Just Cruising Kickoff And Ship Talk

Todd Carlson 0:51

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

Patrick Wiscombe 1:11

All aboard for the infamous Just Cruising segment right here on the Inside Travel Talk Podcast or radio show. That is the beautiful shiphorn of Norwegian's Aqua. A ship that Nikki and I were on about a month ago. A beautiful, truly beautiful ship. And if you've ever been on any cruise and the air conditioning hasn't worked, we can confirm that Norwegian's Aqua, at least the balcony stateroom that we were in, it was as cold as we wanted the room to be.

Mark Faldmo 1:45

Yeah.

Patrick Wiscombe 1:46

Man, it was cold in there. We could dial it up. We just prefer things uh a little bit on the frigid side. Oh, dude. Me too. That was a genuinely beautiful ship. I was so impressed with that ship.

Perfect Day Mexico Revealed

Patrick Wiscombe 2:00

Coming up in this segment of the show, we will be talking about Royal Caribbean's brand new under construction perfect day Mexico. And we'll talk about MSC cruises ordering two more world class ships. That's not world class, not hyphen. It's just world, like world Europa, world America. They're ordering two more world ships. Let's get to the cruise news headlines. In fact, let's just start with Royal Caribbean's perfect day, Mexico. Where is it?

Mark Faldmo 2:32

It's on mainland, Mexico, in the port of Mahual or Costa Maya. Okay, Costa Maya. But it's gonna set several world records, including the tallest water slide in North and South America and the longest lazy river in the world.

Patrick Wiscombe 2:47

I didn't realize what a fan I am of lazy rivers.

Mark Faldmo 2:50

Wait until you hear about this one that I'll talk about in just a moment. Okay. And so this kind of continues the trend. Let's focus on the Perfect Day Mexico, the water park. It has the tallest water slide in North and South America. It will have 30 water slides across across five slide towers, the highest one being 170 feet. It'll take more than two minutes to complete.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:34

That is so long.

Mark Faldmo 3:35

It is, yeah. And then they have another water slide that's a family raft designed for four to six people to ride at one time going down the water slide. So some pretty interesting water park elements there.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:49

Depending on the size of the individuals in the raft, it's gonna take a current of water to push people along.

Mark Faldmo 3:57

Yeah. So moving on to their next area is Splash Cove. It'll be the world's longest lazy river. It will take over an hour to float the whole thing if you did it at one time and have several an hour to go all the way around the lazy river, multiple entry and exit points with a whole bunch of float-up bars along the way.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:19

By the way, I didn't realize that I was a float-up bar.

Mark Faldmo 4:22

Float-up bar swim-up bar. Yeah.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:24

I had so many virgin pina coladas when we were on vacation. I was like, you know, kind of like just swimming up to the bar. It was terrific. In fact, I loved it so much that I actually proposed it to our HOA. Yeah. But I'm like, hey, if you want to make money, let's just do a swim-up bar.

Mark Faldmo 4:41

And speaking of swim-up bars, in the center of Splash Cove, they'll have a massive hundred thousand square foot pool, which is just one of ten pools in the complex at Perfect Day, Mexico.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:54

This place is gonna be enormous. Is this for everybody, or is this kind of a cruise ship type destination?

Mark Faldmo 5:00

It's a cruise ship destination. It'll be just for rural Caribbean guests. And they also have El Hideaway, which is an adults-only section, which features a zero entry pool. I had to look up what that is, and it's a pool with no stairs, it just has a gradual slope like a beach.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:17

Yeah, so when uh Nikki and I were in Grand Turk, uh-huh we went to Margaritaville and they had a zero entry pool. And it was I didn't think it would be a big deal, but as you get a little older, it's kind of like, oh, all right, that uh just a nice little gradual ascent and descent.

Mark Faldmo 5:33

Slope in. Yeah, I love it. In this area, they have a massive swim up bar and an M pool DJ.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:40

We did we did that at Grand Bimini. So Nikki and I were in the middle of the the pool at Bimini Island. We just started dancing in the pool, and that brought a lot of people in from the edges. We must have just looked like fools, but I'm like, we're never gonna see these people again. Let's just have fun.

Mark Faldmo 5:56

Yep, and then kind of the last thing is for those that just like to chill on the beach, they will have two different beaches. They'll have a north and south beach so you can go just relax on the beach with complimentary beach loungers, umbrellas, towels. Another thing that's important about these destinations is food. They'll have 12 different options from sit down to grab and go eateries and buffets. It'll have almost anything you would want and kind of a private destination.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:23

This is going to be a huge success. If the uh private islands like Perfect Day at Coco Kay, MSC's private island Ocean Key, Norwegian's Great Stirrup Key, this is going to be a huge hit. This is gonna be a destination people will just want to go to, get on those ships for that specific reason, and go have a great vacation.

Mark Faldmo 6:45

Yeah, rural Caribbean in that destination will still have the option of doing the tours. You know, there's some great archaeological sites from there and great things to do from Costa Maya. So you still will have those options to go to those things, but you'll now have this whole option of the whole private destination with a water park, beaches, dining options. I think it'll be a perfect destination to go to.

Margaritaville At Sea Adds Ship

Patrick Wiscombe 7:10

Margaritaville. Oh, is this Margaritaville at sea? Yeah, Margaritaville at sea is adding a third cruise ship in 2026. So they have Margaritaville at sea paradise, which we were on last year. They have what's the one in Tampa? Margaritaville at Sea Islander. Islander, and so they've ordered another one.

Mark Faldmo 7:33

Yep, they they've ordered another purchasing another one. Like all of Margueriteville at sea ships. This is a former Costa ship. This third ship will be what is now the Costa Fortuna, which will come into Margueriteville at sea in 2026. It'll be their largest ship, it'll carry up to 3,500 passengers.

Patrick Wiscombe 7:54

Wow. Okay, so they're really making it bigger.

Mark Faldmo 7:57

They are. Margueriteville has been on a pretty interesting trajectory the last two years. We were on the Margueriteville at sea paradise, which is a fairly old ship. It used to just do basically casino cruises, gambling cruises, would go between Palm Beach and Grand Bahama. And then they purchased that when it was rebranded Margueriteville at sea, they tried to make it more of a cruise experience than a casino experience. On that two-day cruise that we did, it's kind of hard to do that. But then they added the Islander, which was doing three, four, and seven. And when they add this new ship, so they'll have anywhere between two and ten-day cruises. It's not clear where this ship is going to sail out of. Margueriteville as a brand is a brand that I really like. You know, I like the hotels, kind of like that laid-back luxury that they try and do. Now they had a hard time doing it on the paradise, but they've really executed well on the islander. Yeah. And I'm sure they'll I'm sure they'll do a good job on this new ship that they have.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:00

Yeah, the paradise. It, you know, good good burgers. Oh, my goodness. Burger,

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Patrick Wiscombe 9:35

how many burgers did I have? And burgers in Paradise or what whatever it was called?

Mark Faldmo 9:39

Cheeseburger in Paradise. Oh my heavens. Those were good. You know, and that's one thing they really delivered on food. Oh, they sure did. I thought food on Margaritaville at sea was amazing. Even though it was an older ship, their food and entertainment was very good.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:54

Yeah, I agreed.

Mark Faldmo 9:54

What what could be better than sitting out on a deck listening to Jimmy Buffett? Eating a cheeseburger. Eating a cheeseburger. Yeah.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:02

Oh, that was okay. Yeah, I I will hand it to them. Which by the way, Margaritaville at Sea at Paradise was going into dry dock for renovations if memory serves.

(Cont.) Margaritaville At Sea Adds Ship

Patrick Wiscombe 10:11

Didn't we talk about that a few weeks ago?

Mark Faldmo 10:12

We did a few weeks ago. It's gonna go in for major renovations.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:15

Yeah, it needs it.

Mark Faldmo 10:17

Yeah, yeah. And you know, when we selled, it was only a few months removed from being just that casino ship where all their guests cared about was going to the casino. Yeah, and so so they've they've really kind of rebranded that and changed that. It'll be very interesting to see what happens with that brand, cruise brand going forward.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:37

Agreed. Let's get to the cruise deal of the week, which is always in this segment. And this week we are going, what are we doing? Are we going uh west coast?

Cruise Deal Of The Week Hawaii

Patrick Wiscombe 10:47

Because that's where you are. You're in Los Angeles right now. What kind of repositioning cruises do we have for listeners this week?

Mark Faldmo 10:55

Well, we're going to Hawaii. I had a customer, Whitney, who wants to cruise to Hawaii in November or December, and was just wondering what the options were. There are three different ways you can cruise to Hawaii. One is round trip from the West Coast, another is inner island cruise, uh, which Norwegian is the only one that offers that.

Patrick Wiscombe 11:18

Yeah, Pride of America.

Mark Faldmo 11:19

Pride of America, and then there are repositioning cruises. And so I just wanted to bring an itinerary up on each of these ways to do that.

Patrick Wiscombe 11:29

Let's start with the round trip west coast.

Mark Faldmo 11:31

So these are round trip Los Angeles. A lot of people that don't like to fly but still want to see Hawaii. This is a good option. Now you do have to like days at sea for this because you have four days at sea getting to Hawaii and four days at sea getting back to Los Angeles. Hall and America, Carnival, and Princess both do this round trip Los Angeles to Hawaii. So I chose a carnival, 14-day carnival cruise. This leaves the end of November. So leave Los Angeles, spends a full day in Maui, a full day in Honolulu, a full day in Kauai, and a full day in Hilo. And then cruises back to Los Angeles with a stop, which is a half day in Ensenada. Because this ship is not American built or American crewed, it has to have an international stop. So that stop is Ensenada, Mexico, before returning to Los Angeles area. So that's 14 days? 14 days, and it starts at $16.88 per person for an inside cabin or $31.19 per person for a balcony cabin.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:42

Wow, that's a big difference between inside and a balcony. That's bigger than I thought it was going to be.

Mark Faldmo 12:47

Yeah, you know, on a cruise like this, I did look at both Holland America and Princess, and it was about the same. Carnival did have the better prices. Probably the reason that jump is because the balconies are in demand on this. Yeah. That many days at sea. A lot of people just want to sit on the balcony and read a book, not have to worry about deck chairs around the pool.

Patrick Wiscombe 13:06

That's a good point.

Mark Faldmo 13:07

With this many days at sea, I definitely would take a balcony cabin. Yeah. If you can swing it, do it. And then the next way to cruise Hawaii is just a seven-day inner island on Norwegian's Pride of America.

Patrick Wiscombe 13:20

Both of us have been on that one.

unknown 13:22

Yeah.

Mark Faldmo 13:22

And then last week we talked about that ship is going in for a full renovation. I don't recall when that was. If you want to see every island in Hawaii, I think this is the best way to see all of the islands of Hawaii.

Patrick Wiscombe 13:36

Agreed.

Mark Faldmo 13:36

Absolutely. Now, when we talk about the prices, well, let's talk about the prices and then we'll talk about the the itinerary. An inside cabin on this starts at $23.39 per person, and a balcony starts at $38.55 per person. And this was pretty much for any date in November. Now, compared to your typical cruise, that is a little bit higher. But again, to see all of the islands in Hawaii, if you were to fly around to all the islands and stay for a night or two on each of the islands, you would pay way more than this. And the cruise also includes food and entertainment along the way. Yep. So it is a great way to see Hawaii. But the one thing I like about this is they do have overnights in certain islands. You leave Honolulu, you go to Maui, and you overnight in Maui. So you're there from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. the next day. It's almost two days. Yeah, almost two full days in Maui. And then you go to Hilo, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. And then you go to Kona, 7 a.m. to 5 30 p.m. So those are two different ports on the big island. So you're basically getting two full days on the big island and then overnight in Kawaii, 8 a.m. to 5 30 p.m. before heading back to Honolulu. So for a seven-day cruise, I think this particular cruise has the most port time of any seven-day cruise out there. So you're in port more than anything there.

Patrick Wiscombe 15:03

That was fun.

Mark Faldmo 15:04

The third way to see Hawaii is on a repositioning cruise. Whitney specifically asked for November. There are several cruises. Norwegian has several cruises that do this. In November, I found an interesting it's a 21-day Los Angeles to Tahiti cruise on Oceana.

Patrick Wiscombe 15:22

Ooh.

Mark Faldmo 15:22

That's NCL's luxury cruise ship. Premium. Yeah, that's okay. That's the premium. Okay. And so Oceana is known for fine dining, luxurious comfort, and destinations are what Oceana really goes for. Oceana is the cruise line that really kind of started overnighting in destinations. Oh, I didn't know that. They kind of come out as kind of like a country club casual type cruise line, is you know, kind of where they are. And they also have medium-sized ships with anywhere between 700 and 1200 guests, which means they keep small. Small. So they can get to a lot of ports. This ship can get in to many ports in Tahiti where the big ships can't get to. First, we'll just start in Los Angeles with the itinerary, spends a day in Honolulu, Kauai, Maui, Kona, and Hilo before heading off to Tahiti. It's overnights in Bora Bora, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Bora Bora, goes to Rayatea for a full day, Huohini for a full day, and Morea for a full day. Wow. Before heading to Papiete and overnighting in Papiete. Some of these islands, like Rayatea, is probably one of my favorite islands in the French Polynesia. There, I just remember taking a speedboat up a river. They say it's where the kind of Hawaiians left before they went to Hawaii. And so that's some folklore there.

Patrick Wiscombe 16:55

21 day Los Angeles to Tahiti on Oceana. What are we talking about price?

Mark Faldmo 17:00

This cruise ship that does this does not have any inside cabins. So outsider ocean view cabins start at 3185 and a balcony starts at 4290. For 21 days, that's a pretty good price. Oh, it sure is. Particularly because this is on a premium, a higher-end cruise line than you know your typical cruise line.

Patrick Wiscombe 17:21

Those ships are beautiful as well.

Mark Faldmo 17:24

They are. Yeah, they they do a great job. I've never sailed on Oceana, but I've eaten lunch on a few of their ships before. Really good food.

Patrick Wiscombe 17:32

I didn't sail, but I ate.

Mark Faldmo 17:35

Yes.

Patrick Wiscombe 17:35

Yeah. That sounds amazing. As I said at the very beginning of this segment, and really the end of that last segment. If you want to have a terrific vacation, Hawaii, you just can't go wrong. You've got the West Coast, the Inter Island, and the repositioning cruises. Call Mark in his office at the break. Just get the conversation started, no obligation. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. And he'll also post this on BluePlanetVacations.com. When we come back, we've got Mark's travel tips and we'll wrap up. We've got a Frontier story that you will not want to miss. We're talking about Frontier Airlines. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk Podcast or radio show continues, alongside Mark Faldmo, live from Los Angeles. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. We will be right back.

Todd Carlson 18:41

Explore your world. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo. Call or text the show now. 801-649-3700. That's 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at Insidetravalk.com. We'll be right back. Presented by Blue Planet Vacations.com. America's Best Travel Advisors. Call the show right now, 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And now your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:53

Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Hello there. Thank

Frontier Boarding Chaos And Manners

Patrick Wiscombe 20:00

you for allowing us to be part of your weekend. Coming up in this final segment of the show, we've got Mark's travel tips and of course the travel news headlines. And we're also going to get to, I don't have a passport, but I want to take a cruise. We're going to tell you how to go on a cruise without a passport. Let's get to the travel news headlines here. I saw this news story about a Frontier Airlines story out of Los Angeles, which is where you are right now. This news story about waiting for a flight and the boarding agent yelling at people.

Mark Faldmo 20:33

This is actually something that Heather and I experienced in Los Angeles. And then there actually was a news story about it. We were, I don't know if it was the same flight. I can't remember if what we heard was Frontier or Spirit. Um, this story particular is Frontier. The gate agent just made an announcement and said, no pushing. We don't want anyone to get hurt because people are so restless to get on the airplane. Oh. So that's one thing these low-cost carriers have kind of created. I would say an angry passenger, because everyone wants to get on to get their overhead space, get their seat. They've kind of created a situation where people are not cordial to each other. Literally, when Heather and I looked over when we saw a similar situation to this, it was almost a boxing match over there because people were so wanting to get on the airplane. Just goes as a reminder. Make sure and treat your fellow passengers kindly, treat your gate agents kindly. Hopefully you'll get to where you're going pleasantly if you choose to go on one of those more budget airlines. Well, that's another thing with airlines charging for checked bags. People bring more carry-ons, which makes that overhead bin space a little bit harder to get.

Patrick Wiscombe 21:45

We received a text question from Janice, which by the way, if you want to ask your travel-related question, just call us or text us while we're

Closed Loop Cruises Without Passport

Patrick Wiscombe 21:54

in the studio. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700 is how Janice got a hold of us. Her question is I don't have a passport, but I want to take a cruise. I've seen the term closed loop cruise. What does that mean? And do I need a passport to do a closed loop cruise? Let's just start with the first part. What is a closed loop cruise?

Mark Faldmo 22:20

A closed loop cruise is a cruise that starts and ends in the same port. So if you don't have a passport, generally speaking, if your cruise starts and ends in the same US port, like a Mexican Riviera, Los Angeles to Los Angeles, or in the Caribbean, Miami to Miami, that is a closed loop cruise. Now, technically, on most of those cruises, you do not need a passport. You just need your driver's license, an original state issued birth certificate, or a certified copy of your birth certificate. However, that being said, I would still recommend that everybody cruise with a passport. Yes. Just for safety reasons. If for some reason you miss the ship and you're on an island, you can't return home until you get a passport. So you'll have to go through that process in destination. Or something medically happens and you miss the ship. It's just good practice to travel with a passport.

Patrick Wiscombe 23:25

To that point, when we were on MSc's World America in April, we were in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There was a guest who experienced cardiac arrest. Now, how do I know that? I ended up talking to the nurse who actually, I didn't know I was going to talk to him. We were just on MSc's private island, Ocean Key, at that very, very north end of the island. And I was just making conversation. Hey, how you doing? And then he said, This is my first time on the island. I work on the ship, and he said he was a nurse. And so I asked him about the incident. He didn't give away any confidential or private information. He just said, My question to him was, Did something happen last night? And he goes, Yeah, we had one of our guests experience cardiac arrest. I didn't ask if he had a passport, but they did have to get him off the ship. We were two or three hours into the journey. They turned the ship around to get him to a hospital in Puerto Rico. Emergencies do happen. We're not trying to scare people to get a passport. We don't get money from this. It's just a good idea.

Mark Faldmo 24:26

Yeah, it is. And you know, also more and more uh islands, especially in the Caribbean, like Barbados and Martinique, do require you to have a passport. Well, they do if you cruise. So even if you're on a closed loop, there are some destinations. Those countries are so small. If someone was to miss the ship there, they don't have the facilities really to help with passports and things like that. So some islands in the Caribbean do require you have a passport regardless of if it's a closed loop or not. So, and that's just a recent thing in the last year or so that that's happened. I recommend everybody cruise with a passport.

Patrick Wiscombe 25:05

And it makes getting off the ship faster, too.

Mark Faldmo 25:07

Yes, it does.

Patrick Wiscombe 25:08

It's just a good idea to have a passport. If you have any questions on how to get a passport, if you have no idea what you're doing, that's why we're here. Call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. And uh there is a resources section on blueplanetvacations.com in the footer. I think it's literally called resources. Is that right, Mark?

Mark Faldmo 25:33

It is resources, and there's all sorts of links on passport information and how-tos.

Patrick Wiscombe 25:39

You can listen to the show again tomorrow morning, Sunday at 11 a.m. right here on this radio station and around the country. And you can stream, download, and subscribe to the podcast at inside travel talk.com. If you're not a podcaster, you can literally just stream the show right on the website. But if you do like getting podcasts, you can subscribe to the show. We're on all of the major podcast platforms. Well, now it's your turn to get out and explore the world while you can because you

Resources, Contact Info, Final Sendoff

Patrick Wiscombe 26:11

never know what curveballs life is going to throw at you. Live your life deliberately, live your life intentionally. Thank you so much for listening. Really, we don't have a business, we don't have a show without you. Thank you. We will talk to you next week and we'll give you a report because Mark is going to be coming back from Mexico. Have a great week.

Todd Carlson 26:37

That's it. That's the end of the show. You've been listening to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo. Presented by 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.