Inside Travel Talk
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Inside Travel Talk
Beyond the Horizon: Fiji, Cancun, and River Cruise Deals
Mark has just returned from Fiji with fascinating stories of crossing the International Date Line. In what he calls "the case of the missing Saturday," he describes flying from the US on Friday night, completely skipping Saturday, and arriving Sunday morning. Even more remarkable was his return journey when he departed Fiji at 9:40 pm Saturday and arrived home at 8:40 pm the same day – literally landing an hour before taking off!
For families considering Fiji, Mark highlights the exceptional value and unique experiences found at smaller island resorts. Unlike typical kids' clubs that rely on screens, Fijian resorts immerse children in local culture through hermit crab races, cultural ceremonies, and environmental conservation activities. He specifically recommends Likuri Island Resort, accessible via a 30-minute drive and scenic river cruise, with rooms starting at an astonishing $60-$120 per night.
We dive into travel news, including American Airlines' new technology to automatically hold connecting flights, plus their limited-time 5,000-mile one-way promotion. Norwegian Cruise Line announces significant upgrades to their Epic and Pride of America ships, while MSC Cruises and Virgin Voyages prepare to enter the Alaska market in 2026. For European travelers, Avalon Waterways is offering free airfare or $1,500 savings on select 2025 river cruises.
The show wraps with practical travel tips, including expert advice for sleeping better on long-haul flights and creative options for cruise passengers with late flights from Miami. From exploring Everglades National Park to touring the historic Nike missile site, there are fascinating ways to extend your vacation before heading home.
Ready to experience these destinations yourself? Contact us at 888-718-7717 or visit blueplanetvacations.com to start planning your next adventure!
It's finally the weekend. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Coming up. On today's show, mark and I will be talking about Fiji. He's back from Fiji. American Airlines wants to hold your connecting flight and they have a 5,000 mile promotion. Norwegian announces some ship upgrades and the case of the missing. Saturday, 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:Explore your world. It's the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalkcom. com. And now here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:The great Faldino is back from Fiji. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Mark is back from Fiji. He's going to give us all of the details about his travels to and from the island, and he has a mystery the case of the missing Saturday. We'll explain in just a few minutes If you are brand new to the show. The entire purpose of this show is to help you plan and book your next vacation, or just give you ideas of where you want to vacation next, and we are presented, proudly presented, by BluePlanetVacations. com, and thank you for taking the time to stop and listen. Coming up on today's show, we've got, of course, the travel news headlines and we've got the destination of the week, which is predictably, since he just got back there, fiji.
Mark Faldmo:Welcome home, it's good to see you, even though we were broadcasting quite literally half a world away, yeah, last week from Fiji, and our conversation actually fueled a couple of caller questions. So we're going to answer those today about Fiji.
Patrick Wiscombe:But before we do we always start with the travel news headlines, and I thought this headline was kind of interesting. Mark that American Airlines wants to hold your connecting flight. I like this idea.
Mark Faldmo:I like this idea too. All airlines kind of have this policy where if there's tight connections, they will hold flights for people. But what American Airlines has done is automated this process. Previously it's been a gate agent at the gate you're arriving on that says we have passengers hold this. But airlines really have not automated this, and so American has introduced this new technology They've tested it out at their hub in Dallas that will identify passengers on flights that are at risk of missing their connection flight and it will automatically send a message to the gate agents of those flights and propose a short hold to allow travelers on this flight and that flight to make the connection. I like this idea. Usually it's been done manually, and I've shown up the gates before where they said we didn't get the message.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh boy.
Mark Faldmo:Even though other people said they were going to notify the gate. It makes that story of we didn't get the message a little bit harder to happen. As long as they are looking at their messages like they should be, they should know that there are flights with tight connection, Hopefully this will catch on. Yes, there's been this technology out there. I don't know why it's taken so long for airlines to adapt to some of these things.
Patrick Wiscombe:The White House is proposing an overhaul of the US air traffic control system. It feels like for our entire lifetime they've been talking about this, but I think it really got traction a couple of weeks ago, where pilots were flying blind. They literally have radio transmissions of air traffic control center saying hey, we're flying dark here, Just stay at the elevation that you are and continue flying the way you are. That is absolutely terrifying to me.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, yeah, it is. Most airports still have radar systems from the 1970s in operation. Which is just crazy to me. One of the suggestions in this proposal is to put in fiber for the communication and a lot of businesses, even homes, have been running on fiber for 10 years plus.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, and so you know, including this house.
Mark Faldmo:I do hope it happens so that we get a more modern system.
Patrick Wiscombe:I really think it's going to get done this time. Truly, for the first time in our lives, I actually have a little bit of faith that this will actually get done. Yeah, American Airlines has a 5,000 mile one-way promotion. What are the details on this?
Mark Faldmo:This is actually for redeeming Advantage Miles. They call it a million seat sale. If you book through May 28th so you just have four days on this left and travel between August 1st and September 30th, you can find one-way prices using Advantage Miles for as low as 5,000 miles each direction. Okay, you get a round trip for 10,000 miles each direction. Okay, get a round trip for 10,000 miles, where normally those are between 25 and 50,000 miles.
Patrick Wiscombe:You have American Airlines miles, do you not? I do, yes, are you going to take advantage of this?
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I was going to say, yeah, I should look into this. I have about 250,000 American miles right now. I haven't used them in forever but if I can get 5,000 miles, that's almost like not redeeming them and getting a ticket. That's such a low redemption rate.
Patrick Wiscombe:The case of the missing. Saturday. Let's dive in depth into Fiji. Tell us how you got there and how you came home the missing Saturday.
Mark Faldmo:just interesting because of the international dateline and also where Fiji lies in relation to the international date line. The actual international date line does run through Fiji, so we took off Friday night and landed Sunday morning, so we completely missed.
Ad Voice:Saturday.
Mark Faldmo:We never saw Saturday and then coming home five minutes after you take off. You're already in the next day or in the previous day. So we left at 9.40 pm on Saturday and we walked into our house at 8.40 pm on Saturday. With how that works, so we walked into our house an hour before we left Fiji. So very interesting, with the international dateline and how that works, you basically had a 48-hour Saturday 48-hour. Saturday Yep, yep.
Patrick Wiscombe:Was that kind of weird? How jet-lagged were you?
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, not jet-lagged, and that kind of actually goes into the caller's question that we're going to get to in just a minute. That's one thing that's nice about Fiji. You leave just before midnight from Los Angeles and then you arrive at 7 am. So as long as you can sleep on that 10 hour flight, you arrive perfect for the day, and then coming home again. Like I said, we left at 9.40 pm and actually arrived home at 8.40 pm on the same day, but you're right about bedtime and so you don't have the weird time zones and you do have the 10 hour flight to sleep on. I've really not experienced jet lag.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, let's get to the destination of the week. We promised that we would talk about Fiji, and this was a. Was this a caller or a tech? This is a caller, riley, this was a caller yes. Okay, so Riley had some questions about our conversation last week during the May 17th show that Riley wants to take the family and he is asking where to stay on one of the islands.
Mark Faldmo:We had lots of kids on our flight. As I said, with what time the flight leaves and arrives, it's really good for kids because they do have to put up with the long flight, but if they sleep that whole flight the kids don't get jet lagged either. We've talked about the smaller islands in Fiji and he wants to take his family to one of those smaller islands and ask is that good for a family to do? I would say yes, it is. In Fiji there are kind of two island chains off of the main island. One is the Mamanuku Islands, which we've talked about before. Those are the easier islands to get to. The others are the Yasawa Islands, which do take a little bit more coordination to get to because they are further away.
Mark Faldmo:How you'd get to those islands is you land in Fiji, like I said, about 7 am on Fiji Airways and then you're transferred over to the ferry terminal where a boat will take you to the Mamanuku Islands and depending on which island you're at, that transfer is anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. You can also take a private boat if you want. That'll take you right to the island. The regular running ferry does stop at four or five islands along the way. So, depending on where you're at, you may have to wait a little bit longer to get to your resort. The first time I did that was I'd say it's magical. You're in this new tropical destination, you're on a boat going to a hotel in an island, and for the kids, I think they would be fascinated by that.
Mark Faldmo:The boat ride alone.
Mark Faldmo:I think would be fantastic. I was kind of like a kid when I did it because I was just so fascinated with how everything worked and the scenery and all of that. These resorts are generally smaller and you go to these islands and they generally have anywhere from 20 to 30 units, so they're very small. I want to talk about one that I learned about this last week when I was in Fiji. It's called the Lakuri Island Resort. This one is not in the Mamanuku or Yasawa Islands, it's just an island off of the main coast. But getting there, I think, is kind of what makes the trip. So you drive on a transfer about 30 minutes or so from the airport.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, so you go from the airport on a road to a river.
Mark Faldmo:On a road to a river where you get on a boat and you spend about 40 minutes going down river so kind of like the jungle cruise at Disney and then, once you reach the ocean, you have about 15 to 20 minutes to get out to this island called LaCourie Island Resort. This resort has 15 units oh small, it is designed for families. A couple of their units only allow two people, but then they have family units that hold four or six. And one thing that intrigued me is the kids club. The kids clubs in Fiji are different than any other hotels. There's no electronics, they don't sit them in front of a TV, they actually immerse them in the Fijian culture. They have hermit crab races where everyone goes and collects a hermit crab and then they have a race. They have kava ceremonies for the children to teach them that culture. Now they don't use real kava, they do it with chocolate milk for the children. And then they do things like coral planting and mangrove planting and they kind of teach the kids about the environment, the importance of mangroves and coral, and they actually go out on the reefs with coral they've planted and then they have a diver that goes and actually plants the out on the reefs with coral they've planted, and then they have a diver that goes and actually plants the coral in the area. Oh, how cool.
Mark Faldmo:So, even as adults, I would love to do all of those. You know all of those things. So it's like kids club. I want to do this, yes, yeah. So so there are lots of places like this in Fiji tailored towards families, but as adults, you can go to these places or other places that don't cater to families and children and get these experiences. The one thing I liked about this the Curry Island. I've been looking at its rates and it ranges from $60 to $120 per night. Oh, that's very reasonable. Oh, it's very reasonable. So it's very reasonable. Now, they do have a mandatory dining package that you have to purchase. You can either purchase it there or pre-purchase it. So adults are $125 per person per day and children are $65 per person per day.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, you're going to spend that anyway, going to a restaurant.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, it's very affordable. The professional reviews give it a three-star review, but looking at it, it's a very nice resort.
Patrick Wiscombe:It sure is. I'm looking at it right now.
Mark Faldmo:All of the user-generated reviews. I think it's a 4.7 on TripAdvisor, so it gets very good customer reviews. These units have air conditioning. I know I was talking to a few other hotels and they say we under promise and over deliver. We're only a three star, but that's because our rooms don't have air conditioning, just because of where they were located isolated and to get the generators everything to do the air conditioning, they just couldn't do it. But as long as the breeze is blowing, just open up your window and you don't need an air conditioner. Now, I don't like the heat and humidity, but I've not had that problem as much in Fiji. Oh really, I stayed in some bungalows on one of these private islands that did not have air conditioning and I was fine.
Patrick Wiscombe:You and I like things pretty cool, yes, and especially air conditioning. And I was fine, you and I like things pretty cool. Yes, and especially air conditioning. Sometimes it's like okay, I don't want to feel the humidity, let me just dry out for a second. Yeah, what'd you say? $120 a night? And then the mandatory food package Food package, okay.
Mark Faldmo:All right.
Patrick Wiscombe:What other activities, if any, can you do there, LaCourie? By the way, in case you're wondering how to spell LaCourie, it's L-I-K-U-R-I LaCourie Island Resort.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, there are interesting things. A lot of these private islands actually have another island attached to them, so at this particular place you can get an island for the day. It's $250. They take you there by boat, leave you with a radio and you just call them when you want to come back.
Mark Faldmo:They drop you off with beach umbrellas, a lunch and you can just have the beach for the day that you want. They also have an optional where they'll set up a tent and you can sleep on the island. Oh my goodness, If you want to, I would do that in a minute. Yeah, there's lots of interesting things and fun things to do in Fiji.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, that sounds amazing. You loved it there, right.
Mark Faldmo:Well, you always love it when you go there?
Patrick Wiscombe:Yes, I do. If you are interested in going to Fiji and I still am Lakori Island Resort, that is a. You know it's not the only option, but it's a really good starting place. Call Mark in his office, just get the conversation started. No obligation, of course. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. And he will also post this on blueplanetvacations. com when we come back. We're talking Cancun. Got a very island tropical feel to this week's show. That is next with the Inside Travel Talk podcast. The radio show continues alongside my very tan friend, Mark Voldemort. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for listening. We will be right back. Give us about 90 seconds.
Show Voice: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. 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, 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:Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend, whether you're listening to us live on the radio on Saturday and Sunday or you're just podcasting this a little bit later which, by the way, if you want to listen to the show again and who wouldn't you can go to InsideTravelTalk. com and you can stream the show from the website. You don't even have to be a podcast subscriber. But if you are a podcaster and you want to receive the show automatically, we are on all of the major podcast platforms and you can get all the links at InsideTravelTalk. com. That will take you to all of the podcast platforms Coming up in this segment.
Patrick Wiscombe:Always in segment number two is the hot travel deal of the week. This week we're going to Cancun, a very tropical theme so far. Last segment we were in Fiji, this week we're going to Cancun. But let's first get to the travel news headlines. Southwest Airlines has filed for approval to possibly start flying internationally. That's a big development for Southwest.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, that is, and you know the airline is making lots of changes. You know they've changed their seating, changed their bag policy, so it kind of makes sense that they are looking into these options. Now Southwest has not announced anything. They simply made a filing to the DOT because they have streamlined the regulatory process, making it easier for airlines to apply for these routes and operate these routes. So they've applied for this to countries that are part of the Open Skies Agreement with the US, which is an agreement where any airline can fly anywhere, basically, and so this could include Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. It'll be interesting to see if Southwest does decide to start operating international flights other than what they currently operate to Mexico.
Patrick Wiscombe:It was two or three weeks ago that we were talking about. Four or five out of the top 10 destinations worldwide included theme parks. Getting to that point. Universal Epic Universe opened this week. May 22nd is when they opened. I can't even imagine what complete chaos that park was. We've been talking about this for over a year, yeah, and it's had a pretty big buildup.
Mark Faldmo:It's a park that I hope to visit soon, but it's pretty interesting because the Epic Universe is not near the other Universal Parks. It's not part of that main campus.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, I thought it was.
Mark Faldmo:No, it's actually four miles away. They do offer complimentary transfers between the Universal Hotels and Universal Parks to Epic Universe. It's about a 15-minute transfer over to that park. They also do have a hotel that is at Epic Universe as well. It's open to a lot of fanfare. It's the biggest of lot of fanfare. It's the biggest of Universal's parks there in Florida and we have a special deal for that. This is book Epic Universe Orlando package by June 26th and you'll receive $100 off any three plus day complete package, which is the theme park, hotel and park tickets.
Patrick Wiscombe:I thought that you'd have to open up the wallet pretty wide.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, you probably still do, but they do. They do want to get a little perk for people coming and it also gives a lot of promotion to the park.
Patrick Wiscombe:Universal Studios, Universal Parks I really like. In some ways I almost like them better than Disney parks. Yeah, me too, just a little bit different theme, of course I like movies and going to the Backlot Tour. I guess I'm speaking specifically about Universal Studios in Hollywood.
Mark Faldmo:That was terrific, I love that I remember when I was a kid doing the tram tour, when Jaws breaks out of that water, the lady in front of me nearly jumped off the bus and ran the other way. I remember that as an eight-year-old. She was so terrified of that.
Patrick Wiscombe:You look at how dumb that mechanical shark looks now and you're just like really, really.
Mark Faldmo:That's all it was, yeah.
Patrick Wiscombe:All right, let's get to the hot travel deal of the week. We're a little bit short on time because we went extra long on Fiji, since you were there all of last week. We're talking Cancun, also, one of your favorite places to go it is, and there's some really good deals to Cancun right now.
Mark Faldmo:First of all, to anywhere in Mexico. We have a $250 off for packages of five nights or longer, but where this really comes in book by May 29th, you can get five-star Cancun for under $1,000. Wow, this was a September 3rd departure date. You can stay at the Catalonia Yucatan Beach Resort, which is a five-star. So this includes round-trip airfare from Salt Lake City, five-nights hotel and transfers to and from the hotel and airport.
Patrick Wiscombe:For less than or about $1,000 a person.
Mark Faldmo:Wow $919 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe:And you get to stay at a five-star resort and you love these places.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and this. And then one of my favorites is the Hyatt Ziva, Riviera Maya. Yes, this is only it's a four and a half star. It's still a five star in my mind, but professionally rated it's a four and a half star for $9 99. And then if you go to both Margaritaville Island Reserve and El Dorado Seaside Palms both amazing five-star resorts $1219 per person for each of those and that's about a $500 to $600 per person difference than it was a few weeks ago.
Patrick Wiscombe:Wow, so they need to fill some rooms.
Mark Faldmo:They are as we talked about. They're softening in travel right now, so there's some really good deals. So for that fall timeframe, September 3rd for this, but other fall dates are similar in price.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, take advantage of that. That's a good deal. I might even book that one, mark. Yes, it's worth it.
Patrick Wiscombe:You know the Hyatt Ziva. That's interesting to me because you know that I'm a Hyatt fan. You're a Marriott guy. Well, I'm also a Marriott guy, but that Hyatt Ziva Resort is beautiful. Yes, I don't know why I pronounced it that way, but it is very, very nice. Take advantage of that deal. September 3rd departure Is that what you said? September 3rd? Okay, take advantage of it. Call Mark in his office during the break. Just get the conversation started 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. And you will also post this on blueplanetvacations. com, correct? That's correct. It is up there now. Oh, it is Okay. When we come back, it is time for the infamous Just Cruising segment, where it's only about cruise news and it's only about cruise promotions. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast or radio show continues. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for listening. We will be back in about two minutes.
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.
Patrick Wiscombe:Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show Coming up. In the next 30 minutes we will be talking about a river cruise with free airfare to Europe. Norwegian Cruise Line is making some ship upgrades to their Epic and Pride of America ships. Two new cruise lines are heading to Alaska. By the way, Alaska is metaphorically very hot right now and because he's fresh from Fiji, mark will have some tips for sleeping on planes. 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: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:Ah, the beautiful ship horn of Norwegian's brand new ship, Norwegian Aqua. That is a beautiful ship. If you're kind of a cruise ship snob, like I am, regardless of how I say that Mark saying a cruise ship snob, it makes me look awful, but I love new cruise ships ships yeah, new cruise ships are great, and also refurbished ships are great, which we'll talk about in just a minute coming up in this segment.
Patrick Wiscombe:We will be talking about Norwegian cruise lines, upgrades to the epic and pride of America, and we've got free airfare to Europe. And Alaska is in fuego, metaphorically speaking. So if you want to go to Alaska, we've got two new options for you and, of course, we've got the cruise news here at the bottom of the hour. So let's start with Norwegian. Norwegian Cruise Line says that they are going to spend some money to upgrade Norwegian's Epic and Pride of America. I've been on Pride of America, but I have not been on the Epic.
Mark Faldmo:Let's start with the Epic. The Epic is one of the first big ships that Norwegian built. That was above 100,000 gross tons. Now that is small by today's ship. Yeah, it is, but it was kind of the first big ship that Norwegian ventured into of those larger ships. It was a little controversial ship when it first launched because of how the staterooms are. There was no separate bathroom. You walked in the main door, there was a shower on one side and a room with the toilet on the other side and then a sink and then the bed. So it was not really separated, they just had a pull curtain. They called them the Norwegian wave rooms because they're also curved with how the beds sit in there. It's a pretty interesting concept. They were designed by a European architect who I don't think understood the American market very well.
Patrick Wiscombe:Here, just pull a sheet across and do your business.
Mark Faldmo:I've sailed on Norwegian Epic six or seven times and it's actually not as bad as I made it sound. It works okay. But they are renovating the ship. It's going to get a new kids park. It's going to get several new hot tubs. They're adding a vibe beach club which replaces another beach club which is called the Posh Beach Club. This is the first ship that I ever saw on the back of the ship, up high. It kind of has a little terraced area and it's an adults only area of the ship. It has a big screen TV back there. I remember I had a group on board. It was during the Super Bowl and we had a reception at the same time as the Super Bowl. So they put the Super Bowl up on that big screen just for my group. So there are lots of newer ships that have similar areas, but it's just a wonderful place on back of the ship, adding more lounge chairs. They're going to add cabanas and actually add about 15 new staterooms onto the ship.
Patrick Wiscombe:The Vibe Beach Club is on Norwegian's Aqua, also at the back of the ship. Very, very, it was beautiful back there.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, yeah, the one thing I've noticed with Norwegian's upgrades. Yeah, the one thing I've noticed with Norwegian's upgrades when they redo these older ships, they're very, very nice and close to. What a luxury cruise line would do upgrades.
Mark Faldmo:Regent Seven Seas, which is probably one of the best cruise lines you can cruise on, is part of the Norwegian brand and they've brought a lot of those touches from that smaller yacht type cruising into the big ships. So it's a great move, yep. So I'm excited to see what Norwegian Epic will look like after this and then especially the Pride of America.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, pride of America does need some upgrades.
Mark Faldmo:They're moving where the kids club is to a different area, adding 12 new cabins on this ship and then redoing the interior and where a couple of the things are located. Pride of America is an interesting ship because it wasn't a Norwegian ship to begin with. It was started by a ship called American Cruises, which no longer exists. Don't get that confused with American Cruise Line. It was called American Cruises and they went bankrupt and had this hull built because of the Jones Act. Ships that need an international itinerary. If you're sailing within Hawaii, you have to be built in the US. So Norwegian purchased this and they got permission to take it to Europe to get fitted, but it was a gutted ship. They towed it to Europe and got it all fitted out in Europe, but because of that it's never really fit within Norwegian because it wasn't their ship.
Mark Faldmo:It wasn't their ship yeah, I've sailed on it twice. I enjoyed it because I love sailing on the Hawaiian islands, but nowadays, with these renovations, I think they're going to make it a very good ship. I still think that if you want to see multiple islands, it is the best way to see multiple islands in Hawaii on the Pride of America.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, it's cheaper too to see it that way, yes. The islands differ greatly from island to island. You wouldn't think it would, but it really does.
Mark Faldmo:It's a great way to see Hawaii.
Patrick Wiscombe:One of my favorite things was on Maui, going up to the top of Haliakala and being above the clouds. That was such a unique perspective.
Mark Faldmo:To be above the clouds on a volcano yeah, weird, but absolutely beautiful being up there on those volcanoes in Hawaii, particularly Haliakala, is pretty amazing yeah princess cruises has unveiled their 2027 world cruise.
Patrick Wiscombe:Sign me up. I don't even know where we're going. Just sign me up.
Mark Faldmo:You're going to some amazing places on this cruise. It is 129 days in 2027. Visit 61 ports and 20 countries across three continents.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, I'm all over this one.
Mark Faldmo:So this begins in Fort Lauderdale, ends in Los Angeles and here is the itinerary Leave Fort Lauderdale, you do a Caribbean cruise through the Panama Canal up Central America and Mexico to Los Angeles. That's not where it ends, that's just an intermediate point. I assume you can probably also jump back on this cruise in Los Angeles. If you didn't want to do that Panama Canal portion, do the Panama Canal.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's such a fascinating portion.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I was like man, don't miss that part, yeah. And then from there it sails over to Hawaii, where you'll do the four islands Hilo on the big island, Maui, Kauai, Honolulu and then it sails down to Apia in Samoa, Suva, Fiji Suva's the capital, but it's on the other side of the island from where I was at. And then it goes over to some islands that are on the north side of Australia, comes down to Australia, does the east coast of Australia down to Sydney, then goes over to New Zealand.
Show Voice:Wow.
Mark Faldmo:Cruises around New Zealand, then goes over to New Zealand, cruises around New Zealand. After New Zealand, it cruises the south part of Australia, the east part of Australia, up into Bali, Vietnam, Hong Kong, japan, and then you're back in the right time of the year, then sails over to Anchorage, Alaska, and you do an Alaska cruise down to Los Angeles. That is awesome. The full cruise is 129 days. You can do Los Angeles to Los Angeles for 114 days and then there are shorter segments of this you can buy, starting at 30 days.
Patrick Wiscombe:So what I'm hearing you say is in 2027, hopefully they'll have Starlink. Yes, I'll have to do the radio show and the podcast from aboard for four months. For four months?
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, that would be amazing. Hopefully someday I will have the time to do one of these longer cruises, oh, wow.
Patrick Wiscombe:National Geographic Lindblad Expeditions is going to enter the European River Cruise Market and there's more and more entrances into that market.
Mark Faldmo:This one, I think, is particularly interesting Lindblad Expeditions, which also operates in partnership with National Geographic. They're very expedition oriented. That's the way they're going to run these European river cruise markets more like an expedition cruises, and take deep dives into destinations, do some things that are very unique. They also just announced their itineraries, so they're going to do Rhine River castles, cultures and culinary delights, which is eight days. Holland and Belgium. And this is one that interests me just for the name of it. It's called Medieval History and Scenic Waterways. I always love going to those medieval cities there's so many of them around but I think National Geographic will probably do those better than anyone else.
Patrick Wiscombe:They really go all in on these expeditions. With European river cruising, here's the perfect segue, and this is the cruise deal of the week. Always in this section of the show, the infamous just Cruising segment, we've got a river cruise that includes free airfare to Europe. So if this is what you were waiting for, what are the details? This is on.
Mark Faldmo:Avalon Waterways. Avalon Waterways is probably my favorite river cruise line in Europe. I also like Ama Waterways a lot, but Avalon I like because of their cabins. We had TJ McEvoy on a few weeks ago that explained how their beds face out and when you're doing your scenic cruising you can just lay on your bed, have the whole wall open up and just view castles as you cruise past. So I love Avalon Waterways for that. But right now they have free airfare to Europe or you can choose to save $1,500 per person on select 2025 river cruises.
Mark Faldmo:Avalon has several different options. One that I really want to do is called Magnificent Europe. It's a 15-day cruise, Amsterdam to Budapest, so it does both the Rhine River and the Danube River, and for that free airfare promotion it is valid for select dates July through October. Or the same thing you could do just the Rhine River or just the Danube River. July through October is when they have those promotions, and if you go to the blueplanetvacations. com website there is a link to this. We're going to link you to those cruises so you can explore more about what those cruises include in the ports.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's transition over to the Ocean Cruise and the 2026 Alaska Cruises, and we have a couple of new cruise lines that will be sailing to Alaska next year. Which cruises are they, and have they already announced promotions?
Mark Faldmo:yet they have, and we're just starting the Alaska cruise this year for 2025. But I wanted to get these 2026 cruises out there because these two new cruise lines have some pretty good rates. The first one is MSC Cruises that will be starting. They have June dates in Alaska. So these are seven day cruises inside cabins starting at $8.39 per person, but where the deal is is in the balcony. Msc balcony cabins start at $13.59 per person for June dates.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's incredible because that's normally when everyone just charges the most.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah. Uh you know, most other cruise lines in June for a balcony cabin are 18 to $2,400 per person, so this is a really good deal and I'm sure those prices will go up as people start purchasing these cruises. So if you want to go to Alaska next year in 2026, they start in mid-May and go through mid-September Good prices on almost every date right now on MSC Okay.
Patrick Wiscombe:So MSC is cruise line number one. Who is cruise line number two going to Alaska next year?
Mark Faldmo:Cruise line number two is Virgin Voyages.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, they're headed there now.
Mark Faldmo:Number two is Virgin Voyages oh, they're headed there now. Yeah, this is an adult only cruise line cruise experience, so no children and they are a little bit more of a premium product, but they still have really good pricing. This is for mid-August sailing An inside cabin starts at $1,092 and a balcony at $1,582 in August Does that include everything, depending on the promotion? And a balcony at $1,582 in August? Does that include everything, depending on the promotion? I think right now MSC has a deal that includes drinks and Wi-Fi Virgin just as a general rule includes Wi-Fi in their cabins.
Patrick Wiscombe:So MSC and Virgin coming to Alaska starting next year. What a lot of people don't know is that Mark actually helped my son Nathan and his wife Kenzie. They took off for Alaska today. Yes, I've been getting phone calls, obviously prior to today's show, saying, hey, man, we are excited to go, we're excited to go, we're excited to go. When we were on our four cruises back to back to back to back, nicky and I, he goes, dad, I have to go, we have to go. So that's why they're headed to Alaska right now it's a great destination.
Mark Faldmo:Earlier this week I was at a presentation from Alaska Tourism and also the Alaska Rail, and we'll talk about that sometime. It was all about what to do on a land tour, not necessarily cruises. They didn't talk about cruises, but Alaska has a lot to offer.
Patrick Wiscombe:Alaska is truly beautiful. Really, if you want that to be your first experience, that is a guaranteed success. If you can't find joy in Alaska, that's you, that's on you. That is an amazing place. Take advantage of the offers that we've talked about during the infamous Just Cruising segment. Call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And he'll also post this on blueplanetvacations. com when we come back. Man, this hour goes by so fast. We've got Mark's travel tips. We'll give you tricks for sleeping better on a plane and we, of course, we will wrap it up with some additional travel news headlines. That is next with the Inside Travel Talk podcast. The radio show continues alongside my good friend Mark Faldmo. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for listening. We will be back in about two minutes.
Show Voice:Helping you get out and see the world. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com America's best travel advisors. Book your vacation now 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. The show will continue after this.
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Show Voice:Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718 presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call the show right now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And now your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo will step back into the studio here in just a second. Coming up in this segment, we are going to give you tricks for sleeping better on a plane. Mark just spent coming back from Fiji. My first question to him was how's the jet lag? And he goes I'm actually doing pretty good. And oh, you're back. And then we are also going to talk about some things to do if you're getting off a cruise in Miami. That's coming up in this segment and, of course, we always want to answer your travel-related questions. So if you have questions and you're just listening going oh man, I want to ask these guys a question just call or text us right now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. You are back from Fiji and one of the questions that I had for you immediately was even in text was how's the jet lag? And you said, hey, hey, I'm doing okay.
Mark Faldmo:We're gonna give listeners some tricks for sleeping better on a plane so you don't have that jet lag sleeping on a plane is something that's always been hard for me, and actually on Fiji Airways they had a sleep psychologist that played a little video how to how to sleep, how to avoid jet lag. Right when I was just got off the plane I also got an email from the points guy about planning ahead, prepare, how to sleep on an airplane, and so you know. I thought that'd be interesting, since I just got off a 10 hour flight and some of these suggestions from these sleep professionals. Now I still have a hard time sleeping on an airplane, but there are some good tricks and tips here to help you at least get a little bit more sleep on an airplane.
Patrick Wiscombe:So just everyone relax now. Yeah, let's bring in the psychologist to give you some tricks, mark. Yeah.
Mark Faldmo:The first thing is bring your own pillow or blanket. Bring something you're familiar with, which I think that's a little bit harder to do on an airplane. In fact, before this trip to Fiji, heather said should we get sleep pillows? And so we went out and bought sleep pillows, came home with about five of them, tested them and found the ones that we liked and took, and Heather used it both ways on the flight, seemed to enjoy that pillow. I've never had good success with those neck pillows.
Patrick Wiscombe:I might be weird, but they just make my neck hot, which actually keeps me awake, but somehow figure out how to get your head comfortable.
Mark Faldmo:One of the suggestions here is choose your seat wisely. Whether it's a window seat or an aisle seat. The location of the suggestions here is choose your seat wisely. Whether it's a window seat or an aisle seat, the location of the seat can matter. I like to be in the middle of the plane, in between the laboratories. You know the people, or because the people going back and forth to the restroom, or if you're in near the back, where the food preparation area is, it can get noisy and not as dark in that area. So so choose your seat wisely.
Mark Faldmo:Wear comfortable clothes. I think that's pretty self-explanatory. Don't wear tight belts, tight fitting clothes. Wear loose, comfortable clothes. One that I always thought was funny is use a sleep mask. Yeah, I could buy that, but it does really block out that light. It does, and from the sleep psychologist, one of the tips was try and follow your usual bedtime routine as close to possible when you're on the airplane. Now, that's hard to do, but I do see people get up with their toothbrushes and do the whole bedtime thing before they go to sleep. The next thing I think is the most important Invest in a good pair of noise canceling headphones, oh yeah, what other tips did he have?
Mark Faldmo:And then the next thing is make sure you have time to stretch and move around, even if that's in your seat. There are things you can do moving your ankles. Keep your blood flowing.
Patrick Wiscombe:So this was a question that we received on the call and the text line 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. We do want to answer your travel related questions. This is a question from Wyatt. He said he's getting off a cruise in Miami and the best price flights home are 6 pm or back on the next day. What is there to do in Miami after a cruise? And he's asking should I fly home the next day for the better price? And the answer is there's a lot to do in Miami because we were just there. Let's give him some ideas.
Mark Faldmo:That's kind of a common question. A lot of people want to just get off the cruise ship, go to the airport Right, but everybody does that. Most flights leave between noon and three, but everybody does that Most flights leave between noon and three. So if you want a better price flight home, it's usually a later flight or the next day. For me personally, I would say spend the night and come home the next day, oh, really Okay, but that also depends on your time. Sometimes you can't do that, but I don't mind taking a 6 pm or later flight home. So you have a few options. Let's just start with if you're coming home later that day, the cruise line offers an Everglades tour or a tour of Miami, and they will take care of your luggage for you. So your luggage stays with you, you don't have to worry about that, and they'll take you out on a jet boat ride to the Everglades. Or you can do a South Beach Miami tour and then they just drop you back off at the airport. And that is for flights that leave after 3 pm.
Mark Faldmo:If you have even longer so you're a 6 pm or 7 pm flight I would recommend renting a car from Miami airport. The airport is just 10 minutes away. It's not far. Go to the rental car center Miami airport the airport is just 10 minutes away. It's not far. Go to the rental car center, rent a car for the day and go out to Shark Valley. Oh yeah, you know, we did that, Patrick, and it's part of the national park in the Everglades. You can take the tram ride around. You can walk around the trail. It's just a great place to get your feet wet.
Mark Faldmo:Not literally, but get your feet wet into the Everglades, then if you do opt to spend the night there, I'd still recommend getting the car, but going down to the main entrance of the Everglades Park and driving down that road. Heather and I just did that when we were there a few weeks ago and loved it, and I found something new, some history. That is amazing. There was a Nike missile site right in the middle of the Everglades, just about a mile off of the main road, and so we took a tour from one of the park rangers that toured this site and told us the history of the Nike missile site.
Mark Faldmo:Back during the Cuban missile crisis, all of the missiles were in the North US because they were worried about things coming over from Russia over the poles. We had no Southern defense and when the Cuban Missile Crisis happened, they quickly moved a battery of these two of them. There was one somewhere else in Florida, but there was this one in the Everglades and it's a whole facility. They had the whole hangars with the missiles. Oh wow, it was just very interesting to learn that history. So that's something you could do and I just stumbled upon it. There was a little display in the visitor center that asked us about tours to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Nike Missile Site, and so we did that. So you did so we did so there's lots of interesting things to do. That road on the Everglades, all the little stops walk out on platforms around different areas. Just an amazing thing to do if you have a free day in.
Patrick Wiscombe:South Florida. Get out and see the world. It is an absolutely spectacular place. Prioritize it in your life. It'll be one of those things that you'll look back and go. You know what? Remember when we did this. It's going to be one of those things. If you want to take advantage of any of the offers that we have discussed during the last hour, call Mark in his office. Just get the conversation started 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. No obligation. Seeing the world is an excellent way to live.
Patrick Wiscombe:You can listen to this award-nominated program tomorrow morning at Sunday at 11 am. Well, it's award-nominated, at least in my head. It's right here on this radio station and you can stream, download and subscribe to the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. You can stream the show right there, but we're also on all the major podcast platforms and all of the links are at InsideTravelTalk. com. Well, our job is over. 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. Make travel a priority. You'll thank us later. Thank you so much for listening. Have a terrific week. We will talk to you again next Saturday and Sunday.
Show Voice:That's it. That's the end of the show You've been listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Book your adventure right now. Call 888-718-7717. That's 888-718-7717. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.
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