Road Show Setup And Agenda

Patrick Wiscombe 0:49

All aboard for the infamous Just Cruising segment on the Inside Travel Talk Podcast, a radio show. Hello there. I'm Patrick Wiscombe alongside Mark Faldmo, and I am coming to you from downtown Phoenix, Arizona. I have to do the radio show while I'm on the road. Mark is back in Salt Lake handling all of the producing duties. Make sure we get and stay on the air. I noticed we had a little bit of a glitch during the break. You're not going to have to do the show by yourself, are you? Hope not. If something goes horribly awry, I will call you from the phone and you'll just have to patch

Nice Softens Cruise Ship Limits

Patrick Wiscombe 1:32

me in if that's okay. Yeah. The uh internet here in my Airbnb is a little bit uh it's reliable-ish.

Mark Faldmo 1:44

But hopefully it stays reliable for the next 28 minutes.

Patrick Wiscombe 1:48

Coming up in this segment of the show, as I mentioned, is we're gonna get into the short vacations from Royal Caribbean. Russia could appear on some cruise itineraries. I don't know about that one quite yet. Things have got to kind of mellow out. And uh we'll be talking about Baltic and Alaska cruises. Where should we start here? Should we uh let's go to the cruise news headlines? You okay with that? Let's do that. All right. I saw a story that Nice is backtracking on a cruise ship ban. I'm curious about the details.

Mark Faldmo 2:20

So I think this is great news for cruisers in the Mediterranean. That area of Nice has always been fascinating for me to visit. Go out to some of the small hilltop towns in southern France. So last month, the mayor of Nice announced that cruise ships carrying more than 900 passengers would not be permitted in the nearby port of Villa France, which is where most of the cruise ship passengers to Nice would come. There was a little spat between the two mayors. The mayor of the small town said, Well, those ships dock in territorial water, so you can't ban them. So they've come up with a compromise and they've increased the ship capacity to 2,500 passengers will be allowed to visit that port. And that's going to start next year. But what that would mean, if you took this year's cruise schedule, only 65 of the 90 scheduled calls would be allowed to visit. So they started looking at this, the local merchants, and it would cost the city annually about three billion dollars in lost revenue by not allowing these cruise ships. So boy, yeah. So it's a good compromise. I know locals sometimes have problems with the floods of tourists that come through, but you also need your community open to others so they can experience your culture and your destination.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:47

Royal

Royal Caribbean Bets On Short Cruises

Patrick Wiscombe 3:48

Caribbean is leaning into short vacations starting 2026 and 2027. Now, I'm going to assume three and four-day vacations are what they're talking about.

Mark Faldmo 3:59

Yeah, so this is actually uh three to five night cruises, is what they're talking about here. They have really found the trend as people want the shorter vacations. Personally, for me, I think I'd only go five nights or longer. Yeah. Um, the shorter cruises are a little bit too short for me. Yeah. But they are finding that's what people want. They're moving the Utopia of the Seas year-round Port Canaveral, doing three and four night sailings. Some of their newer ships, Miami, the Wonder of the Seas, is gonna do three to four night sailings from Miami. They actually have a couple ships in ports that traditionally don't have summer sailings. For instance, in Galveston, the Mariner of the Seas is gonna do four and five-night Caribbean sailings, which those shorter sailings have some pretty interesting ports. They go to Costa Maya and Cozumel. They also have a ship there in the winter doing the same thing, but a different ship. So they will have 11 ships in 26 and 27. Wow. Doing exclusively three to five night savings, you know what? Which is a huge number.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:12

Oh my goodness, yes. I kind of get it. These ships are very, very expensive, and you can charge a lower ticket price for three to five nights versus seven and longer. So it's an easier sell. Yes. And so the turnover, you have to pay for the ship somehow with this amount of turnover, that will resolve that issue.

Mark Faldmo 5:32

I just feel sorry for the crew that has to turn a ship around twice a week instead of once a week, because you know, turning a ship around, getting 4,000 people off, and then another 4,000 people on in a matter of a few hours is quite the task.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:48

Oh my goodness.

Mark Faldmo 5:49

They've got it down to a science, and it does open up cruising to a wider audience. Some people, as you said, you can charge a lower price. It does make it more affordable to more people.

Russia On Itineraries Again Someday

Patrick Wiscombe 6:00

Russia appearing on cruise itineraries. What is this?

Mark Faldmo 6:05

This was the president and CEO of Norwegian cruise line saying that they are positioning their fleet to potentially add back in St. Petersburg to their Baltic cruises as soon as 2026. There's two regions that a few years ago were very popular to add into cruise itineraries. One was the Baltic that included Russia, and the other was Eastern Mediterranean that included Israel. Two ports that are in the midst of conflicts right now. All those sailings have stopped. One of my favorite cruise moments, doing a Baltic cruise and sailing out of St. Petersburg.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:46

Oh, so you have been there.

Mark Faldmo 6:47

I have been there. We did it in June. St. Petersburg is far enough north that they get lots of light till late at night. And my wife and I just sitting out of the balcony as we sailed out, because it's quite a long sail out from St. Petersburg, but St. Petersburg was a wonderful stop on that port. So hopefully these conflicts around the world can die down so and we can experience some of these interesting places in the world.

Patrick Wiscombe 7:15

I would go to St. Petersburg at a minute, just not in the middle of a war.

Mark Faldmo 7:20

Yeah, just not right now. And I think 2026 might be too soon for that. Although Norwegian did say that they have 11 ships that are based in northern Europe in 2026. So taking one of those ships and adding in St. Petersburg, if it became possible, they could easily do that in 2026. So you know they're already positioned pretty well for just northern Europe cruises in general, the Scandinavian countries, Iceland, all of the Baltic, with the exception of St. Petersburg.

Patrick Wiscombe 7:55

I was just curious how close Kyiv is to Moscow or St. Petersburg. It's really kind of not that close. I thought it was way closer to the conflict zone. It's quite a ways, actually.

Mark Faldmo 8:06

It's thousands of miles. Okay.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:08

So that would be like, hey, I'm not going to go to Los Angeles because they're at a war, but we're in New York. A little bit. Yeah.

Mark Faldmo 8:14

Yes. Okay.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:16

I just hear Russia and conflict in Ukraine. I'm like, I don't want to go anywhere near that, but they're really not close at all.

Mark Faldmo 8:23

You probably could do that, but right now it's all kind of political.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:27

Yeah.

Mark Faldmo 8:27

And people's confidence in the destination.

Baltic Cruise Route And Pricing

Patrick Wiscombe 8:31

You mentioned NCL. Let's talk about that Baltic cruise.

Mark Faldmo 8:35

This year they have a pretty good itinerary. I looked for later in the year, later in the fall, uh, which I think is a great time to go to the Baltic. This was end of September, first part of October. Uh, this is a round trip cruise from Southampton, flying to London to get to that port of Southampton. It goes to two ports in Sweden. It goes to Tallinn in Estonia, Helsinki, Finland, Copenhagen, Denmark, which is one of my favorite ports in this area, probably Tallinn and Copenhagen are my two favorite ports. And then it goes to Amsterdam and ends in Southampton.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:14

Wow.

Mark Faldmo 9:15

So that is an 11-day cruise. Inside cabin starts at $19.99 per person, and a balcony cabin starts at $29.49 per person. Which NCL ship is this one on? So that is on the Norwegian Star, which is one of their older ships. It actually happens to be one of my favorite Norwegian ships. I personally like the layout of it, and it's also the first Norwegian ship that I ever went on. So there we go. So that's kind of holds a that's a special memory. Special memory for me.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:49

So okay, so Baltic cruise. How much did you say it was inside cabin 1999? Is that what you mean?

Mark Faldmo 9:55

1999 and then balcony.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:00

Okay, let's get to the cruise deal of the week. Believe it or not, that was not the cruise deal of the week. Let's talk about Alaska and Europe. Where do you want to start here?

Europe And Alaska Flight Discounts

Mark Faldmo 10:09

So I just want to mention this promotion that Royal Caribbean just put out. This is for the month of March, and their promotion is save up to $500 off of flights to Europe or to Alaska. So they're really trying to drive people to those two destinations, Europe and Alaska. Book by March 31st, sale between mid-April and the end of October to get that up to $500 off. And it's a tiered discount based on where you're coming from. Just another great way to enhance and lower the cost of your vacation. And this is combinable with their current promotion, which is 60% off the second guest and kids sell free.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:53

Wow. Okay. So today is depending on when you're listening to us, it's either March, Saturday, March 8th, or Sunday, March 9th. Basically, this promotion goes for the next three weeks. And when do you have to sail by?

Mark Faldmo 11:04

Sale by the end of October. I think it's October 27th is the actual date.

Patrick Wiscombe 11:09

So basically within the next six months. Book, but sale in by in within the next six months. Let's also talk about the Royal Caribbean Alaskan cruise. Which ship is this on and when does it sail?

Alaska Sailing Deal From Vancouver

Mark Faldmo 11:22

As I was looking for that airfare deal, you know, I stumbled across this cruise. It's a very good price for this is June 1st of this year, sailing round trip Vancouver. It goes Vancouver to Sidka to Tracy Arm Fjord, Juneau, Ketchukan, Prince Rupert, and back to Vancouver. How many days? So it's a seven-day cruise. Wow.

Patrick Wiscombe 11:46

They're moving around.

Mark Faldmo 11:47

Yep, it has two days at sea, plus the half a day, which is seen that Tracy Arm Fjord. The other half of that day is seen Juneau. So this is a June date of this year. Inside cabin starts at $895 per person, which is amazing for a summer Alaska cruise. It's just a balcony cabin starts at $1,329 per person. Which ship is this on? So this is on the Serenade of the Seas, which is one of Royal Caribbean's smaller ships. Then again, getting on and off in Vancouver, one of my favorite cities in the Pacific Northwest.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:24

Oh, yeah. You have found some really good stuff this week. Man, book those vacations. Get on it, get out and see the world. With your friends, family, whoever you want to take. Call Bark in his office during the break. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. And Mark will also post this on BluePlanetVacations.com. When we come back, final segment of the show, we've got Mark's travel tips. Mark, I'm gonna put you on standby here. I want to ask you the question: do travel advisors like you only work with the wealthy? And we've got some final travel news headlines. We'll wrap up the show. When we come back, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. He is Mark Faldmo. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast or radio show. We will be right back.

Todd Carlson 13:20

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 PlanetVacations.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 14:30

Welcome

More Travel Headlines Start Here

Patrick Wiscombe 14:31

back to the Insight Travel Talk Podcast Radio Show. This week originating from Phoenix, Arizona, inside of an Airbnb. We're doing the show on the road. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend each and every Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. Mountain Time on this radio station and radio stations around the country. And of course, you can pick up the show at inside travel talk.com and you can just stream the show there as well as subscribe to the show. Coming up in this final segment of the show, we've got Mark's travel tips, and we're going to be talking about travel advisors, the very thing that Mark does, and if he only works with the wealthy, and the answer is no, but we're going to detail who travel advisors, generally speaking, work with. But before we get there, we've got some more travel news headlines that we need to get to.

Southwest Shows Up On Expedia

Patrick Wiscombe 15:26

Southwest Airlines has announced a big partnership, which is who?

Mark Faldmo 15:31

Well, they've announced that their flights will be available, some online sites like Expedia.

Patrick Wiscombe 15:36

Going outside, really.

Mark Faldmo 15:39

Which is very interesting. I've always thought it odd how Southwest has operated their booking business. Online, you could only get their flights online by going to their website. Yeah. Even with travel agents, a really quick high-level overview. There are four different airline booking systems that a travel agent could use. For the longest time, Southwest was only available in one of those four systems. So it was really odd they had that policy. And now they are starting to branch out. They're in more and more booking systems for travel agencies. And now to the general public, the prices are pretty much the same across no matter how you book them. But it's just giving people more choice in how they book it.

Patrick Wiscombe 16:28

So to summarize, you've got, of course, Southwest, the app or online. You've got Expedia, and you've got one of the booking engines instead of four, if I've got that right.

Mark Faldmo 16:54

The booking engine that travel agents use. And we also have a travel agent site where we can book Southwest.

Patrick Wiscombe 17:03

You know that I really like Hyatt properties. Nikki and I will be staying one in Miami Beach coming up in April. Apparently, there's some Hyatt

Hyatt Award Changes To Watch

Patrick Wiscombe 17:12

news. What do listeners need to know?

Mark Faldmo 17:14

Yeah, there is. And this is for those that are part of World of Hyatt. Which I am. And which I am. I've always appreciated Hyatt's award charts and how easy it was to book hotels with them and get a good deal when you're using your frequent stayer points, your world of Hyatt points. They are recalculating this, and they have, you know, so kind of the bad news is 118 hotels are moving to higher award categories. So they're going to chew up more points. Compared to years past, that's there's been anywhere from 30 to 50 that have gone up. Very few go down. In years past, they've had a few hotels that have gone down, but it doesn't list any number of hotels that have gone down. Hyatt has always been, I think, the most valuable hotel program out there. I have a hard time because I'm a titanium elite member with Marriott. So I'm usually going there to get into the lounge and all the stuff that that brings me. But if it comes to redeeming points, I'm always trying to go to Hyatt.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:23

United Airlines is opening its second grab and go lounge. Really hoping that's food.

Mark Faldmo 18:30

It is.

United Grab And Go Lounge Concept

Mark Faldmo 18:48

They've opened most recently in Denver and they have one in Houston where you can go in and they just have grab and go food and drinks, which I think is an interesting concept because if you have a shorter hour connection, 45-minute connection, you don't have time to go in and enjoy the full lounge experience. Yep. We'll see how that goes. It kind of looks like they have a picture of it and it kind of looks like the market in a hotel lobby just has some food and things like that. For those that spend a lot of time in airports, a lounge is a great little retreat from the hustle and bustle of an airport.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:28

One thing that we forgot to include in uh the second segment of the show during the hot travel deal of the week is this uh Hawaiian Mexico. Let's

Hawaii And Mexico Package Deadline

Patrick Wiscombe 19:37

throw it in this segment so listeners can take advantage of this, but they have to move really quick on this one though.

Mark Faldmo 19:44

Yeah, so this is a promotion for Hawaiian Mexico that ends on March 14th. Oh, so next Saturday. Next Saturday. Uh so you'll want to book your vacations to Hawaii or Mexico by then.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:58

Next Friday.

Mark Faldmo 19:59

Next Friday, yeah, Friday. Yep. So I was just doing some looking for fall dates to Hawaii. Now, this promotion, you have to book an air and a hotel package to get this. Um, but I was just looking quickly for flights in October, Salt Lake City to Honolulu, and I found several dates that were about $480. If you combine that with a hotel, you can get up to an additional $200 off your vacation.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:32

So Hawaiian, Mexico save up to $200, but you have to book by Friday, March 14th.

Mark Faldmo 20:38

Yeah, and travel by December 15th. So it's basically for 2025 travel.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:45

We've discussed this before, working with travel advisors, meaning what Mark does. The old term is called travel agents. So travel advisors

Travel Advisors Are Not Just Luxury

Patrick Wiscombe 20:53

are travel agents. Just a different term that they're using. And one of the questions that has come up, I know that you've had this question, but I've also had this question. Do travel advisors or agents only work with the wealthy? The short answer is no.

Mark Faldmo 21:12

Yeah, the short answer is no over the last few years, and I'm not sure why that has become kind of a perception out there. I've even seen it on some travel forums. Both you and I watch regularly, is people thinking that travel agents only work with the wealthy. There was a national survey done of travel advisors. 83% of travel advisors say their clients' average trip in 2024 was less than $5,000. And more than that, 90% of travel advisors say that no amount of a trip is too low for them to work with clients. Right. And I hope most travel advisors would have kind of the same attitude I have. I've always had a love for travel and just really want to get people out there to experience the world. In this show, we've talked about some pretty interesting and exotic destinations. And some of them are a little bit on the pricey side, but to get people to Mexico, Hawaii, even to Florida, Southern California, I just really want to help people experience other parts of the world. So I don't care how little it costs or how much it costs. I'll help anyone get out there to see different parts of the world.

Patrick Wiscombe 22:29

And Mark means it. The number of times that he has helped me personally, and I realize that I am in a fortunate position where I'm doing the radio. But Mark helped me out with this short business trip that I'm on in Phoenix. Called him, hey, where do you recommend I stay?

Mark Faldmo 22:42

I've always said it's a great industry to be in. It's one by consumers that's often misunderstood. They don't know how we get paid, which we've talked about that in the past. Travel agents are paid mainly by commission. So if you're booking a cruise, that commission is already built into the cruise, no matter how you book it. So you're paying for the use of a travel agent, whether you use one or not, in many cases. And you know, we've also talked about in the past a lot of suppliers like working selling through travel agents because the customer satisfaction is so much higher. Four maybe five weeks ago, we talked about a study from a cruise line where those that booked with the travel agent had a 90% satisfaction rate compared to a 70% satisfaction rate for those that book directly with the cruise line or online. Working with a travel agent does give a better experience overall. That's our goal, and that's what we work at every day to provide for our customers. There are lots of great travel advisors out there. I know plenty in this area and outside of this area that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. I'll always first recommend myself and um my employees, but I say work with a travel agent.

Patrick Wiscombe 24:02

That's gonna do it. We are done for the week. Now to springtime baseball

Final Takeaways And How To Book

Patrick Wiscombe 24:10

in Phoenix. That's not why I'm down here, but that is a nice benefit. Yep. You can listen to this show again tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. right here on this radio station, and you can stream, download, and subscribe to the podcast at inside travel talk.com, and we are on all of the major podcast platforms. Book your vacation, any of the deals that we've talked about during the last hour. Call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. And he will also post it on Blue Planet Vacations.com. Now it is your turn to get out and explore the world because you never know what curveballs life is going to throw at you. As we say each and every week, live your life deliberately, live your life intentionally. Thank you so much for listening. We will talk to you again next Saturday and Sunday.

Todd Carlson 25:15

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.