Show Open And Today’s Lineup

Todd Carlson 0:15

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 Insidetravalk.com. And now, here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe 0:52

Welcome to another edition of the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show. Hello there. I am Patrick Wiscombe alongside Mark Faldmo. He will be here in just a moment. He's printing off Hot Off the Press, the Cruise Deal of the Week, and the Travel Deal of the Week. Coming up on today's show, we will be talking about the case of the Windows seat. It's an ongoing lawsuit, but it does have uh impact on how you might fly. We'll also be talking about Twilight bag dropping missed handled bags. You don't hear about that very often. We've got some updates on that. Low-tech luxury vacations. Ama Waterways is making some cruise changes on their Christmas Markets cruise, and Vikey needs to fill some cabins. Plus, we have the travel deal of the week in this opening segment of the show. And if you are brand new to the show, first of all, thank you for listening. The entire purpose of this radio show and podcast is to help you plan to 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 by Blue Planet Vacations.com. Mark Faldmo, you just made your way into the studio. Hi there. How are you doing? I'm doing great today. Should we start with the travel news right at the top? Let's go. It's the case of the windowless seat. And we have some news on this. So a judge has denied United Airlines or United's motion to dismiss the windowless seat case. First of all, let's just give people some history here and update this story for them. I think about two years ago we talked about this.

Mark Faldmo 2:39

I'm a big window seat flyer. There are

United’s Windowless Window Seat Lawsuit

Mark Faldmo 2:42

window seats that have no windows, and the airline seat maps don't clearly show. If you click on it, it says window seat. It doesn't say this seat does not have a window. And so someone decided to sue United Airlines, make it a class action lawsuit that they were selling window seats without windows. Last week a judge denied United's motion to drop that. United said it doesn't say anyone in our terms and conditions that a window seat must have a window. Oh, come on. And so I'm kind of glad this has happened. Although there are ways to find better seats on airlines. One of the places I recommend is called seatmaps.com. You can put in your airline, the type of aircraft, and you can see exactly where those are. It says if the seats are narrower, because sometimes back in the back of the aircraft where it starts to curve in, the seats are an inch or inch and a half narrower than normal seats. It'll tell you why they're preferred, why they're not preferred, if they have a window, if they don't have a window. And I do this every time I book. I make sure the seats I am choosing have a window. Because I'm one that likes to look out the window almost the entirety of the flight.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:55

Never ask Mark to surrender his window seat. He'll just say no. Yes. I'll just say no. He'll say it with a smile, he'll go, thanks, no thanks.

Mark Faldmo 4:04

Yep. I might do it if someone wants to switch for an aisle seat in first class. I'll give them my coach window seat.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:11

But well, you're in first class quite a bit anyway. Yeah. If you're new to the show, Mark is it are we at four million miles yet? Real quick.

Mark Faldmo 4:21

Almost to three million miles. Oh, I thought it was four. Well, that's on Delta. Oh. I am a million miler on American as well. So that's four four million miles, close to four million miles, yes.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:32

Okay. So when he says he enjoys his window seats, he's not joking. We'll stick with the United theme here. United officially rolls out the Twilight bag drop at Chicago, O'Hare.

Mark Faldmo 4:44

This is good. This is if you have an early morning flight. So between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., United at O'Hare will allow you to check your bag the night before. They'll allow you to just drive through the airport, drop your bag off so you don't have the

Twilight Bag Drop For Early Flights

Mark Faldmo 5:00

hassle of doing it that morning. Oh, really? If you're at a 6 a.m. flight, you have to be there at four. It'd be nice just to not have to deal with checked bags if you have a checked bag. Okay. They've actually been doing for a while at Guam. United has lots of flights into Guam and they leave at not very good times of the day. They've started testing it in select US markets and now it's permanent at Chicago O'Hare.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:27

Really?

Mark Faldmo 5:27

A lot of European carriers already have a similar service, so no domestic US carriers have anything like this. So we'll see if that comes to other airlines soon.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:38

Mishandled bag numbers are down, but it's not all good news. What are the details?

Mark Faldmo 5:44

Worldwide, the global mishandled bag drop rate dropped from 6.3 bags per thousand passengers in 2004 to 4.9 bags per thousand passenger in 2005. Okay. So that's the good news. The

Mishandled Bags And Tracking Tips

Mark Faldmo 6:00

bad news is mishandled bags continues to be a huge cost for the airlines. It's estimated that it costs airlines $6.3 billion each year on mishandled bags, either for compensation or rerouting them. So it is a huge cost to airlines due to technology. It is getting better. The biggest cause is a tight connection or a plane flight. Yeah. And then the bags don't make that flight. And the other end of that, the airlines are paying couriers to deliver bags to hotels, cruise lines, or homes, whatever. And so there is a cost to that. Travel tip, get an Apple Air tag or something. So track your bags.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:48

I am a huge Apple nerd, and so I own everything Apple. About five years ago, they released AirTag version one, AirTag version two, very minor upgrade, but it's a significant upgrade in the right ways. So in case anyone is wondering. Always in the opening segment of the show, we always have the hotel spotlight, and we wanted to talk about what is being called low tech luxury in the Caribbean. Let's define what low tech luxury is.

Mark Faldmo 7:19

This is a trend where there are hotels that don't have Wi-Fi, don't have TVs

Low Tech Luxury Digital Detox Resorts

Mark Faldmo 7:26

in the room, and you are just there to enjoy the destination and just helps guests disconnect from the world and just enjoy where they're at. One of these hotels is one I've heard about, and I really want to visit this place because it looks amazing. It's on Antigua, and it's called the Coco's Hotel. Oh, and this is the perfect example of low-tech luxury. It's an adults-only, all-inclusive resort. It has 44 private Caribbean-style cottages, so you're in your own individual building unit. It's on a hillside located between two white sand beaches. So every room has ocean views, just a really good location. There are no televisions. Their philosophy is simple: disconnect from technology and reconnect with who you're traveling with. The hotel offers all of your standard, all-inclusive amenities like great food, kayaking, snorkeling. It's good for couples, honeymooners, just a really good resort to visit. There's no Wi-Fi. I'm sure you can probably get data plans where you can have that if you want, but we're talking about the Caribbean here, but this is a growing trend worldwide. There are a lot of resorts offering digital detox packages, wellness retreats. Some of these hotels even offer phone-free zones where they don't allow phones into certain areas or certain parts of the beach.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:59

This is the no phone zone. The no phone zone. Yeah.

Mark Faldmo 9:03

While we're talking about the Caribbean, that will lead into the travel deal of the week, which is uh Caribbean all-inclusive packages, including some of these digital detox resorts that we've talked about.

Speaker 1 9:17

Uh-huh.

Mark Faldmo 9:17

Save up to $400 off per reservation. Book by July 31st with a four night minimum air and hotel reservation.

Caribbean All Inclusive Deal Details

Mark Faldmo 9:26

We can also add transfers and tours on to that. Now is a good time, especially if you're looking at traveling in the fall to get those Caribbean reservations made.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:37

It's crazy that we're already starting to talk about the fall. Where's this year gone?

Mark Faldmo 9:42

It's going pretty fast.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:43

Man, half a year down, half a year to go. Take advantage of the Caribbean all-inclusive packages. Save up to $400 per reservation. Call Mark in the office. Phone number is 888-718-7717. Again, 888-718-7717. And you can also get all this information on BluePlanetvacations.com. When we come back, it is time for the Just Cruising segment. This is the segment of the show that has made us famous around the country and around the world. This week we're talking about MSC cruises. We're going to talk about AMA Waterways making some changes to their Christmas markets. And we've got the cruise deal of the week, Viking Ocean Cruises. Stick around for this. 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 60 seconds.

Todd Carlson 10:52

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. Now, back 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 right now. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsightTraveltalk.com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:16

Happy sail away. Yeah. Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. That is Mark Faldmo. I am Patrick Wiscombe. And to everyone boarding the show right now, may I just say Ahoy Matees? Ahoy. Some people ask why I say

Just Cruising Intro And Ahoy Story

Patrick Wiscombe 12:37

Ahoy, Matees, Ahoy. Just a quick story if you'll indulge me. So when my son Brandon was very, very young, that's how we used to greet each other. So this is kind of an encoded hello to my son every time he listens. So this is the Just Cruising segment. This is the segment of the show that has made us famous around the country and around the world. It's only about cruise news and it's only about cruise deals. And let's get right to the travel news. MSC Cruises is unveiling a new immersive Pan Asian street food dining concept on the MSc World Asia. So the world class ships that would be MSc World Asia, World America, World, I think there's Europa. And I think isn't there another one coming?

MSC Pan Asian Street Food At Sea

Mark Faldmo 13:28

Well, the Asia.

Patrick Wiscombe 13:29

Oh, yeah, I guess it is. So that'll be the four. Yeah, okay.

Mark Faldmo 13:32

This is a new concept, I think, for any cruise line. So the the Pan Asian venue will kind of be a three-in-one venue. It's going to have all day sit-down dining, plus it's gonna have on-the-go street style bites, um, so Asian street food, and then it's also going to have cooking demonstrations, so live cooking demonstrations in this area. I love some good Singapore street noodles, but with this three-in-one venue, I guess we'll be able to have go in and have a sit-down meal to just grab some food quickly or enjoy cooking demonstrations on how things are made. Is that ship out or is it cubing out? It's coming out. Okay.

Patrick Wiscombe 14:17

I think it's four-ish months from now. About four months. Yeah, okay. AMA Waterways is introducing a new itinerary for their Christmas markets. What changes are they making, Mark? Or what are they introducing?

Mark Faldmo 14:32

This is a new itinerary. You know, they've always done Christmas markets, but this is an itinerary that goes between Frankfurt and Nuremberg. This is pretty much all Germany.

AmaWaterways Christmas Markets In Germany

Mark Faldmo 14:43

Nuremberg, I think, is the best Christmas market.

Patrick Wiscombe 14:47

Yeah, you've said that for a long time.

Mark Faldmo 14:49

Yeah, it it's great. And then goes to Bamberg, Germany, Wurzburg, Wurtheim, Rudersheim, which is another really good Christmas market, Mainz, and then ends in Frankfurt, or does the reverse.

Patrick Wiscombe 15:05

So this is just going to be a new Christmas market cruise that that really hasn't been offered.

Mark Faldmo 15:10

Yeah, this particular itinerary has not been offered. I mean, it starts in 2027. The price on it starts at $2,929 per person, which is a pretty good price for Christmas markets on AMA waterways. Plus, they have a couple things if you're booking right now. They have an anniversary sale, which is save up to $2,000, which that price I gave includes the anniversary sale. They have some other things like free pre- and post cruise packages. So there's some things going on with Christmas markets in general, but this new itinerary really gets you in depth to those German Christmas markets.

Patrick Wiscombe 15:51

Celestial is going to start offering some Mediterranean Odyssey sailings.

Mark Faldmo 15:56

Celestial, and we've talked about them in the past. They're primarily Greek Isles crews. Oh, that's right. They do Greece and Turkey. They're really heavy in that. They did get a second ship and they decided to branch out. Where they decided to branch out to was to the

Celestyal Expands Beyond Greece And Turkey

Mark Faldmo 16:12

Persian Gulf, which obviously did not work for them this year. So they've they they've had to come up with new itineraries for that second ship, and they've now moved those to more western Mediterranean cruises, other than their typical Greece and Turkey sailings. They'll now do sailings to Spain, Portugal, Morocco, France, Gibraltar, and other Italian ports. One of the standout itineraries on this is a new 14-night cruise that covers all of those places I just mentioned. But it's a smaller ship, you know, so they're 1,500 passenger sized ships. So they're kind of, I guess, medium-sized ships, but they do a really good job on the Greek Isles cruise. So, you know, this would be a really good way to branch out on them and get kind of a low-key, more in-depth Mediterranean cruise than you get with some of the other cruise lines. They do a lot more overnights. In some cases in the Greek Isles, they actually have two ports in a day because the Greek Isles are so close. So you'll do half day in one and half day in another. So they do some unique things and have some unique itineraries.

Patrick Wiscombe 17:26

Let's get to the cruise deal of the week, always in the just cruising segment, and we're going to be talking about Viking sailing in the Mediterranean. What uh promotion do we have for listeners?

Mark Faldmo 17:39

This is a really good promotion on Viking, and this is for uh fall of 26 sailings. Usually you

Viking Mediterranean Promo And Itineraries

Mark Faldmo 17:48

don't see Viking with space available this close in, but what they are offering is free international airfare from Select Gateway Cities, free beverage package, up to a $500 shipboard credit per couple, and only two $25 deposits.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:07

Man, they do have to fill some space.

Mark Faldmo 18:09

The final payment is gonna be pretty close on this, but the $25 deposit is a good offer to at least start looking around and get something on hold. Now, this does expire July 31st, so we have about a week to get this booked, and I wanted to just highlight two of their itineraries. The first itinerary I wanted to highlight, it's called Journey to Antiquities. It's an eight-day cruise. Starts at $27.99 per person. It includes five guided tours and stops in three countries. So it starts in Rome, goes to Naples, where you can get some really good pizza, goes to Messina in Sicily, goes to Crete in Greece, Ephesus in Turkey, and then ends in Athens. So that's a really good offer for eight days and on Viking Ocean. Then there's kind of an upgraded version of this called Cities of Antiquity. It starts at $39.99 per person, 15 days, so twice as long. Includes eleven tours and three countries. So again, Rome and Naples, Messina, but then it goes to Valletta, which is in Malta, which is probably my favorite stop in all of the Mediterranean. Then goes to Corfu in Greece, Olympia, where you can go visit the ruins of where the first Olympics were held, then goes to Rhodes at Santorini and ends in Athens. I think that Valletta Malta port is very much worth it.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:47

We've been doing this show for nearly three years, and uh you've always said that. It puts a smile on your face. I can hear it.

Mark Faldmo 19:55

It does. I've often thought of doing a blog or something on my favorite cities to cruise into. And I think now that Venice, that the bigger cruise ships, can't get into that kind of downtown port, I think Malta would be on number one of that list. Because when you sail in, you know, it's kind of a city on a cliff, and as you sail in, it's just an amazing sail into Malta. Take advantage of this promotion. Viking is a little bit different on this. Once you book, pretty much anything you pay is non-refundable once you pay with Viking.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:31

Okay.

Mark Faldmo 20:31

Just because there's so much demand. Although we are talking about fall dates on these cruises, but so there is some space, but anything you put down on these uh would be non-refundable at this point.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:44

Okay. But you can hold your place in line. $25 deposits to hold your place in line, that's phenomenal. Especially for Viking. You just never see that. Call Mark in the office, take advantage of the cruise deal of the week. Go sail the Mediterranean. Go on Celestial, go on Viking. Man, just get out and see the world while you can. Call Mark in the office, get the conversation started, put your deposit down. 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. And he'll also post this information on BluePlanetVacations.com. Well, that's it. We're done. Our job is done. Now it's your turn to get out and see 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 a sincere thank you for listening to the show. Have a terrific week. We'll talk to you next weekend.

Todd Carlson 21:46

That's it. That's

Final Travel Push And Closing

Todd Carlson 21:47

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 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.