The Vacation Nerd with Patrick Wiscombe

If you’ve ever looked at a cruise price and thought, “That can’t be the real total,” we’re with you. We kick things off with the travel headlines that shape how we plan trips right now: Florida hitting an all-time tourism record, Santorini dealing with a series of earthquakes that are already impacting cruise calls, and the brewing fight over airline delay compensation that could eventually push a...

Royal Caribbean is no longer thinking like “just a cruise line,” and that’s the headline that made us stop and say, wait, what. With Royal Caribbean Group set to acquire a 50% stake in Sandals Resorts, we dig into what this could mean for travelers who love Caribbean cruising, all-inclusive resorts, and simple vacation planning that connects the two. We talk through the real opportunities like eas...

A new Royal Caribbean ship hits the market, and the real question is whether you’re early enough to catch the best price. We break down what we know about Legend of the Seas, including the first passenger sailing in 2026, the Western Mediterranean itinerary out of Barcelona, and why that first on-sale window can be the cheapest moment to lock in a balcony cabin before the hype builds. If you like...

A million visitors just picked Fiji, and the timing matters more than most people realize. We walk through what’s behind Fiji’s record-breaking tourism year, why new Fiji Airways routes are making the South Pacific easier to reach, and how to choose the best time to visit Fiji based on weather, crowds, and value. We break down the dry season (May through October), the true peak window (July throug...

Cruise plans can change fast, and this rundown proves it. We start with a headline that made a lot of Mediterranean cruisers nervous: Nice flirting with a strict cruise ship limit, then reversing course after the real-world math of lost tourism revenue set in. We talk through what the compromise looks like, why local politics can reshape port access, and how travelers can protect their itineraries...

Episode 196 is all about skipping the obvious and chasing the trips that feel a little more memorable. Instead of defaulting to London and Paris, Patrick and Mark build a European adventure through Budapest, Vienna, and Prague—three cities connected by train, packed with castles, cathedrals, thermal baths, riverside views, old-town streets, and just enough Mission: Impossible trivia to make Prague...

Episode 195 kicks off with a little rock-and-roll hangover as Patrick and Mark broadcast from Salt Lake City with Mötley Crüe still ringing in Mark’s ears—literally. From there, the show settles into what The Vacation Nerd does best: figuring out how to travel smarter while everyone else is discovering the same destinations at the same time. Holiday travel is already tightening up, airline fuel co...

Cruise travel is getting rewritten in real time and the clues are hiding in the headlines. We’re coming to you on the road and diving into what matters most for your next vacation: where cruise ships can dock, which itineraries may return, and why the industry is leaning hard into shorter sailings that bring the price down but ramp the pace up. We start in the South of France with the news that Ni...

Want a Europe itinerary that feels classic but not overdone? We build a simple, high-impact 7 to 9 day plan through Budapest, Vienna, and Prague, the kind of Central Europe route that gives you castle views, river walks, grand palaces, and a real sense of place without living out of a suitcase. We talk through the smartest structure for a custom trip, including open-jaw flights (into Budapest and...

Your next trip can get better or more expensive based on tiny details most travelers miss, so we’re zooming in on what’s changing right now across cruising and flying. We start with cruise news you can actually use: MSC World America’s upcoming christening, what a ship naming ceremony looks like in real life, and why Drew Barrymore being named godmother is a big branding shift for MSC. We also tal...

Southwest built a reputation on one simple promise: “bags fly free.” Now that promise is changing, and we unpack what it means for real travelers, real budgets, and anyone who picked Southwest specifically to avoid the baggage-fee game. We walk through what’s shifting, who still qualifies for free checked bags, and why changes to Rapid Rewards earning could nudge people to rethink loyalty and use...

A brand new ship leaves the shipyard and suddenly your next cruise choice looks different. We dig into Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Aqua delivery, the Norwegian Luna already floating out for its Spring 2026 arrival, and the onboard details we’re most curious about including how specialty dining keeps evolving at sea (yes, we’re talking Thai food on a cruise ship). If you love cruise news that...

Southwest built a brand on “two free checked bags,” so when that promise changes, it is more than a policy tweak. We walk through what Southwest’s new checked bag rules mean for flights booked after May 28, who still qualifies for free bags, and why the airline claims its analytics show many travelers pick the lowest fare on the screen without pricing baggage into the real total. We also dig into...

A hurricane hits Kauai and suddenly the most important travel skill is not picking the perfect resort, it’s knowing how to pivot without losing your money or your sanity. We talk through what Hawaii tourism officials are asking travelers to do right now, why postponing can be smarter than canceling, and how a travel advisor can rebook fast using airline waiver tools when everyone else is stuck on...

A single power failure can turn a smooth itinerary into a mess of cancellations, hotel nights you did not plan for, and bags that do not show up when you do. We dig into the London Heathrow fire disruption and use it as a real-world guide to what travel insurance can cover when the airline is not responsible, including extra lodging, food allowance, and essentials if your luggage gets delayed. The...

Four back-to-back cruises sounds like a brag until you realize it’s also a master class in trip planning, pacing, and knowing what you want out of travel. We’re checking in from two places at once: Patrick is in Fort Lauderdale gearing up for an epic cruise run, while Mark holds down the studio and helps keep the details straight, including a couple of inaugural sailings that cruise fans will be w...

Alaska cruises look simple on paper, but the trip you remember is built in the ports. We walk through shore excursions that actually deliver value in the big Alaska stops, with specific picks for Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Sitka, and even that quick international call in Victoria, BC. If you’re trying to choose between whale watching and glaciers, train rides and town history, totem poles and flo...

Airplanes roaring a few feet overhead on Maho Beach is one kind of thrill, but we’re equally obsessed with a different kind of wow: watching the landscape unfold from a train window with nothing to do but relax. From the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, we jump from Caribbean travel stories straight into a rail-first game plan for travelers who want big scenery without the hassle of driving, parking,...

Mark is getting off MSC World America just as Patrick is getting ready to board, which creates the perfect opportunity to answer a much more useful question than whether MSC’s brand-new ship is beautiful: What should you actually pay for when you book it? Mark shares his firsthand impressions after three days aboard, and we use that experience to break down where the real value is—because the chea...

Most cruise-line CEOs join interviews from an office. Dan Blanchard joins this one while working aboard one of his own ships. The owner and CEO of UnCruise Adventures explains why running a small American-flagged fleet sometimes means trading the corner office for a shipyard—and why the company’s vessels aren’t designed to be floating cities. They’re floating wilderness lodges built to get travele...

You can tell a lot about a trip by what you remember afterward, and “Day of the Dead” travel in Mexico tends to stick with people for life. We break down what the tradition is really about, why it’s not Mexico’s Halloween, and how to plan a trip that feels respectful, walkable, and genuinely fun. We also answer the practical question that matters most: where should you go to experience it, and how...

A window seat without a window sounds like an airline punchline—until you pay to reserve one and spend the flight staring at a wall. We explain how different versions of the same airplane can have completely different seat layouts, how to identify missing or partially blocked windows before booking, and why the airline’s own seat map may not tell you everything. We also get into the increasingly c...

Driving a go-kart through Tokyo traffic sounds like something you would do in a video game—not on your actual vacation. We start with a listener planning his first trip to Japan and break down why spring and fall are the best times to visit, which three cities belong on a first-timer’s itinerary, and whether a tour or cruise provides the better experience. Along the way, we get into Tokyo street k...

A Jamaica vacation with airfare, five hotel nights and airport transfers starting at $1,299 is the kind of price that deserves a closer look—but choosing the right part of the island may matter just as much as finding the deal. We finish answering a listener’s questions about Jamaica, compare two highly rated resorts near Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, and explain why Mark came away unimpressed after...

What if the best place to experience Europe isn’t on the ship’s top deck, but in bed? Avalon Waterways’ TJ McAvoy joins us to explain why the company points its beds toward a seven-foot wall of glass, turning the entire cabin into a balcony while castles, vineyards and medieval villages drift past outside. We also get into the other details that separate Avalon from a typical cruise—including fewe...