Just Cruising Segment Setup

Patrick Wiscombe 0:48

All aboard for segment number three, the infamous just cruising segment on the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. And coming up in this segment of the show, we'll be talking about the apartments by Mary at Bon Boy Resort. NCL taking delivery of their brand new ship, the Aqua. Nikki and I will be on that cruise. What is it, Mark? And about I guess it's about a month from now. Yeah, about a month from now. And we'll tell you how to save up to $6,000 on a Europe River cruise. But let's first get to the cruise news headlines.

Norwegian Aqua Delivery And Luna Next

Patrick Wiscombe 1:29

Let's start with Norwegian Cruise Line taking delivery of the brand new Norwegian Aqua. Dude, that is a nice looking ship.

Mark Faldmo 1:38

It is. Yeah, and last week was kind of a milestone for these ships. Norwegian took delivery of the Norwegian Aqua and they also floated out the Norwegian Luna, the next ship. Oh, I didn't know that. Uh, and so the Norwegian Aqua left the uh shipyard area. The Norwegian Luna was floated for the first time and it moved into the spot where the Norwegian Aqua was so it could get all of its internal stuff completed.

Patrick Wiscombe 2:06

So when does the Luna come out? Does that come out later this year, 2025, or that feels like it's next year actually?

Mark Faldmo 2:13

Spring of 2026 is when the Luna will come out. Norwegian has always pushed the boundaries of what they can do with shipbuilding. It's kind of between Norwegian and Rural Caribbean, one one ups another. So I think this ship is gonna be amazing. Really push the boundaries of their more at sea concept. The one thing I'm very interested in on the Norwegian aqua, Norwegian is known for their dining and their specialty dining. They actually have a Thai specialty restaurant on board. Thai food is one of my favorite foods, and so I'm looking forward to seeing how they do at sea with Norwegian.

Patrick Wiscombe 2:47

I'll have to check out that new restaurant for you. Let me know how it is. I'll have a pass.

Mark Faldmo 2:52

With your more at sea, you do get specialty restaurants. So Oh, I didn't know that. Let's let's go in today and get your reservations made after the show.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:00

I would be just fine with that. Which, by the way, one of the things that we want to do as a radio show, Mark and I want to

Alaska Cruises And Skipping Canada

Patrick Wiscombe 3:08

get on every single cruise ship when it's new. We're going to film it, we're going to record it so everyone can see it. Mark will be on the media cruise for the MSC World America, so he's jumping on. And then as he's getting off three days later, I am jumping on. So we'll have full review of these ships coming up a little bit later next month. We are not a political show at all. But there was a story about one of the senators from Alaska. They are pushing to let cruise ships bypass Canada. So is he saying that now forget the international port? Let's just forget Canada here.

Mark Faldmo 3:44

That is what he's saying. That's always been a challenge for cruising to Alaska is getting that international stop in. Victoria was one of our favorite stops. Oh my goodness. But on Alaska because of how it works. Most cruise ships get there about 8 p.m. and leave at midnight. So it's more a technical stop, so you don't even get to see that.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:06

And that's disappointing because Victoria, I think, is probably I won't say the showstopper port, but if you could see it during the day, it is a show stopping place. It is beautiful and spectacular.

Mark Faldmo 4:19

Yeah. What he is asking for, I kind of wish it would just go away. It's called the Passenger Services Act, which does require that foreign port. Otherwise, the ship has to meet certain conditions like be crewed by all Americans and be built in America. So I kind of wish that would go away anyway. It was suspended coming out of COVID because Canada had such strict laws, so they suspended it so that cruise ships could start back up and not have that.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:49

So it can be done. It's whether they want to do it.

Mark Faldmo 4:52

Whether they want to. And the reason why the Alaska Senator is doing this because Canada implemented a tariff on trucks going from the US to Alaska driving through Canada. So kind of this trade war thing that's been going back and forth. So that's his proposal to

MSC World America Highlights And Hype

Mark Faldmo 5:08

bypass that. Personally, I wish it would go away anyway, regardless trade war or not.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:14

Heather, your wife, is excited to go on MSc's World America. You are too.

Mark Faldmo 5:19

Yes.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:19

But I think she's more excited for seeing Orlando Bloom. And apparently Orlando Bloom has six must-see attractions on MSc's new World America. I'm curious what they are.

Mark Faldmo 5:34

I'm curious as if these are really Orlando Bloom's things. I think this was just written and they were paid to use his name. There we go. MSC World America does have some pretty interesting things on board. One is cliffhanger, it's overwater swing at sea. So I've seen that on their commercial where you're swinging out over the water. That looks like a pretty fun thing to do.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:59

Are you gonna do that? I think I am. I am. I think if they'll allow me to take my phone or the DJI, the Osmo Pocket 3, and I'll just hold it and clutch it tight. I think I'm gonna do it. Do it, yeah.

Mark Faldmo 6:12

So that looks fun. You know, that kind of reminds me. I always love doing the big shot on top of the stratosphere in Las Vegas. Yeah. When you get up there and you can't see anything below you. That is terrifying. I didn't know you'd done that.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:25

A couple times, yes. That I gave myself a muscle strain because I was I was I was holding on so tight. I was like, ah, and the helicopter was eye-level, a little ways away. I was like, okay, wow, we're up here. I'm sorry. So I completely digress. Well, I got us into that.

Mark Faldmo 6:46

So it's your fault. You know, the the next thing is an area on the World America called the harbor. It's an area designed for kids and family to engage in outdoor activities. So it's kind of like a boardwalk. They have kind of food station areas. Is that the back of the ship? The back of the ship. Okay. It has the aqua park. Okay. Eleven-story dry slide, ropes course.

Patrick Wiscombe 7:09

Oh, isn't that the Venom? The Venom slide.

Mark Faldmo 7:12

Venom. Yeah. Oh boy. So so that's pretty interesting. Area. I love how these bigger ships, and Royal Caribbean started this, having these neighborhoods or districts. So MSC is calling them districts, where Royal Caribbean they're neighborhoods. And they just have different themed areas. You know, I'm really excited to see how that works on this ship. Everything I've seen just look amazing. The next thing, which we've talked about before, is the dirty dancing in concert. 90 minute performance. Yeah, 90 minutes. Oh wow. Featuring the music from Dirty Dancing. And then also I'm kind of excited for this one, the new Lego experience. So World America has a whole Lego family zone. Oh, yeah, I hadn't heard of this one. Yeah, a Lego parade at sea, and then just different Lego related things. I I was always a Lego fan growing up, but I remember a kid moved into our neighborhood and we went up there and he had a room full of Legos. I was so jealous.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:16

A room?

Mark Faldmo 8:17

Room full of Legos. And they have a Lego game show family challenge that will be there in that area where I guess it's who can build what the fastest.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:44

So I'm gonna be no helper. Nikki will probably do great.

Mark Faldmo 8:48

Those are some of the interesting things coming on MSc World America.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:53

My friend, his name is Mike Kidd, and he just got off. I was texting with him a week ago, and he was on MSC Seascape, and I told him I was going on MSC World America, and he was like, I am so jealous. I think the ship is sold out, Mark.

Mark Faldmo 9:08

It is. You're on the very first paid passenger sailing of the ship.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:12

So I'm kind of surprised that we got a room. What we booked this like three weeks ago? Three weeks, yeah. Anyway, are there any deals for MSc World America? Maybe not the inaugural sailing, but uh what deals are there for the ship?

Mark Faldmo 9:27

Right now, for MSc in general,

MSC Pricing Deals And Best Sail Dates

Mark Faldmo 9:30

they have 35% off and kids sell free. There's some pretty good rates still on World America for being a new ship. November 29th. This is an Eastern Caribbean cruise. I I think it's the same one you're doing. Yeah. So it's Miami, San Juan, Puerto Plata, and Private Island uh Ocean K. But November 29th, inside cabin starts at 704 per person. Wow. And a balcony cabin starts at 1,024 per person.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:01

For MSC World America?

Mark Faldmo 10:03

For World America. So, you know, for a brand new ship within its first year, that's right after Thanksgiving. That's probably, if you're ever looking for a good cruise rate, no matter where you go in the world, that's probably going to be the best date to sail on price wise. Oh, yeah. Um, looking earlier in November, those prices jump about $150 per person.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:21

Let's talk about the cruise deal of the week. Those just happen to be news stories, what we were talking about before. This is the actual cruise deal of the week. Avalon Waterways has a promotion where you

Avalon River Cruise Savings Breakdown

Patrick Wiscombe 10:32

can save up to $6,000 on a Europe River Cruise. So if you've ever wanted to do it, listen up.

Mark Faldmo 10:39

Avalon Waterways has this great promotion. It's for select 2026 river cruises. So for next year, and they kind of have a tier. The 6,000 is the highest, and it goes down, you know, they have a 4,000, a 3,000, and a 1,500 price range that they do. But for 2026, there are two salines that I found. One is a 22-day, it's the Rhine, Danube, and Maine River. So it's three rivers, and that's for November of 2026. But it is save uh $6,000 total per cabin. So that's $3,000 per person. Wow. That date for that long cruise starts at about uh $9,000 per person. And that seems like a lot, but for a river cruise, that is a pretty good deal. How many days is that? 22 days.

Patrick Wiscombe 11:31

When people hear 9,000, they go, What? Yeah, it's a it's actually a good price for river cruising.

Mark Faldmo 11:37

And then another one that has save 6,000 is the Rhine and Rhone River. And so this is you know south of France plus the Rhine River. And this one starts at about 5,000 per person for 15 days. That's still good too. That is, yeah, and then a shorter cruise, even than that. Now, this one isn't the full 6,000. I think this one is 1,500 off per cabin, but it's the Romantic Rhine, so just the Rhine River starts at 2,500 per person, and that's for an eight-day four-country tour.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:13

So what countries are we going to on that one?

Mark Faldmo 12:15

That one is Switzerland, France, Germany, and Netherlands.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:23

And you really like Avalon Waterways. They're the ship that actually has the beds that face the balcony. So you're actually looking out instead of having to go out on the balcony.

Mark Faldmo 12:33

Correct. It's where almost the whole room feels like your balcony because they just have floor-to-ceiling sliding doors that you can open up all the way. So your whole room turns into the balcony on Avalon Waterways.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:46

Go see the world. Get out. See the world. Call Mark. He can help you do it. And he'll give you great personalized service. Call him during the break. Get the conversation started. No obligation. 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. And he'll also post all of this on BluePlanetvacations.com. When we come back, we will talk about Viking and tell you how much of their inventory is already sold out. And it seems like we talk about this about, I don't know, once every I don't know, three weeks. Europe's ETIAS. They're delayed again. I'm so tired of this story. Hopefully they can just get it online. We'll talk about that next and we'll wrap up the show, give you Mark's travel tips. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. We will be right back.

Todd Carlson 13:48

Explore your world. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show. Presented by BluePlanetVacations.com. America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. We'll be right back.

Viking Demand Surge And River Trends

Todd Carlson 14:08

Really? You're listening to the Insight Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show. Presented by Blue PlanetVacations.com. America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now. 801-649-3700. 801-649-30700. And now, here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe 14:54

We are absolutely thankful for you taking the time to stop and listen each and every Saturday and Sunday to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast Radio Show. Hello there, I'm Patrick Wiscombe alongside Mark Faldmo. Coming up in this final segment of the show, we've got Mark's travel tips and we've got some additional cruise news and travel headlines. In fact, let's just start there, Mark. I know that last segment was the infamous Just Cruising segment where it is only about the cruise news and cruise deals, but I forgot about this story that Viking has sold how much of their 2025 inventory? They're 88% full for 2025.

Mark Faldmo 15:37

Jeez. Viking has both river cruises and ocean cruises. So the ocean side, they've sold 87%, and on the river side, they've sold 89%.

Patrick Wiscombe 15:46

What is going on with river cruising? It just feels like it's gone from kind of a I won't say a cottage industry to all of a sudden it's almost mainstream.

Mark Faldmo 15:55

It was. River cruising was getting really popular in the late 2015. So, you know, between 2015 and 2020. And I think COVID kind of changed the way people travel. Oh, looking for these unique, more immersive experiences. And river cruising does that. Viking is 26% higher than they were the same point in time last year in booking. So people are booking further out. And looking at the rivers, that's remarkable for Viking. They own a 52% market share in river cruises. So they're by far the largest. I think a river cruise is probably

ETIAS Delay Plus UK Authorization

Mark Faldmo 16:34

the best way to see Europe. I've always liked the escorted bus tours because I love the commentary you get.

Patrick Wiscombe 16:41

Yeah.

Mark Faldmo 16:42

But sometimes I wish a little bit more flexibility in the itinerary. A river cruise gives you all of that itinerary with a lot of the flexibility, and you don't have to pack and unpack. So I love river cruises for seeing Europe.

Patrick Wiscombe 16:56

Because we're talking about Europe, let me go to this Europe ETIAS. Mark, we have been talking about this story for I don't know how long, but I'm getting tired of it. But the ETIAS system is delayed yet again. So let's just define what ETIAS stands for and then tell them what's going on.

Mark Faldmo 17:15

It's European travel information and authorization system. Which means what? So before you go to Europe, some point, whenever this goes into effect, you'll have to get a pre-authorization to enter Europe. So go on to their website, fill it out, get authorization, which is connected to your passport so that you can enter Europe.

Patrick Wiscombe 17:36

If people are like, What? Isn't a passport enough? No, the answer is no, not anymore.

Mark Faldmo 17:41

Not anymore. Yeah. Well, it's supposed to have been in effect right now. It's been pushed back. This is now the fourth delay in it. The last delay was until October of this year, but now it's going to be the fourth quarter of 2026. So more than a year away. So we'll be talking about this again, I'm sure. Now, the UK was able to get theirs in, which did go into effect on January 8th of this year. So if you are traveling to the UK, you do need to fill out their ETIS system for the UK. But Europe in general, you don't need to do that right now until they figure out how to get this going.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:17

Hold on. You brought up something just there. There's the Europe version of this, and then there's the UK version of this. Did I get that right? Correct. And you can help people with this, right?

Mark Faldmo 18:29

Yes, yeah. We can direct you to the the right place. Uh as soon as this goes into effect, we'll have a link on the Blue Planet website.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:36

Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy Resort. This is interesting. That means

Marriott Vacation Villas Near Orlando

Patrick Wiscombe 18:42

I I won't say they're getting out of the hotel business, but I will say that they're trying to get into residence now, which I think is interesting. They're almost like the planned communities in Florida. Which by the way, those are spectacular too.

Mark Faldmo 18:59

Yeah, they are. And so this is kind of like a vacation home, but with all of the resort amenities. Their first version of these just opened up in Central Florida, which is close to Orlando. This resort that's 270 villas, ranging from four to nine bedrooms. Big houses, then big houses, but then it has all of the amenities of a resort. A four-night stay, about $500 per night for one of the four bedroom units.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:27

So all right, that's comparable to a very nice Airbnb.

Mark Faldmo 19:31

Other places they found them for as low as $330 a night. If you look at the the Marriott in Orlando, right there by Disney World, you probably won't be able to get just a one-bedroom studio that's there for less than $500 a night. So these are pretty good rates, especially if you need that larger four to nine bedroom units.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:54

So Mark and I want to respond to your travel related texts. And we got a tech. Who is this from? Is this Rachel? I think it was. Rachel. You can text your travel related questions and

Listener Question Private Yacht Charter

Patrick Wiscombe 20:07

we will answer them on the air. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700 is the phone number and the text line. She is asking. She wants to charter. I hope we can answer this. Charter a private boat to go around the Caribbean to the Caribbean Islands. Is that an option? And if so, what is the process? First of all, I like how you're thinking, Rachel.

Mark Faldmo 20:35

Yes. And this is definitely something I can help out with. I have a company that I've worked with on this. It's called the Moorings. And they actually have a few different options.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:46

Uh where you can say the Moorings.

Mark Faldmo 20:48

The Moorines. The Moorines.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:50

I thought you said the morons. I'm like, what? Okay. Maureens. The Maureens. Okay.

Mark Faldmo 20:57

The Moorines. The Moorines. Yeah. And they they actually do these yachts all around the world. They have them in the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, Mediterranean, Tahiti, Thailand, and the seashells is where they can offer these services. They have two options. They have sailing boats and they have motorized boats. And you can take those captain or fully crewed. And so if it's just captained, that means you're in charge of your food and cooking your food. If it's fully crewed, that means they have a cook on board to prepare all of the meals for you.

Patrick Wiscombe 21:35

If you have a whole crew, it's going to be more.

Mark Faldmo 21:37

It is. Yeah.

Patrick Wiscombe 21:38

So all right, that's decision number one.

Mark Faldmo 21:40

I was just looking in the Caribbean at what they have to offer for one of their 10 cabin sailing boats fully crewed for six nights was about sixteen thousand dollars. That's ten cabins, so you could get up to twenty people on that. Yeah. That kind of makes it very, very affordable, actually. If my math is right, that's about eight hundred dollars a person. Yeah, do it. And they have boats as small as three cabins. Now you do have to take one of the cabins out because that's for the captain and the other crew member, which is usually the captain's spouse, which is the cook. That's a great way to see the Caribbean. You just go your own little boat, pull up to the little islands. To answer Rachel's question, yes, there is a way and a fairly affordable way to try. Charter a boat, either a sailing boat or a motorized boat in the Caribbean.

Patrick Wiscombe 22:33

When she was talking about chartering, I had like an excursion, like a day-long excursion in my head. I love this option even more. In fact, I didn't even know this was an option. This is great. We should charter a boat and then just invite listeners to come with us.

Mark Faldmo 22:48

Yes. I think that's a great option. We have a travel agent friend back east that actually does that in Croatia. They just charter a sailing boat, do a similar thing. They do a seven-night thing, charter it in Croatia and do similar to what we talked about doing the Dom Nation Islands, but it's just an all-private group. Oh, see, I love that idea.

Patrick Wiscombe 23:10

I think we just found the next chapter of what we're doing. Before we take off, let's hurry and recap the hot travel deal of the week, which was Hawaii save up to $200

Hawaii Deal Recap And Closing

Patrick Wiscombe 23:21

per person.

Mark Faldmo 23:22

Hawaii, we found rates towards the end of May, starting at $9.99 per person for five nights, and round trip airfare from Salt Lake City. That's kind of the first time that's dipped below that you know thousand dollar mark in several months. So prices are coming down.

Patrick Wiscombe 23:39

And I do want to emphasize that does include the airfare. That's not just your hotel, that includes everything. Yes. Well, maybe not food, but it includes flight and hotel.

Mark Faldmo 23:50

Yeah. You can find all of those on blueplanetvacations.com. As well as if you sign up for the hot deal update, you'll get notifications. Like earlier this week, we did send out that six thousand dollar off on Avalon Waterways through our email list. So those on that list got it a little bit before the listeners on this show.

Patrick Wiscombe 24:11

This hour always goes by so fast. If you want to take advantage of any of the deals that we've talked about, call Mark in his office as soon as we get off the air. 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And like he mentioned, you can go to Blue Planet Vacations.com. Go see the world. Go explore the world. You can listen to this 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. We are on all the major podcast platforms. And if you don't want to subscribe, you can just stream the show right at insetraveltalk.com. We've done our job. Get out and explore the world while you can, because you never know what curveballs life is going to throw at you. And hopefully nothing big and dramatic happened to you in the last seven days. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. Live your life deliberately, live your life intentionally, and thank you. Truly, thank you for listening. Mark and I will talk to you again next week. Have a great week.

Todd Carlson 25:37

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.