Plus Record-Breaking Black Friday Travel Deals
What to expect at the airport this holiday season. Is “Air-maggedon” over? How are inflation – and maybe recession – affecting travel? How do airfares and hotel rates compare to prior years? We unwrap it all in our all-singing, all-dancing Holiday Extravaganza to rival the Macy’s Parade (not really). But we DO share really useful insider tips for how to navigate the crowds and travel better. Plus, did you know Black Friday and Cyber Monday apply to your vacations, not just the mall? Deal Guru Jessica Deverson has the list of holiday offers with some of the deepest discounts and most valuable freebies we’ve seen in years. Norwegian Cruise Line. G Adventures. Royal Caribbean Cruises & more. ‘Tis the season to travel!
Transcript
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
Hello, everyone. I’m Mike Putman.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
And I’m James Ferrara, and welcome to our holiday extravaganza. Mike, you know, Macy’s has the Thanksgiving Day Parade. And we’ve got this special broadcast, sort of kicking off the holiday travel season.
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
All right, well, I didn’t think of it that way. But that’s a nice way of putting it.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
You have your costume on?
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
No, I have my pajamas on and actually, I’ve been in bed with COVID for the last five days. So yes, I’m still in my pajamas. But dutifully here behind the mic, to share what I hope are some great travel tips for our eager audience out there.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
Absolutely. We should start with first of all, Mike, sorry, you’re not feeling well. Everybody wishes you a speedy recovery. But I’ve been hearing more of that lately. And maybe some of you guys are too, in terms of, you know, we’ve had a couple of people at work. Get contract COVID. Again, were starting to all travel more all get together at large events, again, it’s getting to be cold weather in the Northeast where I am. And so people are congregating inside again. And, you know, inevitably, were spreading, not just COVID but colds and flus of other kinds as well. And, you know, it’s, you would think we wouldn’t talk a lot about this on travel, but we’re very on a travel podcast, but we’re very real here. Right. And I think it’s a good opportunity to remind everybody to do what you do to protect yourself. For some of us that may be taking a vaccine, you know, the new bio Valent vaccine that is intended to help against the later variations like Omicron or just washing your hands a lot wearing a mask when you’re in a crowd, practicing social distancing, I would say let’s not forget what we learned in the last couple of years. And it’s it’s time to be prudent still, you know,
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
now definitely definitely with the colder weather and you know, for us in the travel industry, the last couple of months have been our conference season. And James and that you’ve been to your your share of conferences and shook your share of hands and given hugs. And that’s what got me this past week at the Focusrite conference in Scottsdale Arizona I was I was around a lot of people and I have been around a lot of people previously too and I’ve had all the vaccines and boosters and so forth, but still try to be cognizant of where I am and and the circumstances and even got a flu shot this year which I really don’t like about don’t typically get flu shots but I was being a little extra careful this year. This this new variant creeped up and jumped all over me. This new variant by the way, is called the ass kicking variant and that that’s what jumped all over me and it put me in bed for five days.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
The AC variant for our a que ver Kishore I use hand sanitizer so much. And you know, I have been on a lot of these events like you and I use hand sanitizer so much that I’m convinced I’ve burned a couple of layers of skin off my hands. And I could commit crimes now and not leave fingerprints. So let’s do a travel wrap up last couple of months. Where have we been Mike? Well, we’ll certainly we were together in Belfast, but I was in Finland, and then from Finland boarded a ship a new brand new, huge mega cruise liner, the Carnival celebration, incredible ship by the way, but I boarded it under construction from the shipyard and rode it over to Southampton, England, where she was debuted to the trade press and the world. And then she did her inaugural cruise to Miami. And she’ll be running out of Miami. On week long itineraries to the crew I’m in. And she is incredible. Nothing like what you might think of the old carnival. Incredible Food, beautiful, upscale looking ship amazing technology. So check that out. Then I was in London for a couple of days at World Travel Market, which, you know, if you’re going to get the COVID That’s probably the place to
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
It was a hotbed of COVID.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
Yeah, there were 50,000 people in the conference center in London. And nobody wearing a mask. I mean, like, not one person. And we were on top of each other. So I was really surprised. I didn’t come away with COVID from that, but an incredible event, destination boards, tourism boards, and suppliers, cruise lines, vacation companies, airlines, from all over the world, in just these vast halls and incredibly elaborate stands and booths. And so we really got to see what’s going on in the world with travel. And that was fascinating, and took the opportunity to pretend to be Mike Putman one night and I went to a Michelin starred restaurant, this one and it famous Indian restaurant in London with a Michelin star and had a spectacular meal and we toasted you, Mike, at that meal.
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
All right, well, wish I would have been there for that piece of it. Good to hear. Yeah. My travels had not been quite so frequent. as yours, James, I know you’ve been gone most of the time. But we did did a quick trip to Miami. And did a golfing trip with some friends. And over a weekend. And this trip to Arizona. I think that’s been about it. That was one that
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
was only you were at a famous conference called Focus, right, which is really about emerging technologies and new startup companies in the travel industry, right?
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
Yeah, it is. It’s where all the senior level travel technology people get get together. As kinda went once a year big deal. And it was great, great conference,
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
what resort were you at in Arizona,
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
I was at the JW Marriott in Desert Ridge, which is a nice but remote venue with limited dining options. And you know, it now I think I would have done it at a different place or, or would have had some better opportunities. The same event was at the diplomat last year, actually he went last year James, I remember it. And you know, there were limited dining options. And typically when he goes go to these conferences, you don’t rent a car necessarily. You just you know, you get there, you get an Uber, you get a taxi, you go the resort, you know you’re working the conference for two or three days, you get an Uber back to the airport, you go home. But when you’re in these remote, big big resorts, which it’s not reasonable that you can walk anywhere from this resort. You’re kind of stuck there. And unless you want to grab an Uber for dinner or something so
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
and in these days, when hotels and resorts have closed, some of their dining venues still are limited their services that can be really tough. That’s happened to us a few times.
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
Yeah. And that’s that was the case here. I did want to tell you though, one thing that we’ve talked about on previous podcast was the resort fee that the hotel charge. Now, as our listeners know, I’m a big Marriott fan. And I really do like the brand and JW Marriott ‘s are one of their better ones. But this particular property had a $45 per day resort fee. Which is ridiculous number one. And when you check in, they kind of sheepishly go over. We’re gonna be charging you a $45 fee per day. And then they have these cards and I brought you in back James, you’ll love this. It’s a little like a double sided business card or foldover business card. And it justifies why they’re charging you $5 Today, which to me is just ridiculous. I mean it’s things that would normally be at no charge for any resort.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
Yeah, sometimes they say like a bottle of water in the room free WiFi and free Wi Fi everybody cheer if you want to go to the beach. Yeah, a lounge cheer if you want to go to the pool, really, if I don’t pay the fee, they won’t be allowed just
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
can’t go to the work the gym. Right? So this is $45. And I mean, that’s it, it’s not $10 Like, you know, the Vegas hotel started at like $10, a few years back, this is getting into meaningful money. And for a resort like this, which caters to conventions. You know, it’s just another, another little charge that the company the corporation is going to pick up or the company is going to pick up. But it’s, it’s just an, to me an unjust way of charging people money and avoiding paying travel agents Commission’s on those additional funds that they’re received. Yeah,
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
it’s just additional revenue for the hotel, it’s a money grab, and the Department of Transportation, and certain Congressman have announced investigations into these fees in the last year or two, because they are getting out of hand. And it appears to be a sort of, let’s say, it’s not a transparent way to advertise the cost of a hotel because they don’t include these fees, they add them later, some people in the government have charged, the disclosures are not properly done. And people don’t know that they’re being obligated to these fees. And when you think of a hotel room, that might cost $250 A night, that’s another 20% Mike the fee that you got, and my fee was even higher, at the hotel I stayed at in South Beach. It was even more than that on a daily basis. And again, they made some weak sort of attempt to justify the fee with this meaningless list of amenities that you would expect from a good hotel anyway. So I think this practice is not long. For life, I think there’s going to be either some regulation or some pressure from the government to actually change it. But it’s something for our traveler listeners to be aware of. Yes, when you commit to a hotel, you want to make sure you’re reading the fine print there, and you know, everything you’re going to be charged.
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
Well, I’ll tell you another another example, James, and actually Biden, President Biden spoke about this while you were on vacation in Europe, was that it, uh, there was a luncheon he hosted and he really had some, this was a strong piece of his agenda for this luncheon, and it was talking about these hidden service fees. And, you know, the other way this impacts families is, let’s say, you were a single mother, and you wanted to take your child on a flight, okay. And you went on a particular airlines and frontiers, not the only one, but they’re pretty tough on this, you could book let’s say, you got a 10 year old child, right, and you want to plot somewhere, you book your tickets, and you know, the price is $99 each way or whatever. And then you have to pay an additional fee. If you want to sit by your child, let’s say it’s a five, a 10 year old child could probably sit by themselves, but let’s say it’s a four year old child, right? There’s no, there’s no provision that allows you to get a seat beside your child unless you pay for it. So in those situations, that’s not a service fee. That’s I think most people would consider that a required fee, which should has a different set of rules that govern that, that where that should be used, that disclosure should be done earlier in the funnel, or prior to the customer. Making a booking. So those are
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
some we have laws that actually say that when we price airline tickets, or rental cars, that we have to include all of the necessary fees, all of the required fees have to be included in that total price and disclosed right up front. So when people are doing a search, it’s evident to them what the real cost is. So yeah, these these risks need to be the real lever there
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
is an airline could justifiably say well, it is not a requirement that you sit by your three year old kid. That’s that’s not real world. Like no one’s going to go on a flight and not sit by and sit 10 rows from their three year old kid that just doesn’t make sense. And they can say, Oh, well you can get somebody to switch with you. Well, maybe you can maybe can’t but it’s not the consumers responsibility to ask someone to switch seats just so that they can sit by their child. So therefore, it is in my opinion is required. Word cost, which should or has to be disclosed upfront. So
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
I agree. And speaking of the real world, and our big holiday extravaganza complete with costumes and reindeer, and everything, is, let’s talk about what’s going on out there, because it’s kind of a good news, bad news situation. Right? The good. The good news is that, despite inflation, which has been significant in the last year or two, including a raisin airline, ticket prices, and I know you and I always sort of debate these numbers, but I took a look, we have an average 20% increase in the cost of flights around Thanksgiving, versus last year. And last year, there was an increase also. So this is on top of last year’s increase, and a 40% increase in airfares around the December holidays. So despite inflation in all categories of our lives, and even talk of recession, some people talk about a coming recession. It does not appear to be deterring travelers from traveling, not this holiday season and not beyond the holiday season into next year. And certainly not this fall that the last couple of months. We’re seeing record numbers, the Thanksgiving weekend will be essentially the same as 2019. Pre pandemic. And in fact, there are some analysts who think is going to be even bigger. But we’re just seeing if you’ve been out there at all, like Mike and I have been out there traveling. You know, planes are full. Airports are full. People are traveling, we’re not seeing any indication of an effect from this coffee. Don’t you think?
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
Oh, yes, I mean, I would say that my belief would be that we would be well ahead of 2019. Pricing much higher than that than what it was 2019, the total revenue might be the same or similar, but the price per flown seat mile is going to be way up there. Again, I look to change my flight coming back from Phoenix back to Greenville. It was going to be $2,100 for coach ticket one way. I mean, that’s ridiculous, right? I mean, you know, during the summer, I flew to Scotland and back in business class for 2000. For $2,100. That’s just insane. But these prices, I mean, look, the planes are full. So the airlines have figured out that they can constrict capacity. And they can blame it on lack of staff, which I’m sure there’s some truth to that. But they can constrict capacity. And the demand is there, people are traveling, there’s no doubt about it. Same with hotels. A lot of the hotels are in London as an example. I was on a call this morning with another major OTA and they were telling us that there’s a lot of hotels in London that are just making floors dark, what they call it. And so they’re taking two floors out of their inventory, and they’re keeping their ADRs up on average daily rates up higher, and servicing less people and still making the same revenue
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
looks amazing. I’ve always said that. When the economy turns, people may give up their kitchen renovation, but they’re not going to give up their vacation or their holiday. Absolutely. And I think we see it over and over again. Now there may may be some change in spending, some people will decide to maybe spend less or reduce the quality of their accommodations or maybe even the length of their stay, you know, to sort of tighten their budget a little bit. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that. But we are not seeing any cancellations or postponements at all that we can tie to economic conditions.
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
But one of the things that was discussed discreetly amongst some of us at at the conference was the q1. occupancy rates are surprisingly very low. So there’s been some predictions that ADRs are going to drop significantly in q1 for q1 travel. And again, that’s the room rates, let’s call it that. And that there wasn’t really a real cause and effect. But some of the some of the larger distributors of hotel rooms had come to this conclusion because they see these forecasts Well, in advance that there’s going to be some softening, at least in the the hotel side, in q1. So hopefully, we’ll see some of these prices get back to normalized pricing at the beginning of the year.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
But Aska did a survey just to support what we’re saying here. They did a consumer survey just a couple of weeks ago. And they found that 77% of Americans would rather take a vacation than buy a computer, a television, a car, a gaming console, and so on. That, you know, sort of tells you right there, but I’ll go on to say that 75% intend to spend more in 2023 on travel than they did before the pandemic. And 40% of respondents said that nothing is going to stop them from taking a vacation.
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
I fit into all those categories. I mean, I agree with with all of that, that’s for sure.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
So that’s what’s happening. And you might consider that, you know, a little good news, bad news, right? People are out there traveling. And we all want to do that. But at the same time, it could be creating some friction for us. Right in, certainly in prices, occupancy. And the other thing we haven’t talked about so much is crowds, because earlier in the year, we had those Armageddon weekends, right in the spring, and in June. And, and people have asked me what’s happening now with that, and one thing I can tell you is that the number of complaints, and the number of cancellations and delays has dropped to about a third of what it was at that time. So the airline industry has recovered on the operational side, quite a bit, not fully, and there are still issues out there. But there are more people back in jobs, there are more planes back in the sky. And and there was a lot of regulatory pressure from the government. There were threats of fines, Pete Buttigieg, and Bernie Sanders and a couple of other activist senators jumped in there and threatened really draconian measures against the airlines, if they didn’t get their act together. The Department of Transportation put up a website that compared the customer service policies of major airlines. So really put them you know, shined a light on them and put them in competition with each other. And I think that has contributed, also. So I don’t expect this is my personal view. But based on all the data that I have, I don’t expect the kind of Armageddon, weekends and days that we had earlier in the year. But I would caution you that we do know what the peak days are around the holidays. And we’re already at Thanksgiving. So you’re probably already traveling. I will tell you, if you’re planning on returning on Sunday, that is the absolute highest traffic day, around Thanksgiving is the Sunday following Thanksgiving. So you know, get to the airport early, travel light and have the right expectation for that day. In December. I think we face a little bit of a special situation this year, because December 23 is typically the busiest day around the Christmas holidays. And this year that falls on a Friday. So I think that’s a double whammy for people who are traveling that Friday. Fridays typically tend to be one of the worst days for air traffic control, and for delays and cancellations. If you do have to travel on any of these days, I would suggest to you that you travel early in the week and early in the day. Those two strategies will help you avoid the peak times.
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
Yes, absolutely. The weekends are really hectic over the holidays because everybody’s trying to get those last couple of days with their friends and family and or class couple of days a holiday and so I’m early in the week is good. And especially if you’re coming from or going to a part of the world that’s going to have potential weather the Northeast as an example. You want to start start your travels as early as possible. So you can buffer in as much time as you can to get to get a later flight, should your flight be canceled, or especially flights that require connections, it just adds to the complexity of traveling. So that’s some good points there. James. Speaking of delays, I will tell you, one tip here for our listeners is if you have TSA PreCheck, right, which is part of the Global Entry package, it is really, really important to renew those, I’ve had it for years, and over the period of COVID, they kind of waive the fees or waive the application process, I can’t remember exactly. And so I became, I kind of took it out of my mind, mine ended up expiring, even after they extended it a year, two years expired on my birthday, which was in October, and I did not either get the email or I didn’t pay attention to the email, whatever the notification, and I went back to renew it. And there are no renewable appointments for the next 12 months. So that means I’ve got to get in line with the commenters. And, you know, take my socks off, take my shoes off, walk through the, you know, the screening area with just your socks, or take your electronics out, all that kind of stuff, and chew up a lot of time. So just one tip for you guys, when your renewal comes up. Or if you don’t want no one your renewal is lagom to the the Customs and Border Protection, trusted traveler program site, find out when it is because you do not want to miss this. It’s a very small investment for anyone that travels. And it saves a lot of time, a lot of frustration. And you don’t have to walk around where everybody’s gross feet have been walking coming 10s of 1000s of people’s feet, germs, you’ve just come in contact with yourself a favor.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
Well, one of the reasons that we’re getting so much traffic and so much demand in travel is that the US dollar is continuing to stay, you know, historically record strong against the euro everywhere in Europe, and the pound in the UK. So we saw during the pandemic, those European capitals that are typically at the top of the list of destinations, like London and Paris and Rome. They disappeared during the pandemic, right, nobody could go and then no one wanted to go to these big cities. During that time. We saw them come roaring back this year, back on the top of the list. And then starting in the summer and into the early fall. The dollar came to parity with the euro and the pound like one for one. And that hasn’t happened in over 20 years.
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
But despite that didn’t come to parity with the pound it did with the euro and actually yeah, exceeded but the the pounds kind of had. Its look is very advantageous for us but it’s about today is about a pound 20 Excuse me $1.20 per pound. So think of it about 20% more, but in days have gone by I have been there when it’s $1.85 per pound, which is you know, that’s us,
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
or dollar 50 was common for a long time. Yeah. So you know, it’s still like 20 or 30% discount? Oh, definitely. Yeah. When you’re spending dollars and then, you know, same, even more so with the euro. I mean, one thing people don’t understand, though, is that a lot of travel experiences are priced in dollars to begin with. So you’re really not getting the benefit of that. Right now. Those prices were determined 18 months ago. Tourists specially packaged holidays and tours. But where you really feel it where You feel like a rich man is when you are shopping in those destinations, or you’re going out to dinner. For me, that’s where the difference is really being made. And I, it’s a big difference. I feel maybe it’s, you know, a little bit of a syndrome, a psychological syndrome, because I feel like the exchange rate is so much in my favor. I’m spending more.
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
I didn’t know that’s possible. Yeah, but the same same as when I was in Scotland this summer, and then also in Ireland. Yeah, it just felt like you were you had a discount card with you, right? I mean, you’ve pledged your credit card, are they charging you to look at it and it pops up on your phone? What they charged you in dollars, you’re like, Wow, this is great. And the other thing to consider, too, is there’s typically, you know, no tipping is expected now. Certainly not at the degree it is in the US. So, you know, on $100 tab, you might tip someone $10 in Europe, you know, which would be acceptable? Probably even more than acceptable. Whereas here, you know, they’ll start tapping their their little hand on the the tip jar if you don’t give them 20
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
Was something wrong?
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
Yeah, exactly.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
Yeah, we also have a cruise, which has come barreling back into the marketplace. For the first time, I can say that we are 100% recovered on our cruise market, from 2019. And, you know, going to surpass it in 2023. And all those people flooding back into the marketplace when they were gone. Cruises where, you know, couldn’t cruise for a long time, earlier this year, that is making a big difference to all those same people have to fly and stay at hotels, usually, when they cruise also so and, you know, I’ve been asked why crews is so resilient after being shut down for two what other industry gets shut down for two whole years, and then recovers like this? And I think it’s because of the unbeatable value proposition of a cruise. You know, it’s a great travel experience. But there are other great travel experiences too. What is it about cruise? It’s that you get your accommodations, your you know, your cabin, your food, your entertainment, your activities, your transportation, everything, all rolled up into a daily spend a per diem that, you know, is what some people spend on one dinner going out to dinner. And so the value of a cruise is incredible. And we know from the return rate, that the satisfaction people feel with a cruise holiday is incredibly high. So those coupled together.
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
Yeah. And I think I would say that there is an emotional connection with people that enjoy cruising that’s far greater than any other type of travel experience. That’s generalized like that, right. So I mean, you might find a couple of resorts, like the Sandals Resorts has the same kind of, you know, connections, they do a really good job supporting a loyalty program making you feel welcome back, the cruise lines do as well. But there’s just something a little bit unique about cruise people. And it’s also interesting, for people who’ve never been on a cruise once had been on a cruise, how many of those people convert to what I call a cruise person. And a cruise person is typically if they’re going to take, you know, their next five vacations, four of them are going to be cruises. And you don’t find people that are going to, you know, resorts that are going to go to, you know, five states at a Sheraton back or four out of five states are going to be at the Sheraton or something like that. There’s just some, there seems to be some emotional connection. And I get it, I really enjoy cruises. And not to mention James is you firsthand know, all the great new product that’s being put out in the marketplace. I mean, there’s these these chips, they did not stop building these chips, which to me, was really gutsy during this time, and
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
especially when you consider that each ship costs about a billion and a half dollars.
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
And they and these were a company These are companies that had empty vessels all over the world, and they continued to put the capital in build these new magnificent ocean liners that were at an incredible heightened expense as to what the existing inventory was. So, you know, kudos to the cruise lines for having the foresight that this we’re going to get through this. And and thank you for to them for continuing to make the investment because now we’ve got lots more available spaces to sell on these beautiful, you know, new idyllic type floating resorts. So
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
nice to have you, Mike must be the COVID talk.
Mike Putman, Custom Travel Solutions
Yeah, Charlie, Charlie funk Cat A, Charlie had a word with me, gave me a little bit of coaching about the podcast.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
There, maybe it’s that the experience is so immersive, you know, so sort of all encompassing all around you. So immersive. And that makes it maybe a little unique amongst many other travel experiences, the hardware, the new ships, incredible, incredible investment. I agree with you. It’s real faith in the marketplace. But you know, 75%, of American travelers have never been on a cruise that steals an enormous number. So we got to get you guys all out on a cruise. And maybe to do that, Mike, it’s time to bring on our deal guru, our expert. And and I want to point out something very interesting. That is that we, as we record this, we’re approaching Black Friday, everyone knows that’s the biggest retail day of the year. And I’m not sure that everyone knows that that extends to the travel industry as well. It’s not just stores, or Cyber Monday online. But it’s also huge travel sales, which in fact, began early this year. And so to talk a little more about that, let’s bring on our favorite guest and deal guru, Jessica deverson. Well, thank
Jessica Deverson
you, and hello, and happy Thanksgiving in a couple days. Hope you’re all having a great week so far. And speaking of Black Friday deals, we have a ton. There are a ton available in the travel industry right now. So whether you’ve had your eye on a very specific cruise, or you’re just thinking about touring and Australia next year, or perhaps you want to plan a family vacation for 2024. Or maybe you get sick of family over the Thanksgiving holiday and then want to plan a secret getaway for yourself over the New Year’s, New Year’s Eve kind of holiday. There’s literally something for everyone there is a deal on all things travel right now. So it is a phenomenal time to book. So usually I go kind of in depth and explain brands, kind of elaborate on brands, and then bring you the deal. But this time, there’s so many deals. So I just wanted to give you a handful of offers. So you can kind of you know, get an idea of what, what’s out there in the marketplace right now. So starting off with Celebrity Cruises, it’s a fan favorite, a premium cruise line, so they have a black, black friday scuze me deal right now of up to 75% off the second guest and then you’ll also save up to $800 per state room. And then you’ll also get up to $800 onboard credit per state room. So this is one of their biggest Black Friday sales. So it definitely if you have a bucket list or you’ve been wanting to sail on Celebrity, now is a great time. So take advantage of this offer very soon. Next up we have Holland America Line, another premium of cruise line, and their Black Friday sale is up to 40% off including crew appreciation. And if you don’t know what the crew appreciation is basically that’s pre paid gratuities. So that’s usually a huge chunk of what you spend on a cruise. So it’s a really great value rich offer there. So you save now you Oh yeah.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
Oh, no, but I didn’t think I was bumping the microphone. But while you’re paused for me, those are two of my favorite cruise lines. Definitely, you know, premium as you said, which means guys upscale, really stylish, excellent quality, great service. These are not your average cruise lines. Celebrity the best design out there in the cruise industry, in my opinion, sort of have this level of discounting going on even for a brief moment, for Black Friday sale is amazing. The sales have started a little earlier this year than usual, I think just
Jessica Deverson
now they definitely have and with every single trial supplier that you could probably think of participating in Black Friday sales, slash Cyber Monday sales. You know, like, there’s just a really great time to book travel. And some of these deals are as far out as 2025 travel. So like I said, you know, put something on the books for every year from now until 2025. And you’ll have plenty of time to pay it off or to change it or to cancel if you have to, if something comes up, but it’s really great way to take advantage of these offers.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
I think that’s also something different this year, a lot of times, the Black Friday travel sales are for pretty close in travel, you know, sort of last minute stuff. And here you’ve got offers that go through 2025. And I think most people would expect that. And then you mentioned paying for it, which I think is another cool thing. Because I we at Intel travel we offer monthly payment for travel. So for someone who’s planning like a big, big vacation, a big vacation is often you know, one of your biggest expenditures of the year too. There are now plans out there financing available for you, where you can just pay monthly for a trip.
Jessica Deverson
Yeah, and those are, those are a really great way to you know, buy up so maybe you typically book an ocean view and this time you’re looking for a balcony, that balcony or that sweet cabin, that’s a good way to be able to, to afford that. So you’re making smaller payments all along the way versus big chunks of payment, you know that final payment and things like that. So, really great way to book longer trips, bigger trips, more luxurious trips, or, you know, step up a level in your category or upstate room or you know, Tor also in the in the cruise realm, we have NCL Norwegian Cruise Line, and Norwegian Cruise Line is well known for their freestyle cruising sort of get on board do your own thing. So they also have a Black Friday deal, then they’re calling it their greatest deal ever. It’s really rich. So second guest will sail free. And then you’ll also get up to free airfare depending on the cruise you book, free, unlimited open bar free specialty dining, free excursions, free Wi Fi, and free, kids travel free or free third, and fourth guests. So with all that free stuff, I’m not really sure what else there is to pay for except for the cruise itself. And you know, so it’s a really great offer.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
And then Gifts, gifts in the gift shop are not free.
Jessica Deverson
You wouldn’t know. And then, you know, to balance out the three cruises I wanted to give you three land Tours and Guided the guided to land Tours and Guided trips. And so first up, we have Trafalgar and they’re featuring 303, land trips, and 72 countries across seven continents. So really great travel company, doesn’t matter where you want to go. Whatever you’re looking to book, wherever you’re looking to travel, you’ll save up to 50 You’ll save 15% on worldwide trips right now. And so these trips include anything like I said, all seven continents, everything from Italy, to the highlights of Spain and Portugal to Europe, national parks and US wonders of ancient Egypt splendors of Japan, I mean name, the trip name a place and they have a trip in a guided tour to that place. And you’ll be saving 15% On that trip. And then also there’s insight vacations, that’s a more upscale premium luxury brand of guided travel and guided tours. And they also have saving as a 15% on premium tour. So travel is more than just visiting destinations. You know, they want to help you make connections. They plan out how you spend every moment and want to make every moment very special. And so like I said, anywhere in the world, all seven continents. You’re going to save 15% on these tours through Black Friday.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
Amazing. Yes, you said 303 tours yet from now. They have
Jessica Deverson
303 trips to over 70 countries.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
So I’m going to make this is just off the top of my head you know sort of off the cuff. We haven’t planned this but I’m going to make a special announcement a special offer. Anyone who takes all 303 trips will get a free Turkey from Mike and I Jessica, just just want to add that,
Jessica Deverson
what is the deadline, because I mean, I’ll tell
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
you, I’m a little afraid of you, you will
Jessica Deverson
just give me the turkey in advance so. And then last but not least, is GE adventures, one of the best well known, small group travel companies, again, all trips all over the world, anywhere you can think of that you want to go. For the rest of November, you can save up to 30% off on a massive number of their best selling adventures across the world. And that includes Antarctica expeditions, which are really big right now. And then, if you’re looking to travel a little later, you’re going to save up to 10% on select trips, through the through 2023. So again, all different travel styles, whether you’re looking for active adventures, or Zen sort of wellness trips, or like family, you know, booked your bubble kind of trips, whatever your adventure you’re looking for, you can you can look at G adventures as a really great company. It’s really great savings through Black Friday, and Cyber Monday as well. So, and with that, like I said, there’s a six this is six travel brands that I’m outlining here. But you know, we have brands like with theme parks with Universal Studios, some specializing in Irish trips, and Irish tours in Ireland and Carnival cruises, Royal Caribbean. You know, prints are like premium and luxury trips are cruises with, you know, Princess and, and Oceania and Viking and then you’re looking at river cruises with a waterways and a Viking again, but scenic waterways, I mean, any cruise line, many of the land tours is just a really great time to look into travel and start planning and really take advantage of these offers, though.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
That is excellent. Jessica, thank you so much. And you’ve given us a lot to think about for Black Friday. And funny this is actually true. But I’m going to be on Fox News tomorrow, talking about holiday travel. And I was on Bloomberg News on Friday. And coming up is cheddar news. So everyone wants to talk about holiday travel in the media right now. But one of the questions to me was do traditional retailers, you know, the stores, the big stores have to worry this year, because travel prices are inflated air fares are inflated. And yet all the statistics are people still intend to travel and in fact and travel more than they did prior to the pandemic. So, you know, do the traditional retailers have to worry that that’s going to take something out of their pocket this year? I think that’s a very interesting question.
Jessica Deverson
It is an interesting question. And I think people that travel bug is still there that quote unquote, revenge travel is still happening. It’s not letting up. I think people are spending, you know, they realize coming out of the pandemic, realizing that travel makes them happier, it makes them feel better, it brings them closer to their family and provides experiences that you’re just not going to get, you know, just by buying things. And so I think travel is real is getting is staying strong and getting stronger. But I don’t think it doesn’t seem to be taking away from from retail because it’s two different products, two different experiences. And people are willing to spend the money were on things that matter most to them, whether it is items or experiences.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel
I agree. And in fact, we quoted some statistics earlier in the podcast from Asda about how many Americans will spend travel, spend money on travel over purchasing any of those other things, or over renovating their kitchen this year. You know, they just, they will not give up their trips. And of course, we’d like to hear that. Thank you. So we’re going to conclude this holiday extravaganza, we called it complete with costumes you have your costume on, don’t you just go and then we’re going to end it and just because we’re going to do a little dance sorry, we didn’t rehearse this part, but she can do a little dance. And then I want you all I wish you all from Mike, Jessica and myself. We wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving. If you’re here in the US celebrating and count your blessings. Please and include amongst them, the ability to travel, the freedom to travel, this beautiful world that we can travel in. Please protect it. Travel responsibly and thoughtfully, and travel in a way that you get a real, authentic experience of this beautiful world. Have a happy Thanksgiving. Hope you think about all that. We’ll be thinking about you. We’re thankful for you, our listeners here at no tourists allowed. Thank you everybody.
