issue I run into is people that have a passport that expires too close to the end of their trip. A lot of people don't think of that. They think if my passport's valid, then I should be able to travel. But again, a lot of countries do require that longer expiration date from your passport.
Patrick Wiscombe:If it's valid, it's valid, but why does it have to be three to six months after, and sometimes even haven't you told me even a year?
Mark Faldmo:I've seen a year in one case. I can't even remember what country it was, and that might've been somewhere. Covid rule or something when I saw that, again, a lot are three to six months and it's because, say, you have a medical emergency and you're there. They just want to make sure that you are covered to get home and don't have to go through that hassle of renewing your passport there. So a lot of countries actually also require proof of a return ticket.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, interesting Okay.
Mark Faldmo:Some require proof of insurance and so, country by country, you kind of have to look at and see. But the main thing is this expiration date.
Patrick Wiscombe:When Nikki and I were on MSC's World America this would have been about two to three weeks ago we took off from Puerto Rico, old San Juan, and in the middle of the night, several hours in, if you can check on whatever map application you're using, you can see where you are, assuming you have Wi-Fi, you can see where you are on your phone and she goes. I was wondering why. We had been sailing for about three, four hours and all of a sudden we were very, very close to Puerto Rico. Well, it turns out that the ship turned around in the middle of the night. I was fast asleep, she was awake, and it turns out that they had a medical emergency where they actually turned the ship around because they're and I met the nurse who was attending this particular person on Ocean Key, MSC's private island, and I just happened to run into him and he goes hey, I'm the nurse.
Patrick Wiscombe:I said did something really happen in Puerto Rico? He goes yes, one of our guests he's very polite, very professional that experienced cardiac arrest and so that's why they turned the ship around. He got off. So in terms of my question of why do you need a passport past that expiration date, that's a good example of what could happen. I'm not saying everyone's going to experience cardiac arrest, but it does happen. It does, yeah. What's the number three reason of how to survive the 2025 European vacation?
Mark Faldmo:Summer will bring the crowds, so expect crowds, but also, you know, as what we talked about last week, protect your money, your passports, all of that. Pickpocketers love crowds and so you want to make sure and protect your important information. Last week we talked about the RFID money belts and money necklaces that can protect your money, credit cards and passports if you need to bring them with you on a short excursion. So go back and review those tips that we talked about last week.
Patrick Wiscombe:It was the May. What May 3rd show. I think it was.
Mark Faldmo:May 3rd show.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yep, yeah, it's a good segue. If you want to listen to other shows that we have done in the past, go to insidetraveltalk. com. Insidetraveltalk. com. You can just stream the show on the website, but we'd also appreciate if you would subscribe to the show, okay, Sorry.
Mark Faldmo:Tip number four for Europe Always have a plan B. More important than ever. Things change flight schedules, train schedules. Have a plan B if you need to go somewhere else or do something different. Don't have as regimented of a day planned out for tours and activities. Be flexible on what you're doing. Travel is amazing and fun, but, as I found in all my traveling, it doesn't always go as you planned. So always have a plan B. Sometimes it's big, sometimes it's small, but always have a plan B. I'm going to.
Patrick Wiscombe:Sometimes it's small, but always have a plan B. I'm going to throw something else in here Make sure you have just a little bit of extra money, whether that be on a credit card, cash, whatever Because when unexpected expenses come up, if you're so tight on money and there are people who are financially really tight you better have a little bit of cash or a little bit of credit line still, because stuff does come up.
Mark Faldmo:Correct. The last thing be a considerate traveler. Treat people with kindness. That includes the airline employees, your tour guides, all of that, even the local people. Just be a considerate traveler. Respect their cultures and traditions, rules and laws and you'll have a great trip Before we go to break.
Patrick Wiscombe:We received a text from one of our listeners. Last four numbers are 8963. I like this text and it's a direct result of last week's show. He is a 70-year-old man and he says in the text I've never been to Europe. I would like to go to England. What other destinations in Europe would you recommend, mark?
Mark Faldmo:The first thing is you could do the British Isles, so go to England, do London and then go up to Edinburgh, which is really easy to do. So you could do that kind of England and Scotland. Trains are easy access to get there. When I looked at this, I looked at the ease of transportation to get from place to place. So that's option one. You could do any of this on a Globus tour or Cosmos tour where they take care of all of the transportation for you. But if you want to do it on your own, you could do that England Scotland tour. Option two would be either a London and Paris or London and Amsterdam. You can take the Eurostar channel to those two destinations and you can do a combination, again London-Paris or London-Amsterdam. Personally, of those options I would prefer Amsterdam. I love Amsterdam, staying kind of in the central area and the canal area, walking around. It's just such a lovely destination to visit.
Patrick Wiscombe:I hope that answers the question. Thank you for reaching out to us. If you have travel related questions, contact the show during the break here, if you would 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. If you have your travel related question, we don't care if you think it's a dumb question, even if it's a complex question. We can break things down for you 801-649-3700. Get ahold of us during the break when we come back. We've got the hot travel deal of the week, always in segment number two, and we will be talking about Cancun. We got a little bit of a warning on that one and we've got the hot travel deal of the week with Cosmos and Globus the best ways to see London, Italy. We'll get to that next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast or radio show continues alongside my good friend Mark Faldmo. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. We will be right back for allowing us to be part of your weekend.
Show Voice:We will be right back, taking you to destinations around the world. The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show is presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. Thanks for listening. We'll be right back.
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Show Voice:Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by blueplanetvacations. com. Show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show right now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Coming to you live from the beautiful confines of Salt Lake City, Utah. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, Mark Falbo is. I wish I had some relaxing music right now. He is in Fiji and where are you staying down?
Mark Faldmo:there, mark, I'm staying at the Sheraton in Fiji. You know I'll be here until actually next Saturday and I'll do the show again, from Fiji again, and we'll talk all about what I did in Fiji.
Patrick Wiscombe:It's some rough sledding there, buddy. Yes, what are you staring at right now? Just paint the visual for everyone. I know you're in the hotel room looking out At the hotel room.
Mark Faldmo:I'm actually in a garden view room so I'm just looking out to grass and trees, so no good beach view right here, but I love Fiji.
Patrick Wiscombe:All I heard was Fiji Coming up. In this segment of the show we will be talking about a warning for tourists in Cancun. We'll get to that here in just a second. We also have the hot travel deal of the week and we're going to tell listeners how you can save. Up to what? Is it? Up to $500 per couple on some of these tours by Globus and Cosmos.
Mark Faldmo:There's some great offers on Europe tours right now.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the travel news headlines. Us airlines are revising their forecast with decreasing demand in air travel. That surprised me, because every flight that I've been on in the last 30 days has been literally. They just say, hey, we're full front to back. I guess I'm just kind of surprised.
Mark Faldmo:There is decreasing demands, there's some jitters in the economy and so people aren't flying. Delta this year expects, when they release their first three months of the year, not forecast because it's done, but $500 million less in revenue than they initially forecast. A lot of that is due to snowstorms in the southeast and the northeast and the LA wildfires really impacted airlines revenue in the first quarter of this year and then that has also just translated to. People just aren't looking to fly anymore. But I put this in a different frame. What does that mean to the vacation traveler? It means lower prices. There's more seats available for less demand in travel. I'll give a quick example. This trip I'm on in Fiji now. They paid for my airfare and hotel from Los Angeles to Fiji, but I had to get my own way to Los Angeles. When I first looked at that about three, about four weeks ago, the price was about $460 to get Salt Lake to Los Angeles, which is very expensive.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh yeah, that's right.
Mark Faldmo:But then about two weeks actually it was about seven days before I left, so it was about 10 days ago. I looked again at that. I decided to gamble and wait and that airfare dropped down to $320 for the exact same flights. And so we talked know, we talked about Costa Rica last week. I've never seen Costa Rica prices that low, and that's because the airfares have dropped $200 to $300 per person for some of these destinations, so there is lower demand. But if you want to travel, this is a great time to start looking for travel.
Patrick Wiscombe:We talked about that on the May 3rd show Again. If you want to travel, this is a great time to start looking for travel. We talked about that on the May 3rd show Again. If you want to listen to that show or any of our previous shows, go to InsideTravelTalk. com. You can just stream the show right there or you can subscribe. We're on all of the major podcast platforms. Yeah, that was the first time that you mentioned that.
Patrick Wiscombe:Costa Rica was about at the $1,000 mark, including you know, five nights hotel flights to and from Salt Lake City around a thousand bucks which what'd you say? It was about three $400 less than what it normally goes. For Than what it normally goes, yeah.
Mark Faldmo:Take advantage of that. That's what the declining demand means Now. Later on it might mean flight schedule updates, so cancellations consolidation, but right now it is meaning really good prices to fly.
Patrick Wiscombe:Do it. I saw the story that tourists visiting Cancun are being warned to be cautious on all beaches after some incidents. First of all, what were the incidents?
Mark Faldmo:This is related to the waves and the power of the ocean, and so they've had to come out and just make people extra aware to pay attention. If it's a double red flag day, don't even touch the water Along the hotel zone there in Cancun. There is no reef that really protects that, so those waves can get pretty big and pretty dangerous in the hotel zone. Sometimes it's glass and sometimes they're huge. So you just have to be careful of what the authorities have put out as far as flags, so you know again, a red flag is don't swim, yellow flag is use caution and a green flag is conditions are okay.
Patrick Wiscombe:I've never seen a double red flag before. I've seen a red flag before, but not double red.
Mark Faldmo:Double red flag means the. I've seen a red flag before, but not double red. Double red flag means the ocean is close to the public due to extremely dangerous conditions. Just a single red flag. It's generally not recommended to swim. When a red flag is posted, it means the conditions are dangerous due to strong currents, high surf or other hazards. A yellow flag is caution. Conditions might include moderate surf. Swimming is allowed, but you should be careful and aware if you're not a strong swimmer. And then a green flag, conditions are generally calm and swimming is considered safe.
Patrick Wiscombe:While we're talking about visiting parts of the world, let's talk about Globus and Cosmos. First of all, who are they? Globus, I know they're basically a tour operator, but Cosmos, I'm assuming that they are also a tour operator Cosmos falls under the Globus family of brands.
Mark Faldmo:So there's Globus tours. They generally use four or five star hotels that are a little bit more centrally located. Cosmos is a little bit more of a budget company. They use three, four star hotels that are not as well located. They might be on the outskirts of town. They're mainly a price difference. They have very similar tours. Globus tours generally include a few more meals than Cosmos tours, and then Cosmos again, is more of the I don't want to say budget, but they're more of the better priced tours.
Patrick Wiscombe:A couple of weeks ago we had TJ McAvoy with Globus on the show, but one of the things we didn't talk about was what they call their hub and spoke tour. So let's talk about that.
Mark Faldmo:This is a great idea. They are tours that generally you'll just stay six or seven nights in one city, but then they include all of the prearranged tours and also some optional activities that you can do. These tours are great because they include some built-in flexibility. They give you free time to explore, also, stress-free travel, because they do include a lot of those main tours, main things that you'll want to do and see, and you have a tour director with you the whole time, so you have someone there that can answer all of your questions about the destinations, where to eat, what to do.
Patrick Wiscombe:That could be a real benefit for some people.
Mark Faldmo:It is yeah, and also these provide more value. So not only do you have the knowledge of the local tour guide that's with you, you have a single price that covers accommodation, transportation, all of your guides. Everything's handled in advance. I've often told the story. I love it when I'm with these tours because I'm getting so much good information, and then I see other people with their heads in guidebooks. They're trying to figure out what to do where to see. A lot of people, I think, waste so much time trying to figure things out when they do it on their own. It's just so much better to do it with a local guide that can help you figure all of that out.
Patrick Wiscombe:This could be a real option for our listener, the text that we received, the 70-year-old gentleman who's never been to Europe that wants to go. This could be a legitimate option for him.
Mark Faldmo:It is, yeah, and these hub and spoke tours, they actually can do them in combination, so you could do a London and Paris Okay, taken into account in between all the transportation. So, yes, that definitely is a good option for the Texter.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the hot travel deal of the week, which is going to be a Globus and Cosmos option.
Mark Faldmo:So I'm going to give the current offer for both of these brands. Cosmos again, which is a little bit more budget brand, is $300 per couple off of select tours. Also one thing to note Cosmos also has a selection of tours. Some of them start at around $1,000 a person for these tours, and then Globus has a save up to $500 on select tours.
Patrick Wiscombe:What locations are we talking?
Mark Faldmo:about what I've done. I've chosen three of these kind of hub and spoke tours and we'll go over what is included. So the first one is a Globus tour, so this does have that $500 off per couple. This tour is called London Country. It's a six night, seven day tour where you stay in London the whole time. It includes a few meals along the way, but what it does include are side trips to the Cotswolds, to Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon, side trips to Stonehenge and Salisbury, as well as some trips in London itself. Okay, just a great way to get a kind of a comprehensive London tour.
Patrick Wiscombe:What about Cosmos? What place did you select there?
Mark Faldmo:I've got two tours with Cosmos. Both of them are in Italy. The first one is called Gourmet Tuscany, and so this is a eight-day, seven-night tour and you actually stay in Tuscany and Montecini. Anything in Southern Italy. This is kind of an off the beaten path. It's called Gourmet Puglia.
Mark Faldmo:Now, a lot of people probably don't know where Puglia is, but it is in the hill of the boot of Italy, so it's the little peninsula, that's the hill of the boot Seven night, eight day tour with just that hub and spoke concept, where you're going to Bari and then most of it is in Martina Franca is the name of the city and then you just go out and see different areas in the hill of the boot of Italy and I have never been in that area. It looks fascinating some of these tours that they offer. So you know, these little hub and spoke tours are a great way to get a really in-depth vacation in certain regions of countries.
Patrick Wiscombe:This option is kind of interesting.
Mark Faldmo:It's a great way to see places around Europe.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's the hot travel deal of the week. If you are interested in going on a Globus or Cosmos tour the ones that we talked about or if you want to go to a different location they're a great company and they do a great job with their tours Call Mark. He can book it for you or just get the conversation started 888-718-7717,. 888-718-7717. And he will also post this on blueplanetvacations. com when we come back. It is time for the infamous just cruising segment. We've got the cruise news of the week and we've got the cruise deal of the week. We've got a princess cruise and other Southern Caribbean sailings. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues, alongside Mark Faldmo, my good friend, who's in Fiji. You should have taken me, mark. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. We will be right back.
Show Voice:You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700. That's 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. 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.
Patrick Wiscombe:Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Coming up. In the next 28 minutes we will be talking about Southern Caribbean cruises Nikki and I literally spent 30 days in the Caribbean last month, amazing and we'll also be talking about cruise cabins that accommodate a family of five. Let's continue 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 presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show right now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And now here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:All aboard for the infamous just cruising segment right here on the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. By the way, that is an actual ship horn courtesy of Norwegian Aqua, as they were blowing their horn in the port of Miami. Kind of a funny story on that, mark. Well, it's not a funny story. It literally almost brought me to my knees and I nearly threw my phone off the side of one of the decks. I was facing the horn, meaning I was looking back at the smokestack where the horn was, and they blew the horn. It scared me so badly I nearly fell to my knees and threw my phone down to the pool deck.
Patrick Wiscombe:Those ship horns can sneak up on you Nicki was laughing so hard and so was I because I couldn't believe how loud it was coming up in this segment of the show we've got the cruise deal of the week always at the bottom of the hour. But let's first get to the cruise news travel headlines. And Holland America line is going to stay longer in Europe starting next year, 2026.
Mark Faldmo:They have added an extra six weeks to their Europe season. Usually, cruise lines end of September or mid-October send their ships from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, but Holland America has decided to leave a few ships in Europe for an extra six weeks, one of the reasons being is 2026 is predicted to be a peak year to see the Aurora Borealis and so they've added a couple of extra Northern or they've added, which they haven't done in the past, some Northern Lights cruises.
Mark Faldmo:Here are just some of the new itineraries they've added, which they haven't done in the past, some Northern Lights cruises. Here are just some of the new itineraries they've added where they're extending Europe, so they have a Northern Lights journey. It's a 14-day Arctic journey that leaves November 7th 2026. It includes time spent in the Arctic Circle, which will maximize your chances to see the Aurora Borealis, which will maximize your chances to see the Aurora Borealis. Other newly opened voyages a 14-day Mediterranean and Atlantic Treasures cruise, which has an overnight stay in Lisbon. And I think one of these days I'm going to have to do Portugal as the destination of the week because I think it is the hottest destination in Europe right now. So I've heard so much about visiting Portugal, how fantastic it is.
Patrick Wiscombe:If you ever have a chance to see Northern Lights, do it. It is genuinely beautiful and it kind of takes your breath away and it makes you realize how small you are.
Mark Faldmo:It is. Yeah, you know these cruises. I think a cruise is a great way to do that because they can move around to some extent. Hopefully they can get to a better viewing location to see those.
Patrick Wiscombe:Less light pollution. You talk about being in the middle of the sea and it is just pitch black. Yes, Kind of terrifying, but at the same time it's kind of magical too.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, it is A few other cruises. They've added a series of seven-day Norway cruises and then a 15-day cultural crossing with England and Normandy. So that's probably the last cruise when they're going to send the ship back off to the Caribbean area in late November.
Patrick Wiscombe:Norwegian Cruise Line is canceling some cruises. Did I get that right? You did.
Mark Faldmo:And that's for a reason. Two ships are leaving the Norwegian cruise line fleet. Oh, so they're getting rid of a couple ships. Then they're getting rid of a couple of ships.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh interesting.
Mark Faldmo:I don't like this announcement because one of the ships is probably my second favorite ship in the Norwegian fleet, which is the Norwegian Sky oh really.
Mark Faldmo:Now, this is the smallest ship in their fleet. It's 77, 000 gross tons. Tiny ship you're. The three ships you are on are three times the size of this ship, but personally I like the smaller ship. It has less than 2 000 people and I really like the Norwegian Sky. And then the other ship that's leaving the fleet is the Norwegian Sun oh, which is probably my least favorite Norwegian because it has a weird deck where some of the outside cabins are right on the promenade deck, so you have people walking past your cabin.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, we did that on Holland America Line, the Rotterdam. That would have driven me crazy if we had. I can't remember what deck it was, it was like deck 12 or something would have driven me crazy if we had. I can't remember what deck it was, it was like deck 12 or something.
Mark Faldmo:We were walking past people's cabins and I just the amount of commotion outside of the room would have driven me crazy yeah, I've sailed on the Norwegian Sun probably six times, but it is my least favorite and I think I cannot confirm this. But I've seen some other stories about some cruise lines that have acquired ships. They're going to make them residential ships where you just buy your cabin and you sail around the world. They're like condominiums as the ship sails.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh wow.
Mark Faldmo:So I think that's what one or two of these ships is going to do just be a residential ship.
Patrick Wiscombe:So are they going to sell off these ships then?
Mark Faldmo:I did see that. I think they are actually selling the Norwegian Sky and they are leasing the Norwegian Sun to someone else okay.
Patrick Wiscombe:Princess has announced that they are going to start sailing from San Juan starting this fall 2025, which, by the way, we docked in old San Juan on MSC World America. Old San Juan is sneaky good. It was hot when we were there, but it was a beautiful island. I loved all of the different buildings that were different colors pastel colors. It was a very you could walk friendly port.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, love it. I love San Juan. I've been to San Juan six or seven times and I just enjoy walking around old San Juan. I've been to San Juan six or seven times and I just enjoy walking around old San Juan. I remember walking through some of those narrow streets and popping out into a square with a cathedral. Oh yeah, sat down at one of the cafes and had breakfast there and it was fascinating. So yeah, I love San Juan, especially old town San Juan.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, some of those cathedrals, Nicki and I went inside and we probably spent, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes, not because we were hot, but it was a cathedral that was, that had what was it like 1500? Like it'd been around for a long time for you know, like four or 500 years, and it was.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, it was amazing I'm excited about this that princess has announced their return to San Juan, because those southern Caribbean cruises that leave from San Juan get to some absolutely fascinating ports that you typically don't get to yeah if you're leaving from Miami or Fort Lauderdale.
Mark Faldmo:unless they're really long cruises seven day cruise you can really get down to, like Grenada, some of those islands that are just fascinating to visit. I know another cruise line, royal Caribbean, actually just recently announced that they are starting back their Southern Caribbean cruises. These cruises seem to come and go, but I think they're a great option for cruise lines to have in their fleet. Do we know which?
Patrick Wiscombe:ship they're going to deploy.
Mark Faldmo:It's one ship, and the ship is the Grand Princess.
Patrick Wiscombe:In my head, San Juan, Puerto Rico, was not a great place to go, but after getting there and actually getting out and literally walking the port, my experience didn't match what was inside of my head, which is the beauty of travel. It can completely change your perspective on a place that leads into the cruise deal of the week, which is going to be Princess Cruises. What do we have for listeners this week?
Mark Faldmo:Right now their current promotion, which goes for about another two weeks or so. They actually might enhance this a little bit over Memorial Day. Their current promotion is up to a $400 instant savings that's based on the length of cruise and the type of cabin you're in plus up to 40% off, plus free room upgrades, plus $99 deposits on sailings.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's a really good promotion, then, and your overall thoughts of Princess just as a company, their ships do you recommend them?
Mark Faldmo:I love Princess. You have to look at the reason why you're traveling and where you're traveling, Cause I think some cruises do better in other destinations. The two cruise lines I've cruised on the most are Norwegian and Princess, so I am a little bit biased towards those, but you know I love Princess. We've been talking a lot about MSC and their pizza.
Mark Faldmo:I actually think MSC might have Princess beat out slightly. What? But Princess, for years, has had the best pizza at sea. I love just going on the pool deck and that's where their pizza place is. Them are fighting words, mark, yeah, so so I. I just like the location better of where princess's pizza is, but they're very similar in quality of pizza.
Patrick Wiscombe:This might gross you out, but MSC's pizza was so good, maybe I'm going to gross myself out. I was even drinking the cheese juice that was on my plate.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I know what you're talking about, oh man, that was so good.
Patrick Wiscombe:Sorry, sorry about the cheese juice everyone. Yeah, okay, what other promotion do we have, or is that the only one that we have for Princess?
Mark Faldmo:We have two sailings we're going to talk about. Princess has two different versions of that Southern Caribbean cruise. These are October dates, but the prices are phenomenal. So leave from San Juan goes to St Thomas, St Martin, Antigua, and then to St Kitts, to Barbados a day at sea and back to San Juan. That's another reason why I like these Southern Caribbean cruises you have a lot more port time and a lot less days at sea. This one is October 19th that I'm looking at. Inside cabin starts at $669, but a balcony. Now this is a partially obstructed balcony but it's a balcony nonetheless. $729 per person for a balcony cabin on October 19th to the Southern Caribbean. You can go up. It's probably about another 80 bucks to go to a regular balcony cabin.
Patrick Wiscombe:It is worth getting a balcony, taking in that ocean, air, the breeze oh my goodness. It was so relaxing. One of the most special experiences of my life is just hanging out on the balcony with my wife.
Mark Faldmo:It is. I think, that the balcony is so worth it.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh yeah.
Mark Faldmo:So they have another one and this is October 12th or October 26th and this is the itinerary I would pick. I love these islands that we go to. They're not typical. That first itinerary we gave has St Thomas and St Martin, which are two typical Eastern Caribbean cruises. This next one is a true Southern Caribbean cruise. Goes to Tortola, which is British Virgin Islands, St Kitts, Dominica, Grenada, Barbados and back to San Juan.
Patrick Wiscombe:Five port days and then basically a day getting to and from Correct oh wow, that is great.
Mark Faldmo:The things I like about these cruises you're getting British Virgin Islands, Dutch Virgin Islands. Some of these have French influence, so you're getting lots of different cultures in the Southern Caribbean. Now, these prices they're a little bit more expensive than the October 19th cruise that we talked about, but I think this is by far a better itinerary. So October 26th date starts at $765 per person for an inside or $860 per person for a balcony cabin.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh wow, Do we know which ship this one's on the Southern Caribbean?
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and that's on the Grand Princess, and so you know it's there from October to about April of next year.
Patrick Wiscombe:Have you seen some of the new ships that Princess is releasing? They're beautiful.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, they are. Yeah, princess has always done a good job with their design. I like the interiors of Princess ships. I think they always have the best décor. I guess you would say, um, I really like what princess does with their ships their horn.
Patrick Wiscombe:While we were opening this segment, we were talking about horns. Their horn is literally the love boat theme song yeah, it is.
Mark Faldmo:That's what I like about it, you know, and Disney does a similar thing with their horn, so I like those two when there's a Princess ship or a Disney ship in port and they blow their horn and either do when you Wish Upon a Star on Disney, or Princess plays the Princess love boat theme song.
Patrick Wiscombe:In the distance. When we were getting on Celebrity Ascent, they were playing the love boat theme and you could hear in the distance. I don't know where he was on the ship, but all of a sudden you hear the love boat and I got it on video. Absolutely hilarious. Get out see the world. San Juan, Puerto Rico, love it. Whatever your perception is and I realize that I'm putting my feelings on everyone else it is an amazing place. It is worth getting to call Mark in his office, get the conversation started, take advantage of those promotions 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. When we come back, we've got some additional travel news that we need to get to Mark's travel tips and we'll wrap it up. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. We will be right back.
Show Voice:Explore your world. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700. That's 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. We'll be right back.
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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 801-649-3700.
Patrick Wiscombe:And now your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, coming to you live from Fiji, the Sheraton-Denarau Island. That is where Mark is this very moment. As we come to you on the radio show and podcast, I'm looking at your live cam. I know you're just looking at the greenness, but even that green is pretty as beautiful.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah yeah, fiji is a great destination.
Patrick Wiscombe:So what are you doing down there as a travel advisor, owner of a company, what are you doing down there?
Mark Faldmo:So I'm attending it's called the Fiji Tourism Exchange and so I am down here meeting with hotels, activities, companies, different touristy things to do, and so it's just days of straight meetings and appointments with people that help me service Fiji better.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, and so you can turn around and sell it to our listeners, basically.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, okay, next week, when I'm completely back with this, we'll have a full report on that.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, coming up in this segment, the final segment of the show, we will be talking about a question that we received from Tricia, one of our listeners, that she has a family of five and most cruise cabins only hold four. You wouldn't think going from four to five would be a big deal, but apparently it is and we've got a solution for our listeners. That's coming up here in the remaining moments of the show, but let's first get to the travel news headlines. Let's talk about cruising with a passport and the reasons to do so.
Mark Faldmo:This is a question I get asked often because, technically, if you cruise from a port, from a US port, return back to the same port. With a few exceptions, you can travel with just a birth certificate. The countries that require passports to be valid for longer. For similar reasons, I would cruise with a passport If you miss the ship for some reason, you have a medical emergency, you're in a foreign country and you need a passport to get back. So it is just a good idea to sail with a passport. One thing I have not seen before until the last time at MSC, and I've seen a few other cruise lines, cruise ports that do this If you have a passport. A lot of cruise ports that do this If you have a passport. A lot of cruise ports are now facial ID.
Mark Faldmo:So, you basically just walk through. If you don't have a passport, you're put into a separate line. It's usually a long line and you have to get manually processed by immigration officers. So it'll take you a lot longer on the last day of the cruise to get off the ship. So that's another reason to cruise with a passport.
Patrick Wiscombe:About a year ago right now, you and I were in Fort Lauderdale. We went on Margaritaville at sea Paradise was the name of the ship. You got off instantly with global entry. Meanwhile Patrick didn't have a passport yet and he had to go into the long line and Mark went to go pick up our car and we still met about the same time.
Mark Faldmo:Yes.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's how long that line was.
Mark Faldmo:For various reasons, I always recommend cruising with a passport.
Ad Voice:Yeah agreed.
Mark Faldmo:You know also there are some countries in Latin America, in the Caribbean, that now do require people to have a passport Because they've had issues of people getting stuck there, people to have a passport because they've had issues of people getting stuck there. And so again, like I mentioned, there are some exceptions to being able to cruise with just a birth certificate now. So keep that in mind when planning a cruise as well.
Patrick Wiscombe:Hotel scams. I didn't even think that this was still going on hotel scams, but apparently they are and how our listeners can avoid getting scammed.
Mark Faldmo:My first recommendation would be to book with a reputable travel agent that you know, because there are lots of travel sites out there and there are several hotel booking sites that are fake, that put up fake listings and take your money. There's a story recently of a traveler that went to Huatulco in Mexico and got in the taxi, took him to a place and it was just a vacant lot, and so he walked around for a while, eventually made it to a restaurant. He got all of the local taxi drivers there. None of them have ever heard of this hotel.
Mark Faldmo:Oh boy, and so it was a fake listing on a site. So just make sure you book with a reputable site, and the same goes for booking Airbnb. There have been lots of scams with Airbnb, where the owner contacts people directly and asks them to book outside of the site, to pay outside of Airbnb, and then when they get there, there's nothing there and they've taken their money.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh boy.
Mark Faldmo:Just make sure you're booking with reputable agents or with reputable websites, or directly on the hotel's website itself.
Patrick Wiscombe:Southwest is overhauling its fare bundles. Let's start with that. What is a fare bundle?
Mark Faldmo:A fare bundle is fares that include seat assignments, fares that include baggage, different perks. So Southwest used to. You bought a ticket and you got two free check bags and they didn't have assigned seats. You just kind of generally boarded. Now Southwest is going to assign seats and they've started bundling things together like other airlines, you know, like basic economy fares, and so this will start sometime soon. But here are the new fare options that Southwest is going to have. The least expensive fare will be their basic fare, which assigns you a seat at check-in, and baggage is additional. Choice is what they're calling it. It gives you a standard seat and one bag to check. Choice preferred lets you book preferred seating and you get preferred boarding. And then Choice Extra provides seats with extra legroom, free checked bags and pre-boarding.
Patrick Wiscombe:Would that be considered their first class, for lack of a better way to say that.
Mark Faldmo:Since they don't have first class, that would be their highest and that would be like on Delta Airlines Comfort Plus for instance. So it'll be the extra legroom seats.
Patrick Wiscombe:Trisha was asking I have a family of five. This is her email. Most cruise cabins only hold four. Are there any ships that will accommodate my family of five? Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but for whatever reason, a family of five, generally speaking, you've always had to get two cabins. But apparently there are a few lines, four or five cruise lines, that will accommodate her family of five.
Mark Faldmo:Larger families.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and so, generally speaking, the minor policy on cruises is, if you do have to get two cabins, you have to be in a cabin that's connecting or adjacent or across the hall. It has to be in the same area as the parent's cabin, which makes sense with small children. Yes, there are some ways around that. You can book one parent in one room and another parent in the other room. But generally speaking, it's harder to cruise with larger families. But there are a few cruise lines and we'll go through all of them that do have family rooms that will hold five people, and so these aren't suites. There are some suites that will hold more. These are just regular cabins. So Royal Caribbean is the first one. They have a family inside cabin, a family ocean view cabin, which will hold five, and then they also offer family suites, grand suites, owner suites that accommodate five or more guests.
Mark Faldmo:Norwegian cruise lines, particularly on the breakaway and breakaway plus classes of ships, have family ocean view cabins that sleep five. They also offer two-bedroom deluxe suites on some ships, on Norwegian Cruise Line Holland America on the Koningsdam, so it's only one of Holland America ships. Although Holland America is not necessarily known for family and kids, they do have family ocean view suites available. Carnival Cruise Line, on the Dream class of ships, they have a deluxe ocean view cabin that has two bunk beds and a sofa bed that can sleep five. And then Disney, known for its family, does have several cabin categories that are family friendly and can accommodate up to five. So there are options and they're becoming more and more options as new ships are built. Probably six or seven years ago, unless you were buying the suites, you couldn't get a family of five in a cabin. So these newer ships are really starting to put out. Especially the cruise lines like Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Disney that really cater towards families have really added in these categories that will hold five.
Patrick Wiscombe:Tricia. I hope that helps you and I hope that you can get out and go on a family vacation. If you are interested in any of the vacations that we've discussed during the past hour, we've got the hot travel deal of the week, the Globus and Cosmos hub and spoke tours the cruise deal of the week with $99 deposits per person Awesome, Get out and see the world while you can Call Mark in his office. Just get the conversation started 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. And he'll also post this on blueplanetvacations. com.
Patrick Wiscombe:You can listen to this show again tomorrow morning, Sunday, at 11 o'clock right here on this radio station, and you can stream, download and subscribe to the podcast on insidetraveltalk. com. You can stream the show right on the website or, if you're a podcast lover, you can subscribe to the podcast off that site and we're on all of the major podcast platforms. Now it's your turn to get out and explore the world while you can, because you never know what curveballs life is going to throw at you. Live your life deliberately. Live your life intentionally. Live the life that you want. Thanks for listening. We will talk to you again next 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 717.
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