Todd Carlson 0:35

And check

Big Family News And Reset

Todd Carlson 0:35

out the podcast at Inside Travel Talk.com. Here's Patrick and Mark.

Patrick Wiscombe 0:49

All aboard for segment number three of the Inside Travel Talk Podcast radio show, the infamous just cruising segment. We'll be talking about MSC's new World America ship. Mark will be on the media tour. I will not, but I will literally get on the ship as he's getting off. I'm very, very excited to get on that ship. And during the break, I've got some exciting news, Mark. I didn't even put it on the rundown. So I had to clear out of the studio because my daughter-in-law just sent the family text that she and my son Brandon are expecting another grandchild. Congratulations. I'm GrandDude times two. Well, at least the upcoming number two. How exciting is that? That's exciting. I'm pretty young to be a grand dude, though. You are. I'm 35. No, I'm just kidding. That'd be something. My head is kind of spinning from getting that news. Thank you for indulging me for just a moment. We'll get to the cruise seal of the week here in just a moment.

MSC World America Christening Traditions

Patrick Wiscombe 1:54

But let's first get to the cruise news headlines and let's start with MSc's World America, Drew Barrymore. And in case you haven't seen the MSc World America ad, it's Drew Barrymore and Orlando Bloom. She has been named MSC World America's godmother.

Mark Faldmo 2:10

The christening and naming ceremony will take place on April 9th, which I'm excited to have been invited to that. I'm looking forward to that. I always enjoy those ceremonies.

Patrick Wiscombe 2:21

What happens at a naming ceremony?

Mark Faldmo 2:23

Christening and naming ceremony, it's a long-standing maritime tradition. It goes way back. They usually choose a female to be the godmother of the ship. The godmother, that's when the champagne is thrown against the hole. They give it the name, they give it a blessing for safety, then good luck on the ship's journeys. It's a really festive time. These days, most of the godmothers are celebrities. I remember back to I think it was the Norwegian breakaway. Actually had a godfather, which was pit bull. That was a fun naming ceremony. I think with Drew Barrymore, that will be a fun naming ceremony as well. This is a break from MSc. Every other MSC ship's godmother is Sophia Loren. Yeah. Because the family has a connection to that family. The World America will be the first MSc ship that has a different godmother, which is Drew Barrymore.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:24

Does the Christine happen on land or does it happen on the ship and they bash it? How does that work?

Mark Faldmo 3:30

It happens on land. Others I've been to, they set up temporary bleacher stands around the bow of the ship. So everyone that's invited usually goes and sits in those bleachers. I guess it depends on the port because I've done some where they do it in the theater. They have different venues around the ship where it's done. So it can be done either way, but it's done in port before it sets sail that first voyage.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:55

And you're on the ship, is it the April 9th through the 12th? I think that sounds right.

Mark Faldmo 4:02

Yes. Okay, okay. So I'll go that afternoon, they'll do the naming ceremony, and then they'll set sail that evening.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:08

And what are the ports on that one? Probably uh MSc's Ocean Key Marine Reserve, their private island.

Mark Faldmo 4:15

Yeah, so that's what it is. We just spend overnight there. So is that oh okay. So so we just have two days at MSC Ocean Key.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:23

So you're gonna dock there overnight?

Mark Faldmo 4:25

Yes.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:26

That naturally brings up the question since it was a commercial about Drew Barrymore and Orlando Bloom. Do you think he's gonna be there? I think he's gonna be there. That's what my wife asked me every day. So was Legolas gonna be there? Yes. You know, the first time I remember seeing him, obviously it was Lord of the Rings, and he had a really breakout career at that moment. But I always pictured him with white hair. So when I actually saw who he was with dark, almost blackish hair, I was like, that's not the same guy. Yeah. Kind of freaked me out. Heather asking, Hey, uh, you think he's gonna be there? No, no, honey, no, not at all. Is Heather going with you on this one? Heather is going with me. Okay, good. Let's see if you can get a selfie with him. She would like to do that.

Mark Faldmo 5:11

I will try that because every inaugural I've been on with her, I've gotten a selfie with the godparents of the ship. So the ones I like the most, one of Norwegian ships was the Rocket, so I got my pitcher with 12 Rockets. Another ship was the Miami Dolphins cheerleader, so I got my pitcher with the Miami Dolphins cheerleader. So that's the tradition I will try and keep with Drew Barrymore and just Drew Barrymore in this case.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:38

Yeah. But he'll probably be there too. Yes, yeah. Speaking

American Legend Coastal Ship In Key West

Patrick Wiscombe 5:42

of uh christening ships, American Legend Coastal Ship was christened or is going to be christened in Key West, Florida, one of my new favorite places on this planet. Yeah, I love Key West. Oh, so awesome there.

Mark Faldmo 5:57

We've talked about American Cruise Line before. This is one of their new coastal cat ships, which going through that same ceremony actually last week, it had its christening in Key West. So it's gonna sail around the Florida Keys and around the Gulf Coast area, and then it's gonna move up to Washington, DC and cruise around the Chesapeake Bay and then move up into Canada, New England, and the Hudson River area. These ships are, I think they'd be fantastic to go on. There are a hundred passengers and you get to go some really unique out-of-the-way places. One of the interesting itineraries that this does in the Chesapeake Bay, it has a whole itinerary focused on the Revolutionary War. Oh, I do that in a minute. I'm actually gonna see if we can get them to be on a guest one of these times and see if we can't get out to see one of their ships. Interestingly enough, for us here in Salt Lake City, their training center is in Draper. What? They have a place where they train their crew where they have full cabins, they have their whole culinary there where they do a lot of their training. They're based in I think New Hampshire, somewhere in New England, but they have a training center here in Salt Lake City.

Patrick Wiscombe 7:10

I think going around the Florida Keys on that uh on that ship would be terrific. Chesapeake Bay, but also the Hudson. Man, that is that would be spectacular to see New York like that. It would. NCL

Norwegian Leans Into Music Nostalgia

Patrick Wiscombe 7:24

is, from what I can read, leaning heavily on music nostalgia with four new shows. What ships is this going to be on and how much nostalgia are they bringing to their ships?

Mark Faldmo 7:36

Norwegian, I think, has always done a very good job with their shows and with some of these kind of nostalgic shows. So their new show is called Bring Back the 90s. It is going to be in production by the end of this summer on a couple of Norwegian ships. It's going to feature music through the decade with Destiny's Child, Salt and Peppa, Alanis Morset, bring in really that pop culture.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:04

Well, that's ironic. Don't you think? Yes.

Mark Faldmo 8:08

Did you get that reference? I did get that reference. They did a test run on Norwegian Getaway, and it will be officially be aboard the Norwegian Joy on July 7th, which is Alaska Sailings from Seattle. What other shows? Another show that Norwegian is bringing on is called Brits Who Made It Big in America. It is called Red, White, and British, and it is going to have musical performances featuring songs from David Bowie and Queen. And that has actually started on the Norwegian breakaway and will be on Norwegian Epic starting in May. And then it'll move into a Norwegian prima on its uh Europe season. They will have two more shows. One is called Icons The Bands, and it's gonna just feature songs from legendary bands from different generations, and this will be more of a show which has a nine-person cast, and then the other show is called Ignite the Night, which is kind of like a dancing with the stars type presentation.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:13

So those are the four new shows on Norwegian.

Cruise Deal Price Drops On NCL

Patrick Wiscombe 9:16

Let's get to the cruise deal of the week, which is going to be all about NCL. They've announced lower prices in the Caribbean. What deals do we have for listeners this week?

Mark Faldmo 9:28

So there are several different sailings where Norwegian has lowered the price for Caribbean sailings. I am going to focus on just one minutes the Norwegian Escape, which departs round trip New Orleans, goes to Costa Maya, Mexico, Harvest K, which is in Belize. Yeah. And it's kind of a private island experience. And then Roatan in Honduras and Cosumel. I would call it exotic Western Caribbean. Although now more and more ships are going to Roatan and Belize. So Roatan was one of your favorite places. It is. I loved Roatan. It reminds me a lot of Tahiti and the South Pacific, Tropical and Green, one of my favorite destinations in the Caribbean. And actually, Costamaya is as well.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:19

So this has is that Costa Maya still technically the Caribbean? It is. Oh, yeah. It's the Mexican Caribbean. What are the actual deals that our listeners can call you about this week?

Mark Faldmo 10:30

The prices have actually dropped about $400 per person. Oh, wow. Compared to last week. I noticed this because this is one of the sailings that I've had on the top five cruise deals on the blueplanetvacations.com. And I was just amazed at the price drop, particularly in the balcony cabin category. This is November dates leaving from New Orleans. Inside starts at $642 per person, and balcony starts at $872 per person. For a seven-day cruise? For a seven-day cruise. Wow. Now I said November dates. The date over Thanksgiving is not have a price drop. It's still up there in price because that's a good time to cruise. But the other dates in November did drop anywhere from three to four hundred dollars compared to what they were about two weeks ago. Oh wow. That's a significant drop. I've also noticed if you're interested in shorter cruises, five-day cruise from Miami dropped about $300, starts at $509 for an inside cabin. The ports on that Miami, Nassau, Gimini Islands, which you're gonna get to go to in April. Yeah, I'm excited about that one. One of my favorite stops, and then Norwegian's private island. Those are October and November dates that had that price drop for the shorter cruises out of Miami, the five-day cruise.

Patrick Wiscombe 11:58

Is that also NCL on that one out of Miami?

Mark Faldmo 12:00

That is also Norwegian on the Norwegian getaway. So these are newer ships then. These are some of Norwegian's newer ships.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:07

I don't know what it is. It might be the new ship smell, but wow, those new ships are spectacular. They are. Those are great prices. Call Mark during the break. Just get the conversation started. Call them 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. And you will post this on BluePlanetVacations.com, correct? Or it's probably already there. It is.

Mark Faldmo 12:50

Most of these are in the top five cruise deals of the week, which there's about 15 on there right now.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:55

So top five are a lot of good cruise deals. Yeah, there is. When we come back, we'll get to Mark's travel tips. We'll wrap everything up for this week. That is next. Oh, and we also have additional travel news headlines. And we're saying goodbye to carry-on luggage as you know it. And no, this is not Southwest related. This is different. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your Saturday and Sunday. We will be right back.

Todd Carlson 13:24

Explore your world. 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. We'll be right back.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 14:29

Welcome back inside of the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe alongside Mark Faldmo.

Back From Break And Baggage Changes

Patrick Wiscombe 14:38

And if you're just joining the show, we have had some tremendous offers, travel offers, cruise offers from the infamous Just Cruising segment. We'll recap those coming up. And we will also be talking about saying goodbye. Goodbye to carry-on luggage as we have always known it. We'll get to that story here in just a second. And anything TikTok related, generally speaking, not good. Especially if it's a trend, probably not good. TikTok trends are causing people to miss flights. I am not sorry for people who are doing this at all. No, no, not at all. Earlier in the show, you and I were talking about the significant, and I do mean decades-long change that Southwest Airlines is saying goodbye. You have to pay for your carry-on bags from now on. That was the one differentiator between all of the airlines and Southwest. That is now gone. But this is a different story mark about American Airlines has said that they are going to be changing their baggage policy. What are the details on this one? I feel like we're just getting kidney punched this week.

Mark Faldmo 15:53

Flying with a carry-on bag has always been kind of a rite of passage for the modern

American Tightens Carry On Sizes

Mark Faldmo 15:58

traveler. Yeah. I've gone up to 10 days in a small carry-on before. But now American Airlines and probably others are going to start shaking things up in air travel. It is following moves of regulatory changes in Europe. And so American says, I haven't heard any news from other airlines that they're going to do this, but American has said they're going to start tightening their baggage policy to more closely match the regulations in Europe.

Patrick Wiscombe 16:31

My understanding of that is basically the carry-ons are going to be a little smaller. Is that right?

Mark Faldmo 16:37

Yes, and they're going to enforce it more. Everyone who's traveled has probably seen the size-wise. And so they are going to make sure that you have one carry-on that will fit in the size-wise, and your other personal item has to fit in the seat in front of you. This story got me going. I went and measured every bag in the house to see what I could have. Luckily, the bag I fly with meets that. So your personal item has to be no more than 18 by 14 by 8. That's right about what my laptop bag is. Right. Which you've seen, my laptop bag. That's pretty big and full of stuff. So that'll fit in those dimensions. That's a big bag. I mean, the way that you pack it, I mean, you get some stuff in there. Yes. I get lots in there. It has all my radio equipment and everything in it when I travel. So that you know we can do things like this. So but the big change is going to be the roll-on carry-on bags, which will now have a limit of 22 inches by 14 inches by nine inches. Isn't that what it's always been? It has, but now it includes the wheels and handles. Oh. Or before the wheels didn't necessarily count. So some bags that 22 inches will be a lot of carry-on bags will be slightly too high. So my bag makes it that I travel with, but you'll just have to watch that if this policy goes into effect. Oh, see, I thought it was going to take effect already. No, the the American has said they'll probably move into it later next year. Oh, okay. You know, so this is something they're just trying to get the word out to people because some people will show up and we've talked about travelers behaving badly. This policy will result in several travelers behaving badly because they're going to be strict about these sizing limits on carry-on bags.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:40

I think I'm going to be okay then with my luggage. The Samsonite, what do I have? What is this called? The freeform 21-inch hard side carry-on luggage with spinner wheels, hard shell carry-on suitcase, TSA Airline approved. That was a mouthful. But it is technically 21.25 inches by 15.25 inches by 10 with the wheels and meets the cabin size restrictions of most airlines. So I should be okay there. Yeah, you should be okay. It was the wheels part of it that I was getting kind of concerned about. I was like, uh oh. Anything TikTok trend always kind of makes me go, okay, how immature are you? And I sound like an old man. Get off my lawn. What's the trend?

Mark Faldmo 19:25

This TikTok trend that's called the airport theory and it advises that arriving at the airport just 15 minutes prior to departure,

TikTok Airport Theory Gets People Stranded

Mark Faldmo 19:34

you can still make it through the gate and make your flight. No, you won't. So I mean years ago, I would show up 30 minutes and be fine. Yeah. But there are so many factors that go into that. Do you need to check a bag? Do you have priority security screening? Do you have any special needs? A big part of it is which airport are you flying from? Not all airports are created equally.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:58

No, and I saw that firsthand earlier this week, Monday, going from Phoenix back to Salt Lake. Phoenix was by far slower than anything I experienced at Salt Lake. Not even close. It's a bad trend.

Mark Faldmo 20:11

Don't take any advice from TikTok, generally speaking. Arriving 15 minutes before the flight, that's when airlines usually close the doors to the flight. That's what I feel. Just by default, that's a bad idea. Yeah. If if you're not on board between 10 and 15 minutes, they'll give your seat away to stand-by travelers. So this trend has caused several people to miss their flights. According to Google, there's actually been an 8,000% increase in what to do if you miss your flight, tight related searches. Oh boy. So arrive at the 90 minutes before, which is recommended, or a little bit longer if you're traveling internationally.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:54

In Salt Lake, let me tell you what happened last Friday, eight days ago. Salt Lake International to Phoenix is where Nikki

Digital ID TSA PreCheck Reality Check

Patrick Wiscombe 21:03

and I went, and we have digital ID. So we were flying on Delta. We also had TSA Pre, and we just walked into the TSA Pre line, stood in front of a camera, and then they waved us on. Didn't even present a driver's license. That's normal. So let me fast forward three days later. We are coming home this past Monday in Phoenix. So I was expecting the same experience to happen where we jump in line, but this time they took our driver's license. They still took our picture. I mean, that part is normal, but it was the driver's license piece that kind of surprised me. We've got TSA Pre, they have all of our information. Is that normal? That is.

Mark Faldmo 21:42

So the digital ID, which is what you want where you don't have to pull anything out, right? Is only available at select airports. So that's why. Okay. Not all airports are created equally. Right. Some airports don't have any of that stuff. There are actually a few airports that don't have TSA pre-check. Now they're they're but there are some that don't, and there are some that don't have that line open at all the all times. If you're used to one thing, you can assume that it's going to be the same at any other airport that you're using.

Patrick Wiscombe 22:15

So you leave three hours before, and then basically if you get through fast, you just hang out in Delta Sky Club. Or and or an airline lounge. Yeah, lounge.

Mark Faldmo 22:25

Yeah. Yeah. Or if there's not A lounge at the airport where I'm at, I just go find a quiet place in the airport because there's usually one you can find and wait for the flight.

Patrick Wiscombe 22:36

While we're talking about Phoenix to Salt Lake, I had Shake Shack in Phoenix, the Phoenix Airport, which is right acros right near the gate. Uh-huh.

Airport Food Win At Phoenix

Patrick Wiscombe 22:45

Why has nobody ever told me about Shake Shack? That was one of the best burgers I've ever had in my life. There's a Shake Shack in Salt Lake Airport.

Mark Faldmo 22:54

How did I miss that? I like Shake Shack. Oh, I I've actually only ever eaten at a Shake Shack in an airport in Los Angeles, in Salt Lake, and a few other airports, but it is a great burger.

Patrick Wiscombe 23:09

Just another quick news story. Discount carriers are starting to drop transatlantic routes as network airlines expands. So the key here is there's discount

Budget Airlines Cut Transatlantic Routes

Patrick Wiscombe 23:20

airlines and then there's regular airlines. And discount carriers, if I've got it right, are starting to just say, no, we won't go over the Atlantic.

Mark Faldmo 23:30

These are airlines that were primarily transatlantic airlines. So Norse Atlantic, which is a Norwegian airline, Play Airlines, which is Iceland. You say play? Play is their name. Yes. I've never even heard of them. And then another one called Contor Airlines. And they mainly do transatlantic flights from different cities in the US. But they are starting to cut back because the competition is getting so much. We've talked about the last few weeks. It seems like every other week we have a new story about United American Delta adding a new international route. Right. And so it is making it harder for these more budget airlines to compete in that transatlantic space. You know, a lot of these started or really gained prominence during the pandemic when the big airlines were afraid to do anything. These are the guys that really jumped on the demand that was there, that early demand. But now it's starting to tailor off and people are becoming more comfortable flying the mainline airlines.

Patrick Wiscombe 24:35

As we start to wrap up, during the infamous Just Cruising segment, the cruise deal of the week, which was really, really good, $400 price drop. What are the

Deal Recap And Send Off

Patrick Wiscombe 24:44

details again?

Mark Faldmo 24:45

So this is on Norwegian cruise line. Their Caribbean cruises for this fall have dropped in price anywhere from $300 to $400 a person. Inside cabins starting at $649. Balcony cabin starting at $879. Those were cruises leaving out of New Orleans. Get the conversation started.

Patrick Wiscombe 25:04

Go travel. Go see the world. Awesome. You will never regret seeing the world. That's going to do it, Mark. We're done. 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 on insightraveltalk.com. If you don't want to subscribe, you can just stream the show right from inside traveltalk.com. But if you do subscribe to podcasts, we're on all of the major podcast platforms, and you can find all of the links also at inside travel talk.com. Alright, our job is done. It is now your turn to get out and explore the world because you 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. Mark and I will talk to you again next week. Have a great week.

Todd Carlson 26:03

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 PlanetVacations.com. Book your adventure right now. Call 888 718 7717. That's 888 718 7717. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.