Inside Travel Talk

From Dreamliners to Denmark: New Ships, New Ports & Massive Cruise Savings

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

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Big changes are reshaping how we travel, and we’re here to turn them into practical wins. We kick off with Delta’s addition of Boeing 787 Dreamliners and what that means for quieter cabins, better air quality, and more premium seats on long-haul routes. Then we unpack United’s new economy meal preorder for flights over 1,200 miles—why it matters, how to use it, and how it can guarantee a real meal instead of gambling on what’s left in the galley.

If you’re craving the rhythm of slow travel, we spotlight five standout U.S. rail experiences. From the Canyon Spirit route between Denver and Salt Lake City to Halloway’s private dome sleepers, the upgraded Acela at 160 mph, the revived Mobile–New Orleans Mardi Gras service, and a refreshed Amtrak Cascades, there’s a route for every pace and budget. We also head to the Caribbean, where the Bahamas plans a new cruise port at remote Mayaguana, a quieter alternative that relieves Nassau and promises a relaxed, beach-forward day.

Cruise fans get even more to love. Norwegian unveils the 2027 Norwegian Aura, first of the Prima Plus class, expanding the spaces that matter—larger pool decks, a bigger Vibe Beach Club, more Haven suites, and an extended Ocean Boulevard—plus multi-deck slides for extra thrills. Oceania formalizes an adults-only policy that fits its culinary focus and tranquil vibe, aligning with Viking and Virgin Voyages for travelers who want sophistication without kids’ clubs.

Planning a Northern Europe adventure? We lay out strong 2026 options with real prices: an 11-day Reykjavik-to-Southampton mix on Norwegian, a value-packed 14-day Princess loop from Southampton with Norway and Iceland ports, and a 13-day Celebrity sailing from New York to Iceland via Greenland. For a smart pre-cruise city stay, we map a clean, efficient three-night plan in Copenhagen—Nyhavn canals, Tivoli charm, royal palaces, and simple, satisfying Danish eats.

Ready to book smarter? Follow the deals: up to 40% off Princess fares with up to $500 instant savings and a $200 onboard credit for balcony and suites, plus Delta Vacations savings on Europe packages. Subscribe, share with a travel‑obsessed friend, and tell us what you’re booking next—rails, sails, or a Dreamliner escape.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and radio show. Coming up on today's show, we will be talking about the new Boeing Dreamliner being added to Delta's fleet, pre-ordering economy meals, a new cruise port coming to Muy Gowana Bahamas, Norwegian cruise line details their new cruise ship coming in 2027, Oceana changes to an adults-only cruise policy, and 40% off Princess Cruises. Let's start the show. The Inside Travel Talk Podcast radio show, presented by Blue PlanetVacations.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 InsideTraveltalk.com. And now, here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Oh man, good grief. Whoever's pressing the air horn button has had way too much caffeine. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast or radio show. Hello there. I am Patrick Wiscombe. 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 some ideas of where you may want to go on vacation next. And we are presented, proudly presented, by Mark Faldmo's Company, the co-host of this award-nominated program, Blue Planet Vacations.com. And thank you for taking your time to stop and listen. This week we are talking about Boeing's new Dream 787 Dreamliner. That's going to be added to Delta's Fleet. On the opposite end of Dreamliner, we're going to tell you how to pre-order economy meals. A new cruise port coming to Mayagowana, Bahamas. Norwegian Cruise Line details their brand new cruise ship coming in 2027. That is not the Norwegian Luna. I think we have a name on that. Is that right, Mark? I think we do. Yes, we do. Yeah. Oceana changes to a new adults-only cruise policy, and we're going to talk about 40% off Princess Cruises. And I think they're also giving some onboard credit. Is that right, Mark?

Mark Faldmo:

That's true. Yeah, they're giving actually there's lots of bonus offers, so stay tuned for that offer on Princess Cruises.

Patrick Wiscombe:

That will be in the next segment, but let's get right to the travel news headlines. Delta is adding a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. These are beautiful planes to their fleet. I don't know how many they have, but I guess this would be considered a wide body plane.

Mark Faldmo:

Yep, it is. They're actually adding 30 new Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Oh, 30. Um primarily to use on transatlantic and South America routes. Boeing 787 is probably my favorite aircraft. So for passengers, you get a quieter cabin, you get a more spacious cabin. And then if you're in the premium, there's a lot more room for the premium cabins in how the 787 is configured because it has uh more capacity and better fuel efficiency per seat.

Patrick Wiscombe:

On the opposite end of Dreamliner and uh probably the cost of each fare, United is rolling out the economy meal pre-order. Now, anytime you can go into the app and just pre-order something, I love it. Because then the uh the flight attendant just comes to you and says, Hey, do you still want this, whatever you ordered? And I love that service.

Mark Faldmo:

But I'm actually surprised that more airlines are not doing this. I'm sure they will once they see how United's program is working. But for flights over 1200 miles, the only way you'll be able to get a meal is if you pre-order it for the flight. Now they'll still have their snack boxes and package snacks and beverages. But if you want the food, you'll have to pre-order it on United. The ice cold Diet Coke.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Or as I just call it the Ice Cold DC. Yeah. You and I are big fans of trains, but I saw a uh news article that I don't know who I can't remember who the who published this, but it was the five best new US train journeys to take in 2026.

Mark Faldmo:

Some of these are regularly scheduled service and some of these are vacation type trains. So the first one we'll talk about is the Canyon Spirit. We've talked about in the past as a Rocky Mountaineer, but they've changed their route. And so it is a new route, which will be starting April 21st of 2026. And that route goes between Denver and now Salt Lake City, or vice versa, between Salt Lake City and Denver. Before it only went as far as Moab. They've added a whole extra day on that route, and I'm really excited for this. I did go on that route between Denver and Moab, and it was a great experience. The Canyon Spirit, you don't actually sleep on the train. You have hotels along the way that you stay. So it's all day sightseeing on the train, and then you spend the night in the hotels along the way.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Which I think is a good move because if you've ever slept on a train, I can pass on it.

Mark Faldmo:

I'd rather it does rock you to sleep. So rock me tonight, Billy Squire. So the next one is Halloway Private Rail. They kind of turn themselves the Uber of luxury trains. I don't know exactly how that works because I would assume it has to be scheduled at least some type in advance. But what they've done is they've restored 1950 uh dome sleeper cars, and you rent the whole sleeper car. You get the whole car to yourself for up to six guests, and they have a route Los Angeles to San Francisco or San Francisco to Denver. Probably just hook it on to existing Amtrak trains or something because you're renting the car. LA to San Francisco starts at $10,000, and the overnight Denver to San Francisco starts at $18,000. But looking at the uh pictures of this, it is quite the car train, ultra luxurious.

Patrick Wiscombe:

And that feels more like uh, hey, we're gonna take the train. It it costs uh 50 times more expensive and takes you five times as long to get there. What's train journey number three?

Mark Faldmo:

Number three is the next gen Ailia Amtrak trains. Now these are just new cars that have been added to the existing route between Washington, DC and Boston. But they do go up to 160 miles an hour. And so they're they're a lot faster. They have upgraded seats, more comfortable, larger seats, and they have a specialized business class. And so that's just regularly scheduled on Amtrak, but it is a very much upgraded experience. Number four. It's uh an old Amtrak route that's been gone for a couple years, but is now coming back. It's called the Mardi Gras service between Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans. They actually are having uh special introductory launch rates that start at $15 one way. It's a four-hour train journey and does stop in Biloxi, Mississippi and Gulfport, Mississippi, in between Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans. The fifth route is also an existing route with an upgraded fleet. So it's Amtrak Cascades Route. And so this is their aerial fleet, and this is the train that runs between Vancouver, BC and Portland, Oregon. So this is much like the one in the Northeast Corridor, just with upgraded cars. Yeah, we've often talked about slow travel, and train travel is kind of that slow travel where you just enjoy getting to the destination.

Patrick Wiscombe:

It's not efficiency, it's uh deliberate and enjoyable. A little bit earlier this week we received a text question from is this Janine? Yeah, it is. Janine. I am going to Copenhagen for a cruise, and I'm spending three nights there prior to the cruise. What are some things that I should do in Copenhagen?

Mark Faldmo:

I helped Janine with the cruise. We really kind of talked about the things to do, and I thought it'd be a good segment to put on the show. Yeah. Because you know, Copenhagen is one of my favorite places to do a pre-cruise in. I like Barcelona, I like Amsterdam, I like London, but it's a little bit further away from the cruise ships. Right. I think if you're doing a Northern Europe cruise, Copenhagen is a really good place to start. The first thing to do in Copenhagen is just go to the area called Nijhaven, and you can also take a canal cruise there. They have some beautiful, beautiful waterways. They do. Nijhaven, it's a canal lined with 17th century townhouses, one of the most picturesque places in all of Europe. You can take boat tours through the harbor. It is a great first stop for those uh visiting the city. The next place is go to Tivoli Gardens. Anyone who's a Disneyland fan should also love Tivoli Gardens. This is the world's first amusement park, and it's where Walt went to get the inspiration for Disneyland. It reminds me of Main Street USA in Disneyland. Yeah, okay. So they have good live entertainment, seasonal events. It is an amusement park, so there's some carnival rides. It's a really good place to visit. The next thing everyone should do this when they go to Copenhagen is visit the little mermaid statue. It sounds impressive, but it is just a little statue of a mermaid in the harbor, but it is inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale. And it is right there in the harbor of Copenhagen.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Do they have some kind of ah?

Mark Faldmo:

No, they don't.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Wow.

Mark Faldmo:

What else? The next thing, there's some really historic castles and palaces. Rottenberg Castle, which is where the Danish crown jewels are, and it's surrounded by the lush gardens called the King's Gardens and Emiliamburg Palace, which offers changing of the guard, similar to what you get in London, and has a lot of royal history there. And then if you have a short time or if you have a long time, and we always recommend this in a new city, do the hop on, hop off there.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Because then you can see what you want and you can just hop on the transportation when you're ready to get going again.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, you can walk around and it takes you to kind of all the main stops there. And Copenhagen is full of just little districts that are very walkable. One thing is Stroget is the name of it. It's Europe's longest pedestrian shopping street. Yeah, that'd be fun. So, you know, people like that, you know, especially the pedestrian streets in Europe are are pretty fun.

Patrick Wiscombe:

It wouldn't be an inside travel talk podcast or radio show if we didn't talk about food. What do you like?

Mark Faldmo:

There, I like smorgbroad. I can't pronounce it. I don't speak Danish, but uh, those are open-faced sandwiches. Uh it's probably the most iconic Danish food. It's served on rye bread, topped with combinations. I'll do the ones I'd eat first and then I'll give the others. So roast beef, pork, shrimp, and then the most common ingredient is pickled herring, but I would not do that. It's open faced with a plate and you eat it with a knife and fork. The other thing is fricadeller, uh, which is Danish meatballs. Okay. Pan-fried pork or pork and beef. It's just a simple comfort food commonly served with potatoes and gravy. The next thing is uh I'm just not even gonna say it. It's it's uh Copenhagen's national dish. Um, it's steck flanks, med something or it's it's a long thing. I I've had it before, but I had to look up and I still can't even find a pronunciation guide. But it's crisp pork belly slices served with boiled potatoes and uh creamly and uh parsley gravy. There we go. Very very good dish to have. So those are the top three foods to have. They don't get people too far out of the comfort zone, they're just a little bit different.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I'm so far out of my comfort zone right now. With those foods, I'm like, oh man, that just sounds like a bad night. Just quickly, before we go to break, we've got the travel deal of the week, which is what?

Mark Faldmo:

It's with uh Delta Vacations, and so it's for Europe this week. Save up to $250 of any package of three nights or longer. If you're going to Europe, you'll probably go longer than that, unless it's for a pre pre-cruise. And so this is just some extra savings to get to Europe.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Janine, I sincerely hope that you will enjoy your cruise. I know you will. And hopefully, Mark has been able to answer your question about some of those things that you should do when you're in Copenhagen. Take advantage of the travel deal of the week. If you want to head over to Europe, save up to $250 on Delta Airlines on vacation packages to Europe. Call Mark in the office 888-718-7717-888-718-7717, and he'll also post this information on BluePlanetVacations.com. When we come back, it is time for the infamous Just Cruising segment, the segment of the show that has made us popular around the country and around the world. We'll have the cruise news headlines, we've got the cruise deal of the week, 40% off plus $500 instant savings on Princess Cruises. That is next. When the Inside Travel Talk podcast or radio show continues, alongside Mark Faldmo, I am Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for listening. We will be right back. Give us about one minute.

Show Voice:

Taking you to destinations around the world. The Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show is presented by Blue Planet Vacations.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. Inside Travel Talk is brought to you by Anna 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. Now back to the Insight Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show. Presented by Blue Planet Vacations.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 InsideTravel Talk.com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Hello there, I am Patrick Wiscombe, co-host of this award-nominated radio show and podcast. And to all boarding the show this very moment for the infamous Just Cruising segment, Ahoy, Matees, Ahoy. Coming up in this segment of the show, we've got the cruise news headlines, we've got the cruise deal of the week, 40% off plus $500 instant savings on Princess Cruises. And we've got a caller question that came in during the break. And if you have travel-related questions that you want to ask us during the show or during the week, so we can get it on the air, 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700 is how you get a hold of the show when we're on the air and when we're off the air. Mark, let's get right to the cruise news headlines. And where should we start here? Let's go Bahamas, shall we? Let's do the Bahamas is going to build a cruise port, which by the way, if you really think about the Caribbean and the cruise ports and all of the traffic in the Caribbean and Bahamas right now. It is crazy. And it's no wonder that the cruise lines are building their own private islands. I think that is designed to make it a great experience. These ships are so big that they can't get into some places. Yes. Anyway, so the Bahamas is going to build a cruise port in Mayagowana, Bahamas. What are the details?

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, MayagGwana is 350 miles southeast of Nassau. So it's on the very southern part of the Bahamas Island chain, north of the Turks and Caicos.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Grand Turk was awesome.

Mark Faldmo:

Loved it. Yeah. This will probably be a similar but less developed. There's a quote from uh Fromer's travel guide about the island as it is right now. There'll be three phases. The first phase will be a port where they can eventually build the second phase, which is a cruise ship terminal. And that phase will be unable to hold the big mega ships. And so there's a possible third phase where they'll make a port that's deep enough for the larger vessels. But kind of what excites me about this, I almost want to go to this place before the cruise ships start coming. Um, so Fromer says few other outposts in the Bahamas are as remote as my iguana. Tourists arrive by boat without pre-arrangements and just ask around for availability at one of the ultra simple lodgings here. Or they just ask locals how much they can pay to stay in their house in their spare bedroom. And so there's not even a real developed tourist infrastructure there. So that kind of makes me think this is almost going to be like a beach club experience. Yeah where you'll go, there's not a lot to do or see on the island other than relax on the beach. And this will be a really nice beach experience. And they may develop a few other things, but this also will take some pressure off of NASA, which almost every day is full with eight ships, which really does put a lot of pressure on the infrastructure of NASA. I don't think I could do that.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Hey, can I just stay in your house? Yeah. NCL has revealed details about their ship coming in 2027. So the Luna, I think, is coming out this year, 2026. I don't have the date on that, but they announced a new ship for 2027 called the Norwegian Aura. Is this in the um Prima class or Prima Plus class of ships?

Mark Faldmo:

This is actually in the Prima Plus. So this is the first of the Prima Plus class of vessels. It will be 10%. Larger than the Norwegian Aqua and Luna. What do we know about this new ship? It's going to have a multi-deck activity space called Ocean Heights. So it's going to be decks 18 through 21, which will have five water slides, dueling mat, racing water slide, something called the free fall. I assume that's just the one where it drops you. And the wave, which is a 10-deck dry slide. But what I really like about this new class is the pool deck will be 20% larger than the Aqua and Luna.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Okay. I gotta be honest, when I was on Aqua in April of 24, that pool deck area was very, very congested.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah. More space there. Their Vibe Beach Club, which is the adults-only area, will be 15% larger.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yep.

Mark Faldmo:

Haven, which is the the ship within a ship concept. It's the separate keyed access area. Has 159 suites, which is 30% more than the prima class ships. Ocean Boulevard, which is their outdoor promenade, 11% longer. So they're making the public spaces on this ship larger and more spacious.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Good. That needs to happen because that that was one downside to the aqua.

Mark Faldmo:

And then it'll have actually a kids, a whole separate aqua park uh splash pad just for the kids.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Oceana Cruises is now announcing that they are going adults only with their new policy. So this falls in line with virgin voyages. And I've uh obviously Oceana now, and I forgot who the other adults only line was.

Mark Faldmo:

Viking.

Patrick Wiscombe:

What prompted the policy change?

Mark Faldmo:

Their typical customer is 55 or older. So they didn't get a lot of children anyway. In fact, when I sell on Oceana, I don't recall seeing any children. I'm sure there probably were some on there. But Oceana's product really fits the adults only model.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Let's get to the cruise deal of the week. This is the part of the show that has made us famous around the country and around the world. And this week we have a cruise deal with Princess Cruises. Let's go in depth about what this deal is.

Mark Faldmo:

This is up to 40% off the Voyage Fair, plus an additional instant savings of up to $500. The third and fourth guest sale-free. Now that's been a promotion that Princess has had for a few weeks now. So right now, if you buy a balcony or suite, you'll get an extra bonus of $200 onboard spending, which can be used in the spa for short excursions, for drinks, uh, for various other things on board. So they are enhancing that promotion with the $200 onboard spending credit.

Patrick Wiscombe:

We received a text question from Brett. I want to go on a cruise that includes Iceland and Norway. Greenland, if possible. What options are there for this spring and summer 2026?

Mark Faldmo:

This year I couldn't find a cruise that included all three. Last summer there were several options that included Iceland, Norway, and Greenland. So I just found Iceland and Norway, and then another cruise that includes Greenland. The first one is May 31st. It's an 11-day cruise on Norwegian. It's the Norwegian star. It starts in Reykjavik, Iceland, has two ports in Iceland, two ports in Norway, two ports in Scotland, and ends in Southampton, which is the closest big ship port to London. May 31st, which is kind of right at the start of that peak time that everyone wants to go. Inside cabins start at $1909, and a balcony cabin starts at $3889. Really good pricing for that length of cruise for those destinations.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yep, agreed. Princess Cruise Line also has something on June 27th, round trip out of London. What are the details and ports? But leave Southampton.

Mark Faldmo:

It sails, has four ports in Norway, goes to probably one of my favorite ports in Norway, Allison, which is a very beautiful port. Yeah. And then it has four ports in Iceland, including Reykjavik. That's a 14-day cruise. Really good price for the balcony cabin that starts at $3549 per person for the 14-day cruise.

Patrick Wiscombe:

And then Celebrity had a deal on June 21st, 2026. This is New York to Iceland. What ports and what are the details?

Mark Faldmo:

This one is a 13-day cruise. You leave New York, it does some of the Canada ports. So you have Halifax and Sydney and St. John. And then it goes to Greenland for a port there. And then three ports in Iceland. Pretty good price at the balcony level, starting at $3149 per person. And then just as a side note, that ship is going repositioning to Iceland. It's going to do a series of circle Iceland journeys. So if you want to do just a more in-depth Iceland, um, it has like five or six ports in seven days and it just circles the island of Iceland.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Brett, I hope that answered your questions. Call Mark in the office as soon as we get off the air. Get your deposit down. Generally speaking, if you're not within the refund period, everything is refundable. Hold your spot and then you can decide. 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. And Mark will also post all of this information on Blue PlanetVacations.com. You can listen to this podcast or radio show again tomorrow morning, Sunday, right here on the very radio station that you're listening to right now, and all radio stations around the country starting at 11 a.m. local time or nationwide, 11 a.m. local time. But if you are not listening to us on the radio, you're just streaming us on inside travel talk.com. We've got all of the podcast platform links to the show on Insidetravalk.com. Okay, 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. And hopefully you haven't had any curveballs this week. We say it each and every week. Live your life deliberately, live your life intentionally, and a sincere thank you for listening. Really, we don't have a business, we don't have a radio show, we don't have a podcast without you. Thank you for making it possible. We've seen the download numbers. This show continues to grow every single week, and we owe everything to you. Make it a great week. Again, call Mark in the office 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. Make it a great week. We'll 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. Inside Travel Talk is brought to you by TraveleX Insurance Services. Their travel insurance plans can help protect you and your vacation. Travel X is known for their award winning customer service and high claims paid rate. Contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888 718 7717 or Blue Planet Vacations.com for more information.