ABD cancelations

[tomandrobin]

Is there a thread or website that tracks the ABD trips that have been canceled?

Is there any particular ABD trip that seems to get canceled more often then others?

Are there any ABD trips that never get canceled?

 

[2GirlsMama]

I have the same questions! I also wondered how far in advance they let you know the trip has been cancelled. We have two collies and I worry that ABD won't let us know far enough in advance to make arrangements.

I contacted the travel agent and couldn't really get a straight answer other than "it looks good since the other available dates are already full". Does the trip have to be full for it to go? Do they have a certain number of people that makes the trip a sure thing?

We are going to China, and they have trips leaving every two weeks. It seems amazing to me that they get that many people to go.

 

[Carol]

Our May 24th Alpine Magic tour is cancelled. Now the decision of what to do. We were offered any other trip at the early rate, just like others have received. Now to find a trip we want at the same date we had??

 

[Skylarr29]

We got a call saying our April Costa Rica trip was cancelled. Last year we did two ABD trips, Imperial Cities and Flavors of France, and had no issues what so ever. Just book your air through ABD and you don't have too much to worry about as they will refund you the costs.

 

[Tozzie]

That is 5 trips and 1 entire itinerary that I know has been cancelled my Golden Path to Yosemite May 31, 1 Austrailia, 1 Ireland , 1 Costa Rica and now the Alpine Magic, in addition the Boston/NYC itenerary was pulled. There was also someone who posted on the DVC boards regarding the status of points because she booked with points and the trip was cancelled but I don't know what trip it was.

I personally think that they offer too many trips and need to trim them down and that would cut down on the number of cancellations.

The cancelled trips are not removed from the website, even trips that were reported as cancelled before they redesigned the website a week ago.

Yes it is great that they will offer you any other trip you want to take that works for you and pay the change fees for the airfare and such but that isn't the point. The problem for me, and I am sure I am not the only one who had issues, was I had a week booked after wards using DVC points and that couldn't be changed that easily. I was also bound by the two weeks I was going as I select my vacation at the begining of the year and can't switch the weeks and I doubt I am the only one with that problem.

They had another trip that was the same as mine and I figured okay see if we can switch the hotel around and I would do that portion first, but that trip wasn't available, not sure if it was cancelled or just full. I ended up doing the Backstage Magic as that was the only one that worked with my other plans but I am not that enthusiactic about it and I will look into other tours I doubt I would do ABD again there is just too much uncertainty.

 

[Tozzie]

We got a call saying our April Costa Rica trip was cancelled. Last year we did two ABD trips, Imperial Cities and Flavors of France, and had no issues what so ever. Just book your air through ABD and you don't have too much to worry about as they will refund you the costs.

I didn't book my air through ABD and they are still paying the costs to change it due to the cancellation of my trip.

 

[Skylarr29]

I didn't book my air through ABD and they are still paying the costs to change it due to the cancellation of my trip.

That's good to know. Since ABD can book the airfare you specify I find it easier to go with them. Also, if they have to change the itinerary or dates it is on them.

I think the economy has a lot to do with the cancellation of trips this year. Lots of people are worried and cancelling. It is unfortunate for people who can not change their dates etc.

 

[Carol]

I booked our flights with ABD but my situation with pricing is a different one. The trip we are thinking of now will be less than the cost of the flight we had with our cancelled trip. I'm waiting to hear back from ABD about a "refund". I'm sure the airline won't give us money back.

 

[Tozzie]

That's good to know. Since ABD can book the airfare you specify I find it easier to go with them. Also, if they have to change the itinerary or dates it is on them.

I think the economy has a lot to do with the cancellation of trips this year. Lots of people are worried and cancelling. It is unfortunate for people who can not change their dates etc.

I used miles to book my airfare so I had to book it myself.

 

[sayhello]

I have the same questions! I also wondered how far in advance they let you know the trip has been cancelled. We have two collies and I worry that ABD won't let us know far enough in advance to make arrangements.

I contacted the travel agent and couldn't really get a straight answer other than "it looks good since the other available dates are already full". Does the trip have to be full for it to go? Do they have a certain number of people that makes the trip a sure thing?

We are going to China, and they have trips leaving every two weeks. It seems amazing to me that they get that many people to go.

They seem to be giving people 4 - 5 month's notice this year. I know last year, a trip was canceled 2 weeks before the trip. They seem to be much more conservative about it this year.

A trip does not have to be full to go. My Southwest Splendors tour last year went with 14 people (40 is "full"). But it really seems to vary by trip as to what the minimum they'll allow is.

I do think ABD is doing things a bit backwards, offering all the possible trips up front, then canceling if they don't book up. They figure they can just shift people from one date to another without taking into account that most people's lives aren't quite that flexible. Somebody on this board suggested that Disney should offer less trips up front, and then add extra trips if necessary. Fewer disappointments that way. We know of 5 or 6 trips that were canceled, but that's just of DISer's. How many other people out there, who don't post here, have had their trips canceled? Mine's not until Sep, and there is really no other time this year I can go. But if the 4 to 5 month thing is still the norm, I won't know until April or so. A bit nerve-wracking.

Sayhello

 

[kristilew]

That's good to know. Since ABD can book the airfare you specify I find it easier to go with them. Also, if they have to change the itinerary or dates it is on them.
.

Just FYI: they can't always book the airfare you specify. It depends on what is in their system. I live in a town served by a regional airport and they had a really hard time finding the flights I wanted on last year's ABD. This year, they couldn't help at all. The closest they could come would have added 5 hours travel time and almost $500 per person. I booked on my own, as even a change fee will cost me less than ABD's ticketing.

 

[kjd469]

Also, people who live outside of the United States have no choice but to book their own airfare...ABD will only book airfare for U.S. residents. However, I was assured that any charges from airlines that are the result of ABD cancelling a trip, etc. would be taken care of by them. They do try to accommodate for a cancellation.

Just a thought...I agree that ABD has offered perhaps too many dates for some of the itineraries. However, if I found out that I and whoever I was going with were the only ones booked for a certain date, I would want them to cancel the trip. I think it would be terribly disappointing to show up for a group trip to find out no one else was coming. Lets face it, a lot of the activities are made so much more fun with the group...it would be impossible for them to offer the same experience with just a few people. So while it is a terrible disappointment and inconvenience I don't really feel they have a choice but to cancel low booking trips. They really have no way of predicting ahead of time how many people will book on a specific day.

 

[Tozzie]

Also, people who live outside of the United States have no choice but to book their own airfare...ABD will only book airfare for U.S. residents. However, I was assured that any charges from airlines that are the result of ABD cancelling a trip, etc. would be taken care of by them. They do try to accommodate for a cancellation.

Just a thought...I agree that ABD has offered perhaps too many dates for some of the itineraries. However, if I found out that I and whoever I was going with were the only ones booked for a certain date, I would want them to cancel the trip. I think it would be terribly disappointing to show up for a group trip to find out no one else was coming. Lets face it, a lot of the activities are made so much more fun with the group...it would be impossible for them to offer the same experience with just a few people. So while it is a terrible disappointment and inconvenience I don't really feel they have a choice but to cancel low booking trips. They really have no way of predicting ahead of time how many people will book on a specific day.

I am sorry I don't agree with you, I don't need a whole lot of people around to enjoy myself and I think they could do something to prevent the cancelling the trips. There are just too many cancellations. It might be easy for some to rearrange their vacation time but not for me.

 

[sayhello]

I am sorry I don't agree with you, I don't need a whole lot of people around to enjoy myself and I think they could do something to prevent the cancelling the trips. There are just too many cancellations. It might be easy for some to rearrange their vacation time but not for me.

I agree with you. I'd rather go on a teensy vacation (they'd likely only assign one guide) than have to try & re-arrange everything. That's very hard to do at my work. Lots of people make it fun, but I can have a good time in a small setting, also!

Sayhello

 

[crashbb]

I agree with you. I'd rather go on a teensy vacation (they'd likely only assign one guide) than have to try & re-arrange everything. That's very hard to do at my work. Lots of people make it fun, but I can have a good time in a small setting, also!

Sayhello

It wasn't with ABD, but years ago my father and I took a tour in Africa (Kenya and Tanzania). It turned out that we were the only people on our tour - it was like having a private driver through the various game parks. Now, on that trip, there were no big group events - it was a trip through various game parks with drives through the parks each day, so really don't feel we missed out (actually it was very nice having just the two of us).

 

[tomandrobin]

I appreciate the replies so far. We are in early planning stages for Italy trip in 2010. We are going end of August thru Labor Day, if offered. We are going to book airfare ourselves, using points. We are also planning on staying an additional 5 days after the ABD trip.

So this information is great for our planning purposes. We originally were going to do an Adult only tour, but there seems to be a disproportionate number of cancellations of those trips.

 

[kristilew]

Just adding that today they cancelled Southwest Splendors for the June 16 departure, and I think for one just earlier than that.

I had been hopeful they wouldn't, as we had 15 booked on it in December and SayHello's group went with 14 last year.

 

[nunzia]

Our Backstage Magic went with 12..it was great!

 

[sayhello]

Just adding that today they cancelled Southwest Splendors for the June 16 departure, and I think for one just earlier than that.

I had been hopeful they wouldn't, as we had 15 booked on it in December and SayHello's group went with 14 last year.

Maybe somebody cancelled once they saw how things were going financially in 2009?

Sayhello

 

[knewton64]

Maybe somebody cancelled once they saw how things were going financially in 2009?

Sayhello

......any "Spirit of America" (October 2009) trips being canceled??? If so, please reply since I am NOT getting anywhere with ABD on this issue. They say "its a go" but REFUSE to say how many people have signed up (% of occupancy) so far.

Thanks!