Dreams Unlimited for ABD? American Express gift card offer?

[helenk]

Has anyone used Dreams Unlimited for their ABD vacation? I've used them in the past for my WDW vacations and was very pleased with their service.
I went on their site for a quote for the Italy Vacation and they are offering a $400 American Express gift card, that will be sent about 30 days prior to the trip.
I was not able to see where you can book a hotel for a night prior to the trip though which is what I would like to do.
Any input?

[Bobo912]

Has anyone used Dreams Unlimited for their ABD vacation? I've used them in the past for my WDW vacations and was very pleased with their service.
I went on their site for a quote for the Italy Vacation and they are offering a $400 American Express gift card, that will be sent about 30 days prior to the trip.
I was not able to see where you can book a hotel for a night prior to the trip though which is what I would like to do.
Any input?

I saw that too. I haven't used them, so I would be interested in hearing feedback too. For the Galapagos trip the gift card is $500. I'm going to have to see how this compares with what Costco offers for the same trip. It's definitely worth looking into.

[Diskidatheart]

I got a price from my travel agent at the Bernini Bristol of $425 for two of us. If you stay there for your pre-trip, ABD will pick you up at the airport. Since we were only doing it to get used to the time difference we passed. She also suggested that we stay close to the airport so then we could go back to the airport and meet the ABD guide there. We passed on that too and decided to deal with the time change on Day 1 since there was not a lot of activities scheduled. Our flight also arrives around 8:45am.

[helenk]

I got a price from my travel agent at the Bernini Bristol of $425 for two of us. If you stay there for your pre-trip, ABD will pick you up at the airport. Since we were only doing it to get used to the time difference we passed. She also suggested that we stay close to the airport so then we could go back to the airport and meet the ABD guide there. We passed on that too and decided to deal with the time change on Day 1 since there was not a lot of activities scheduled. Our flight also arrives around 8:45am.

Wow $425 a night yikes, I just wanted to that to get use to the time change as well. My daughter went to Ireland last year for a college course and said that they jsut "hit the ground running" and would be fine with getting to Rome on the day of the trip. So I'm with you, I think I'll pass and get a flight that gets into Rome in the early am.

[awatt]

On both our ABD trips there were issues with ABD that Kevin at DU handled for me. I owuld have had much more difficulty handling these issues on my own with ABD.

On our Italy trip, a fewmonths before departure ABD switched our flights so that we were leaving from Newark NJ, and retuening to Kennedy or La Guardia airports. This would have been a nightmare. Kevin spent 2 weeks calling ABD, hounded them, finally went all the way up to higher management and our original flights in and out of Newark were restored. I never even knew about it, he told me about it after the fact.

2 weeks befoer our Ireland trip, my MIL who was supposed to go with us injured herself and could not travel. Kevin was on a cruise at the time so I called ABD myself regarding cancelling her. It was a real hassle. Now they wanted to switch us to a quad room instead of 2 rooms which we had paid for. I was getting nowhere, emailed DU, and voils Kevin handled it while onboard a ship. Our 2 rooms were restored.

I am an experienced traveller and can handle most planning/booking myself. But ABD can be difficult to deal with, and this is where a good TA is worth their weight in gold.

[helenk]

On both our ABD trips there were issues with ABD that Kevin at DU handled for me. I owuld have had much more difficulty handling these issues on my own with ABD.

On our Italy trip, a fewmonths before departure ABD switched our flights so that we were leaving from Newark NJ, and retuening to Kennedy or La Guardia airports. This would have been a nightmare. Kevin spent 2 weeks calling ABD, hounded them, finally went all the way up to higher management and our original flights in and out of Newark were restored. I never even knew about it, he told me about it after the fact.

2 weeks befoer our Ireland trip, my MIL who was supposed to go with us injured herself and could not travel. Kevin was on a cruise at the time so I called ABD myself regarding cancelling her. It was a real hassle. Now they wanted to switch us to a quad room instead of 2 rooms which we had paid for. I was getting nowhere, emailed DU, and voils Kevin handled it while onboard a ship. Our 2 rooms were restored.

I am an experienced traveller and can handle most planning/booking myself. But ABD can be difficult to deal with, and this is where a good TA is worth their weight in gold.

Thanks for your input, using Dreams does seem to be a good idea. I want this vacation to be a great one and having little or no aggravation once its been booked would be wonderful.

[awatt]

Thanks for your input, using Dreams does seem to be a good idea. I want this vacation to be a great one and having little or no aggravation once its been booked would be wonderful.

Contact Kevin Klose. You will not be disappointed. He is wonderful.

[helenk]

Contact Kevin Klose. You will not be disappointed. He is wonderful.

Thanks, I'll ask for him when I book.

[JsMom2]

When I did a quote for our Peru trip online, the DU price was a couple hundred dollars less in addition to the Amex card.

Does anyone have a phone number for DU, or do you always have to contact them via the website?

[Bobo912]

When I did a quote for our Peru trip online, the DU price was a couple hundred dollars less in addition to the Amex card.

Does anyone have a phone number for DU, or do you always have to contact them via the website?

Did you just compare to the prices on the ABD website, or are you comparing with a quote directly from ABD? If the price from DU is less plus the gift card, that would be fantastic! If you got a quote from ABD they may be including the travel insurance.

[cosmicrays]

I just got a quote from my TA and they also offered a gift card. We are looking at Italy has anyone done anything in Europe before with ABD?

Thanks

[cosmicrays]

Did you just compare to the prices on the ABD website, or are you comparing with a quote directly from ABD? If the price from DU is less plus the gift card, that would be fantastic! If you got a quote from ABD they may be including the travel insurance.

yes this happened to me as well. I was looking at it myself and I was getting a different price and it was the insurance.

[Tozzie]

I just got a quote from my TA and they also offered a gift card. We are looking at Italy has anyone done anything in Europe before with ABD?

Thanks

I have not done an ABD European Trip yet, am going on Alpine Magic next year. However there are many people who have done the Viva Italia trip and the reviews of the trip have been awesome, as have the reviews of the Ireland Trip. If you go to the top of the board and trip reports you might find one on Italy.

[JsMom2]

yes this happened to me as well. I was looking at it myself and I was getting a different price and it was the insurance.

I'm booked with ABD without insurance. The DU quote was still less! I'll see what happens after the res is transferred. Could be I pulled the wrong trip date down from the menu......

[Phil1019]

Hi everyone, I received this e-mail from Kevin at Dreams Unlimited.

The April 20 date and special pricing is for the Backstage Magic Adventure in California only.



Dreams Unlimited Travel had offered a special price on the April 13th date, which has sold out, so we have extended the offer to the April 20th date as well.

I do not know what the pricing is since I already went on Backstage Magic in 2008. If anyone is interested in the trip check out Dreams Unlimited for "special pricing".

[WebmasterJohn]

Hi everyone, I received this e-mail from Kevin at Dreams Unlimited.

The April 20 date and special pricing is for the Backstage Magic Adventure in California only.



Dreams Unlimited Travel had offered a special price on the April 13th date, which has sold out, so we have extended the offer to the April 20th date as well.

I do not know what the pricing is since I already went on Backstage Magic in 2008. If anyone is interested in the trip check out Dreams Unlimited for "special pricing".

This is correct. Dreams Unlimited Travel has held group space on the 4/20/2010 Backstage Magic Adventure at a very special reduced rate. Unfortunately we are unable to combine the special rate on that Adventure with our current Gift Card promotion.

The 4/20 Backstage Magic is the only Adventure where we have group space and a special rate. All other adventures will be at the same price that ABD will quote you directly on the same Adventure. The Gift Card promotion is applicable to all other Adventures.

[JsMom2]

I'm booked with ABD without insurance. The DU quote was still less! I'll see what happens after the res is transferred. Could be I pulled the wrong trip date down from the menu......

Okay, I found out why the price was different. On the DU website, they designate a child as under 14. But of course anyone 11 or over pays the adult rate with ABD. I pointed out the discrepancy to Kevin, so hopefully they'll update their website.

[Bobo912]

Okay, I found out why the price was different. On the DU website, they designate a child as under 14. But of course anyone 11 or over pays the adult rate with ABD. I pointed out the discrepancy to Kevin, so hopefully they'll update their website.

This is what it says about the child's rate on the ABD website:

The child rate applies to Guests under 12 at the time of travel when accompanied by an adult in the same room.

[WebmasterJohn]

Okay, I found out why the price was different. On the DU website, they designate a child as under 14. But of course anyone 11 or over pays the adult rate with ABD. I pointed out the discrepancy to Kevin, so hopefully they'll update their website.

Hi JSMom2

Kevin just mention this to me. I checked our website just now and it says children over the age of 11 must be counted as an adult as per ABD policy.

Can you email me a link to the page you found that says children are 14 and under? I want to make sure all of our information is consistent on all pages.

My email address is John@DreamsUnlimitedTravel.com

Thanks
John

[Bobo912]

This is correct. Dreams Unlimited Travel has held group space on the 4/20/2010 Backstage Magic Adventure at a very special reduced rate. Unfortunately we are unable to combine the special rate on that Adventure with our current Gift Card promotion.

The 4/20 Backstage Magic is the only Adventure where we have group space and a special rate. All other adventures will be at the same price that ABD will quote you directly on the same Adventure. The Gift Card promotion is applicable to all other Adventures.

John - does DU have any plans to offer a group rate with any of the other trips in the future? In 2012 I'm going to have one of those 12-year-old "adults" and I'll need all the discounts I can get.

[WebmasterJohn]

John - does DU have any plans to offer a group rate with any of the other trips in the future? In 2012 I'm going to have one of those 12-year-old "adults" and I'll need all the discounts I can get.

We're going to see how ABD works with us this year before committing to anything in the future.

I'm confident that many of the 'issues' we had in the past have been worked out and we will be moving forward on many more opportunities with ABD - even more group space - but 2012 is a ways away and anything can happen between now and then.

[awatt]

I just got a quote from my TA and they also offered a gift card. We are looking at Italy has anyone done anything in Europe before with ABD?

Thanks

We did Rome and La Costa Bella in 2007. Truly the trip of a lifetime! My trip report might be on teh sticky at the top of the page.

[Bobo912]

We're going to see how ABD works with us this year before committing to anything in the future.

I'm confident that many of the 'issues' we had in the past have been worked out and we will be moving forward on many more opportunities with ABD - even more group space - but 2012 is a ways away and anything can happen between now and then.

Thanks John! I can use a discount anytime! :)