New Ships And What’s Ahead

Patrick Wiscombe 1:12

Oh, the beautiful ship horn of Norwegian's brand new ship, Norwegian Aqua. That is a beautiful ship. If you're kind of a cruise ship snob, like I am, regardless of how I say that, Mark, saying a cruise ship snob, it makes me look awful. But I love new cruise ships.

Mark Faldmo 1:35

Yeah, new cruise ships are great. And also refurbished ships are great, which we'll talk about in just a minute.

Patrick Wiscombe 1:40

Coming up in this segment, we will be talking about Norwegian cruise lines upgrades to the Epic and Pride of America, and we've got free airfare to Europe. And Alaska is in Fuego, metaphorically speaking. So if you want to go to Alaska, we've got two new options for you. And of course, we've got the cruise

Norwegian Epic’s Big Renovation

Patrick Wiscombe 1:58

news here at the bottom of the hour. So let's start with Norwegian. Norwegian Cruise Line says that they are going to spend some money to upgrade Norwegian's Epic and Pride of America. I've been on Pride of America, but I have not been on the Epic.

Mark Faldmo 2:11

Let's start with the Epic. The Epic is one of the first big ships that Norwegian built that was above 100,000 gross tons. Now that is small by today's ship. Yes. But it was kind of the first big ship that Norwegian ventured into of those larger ships. It was a little controversial ship when it first launched because of how the state rooms are. There was no separate bathroom. You walked in the main door. There was a shower on one side and a room with the toilet on the other side. And then a sink and then the bed. So it was not really separated. They just had a pole curtain. They called them the Norwegian Wave rooms because they're also curved with how the beds sit in there. It's a pretty interesting concept. They were designed by a European architect who I don't think understood the American market very well. Here, just pull a sheet across and do your business. I've sailed on Norwegian Epic six or seven times, and it's actually not as bad as I made it sound. It works okay, but they are renovating the ship. It's going to get a new kids' park. It's going to get several new hot tubs. They're adding a Vibe Beach Club, which replaces another beach club, which is called the Posh Beach Club. This is the first ship that I ever saw on the back of the ship. Up high, it kind of has a little terraced area and it's an adults-only area of the ship. It has a big screen TV back there. I remember I had a group on board. It was during the Super Bowl, and we had a reception at the same time as a Super Bowl. So they put the Super Bowl up on that big screen just for my group. So there are lots of newer ships to have similar areas, but it's just a wonderful place on back of the ship, adding more lounge chairs. They're going to add cabanas and actually add about 15 new state rooms onto the ship.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:00

The Vibe Beach Club is on Norwegian's Aqua, also at the back of the ship. Very, very it was beautiful back there.

Mark Faldmo 4:07

Yes. Yeah. The one thing I've noticed with Norwegian's upgrades, when they redo these older ships, they're very, very nice and close to what a luxury cruise line would do upgrades. Regent seven seas, which is probably one of the best cruise lines you can cruise on, is part of the Norwegian brand. And they've brought a lot of those touches from that smaller yacht type cruising into the big ships. So it's a great move.

Pride Of America’s Hawaii Refresh

Mark Faldmo 4:35

Yeah. So I'm excited to see what Norwegian Epic will look like after this. And then especially the Pride of America. Yeah. Pride of America does need some upgrades. They're moving where the kids' club is to a different area, adding 12 new cabins on this ship, and then redoing the interior and where a couple of the things are located. Pride of America is an interesting ship because it wasn't a Norwegian ship to begin with. It was started by a ship called American Cruises, which no longer exists. Don't get that confused with American Cruise Line. Right. It was called American Cruises, and they went bankrupt and had this hole built because of the Jones Act ships that need an international itinerary. If you're sailing within Hawaii, you have to be built in the U.S. So Norwegian purchased this and they got permission to take it to Europe to get fitted. But it was a gutted ship. They towed it to Europe and got it all fitted out in Europe. But because of that, it's never really fit within Norwegian because it wasn't their ship, yeah. I've sailed on it twice. I enjoyed it because I love sailing around the Hawaiian Islands. But nowadays, with these renovations, I think they're going to make it a very good ship. I still think if you want to see multiple islands, it is the best way to see multiple islands in Hawaii on the bright of America.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:55

Yeah, it's cheaper too to see it that way. Yes.

Mark Faldmo 5:58

Yeah.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:58

The islands differ greatly from island to island. You wouldn't think it would, but it really does.

Mark Faldmo 6:04

It's a great way to see Hawaii.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:06

One of my favorite things was on Maui, going up to the top of Aliakala and being above the clouds. That was such a unique perspective to be above the clouds on a volcano. Weird. But it absolutely beautiful.

Mark Faldmo 6:19

Being up there on those volcanoes in Hawaii, particularly Haleakala, is pretty amazing.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:26

Princess Cruises has unveiled their 2027 world cruise. Sign me up. I don't even know where we're going, just sign me up.

Mark Faldmo 6:34

You're going to some amazing places on this cruise. It is 129 days in 2027. Visit 61 ports and 20 countries across three continents. Oh, I'm all over this one. So this begins in Fort Lauderdale, ends in Los Angeles, and here is the itinerary. Leave Fort Lauderdale, you do a Caribbean cruise through the Panama Canal, up Central America and Mexico to Los Angeles. That's not where it ends. That's just an intermediate point. I assume you can probably also jump back on this cruise in Los Angeles if you didn't want to do that Panama Canal portion. Do that

Princess 129-Day World Cruise Route

Mark Faldmo 7:15

Panama fascinating portion.

Patrick Wiscombe 7:17

I was like, man, don't miss that part.

Mark Faldmo 7:19

Yeah. And then from there it sails over to Hawaii, where you'll do the four islands. Kilo on the big island. Maui, Kauai, Honolulu. And then it sails down to Apia in Samoa. Suva, Fiji. Suva's the capital, but it's on the other side of the island from where I was at. And then it goes over to some islands that are on the north side of Australia, comes down to Australia, does the east coast of Australia down to Sydney, then goes over to New Zealand. Wow. Cruises around New Zealand. After New Zealand, it cruises the south part of Australia, the east part of Australia, up into Valley, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan. And then you're back in the right time of the year, then sails over to Anchorage, Alaska, and you do an Alaska cruise down to Los Angeles. That is awesome. The full cruise is 129 days. You can do Los Angeles to Los Angeles for 114 days. And then there are shorter segments of this you can buy starting at 30 days.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:28

So what I'm hearing you say is in 2027, hopefully they'll have Starlink. Yes. I'll have to do the radio show and the podcast from aboard for four months. For four months.

Mark Faldmo 8:38

Yeah. That would be amazing. I hopefully someday I will have the time to do one of these longer cruises.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:46

Oh wow. National Geographic, Lindblad Expeditions, is going to enter the European river cruise market.

Mark Faldmo 8:53

And there's more and more entrances into that market. This one I think is particularly interesting. Lindblad Expeditions, which also operates partnership with National Geographic. They're very expedition oriented. That's the way they're going to run these European river cruise markets, more like an expedition cruises. Take deep dives into destinations, do some things that are very unique. Also just announced their itineraries. So they're going to do Rhine River, Castles, Cultures, and Culinary Delights, which is eight days. Holland and Belgium. And this is one that interests me just for the name of it. It's called Medieval History and Scenic Waterways. I always love going to those medieval cities. There's you know so many of them around, but I think National Geographic will probably do those better than anyone else.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:49

They really go all in on these expeditions. With European river cruising, here's the perfect segue. And this is the cruise deal of the week, always in this section of the show, the infamous just cruising segment. We've got a river cruise that includes free airfare to Europe. So if this is what you were waiting for, what are the details?

Mark Faldmo 10:10

This is on Avalon Waterways. Avalon Waterways is probably my favorite river cruise line in Europe. I also like AMA waterways a lot. But Avalon I like because of their cabins. And we had TJ McAvoy on a few weeks ago that explained how their beds face out. And when you're doing your scenic cruising, you can just lay on your bed, have the whole wall open up, and just view castles as you cruise

National Geographic Enters River Cruising

Mark Faldmo 10:35

past them. So I love Avalon Waterways for that. But right now they have free airfare to Europe, or you can choose to say $1,500 per person on select 2025 river cruises. Avalon has several different options. One that I really want to do, it's called Magnificent Europe. It's a 15-day cruise, Amsterdam to Budapest. So it does both the Rhine River and the Danube River. And for that free airfare promotion, it is valid for select dates July through October. Or same thing, you could do just the Rhine River or just the Danube River. July through October is when they have those promotions. And if you go to the Blue Planet Vacations.com website, there is a link to this and where to link you to those cruises so you can explore more about what those cruises include in the ports.

Patrick Wiscombe 11:26

Let's transition over to the ocean cruise and the 2026 Alaska cruises. And we have a couple of new cruise lines that will be sailing to Alaska next year. Which cruises are they? And have they already announced promotions yet?

Mark Faldmo 11:43

They have. And we're just starting the Alaska cruise this year for 2025, but I wanted to get these 2026 cruises out there because these two new cruise lines have some pretty good rates. Uh the first one is MSc cruises that we'll be starting. They have June dates in Alaska. So these are seven-day cruises, inside cabins starting at 8.39 per person. But where the deal is, is in the balcony. MSC balcony cabins start at $13.59 per person for June dates.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:17

That's incredible. Because that's normally when everyone just charges the

Avalon Deal With Free Airfare

Patrick Wiscombe 12:21

most.

Mark Faldmo 12:22

Yeah, you know, most other cruise lines in June for a balcony cabin are $1,800 to $2,400 per person. So this is a really good deal, and I'm sure those prices will go up as people start purchasing these cruises. So if you want to go to Alaska next year in 2026, they start in mid-May and go through mid-September. Good prices on almost every date right now on MSC.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:48

Okay, so MSC is cruise line number one. Who is cruise line number two going to Alaska next year?

Mark Faldmo 12:55

Cruise line number two is Virgin Voyages. Oh, there's a nail. Yep. This is an adult-only cruise line cruise experience, so no children. And they are a little bit more of a premium product, but they still have really good pricing. This is for mid-August sailing. An inside cabin starts at 1,092 and a balcony at 1582 in August. Does that include everything? Depending on the promotion, I I think right now MSc has a deal that includes drinks and Wi-Fi. Okay. Virgin, just as a general rule, includes Wi-Fi in their cabin.

Patrick Wiscombe 13:33

So MSC Virgin coming to Alaska starting next year. What a lot of people don't know is that Mark actually helped my son Nathan and his wife Kenzie. They took off for Alaska today. Yes. Yeah. I've been getting phone calls, obviously prior to today's show saying, hey man, we are excited to go. We're excited to go. We're excited to go. When we were on our four cruises

[Ad] The Best Mini Golden Doodle Breeders

Patrick Wiscombe 14:21

back to back to back to back, Nikki and I, he goes, Dad, I have to go. We have to go. So that's why they're that's why they're headed to Alaska right now.

Mark Faldmo 14:29

It's a great destination. Earlier this week, I was at a a presentation from Alaska Tourism and also uh the Alaska Rail. And we'll talk about that sometime. It was all about what to do on a land tour, not necessarily cruises. They didn't talk about cruises, but Alaska has a lot to offer.

Patrick Wiscombe 14:47

Alaska is truly beautiful. Really? If you want that to be your first experience, that is a guaranteed success.

(Cont.) Avalon Deal With Free Airfare

Patrick Wiscombe 14:57

If you can't find Joy in Alaska, there that's you. That's not you. That is an amazing place. Take advantage of the offers that we've talked about during the infamous Just Cruising segment. Call Mark in his

New Alaska Option With MSC

Patrick Wiscombe 15:11

office 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And he'll also post this on BluePlanetVacations.com. When we come back, man, this hour goes by so fast. We've got Mark's travel tips. We'll give you uh tricks for sleeping better on a plane. And we, of course, we uh will wrap it up with some additional travel news headlines. That is next with the Inside Travel Talk Podcast. The radio show continues. Alongside my good friend Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for listening. We will be back in about two minutes.

Todd Carlson 15:51

Helping you get out and see the world. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo. Presented by Blue Planet Vacations.com. America's Best Travel Advisors. Book your vacation now. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. The show will continue after this.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 17:00

Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your

Virgin Voyages Alaska Debut

Patrick Wiscombe 17:03

weekend. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast, a radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, Mark Faldmo. We'll step back into the studio here in just a second. Coming up in this segment, we are going to give you tricks for sleeping better on a plane. Mark uh just spent coming back from Fiji. My first question to him was, uh, how's the jet lag? And he goes, I'm actually doing pretty good. And oh, you're back. Uh the uh and then we are also going to talk about some things to do if you're getting off a cruise in Miami. That's coming up in this segment. And of course, we always want to answer your travel-related questions. So if you have questions and you're just listening, going, Oh man, I want to ask these guys a question, just call or text us right now. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. You are back from Fiji, and one of the questions that I had for you immediately was even in text was, How's the uh jet lag? And you said, Hey, I'm doing okay. We're gonna give listeners some tricks for sleeping better on a plane so you don't have that jet lag.

Mark Faldmo 18:14

Sleeping on a plane is something that's always been hard for me. And actually on Fiji Airways, they had a sleep psychologist that played a little video how to relax, how to sleep, how to avoid jet lag. Right when I was just got off the plane, I also got an email from the points guy about planning ahead to prepare how to sleep on an airplane. And so, you know, I thought that'd be interesting since I just got off a 10-hour flight and some of these suggestions from these sleep professionals. Now I still have a hard time sleeping on an airplane, but there are some good tricks and tips here to help you at least get a little bit more sleep on an airplane.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:54

So just everyone relax now. Yeah. Let's

Back From Break And Jet Lag

Patrick Wiscombe 18:57

bring in the psychologist to give you some tricks.

Mark Faldmo 19:02

The first thing is bring your own pillow or blanket. Bring something you're familiar with, which I think that's a little bit harder to do on an airplane. In fact, before this trip to Fiji, Heather said, Should we get sleep pillows? And so we went out and bought sleep pillows, came home with about five of them, tested them, and and found the ones, the ones that we liked, and took. And Heather used it both

Practical Tips To Sleep On Planes

Mark Faldmo 19:27

ways on the flight, seemed to enjoy that pillow. I've never had good success with those neck pillows.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:34

I might be weird, but they just make my neck hot, which actually keeps me awake.

Mark Faldmo 19:39

But somehow figure out how to get your head comfortable. One of the suggestions here is choose your seat wisely. Whether it's a window seat or an aisle seat, the location of the seat can matter. I like to be in the middle of the plane in between the laboratories. You know, the people or because the people going back and forth to the restroom, or if you're in near the back where the food preparation area is, it can get noisy and not as dark in that area. So choose your seat wisely. Wear comfortable clothes. I think that's oh pretty self-explanatory. Don't wear tight belts, tight fitting clothes, wear loose, comfortable clothes. One that I always thought was funny is use a sleep mask. Yeah, I can buy that. But it does really block out that light. It does. And from the sleep psychologist, one of the tips was try and follow your usual bedtime routine as close to possible when you're on the airplane. Now that's hard to do, but I do see people get up with their toothbrushes and do the whole bedtime thing before they go to sleep. Um the next thing I think is the the most important, invest in a good pair of noise canceling headphones or what other tips did he have? And then the next thing is make sure you have time to stretch and move around, even if that's in your seat. You know, there are things you can do, moving your ankles, keep your blood flowing.

Patrick Wiscombe 21:02

So this was a question that we received on the the call and the text line. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. We do want to answer your travel-related questions. This is a question from Wyatt. He said he's getting off a cruise in Miami, and the best price flights home are 6 p.m. or back on the next day. What is there to do in Miami after a cruise? And he's asking, should I fly home the next day for the better price? And the answer is there's a lot to do in Miami because we were just there. Let's give him some ideas.

Mark Faldmo 21:37

That's kind of a common question. A lot of people want to just get off the cruise ship, go to the airport. Right. But everybody does that. Most flights leave between noon and three. So if you want a better price flight home, it's usually a later flight or the next day. For me personally, I would say spend the night and come home the next day. Oh, really? Okay. But that also depends on your time. Sometimes you can't do that. But I don't mind taking 6 p.m. or later flight home. So you have a few options. Let's just start with if you're coming home later that day. The cruise

Post-Cruise Miami Ideas And Timing

Mark Faldmo 22:11

line offers an Everglades tour or a tour of Miami. And they will take care of your luggage for you. So your luggage stays with you. You don't have to worry about that. And they'll take you out on a jetboat ride to the Everglades, or you can do a South Beach Miami tour. And then they just drop you back off at the airport. And that is for flights that leave after 3 p.m. If you have even longer, so you're a 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. flight, I would recommend renting a car from Miami Airport. The airport's just 10 minutes away. It's not far. Go to the rental car center, rent a car for the day, and go out to Shark Valley. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we did that, Patrick. Yeah. And it's part of the national park in the Everglades. You can take the tram ride around, you can walk around the trail. It's just a great place to get your feet wet. Not literally, but get your feet wet into the Everglades. Then if you do opt to spend the night there, I'd still recommend getting the car, but going down to the main entrance of the Everglades park and driving down that road. Um, Heather and I just did that when we were there a few weeks ago and loved it. And I found something new, some history that is amazing. There was a Nike missile site right in the middle of the Everglades, just about a mile off of the main road. And so we took a tour from one of the park rangers that toured this site and told us the history of the Nike missile site. After in the Cuban Missile Crisis, all of the missiles were in the North US because they were worried about things coming over from Russia over the poles. We had no southern defense. And when the Cuban Missile Crisis happened, they quickly moved a battery of these, two of them. There was one somewhere else in Florida, but there was this one in the Everglades, and it's a whole facility. They had the whole hangers with the missiles, and oh wow. It was just very interesting to learn that history. You know, so that's something you could do. And I just stumbled upon it. There was a a little display in the visitor center that asked us about tours to the Cuban Missile Crisis Nike Missile site. And so we we did that. So we did. So we did. So you know, there's lots of interesting things to do. That road on the Everglades, all the little stops, walk out on platforms around different areas, just an amazing thing to do if you have a free day in South Florida.

Patrick Wiscombe 24:42

Get out and see the world. It is an absolutely spectacular place. Prioritize it in your life. It'll be one of those things that you'll look back and go, you know what, remember when we did this? It's going to be one of those things. If you want to take advantage of any of the offers that we have discussed during the last hour, call Mark in his office. Just get the conversation started. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. No obligation. Seeing the world is an excellent way to live. You can listen to this award-nominated program tomorrow morning at a Sunday at 11 a.m. Well, it's award nominated, at least in my head. It's right here on this radio station. And you can stream, download, and subscribe to the podcast at insightraveltalk.com. You can stream the show right there, but we're also on all the major podcast platforms, and all of the links are at insightraveltalk.com. Well, our job is over. It's your turn to get out and explore 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. Make travel a priority. You'll thank us later. Thank you so much for listening. Have a terrific week. We

Travel Priority And How To Book

Patrick Wiscombe 26:07

will talk to you again next Saturday and Sunday.

Todd Carlson 26:12

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.