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
Beyond Borders: Cruises, Trains, and Island Escapes
The world of travel is constantly evolving, and this episode takes you behind the scenes of some extraordinary opportunities you won't want to miss. We kick things off with a jaw-dropping MSC Cruises promotion offering 40% off ALL cruises—not just select sailings—plus kids sail free through their limited-time 4th of July sale. For families looking to escape winter, a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise from Galveston starts at just $469 per person, with a family of four sailing for a total of $1,389 including taxes and fees.
For those seeking unique land experiences, we explore Australia's magnificent train journeys that showcase the continent's diverse beauty. The Indian Pacific route connecting Sydney to Perth reveals Australia's stunning coastline, while The Ghan train takes adventurers through the country's heart from Adelaide to Darwin, stopping at Alice Springs—gateway to the iconic Ayers Rock. These luxury train adventures feature sleeper accommodations, dining cars, and five-star service throughout your journey, with current savings of up to $1,400 per couple.
The Dominican Republic steals the spotlight as our featured destination, with its pristine beaches and vibrant culture. We break down the three main tourist areas—Punta Cana, La Romana, and Puerto Plata—and highlight unforgettable experiences from chocolate making at local family farms to exploring the nature reserve of Saona Island. Current vacation packages through Delta offer significant savings with five-night packages including airfare from Salt Lake City starting at $1,249 per person.
American Cruise Lines presents an exceptional opportunity to explore America's iconic waterways with their all-inclusive river cruises. From the breathtaking Columbia River Gorge to the historically rich Lower Mississippi, these intimate vessels carrying just 90-150 guests provide unparalleled access to America's nautical heritage with free airfare and savings up to $1,200 per person on select voyages.
Looking to plan your next adventure? Reach out to us at 888-718-7717 or visit blueplanetvacations.com to unlock these exclusive deals before they sail away!
It is just after 11 o'clock. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show Coming up. On today's show we will be talking about 40% off all MSC Cruises, plus kids sale free and more good news they're introducing specialty dining packages and we'll be traveling by train in Australia. Delta is expanding service in the Caribbean and vacations in the Dominican Republic A beautiful place. Let's start the show. The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com contains travel deals, promotions and offers that may be time sensitive. All offers and information were accurate when the show aired. Travel deals and offers change constantly and are capacity controlled and subject to change without notice.
Show Voice:Helping you plan your next vacation. This is the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com America's best travel advisors. Call us now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Fulton Woo.
Patrick Wiscombe:It is just after 11 o'clock. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show. Hello there, I'm Patrick Wiscombe, alongside Mark Faldmo. Thank you so much for taking the time to stop and listen to this awesome podcast and radio show about travel and travel ideas. And if you have no idea where you want to go on your next vacation, we are going to give you ideas of where to consider next, and this show is presented by blueplanetvacations. com.
Patrick Wiscombe:Coming up on today's show. We will be talking about 40% off all MSC Cruises I didn't say some, I said all MSC Cruises and they're introducing some specialty dining packages that are fixed price. We'll get to that in the infamous Just Cruising segment. And if you've always wanted to go to Australia, we're going to tell you how to do it by train and someplace that was really unexpectedly pleasant the Dominican Republic. We were there in April and it was such a beautiful place to visit. If you've always thought about going there, whether it be by air or by cruise, do it. It's a great place to go. Hello Mark Faldmo, hey Patrick, let's get right to the travel headlines. July 4th obviously coming up and a record number of Americans are expected to travel for the July 4th holiday.
Mark Faldmo:This is an annual report that AAA releases every 4th of July, and they are expecting just over 72 million people to travel at least 50 miles from their home by any mode of transportation. The vast majority of that is by car, but almost 6 million Americans will fly this year over the 4th of July, which is up about 10% compared to last year, so there'll be busy skies this week. Are you going anywhere?
Patrick Wiscombe:this weekend I'm not going anywhere.
Mark Faldmo:I'm going to Fort Lauderdale the following week.
Patrick Wiscombe:Got it. What's going on in Fort Lauderdale? Anything listeners would be interested in? Not really. It's a travel meeting.
Mark Faldmo:Oh okay, it's called Global Travel Marketplace and that's just to go meet with suppliers worldwide, learn about their products and get some travel ideas.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, you can't go wrong going to Fort Lauderdale.
Mark Faldmo:So beautiful down there, yeah, I love that area Southwest may be planning transatlantic flights. When is that going to take place? So they are just looking at it. The speculation is they are going to fly to Reykjavik, Iceland, because that's as far as their planes can make it. So they couldn't make it all the way to Europe, but from their hubs like in Baltimore they could fly to Reykjavik and with their recently signed partnership with Iceland Air that is a pretty good fit for them so they can fly their mainland service to Reykjavik and then passengers connect onward from there. So could open up Europe to a lot of Southwest market.
Patrick Wiscombe:Both you and I got an email this past week that Delta has some kind of promotion. It's actually pretty easy to book this promotion If you're traveling on Delta. Listen up.
Mark Faldmo:For their 100th year anniversary, they're giving people all the opportunity to earn up to $100 e-certificate on Delta. So how you do this is you sign in to your SkyMiles account. When you're in your profile there is a link for promotions and you can just click register. It's just a one click and you're registered and for every flight that you fly in Delta Comfort between now and November 20th you'll get $25 per flight up to $100.
Patrick Wiscombe:And all you have to do is just go to the Delta app and basically enroll and if you fly, then you get the credit.
Mark Faldmo:You fly, then you get the credit. So, on all the programs I'm part of, I always enroll in every promotion, whether I'm going to use it or not, because you never know In your case. Yes, yeah, you know. Marriott has a lot of promotions as well. I enroll in all of those and I end up getting three or four free nights at Marriott throughout the year just by enrolling in their promotions.
Patrick Wiscombe:So it is worthwhile. Even though you may not take advantage of it, it could. If something happens, you would be automatically enrolled in it. Correct Always in the opening segment of the show we've got the destination of the week, and this week we're going to Australia. But instead of I mean, obviously we have to get over to Australia, have to fly there, but instead of doing the traditional touristy things. The reason we're going here is because you received a call in your office, blueplanetvacations. com, from Ginger who wanted to go to Australia, and you guys had a fairly lengthy conversation about how to go see Australia by train. So let's share that with our listeners.
Mark Faldmo:I've never had a request for Australia by train until this past week and, doing the research, there's four different kind of tourist lines that are in Australia, so I'll just go over those different four routes that they have. The first line is called the Indian Pacific and it goes from Sydney to Perth. There are stops in the Blue Mountains, Adelaide and then across to Perth with a few other stops, and that's probably the most popular train. But the train that really piqued my interest is called the Gann train and it goes from Adelaide, which is in the south, to Darwin in the north, and so it goes right through the center of Australia. One of the stops there is Alice Springs, which is anyone that I've ever sold to Australia wants to try and figure out how to get to Alice Springs. That's the train that would get you to Alice Springs and you'd get to see, you know, that whole interior of the country.
Patrick Wiscombe:You mentioned traveling from Adelaide to Alice Springs. If someone doesn't know what's in Alice Springs, Australia, what is there?
Mark Faldmo:The thing that everyone likes to see that's in that area of Australia is Ayers Rock, the big rock that's just out in the middle of the kind of outback there, and so from that area is where you would get off to see Ayers Rock. That's why everyone wants to go to Alice Springs. There's lots of other interesting things to do and see in Alice Springs. It's about close to right in the middle of the country. And what's the last train? The next train is a train between Brisbane and Adelaide, so it kind of goes down the southeast coast of Australia, and so those are the tourist trains that you can experience in Australia.
Patrick Wiscombe:You just rattled off the four trains. Are these sleeper trains? Or is this like Rocky Mountaineer, where you travel during the day and then you go in a hotel at night.
Mark Faldmo:Australia is a pretty big country and so these are all sleeper trains. They do have different service levels that you can get all the way to full suites, which is a full train car. They do have your dining cars, your sleeping cars, and it's five star service on the whole adventure. You can do just a one night trip, but the average train is three to six nights that you can go and experience Australia.
Patrick Wiscombe:Price-wise. What are listeners looking at if they want to travel by train in Australia?
Mark Faldmo:That depends on the length of the train travel. But they do have right now save up to $1,400 per couple. That's on their package deals, which includes some off-train experiences. It is a great way to see parts of Australia that you probably wouldn't see otherwise Just because Australia is so sparsely populated and the interior. There's not a lot of civilization there in the interior or the outback.
Patrick Wiscombe:Big spiders, too, Enormous spiders. Yes, Patrick does not like spiders. Ginger, I'm certain you're going to have some additional questions. Call Mark at his office, in your case the conversation 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And you can also find his number on blueplanetvacations. com. When we come back time for the hot travel deal of the week and we are going to the Dominican Republic, we're going to talk about what the main tourist areas are, what there is to do in Punta Cana. 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 allowing us to be part of your weekend. We will be right back.
Show Voice:If you have travel questions, they have the answers. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Call or text the show right now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. We'll be right back 3700.
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Show Voice:America To book your unique Star Clipper sailing adventure. Contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or blueplanetvacations. com. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe:Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. You are listening to the best and most informative travel show on the radio and in podcast form. Coming up in this segment of the show, always in this segment, is the hot travel deal of the week and we are going to the Dominican Republic. Nikki and I were there in April and it is awesome. It is a beautiful, beautiful island, Mark. I think it's completely underrated. Dominican Republic I love the Dominican Republic Some of the most beautiful beaches.
Mark Faldmo:I've ever's completely underrated Dominican Republic. I love the Dominican Republic. Some of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen have been in the Dominican Republic.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get back to the travel news headlines. I saw this news story that Test Track, one of the rides at Epcot Center in Orlando, is coming off a tune-up and it's set to reopen. What are the details?
Mark Faldmo:It's actually probably one of my favorite things to do at Epcot. It's going to reopen July 22nd with new music. I like Test Track because it's kind of like a supposedly a you know race car going around course. It's one of the more adventuresome rides at Epcot. Growing up I always thought Epcot was kind of boring, but as an adult I love Epcot. Thank you, you know, but this is, you know, one of the things that gives you a little bit of adventure and speed.
Patrick Wiscombe:Because you and I travel a lot on Delta. I saw this news story that they're expanding service to the Caribbean.
Mark Faldmo:Starting December 20th, is adding two new Caribbean destinations, both from Atlanta. They're adding St Vincent and Grenada. So these are two brand new destinations for Delta. Some of these Caribbean islands in that eastern, more southern Caribbean are just so beautiful and interesting to visit. Interesting to visit If you're looking to kind of get away to a more relaxed, less touristy area in the Caribbean. These are probably two really good options.
Mark Faldmo:Have you been to Grenada? I have, and I've been to St Vincent as well. Now, the one thing I really like about these is their colonial history. St Vincent has been owned by both France and Britain, so you get a little bit of that culture there. Grenada is French. One of my favorite stories there is we had a group and it came with lunch and they had salads with French dressing and it tasted so good. That's probably because I'm in a French territory that this French dressing tastes so good. And then I look behind the curtain and it was Kraft French dressing, and I know French dressing doesn't necessarily really come from France, but that's my food story for the day. It was such a good salad and such good French dressing, but it ended up being Kraft.
Mark Faldmo:Delta also has announced additional expanded service to other places Cancun, Punta Cana, which we'll talk about in a little bit. A few weeks ago we talked about the Puerto Vallarta from Salt Lake. They are adding a seasonal extra flight to Puerto Vallarta over the holidays, but they really are kind of going all in to that. Caribbean, Latin America, central America destinations.
Patrick Wiscombe:Tracy, who is one of our listeners, wants to go to the Dominican Republic. She called your office. Let me just give the number out 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. Or if you don't remember the number, just go to blueplanetvacations. com. Tracy is asking I want to go to the Dominican Republic. What advice do you have for me?
Mark Faldmo:First, of all, there are three main areas tourist areas of Dominican Republic. There are a few more than this, but these are kind of the main ones. So the first one is Punta Cana. That's the one where most people fly into for a vacation. Punta Cana is on the very eastern tip of the island. And then the next area is La Romana. This one you actually fly into Punta Cana and it's about an hour or so drive. La Romana is on the south side of the island, kind of in between Santo Domingo and Punta Cana. And then the other area is Porto Plata, which is on the north side of the island and it does have its own airport that's serviced by Delta. American United. JetBlue Frontier, I believe, also flies to Porto Plata. So those are the three kind of areas that you would fly into.
Patrick Wiscombe:Of those three areas. What's your favorite area? My?
Mark Faldmo:favorite of those is La Romana. I like it because it's a little bit quieter, but you're still close enough to a lot of the activities when you're only an hour or so away from the activities in Punta Cana, you can still get to those fairly easily. But I like La Romana because it's quieter.
Patrick Wiscombe:Since Punta Cana is kind of the main area there, what are some of the activities to do there?
Mark Faldmo:The first thing in Punta Cana is the beach. Punta Cana, and Dominican Republic, has some of the most beautiful beaches I've ever visited the way the palm trees sit on the beach, the water, the white sand. But if you're interested in culture or a little bit more adventure, Punta Cana also has plenty of things to do. My favorite thing to do is visit a local family farm and on this activity you go up into the mountains and they show you all of the different plants that they grow on the farm. For me, the most interesting one is chocolate. So they take you through the whole process of making chocolate, from picking it to roasting it, to you know everything it takes to make chocolate. And then you do get to drink kind of some hot chocolate, I guess, but it's basically fresh made right there.
Mark Faldmo:That's probably one of my favorite things to do because it does get you some of the culture. You get to see how the people live. They invite you into their home and you have a meal there and just a really good activity to learn about Dominican Republic and, again, learn about chocolate, which is great. Every time I go to Dominican Republic I come back with a brick of chocolate and you just shred it into some hot water, and it makes really good hot chocolate. So the next thing to do in the area is Siona Island, which is an island just off of Punta Cana, and it's known for its crystal clear waters, white sand beaches, but it's a nature reserve and so, just with its natural beauty and its marine life, there you can snorkel, relax on the beach. It's just a nice little getaway, and it's about an hour and a half boat ride from Punta Cana.
Patrick Wiscombe:Isn't Monkey Land there as well, or am I thinking of a different?
Mark Faldmo:area. Monkey Land is one of the activities where you get to go and interact with the different monkeys that live on the island. It's kind of a reserve where they have monkeys that can't really be in the wild because they've been domesticated. So they take these monkeys in that you know they might've been injured or something and they rehab them, but they all stay there and you get to really interact with the monkeys. You know something that people always ask me about in destinations like this are zip lines. Oh yeah, you know something that people always ask me about in destinations like this are zip lines.
Mark Faldmo:Oh yeah, you know, zip lines are that's kind of a staple.
Mark Faldmo:It is a staple in a lot of places and behind the one that we've talked about a few times in Puerto Vallarta, I think this one in Punta Cana is a very close second place to that awesome one in Puerto Vallarta and that's by a company called Runners Adventures. I think by far it's the best. It has 12 zip lines, it's way up in the mountains and it includes lunch, and just the views from when you're eating lunch are amazing. Oh, absolutely the one thing that I thought was interesting there, that I learned there that I hadn't heard before in these tropical destinations there's trees. In the morning they were green, but by the time we were leaving the leaves have kind of rolled in on themselves and it was silver. And the guy says those are our rain predictors. When those leaves roll up and you see silver, that means rain is coming within 24 hours. And it was accurate. I always find it interesting to find those kind of little gems of destinations just how things work in the world that are pretty interesting.
Patrick Wiscombe:You know what I thought was interesting? My knee works the same way.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, Both of my knees work that way too.
Mark Faldmo:I want to get your opinion on visiting Dominican Republic you know, for us in the Western United States it can be a little bit harder to get to. You generally have to take an overnight flight or fly somewhere, stay in a hotel and take a morning flight out. That is kind of one drawback. But I always tell people you know you go to Hawaii and you take an overnight flight back from Hawaii, so you're just adding the overnight flight on the front end of your trip instead of the back end of your trip. So that really shouldn't be much of a hindrance for people on the West.
Mark Faldmo:To go to Dominican Republic. You know, as far as the resorts go, everywhere I've stayed has been great. I pretty much would recommend four star or higher. There are some destinations where if it's a three-star, there's some pretty good three-stars out there, but in Dominican Republic I would stick with the four or five-star hotels. Food for the most part has always been pretty good in Dominican Republic. A lot of those hotels rely on buffets and I'm not a buffet fan. So if there's a hotel that is just buffet I'm not as happy. The food for the most part has been good. There's been rice and beans.
Patrick Wiscombe:So rice and beans, just rice and beans, and plantanos, oh my goodness. So good.
Mark Faldmo:You know that's one thing to look out for when you're choosing a hotel. If you're not a buffet fan, I know there are some people that love buffets, so that might be good. I do think you get better food in just the a la carte restaurants than you do in the buffet.
Patrick Wiscombe:What deal do you have for listeners this week going to Dominican Republic?
Mark Faldmo:This is a deal that it's good for most of the Caribbean. So that deal is save up to $250 plus get bonus Delta SkyMiles. This is a package with Delta Vacations that we can help with Blue Planet Vacations. I did look for September dates, so this is September 19th and this package includes round trip airfare from Salt Lake City, five nights hotel. The total length of the trip is six nights because you have that overnight flight in there and transfers from the airport to the hotel.
Mark Faldmo:The very kind of first hotel is an adults only hotel and it's the Bahia Principape Grand Aquamarine Again four star, adults only, starting at $1249 per person. The next one, and this is one of my favorite hotel brands in the Caribbean, it's called Royalton Royalton Punta Cana, four star, starts at $1299. And Royalton does have some adults only and some family friendly, and their family friendly hotels are great. They have lots to do for the kids. So if you're interested in a family vacation, the Royalton is one to look at and then if you want to go, step up to a five-star hotel, my favorite in the area is the Secrets Cap Cana, a five-star hotel from $1749 per person. When I think of that Secrets Cap Cana, I did a hard hat tour of it. Before it opened, you know all the buildings were under construction, but when we walked out to their beach I was just amazed. That is probably one of the most beautiful beaches you'll see in all of the Caribbean, where the Secrets Cap Cana sits.
Patrick Wiscombe:I'm just looking at it online right now. You're right, you are not wrong. That is a beautiful property. It is Wow. Okay, Tracy, if you have any further questions and I'm sure you probably have some follow-up questions call Mark in his office. Take advantage of those offers. Save up to $250. Plus, you get the Delta Sky Miles. Call Mark in his office during the break, just get the conversation started 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. And you can also go to blueplanetvacations. com. When we come back, it is time for the infamous Just Cruising segment, where it's only about the cruise news and it's only about cruise deals, and we've got some really good ones this week. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show, continues alongside Mark Faldmo. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for listening. We will be right back.
Show Voice:They've literally traveled millions of miles to answer your travel related questions. Yeah, they really have. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com America's best travel advisors, Patrick and Mark, will be back after these messages.
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Patrick Wiscombe:Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Coming up. In the next 30 minutes, Mark and I will be talking about 40% off all MSC cruises, not just select cruises, all cruises plus kids sail free, and they're introducing specialty dining packages. This is kind of an interesting twist, A good twist. Royal Caribbean is set to open South Pacific destinations and the weekly cruise deal of the week and American Airlines is set to open touchless ID lanes. Sounds very sanitary. Let's get back to the show. The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com contains travel deals, promotions and offers that may be time-sensitive. All offers and information were accurate when the show aired. Travel deals and offers change constantly and are capacity-controlled and subject to change without notice.
Show Voice:Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Hit us up right now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com.
Patrick Wiscombe:Here's Patrick and Mark that is the beautiful ship horn on Norwegian's brand new ship called aqua. A beautiful ship, awesome ship. Nikki and I were on it in April for a five-day cruise where we went to Bimini. We also went to their private island and I'm blanking on it. What's the name of their island? Is it Ocean Key?
Mark Faldmo:No, no, no, that's MSC. There's Great Stirrup.
Patrick Wiscombe:Key. Oh, thank you. I was like I don't think it's. As soon as I said Ocean Key, I'm like no, no, that's MSC's private island.
Mark Faldmo:When you do four cruises and four private islands, it's probably all hard to keep them on track.
Patrick Wiscombe:For anyone just listening to the radio show and podcast. For the first time, Niki and I literally spent the month of April in the Caribbean and the Bahamas. That is an experience. I let's get right to the cruise news, mark, let's do it. And I think this is a big deal for MSC. Msc has their 4th of July sale going on right now. Do we know when it ends? Yeah, it will end next.
Mark Faldmo:Wednesday. Okay, so act quickly, act quickly. They may extend it, but you don't want to risk that.
Patrick Wiscombe:No, no, no. Their promotion that they're making for our listeners is save 40% off all cruises. Now, that's a big deal, because sometimes what select cruises are slower times of the year. This is 40% off on all cruises, plus kids sail free and Nikki and I, as I mentioned, we were on MSC's World America in April. Beautiful ship, by the way. Just take my word for it it is beautiful, definitely worth going. What would be your cruise pick, mark?
Mark Faldmo:So, to take advantage of this sale, my cruise pick would be Caribbean Cruise from Galveston, and the reason why is probably purely because of the price. If you're looking for a great cruise deal, this is the itinerary for you. So it's Western Caribbean. Goes from Galveston, which is close to Houston, goes to Costa Maya, Roatan in Honduras and Cozumel in Mexico, and then back to Galveston. Is that a seven-day?
Patrick Wiscombe:That is a seven-day cruise that feels fairly port-intensive for seven days.
Mark Faldmo:It is, yeah, three ports in the seven days with three days at sea. Okay, yeah, all right, um on that. And I think the best part of this is the price. So this is January 4th, so right when it's cold here. But an inside cabin starts at $469 per person. Oh, wow, now let's throw in the kids. Sell free part of that. That first lead in inside category does not accommodate two people, so you have to go to a higher cabin category price. But right now, when I look at it, a cabin for four, the total price with two adults, two kids and all taxes and fees is $1,389 total for the whole family.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, so hold on. The leading category does not accommodate two people. That's what you said Does not accommodate four people.
Mark Faldmo:Okay, got it.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, it was like it's a small cabin if it can't accommodate two people.
Mark Faldmo:If I misspoke I apologize. It can't accommodate two people. If I misspoke I apologize. It can only accommodate two people, cannot accommodate four. So you do have to go up to a higher cabin category to get the kids cell free that's a good promotion.
Patrick Wiscombe:Do we know what ship that one's on? Which msc ship that is?
Mark Faldmo:yeah, that's on the msc seascape. Oh, oh, so they moving Seascape to Galveston.
Patrick Wiscombe:now To Galveston, yeah.
Mark Faldmo:Oh, okay, and then again, that was January 4th. They do have similar deals later in January, but you're $50 to $80 more per person on later dates in January.
Patrick Wiscombe:By the way, if you can go after the holidays, if your schedule allows you to do that, go after the holidays you will save a boatload of money. No pun intended.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah.
Patrick Wiscombe:MSC Cruises is changing to a fixed fee specialty dining plan and is also introducing dining packages. I think this is a good move on their part.
Mark Faldmo:It is their specialty restaurants. Right now it's all a la carte pricing. So, like a restaurant, if you're getting a restaurant on land, go to the restaurant, your appetizers $8, your main courses $18, whatever, and now they're just going to a fixed rate on those. So if you want to go to the steakhouse, you'll pay whatever that fixed rate is whether $25, $35, and you'll get an appetizer or a starter, a main course and a dessert for that, and so you'll have access to the full menu without that a la carte pricing. By doing that, it then allows them to do the dining packages, so you can just buy a dining package for the full week that might include three specialty restaurants. So that helps them price that a little bit better if you do want to buy that upgraded specialty meal package region seven seas, which is a very top level cruise line.
Patrick Wiscombe:Who's that owned by region? Is owned by who? Uh, Norwegian, oh, that's right. Okay, they've announced that they are introducing a new level of service.
Mark Faldmo:Let's tell listeners about that I could never afford this suite on their new ship but it's interesting to talk about. On their newest ship it will have a two-level suite that measures 8,800 square feet. It is two levels. It's called the Skyview Suite, located on front of the ship. It has two bedrooms, two and a half baths, a private sauna and a private gym for that cabin.
Patrick Wiscombe:Hold on. Did you say 8,800 square feet? 8,800 square feet?
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I don't even know what to do with that much room, yeah Well, and only two bedrooms, so well. And and part of that 8,800 square feet is the private balcony. That's 3,800 square feet there you go Twice the size of my house, but just just the balcony. It has a private bar, it has a private dining area that will seat 12 people and only that suite gets that private dining venue. That will debut on the Regent Seven Seas Prestige, which is the name of the ship, in December of 2026.
Patrick Wiscombe:You know that I do real estate investment for a living. I love big, beautiful houses. That's the most amount of square footage I've ever heard on a ship.
Mark Faldmo:So your average inside cabin is about 200 square feet. That's a lot more than the average cabin on a cruise ship.
Patrick Wiscombe:What is that 40 times more. Yeah, royal Caribbean is expected to open their brand new South Pacific destinations in early 2027. This feels like something out of a movie.
Mark Faldmo:This is another private destination, private island that they are going to open. It will be on Laleppa, which is an island in the Vanuatu archipelago, and so it's going to be like perfect day at Coco Cay. It looks like it's going to be more of along the lines of their beach clubs. They haven't set a name for it yet, but they've purchased the island and they've started building this private destination, which is about a thousand miles west of Australia. Whoa, so really out there, really out there, yeah, and by looking at the artist renderings, looks like it's going to be an amazing beach destination.
Mark Faldmo:Oh yeah, so look forward to that Royal Caribbean's long line of private destinations, whether it's islands or beach clubs. This will be someplace. No other cruise line in the world has a private destination.
Patrick Wiscombe:They're taking investor money right now. I think they're really putting it to good use right now. Yeah, here in the infamous just cruising segment, we always have the cruise deal of the week and that is where we are right now. Who is the cruise deal of the week and what promotions do we have for listeners this week?
Mark Faldmo:This is on American Cruise Lines. They sail the American River, so the main ones being Mississippi and Columbia, but they sell some others. They also have products in the Great Lakes, products that are a little bit more ocean going, that sell the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. It's a great way to experience the American rivers. On the Mississippi and on the Columbia I believe they have some paddle wheel boats, but they also have some more traditional river cruise lines. Their promotion right now is free airfare plus save up to a thousand dollars on voyages.
Mark Faldmo:But I did want to just kind of go over a profile of American Cruise Lines, because a lot of our listeners may have heard the name American Cruise Line but not really known what they're about. So their ships carry anywhere from 90 to 150 guests. On the Columbia River they're smaller, those are around 9,200 guests. The Mississippi they're a little bit larger. But one thing I like about American Cruise Line is it is truly an all-inclusive experience. So all meals and all drinks 24-7 are included on American Cruise Lines.
Mark Faldmo:Onshore excursions in each port they'll include at least one excursion, but in certain ports they might have some additional optional excursions that are at additional cost. They also do really good with their guest speakers and nightly entertainment. For instance, on the Mississippi they have Civil War guides. Come on and do enrichment talks about the different places you'll see on the Mississippi and same on the Columbia River. With most itineraries they do include a pre-cruise stay and the transportation to the ship, so you're not paying for that. If a pre-cruise hotel is needed and then also all tips, gratuities, port charges are all included. So really the price you see with American Cruise Line is the price you pay.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, that is nice, A lot of the other ocean cruise lines and some of the other river cruise lines. Gratuities would be additional. Pre-cruise hotel would be additional. So they really do include everything.
Patrick Wiscombe:What are some of the cruise itineraries?
Mark Faldmo:We'll first start out on the West Coast, the Columbia River and Snake Rivers With this free airfare plus, save up to $100,. They have an eight-night cruise which goes from Portland to Clarkston Washington and that price is $4,700 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe:And that is with the $1,000 savings, that's with $1,000 savings and the free airfare.
Mark Faldmo:Oh, okay, again, Portland, Oregon. It kind of goes a little bit backwards for a bit. But Astoria then comes up. They have an activity to Mount St Helens, Moltlomath Falls, mount Hood, Pendleton, and then to Clarkston. I love that area of the country, especially on the Columbia River. That Columbia River Gorge is just beautiful. And then they do have a shorter, six-night cruise which is just round-trip Portland and it's basically the Columbia River Gorge and that one starts at $3,500 per person, again with the free airfare, and that one is actually save up to $1,200 per person, a little bit more than their standard offer.
Mark Faldmo:And then, moving to the Mississippi, which is something I want to figure out, how to do this that get on the Mississippi and get on one of their paddle wheels, that get on the Mississippi and get on one of their paddle wheels. The cruise that I think is most interesting is the Lower Mississippi. It sells between Memphis, Tennessee and New Orleans and it starts at $3795 per person, again free airfare and the extra discount, but it does from Memphis to Vicksburg, which I love Vicksburg, Natchez, Baton Rouge. It does stop right in front of Oak Alley Plantation, so you get off the ship and you're right at Oak Alley. For those that don't know Oak Alley, it's on a whole bunch of movies and TV shows and it's the plantation house with the big row of live oaks that you walk down. It's one of my favorite places to visit in all of the US.
Mark Faldmo:I love Ocali. And then ending in New Orleans, you love New Orleans, I love New Orleans. I hate the French Quarter, but I love New Orleans. Well, I love the French Quarter. I should say I hate Bourbon Street.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, there we go.
Mark Faldmo:Avoid Bourbon Street, the rest of the French Quarter. I should say I hate Bourbon Street. Okay, there we go. Avoid Bourbon Street, the rest of the French Quarter is nice. And then just some other quick things. They have Mark Twain themed cruises to Upper Mississippi, St Louis, to St Paul, Minnesota, so they really immerse you into that southern culture, that river culture, some Mark Twain Civil War and some other interesting themed cruises.
Patrick Wiscombe:They don't trick you into painting the boat white?
Mark Faldmo:I hope not.
Patrick Wiscombe:Take advantage of those offers. Call Mark at his office, get the conversation started. Call mark in his office, get the conversation started. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. He'll also have this posted on blueplanetvacations. com when we come back. We've got more travel news headlines that we need to get to. We've got mark's travel tips and we've got a TikTok trend that just needs to go away. Anything TikTok trend, anything that has those three words just stay away from it. Not good. We'll talk about that 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 right back.
Show Voice:Explore your world. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. We'll be right back.
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Show Voice:They'll help you plan and book your next vacation. Yeah, really, you're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by bluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And now here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:We really do want to help you plan and book your next vacation and give you ideas where to go. The way you get a hold of the show during the week is 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. Every time I give out that phone number. I almost give out my cell number every time, because the last four digits of my cell number are 7717. All right, let's get back to the travel news headlines as we wrap up for this week. I saw this on the news that a bunch of European over-tourism backlash. Basically, a bunch of hippies are protesting in Europe because they're tired of American over-tourism or just over-tourism in general.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, just over-tourism in general and we talked about this last year in Barcelona, but similar story they went out to tourist sites and squirted tourists with water guns. Of course they did Just to try and make their trip a little bit measurable. But something else that's interesting the Louvre Museum in Paris. The workers have gone on strike in the morning time, just kind of protest, saying the Louvre can't handle the foot traffic it gets day in and day out. Now they have announced the Louvre is going to get an overhaul. Most notably they're going to move the Mona Lisa to its own room and establish time tickets. So right now if you want to see the Mona Lisa you just stand in a line and go through until you see it, but now you'll have to have a time ticket to see the Mona Lisa, which will help out in that museum.
Patrick Wiscombe:It's kind of bad. You see that line and you're just like, oh, that's a small painting for that much waiting.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, one of the themes we've had in this show is just be respectful when you travel. If you're walking through a neighborhood, don't be loud. People do live where you're visiting, so be respectful and courteous to those people.
Patrick Wiscombe:This is kind of a funny thought that I had earlier this week that I wouldn't want to go to any of the demonstrations because they probably smell. They probably don't wear deodorant. Yeah, American Airlines is launching their first touchless ID lanes. Sounds very sanitary, sounds very COVID, like.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, it is so, and this is actually like the digital ID that we've talked about with Delta. Yeah, and so it'll be where you don't have to pull out your ID or your boarding pass. There's just a camera takes your picture and it lets you through security. American has announced they're going to have these lanes in Atlanta, LaGuardia, salt Lake Dallas Fort Worth, Chicago, O'Hare and Miami. Atlanta, salt Lake and LaGuardia are not a hub for American, but they're going to have them as well, so they're probably piggybacking on what Delta's already put in place in those three cities.
Patrick Wiscombe:It feels like there's some real separation between Delta and other airlines.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, and and other airlines, yes, and the other airlines are trying to catch up Delta's been kind of one of the innovators in that space and, you know, been able to really separate themselves as a premium airline.
Mark Faldmo:Alaska Airlines is launching their first ever flights to Europe. In about eight months they are going to start flying Seattle to Rome. For us here in Salt Lake, flying to Seattle might seem backwards, but since you fly north from Seattle, it's actually not that much further and about the same distance. So this just adds an extra option for us to get to Rome, and Rome has been so popular, I think we needed that extra flight to be added.
Patrick Wiscombe:Doesn't Salt Lake International have a flight from Salt Lake to Rome? A direct? No, we don't.
Mark Faldmo:Oh, okay, oh, I'm thinking of Paris yeah, we have Paris, Amsterdam and London, and just last week we started Seoul.
Patrick Wiscombe:Korea. Oh, that's right. Okay, this was part of that merger where they had the 787s, the Dreamliner's that they have finally decided their long haul will be from Seattle to Rome, or at least one of them.
Mark Faldmo:One of them. Yeah, so they have those Hawaiian Airlines flights that can now make that, so they're using it for international purposes.
Patrick Wiscombe:I've only flown Alaska Airlines once, but I really enjoyed the service on that particular airline.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, Alaska does a good job and they still kind of operate like a hometown airline, yeah, even though their hometown is Seattle. But they, you know, they still kind of operate in that good service. I've only flown on Alaska twice, but it was a good experience. Yeah, I agree.
Patrick Wiscombe:I thought it was interesting that Southwest Airlines is exploring a partnership with China Airlines.
Mark Faldmo:I actually, in looking at it, think it makes a lot of sense. So China Airlines is based in Taiwan, so Taipei, Taiwan, but from Taipei they fly to Seattle, san Francisco, Los Angeles, new York, JFK and Ontario, California. All of those, with the exception of, probably, JFK, are heavy Southwest markets, so it's a partnership that would make sense. We talked a few months ago about Southwest, started an agreement with Iceland Air for Europe connections and now, if this comes through, they'll have an Asia connection with China Airlines.
Patrick Wiscombe:Don't do this as a baggage hack. Where'd you find this story so?
Mark Faldmo:this is a TikTok hack that's going around. I do not know why people would do this with all of the TikTok trends we've talked about. I don't know why anyone would do any of them, but you know, as everyone knows, a lot of airlines now actually do weigh carry-on bags.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, I didn't know that.
Mark Faldmo:In the size-wise especially. A lot of international carriers will weigh your carry-on bag. What this person says arrive early, have another little bag, take all your heavy stuff out and just leave it on a seat or something and then go check in, get your tag and then put your heavy stuff back in the bag.
Ad Voice:Oh boy.
Mark Faldmo:So first of all you're kind of cheating the system there. They have those bag limits for a reason for weight and balance of the plane. You don't want too many people to do something stupid like this and cause the plane to be out of balance. But the next thing is why would anyone say leave a bag somewhere unattended in an airport.
Mark Faldmo:Exactly. We all know where that goes, oh, my heavens. So there's been a lot of problems at international airports with this bag hack, with unattended bags, and then some airlines have started reweighing stuff. When people get on the airplane and find that it's 10 pounds overweight, don't do it. Don't do any trend you see on TikTok.
Patrick Wiscombe:There are two things that are certain in life Don't make decisions when you're intoxicated. I've never heard anyone say I made the best decision of my life while I was intoxicated. And the second one TikTok trends, yeah, they just don't end well ever. They don't Well. That's going to do it. If you want to take advantage of any of the specials that we have talked about during this episode of the show, call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. And you can also visit him on blueplanetvacations. com. Take advantage of that. Msc 4th of July sale 40% off all cruises, plus kids sale free. And they're introducing their fixed fee specialty dining and dining packages. Definitely worth taking advantage of those.
Patrick Wiscombe:You can listen to this show again tomorrow morning, at Sunday and just a little bit after 11 o'clock, right here on this radio station and around the country, and you can stream, download and subscribe to the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. And we're on all of the major podcast platforms Plus. If you don't like subscribing to podcasts or you're not a podcaster, you can just stream the show at InsideTravelTalk. com. Well, 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. And thanks for listening Really, thank you. We don't have a show, we don't have a business without you. Thank you for allowing us to be part of your weekly listening habits. Have a terrific week. We'll 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.
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