Intro

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Welcome to the Travel Agent, Disney and Beyond, your Canadian connection to theme park news, travel information, practical tips, and vacation savings. I'm your host, Stephen Payne. On today's episode, we'll acknowledge the D23 announcements this past weekend and enlighten you about Lakeshore Ludge announcement. We'll explain what holidays at Universal Studios Florida are going to look like in park policy. I'll share whether I think Celebrities Computer Class is worth it in cruise compilations. And we'll check in on travel insurance in our Canadian compass travel tip of the week. So stay tuned for two deals that are available in our Deals Digital segment. If you want more information about cruising and travel, including the latest cruise promotions and limited time offers, subscribe to my Expedia Cruises personalized email newsletters. Simply click on fan mail and send me your name and email address, and I'll add you to my mailing list for the newsletter as well as for show updates and information. You can also email your name and email address to the following email stephen at the travelagent.ca. Stephen is spelled S-T-E-P-H-E-N, and make sure that you spell agent right with an E-H because we're Canadian. That email once again is Stephen at the Travelagent.ca. This information will also appear in the show notes. Now for those of you who are interested, if you listened last week and you're curious, the Rush Show was truly Canadian and truly a beauty, eh? Their performance was on point musically and the set list was magnificent. Their new drummer Annika Niles, or Nils, I'm not exactly sure how you would pronounce her last name. She was up to the task and erased any doubts about her ability to be part of this Canadian power trio. Honestly, that's the best I've ever heard Getty Lee's voice. I gather he's been doing vocal training and work with a consultant, and it's paid off. It's amazing that Alex Lifeson and Getty Lee can put on such a virtuoso performance at age seventy three. I think it gives us all hope. For the first time in the long storied history of this podcast, well, we have no interview this week. Is that good? Is it bad? Well I'm not sure. I guess it depends on you, the listener. And uh I don't really know what you'll think. But the good news, or maybe not good news, is that the show will be a little shorter today. And don't worry, we have an interview lined up for next week. So we won't be missing out on the interviews for too long. We will be hearing an interview with Michelle Croft from Celebrity Cruises.

Mouse Minutes: D23 and Lakeshore Lodge

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Now for mouse minutes this week, I was going to mention that we've just come off a weekend where D23 was celebrated. D23 is a celebration that happens every two years in Orlando, Florida, where the Disney company presents new ideas about what's coming in the future. So on the Friday night, they talked all about upcoming films that were going to be released over the next year or two. And on Saturday evening, they talked about what was coming up for Disney Parks. And so that's a pretty interesting time for people who are Disney fans. Then on Sunday night, I believe that they had a legends ceremony, so they were bringing some new people into the Disney legends. That's similar to having your name hoisted in Scotiabank Center, you know, as a great maple leaf. In this case, Disney has its Disney legends. And I know uh Lynn Manuel Miranda was going to be a legend this week, as well as Jerry Bruckheimer. I don't know if there was anyone else because I didn't pay too close attention to it. D23 is always kind of exciting for Disney fans because it gives you a chance to see what's coming down the pipe for things that are coming up this year. And so if you are paying attention or if you'd like to know what they talked about, the key pieces were that they talked about Tropical Americas, which is a new area in the animal kingdom that will have a ride based on Encanto, and they will also be building an Indiana Jones ride similar to the one that is already in existence in Disneyland, California. And so they talked about that area. Plus, I guess there's going to be some kind of carousel there as well with some animals and so on. Um, they talked about villains land, which is going to be part of the Magic Kingdom, and in that land, there will be, well, it'll be populated by villains. They talked about a wishing well that you know was what drew all the villains to the land. And they talked about two attractions that would be there. One is a roller coaster based on the story with Maleficent, and the other was um a dark ride. And I think that you know involves the magic mirror and perhaps the villain from Snow White. But, you know, again, I didn't take in all the details at the time. I know that the roller coaster looks quite interesting, it's kind of built in a mountain, rocky, craggy kind of setting. And it looked a bit more adventurous and a bit more exciting, perhaps, than some of the roller coasters, because as you know, at Disney, many of the rides are family-oriented, so they're not particularly highly thrilling roller coasters. They are something that's appropriate for the entire family to ride. But this, and again, like I I can't say for sure, but this uh the the model of the roller coaster that you could see in D23 made it look like the roller coaster was going to be a little more exhilarating, and perhaps not for the youngest of the family. But we'll see. They're also building Piston Peak in the Magic Kingdom, and that's going to be a cars-based land, similar to what's already in existence in Disneyland. And again, there'll be a couple of attractions there. And then they talked about Monstropolis, which is an area that's being built in Hollywood Studios. And for Monstropolis, I know they do have a roller coaster based on the doors. I guess I'm trying to think what you would call it. In the in the film, in Monsters Inc., there's a sequence where Sully and Mike are riding the doors through a system in the factory that uh takes them through I I don't know what you would call it, a track that the doors follow. And uh it's going to be a kind of a roller coaster type ride. And uh thing they were showing in the D23 presentation was how as a rider, when you board and get into the cars, that you're going to be lifted up 40 feet in the air like in 10 seconds and then whisked away through the factory. So it looked pretty interesting. But I didn't really want to talk in detail yet about those things because I can talk about the details for each specific addition to the parks in future episodes. The one thing that I was pretty excited about was they did also announce that in the ride Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom, they are going to fix the Yeti. Now, again, you have to kind of know your Disney, but if you are aware of that ride, Expedition Everest, which is a roller coaster that takes you through Mount Everest, and you're kind of in search of the Yeti. And well, lo and behold, when you're in the mountain, you do run into the Yeti. Now, when the ride was first built, it was an animatronic, a big, the biggest animatronic they'd ever built, and it was the Yeti monster. And when you went by it on the track, it kind of came out of a cave area and would swipe its big paw at you as it was leaning forward and of course roar. And that was pretty exciting, but I don't know exactly how long, but it didn't the animatronic only worked for a certain period of time and not a very long time. And unfortunately, the animatronic had issues and it broke down. And then they replaced, well they didn't replace it, but they tried to fix the problem. The animatronic's arm no longer moved. The Yeti didn't move anymore. And they said that that was incredibly difficult to repair. So to fix it, what they did was they used a strobe lighting effect to make it appear as if the Yeti is sort of moving towards you. But it's actually just trickery with the lights, and the animatronic is not actually moving. I've never seen the Yeti in working condition, but it sounds very, very cool. Unfortunately, I've only ever seen this strobe light yeti, which is affectionately called the disco yeti. And for years Disney fans have been hoping that that attraction would get fixed, and well, they finally have announced this past weekend that they're going to fix the Yeti. So that was actually the thing that stood out to me the most, and that made me most interested, just because I really enjoy the ride, and I think it'd be very neat to see the Yeti in operation. By the way, that roller coaster uh actually goes backwards as well, and that's one of the interesting features of the ride. Okay, the other thing that they announced was that they were going to reinvent the ride from a pavilion called Imagination at Epcot. And the ride was called Journey into the Imagination starring Figment. Figment is a little purple dinosaur type creature that has been loved and remembered fondly by Disney fans, but that ride, Journey into the Imagination, dated pretty quickly and it's kind of been working intermittently the last number of years. And Disney's announced that they're going to make a new ride and bring back Figment and an accompanying character with it. So those are the things that happened in D23. Again, I will look more specifically at these new things that are arriving in some of the future episodes and give you some of the details if you're interested. What I was going to talk about in terms of mouse minutes this week was just about Lakeshore Lodge. So Lakeshore Lodge is a brand new Disney resort opening in the summer of 2027. And you may well know, or maybe you don't. I don't know how familiar you are with the Walt Disney World Resort. But there are well over 20 different resorts on property that you could choose to stay at. This mix of resorts are in different categories. So there are value resorts, there are moderate resorts, there are deluxe resorts, and there's even a campground. So there's quite an array of places to stay with a range of pricing. And of course, if you're staying at a deluxe resort, those are the resorts that are close to the theme parks, have easy accessibility, and are a little more luxurious with amenities. If you're staying at a value resort, then the amenities are fewer and they're usually a further distance from the theme parks. Lakeshore Lodge is a new resort that Disney's going to open up on Bay Lake. And its whole focus is on nature. The theming is inspired by the film Pocahontas. And of course, in that film, there is a real emphasis on the natural world, probably linked to indigenous values, right? So in the resort, that's the focus. So it's either going to be you're going to be seeing theming that alludes to the film itself, maybe to the songs from the film, and certainly to the natural world, which is all a part of that film. So the lobby is going to have you know floor-to-ceiling glass windows to allow all kinds of natural sunlight and natural light in, and also affords a view of the outdoor recreation area, which is going to be located in the front area of the lobby, like outside, it's going to be called the wetlands. And I'll talk about that shortly. In the lobby, there's also going to be like a fiber optic river weaving along the floor. There's going to be a blown glass colors of the wind sculpture in the ceiling with hundreds of suspended glass leaves. So it seems like the lobby, you know, with the sculpture and with the fiber optic river, and I think there's going to be a lot of foliage and flowers and things like that. You're going to see a real natural landscape. And I know they're planning on hanging tapestries with Pocahontas visuals or maybe scenes from the film or scenes that would fit with the film. Again, showing natural landscapes and so on. So when you move into the dining spaces in this resort, it's also going to be architecturally connected to the idea of nature. So for example, there's going to be a table service restaurant named Moon Glade, which will have Florida ceiling windows again, and you'll have water views, and there will be arched cypress trees outside. And all the dishes will be prepared with locally sourced ingredients. And again, I think the menu, although we you know we haven't seen it, but the menu will hint at sort of natural, wholesome ingredients and so on that link to the idea of the natural world. There's also going to be a quick service dining option, and that's going to be called Bay Lake Provisions with an open kitchen concept, and there's going to be woodland critters all throughout. I'm assuming they're they're carvings or models rather than the actual thing, actual animals. And then there's also going to be a paint out point bar and grill near what is being called Lakeshore Lagoon. And there will be lots of artwork in the area, especially using what's called plain air painting. And the setting again is natural and woodsy. And you'll be able to watch the fireworks show from the Magic Kingdom over Bay Lake from Dandelion Terrace at the resort. Now, as I said earlier, outside of the lobby is this wetlands area, which is an outdoor recreation area. And again, it's inspired by the music and storytelling of Pocahontas. You're gonna have a lazy river called Daydream River, you're gonna have play areas called Heron Shores and Otter Springs, and then there's Lakeside Lagoon, which will have a zero entry pool, and then another smaller pool that's called Perspective Pond from where you can see the fireworks over the lake. And throughout the wetlands, you'll see lots of scenic paths with all kinds of natural elements woven in. So that's Lakeshore Lodge. Disney has been slowly but surely publishing information about that. There are visuals that you can see on the internet now. And that resort is planned to be open in summer of 2027. So this coming summer, one year from now, we should see that resort opening. And so it's good to be aware of that. If you're planning a trip to Disney World next year, you might want to look at staying at Lakeshore Lodge. That'll be a brand new resort. Everything will be clean and tidy and sparkly new, which might make it for an interesting stay. By the way, I think I forgot to mention when I was mentioning the new areas that are going to be opening in Disney World. My understanding is that some of these things will be opening in the summer of 2027. So Monstropolis, for example, people were excited to hear it announced on the weekend that that would be opening in summer of 2027, which is not what was expected. Originally, I believe that the the opening date was 2028, but they've moved everything forward somehow. So they I guess they've sped up construction and so on. So I think they're eager to open up new lands and new parts of Disney World, probably instigated by the opening of Epic Universe by Universal Studios in Orlando, which attracted a lot of attention and brought in lots of new customers. So, you know, this is the thing about Universal and Disney in Orlando. They're always fighting for tourists to come. And so they're always looking for new and innovative ways to attract people to come to their parks. Okay, so that wraps it up for Mouse Minutes for now.

Park Pulse: Universal Holiday Celebrations

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Let's talk about Park Pulse for a few minutes. In Park Pulse, I just wanted to visit the fact that Universal Orlando is having holiday celebrations as well. We've talked about a few of these over the last number of weeks. We've talked about Mickey's very Merry Christmas party, and we've also talked about the Halloween parties both at Disney and at Universal. And so just to complete this whole cycle of holiday celebrations, I thought I should mention that Universal Orlando has its own holiday celebrations for Christmas. These begin on November the 14th and end on January the 3rd. Now, of course, what's a Christmas time? Holiday celebration without decorations. And in Universal Studios, there will be lots of holiday decor in the parks, in the resorts, and in City Walk. And I understand this year, because Epic Universe is a newer section of the park, they are advertising that they will have decor at Super Nintendo World and at the Isle of Burke in Epic Universe. Last year they only had holiday decor in Celestial Park area, so they're expanding their holiday decorations in the new Epic Universe park. And of particular interest to a lot of people who may be listening would be Christmas in the Wizarding World offered by Universal. So Harry Potter fans take note there is or there are celebrations happening in the wizarding world. And you know if you've watched the films that there are some scenes in the films that take place at Christmas time, when it's snowy in Hogsmead and so on. So if you go to the Harry Potter locations like Hogsmead in Islands of Adventure, or Diagon Alley in Universal Studios, or the Ministry of Magic in Epic Universe, you will see festive lights, all kinds of decor, and of course there will be entertainment at all of those locations that link to Christmas. And particularly on the Hogwarts Castle, you will be able to see The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle, which is a presentation that uses projections and special effects on the Hogwarts Castle. And it's a show that features special holiday moments and characters from Harry Potter. So if you're a Harry Potter fan, you know, it might be nice to visit there at Christmas time if you have the means. Also, another big IP at that park is Dr. Zeus. If you visited the park before, you'll know there's Zeus Landing with various Dr. Zeus type attractions. Of course, at Christmas, they're going to be celebrating Christmas with the Grinch. And they call that Grinchmas. So you can go to Grinchmas at Universal Studios. In Grinchmas there is a live stage show called Grinchmas Holiday Spectacular. And uh I don't really know much about that show, but I think it is based on the Dr. Seuss story, The Grinch that stole Christmas. So that's kinda the kind of thing you'll expect to see. You can also meet The Grinch and his dog Max. Now I was talking to my family today and mentioning that The Grinch is actually quite an entertaining character. You can see clips of The Grinch in action on the internet. And he's very Grinchy, but at the same time quite humorous. So think of the movie by Ron Howard and that version of The Grinch. That's the kind of style of Grinch that you'll meet in the Grinch mish celebrations. And he can be quite grumpy but quite funny at the same time. So that's worth seeing, I think. Also in the celebrations, you can see the Universal Holiday Parade featuring Macy's. So with that parade, it's uh I guess an imitation of the Macy's parade. And you'll see balloons, big, huge balloons, and elaborately themed floats, inspired, of course, by Universal IP like Minions, Shrek, and Madagascar. And at the end of the parade, there is a Christmas tree lighting by the one and only Santa Claus, of course. I thought I would mention there's an interesting feature too. They're offering something called the Universal Holiday Tour, which is a two and a half hour tour of all their holiday offerings. And you can book this. And if you do book it, what you get along with that tour is an exclusive meet and greet with the Grinch, an exclusive meet and greet with the Grinch's faithful dog Max. You'll get reserved seating for the show The Grinchmas Holiday Spectacular. You'll have a meet and greet with Santa Claus, and also you can get reserved seating or a reserved viewing area for Universal's holiday parade featuring Macy's. So that would be interesting too. Again, if if you're going to visit a Christmas time, you might want to look into that. Of course, it'll be a an extra uh charge for that. But it could be worth it.

Cruise Contemplations: Is Celebrity's Concierge Class Worth it?

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Now, for cruise contemplations this week, I was going to talk about booking a concierge room with celebrity cruises. And ask the question, is it worth it? Because that's the kind of question you often get as a travel agent. So before I give you my opinion, let me tell you what a concierge class with celebrity cruises can get you. Well, there'd be a prime location for your cabin. So there are certain cabins that are reserved for a concierge class, and they are midship usually and certainly higher decks in good locations. You get an exclusive welcome aboard Concierge Class Lunch, one bottle of sparkling wine per cruise upon request, although I don't think I requested it and still got it. There are daily delectable delights that are left in your stateroom. There's a pillow selection upon request. Apparently you get a celebrity embossed key holder these days. And there's personalized concierge service, an exclusive destination seminar and laundry service, which you do have to pay for. There's main and specialty restaurant seating time preference upon availability. So I think I've run through all the things. Oh, I guess it says you get 24-hour room service too, but I'm not entirely sure if that's different than a regular room. I guess it might be. But you can get room service when you book a regular state room. I forgot to mention that another thing that's not listed by celebrity on their website, but something I experienced is they offer a reception during the cruise where you could meet the captain and officers and enjoy some snacks and drinks, alcohol included. So I've experienced the concierge class on celebrity, and here are some thoughts. First of all, the welcome lunch was definitely nice. So you have to make sure that you check in. Your check-in time is early when you board the ship, early enough that you can get in there for lunch. So you have to be on your app early on to make reservations for your boarding time. But if you can get on board on time, you can go into the dining room and you can have the concierge's lunch. And that's nice because you know it's away from the crowd. So when people first board the ship, people tend to go towards the buffet to get their lunch and to get some food. And so it's quite crowded in the buffet when you first board with lots of people coming on board and immediately going to the dining room or the buffet room because they're waiting for the rooms to be ready. And so it's a great way to pass the time. You get some lunch and you hang out there for a little bit, and then you move out into the ship. So you're not going to be jostling at the buffet when you're in this Concierge Welcome lunch. And it's a nice little bit of quiet as you're settling in. So you can sit down, have a table service, and it's very enjoyable. I also really liked the cocktail reception. That was a nice perk. Again, not crowded at all. But you know, to have access to these drinks and snacks is pretty nice, and a chance to chat with the crew if you'd like. It was very relaxing and very enjoyable. And of course we enjoyed the welcome bottle of sparkling wine, who wouldn't? The daily Delectable Delights, I gotta say, were kind of mid. It was nice, but nothing to rave about. And so, you know, I enjoyed coming in and seeing what they left. I I ate them. But yeah, not you wouldn't go go out uh you know into the ship and start talking it up and saying, wow, you know, these delectable delights were amazing. Not really. They were just a nice little treat, I guess. Um, I never made use of the personalized concierge service or the ability to ask for preferential seating times for dining. So when I look at it, you know, I think the added value is kind of limited. I don't think that you should feel like you're missing out on a lot if you don't have the concierge room. So for me, it's a matter of looking at the price. If the price difference is minimal, then yeah, I'd probably book a concierge class room. But if the price difference is significant, I just it it just is not enough for me to think it's worth laying out the extra money. So the price difference would have to be pretty low for me to really jump at it. And I mean, when you're talking about room locations, you can book quality room locations without booking a concierge class room. So concierge class, nice if it doesn't cost too much, but not something that you should have a fear of missing out on.

Canadian Compass Travel Tip of the Week: Travel Insurance

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For the Canadian Compass Travel Tip of the Week, I just wanted to touch on the importance of travel insurance. Now, of course, when we're talking about insurance, when you're traveling, there's two different things you really want to get covered. You should have some medical insurance when you're abroad to make sure that you will be able to have medical expenses covered if you fall ill or if there's some kind of accident. And then for travel insurance, there's also what I would call sort of the non-medical travel insurance. That means that you know, if there's a snowstorm or something like that and you miss your flight, you'll be able to book another flight right away, and insurance can take care of that for you. Or they might cover your cost for a stay at a hotel. Or if for some reason you can't make your cruise, you'll get the non-refundable amounts refunded through the insurance plan. So just make sure you understand which is which. You know, some people travel and they have medical insurance when they're traveling abroad, but they don't bother with the travel insurance. And I mean, that to really that is the most important thing, is that you must have medical insurance. You you really are risking a lot if you're out and about away from your country and you don't have any medical insurance, you're taking a pretty big gamble there. And all you have to do is read or hear some stories from some people about when they broke their leg on a trip or uh they they got very sick from a parasite or something, and they had to get medical coverage, and then that's when insurance plans can really help. Now, the travel insurance is something that some people skip out on. And I would suggest that's a bad idea in most cases. You know, for me, when I'm looking at travel insurance, I just ask myself, well, am I willing to lose all the money I put into this travel reservation? So if I have a cruise booked and it costs $5,000, am I willing to lose $5,000 and not get any money back? Can I cover that kind of cost? I'm also going to look at how much of a risk there is for me. Right? So, what are the chances something could happen that would prevent me from traveling? Maybe, you know, it's the medical situation of people in my family, or maybe I'm traveling at March break, and there could well be a snowstorm that might interrupt and prevent me from getting to my cruise on time. You have to think about all these factors that might prevent you from taking your trip or interrupt your trip. You have to find out or make sure you understand what is refundable and what is not refundable, because it's the things that are not refundable, of course, that you're concerned about. So sometimes if it's a cheaper vacation, I'm not spending a lot of money on it. I mean, I'm willing to say that I might take the gamble and not worry about insurance or travel insurance. I always have medical insurance. But if I'm investing a fair amount of money into my trip, then insurance just makes sense. I mean, it's kind of annoying, sure, you're you're paying some money and you're probably, you know, it's just gonna it's never gonna be used, right? The insurance. That's the whole thing about insurance. However, you just don't want to be that person who didn't buy the insurance and then suddenly, uh oh, something happens and you need to have the trip costs covered, and you can't have that done if you don't have the insurance. Like, it's just not worth the risk, especially if you put a lot of money into your trip. So every travel agent you'll ever encounter will tell you, get travel insurance. And like I say, I would unless you're willing to lose all the money that you've invested in your trip. So the problem is you just don't know what could happen, right? Something might happen before you leave that will prevent you from traveling, and you'll be looking to get a refund. But when it comes to cruises, especially, there are amounts that are non-refundable after a certain point in time, right? So about 45 days before you're traveling, you're pretty much going to lose all of your money on a cruise. But it's true about all inclusives as well. The closer you get to your departure time, the more that investment is non-refundable. And as I said, you're you're living in Canada, there's a good chance that weather could be a factor. So you've got to think about that too. Also, you know, recently there's been work disruptions, right? Where Canada had a walkout at a certain point in time in the last couple years, I remember. And just recently we've had WestJet have a travel disruption as well. When their flight attendants walked off the job, that can be a real problem. And, you know, once once uh work action has been declared, well, you can't buy insurance suddenly to cover that. You need to buy your insurance right away when you book your trip, and then if something comes up, you'll be covered. So there are various types of travel insurance. Just want to mention that. Some people use a credit card that has travel insurance on it. But in that case, you have to be very careful. What I'm suggesting is you need to read the terms and conditions that are with that credit card insurance. Because what you'll find in many cases is that the insurance on a credit card is not very good. In a lot of cases, it'll only cover, you know, a couple thousand dollars of your expenses, or it's very limited in terms of what will be covered or what the situations are that will allow you to be covered. So read your credit card information carefully before you just say, oh, well, I've booked on the credit card and I've got insurance, travel insurance on the credit card. You might have travel insurance on the credit card, but it might not be very good, and it might not actually look after you if something happens, especially if you're booking a more expensive vacation, right? Because there's a limit on how much they'll pay you for situations that will require a refund. Suppliers offer insurance. Sometimes when you're booking all-inclusives, in fact, most times when you're booking an all-inclusive, the suppliers have various worry-free options that you can pay into. The nice thing about those ones is they're not too expensive usually. However, you have to read carefully what you're getting, because in most cases, when you book insurance with a supplier for an all-inclusive, you're not necessarily getting your money back. You might be getting a travel voucher that you have to use for another time, maybe within a year, uh, within a year's time. And it has to be another booking that's booked with that particular travel supplier because it's a coupon. So you have to keep an eye on that with the supplier offers. Cruise lines also offer travel insurance. You can also get travel insurance through your travel agent. Travel agents know a lot about the travel insurance options available, and they will have something they can recommend. I know our agency works with Manulife and has a fantastic travel insurance plan called the Premium Protection Plan. And it's an insurance policy where you can actually cancel a vacation for any unforeseen reason and get your money back on non-refundable elements of your trip. And so it's a fantastic insurance that allows for a lot of eventualities. It's not so restrictive as some of the insurance policies are. And there's lots of other perks to that particular insurance plan, which I won't go into now, but that's certainly one that we offer that I think is an excellent plan and is much better than any of the credit card or travel supplier insurance plans. So you can get insurance through your travel agent, or you can find insurance independent of your travel agent and independent of your credit cards or suppliers. There are companies that offer travel insurance out there on the internet that you could investigate as well. But in all cases, it's really important you read the terms and conditions of any travel insurance policy you're considering. And usually you do get what you pay for. So consider that, right? If you're trying to find like the cheapest rate possible for insurance, you can get a cheap rate, but chances are the coverage is not very good. You have to hand over a little bit of money if you want a good insurance plan. But you want a good insurance plan because you want to be able to receive your money back in situations where you're not able to travel or your travel is interrupted. And the best travel plans also have features that will help you in travel, right? So if you are at the airport and a flight is canceled, you can call that insurance company and they'll help you rebook or put you up for the night and that kind of thing. Every time you travel, you've got to consider the risks you're taking money-wise. And so do strongly consider travel insurance for any vacation, it's going to cost you some money. And of course, be sure that you always have your medical needs covered in the very least, because you just don't want to be in that situation where you're having to pay for medical outside of your country. It will cost usually tens of thousands of dollars. Most of us don't have that handy.

Deals Dish: Freestyle Sale and Canada at Par

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Now for Deals Dish this week, I wanted to talk about a couple of offers. First, I will mention the Expedia Cruises Freestyle Sale. The Expedia Cruises Freestyle Sale is going to get you extra onboard credit on any booking with Norwegian. So this freestyle sale is linked to the Norwegian cruise line. If you're thinking about a cruise with Norwegian, you should think about booking it between August the 19th and August the 25th, because that is when the freestyle sale is on. And the thing is that this sale can be combined with other offers. So any offer you see from Norwegian, for example, 50% off all cruises is a deal that they have going on. Well, you can combine this freestyle sale with that offer of 50% off all cruises. So you get your 50% off, plus you're going to get some additional bonus onboard credit. This, of course, is a sale that is through Expedia Cruises, so you'd have to book your trip with Expedia Cruises. It's also combinable with any other offer, you know, Free at C, Free at C, or anything else you see out there. There's teachers' discounts with Norwegian, there's a military discount. You can have this freestyle sale offer with any of those things. Now, having a look at what's available, just for example, if you were to book a balcony room for any three to six night itinerary, you'll get $100 in US funds for onboard credit. If you book a seven night to 13 night itinerary with a balcony, you'll get $250 USD. If it's a 14-night or more excursion, then you'll get $400 onboard credit again in US funds. Now, it's scaled depending on what kind of category you book. So I said for balcony, a seven-night balcony room, you'll get $250 onboard credit. If you booked an inside cabin for seven nights, you'll get a $50 USD onboard credit. If you book an ocean view room for seven nights, it's $100 on board credit. And so on. So there's different parameters. If you book the Haven in Suites and you have a seven-night cruise, you're getting $500 onboard credit. So the amount of onboard credit you get is scaled based on the category you booked. And obviously, the more expensive categories, you're getting more onboard credit. It goes all the way up to $1,000. And it starts at $25. So the lowest amount of onboard credit you'll get is for an inside room for a three to six night itinerary, and that is $25 USD. Alright, so that might be an interesting thing to look at if you're considering a Norwegian cruise. You'd have to book it between August the 19th and August the 25th to get that extra onboard credits. And don't forget that you can actually put a hold on your room for a few days. So you could on the 25th put a room on hold and still have the freestyle sale offer available, and you could pay the deposit in a couple of days after. The other offer I want to present to you today is for those of you who are interested in luxury cruising. So luxury cruising is a higher class than the contemporary cruise lines. A contemporary cruise line would be a cruise line like Norwegian or Royal Caribbean, and celebrity kind of falls under that category, although they're a little more luxurious than Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. But a luxury cruise line would be one that's got more luxurious amenities and often has a lot more included in their rate. An example of a luxury cruise line would be Oceania, and they are having a Canada at par cruise sale, and that's what I wanted to mention today. So Oceania is a luxury adults-only cruise line. It's highly regarded. Lots of awards have been won by Oceania. And because it's a luxury cruise, you have various amenities included. For example, you can have dinner at Gourmet specialty restaurants, sodas, specialty coffees, and teas are all included, shipboard gratuities are included, you've got still and sparkling viro water, complimentary Wi-Fi services, laundry services, and you can also qualify for some generous shore excursion credits. So there are things included that you would not normally have included in a contemporary cruise itinerary. Now, for a limited time, Oceania is offering Canadian residents exclusive savings on select 2027 sailings across the Mediterranean, Baltic, and Northern Europe. So the Canadian dollars are being treated as at par with US dollar prices. So you're enjoying about 30% savings. Now is the perfect time to begin planning your 2027 Europe sailing. That's Oceania's words. This offer ends on August 31st, 2026. So if anyone's looking at a luxury cruise experience, you can have a look at the Canada at Par sale by Oceania.

Outro

SPEAKER_00 40:57

Now, um just mentioning that uh next week we'll be joined by Michelle Croft. I mentioned that earlier. She's from Celebrity Cruises, and we're going to chat about the new Celebrity River Cruise offerings, as well as the upcoming March break cruise on the Celebrity XL with my agency's Journey With Us program. The river cruising is something new for celebrities, so I'm interested to learn more about that, and you can learn along with me. Also, we're going to have our regular segments with mouse minutes, Park Pulse, Canadian Compass Travel Tip of the Weekend, Deals Dish, and I hope you'll be able to come along for the adventure. If you're enjoying the information and inspiration provided in this show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or any other podcast reviewing platform. Links to the show's page and to Apple Podcasts can be found in the show notes. Also, feel free to follow me on Instagram, just search up at the travel agent. On that Instagram feed, you'll see all kinds of different posts. Many of them are just advertising various travel opportunities. And there are, of course, personal posts by myself at different times as well. If you want to respond to anything I've talked about on the show, or if you want to offer topic suggestions or ideas, please do send an email to stephen at the travelagent.ca. Spelt S-T-E-P-H-E-N, and remember that the travel agent has the E H in it. You can be part of building the content for our community, which I think is kind of exciting. I think it'd be great to have some interactions with my audience and for you to be able to dictate a little bit the directions we're going in. So I'm excited to hear from you. Well, thanks for joining me today. I am now off to see the Odyssey in 70mm IMAX. So, in a way, I'll be traveling to Greece again. Until next time, keep dreaming, keep planning, and keep exploring.