Welcome And Deal Preview

Patrick Wiscombe 0:12

Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Coming up on today's show, we've still got more Black Friday travel deals to talk about, warm weather destinations without a passport, unlimited cruising for $799, icon of the seas, the gigantic ship from Royal Caribbean is moving over to Galveston, and MSc cruises starting at $199 per person. Yeah, really. Let's start the show. The Inside Travel Talk Podcast, a radio show, presented by BluePlanetVacations.com, contains travel deals, promotions, and offers that are 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.

Todd Carlson 1:02

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 check out the podcast at Insight Travel Talk.com.

Patrick Wiscombe 1:24

Here's Patrick and Mark. Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast, a radio show, the post-Thanksgiving, post-Black Friday. But we've got more Black Friday deals to talk about. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo will be here in the studio here in just a moment. And the entire purpose of this radio show and podcast is to help you plan and book your next vacation or just give you some ideas of where you want to vacation next. And we are presented by BluePlanetVacations.com, Mark's company. And just a sincere thank you for taking the time to stop and listen. Coming up on this show, we've got MSC cruises starting at $199 per person. No, I'm not making it up. Unlimited cruising for $799. More Black Friday deals, the gift of travel, warm weather destinations where you can travel without a passport. That is just a handful of the stories that we'll be talking about today on the show. Let me bring in the co-host of this award-nominated but never winning show. Mark Faultville. Are you in your office in Leyton right now? I am, yes. Yep. That was fun to be in your office this past week. That was good. Yeah, it was good to have you there.

Window Seats With No Window

Patrick Wiscombe 3:05

Let's get to the travel news headlines. Airlines are being sued, rightfully so, in my opinion, for selling window seats. Hey, come sit here. There's a window. But there's no window, Mark.

Mark Faldmo 3:17

There's actually two suits out there. Their class action lawsuits involve United Airlines, Delta Airlines, and Alaska Airlines. This is one of my biggest pet peeves because I'm a window person. But getting to a window seat and having no window.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:34

Yeah.

Mark Faldmo 3:34

Especially a lot of those can happen in the comfort plus. It depends on the configuration of the plane. I've had it happen in Comfort Plus a couple of times. I'm glad that this is getting a spotlight shined on it. And the suits mainly allege that everything's a digital seat map. So they do have the means of telling people there's not a window in that seat.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:56

What's that resource that you have that you can point our listeners to to see if there is an actual window if you're getting a window seat?

Mark Faldmo 4:04

That is uh seatmaps.com. You can get there by seatmaps.com or in the bottom footer of blueplanetvacations.com. In our resources, there's a link to that. And that's great because it'll tell you if it has standard leg room, if it has smaller leg room because of the configuration, if it has a narrower seat, window, no window, it'll tell you if it's preferred for this reason or not preferred, like as proximity to the restroom, make it uncomfortable. And so uh so it'll tell you everything you need to know about each seat. I use that almost every time that I book a seat to make sure I'm good. And when I don't, I get one of these windowless window seats.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:48

Mark is not a plaintiff in that lawsuit, is not no, no. It's the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Black Friday is in full swing. We are gonna get to our Black Friday travel deals.

Globus Tours Getting Major Discounts

Patrick Wiscombe 5:00

Was this from Globus?

Mark Faldmo 5:02

This is from Globus. Yeah. So these are their top searched destinations right now, and it's also in conjunction with their Black Friday sale. So theirs is save up to a thousand dollars on select tours. But here are the top search tours for Globus. The first one I totally agree with. It's called The Gems of Iceland with the Northern Lights. And so this is a fall, winter, early spring destination. It's a six-night tour, and it's round trip Reykjavik, and it it goes around the islands to all of the best northern lights watching areas, up to a thousand dollars off on that one for select dates. The next tour, and this is one that I want to do. It's the Turkish Escape. It is round trip Istanbul. It goes down to Kusadassi, which is by Ephesus, and it kind of does a circle area. It goes to Troy, starts and ends in Istanbul. I can see why this is also one of the top searched Swiss Splendors by train. There we go. It's the train that gotcha. It's the train part of it. That one starts or ends in Geneva, but then it does several of the most famous trains in Switzerland. So it has two nights in La Cerne, two nights in Interlachen, two nights in Zermont, two nights in Lake Geneva, all connected mostly by train. There is a few segments that are by bus and a few segments that are by river.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:37

So far, I'm not hearing any problem with any of it.

Mark Faldmo 6:40

Yeah, nope, no problems there. Those are the tours, and then again you can save up to a thousand dollars off select globus tours.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:48

Another

Train Trips With Cyber Week Savings

Patrick Wiscombe 6:48

Black Friday deal, Rocky Mountaineer in Canyon Spirit. They also have their Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday. What is their promotion?

Mark Faldmo 6:57

I guess our theme is going to be trains for this segment. So you know we just talked about in Switzerland. Now we're gonna move on to the Canadian Rockies, which is the Rocky Mountaineer, and those are trains between Vancouver and Calgary area. Their prices are based in Canadian, they have save up to a thousand dollars Canadian per couple, which is what's at about I think nine hundred dollars per couple off of the Rocky Mountaineer. So they have three different routes you can choose. It's combinable if you do back to back. So if you do a circle journey, which would be a westbound and then an eastbound, you can combine that up to 2,000 Canadian per couple. Now this does end pretty quickly, so you only have until December 4th uh to book this one, just a few days, and then moving to the Canyon Spirit, which is the Denver to Salt Lake train. This is the one I did a few months ago and absolutely loved it. This one is get the three-day train journey for the price of two-day train journey. On this one, you can travel between Denver and Moab or Denver and Salt Lake. And so now you can get the whole three days for the price of the two-day journey.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:13

Buy two, get one day free. Correct. We have a collar question.

Warm Beaches Without A Passport

Patrick Wiscombe 8:20

James wants to go to a warm beach destination this winter, but doesn't have a passport. Where can he go? I know the first thing you're gonna say it's probably Florida and probably Key West.

Mark Faldmo 8:35

Yeah, that is correct. This time of year, mid-November into December, people start thinking about their winter beach destinations. Probably every fourth or fifth call is, but I don't have a passport, where can I go? And so similar to what James is asking, number one, I think, is Key West. I love Key West.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:59

Oh, yeah.

Mark Faldmo 9:00

You can almost feel like you're in the Caribbean, but you don't have to really leave mainland USA.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:06

Key West is special, it is awesome.

Mark Faldmo 9:10

It is, and I like the energy that's there. Yeah. And also when I drive from Miami down to Key West, I just like to put on Jimmy Buffett. That's kind of the laid-back mood that you get in Key West. Now, there aren't a lot of hotels that are on the beach. In fact, I have a client in Key West right now. They are staying at a hotel called The Reach, which does have a beach. And there are a couple hotels across from the beach. There are two hotels I'd recommend that actually do have a beach. There are some good snorkeling places, good paddle boarding places. There's sunset celebration in Mallory Square. Oh, yeah. When we were there, we did that. Yep. You know, just go down. There's street performers. It's a great place to watch uh the sunset.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:12

Key lime pie, if you like a good key lime, you won't find anything better.

Mark Faldmo 10:17

That's true. There's the Hemingway House, there's the Southern White House, there's a nice lighthouse. Well, there is a lot of history in Key West as well. What's your next recommendation? St. Thomas and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Yeah.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:31

You're in the middle of the ocean. You're like, I feel like I'm in another country, but it's the US.

Mark Faldmo 10:36

Yeah. Well, and you kind of do feel like you're in another country because they still drive on the wrong side of the road. Yes, they do.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:43

Yeah, that was that was a little I'm glad I wasn't driving, but I was like, we're doing this wrong.

Mark Faldmo 10:49

It has really good beaches. Meghan's Bay, which is top ten beaches in the world, Sapphire Beach. You can go over to the island of St. John, go to Trunk Bay, great beachfront hotels in St. Thomas. The one I like in particular is the the Marriott that's right there at the opening of the bay there.

Patrick Wiscombe 11:10

Yep. I was genuinely surprised how vertical, how much altitude there was on St. Thomas. We took the ride up to, I think it was called Paradise Point. Is that right, Mark?

Mark Faldmo 11:21

The activity is skyride to Paradise Point, and it's like a ski lift that takes you from sea level up to the top of the mountain with a great view overlook of the whole island.

Patrick Wiscombe 11:32

Oh man. It was spectacular. A little terrifying going down on the wrong side of the road. I will never get used to going left side of the road. What other places can you go without a passport?

Mark Faldmo 11:45

The last one I was going to talk about is San Juan. Sneaky good in Puerto Rico. Yeah. And so this is one where if you want history, you want a foodie vacation, you want a beach vacation, you want a casino vacation, actually. It's just a good overall well-rounded beach destination with no passport required.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:06

Nikki and I were there in April in Old San Juan. What a fun place to just walk.

Mark Faldmo 12:11

It is. Save up to $250 and get up to 10,000 bonus sky miles. So we can use that for any of these beach destinations with no passport required. Let's get to the travel deal of the week, which is all about the gift of travel, Mark.

Travel Gift Certificates For The Holidays

Mark Faldmo 12:31

A lot of people come to us and ask for gift certificates to give us as gifts during the holiday season. So we're gonna give a little bit of a discount on gift certificates right now if you want to give the gift of travel. A $500 travel gift certificate will cost you $480. So just a small discount. Just a small discount, yeah. And a thousand dollar gift certificate will cost $950. Those are the two amounts that we typically see people purchasing, but we can do gift certificate for any amount requested.

Patrick Wiscombe 13:06

If you want to give a gift, they will thank you forever. It is unlike any gift that you can give somebody. Call Mark in the office. Just get the conversation started. 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And he'll post all of this 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 famous around the country and around the world. We've got an unlimited cruise pass for $799. Yeah, really. We've got some cruise news, and of course, we've got the cruise deal of the week, $199 cruises. No, we're not making that up. We'll be also talking about MSC cruising to Alaska. That is next. When the Inside Travel Talk Podcast or radio show continues, I am Patrick Wiscombe. He is Mark Faldmo. We'll be right back.

Todd Carlson 14:02

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 Blue Planet Vacations.com. America's best travel advisors. Patrick and Mark will be back after these messages.

Speaker 14:26

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.

Todd Carlson 14:52

They'll help you plan and book your next vacation. Yeah, really. You're listening to the Insight Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show, presented by BluePlanet Vacations.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 15:44

Hello there, I'm Patrick Wiscombe alongside Mark Faldmo. And this is the segment of the show. We just simply call it the infamous Just Cruising segment.

Unlimited Cruise Pass Breakdown

Patrick Wiscombe 15:53

It's the part of the show that has made us famous around the country and around the world. And to all listening, ahoy Matees. Ahoy. Welcome aboard. There are so many cruise deals that we need to get to in this segment that uh let's just dispense with, I guess, the normal news. Let's start with the unlimited cruise for $799. I thought you were kidding when you mentioned that a little bit earlier this week.

Mark Faldmo 16:22

This is on Margaritaville at Sea. They have two passes. They have the Silver Paradise Pass, which is $799. The Silver Pass will get you unlimited cruises on the Paradise, which does two and three night sailings out of Palm Beach. Or you can do the Ultimate Paradise Pass, which is $1,499, which is on their newer ship on the Islander out of Tampa. So for the $1,499, you can go on either ship, and the Islander sells two to seven night cruises out of Tampa. Now, on top of these, you also get 10% off packages purchased on board. So that's like the spa. You get a credit, a $50 credit towards casino play. So there's some extra things they're giving you along with this. The catch is you can't use it on back-to-back cruises.

Patrick Wiscombe 17:12

Is this just for a year? This isn't like a lifetime pass.

Mark Faldmo 17:14

This is just No, this is for a year. So if you purchase it now, it will be good for any cruise from now until the end of 2026. That's an amazing offer, really.

Patrick Wiscombe 17:25

It is. I thought this was a pretty stunning headline that Royal Caribbean is going to move Icon of the Seas, the biggest ship. It is breathtakingly huge. They're

Icon Of The Seas Heads To Galveston

Patrick Wiscombe 17:41

gonna move it from Miami over to Galveston in 2027. That surprised me.

Mark Faldmo 17:47

Galveston is really shaping up to be a really good cruise departure point. And you know, it used to be every ship out of Galveston was kind of the older, you know, some of the ships didn't even have balconies, but now they're putting almost their best in Galveston.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:03

So does that mean they're gonna take Star of the Seas, which is Icon of the Seas part two? Are they gonna take that out of Port Canaveral, probably bring it down to Miami in roughly a year? That order they'll have a new ship there. So actually, yeah, you're you're right. Yeah. Talk about power of the customer. Princess Cruises is adjusting its future deployments based on their customer research.

Mark Faldmo 18:30

A lot of it is some of the guest experience.

Longer Europe Cruises And More Alaska

Mark Faldmo 18:32

Although from their research, they found for their guest they were doing quite well. But what they are doing on their deployment starting in 2027 is they're increasing their Europe deployment, including adding significantly more 10 and 11 night itineraries. They found that people want those longer voyages where they can discover more of Europe when they're there. Their Europe is gonna make up 19% of the overall yearly deployment, which is up significantly for Princess. And I like the fact of those longer 10 and 11 night itineraries. They are also increasing deployment to Alaska, which will make up 18% of their deployment. And then they're doubling. I think we actually talked about this about three weeks ago. They are doubling their Japan deployment, adding a second year-round ship, which means there are places where they have to reduce, which are going to reduce a little bit in the Caribbean to make up to get those other destinations serviced as their client would like.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:36

Last week we had Laura Okonowski. She is the business development manager with MSc Cruises. We have a great relationship with MSc Cruises. During the interview,

MSC Yacht Club Ship Within Ship

Patrick Wiscombe 19:45

we're talking about future ship deployment and all the ships coming.

Laura Okonowski 19:49

We had been announcing more ships coming, more opportunities with Galveston. And also, I believe I've talked about this before with the two of you is Alaska. So Alaska beginning in spring of 2026 will be a new opportunity for us as well. And since we've spoken, I don't know if you saw the press release, but we announced that we'll be returning for Alaska Voyages in 2027. So very exciting for us as a company. And especially exciting for me for somebody who lives in the Southwest who represents the Southwest as far as sales and marketing efforts go, because there's this movement happening. You know, for years and years, MSC was just sailing out of for the for the East Coast departures, Miami, Port Canaveral, and Brooklyn, New York. But now we've since made headway with Galveston, with Seattle beginning next year. And then who else, you know, who knows what else is on the horizon beyond that? Of course, with 24 ships in our entire fleet, we do have worldwide voyages. And I've mentioned this to both of you before. You guys well know this, but maybe to some of our listeners, they may not know that MSC Cruises is literally a household name in other parts of the world, such as Europe, South America, and Asia. So we are really, as you mentioned, turning, turning up the heat here in North America and getting our name out there.

Patrick Wiscombe 21:18

You mentioned a little bit earlier, Laura, that you were in the yacht club, MSE Yacht Club.

Laura Okonowski 21:23

Yes, that is correct. Now, MSE Yacht Club is rather unique. It presents a ship within a ship opportunity. And what this means is when you are traveling on a bigger contemporary style ship with a lot of amenities and maybe upwards towards, you know, five, six thousand guests. Sometimes people will think, well, that's a lot of people. I might like something that has a little bit more of an intimate type of accommodation opportunity, maybe something that's all inclusive. And we actually do offer that on 15 of our 24 ships. We have the yacht club, which is that ship within a ship experience. It is all sweet appointed. It comes with priority embarkation, priority disembarkation. In fact, there's a separate gangway set up just for yacht club guests to come and go. You are assigned a butler who becomes not just somebody there to help you, but they truly become like a family member, an extension of your family while you're traveling. And I have had such great rapport with them, our entire family has, where, you know, your first couple of days, you're still kind of getting your bearings around the ship, right? Yeah. And they see me turn the wrong way. And then I turn back the other way. And boom, the butler is right there. Like they, they just, they know your every move. It's it's almost a little bit spooky, but they know where I am at all times. That could be to do with the wristband that they give yacht club guests. So you also have a wonderful wristband that acts as your entry to your suite, and you can utilize it to make purchases as well. So you don't have to always necessarily carry your key card around with you, except when you disembark the ship. But in Yacht Club, you have all inclusive amenities as well. So all your beverages, your wine, spirits, champagne, your virgin daiquiries, virgin pina coladas, energy drinks, sodas, even certain drinks at the juice bar are complementary and included with the cost of your fare, as well as Wi-Fi package services, which is quite nice.

Patrick Wiscombe 23:30

Oh, that is included.

Laura Okonowski 23:31

Yes, it is. Up to two devices for guest one and guest two. Now it's the basic browse and stream, which really suffices for, you know, pulling up text messages, sending emails, those basics. If I wanted to sit down and watch, you know, a full movie from my tablet or something like that, I would probably need to upgrade my package. But who wants to do that when they're on vacation? I take care of the ship amenities. I am at every show every evening. And our restaurant for Yacht Club is just for yacht club guests, as well as top sail lounge where you can sit and grab a drink in the evening or maybe a cappuccino in the morning. There's also light entertainment pianist. Sometimes they'll do the afternoon tea right there for yacht club guests exclusively. And a private pool and hot tub as well.

Patrick Wiscombe 24:22

Nikki and I found our way up there. I sure did. We were just wandering around, like, oh, I wonder where this goes. Oh, we're in the yacht club right now. Oh. And we were alone. No one was around. It was amazing.

Laura Okonowski 24:37

It really is uh just a wonderful experience. One of my favorite things to do on board an NMSC cruise ship, definitely. Yes, yes, yes. And you know, we travel with our 13-year-old son. And when you travel with a youngster like that who's got a lot of energy, he wants to go up and down all the water slides, he wants to go to the arcade, he wants to be at the kids program, you know, challenging us with ping pong tournament, pickleball, all the things. And so at the end of all of that, it's nice that we can just go back to our respite of yacht club, sit at the bar, get a cappuccino, get an afternoon, you know, cold drink, or just sit by the pool and wait for the few fruit skewers to be passed around and the towels.

Patrick Wiscombe 25:21

I can see your son going, uh, you know, Rutherford, may I have us some pizza, please? I can totally see him doing that.

Laura Okonowski 25:27

Actually, he has said to us, believe it or not, Patrick and Mark, this is a true story. Every time we cruise, he will give mom and dad our own date night. He'll just announce, you know, any given day, you know, mom, dad, you guys go have date night. I'm gonna stay in the suite, I'm gonna watch cartoons, and I'm ordering my own MSC pizza and grandma's chocolate cake room service delivery. And we do just that. You know, we feel, you know, confident, safe enough. He's he's gonna be just fine, right? He's 13. If he did want to go to, you know, the kids' club, teen club, that's just fine too. He knows his way around the ship pretty well, and we we trust him to make good decisions. So 13-year-old bean bottle.

Patrick Wiscombe 26:06

That's amazing.

Laura Okonowski 26:07

Yeah, but you know what's so funny? So both my husband and I, neither of us drink alcohol, it's just personal preference. Our son on day one of the cruise knows all the bartenders' names because he will go introduce himself and he starts ordering his peanut uh or pina coladas, virgin pina coladas, drink after drink after drink. So when we see him at like, you know, four or five in the afternoon, say you ready for dinner, we're thinking about dinner, he's filled to the gills with pina coladas that he doesn't even want dinner for another hour or two.

Patrick Wiscombe 26:39

I need to meet your son because uh he and I would be double fisting virgin pina coladas.

Laura Okonowski 26:44

He's an old soul, he just he loves cruising, and so do we. So, again, it's a great family opportunity. Great way to travel with multiple friends and family, too. You know, you can all go your own separate way during the day and then reconvene and come back together for dinner, which is really nice. And talk about your stories and and what each individual did during during the course of the day. It's as busy as you want it to be, or you can just linger longer. That's what I love about cruising. And who doesn't love to be on the open seas? So that is my favorite vacation out there.

Patrick Wiscombe 27:15

Our thanks to Laura Okanowski of MSC Cruises for coming on the show. Mark, let's get to the cruise deal of the week here.

Mark Faldmo 27:22

We're gonna continue with MSC first, their Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday deal, which

$199 Cruises And Alaska Deals

Mark Faldmo 27:28

is cruises starting at $199 and up, and then also up to a thousand dollar onboard credit plus kids sale free.

Patrick Wiscombe 27:38

When Laura said that during the interview, I don't think I've ever heard that number before.

Mark Faldmo 27:42

I think MSC is one of the best cruise values out there. Absolutely. You know, we've had Laura on a couple of times. MSC has great ships and a great product. One thing that she talked about early on in that segment was their ship that's gonna be starting in Alaska next spring. And so I I did want to just mention that June dates for their Alaska cruise start at $849. Which for a June date, I actually just pulled up a cruise comparison. Yeah. Depending on the date, that's $150 to $250 per person less on MSC than it is on any other cruise line.

Patrick Wiscombe 28:25

And to cruise to Alaska right at the height, that is crazy cheap to do.

Mark Faldmo 28:32

That is. In fact, that $849 sailing was June 22nd. So that's a really good date to go. You have to take advantage of that.

Patrick Wiscombe 28:42

That's just crazy good, crazy cheap. $8.49. We've got the the MSC Cyber Monday sale cruises from $199 plus up to $1,000 onboard credit. Kids sale free, unlimited cruise pass from Margaritaville at sea for $7.99, unlimited cruise pass on Margaritaville Islander for $14.99. We've just gone over an enormous amount of Black Friday deals. Call Mark. Get the conversation started. No obligation. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. One more time on the phone number. 888-718-7717, just in case someone is scrambling. BluePlanetVacations.com is where you can also find much of this information. You can listen to this award-nominated podcast, but we haven't one yet. And radio show each Saturday and Sunday morning right here on the very radio station you're listening to right now and all radio stations around the country starting at 11 a.m. local time. And you can also stream, listen, and subscribe to the show at inside travel talk.com. Whew, man, I'm out of breath. We covered a lot of ground. We've

Final Roundup And Closing Message

Patrick Wiscombe 30:02

done our job. Now it's your turn to get out and see the world. 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. Don't put things off. And a sincere thank you for listening to the show. Make it a great week. We'll talk to you next week.

Todd Carlson 30:22

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 Whiskb 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.

Speaker 30:50

Inside Travel Talk is brought to you by TravelX Insurance Services. Their travel insurance plans can help protect you and your vacation. TravelX 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.