Any idea when ABD will announce add on for Med. Cruises??

[SCFamily4]

I wanted to add some information that I found out myself since I was looking at this and had questions:
(I don't work for Disney.. i seriously do want to consider the ABD from what i've heard (never been on one myself).. but I haven't decided based on my current research... posting this just so people can maybe chime in what they think as well.. as we all know it's expensive so that goes without saying.. but is it 'worth it' this year)

12 night - Venice

2013 - Pricing = $3299/3129
(Note 2011 pricing for 10/11 night was 2699/2429)
(per night ~ 275/night.. for 2013 vs 10 night in 2011 so fairly unchanged)

But.. for 600 dollars more

a) Villefranche - seems like same tour described before (Monaco/Palace/Eze)
b) La Spezia - same tour (Florence+Gelato)
c) Rome - same tour (special vatican/coliseum/etc)
d) Naples - same tour (pizza making+capri)

e) Venice = gondola, walking tour, lunch, and glass blowing (NEW)
f) Dubrovnik = walking tour, lunch, and kayaking (NEW)

g) Malta = same tour (ferry, lunch, glassblowing, swimming)

And also non-excursion changes1) No onboard gratuities include now ($12/d*1 people *12 nights is appx ~150 LOSS)
2) Picture CD included (~?600) - same as before
3) No Palo - ? different from before (?~100)

So in my mind, 600 more in price, and losing 150 for gratuties
I"m not sure how much the Venice and Dubrovnik tours "cost" but seems like a lot in difference

The closest comparison (and this may be off obviously) I can make from the list per person and previously mentioned tours is approximately.. (and I'm giving benefit of the doubt on the high side)

1) Reception = $40(? my guess)
2) Villefranche tour - comparable (?) normal tour listed @ ~$199
lunch @ fairmont ~$40 (my guess)
3) La Spezia - Florence + Michangelo normal tour @ (~$229)
Gelato tour ($~?60 my guess)
4) Rome - Private "Behind the Scenes tour" - ~$599
Lunch ~$40 (my guess)
5) Naples - Pizza making tour (?~$60)
The Island of Capri tour ~$149
6) Animation class @ Sea - ~$100 (my guess)
7) (NEW) - Venice = Gondola tour private (~75)
Walking tour of venice (~?? 150)
Lunch (~40)
Glassblowing (~ ?? 150)
8) (NEW) - Dubrovnik = walking tour (~?? 125)
Lunch (~?? 40)
Kayaking in the Sea ( ~?? 125)
9) Malta = City tour (~50-75)
Kayaking (~75-100)
10) Reception farwell = ~50

Is about ~$2400-2500 on the high side.. although tough to make a specific comparison in excursions sometimes
Losing the gratutities hurts a little (150) in addition to the additional price change (~600+)

I know obviously there's a lot of gain in 1) private tour guides, 2) not having to worry about anything, 3) first off tenders/etc, 4) smaller group.. but balancing about $800pp ($3299-2400 or so) for four people is about 3-4k more possibly (on top of airfare!).. a whole another cruise!

Anyways.. just what I've been thinking about as I consider this... DCL also said it's going to be a hard '40' limit of people.. no changing.. for what that's worth

Can anyone who did the tours before give me an idea more so about them - it's not like I'm going to get to go to the Med a lot so I do want to try to see/do as much as I can

I've read trip reports, but I'm most interested in
1) sounds like the regular villefranche, le spazia tours through DCL could be comparable
2) how good really was the rome tour and could you do it separately (note: the day 6/30 we're there it looks like the vatican/etc closes early @ 2pm!) unless there is special disney magic for ALL tours
3) Venice and Dubrovnik are new, so all bets are off how much they are really worth and could just be planned alone instead

Addendum: From talking the ABD, there still might be a problem with the Vatican museums/etc that day (6/30) and they may be 'tweaking' the trip that Sunday.. no further info they could give, so stay tuned.. This might still even be a problem with 'regular' disney tours too very disappointing if it's true

We have been doing the same thing re: comparing costs ... and have decided to go with ABD for our 7/25/13 cruise. While I am also figuring a ~$2500 difference, we absolutely loved our ABD tour in 2008 and felt that the experience was really first class and worth the extra money.

Your comment re: the Rome day is interesting. Based on my own research, the Vatican is open for free to the public on the last Sunday of the month ... no tour groups ... and they close early that day. So, it will be interesting if the Disney Magic works in the Vatican or if that won't be an option for our cruises (as both itineraries fall on the last Sunday of the month). Hopefully we can see St. Peter's if nothing else!!

My family is so excited about the cruise - and now ABD as well - and can't wait til July 2013! Seems so long, but I bet it will be here before I know it!

 

[booger73]

Have you read my Trip Report? (link in my signature) I give a pretty detailed idea of what all the tours & extras were like.

If anyone can arrange for you to get into the Vatican museums, it'll be Disney. They arranged for one of the other ABD-add-ons to have a tour of the Accademia where the David is, when the Accademia was closed. It was a private tour, just them. The mouse has clout. I hope they work it out for you. Unfortunately, unlike a land-based ABD, they can't switch days around for you, which is what they usually do.

Sayhello

Hey SH..
Thanks!
Yes.. i've read your tour report (3 times now, even!!) just to get a feeling for things..
Not knowing quite what 'regular' tours Disney might offer makes it a little difficult to decide how to go with it..

I really don't want to 'mess with it', i.e. scheduling/arranging excursions, but I'm not sure if the kids or wife are 100% excited about all of it (i.e. vatican, coliseum yes.. but kayaking maybe not.. or whether they'd like to see the leaning tower of pisa instead [not on the ABD that i can tell])

The last thing I want to hear is dragging the 2 kids around, day 3 or 4 of the exertion and hear "I'm tired......"

I think I"m going to have to pick up the Rick Steve's book and read it

Then again, the kicker one way or another may be the 'non-waiting'.. I just can't stand to wait too much

 

[booger73]

By the way also.. I was curious so had to ask also since we're dvc..

ABD add on (12 night) for DVC members

447 pts (age 11+)
424 pts (kids)

Have to have at least 1 person on cruise booked on pts, and at least 1 person on ABD booked on pts..

(If you go DVC point<>cash (and i go about $8/pt in my calculations), it's fairly reasonable (8*447=3576)

 

[tufbuf]

By the way also.. I was curious so had to ask also since we're dvc..

ABD add on (12 night) for DVC members

447 pts (age 11+)
424 pts (kids)

Have to have at least 1 person on cruise booked on pts, and at least 1 person on ABD booked on pts..

(If you go DVC point<>cash (and i go about $8/pt in my calculations), it's fairly reasonable (8*447=3576)

Oh wow! Is this on the DVC website? They didn't offer it before I think.

 

[tufbuf]

Hmmm... now that I think about it, that's a LOT of points. Considering 1 adult is a minimum of 348 pts for a cat 11 room plus the ABD pts, that's a minimum of 800 points to book it with DVC plus the additional cash for the other passengers.

 

[booger73]

Oh wow! Is this on the DVC website? They didn't offer it before I think.

Not on DVC website.. I had to call in to member services and ask directly... but they do have it (as of Monday)!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

So in my mind, 600 more in price, and losing 150 for gratuties
I"m not sure how much the Venice and Dubrovnik tours "cost" but seems like a lot in difference

Great analysis. I did basically the same thing for the Alaska ABD Add-on. Similar to what you are finding, for Alaska they had eliminated items from the itinerary--including the most expensive and highlight of most people's experiences the helicopter and dog sled priced at $699 if you did it without ABD--and kept the price the same! They also seemed to have taken Palo off the itinerary as well. I wrote a letter outlining my concerns, and to their credit they did reduce the price a couple hundred dollars, but not having the dog sledding was a deal breaker for me.

To my mind this has become a disappointing trend with Disney: start a great product and then year by year reduce the benefits until people start to complain. What's the moral of the story? Do something the first time it's offered, LOL!

 

[Tozzie]

I have been thinking about the add on's since they were announced and I have to tell you I am not loving ABD at the moment.

On my MED cruise in 2011 I did all DCL excursions, I did some of the most expensive ones they had and it cost me roughly $1200. The DCL excursions to the Vatican and the Collesium skipped the lines as well so that isn't' a great selling point for me with ABD. There are 4 sea days and with the exception of an animation class there are no ABD activities scheduled so you are breaking it down to 8 days, not 12, your meals and room are covered by the cruise fare, Palo has been removed.

The other issue I have is I don't want to do the same things I did on my previous Med cruise and there are no alternatives, so my choices for Rome would be stay on the ship (not happening) go see everything I saw the last cruise, or book a excursion on my own, I wouldn't mind but then I am paying for things I won 't use.

Looking at everything I don't think the ABD MED add on is a good thing and I won't be booking it.

 

[booger73]

Tozzie:

Which Rome DCL excursion did you do if I may ask (in 2011)
How many people were in the group?
How long was the wait?
How was booking it (we'll be Gold (7th cruise)?

I keep waffling back and forth whether or not I'll book the ABD..
Just haven't heard enough one way or another to push me..
Although $13000 (four of us) vs.. possibly 7000-8000 (dcl booked) is the biggie

I think.. if I can just book decent enough DCL excursions and not have too much to 'worry about', I think I'm going to be ok with that..

 

[Tozzie]

Tozzie:

Which Rome DCL excursion did you do if I may ask (in 2011)
How many people were in the group?
How long was the wait?
How was booking it (we'll be Gold (7th cruise)?

I keep waffling back and forth whether or not I'll book the ABD..
Just haven't heard enough one way or another to push me..
Although $13000 (four of us) vs.. possibly 7000-8000 (dcl booked) is the biggie

I think.. if I can just book decent enough DCL excursions and not have too much to 'worry about', I think I'm going to be ok with that..

I did the excursion that included The Vatican, Collesium, Trevi Fountain, and lunch in a very nice Hotel in Rome. We really didn't wait at all, we had a private tour guide and she took us all around. the only issue and this would be an issue with ABD as well is how crowded it was.

I am only silver and i booked it when bookings open, I don't think you would have any problem, there was something like 12 DCL busses for the tour and some did the Vatican first, some the collesium.


I did book the Adult only Departure and there were maybe 40 people on it, however, each bus is a seprate tour with their own tour guide so you won't have to worry about there being 100 people on the tour with you.

I have been on 3 ABD trips, and I love my trips but I don't think they are worth it on the cruise. While while the tour is not ADB it is through DCL so it has the Disney Name behind it.

I didn't book the Med add on last year because I wanted to do different excursions than DCL was doing, after I returned home and thought about it I realized the tours were on par with ABD. Of course there are little added touches with ABD but there wasn't a noticible difference, at least in my opinion.

 

[disneynme]

I am paying close attention to everyone's input. I am also having a hard time with the price of ABD. The whole reason we booked the Med cruise in the first place is because we really wanted to go to Europe and had started to look at Knights and Lights and could not deal with the hefty price. When I saw that DCL would to a Med cruise and that I could book for all three of us for $3600, I signed up. Now if we add on the ABD, we're looking at close to the price of K&L.

I think we'll be doing some of our own ports (Monaco, Villefranche, and possibly Tower of Pisa) and some DCL excursions in other ports (Rome, Naples) and I think we'll come out way ahead.

 

[pxlbarrel]

I did the excursion that included The Vatican, Collesium, Trevi Fountain, and lunch in a very nice Hotel in Rome. We really didn't wait at all, we had a private tour guide and she took us all around. the only issue and this would be an issue with ABD as well is how crowded it was.

I am only silver and i booked it when bookings open, I don't think you would have any problem, there was something like 12 DCL busses for the tour and some did the Vatican first, some the collesium.


I did book the Adult only Departure and there were maybe 40 people on it, however, each bus is a seprate tour with their own tour guide so you won't have to worry about there being 100 people on the tour with you.

I have been on 3 ABD trips, and I love my trips but I don't think they are worth it on the cruise. While while the tour is not ADB it is through DCL so it has the Disney Name behind it.

I didn't book the Med add on last year because I wanted to do different excursions than DCL was doing, after I returned home and thought about it I realized the tours were on par with ABD. Of course there are little added touches with ABD but there wasn't a noticible difference, at least in my opinion.

Your reasons are the same reasons why we'll not be doing the ABD add on. The clincher was the 4 days at sea with no ABD activities. If anything, this ABD tour should be only slightly higher than the excursions. I can under an expensive ABD tour because hotels and food cost money and the hotels they pick cost a lot of money but we're already paying for food and lodging and paying twice as much for the Med cruise as last year and the ABD is still so expensive?

I looked at the add on last year but they didn't do Pompeii and that was the one place I really wanted to go to .... so that was a head scratcher too.

It's too bad. I really do like the little ABD touches and the comraderie...but not at that cost.

 

[sayhello]

Your reasons are the same reasons why we'll not be doing the ABD add on. The clincher was the 4 days at sea with no ABD activities. If anything, this ABD tour should be only slightly higher than the excursions. I can under an expensive ABD tour because hotels and food cost money and the hotels they pick cost a lot of money but we're already paying for food and lodging and paying twice as much for the Med cruise as last year and the ABD is still so expensive?

I looked at the add on last year but they didn't do Pompeii and that was the one place I really wanted to go to .... so that was a head scratcher too.

It's too bad. I really do like the little ABD touches and the comraderie...but not at that cost.

Boy, am I glad I did the ABD add-on the first year they had it, at $2399 for 11 nights. That year it was worth it, cost-wise. Like you, I'm surprised at the price, at the lack of Sea Day activities, the removal of the Palo night, etc. It's too bad, because it was a wonderful way to do a cruise. (Although the fact that we didn't do Pompeii was my one regret. But the day in Sorrento & Capri *was* wonderful.)

Sayhello

 

[WebmasterMike]

That price is way to rich for us because of the sea days and because I can do a full ABD adventure in great hotels for that price. The package does not justify the $$.

 

[queenmother]

iDid I read the Pre-Stay cost correctly?
3-Night Pre-Stay Barcelona

Adult - $1899.00 per person

Child - $1799.00 per person (Ages 4-11 but recommend children 6 and older)


So my Family of 4 with 12 and 14 year old would cost $7,596 for the three night stay? Does that seem outrageous??

 

[Tozzie]

iDid I read the Pre-Stay cost correctly?
3-Night Pre-Stay Barcelona

Adult - $1899.00 per person

Child - $1799.00 per person (Ages 4-11 but recommend children 6 and older)


So my Family of 4 with 12 and 14 year old would cost $7,596 for the three night stay? Does that seem outrageous??

Yes and what really boggled my mind is the 4 night add on is $1000 more, for a total of $2899 for 4 nights

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Yes and what really boggled my mind is the 4 night add on is $1000 more, for a total of $2899 for 4 nights

Wow, that just seems crazy high!