Welcome And What’s Ahead

Todd Carlson 0:36

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

Patrick Wiscombe 0:50

All aboard for segment three of The InsideTravelTalk Podcast and Radio Show. We hope that you are having a terrific weekend. My name is Patrick Wiscombe alongside Mark Faldmo, broadcasting live here in Salt Lake City from The Wiscombe / Faldmo radio studio. And thanks to all of our radio affiliates, podcast listeners. We couldn't do The show without you. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend coming up in this segment of The show. Of course, we've got The travel news headlines, but we've also got The cruise deal of The week. We just simply call it The infamous Just Cruising segment, and we've got five cruise deals. We've never had that many before in a single segment. But before we get to The cruise deals of The week, let's get to The travel news headlines.

Carnival Changes Youth Cabin Rules

Patrick Wiscombe 1:40

Carnival is tightening The rules for miners' accommodations. What does that mean?

Mark Faldmo 1:46

Yeah, so this really affects families traveling together. So The new policy for Carnival is guests 14 years of age and under must be booked with a relative or guardian 25 years or older in The same cabin or in a connecting cabin. the previous policy allowed for guests 12 and younger to occupy a cabin directly across The hall or next door. But now, again, for guests 14 years of age or younger, they have to be in The same cabin with a relative or guardian.

Patrick Wiscombe 2:20

I'd like to hear The backstory of why that policy changed.

Mark Faldmo 2:23

And that's actually a little bit more in line with what some of The other cruise lines are doing. When we book families, we usually have to put one parent in a room with some kids and then another parent in a room with kids just to get around their age policies. Other ages have not changed. So guests 15 to 17 can be in their own room, separated by up to two cabins, as long as there's a parent or guardian 25 years of age or older in that main cabin there. What do we do about individuals aged 18 to 20? 18 to 20 can be anywhere on The ship, but they do have to be linked to a parent or guardian at least 25 years or older.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:07

So not even 21.

Mark Faldmo 3:09

Yeah. So oh interesting. So to sail with no restrictions, both guests have to be 21 years of age or older to sell on their own. the exception to that is if they're legally married couples.

Speaker 3:24

Okay.

Mark Faldmo 3:25

Or qualified military personnel can also sail if they're 18 or 20 in a cabin, but it's very restrictive.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:32

So in The eyes of cruise companies, an adult is 25, not 21.

Mark Faldmo 3:37

25 if there's a miner involved.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:40

Okay, got it.

Great Stirrup Key Finally Gets A Pier

Patrick Wiscombe 3:42

One of The private islands that I've never been to is called Great Stirrup Key. I think it's owned by NCL or Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. They announced that they're doing some construction or pier construction work. What's The time frame on that?

Mark Faldmo 3:58

This is Norwegian Cruise Line Holding, which is Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceana Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. They all use Great Stirrup K. Previously, this private island did not have a pier. So you had to tender in. the tender in was an approvement from what it was before. the first probably 10 times I visited this island, you went on almost like a World War II landing craft. So they would beach it and then The front would come down and you would walk off like you're doing a beach landing. This pretty unique way to get to The island. This is also The first private island in The cruise industry. So Norwegian was The first. They later added a little harbor where The tenders could come in, made it a little bit easier to get to The island. But now they're adding a pier, which construction started earlier this year and should be ready by The end of The year. Norwegian was really The first cruise line to really enhance their private island. We've often talked about MSE's private island and all The neat things to do there. Norwegian was The first cruise line to really make their island more than just a beach day and should make it so The ships don't have to miss The island as much. A lot of times during inclement weather or windy conditions, The ship misses The private island.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:19

My perception is Royal Caribbean has really outdone NCL, and even MSC may have outdone NCL.

Mark Faldmo 5:27

Or is that not fair? I don't think that's fair. Norwegian's island is comparable or in some ways better than MSC's Island as far as The facilities that are on there. Now, to begin with, it was just beach chairs and a little thatched roof place where they served food. So it was a very basic island. But when they made The investment a few years ago, I mean it was The first to make those big investments. Norwegian was The first to realize that these private islands could be The most popular port on The itinerary, okay, which they have become with most cruise lines. Royal Caribbean's Island is amazing with what it has facilities-wise.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:08

Is that per perfect day at Coco K?

Mark Faldmo 6:10

Yeah, perfect day at Coco Kay, which is actually you could swim from Norwegians Island to Royal Caribbean's Island, except for The cruise employees that are sitting there stopping people from doing that. That's how that's how close they are. Okay, so they're that close. They're that close. Okay. Yeah. In fact, if you go to The Blue Planet Facebook page The other week when I flew into Nassau, I flew right over The islands. I took a picture of it, so you can see how close The two islands are.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:40

I could just see police in between The islands. Hey, out of The water. Come on. Yeah, let's get out. Come on. Yeah.

Dirty Dancing Joins MSC World America

Patrick Wiscombe 6:46

One of The most popular movies from 1987 was Dirty Dancing. Jennifer Gray, Patrick Swayze. And it looks like, well, Patrick won't be there. Well, I guess Jennifer Gray won't be either, but they are bringing Dirty Dancing and Concert to MSc's World America, a ship that both of us will be on in when is it April? Yeah, I think it's April. In April. Yeah, okay. So Dirty Dancing and Concert, that's The headline. So that's what we'll be seeing.

Mark Faldmo 7:14

Yeah, so they just made this announcement. This will be one of their main theater shows. MSC is really trying to make inroads with The American Vacationer. MSC seems a little bit more European. And so they've built The ship, MSC World America, to really appeal towards The American Traveler. And adding a show like Dirty Dancing in Concert, I think will do that. You know, it's great music, music that everybody knows. I think this will be popular. This is actually one of seven new productions that MSC will have on this ship. They have an acrobatic show, they have an illusionist show, which MSc calls The largest ever illusion production show at sea. They have a special effects show, which is put on by The people that did special effects in Back to The Future, Mission Impossible, the Mummy, and then they have live pop concert.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:09

So when we had Laura Okanowski of MSC Cruises on, what was it, two or three weeks ago? She said that it was kind of The modern beauty of Europe, but with American comforts. That's what I'm hearing you say. Yeah. Always in this segment of The show, bottom of The hour, we've got The cruise deal of The week.

Top Five Cruise Deals Breakdown

Patrick Wiscombe 8:28

And in this case, we've got The top five cruise deals of The week. So let's start there and then let's talk about how people can get in touch with you or The website to book these vacations.

Mark Faldmo 8:39

This week I thought I'd just highlight some of The cruises that are listed on blueplanetvacations.com. In cruise deals, I have a section called The Top Five Cruise Deals where I really go each week and try and find The best cruise deals that are out there. Currently, there are 11 cruise deals listed on this page, but we'll highlight a few of them because I think there's some really good offers. I think The best deal that is listed there is a seven-day Alaska cruise round trip from Vancouver on Norwegian cruise line. Do we know what ship that one's on? Yes, it's on The Norwegian Sun, which is one of The smaller ships in Norwegian's fleet. But what makes this a particularly good deal is The date and The price. So it's on June 20th, right in The middle of The summer, which is The perceived best time to go to Alaska. But The balcony cabins on this start at $13.89 per person. Whoa. Where if you look at other cruise lines balconies, they're well above 2,000. Yeah, I was gonna say for this time frame in June.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:46

Yeah, so summertime is Alaska prime time.

Mark Faldmo 9:50

Yeah. This cruise again leaves from Vancouver, goes to Ketchikan, Sidka, Juneau, and goes to Icy Strait. So I think that's The overall best cruise deal that's out there.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:02

That's deal number one of five. What's deal number two?

Mark Faldmo 10:05

I'd say deal number two. Let's go to The other side of The country. Seven-day Canada and New England cruise. This is September 6th. So this would be to The start of The fall foliage. No guarantee if there will be fall colors at that time, but there could be. Again, September 6th on Princess Cruises. Balcony cabin starts at 989. Wow. Which is great for that.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:31

Even though you can't guarantee The colors, you can guarantee that there will be leaves on The tree somehow.

Mark Faldmo 10:36

Yes. Yep. Yeah. Because The inside cabin is almost The same price as The balcony cabin. So just go with The balcony cabin on that. Deal number three is a seven-day Norwegian Fjords cruise. Oh this is on Cunard cruise line, leaves from Southampton July 18th, right in The middle of The good season to go to The Norwegian Fjords. Balcony cabin starts at $17.69 per person. Wow. What I like about this one is how port intensive it is. Goes to Stavanger in Norway, goes to Hardinger Fjord, goes to Skolden, and goes to Allison. Allison is one of my favorite places in Norway. From there, you can get to a place called The Troll Road, and it's a switchback that goes up to like 10,000 feet. It's a pretty interesting port. What's The date on that one? Yeah, and so The date on that one is July 18th. What's deal number four? Deal number four, we're gonna go to The Caribbean. This is October 12th on MSc cruises on The MSc seashore. So insides start at 548 per person, and a balcony cabin starts at 769.

Patrick Wiscombe 11:53

Wow. I've got to hand it to MSc. They are coming into The American market, and I know that they've been doing it for a while, but my point is they are breaking in and they're doing it with pricing. And they've got nice ships too.

Mark Faldmo 12:05

Yes, they do. New ships. And you know, The seashore. We were both on The seashore earlier this year. Yep. And actually, I this is The itinerary that you did. So Lee's from Port Canaveral, Ocean K, Cozumel, and Costa Maya.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:18

Deal number five in The infamous just cruising segment is let's see.

Mark Faldmo 12:23

I'm having a hard time choosing between The remaining of The 11 that are in that. A 11-day Iceland and UK cruise. Ooh, good choice. This is August 6th on Virgin Voyages. So this leaves from Portsmouth, so basically London, goes to Amsterdam, goes to Lurick in The Shetland Islands. You know, last week we talked about The Faroe Islands, The Shetland Islands, very similar. And then it does a circumnavigation of Iceland. Goes to three different ports in Iceland ending in Reykjavik. This one starts at 2369. So it's a little bit more expensive than what we've been talking about. But for 11 days, that is a pretty good rate. And it's a very interesting itinerary.

Patrick Wiscombe 13:11

And The deals that you've been talking about, they can obviously call you. Let me just give out The numbers. We go to break here. 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. But I think one of The coolest things that uh you have on BluePlanetVacations.com is The not only The top five cruise deals of The week, but you've got an entire cruise section on The website that you can kind of play around with dates and destinations and then just book it right on The website. You can. It's been very helpful. Honestly, I I referenced it. I don't know if you've seen The stats, but Patrick has spent a little bit of time on your site. Yeah.

Mark Faldmo 13:53

Yeah, it's it's a great little tool for people to look at when searching for cruises.

Patrick Wiscombe 13:58

Take advantage of The offer. 888-718-7717-888-718-7717 or BluePlanetvacations.com. When we come back, we've got Mark's travel tips. We'll wrap up. the U.S. has issued a do not travel warning for parts of Mexico. That's just one of The stories we'll talk about when The InsideTravelTalk Podcast, a radio show, continues. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be right back.

Todd Carlson 14:26

Explore your world. You're listening to The InsideTravelTalk Podcast and Radio Show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo. Call or text The show now. 801-649-3700. That's 801-649-3700. And check out The podcast at InsidetravelTalk.com. We'll be right back. This is The InsideTravelTalk Podcast and Radio Show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo. Presented by BluePlanetVacations.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.

Mexico Travel Advisories And STEP

Patrick Wiscombe 15:34

Final segment of this week's InsideTravelTalk Podcast and Radio Show. Thank you to all of our listeners, all of our subscribers, for taking The time to listen to us. We don't have a show. We don't have a business. So I just want to say thank you. I hope you can hear The sincerity in my voice. Mark and I love talking travel. And honestly, we can't do it without you. If you're new to The show or if you're just tuning in right now, this show is all about travel. It's only about travel, and we want everyone to get out and explore The world. Whatever part of The world you want to go to, we can help you with. So, with that being said, coming up in this segment, we've got The uh travel news headlines, and we're also going to talk about Route 66. Mark, how many times have you been on Route 66?

Mark Faldmo 16:48

That I know of probably two times, um, but probably a little bit more than that.

Patrick Wiscombe 16:53

Route 66 is fascinating to me. And uh so we'll talk about that here briefly in this final segment of The show, but let's start with The travel news headlines. As we went to break, I mentioned that The United States has issued a do not travel warning for parts of Mexico. Let's just start there.

Mark Faldmo 17:12

What parts of Mexico? It's The border areas of Mexico. In The travel world, this kind of comes down, you know, like we were talking about earlier with Los Angeles, to geography. Some people hear The State Department adds a travel advisory to Mexico. I'm not realizing that those travel advisories are compartmentalized state by state in Mexico. This is The border areas, areas that travelers go to, which would be Mexico City area, The Yucatan, those remain at level one, exercise normal precautions. Other places that travelers go to, like Puerto Vallarta, are exercise increased uh precautions. Yeah, so level two. No, but still a level two. Right. Places like Paris and London are all level two. This is a good chance for people to think about looking at these warnings. If you go to The Blue Planet Vacations website, in The bottom footer, there's a resource page where you can click on The State Department's warnings and search country by country, which if you click on Mexico, it will break it down kind of region by region as to what The travel warnings are. And also a good time to talk about The State Department step program.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:25

Yeah, The STEP program basically level one, just exercise normal caution. Level two is increased caution. Step three is I forgot uh what step three is.

Mark Faldmo 18:36

Reconsider travel.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:37

Yeah, reconsider travel. Step four is just do not travel.

Mark Faldmo 18:39

Again, on The blue planet vacation, there's a thing where travelers can enroll with The State Department. It's called The Smart Travel Enrollment Program. And this will let The State Department know where travelers are. And if there's anything that is needed, that you know it helps if there's a natural disaster and you have to be evacuated. It just lets The State Department know where travelers are at and gives you up to date information on what's happening in The country.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:04

BluePlanetVacations.com, just go to The very bottom. Is that where it is? I think it is.

Mark Faldmo 19:09

Yep. Yep. In The bottom footer. Okay. That's in resources.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:13

Okay. Let's say that you need to cancel your trip. I haven't had to file a claim, but I have had travel insurance. This seems like a natural way to just talk about travel

Travel Insurance And Medical Evacuation

Patrick Wiscombe 19:22

insurance for a minute and The benefits of having it.

Mark Faldmo 19:25

Travel insurance, we've said many times, it's highly recommended to protect your travel investment. Booking a trip is an investment. You want to protect that. A lot of travel insurance policies will cover pre-existing conditions if you pay for The policy within a certain time frame from booking your trip. But most importantly, they can protect you from if you need to cancel for covered reasons. But while you're traveling, The health insurance benefits are very important. Our private health insurance here won't cover you in most foreign countries. It's a very good idea to have that insurance that will cover for sickness if you get an injury. We've told The story several times on air. I had a client that had not an aneurysm, but it had something happened in his brain and had to be Medivac from Australia back to The US. the bill was something like $350,000. Jeez. And The medical insurance covered that. And so you don't want anything to happen, but things can happen when you travel. So protecting your trip with travel insurance is always a good idea. You don't buy insurance hoping to use it.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:40

So let me switch gears here. Let me talk about airplane mode on your phone. When flying, I've noticed that The pilot or The attendants are saying put your phone in airplane

Airplane Mode Rules On Flights

Patrick Wiscombe 20:52

mode.

Mark Faldmo 20:53

This is something that passengers are kind of going back and forth on. They don't want to put their phones in airplane mode. Which I don't understand. What's The which I don't understand? Yeah. I think if someone was making a phone call next to me, that would be very annoying in a flight. In Europe, as long as you have 5G service, you don't have to put your phone in airplane mode. Oh, interesting. I think they still say you can't make calls, but if The plane will pick up data, you can use that 5G data. But in The US, it doesn't matter what you have. It is still The official role to put your phone in airplane mode or turn it off when flying.

Patrick Wiscombe 21:31

Yeah, just do it. Last thing before we take off. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but Route 66 here in America, celebrating 100 years. And one thing I

Route 66 Turns 100 Years Old

Patrick Wiscombe 21:43

didn't know is that it went from downtown Chicago to Los Angeles, basically The Santa Monica Pier in LA. How many times have you been on Route 66? Knowingly.

Mark Faldmo 21:55

Knowingly, I've been on it twice, mainly in The Illinois area. Last time I was in Chicago, I actually sought out a little hot dog stand that was on Route 66. Route 66 stretches goes Chicago to St. Louis to Tulsa, Oklahoma City, then across to The Panhandle of Texas, across New Mexico, Arizona, and into uh Los Angeles area, ending at Santa Monica Pier. One thing I found interesting when looking at this, The National Park Service. Has designated over 250 structures along uh Route 66 on The National Register of Historic Places. There's lots of good restaurants, diners, Chicago area. Lou Mitchell's Diner is one of those favorite and famous diners. One place that I've kind of always wanted to visit is The Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino, California. I don't know why, just always as a kid I've seen that pop up on movies and think that's been interesting.

Patrick Wiscombe 23:00

You say The Wigwam Motel?

Mark Faldmo 23:02

Wigwam Motel.

Patrick Wiscombe 23:04

Wait, isn't that The one with like teepees and Yep, they're all teepees. Yeah. All all The rooms are teepees. Okay, I know what you're talking about. It started business in 1949, and it looks like rates are basically like $100 a night, $90, $110, and these teepees have doors.

Mark Faldmo 23:23

Yes.

Patrick Wiscombe 23:23

Yeah. Very motel style. You know, pull up in front of your teepee and check in, and you know, that is interesting.

Mark Faldmo 23:31

Yeah, I mean, there are some really interesting things along Route 66, some old kind of classic 50 style motels and cafes, old filling stations. I just think it would be fascinating to drive that The whole route. One place that I've kind of always wanted to go is Mr. D's Route 66 diner in Kingman, Arizona. Yeah, I've been through Kingman, yes. Yeah, and so you know that's something that close enough for us here in Salt Lake, we could I could get down to if I really wanted to. For those road trip enthusiasts, I think this is probably on everyone's bucket list. And I would love to do that someday.

Patrick Wiscombe 24:12

One of The uh things about The Wigwam motel is that discover comfort in your unique teepee. That is not something that you normally see. And they do have a swimming pool. What a fun way to end The show. I knew we were gonna talk about Route 66, but what I didn't know is that we were gonna zero in on The Wigwam Hotel. I'm glad that that's one of your memories.

Final Takeaways And How To Book

Patrick Wiscombe 24:38

Yeah. What a fun show this week. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. Take advantage of The uh five, well, really 11 cruise deals on BluePlanetVacations.com. We talked about The U.S. Virgin Islands. We talked about The flight from Australia. What a great time to be alive, that we can just hop on a plane, that we can hop in a car, go see The world. Go do it. Call Mark and his office if you need help booking anything. 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. Also go to BluePlanetVacations.com to book those vacations. You can listen to this show again tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. right here on this radio station and on The uh Blue Planet Vacations Radio Network. And you can also stream, download, and subscribe to The podcast at InsideTravelTalk.com. We are on all of The major podcast platforms. Well, that's it. We've done our job. It's your turn. Get out and explore The world because you never know what curveballs life is going to throw at you. As we like to say, live your life deliberately, live your life intentionally. Thank you so much for listening. Have a great week. We'll talk to you next Saturday and Sunday.

Todd Carlson 26:08

That's it. That's The end of The show. You've been listening to The InsideTravelTalk Podcast and Radio Show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo. Presented by BluePlanetVacations.com. Book your adventure right now. Call (888) 718-7717. That's (888) 718-7717. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.