Beyond Resort Walls: The Rise of Island-Inclusive Packages and Authentic Cruise Experiences

Discover how travel leaders are breaking down resort walls and cruise ship decks to deliver authentic cultural experiences. Mike and James reveal Celebrity Cruises' innovative "Bazaar" concept, transforming how travelers connect with destinations before even stepping ashore. Plus, unsettling data shows dramatic drops in international visitors to America—a 17% decrease from the UK and staggering 60% from Canada. This shift fundamentally threatens cross-cultural understanding while reshaping global tourism patterns. Listen as industry insiders analyze what's driving tourists away and how properties worldwide are responding with fresh approaches to immersive travel.

Welcome to No Tourists Allowed

Welcome to No Tourists Allowed, a podcast where two recognized travel industry executives with a combined 71 years on the inside of travel and technology give up their secrets to the thing everyone wants to do: travel better, pay less, and see more of the world. Here are your hosts, Mike Putman and James Ferrara.

Mike Putman: Good day, everyone. I'm Mike Putman. And I'm James Ferrara. Welcome to No Tourists Allowed. Great to be back with you guys. It's been a few weeks.

James Ferrara: We've had several interruptions which we tend to have from time to time. Life and business kind of hop in the way, but we're glad to be back with you today.

Mike Putman: This is what happens when you're in the travel business. You actually wind up traveling. And we do have these cyclical times of the year where there seems to be a lot of industry events, and I think we're just coming off one. You had an exciting trip down to South Florida, which I'm sure you'll be sharing a bit about with the listeners. We get a lot of it—the end of May and beginning of June starts another swing of those events. So lots of traveling coming up for me and I'm sure for you as well, James.

Highlights from the Annual Cruise Industry Conference

James Ferrara: Yeah, absolutely. I’m heading out to Pebble Beach later this spring, and Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. But you're right, I just came back from South Florida and the annual conference for the cruise industry, an association called CLIA, Cruise Lines International Association. It is actually a membership organization of all the major ocean cruise lines, and then affiliated members are the river cruise companies. Once a year they get together for this big annual conference and we talk about what's going on in the cruise industry. It's attended by a couple of thousand travel agencies and all of the major cruise executives and ancillary partners. It's quite a show—big trade show, many classes, and then some big general sessions. There was a Hall of Fame dinner, a black-tie dinner the last night, but the entertainment is provided by the cruise ships. The big news this year, we saw a couple of interesting things. Royal Caribbean has a Wizard of Oz musical on board, so of course that's a big favorite the last year or so. But brand new is a tribute to Prince from Norwegian Cruise Line, I believe. I got to hear a couple of numbers by a tribute band doing Prince music and dancers. It was very Prince-like and very enjoyable for me. I like Prince.

Mike Putman: I'm sure that'll be a great show and that'll get people up and dancing in the aisles on NCL ships coming up. Any other big announcements at the event?

Immersive Cultural Experiences on Celebrity Cruises

James Ferrara: More sort of appropriate and in tune to what we talk about here: the idea of not traveling like a tourist, being more authentic, and really getting a sense of place. I think it is really interesting that something new Celebrity Cruises debuted at the event last week. Celebrity is one of the Royal Caribbean Group family of brands and it is their premium brand. It tends to attract a little bit of a younger crowd—30s, 40s, professional, upscale, very designy ships. A couple of years ago, they debuted a newest class of ships called the Edge class. There are a lot of cool things about that ship design, but one of them was this new space on the stern of the ships, the aft, the back, the booty of the ship. They created a three-story glass-enclosed space with multiple levels and multiple bars. When you walk into it, it's called Eden. When you walk into it, it was like going to a huge nightclub, with smoke and performers on all different levels and things going on all over the place. It was meant to appeal to a sort of millennial crowd and create a big event in this space. So interesting that here we are a number of years later, and they've changed Eden to a new concept, which they are calling Bazaar, B-A-Z-A-N-I. What they're doing is the day before you go into a particular international port, they're bringing on board performers from that culture, the cuisine of that culture, maybe an array of goods and stalls where they sell handicrafts. Let's say you're heading to Cozumel in Mexico. They're bringing on board the whole culture of Cozumel the day before and having a big event in that three-story glass space where you start to immerse yourself in the local culture. I think that's a really cool idea because cruisers are sometimes criticized for not having a real sense of place. The ship becomes the destination for a lot of people, and private islands that these cruise lines have now are very popular for good reason. They have a lot of fun things to do on board, but you could be kind of anywhere, USA. It doesn't have a real sense of place. I think this is a move in the right direction. There have always been ships that have brought on board cuisine and, especially smaller ships, bringing on local talent. But now to have a major mass-market line, a premium line like Celebrity, really try to immerse passengers in the culture before, during, and after a port stop like that—I think is definitely a good thing.

Analyzing Trends in International Inbound Tourism

Mike Putman: I do too. That brings a lot to the experience, especially for those people who may not have been to a destination, to get a little bit of culture before they get off the ship. Maybe even some people decide, "Hey, while we're in port I'm just going to stay on the ship and relax," because they've had a chance to visit some of the culture. Which a lot of people do, especially on beautiful ships like Celebrity's Edge class ships. They're spectacular. They're filled with contemporary art, great restaurants, and really fun bars, but now also a lot of culture. Certainly one of my favorite lines without a doubt. Talking about other trends in the travel business right now, we see more and more changes happening with this new administration. There's a lot more control on inbound customers or inbound travelers to the U.S. For those of you out there who may not know, there's been a precipitous fall-off of people coming to the U.S. for tourist travel or leisure travel. There are some reports out that show countries like the UK—inbound visitors so far this year for 2025—are down 17%. The UK is our second or third largest inbound area. Of course, Canada has fallen off significantly, and inbound travel for Mexico has fallen off. There's a lot of things that compound and effectuate these changes. There's the tariff conversation, there's people supposedly being held at the borders, and government organizations looking at their phones and things of that nature. But the good news for us as a travel industry in the U.S., although we hate to see that—because whenever you stop the flow or slow down the flow of tourism in any direction, you start losing the connectivity with people. One of the things that this podcast is about is connecting with other cultures. Putting anything in the way, reasonable or unreasonable, to slow that flow down is going to have some effects. You might not see those effects now, but you will be able to measure these effects down the road after some time. But these things are happening.

James Ferrara: It's not a political statement; I think of it as a religious statement. It's against my religion to add any friction to travel. So it has nothing to do with politics. It's just we believe, Mike and I, in No Tourists Allowed, in the free and open movement of people around the world and sharing of cultures around the world. Anything that impedes that in any way is against the fiber of my being.

Mike Putman: It'll also have some economic impact. There are some countries, like the island countries in the Caribbean like Jamaica, where they live tourism and it's their number one industry. While it's not number one in the U.S., it does represent a large portion of our economy. And it gets compounded if you think about people coming over specifically from the UK, where their average holiday, as they call it instead of vacation, is around 14 days. There are 14 days of those folks spending money on food, amusement parks, accommodation, rental cars, etc. So there's surely going to be an impact that we will feel from that.

James Ferrara: The numbers are startling in terms of what we call international visitation, inbound travel from these other countries. As you said, Mike, I saw a number that inbound travel from Canada is off by 60%. And the European countries are many of them around 20% or better in decrease year over year. That's really extraordinary. It's also temporary, but still, in the meantime, it could affect certain businesses and the economy in general here. In my business, the travel agency business, we don't deal with a lot of inbound travel, so we're not seeing a big effect. Statistically speaking, I'm not seeing an effect on outbound travel, which is where we do make all of our money—sending people either domestically within the U.S. or outbound from the U.S. to elsewhere in the world. I can't put my finger on any numbers that show a decrease, but there is certainly a psychology out there. There is a ding in confidence with consumers, which makes people a little more conservative and makes them worry about their money and their jobs. The good news is the last thing that people will pull back on seems to be travel. People will forgo that kitchen renovation or maybe even that new car, but they won't give up their vacations. That seems to be the lesson we've learned since the pandemic—that travel is the priority. I'm very thankful for that being in the travel business. If economic pressures do continue to mount and a recession looms, typically consumers slow down their spending on discretionary items and we will see some pullback at that point. But so far, so good.

Mike Putman: Well, let's hope this is all temporary. There is a big poker game going on here regarding balancing trade and so on. Wall Street pushed back very hard on the White House a couple of weeks ago, which caused us to take a pause for 90 days. That clearly was pressure from Wall Street saying the stock market was being affected and people's 401(k)s were being affected. One thing about the current president is Wall Street is important to him. So we'll see what happens over the next couple of months.

Marriott’s Strategic Expansion and the Acquisition of CitizenM

Mike Putman: In other travel news, Marriott just announced this week that they were going to acquire the hotel brand Citizens M for $355 million. This is a brand that's relatively new, but such a large move for Marriott. That racks up to be their 34th or 35th brand. If you're a Marriott Bonvoy member like I am, and probably a lot of you out there, this does open up other choices of properties that you can choose to earn points and also burn points as well. I think Citizens M has a unique brand proposition, unlike a lot of other hotels.

James Ferrara: It's got a very cool vibe. The first one I ever went into was in Tower Hill in London and it overlooks Tower Bridge. I walked in and I wasn't sure where the lobby was, but I happened to be standing in it. The lobby is essentially a bar and a pool table and lounge area. I thought I had walked into a lounge. There is no formal lobby feel to it or reception desk. It's a very cool vibe.

Mike Putman: There's a lot of brands that are incorporating that. Moxy, Aloft, and Hilton has a few as well where the concept is the rooms tend to be a little bit smaller and they're more utilitarian. Often they have concrete floors with rugs—well-appointed but the proportions are smaller. Then they expose a large general space for people to go work and socialize. I know for the Moxys, they will have a check-in desk on one end and on the other end is the bar. It's like a rectangle. There's food for purchase, and so the guy that checks you in could be your bartender and could be serving you food eventually. They have a small kitchen with limited items, but some Moxys have a tattoo parlor in that area too. Did you know that?

James Ferrara: No, I did not know that. There's also Ace Hotels and Tru by Hilton, all sort of aimed at a younger demographic and a kind of hipper social experience. I remember walking into an Ace Hotel in Manhattan and everybody was sort of face down into their phones or devices, sitting around the lobby and nobody was talking to each other. The lobby was filled with people, but everybody was looking down.

Mike Putman: Well, that's a sign of the times, I believe. But I enjoy those types of hotels—very clean and minimalist at times, but it's a good fit for me. Maybe I'm just a lot younger than you, James.

James Ferrara: Well, that's it. I enjoy them too because I delete tend to think of myself as 18, but I'm not 18. So I tend to be the oldest guy in the hotel when I go to those places.

The Evolution of All-Inclusive Resorts and Voluntourism

Mike Putman: One other thing I want to talk about is there seems to be a trend of all-inclusive resorts actually sending their guests off-site. We often talk about all-inclusives and have had regular guests on that sell or manage all-inclusive properties. There seems to be a trend, maybe it was sparked by No Tourists Allowed, that is pushing these all-inclusive resorts to create packages that include a day off of the property for people to go see other parts of the destination rather than just being stuck in the resort.

James Ferrara: Which you absolutely should do. It's sort of the same thing like we were just talking about with cruise ships. You can go just for the ship, stay on the ship the whole time and never see anything. And that's okay, but that's not No Tourists Allowed type travel. The same with an all-inclusive resort. I do know a lot of people who go plop themselves down and never leave the resort. But then don't say you went to the Dominican Republic or Cancun or Jamaica because you didn't, really. You went to a particular resort and that's all you saw. I think they really get it now and they're encouraging people to get out. You'll have a better time. Go out to dinner down in the town, go on sightseeing tours, and then come back to the wonderful resort and enjoy all that too.

Mike Putman: There's a property in Dominica called Fort Young Hotel and Dive Resort. They are offering what is called an "island inclusive" package. Rather than all-inclusive, this is island inclusive. The typical person that wants to go to Dominica is probably a little more sports-focused or adventurous. What they offer is a package that includes the all-inclusive concepts, but they'll also provide you an excursion each day where you can do things like trek to a waterfall or go to a lively local market and do some things that are specifically driven off-property.

James Ferrara: For the thrill seekers and the adventurous people, some of them even have voluntourism programs, which I think is really great. I know you're into this too, Mike. I've seen this with Sandals—you can stay at a Sandals resort and take a half day to go and support a community project locally. I think that's really cool. It adds a whole other dimension to your vacation. For those of us who can vacation this way, we're privileged that we can do it. To take a little piece of it and give back in some way seems to me to make a greater vacation.

Mike Putman: It's like a vacation tithe, almost. At my last company, we did a tremendous number of group excursions and group trips, and we included a lot of those opportunities for those who wanted to take them. A lot of people did and it's very rewarding. I think it just expands your range of cultural understanding when you're able to see people that may be less fortunate or might have special needs. It makes you feel good.

James Ferrara: In our first season, Mike, didn't we have Hug It Forward, that group that you worked with building the bottle schools in Guatemala? I think they're up to 121 schools built now. If any of our listeners have an interesting voluntourism experience they want to share with us or anything they want to recommend, I would love to do an episode on that.

Luxury Cruise Giveaway Destination: Alaska

Mike Putman: That would be fantastic. Well, you can go to the website, notouristsallowed.com, and send us a note. Also, while you're there, you might notice that we are still running our luxury cruise for two giveaway for this season. We've been dripping out the details over the past number of weeks and we've got a little more intel for you today. We're going to tell you where one lucky winner will be able to go, along with the guest of their choice. James, you want to announce it?

James Ferrara: Sure. So far, we've told you that it is a cruise for two in a balcony stateroom. Last time we teased out a little bit of what you might be looking at from that balcony—whales, bears, and seals, and a few other clues, some interesting historic towns. Of course, what we're talking about is Alaska. Alaska is probably the hottest market for cruising over the last 10 years; the growth has been phenomenal. Every cruise line now cruises to Alaska in some capacity, but there are a few cruise lines that really own Alaska. Our next reveal next week is going to be which cruise line and ship you will be on. You know now that it's for two, it’s a luxury cruise line, it’s a balcony stateroom, and it is to Alaska.

Mike Putman: I've done this just one time because it is a long trip to get to Alaska from the East Coast. However, this was the most spectacular, awe-inspiring, breathtaking scenic cruise of the 64 or 65 I've ever been on. It is something very special and everyone that can do it should do it. It is a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

James Ferrara: It is one of the great landscapes of the world. It's also some really interesting history—Gold Rush history and frontier towns. Beautiful natural landscape if you take a land tour to Denali National Park in the interior. Just incredible. You could take a really cool train there. There's just so much to do and see in Alaska. It's also one of my favorite cruises I've ever done. The way you get in on this is you go to the website and you do a couple of things. You sign up for our newsletter and you look at the section there on the cruise giveaway. It'll give you several ideas for things you can do to get your name in multiple times. The more things you do, the more times your name is in the drawing.

How to Engage and Stay Updated

Mike Putman: Right. So get engaged with us at notouristsallowed.com and follow the instructions. You can be registered multiple times, which will of course increase your chance of winning this great vacation for two. So James, I think that wraps it up for me this week.

James Ferrara: Yeah, me as well. We'll have more to report on next time. More big trips coming up for Mike and myself. More news, of course, always in the travel industry. We have some special guests coming to share some ideas with you. If you missed any of our recent episodes, you know you can go to notouristsallowed.com and you can replay any of our prior episodes.

Mike Putman: And you know what that costs you? Absolutely nothing. It's absolutely free. So take advantage of it and thank you guys for listening in. Please share with your friends and provide any kind of feedback that you have. You can do that also on our website. So thanks so much. Have a great day.

James Ferrara: Thanks, everybody.