Inside Travel Talk

Why Longer Alaska Cruises and Norway Fjords Are Trending Now

• Mark Faldmo & Patrick Wiscombe • Season 4 • Episode 2

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Ready for smarter travel moves and real-world savings? We unpack why Southwest is courting premium flyers with assigned seating and a new lounge—launching in Honolulu—and how a new Las Vegas to Hilo route opens the Big Island with fewer hassles. We also tackle Rome’s decision to charge a two-euro fee during peak hours to access the main viewing area at Trevi Fountain, a crowd-control step that might just improve the experience if you time it right.

From there, we head north to Norway and answer a listener’s “where do I start?” with practical, time-tested advice. We map the best seasons by goal—late May for roaring waterfalls, summer for fjords and long days, winter for the northern lights, and shoulder months for fewer crowds. We share the must-do routes that double as attractions: Hurtigruten’s coastal voyage, the Bergen Line, and the dramatic Flam Railway. Oslo gets its due with the roof-walk Opera House, Vigeland Sculpture Park, the polar history at the Fram Museum, and the open-air Norwegian Museum of Cultural History. If time is tight, we explain how to compress the magic with Norway in a Nutshell.

Cruise fans get fresh intel: Norwegian’s Great Stirrup Cay now has a pier, turning past tender headaches into dependable beach days. Meanwhile, new caps along the French Riviera—Cannes, Nice, Monaco, Villefranche-sur-Mer—will reshape Western Med itineraries and favor smaller ships. For Alaska Cruises, we spotlight longer voyages that fix the “too short” problem: 10, 11, and 12-day options with Hubbard Glacier or Glacier Bay, plus a standout 16-day itinerary that combines Alaska and Hawaii. With January stacking deals in full swing, it’s the right moment to secure the best cabins and routes before they sell out.

Want tailored help planning fjords, glaciers, or a lounge-worthy Hawaii trip? Subscribe, share with a travel-loving friend, and leave a quick review so others can find the show. Then call 888-718-7717 to stack your savings and get your next adventure on the books.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show. Coming up on today's show, we will be talking about Southwest getting fancy. NCL's private island, Great Stirrup Key, is open, or at least its pier is open. We're going up fjords. That didn't sound right. We'll explain. The Cape to Cape World Cruise, making money at Trevi Fountain and long Alaska cruises. Let's start the show. The Inside Travel Talk Podcast radio show, presented by BluePlanetVacations.com, contains travel deals, promotions, and offers that are time sensitive. All travel deals and offers 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 Blue Planet Vacations.com. Call or text the show now. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsightTravel Talk.com. And now, here are your hosts, Patrick Whiskb and Mark Faldlow.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show. Hello there. I am Patrick Wisconsin alongside Mark Foldmo. He will be here in just a moment. The entire purpose of this radio show and podcast is to help you plan and book your next vacation. Or we're just going to give you ideas of where you want to go on vacation next, and we are presented, proudly presented, by Mark's company, Blue PlanetVacations.com. And a sincere thank you for taking your time to stop and listen. This week we are talking about Southwest getting fancy. We'll explain here in just a moment. Great Stirrup Key, which is NCL's private island. Finally, finally. Has a peer. If you're prone to motion sickness, that was a uh tender ride that probably didn't look forward to. We're going up the Norwegian fjords, the Cape to Cape World cruise, the Trevi Fountain, they're gonna start charging you to take a look at the fountain, I guess. We'll give you the details and long Alaska cruises. I was telling my sister Tiffany just the other day that I said, if you and Dave want to go do something fun, go take an Alaska cruise. Because she went to Hawaii, Mark. I haven't told you this. She went to Hawaii, she stayed in a hotel room that did not have air conditioning because she thought that it was going to be nice and breezes coming off the ocean. She goes, I just melted. Yep. I said, then then how about if you go on an Alaska cruise? Let's get right to the travel news headline. Southwest, you know things are getting fancy if they are bringing in lounges. That's an interesting development.

Mark Faldmo:

This is a big shift for Southwest. They are trying to go for that more premium customer with their seat assignments that they've announced. They now have just confirmed that they are going to start opening their airline lounge wherever it makes sense. And their first one is going to be in Honolulu airport. So if you're flying on Southwest to Honolulu, you soon will be able to wait in the lounge if you're a member. We'll stick with Southwest here for a minute.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Southwest is going to start flying to Hilo from Las Vegas. That's the big island.

Mark Faldmo:

That is the big island. Hilo's always been a little bit harder to get to. That'll be a fairly convenient connection to get to Las Vegas and then fly on to Hilo. Big Island's one of my favorite islands. In fact, I think it is my favorite island in the Hawaiian Islands. Just another great option to get to Hawaii.

Patrick Wiscombe:

All I can hear is cha-ching right now. Do you hear it? I hear it all the way from Rome right now. Rome is going to start charging tourists a fee to just go visit the Trevi Fountain, which is one of your favorite places.

Mark Faldmo:

I just had three families get back from Rome from Italy, and they loved it. Rome is a a great place to visit. And the Trevi Fountain is one of those things that everyone wants to see. But starting February 1st, Rome is imposing a two-euro fee for tourists to get close to the fountain. If you've not been to Trevi Fountain before, there's kind of almost like stadium seating around it, so you can sit there and look at the fountain. It's kind of a nice area. But now to get into that area, they're going to charge two euros to get in there. And it's not all the time, it's only during peak time. So if you go there later in the evening, there may not be a fee. It's just based on crowd control to get into that main area of the Trevi Fountain.

Patrick Wiscombe:

If you have a travel-related question during the week or while we're on the air, call or text the show 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. Rose is asking a question mark. I want to go to Norway. I don't know what to do there. Can you give me some ideas? You're asking the right guy. Yes, we can absolutely give you some ideas.

Mark Faldmo:

Definitely can do that. Norway probably is my number one destination to travel to. In fact, I'm putting together a trip for my family to go see where our family heritage is from, which is in the north of Norway. So I I love Norway, been there several times. First of all, a lot of people ask when is the best time to go to Norway? If you're looking to see the fjords, you want to experience the long days, June through August is the best time to go. If you want to see the northern lights, Norway is a great place for northern lights. You go in the wintertime, October to March. And then if you want fewer crowds, better value, May and September are the best time to go. Personally, my favorite time to go is the end of May, because when you get in the fjords, Norway has a lot of waterfalls. There's waterfalls everywhere. And you know, as that snow melts coming in late May, the waterfalls are amazing.

Patrick Wiscombe:

What are some reasons to go visit the Norwegian fjords?

Mark Faldmo:

The main reason to visit Norway, I think, and there's lots of them, but is to see the fjords. You can't really get this experience anywhere else in the world. The Norwegian fjords are legendary for towering cliffs, waterfalls. You can have waterfalls on both sides, and if you're standing out on deck, you get the mist from the waterfalls, is how close you are. Perfect scenery at every turn. The other reason a lot of people visit is the northern lights or the midnight sun. The one I like is the midnight sun. I think I've told this story before. We were with my family in Narvik, which is way north up in Norway, and we just lost track of time. We took a tram up to the top of a mountain. The sun was still up. It was like 1 a.m. They went down, swam in the ocean. It was still light at like all night. I mean, it barely gets dark. To s experience that is quite amazing. I mean, you are in the Arctic Circle, so we did it that in early June. So the sun only set for I I don't know, I think it was 30 minutes, 45 minutes. It was always light. Another thing is just the scenery, those coastal villages with the colorful buildings, or as you're cruising through the fjord, it's interesting to see way up on the mountain, just little perches of farms up there. There's cruises. We've often on the show talked about Hertegruten, which is a great way to see coastal Norway. Go from Bergen way up to the top of uh Norway there. Or there's train routes. Bergen Line, which is between Oslo and Bergen, is one of the most scenic railways in the world. You can also go all the way up to Bodo, from Oslo to Bodo in Norway, which is also very scenic.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Since we're talking about Norway, what are some things that you have done or that you would tell someone to do if they're in Oslo?

Mark Faldmo:

Oslo is where most people start or begin their tours, or some people just spend the whole time in. Oslo kind of has an iconic waterfront area. The opera house is quite amazing there. They do have tours where you can walk on the roof. You can walk up the opera house on the roof with great views of the city and the fjord. Another thing is visit the Vigeland Sculpture Park. It has over 2,000 sculptures by Gustav 200. I'm like, wow. Yeah, I was like, wow, that's a lot of sculptures. Sorry, 200 sculptures by a sculptor named Gustav Vigeland. It's an open-air park. It's a very interesting place to visit. Probably exploring the Viking history and the Norwegian history is probably the most unique thing to do there. There's several world-class museums. The Viking Ship Museum, which I love to go see. I think that's the best in the world. I've been to one in Copenhagen, one in Finland, and one in Stockholm. And I think Oslo has the best Viking Ship Museum. Now it is closed for renovations. I I think until later in 2026 or maybe 2027. But right next to the Viking Ship Museum is the Fram Museum, which is a sailing ship and that was built in 1893, and it was built specifically to explore the polar regions of the world. It was famous, it went up and got itself stuck in the ice caps and it drifted to the North Pole in the ice. And so you can learn about that expedition. It also has visited the South Pole. And then another place I like to visit is the Norske Folk Museum, which is an open-air museum with 160 buildings from all over Norway. And they have one of the largest stave churches, which those are the kind of Viking-looking churches. And then probably the best thing to do if you're in Norway, you can do what's called Norway in a nutshell that we have talked about before. Yeah. Isn't this the one-day tour? Yeah, you can do it in one day. You can also do it in a few days and spend a night. But you start in the morning on the Bergen Railway, go up to Miridal, which is where you switch trains and take the Flam Railroad. You take that down to the end of the fjord in Flam. And that's one of the most scenic little railroad spurs in the world. I love the Flam Railroad. And then you get on a ferry ship, go for about a two-hour fjords cruise. Then you take a bus back up to the rail line and take it either back to Oslo for a day trip or you can continue on to Bergen. So those are some things to do in Oslo.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Always in the first segment of the show, and always every single week, we've got the travel deal of the week. And we are giving you the world at a small discount.

Mark Faldmo:

What are the details, Mark? This is our annual Blue Planet Vacations January sale. This is on top of any of the travel providers' current offers. Oh, so you can stack the discounts. You can stack the discounts. Okay. So we'll give you an additional$50 off per cruise of seven nights or longer, or$50 off per vacation of five nights or longer. And that's a package vacation that includes airfare and hotel. We've talked about the Delta Vacations offer that's going on right now that save up to$250. We'll throw in an extra$50 savings on that at Blue Planet Vacations.

Patrick Wiscombe:

And it's a good time to book a vacation because everyone is coming off vacation. And every year you get asked all the time, I'm asked all the time, when's the best time to book a vacation? January. Because the travel providers, they have lots of inventory that they need to sell.

Mark Faldmo:

They really throw their weight into promotions in January and early February. That's traditionally one of the busiest booking months for travel is January. So it's a great time to book.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Take advantage of that. Call Mark in the office. Get the conversation started. 888-718-7717. Depending on the vacation, you can also put a deposit down. Reserve your spot. And then you can talk about it. Just get in line, because these things will sell out fairly quickly. 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. And you can find a lot of this information just on BluePlanet Vacations.com. When we come back, it is time for the infamous Just Cruising segment. This is the segment of the show that has made us famous around the country and around the world. We have got great news regarding Great Stirrup Key. We'll be talking about the Cape to Cape World Cruise. We'll be talking about long Alaska cruises. How many deals do we have? We have uh what, three or four Alaska cruises?

Mark Faldmo:

Got four Alaska Cruise offers.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Awesome. Stay tuned. More of the Inside Travel Talk podcast or radio show. When we continue, give us about 60 seconds. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be right back.

Show Voice:

Inside Travel Talk is brought to you by AMA Waterways. From castles and capitals to vistas and villages, visit some of Europe's most remarkable sites and cities. To set out on your own river cruise journey, contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or Blue Planet Vacations.com. 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 Blue Planet Vacations.com, America's Best Travel Advisors. Call or text the show now. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And now, here's Patrick Whiskb and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Hello there. I am Patrick Whiskb alongside Mark Foldbo. And this is the infamous Just Cruising segment. This is the segment of the show that has made us famous around the country and around the world. And to all boarding the show right now, ahoy Matees. Ahoy. And thank you for listening. What a beautiful time to be alive. What a great country we live in that we can work from wherever we are. We have the technology to do that. Whether it's on a ship, in a studio, in our houses, wherever we are. What a great time to be alive. Coming up in this segment of the show, we've got the cruise news headlines. And this segment of the show is only about cruise deals. And we'll get to those here in just a second. We've got uh four Alaska cruise deals that we need to talk about, but let's start with the very exciting news that Norwegian Cruise Line, their private island called Great Stirrup Key, is their pier is open, Mark. When Nikki and I were there in April, that was a very, very up and down ride on the tender. Fortunately, I don't get motion sick, but wow, Nikki was queasy.

Mark Faldmo:

Great Stirrup K has always been a tender island. It's good that they have their pier open now. It opened last week, so now the cruise ships can just pull right up and disembark. Before, if there were rough waters, they would have to cancel the port. I've been canceled from going to Great Stirrup Key five times just due to winds and weather. So it's good that they have that. Great Stirrup Key is kind of special. That's the first one I visited. That's actually the first one on any cruise lines. Norwegian purchased it in 1977. That's kind of when Norwegian started with their innovation. All the other cruise lines said, well, that's a stupid idea. No one's gonna want to go to a private island. So but now they all have a private island.

Patrick Wiscombe:

There's gonna be a cap, or they're in place right now. Caps on cruise calls implemented on the French Riviera.

Mark Faldmo:

This is gonna really affect those Western Mediterranean cruises. They've always included a stop or two along the French Riviera. This was a law that went into effect, or at least it was signed into law last week. So many of the ports are limited to an annual average of 2,000 daily uh disembarking gas and no more than 3,000 per day.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Um interesting.

Mark Faldmo:

So you know, those larger ships can't go, or the port might only double well, 3,000 per day is the most that they'll allow. So even the bigger ships can't go there.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Wow.

Mark Faldmo:

And the this is the ports of Cairns, Nice, Monaco, and Villa France Surmer in that area. I think Monaco is my favorite stop there. Although I've always done it going into Nice and then went over to Monaco, but they're all affected. So it's gonna be interesting to see what impact this has on Mediterranean cruises as well as to the area. There are a lot of people that rely on that cruise traffic for jobs in that area. So it has to be smaller ships or no ships on one day to meet that 2000 daily average.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Let's get to the cruise seal of the week, which is always in the infamous just cruising segment. During the break, we received a text travel question from Christine. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700 is how she got a hold of the show. And she is asking, are there any long Alaska cruises? The answer is yes. Not cruise tours, but all on the ship. The answer is yes. What do we have for Christine? Well, and all of our listeners too.

Mark Faldmo:

This is a very interesting question, but I think I really like it because I do like the longer cruises, and Alaska is one of those places that I could just stay in for two weeks and visit that.

Patrick Wiscombe:

When Nikki and I were there in September of uh I think it was 23, we were on Norwegian's Bliss. We were there for a week, and we got to the end. I was like, really? It's over? Man, I could easily go another week. So I like this idea of a longer cruise.

Mark Faldmo:

There are several longer cruises. And first, uh a little side note, we mentioned this a few weeks ago, but Alaska Cruise Guru.com. It's a brand new website that Blue Planet Vacations just put out, and it focuses all on Alaska Cruises. So if you want to look for the best deals to Alaska, look For information on Alaska, that is your site to go to for Alaska cruises. You can do a northbound and a southbound cruises back to back, but then you visit the same ports on the way back as you do on the way up. So I didn't include any of those. So that's a 14-day option if you want to do that. But first, I'll just start with the 10-day option on Norwegian cruise line. This one leaves on June 19th, round trip Seattle. It visits Ketchukan, Sitka, Icy Strait, Hubbard Glacier, Skagway, Juneau, and Victoria. I'm only going to give the balcony rate on this because the inside cabin is only a few dollars less. So there must not be very many inside cabins left on this sailing. But again, Friday, June 19th, balcony cabin starts at$2099 per person. For June? So for a 10 yeah, for the middle of June, a 10-day Alaska cruise, that is a great price. Oh, it sure is. The next one is an 11-day cruise. This one is on CUNAD cruise lines on the Queen Elizabeth. It's very similar to the Norwegian cruise. Starts in Seattle. Your ports are Ketchikan, Ringrell, Sitka, Icy Strait, Juneau, but it doesn't include Skagway. It replaces Skagway with Glacier Bay. Oh. And also goes to Hubbard, Hubbard Glacier. So there are two spectacular glaciers that you visit on that and then comes back to Victoria. How much is that one? Is that Cunard? That one, that's Cunard. Yep. And that one is June 11th. Inside cabin starts at$14.99. A balcony cabin starts at$21.99. What was the date on that one again?

Patrick Wiscombe:

That one was June 11th. Virgin Voyages. Is this the year that they are making their debut in Alaska?

Mark Faldmo:

They are. So they're a new entrance into the Alaska cruise market. Virgin Voyages sailing on the Brilliant Lady. This is a 12-day cruise, June 11th. So it's the same date as the one we just talked about. Okay. Leaves from Seattle, goes to Prince Rupert, Ketchikan, Sidka, Icy Strait, Skagway, Haynes, and also Hubbard Glacier. And then it's port in Victoria. Um for 12 days. Uh inside cabin starts at 2332, and uh a balcony cabin starts at 3172 per person. So that's a little bit more expensive.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

Mark Faldmo:

Um, but Virgin is a different experience. You know, it's adults only, so there are no children. I would say it's a little bit more on the higher end of kind of that main cruise line class, so a little bit more luxurious than your uh typical uh big ship cruise line. I really like Virgin Voyages.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Did you say the brilliant lady is the ship?

Mark Faldmo:

The brilliant lady.

Patrick Wiscombe:

That's a brand new ship. I want to say that was like September of 2025. That's crazy that they're sending that ship there that quick.

Mark Faldmo:

When they were building that ship, uh, one of Richard Branson's condition was it has to be built so it can go through the Panama Canal because their goal was to get to Alaska. Awesome. So so it is a ship built to go through the Panama Canal.

Patrick Wiscombe:

That's kind of tempting. That's a brand new ship. Do we have a 16-day cruise? I thought there was.

Mark Faldmo:

Yep, there is a 16-day cruise. This one is interesting. I just threw it in there because it's an Alaska and Hawaii cruise. It leaves July 31st on Norwegian, leaves from Vancouver, goes to Kachikan, Sitka, Juno, and Icy Strait, and then it sells down to Hawaii. Oh wow. Does Kauai, Maui, Honolulu, Hilo. So you get Alaska and Hawaii in one cruise. 16 days. And that one starts at$17.09 per person for an inside or$34.97 for a balcony.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Man, for 16 days, that is fantastic. What ship is that one on, Mark?

Mark Faldmo:

That one is on the Norwegian Spirit. That's the ship. It kind of does some of these exotic itineraries. It's sailing just after this, goes from Hawaii down to Tahiti. So it kind of just sails in the in the Pacific area between Alaska and Tahiti. And it does go over and do some Asia cruises in Thailand and stuff. So it's mainly in the Pacific where it sails. That's fantastic.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Christine, call Mark in the office or anyone listening. Call Mark as soon as we get off the air here. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. They'll also put this on BluePlanetVacations.com and Alaska CruiseGuru.com. Do I get that right? You did. Yeah. Okay. Take advantage of that. 888-718-7717. You can listen to this award-nominated, but we haven't won yet. Podcast a radio show each and every Saturday and Sunday morning right here on this very radio station. And all radio stations around the country starting at 11 o'clock local time. And you can also stream the show, subscribe to the show, right on Insidetraveltalk.com. All podcast platform links for the show can be found on said website, inside traveltalk.com. Alright, we've done our job. Now it's your turn to get out and travel 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 in a sincere thank you. Really. Thank you for listening. We don't have a show. We don't have a business without you. Make it a great week. We will talk to you next weekend.

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 Whiskey and Mark Faldmo. Presented by Blue Planet Vacations.com. Book your adventure right now. Call 888-718-7717. That's 888-718-7717. Thanks for listening. Have a great week. This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by Starkippers. For over 30 years, Starkippers has offered unique, authentic tollship sailing experiences featuring creative itineraries throughout the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and Central America. To book your unique Star Clipper sailing adventure, contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or BluePlanet Vacations.com.