In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of air travel in the post-pandemic world, exposing recent changes in the industry and airlines’ strategic shifts. Join us as we share our treasure trove of travel essentials, from universal power adapters to a creative use of old credit cards, to keep you organized on the go. Plus, discover how to jet-set in style with insider tips on upgrading, saving, and maneuvering through airports with ease. But that’s not all – get ready to explore irresistible cruise deals and vacation packages to satisfy your wanderlust, whether you’re dreaming of the Caribbean or the South Pacific. Stay tuned for exclusive insights and an appearance by deals guru Jessica Deverson. Your next adventure starts here!
Transcript
Mike Putman: Hello, I’m Mike Putman.
James Ferrara: I am James Ferrara. Welcome to No Tourists Allowed, and I’m coming to you from the most appropriate places to do this podcast. Well, maybe the most appropriate would be a cushy five star hotel, Mike, where I’d be like lounging by the pool. It’s not quite that. I’m in the airport, happen to be in Fort Lauderdale airport where it’s, you know, 150 degrees outside and 150% humidity.
But, uh, I’m in a nice air conditioned airport. It was a, you know, sort of, we talk about airport experience a lot. smooth, um, entry and, uh, walk through the airport. So plenty of time to join you. That’s not. Always the way it goes, but I had my clear membership and it’s, you know, afternoon, so I guess not a particularly busy time, afternoon weekday in August.
I suppose if this were a Saturday or Sunday might be a little different.
Mike Putman: Yeah, but you know, most airports, uh, with business travelers Tuesday and Wednesday were over time, the most busy days of the week. but as, as you know, as we’ve gone through the pandemic, people have, the business travelers are tending to stay at home more, not, or. Stated a different way not to have been, not to travel as much as they have been.
And um, I’ve noticed where even a lot of airlines have canceled some Tuesday, Wednesday flights, which were really their peak operating days. So, um, interesting to hear. The airport is not very crowded.
James Ferrara: No, but the planes are, aren’t they? Every plane I’ve been on lately, every seat is taken, people on standby filling those last couple of empty middle seats and every plane goes out full. So it’s a good time to be in airlines apparently.
Mike Putman: Yeah. And, uh, you know, the, the, f a A requires the airlines who secure certain spots to. Continually to operate in those spots, even if they don’t have any passengers or they lose those slots. And um, recently there’s been a petition by some of the major airlines, especially in the New York area.
To cut back on some of the flights. They’re saying systems are overloaded. There’s weather issues during the summer, which are, those are true facts. But I think they’re pulling back some of those flights into the northeast, specifically New York area in order to create what you, you have the same demand, but you’ve got less supply that allows, so that allows them to charge more per seat mile.
James Ferrara: There’ve been some interesting behind the scene. This is real insider travel industry stuff, but in interesting changes as a result of the pandemic and through the pandemic, the use of larger planes, right? So they’ve swapped out some of the smaller regional network of smaller jets and replace them with larger planes.
The bad news there is. If you live by a regional airport and no offense, but what we call a secondary or tertiary airport, you’ve probably seen a reduction in the number of flights and the flight itineraries out of your airport. As a result, the airlines kind of pulled it in to the major airports and larger planes, and it’s a yield management, you know, revenue move for them.
It’s also a staffing issue, right? So, it, it’ll be interesting to see if this stays.
Mike Putman: Yeah and also in these secondary markets, there’s not as much competition for slots. So if they happen to have to give up a slot, most likely they’re gonna be able to get it back in a few months. Should demand I. Increase and they need to, uh, put more large planes in.
James Ferrara: One tip we always talk about here is, you know, when you’re looking at airfares, You need to try to fly out of an airport that has a good competitive market. Right? And the problem with some secondary and tertiary airports is you don’t have that. You have one or two airlines that dominate the airport, and therefore the fares are not as low as they might be leaving from a. primary airport, a big city airport. Maybe that’s a couple hours away for you, but it still might be worth looking into. Even in New York, I have three or four airports in the New York metropolitan area that I can choose from, and there are differences in fares depending upon which airport I depart from because of a competitive landscape at that particular airport.
Mike Putman: Yeah, and it’s not just the, but it’s not just the small airports. It’s where the hubs are. So if you, Charlotte is an example, which is one of the larger airports in the country in terms of passenger passengers flown one of the most expensive airports in the country as well. American used to have about 92% of all seats out of there.
I think that’s changed a little bit. That’s still high. Atlanta for Delta, um, and American and Dallas. So it’s, it’s this hub and spoke things that where the airlines have been able to secure a lot of landing slots and therefore they’re able to keep the competition out and um, you know, in some cases they’re charging just slightly.
Below what it costs to charter a jet. You know, for some last minute fairs, I’ve seen some $3,000 one-way domestic coach fairs.
James Ferrara: I have too. It’s amazing. But you know, it’s supply men. So, you know, bringing this back around to our audience guys we try to bring you insider’s knowledge in the travel industry to help you travel better and traveling better might mean paying less, of course. Like you’d all agree that that’s a good goal, but also, The sort of tips and tricks and hacks and and knowledge that will help you travel easier, you know, smooth your way through the airport, for example, or the right things to do when you arrive in a city or arrive at a hotel.
And, as much, you know, special knowledge and intel that we can give you to help you. Uh, really enjoy your trip and have a really memorable experience. Memorable for all the right reasons.
Mike Putman: That’s right. That’s right. And you spoke a little bit earlier about, uh, a, a way to get through the airport quickly and, and efficiently. And although you and I do have our differences on when to get to the airport, I. I think neither of us have, we don’t have a difference of opinion on how to get through as quickly as possible.
But, uh, James, tell our listeners how you approach that. Uh, how do you get through the airport with the least amount of friction?
James Ferrara: First of all, contrary to what Mike might tell you, I don’t arrive at the airport four hours early, but two hours before my, my is usually my standard. And the, my first strategy is to have. One of these premier Access type programs are trusted traveler programs. In my case, it’s clear and t s a pre-check.
So, even on some of these really tough weekends, we’ve had the travel with backup flights and crowded airports and long lines. It has still worked for me. Uh, I go through clear. They scan my biometrics, my eyes and walk me by the hand to the t s A agent. So right to the front of the line, bypassing everyone.
Probably not happy people who see that, but walk right to the front. And then get on a a t s a pre-check cleared security line, and I’m right through. I mean, it literally takes me three minutes to like get through the whole process. And I see other people waiting on long, long lines. I do wanna remark that once or twice it’s backfired on me where there’s no line at all in the regular, security line.
And for some reason there’s a backup. Clear. There was actually a line at Clear in a weekend in July, July, around the July 4th weekend. I never saw a line at Clear before. There was, I mean, it wasn’t long. It took me five or 10 minutes to get through it, but, I do think Mike, and maybe we should bring some of these folks on, I know some people at, at Clear, but, uh, I do think this product has to evolve, right?
Because the more people sign up for it, Then it just becomes kind of a workaround and there will be lines and there will be, you know, they will have trouble managing the number of people. So I’ve seen signs for a new product called Clear Plus, but I don’t, I asked the guy today and he didn’t really know what was gonna be in it.
I think they’re gonna do an upgrade. You know, where it gets you even better.
Mike Putman: That would be a shame if they did. But yeah, I use clear uh, and global entry. And so if you have global entry, that gets you t s A certified. So you don’t have to have both, both T s A and global entry. And you don’t have to have clear either. But, uh, I do use clear because sometimes the global entry or the T s A line which you get with global entry, sometimes that can be, um, you know, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and so.
James Ferrara: That was the first strategy, right? It was T s A. Now that gets a little bit of a line, so then Clear came like there’s a progression here. Global entry is really key for traveling internationally. When you’re coming back into the United States, it’s global entry that gets you to bypass the backup at border control.
Mike Putman: Absolutely. Yep. And it’s, yeah, literally it may be three minutes by the time you get to the, um, immigration, uh, area and until you’re through. So definitely get global entry and, uh, if you travel a lot, a lot like James and I do, it’s worth the money to get clear. And I think actually I get clear free from one of my premium credit cards.
James Ferrara: Mike, I used to have a lot of other tips about how to approach gate agents and all these other things you can do at the airport to. Yeah, secure an upgrade and all the, but everything has moved to the technology now. Ne I mean, still be nice case agent, but really they don’t do anything anymore. The it’s about the apps, so it’s really important.
Maybe some of our listeners are not frequent travelers yet, or they don’t, and maybe they’re not great with technology. But it’s really important that whenever airline you fly, You download that app, everything is happening on the app. I’m watching right now the upgrade list on my flight. You know, and I know I’m number three on the upgrade list and I know there are still five first class seats.
That have not been checked in. So it’s possible. And we, I’m watching that there’s a standby list on the app. If you’re flying standby, you can see exactly where you stand. There’s all kinds of updates on the flight and something, I don’t know if you do this, Mike, but I look at in, in the United app, I can look at where my flight is coming from and it tells me the status.
My plane on its prior flight coming, so I know is the plane here, is the plane in transit? I know if that plane is running an hour or two behind, and then that’s going to eventually affect my flight, but they haven’t sent a status update yet. So it’s a little bit of a a, a way to spy on the system a little bit.
Do you do that?
Mike Putman: Yeah, absolutely. And also there’s some other things in the apps where you can change your seat assignments. You know, even up to the time of of check-in at the gate. I’ve, I’ve done that where if I had an aisle seat and somebody, and I’ve got two seats taken beside me, then I might look at the app at the last minute and, um, change to another aisle seat where there’s no, where the seats are empty.
James Ferrara: Except these days they’re filling everybody’s seat. I used to move my seat around trying to follow the empty middle seat, Get a little extra room, but I’ve noticed this past year, they just fill every one of those seats with standby people. so I gotta tell you a quick story.
On the flight down here, a couple of Js o. I had one of those, I, I witnessed one of those seating nightmares that I ate to see with families, and I’ve talked about that here before. And you see family families get on a plane and they’re separated from each other. The children sitting here, the parents sitting there, I, and I always say to myself, you know, who did that to them?
That’s a terrible way to have to have them travel. Why didn’t somebody seat them? Together. Why didn’t they know about it? And there’s still these people that just don’t know how to manage their seats or even to look at their boarding passes or look at the app and figure out before they get on the plane that they’re not seated together.
It’s amazing that they get through so many steps without knowing that. But so in this particular case, A man came on with his daughter. There was some kind of vul up in the He didn’t have, he didn’t check in properly or something. And I’m sorry, not daughter, son, like a six year old boy. And the net result is they’re sending the six year old boy in the middle seat next to me and they’re sending the father to the back of the plane. And the kid was upset, you know, crying a little bit. Father was trying to calm him down. I always get in this position, Mike, I’m always like the babysitter on the plane. So I was putting his seatbelt on. I turned cartoons on the TV for him. I’m not even sure he was allowed to watch cartoons, but I figured I’m gonna turn the cartoons on.
And the line attendant was harried because there’s a window where the plane can take off and we were running a little late with the boarding. And, and she needed to get everyone seated and get the plane going. And so she kind of forced this family to separate and just said, you know, you’ve got to sit now and after we’re in the air, we’ll figure it out, you know?
And eventually they were able to move his mother to the window seat because that gentleman was willing to move, you know, to make it happen.
Mike Putman: But are you implying that you weren’t willing to move?
James Ferrara: Well, nobody asked me to move. Actually. I, I suppose I would’ve, I had been asked, but I was paying extra for that aisle seat in the premium category, you know, that’s, and I would’ve had to move.
The family seat was like exit, uh, row 26 or something. It’s not a good, it’s not a good situation.
Mike Putman: it is a byproduct of them, uh, of the airlines. Charging for seats. And there are some families, you know, th this family probably didn’t wanna pay for their seat, so they bought an airline ticket, which means they’re guaranteed a seat. However, they’re not guaranteed a seat together, which is unfortunate because they’re gonna, the airline is gonna place them.
You know, and I’m sure they probably tried, but if you’ve got five people on a plane, you’re probably not gonna have five seats together. Right. Especially at the last minute. So, um, yeah, that’s a real conundrum for the airlines. And, and for, well, for the families specifically.
James Ferrara: There is a court case right now. I just read about it waiting in the airport here. American Airlines is claiming that on their contract of service they are only required to transport you from one place to another. They are not required to provide a seat because they’re involved in a lawsuit with someone.
Who says their child was not allowed to sit in the seat by themselves, an American would not refund the money for the seat. And this is a complicated lawsuit, but I think it’s very interesting that I’ve seen the quotes, they’ve taken the position that they’re not required to provide a seat to passengers only to transfer passengers from one place to another.
Mike Putman: Oh, yes. Many stories could spin off from that. let’s talk about some other things that our listeners might find useful. Um, and one of which for those who travel a lot is what do you carry on your, on your carry on? I myself keep a, a backpack, packed at all times. Um, because, uh, there can be days where I find out today I need to leave to go somewhere tomorrow.
James Ferrara: It doesn’t have your clothes in it though, right?
Mike Putman: No, no, no, no. These are just travel essentials. I mean, I could always buy clothes.
James Ferrara: Things you need with you.
Mike Putman: Yeah. I could always buy clothes if needed, but I thought it might be useful to, uh, our listeners just to give them. A little bit of an idea on what we carry on in our what I just call my backpack, which stays, it’s my travel backpack.
And, um, you know, one of things that I keep with me is a universal power adapter. So, um, you know, these, there’s lots of brands. You can buy ’em on Amazon, but it’s, uh, an adapter that will work in every country. So I know if I need to go somewhere quick, I’ve got that. And, um, I have other ones that I will.
Take with me if I have time to do a thorough packing. But that one’s always with me. Also keep a set of plugs for all my electronics. I say all just my laptop and my mobile phone so I can charge those as needed.
James Ferrara: You keep charging cords too, right?
Mike Putman: Yeah, that’s what, I’m sorry, that’s what I meant. Yeah. Charging
James Ferrara: Yeah. And, and I have same thing. iPhone laptop, which thanks to Apple are two different connections. So they have two different cords and AirPods and earphones and stuff. But what’s interesting about that is how do you manage them, like all those wires and cables without getting into a big knot.
I. I, it’s very interesting what people have developed. What do you do?
Mike Putman: So, um, just from, you know, being lucky enough to travel business class quite frequently. You, in business class, they always give you a nice little pouch with, you know, chapstick and eye mask and things like that. But those, those turn into really good. Pouches to put your things in. So I have I have some wraps and I wrap up my cords that they, so they say stay somewhat organized and stick ’em in one of the pouches, which fits nicely in my, in my laptop backpack.
I.
James Ferrara: I do something a little weird. I can’t remember if I’ve ever told you this, and I don’t remember where I got this from, but I’ve done it for years and years. I do the same thing. I have a little pouch. It came from like international first bus somewhere, and in it I keep all these cables and wires and earphone sets with wires and.
All that, but I have taken old credit cards and cut them into like a butterfly shape or the shape of a bow tie, and then wrapped the cords around them and then drop them in the case. And that keeps everything from getting tangled.
Mike Putman: Ah, very good tip. Did not know that. Very good. Um, I’ll also keep medications again. So, you know, there’s some prescription medications I take and I keep, uh, a small amount of those with me. I keep a couple of credit cards with no balance and no international fees. So I know, you know, if, and I’ve done this before, I’ve left my wallet at home on occasion.
Uh, so I know I’ve got a, I’ve got a sell proof way of paying for things.
James Ferrara: and the conversion rate thing, uh, you know, make sure you do have a credit. You’re gonna travel internationally, everyone. Make sure you do have a credit card that does not add fees when you use it internationally. Some do, some don’t. So make sure you’ve set aside at least one that you can use internationally without racking up lots of fees.
I.
Mike Putman: Absolutely. And then also keep my Wise card and, uh, I think I’ve shared on a pod before about what The Wise Card does, but it’s a, it’s a basically a debit card. Richard Branson owns this company or is an investor in this company, and basically you, you, you load money to it and then whatever country you’re in, You can swap money into that currency on the fly through an app, and then you can use that card and it will actually charge in that currency.
So there’s no conversion fees. It’ll also allow you to get currency out of an a t m in that currency, and again, pay no surcharge, pay no conversion fees. It’s a great tool. And so always keep that with me. Then I also have a poly envelope kind of a plastic but very well made envelope that I keep my passport and other travel things in, like upgrade certificates and um, fast pass certificates for security lines and foreign countries.
Um, and then one other thing I do is I keep a, another one of those poly envelopes with cash. And, uh, when I travel and, and, and I usually don’t convert cash, but occasionally you need some pocket cash for cabs or in some countries they don’t take credit cards and, and cabs and maybe, markets, local markets, which of course we suggest you, you use and go to.
And in those instances, you do need some cash. So when I pull cash out, I never convert it back into US dollars. Um, now that might not work for you if you don’t plan on traveling a lot but I just keep it, um, when I get home, I’ll staple all that cash together, which I know you’re not supposed to do, but I do.
And I put a note on it saying, you know what currency this is. So I’ve got a sampling of cash to almost every destination that I go to.
James Ferrara: So I need pounds, pesos, and euros. You know, that’s the most common, those are the most common destinations for me that use pounds, pesos, and euros. And I keep envelopes. Cash in there. But a tip here for our travelers is only convert cash at a bank. Do not convert cash at these change bureaus, cambios, or any of these places in the airport.
If you do, it’s going to cost you. Their rates are not competitive. Their fees are very high. The, the best rate, the rate closest to the actual con conversion rate the actual currency rate are, is to go to a bank. On a bank, could be just an a t m in, in wherever you are in the destination. Usually they accept international cards or actually walk into a bank and change your money.
That, that’s the best way to do it. And if you change back, just realize you paid a fee. To change in the first place, you’re going to pay another fee to change back, and you could be losing 20, 25% of the value of your cash by doing it.
Mike Putman: Yeah. One other tip too is if you’re at a foreign a t m. many of them will say, do you want this in? Let’s say you’re in Europe. Do you want to, do you want the exchange rate to be in dollars or in the whatever local currency you’re in? Don’t do dollars, because if you do, you’re gonna ex, you’re gonna pay an a higher exchange rate.
James Ferrara: That’s allowing the store to set the exchange rate for you or wherever you are, the restaurant or whatever. So always choose the local currency.
Mike Putman: Yep. Um, so that’s a great tip. And just a couple other things I’d take with me is I’ve got a Kindle. I keep packed. So I’ve got several books and for some reason I read several books at a time rather than completing one and going to the next. Um, it’s always great to have and always carry a thin notebook and a pen for notes.
’cause sometimes on a plane I’ll get inspired or come up with some crazy idea or. Remember something I need to do and there’s nothing beats, um, you know, pen and paper when you’re, when you’re being creative.
James Ferrara: I use my phone for that Now. I don’t, I don’t take and notes anymore, but I, I agree with you. You need to be able to note something somewhere. For books, I have to have real old fashioned books that I can touch. So even though I travel with an iPad, the iPad is more for work. The books are heavy. I I, I have a book right now in my backpack, and by the way, these are really back.
Mike works with a backpack. So do i I have a one shoulder backpack with one strap, But I have an 800 and something page book in it that weighs a ton. I don’t know what I was thinking, but that’s what I’m reading at the moment.
Mike Putman: For that very reason, I don’t take books. I, I would prefer reading a book, a a true book.
James Ferrara: I wanna go back and underline something you said though about documents. My passport resides in my backpack. Like I don’t keep it anywhere else. It’s always there, and that’s very comforting for me because if I lose my wallet, I lose my driver’s license. I may be traveling domestically, but I know that OSS sport is in my backpack. I carry an eyeglass repair kit, one of those little tubes with a tiny little screwdriver and some screws in it because I need glasses for like two or three different things and I’m always breaking them.
So I have that. I have extra glasses. I think I have three or four pairs. Reading gra glasses with me, a pair of distance glasses and a pair of sunglasses. I always have sunglasses with me because hopefully I’m gonna wind up in a sunny place. I have my house keys with me, which seems like a duh, you know, everyone’s gonna have their house key, but mine has a key chain on it that is also a can opener.
And so I can’t open a bottle opener. And believe it or not, you know, that comes in very handy. I’ve been, I don’t know why this is, but I’ve been to so many hotels that have a mini bar and offer all kinds of hospitality in the room, and then there’s no can’t opener and I’m banging, you know, bottles on the edge of the window sill to try to get the cap off.
So I had that with me. I keep a shoehorn also because I’m always dressed for work. Mike has a more casual, uh, uniform, but I’m always dressed for work and have dress shoes and loafers stuff with me, and some stuff is tight. Sometimes it’s because where I am, it’s high altitude or it’s humidity or whatever.
I need that darn shoehorn. And I, in the old days, you could depend on a good hotel to have a nice shoehorn in the room Now, It’s a rarity, so I keep it with me. I keep a wine key with me, and that’s a fancy way of saying it. Cork screen, essentially. And I don’t know, I’ve always had it with me. It comes in anti tea to open a bottle of wine now, and then a stain stick.
You didn’t mention that. But again, because I’m, I’m mostly a business traveler I’m always worried about getting something on my tie or my shirt. I keep a little, I don’t know if we can use a brand name. They’re not paying us, but I keep a little tide stick which has like some bleach I guess in it.
And, uh, and that comes in handy for me, a hairbrush. ’cause I have a lot of hair and, uh, I keep some promotional material for my company because you never know when you’re gonna get into conversation with somebody. Or I’m at an event and I want to impress somebody. So I keep a couple of brochures or. Or journals from our, our recent event or something like that.
I always have something I can show in my backpack and that’s kind of, very commercial of me to these little plugs. But hey, busy.
Mike Putman: Yeah, that’s right. It is, it is. And I do, I keep a wine key with meat too, but I keep that in my suitcase. ’cause I, I don’t know. How do you get that through? Um, T s a ’cause it has a wine key, typically would’ve a knife on it.
James Ferrara: Mine is is very small. I haven’t had a problem with it, but you have to read the rules very carefully. You certainly can’t bring one that has a knife or that has something, I think it’s four inches or so. Mine’s a little one really meant for travel, and no one’s ever questioned me on it, but they miss a, I shouldn’t say this, but they miss a lot of things in my bag.
Sometimes I leave. Something liquid in there. Sometimes I leave a tool in there and boy I gotta tell you, and I’ve seen them, uh, you’ve seen these tests they do with T s A, right? Like they miss an extraordinary amount stuff,
Mike Putman: Well, T S A, if you’re listening, this is James Ferrara, so put him on your red watch
James Ferrara: social security number, um, whatever. They do a great job, let me say that. Do a great job. And if you wanna follow a really funny account. Look at the TSA Facebook account where they post all the stuff that people try to get through security. And it isn’t my little wine key. It’s like, you know, a Japanese samurai sword in somebody’s carry on. So, Mike, listen, I’m getting close to my boarding, so, I was here with all you guys. For this part, uh, to discuss a little bit of, a little, few tips and some news in the industry. But I know Mike has our deals guru, Jessica Deverson coming on and, uh, now they’re gonna have a little conversation with you and I’m gonna see you next month.
Mike Putman: Travel safe, James. And, uh, thanks for, for being on.
James Ferrara: Thank you. Thanks guys.
Mike Putman: Well, very happy to have our deals guru, Jessica Deverson back with us this week. Hello, Jessica.
Jessica Deverson: Hello, Mike. How are you today?
Mike Putman: I’m doing very well, doing very well. Are you traveling this week?
Jessica Deverson: I am not, I’m, I’m home this week, so need to plan some more trips. Do something next week for, for Labor Day Weekend
Mike Putman: Oh yeah, that’s right. Liberty Weekend’s coming
Jessica Deverson: coming up quick,
Mike Putman: Yeah. And uh, this weekend actually I had a quick trip down to Charleston. My, uh, daughter had a birthday and gotta spend some time down there and had some fantastic food. Charleston’s such a great city and I’m, I’m sure you’ve been there before, right?
Jessica Deverson: Yes, I, I love it and my mom loves it. Uh, she always wants to do weekend trips to Charleston with me, Charleston and Savannah. She likes those.
Mike Putman: It’s really cool. So we, we got some beach time, some really nice food, some nice sushi, and uh, good quality family time together as well.
Jessica Deverson: That sounds lovely.
Mike Putman: Well, did you find any great deals for our listeners this week?
Jessica Deverson: Of course I did.
Mike Putman: Awesome. Let’s hear about ’em.
Jessica Deverson: So I’ll give you these ones, but just a heads up, like I said, labor Day is coming up, so, suppliers and hotels and resorts and cruise lines are starting to pour deals into the marketplace. So if you’re looking to book, from now through, and past Labor Day is a great time to book tons of offers in the marketplace.
Um, you can find some incredible deals on close in stuff. So maybe if you haven’t had. Done a plan, something for Labor Day yet, and you’re still looking, um, look for some really good close in deals last minute type travel, or if you’re looking for later in the year or next year, 2025, you’ll see deals for that as well.
Like I said, labor Day, um, a great weekend to book because everybody’s got offers out. But right now though I found a Carnival offer. So Carnival has Carnival’s, just like a great fun ship to go on. But from a port near you, basically lots of Caribbean sailings, Bahamas, Mexico, Europe, Alaska as well.
Right now they’re doing the early saver sale for the next couple weeks, and that sale gets you a fif, a reduced deposit. So already these lead in prices are really inexpensive. So with a reduced deposit on sailings all the way through. April of 2025 and a bonus onboard credit of $50. Um, you’re really gonna, it’s just a great, great value.
So, um, just, for, a couple lead in rates right now, the early saver for Caribbean, the lead in rate is. 4 39 per person. Bahamas in Mexico, you’re looking at 2 89 per person and you can get an Alaska, an Alaska cruise for 7 99 per person. So really great inexpensive sailings. If you’re looking to book quick in the next couple weeks, but they’re early saber deal.
Mike Putman: Those are really good prices for sure. Um, and now is a great time to buy, especially as we’re starting to get. Going, start moving towards the high season, the peak season. Uh, whenever you can find deals for December, January, February, March, April, uh, you should lock into those.
Jessica Deverson: Oh, definitely. Next up is a fan favorite Southwest Vacations. So right now their, uh, destination of the month is Aruba. And so they’re doing some specials on Aruba vacation packages. So for the next couple weeks, when you book an Aruba vacation package with Southwest, um, you’ll get up to $200 in savings, plus you’ll get savings on the hotel.
You’ll get. Um, their Amstar D M C excursion, discounts, and a few more little perks and amenities. And their featured hotels are, um, the Hilton, Aruba, Caribbean Resort and Casino, and the Renaissance Aruba Resort and Casino. So again, um, that’s for travel anytime now through March of next year. If you book within the next couple weeks to Aruba with Southwest Vacations,
Mike Putman: Have you been to Aruba?
Jessica Deverson: I have not, I haven’t.
Mike Putman: I haven’t either. That’s one that, uh, one of the very few places in the Caribbean that I haven’t been. maybe I’ll take Southwest up on that offer.
Jessica Deverson: Exactly. Take a quick trip down there.
Mike Putman: got great sun. They’ve got, uh, casinos, uh,
Jessica Deverson: sure they have golf
Mike Putman: A lot of water sports. They’ve got a little bit of golf. Not, not a lot, but uh, I could live without golf for a bit.
Jessica Deverson: flies. All right, and last but not least, as Virgin Voyages. Um, I have not personally been on Virgin Voyages, and it’s one of my favorite cruise lines somehow. Um, so Virgin Voyages right now, they have tons of offers going on. So, um, the first up they have up to 30% off plus free drinks on all, uh, south Pacific voyages.
So that’ll include your. Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, so that’s up to 30% off and free drinks. On top of that, they have an extra 5% discount for Florida residents. So I know a lot of, a lot of listeners and a lot of our agents, a lot of, uh, clients, you know, located in Florida. There’s courts down here where you can leave from very easily, and so they do the 5% discount for Florida residents.
And then also they have this really great new offer called the loyalty Deep glute extras. And so basically, um, you’ll get a ton of perks. For whatever loyalty status you are at another cruise line. So, you know, let’s say on this other competing cruise line, you’ve taken enough cruises to be their top tier loyalty.
They’ll give you that top tier loyalty at Virgin Voyages, and that’s really great. That’s a really great way to try a new cruise line because if you’ve racked up a ton of points and a ton of tears and whatever at another, another, Cruise line, another supplier you know, you don’t really wanna leave that because you know of all the amenities and perks and discounts you’ll get.
Well, they’re going to give you that, um, on Virgin voyages when you, when you try them. So, it’s a very cool program. And then that’ll be, that’s going on now that was recently released. And then they also have a really interesting Halloween voyage. So actually it’s, um, It’s not on Halloween. It starts Friday the 13th.
But they’re going to have some really cool parties, obviously, you know, no kids only treats. Um, you know, so skip the pumpkin patch. Forget the haunted house and trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. This is for adults and you’re going to sail the Caribbean for a multi-day experience, and you’ll have, you’ll, they’re doing a, uh, Friday Night Fright party.
Um, so sounds like a really cool event, obviously, um, costume contests and all of that good stuff. Plus you’ll get up to $600 in free drinks when you book. So really fun, cool experience there. So lots going on at Virgin Voyages.
Mike Putman: Yes. Sounds like it. And, and that’s another one I have not been on. I mean, you’re, you’re naming all the experiences and places that I haven’t been.
Jessica Deverson: Great. So it’s a sign. Just book one of each.
Mike Putman: That’s right. Very good. Excellent. Well, thanks for those tips and, uh, deals. Jessica, really do appreciate it. And,
Jessica Deverson: Absolutely.
Mike Putman: hope you have a safe, next week and look forward to talking to you again.
Jessica Deverson: All right. Have a great day, Mike.
Mike Putman: And for all the, uh, rest of our listeners, thank you for joining us today on No Tourists Allowed. Please share any feedback that you have or questions or things you might want to cover on our website. No tourists allowed.com. We have a lot of special guests coming up especially as we get through summer into the fall season.
And, um, we’ve got some special announcements coming up on our next podcast, so make sure you tune in and thanks for listening to No Tourists Allowed.
