ABD trimming departure dates

[Sakura1017]

Honestly imo they already know whether the trips are going or not. They love keeping everyone's money and wants to hold it for long as possible because of interest. Its what's keeping them afloat. I think when you see dates being removed from the site that is your first warning. I don't believe its a glitch at all from what they did last year.

I feel like its been dragged on and on from previous posts, but ABD customer service has gone down hill and we can all agree that their PIF policies are ridiculous. They love to give you false hope thinking your going once your PIF.

However we cannot keep blaming all of it on ABD.
When they call you to get a refund or a future credit back on a canceled itinerary the ball is in your court. Ive learned to just get the refund back because you don't know when your gonna be able to travel.

If you choose to change itinerary or book a new itinerary thats on you and you already know from previous posts how they treat last minute cancelations. They will continue to repeat process of making you PIF, or wait it out at the very last minute. If you were already frustrated/anxious/angry the first time, why would you repeat that cycle all again.

I've never done an ABD trip and was excited in doing it, but after 2 attempts ABD is like buyer beware imo.

 

[Grifdog22]

Our Rhine River July 21 trip cancelled about 4 days after we booked it due to lack of bookings. Now we wait for refunds on a huge CC balance. Meanwhile, I rebooked directly with AMA on the exact same cruise in reverse on July 29 and saved some money. It’s a shame because we really enjoyed our Italy trip with ABD in 2018 but I will think twice before I use them again.

We were booked on the original Rhone river cruise for last May (2020 with ABD). ABD cancelled it due to the pandemic with plenty of notice - we moved it forward to June of this year, which was cancelled last fall, so we moved it to May of 2021. A few weeks after moving it, ABD cancelled the river trip completely. We were refunded the money. We then did what you did - moved it to AMA as they posted the exact same dates. However, we later noticed that with AMA it only had 1/3 of the activities and no transfers at the start of the trip, only at the end. AMA cancelled earlier this year, but not until after we booked air. They wanted to only give us a voucher. As we could not book direct but had to go through their recommended travel agent, it wasn't real smooth to get a refund, but once they agreed to do so, it came along. I looked hard at our trip, and determined that ABD and AMA are not comparing apples to apples...AMA typically has less activities and few "choices" between activities when comparing similar trips. None of our top activities that were offered with ABD were in the AMA offerings. I have been pretty unhappy with the process with all of them, but at the same time after reflection, these remain a first world problem that I cannot be too upset about.

 

[Mathmagicland]

However, we later noticed that with AMA it only had 1/3 of the activities and no transfers at the start of the trip, only at the end.

I looked hard at our trip, and determined that ABD and AMA are not comparing apples to apples...AMA typically has less activities and few "choices" between activities when comparing similar trips. None of our top activities that were offered with ABD were in the AMA offerings.

Thanks for sharing this info on some of the differences between AMA & AbD. Saves me a lot of research time.

 

[Rapunzellover]

I just want to chime in on how good Tauck has been during the pandemic. They already had very good policies that were better than Disney's. But they are going above and beyond with respect to dealing with chaos of the pandemic. Their website has all the appropriate entry information, health advisories, and running tour information that you could possibly want. And they are being super flexible. I had booked New Orleans for September of this year with them and then cancelled it thinking that I wasn't going to be able to go. Now I know that I can go somewhere this fall and I called them back and rebook for October. Is they let me use the deposit for my previous booking, which was in a Dreamsaver account, as deposit for this new booking. And told me if I had to cancel, I could get that deposit returned to my Dreamsaver account. Both these things are exceptions to normal policy. But they are being flexible with this year's trips.

I'm definitely going to make Tauck my go to tour company. They have just been stupendous with customer service.

 

[sayhello]

I looked hard at our trip, and determined that ABD and AMA are not comparing apples to apples...AMA typically has less activities and few "choices" between activities when comparing similar trips. None of our top activities that were offered with ABD were in the AMA offerings. I have been pretty unhappy with the process with all of them, but at the same time after reflection, these remain a first world problem that I cannot be too upset about.

I'm sorry. I guess I assumed you guys knew this about ABD vs AMAWaterways. Just goes to show I should never assume!

Sayhello

 

[WeLoveABD]

I just want to chime in on how good Tauck has been during the pandemic. They already had very good policies that were better than Disney's. But they are going above and beyond with respect to dealing with chaos of the pandemic. Their website has all the appropriate entry information, health advisories, and running tour information that you could possibly want. And they are being super flexible. I had booked New Orleans for September of this year with them and then cancelled it thinking that I wasn't going to be able to go. Now I know that I can go somewhere this fall and I called them back and rebook for October. Is they let me use the deposit for my previous booking, which was in a Dreamsaver account, as deposit for this new booking. And told me if I had to cancel, I could get that deposit returned to my Dreamsaver account. Both these things are exceptions to normal policy. But they are being flexible with this year's trips.

I'm definitely going to make Tauck my go to tour company. They have just been stupendous with customer service.

We've done over a dozen trips with Disney and three with Tauck, with more trips planned with both. I agree that Tauck has had a more decisive approach during the pandemic, but before 2020 we always enjoyed our contacts with Disney vacationistas. We've traveled with several other companies, too, but ABD and Tauck are our go-to travel companies. Yes, both are more expensive, but after every trip I look it over and conclude it was worth it. My complaint about Tauck is the hit and miss with guides-- twice it was meh, and once it was a great experience. With ABD, nearly every guide has been outstanding. That does make a difference. We pick our trips first for the general destination and then the details-- so not always Disney, not always Tauck. But if all is equal,, I'd give the edge to Disney. For sure when we travel, I am just happy to be there-- especially true for all of us in 2022! So, if you were put off by something during the pandemic, don't let that prevent a great trip from happening!

 

[Calfan]

So ABD has done it again. Miraculously, we received the refund for the PIF payment we made on May 12 late yesterday, literally hours before our statement closing date. So, happily, we won't have to pay a large cc bill only to end up with a very large credit balance within a couple of days. BUT, ABD neglected to refund our initial deposits and our prepayments for our Wish excursion, which together total just under $5k? ***, ABD?!?!?! So completely unacceptable. Of course, I've reached out to our TA to ask her to follow up with ABD, but I am livid. Does ABD think we don't want our deposits and excursion prepayments back? I am sooooo done with ABD!!

 

[Calfan]

So ABD has done it again. Miraculously, we received the refund for the PIF payment we made on May 12 late yesterday, literally hours before our statement closing date. So, happily, we won't have to pay a large cc bill only to end up with a very large credit balance within a couple of days. BUT, ABD neglected to refund our initial deposits and our prepayments for our Wish excursion, which together total just under $5k? ***, ABD?!?!?! So completely unacceptable. Of course, I've reached out to our TA to ask her to follow up with ABD, but I am livid. Does ABD think we don't want our deposits and excursion prepayments back? I am sooooo done with ABD!!

I realize I am quoting myself here, but did ABD actually think we wouldn't notice that our deposits and Wish excursion prepayments hadn't been refunded? I seriously think they were hoping I'd see a big credit and assume all of our funds had been refunded. Or is it a ploy to try to make us book another trip using those funds? Either way, it just stinks of money grubbing by ABD. Like they are going to hold on to every last dollar for as long as they can and force us to keep coming back to them to request the refund to which we are entitled since ABD CANCELLED OUR TRIP!! Such a bad taste in my mouth for ABD right now.....

 

[Mathmagicland]

I realize I am quoting myself here, but did ABD actually think we wouldn't notice that our deposits and Wish excursion prepayments hadn't been refunded? I seriously think they were hoping I'd see a big credit and assume all of our funds had been refunded. Or is it a ploy to try to make us book another trip using those funds? Either way, it just stinks of money grubbing by ABD. Like they are going to hold on to every last dollar for as long as they can and force us to keep coming back to them to request the refund to which we are entitled since ABD CANCELLED OUR TRIP!! Such a bad taste in my mouth for ABD right now.....

When my trip was cancelled, I received multiple refunds as each transaction was refunded separately- deposit, and then PIF amount. Same thing happened with DCL cancellations. So it’s possible your refunds for the deposit & the Wish excursion are still in process & will come through within the next few days.

 

[AquaDame]

When my trip was cancelled, I received multiple refunds as each transaction was refunded separately- deposit, and then PIF amount. Same thing happened with DCL cancellations. So it’s possible your refunds for the deposit & the Wish excursion are still in process & will come through within the next few days.

This is what I would assume as well - we received our deposit and funds for the Wish excursion as separate refunds on our CC. They DID happen to arrive on the same day though....

 

[Calfan]

This is what I would assume as well - we received our deposit and funds for the Wish excursion as separate refunds on our CC. They DID happen to arrive on the same day though....

Still nothing in the way of a refund of our deposits or prepaid Wish excursion. Our TA is following up with ABD.

 

[Calfan]

Still nothing in the way of a refund of our deposits or prepaid Wish excursion. Our TA is following up with ABD.

Looks like the deposits and Wish excursion payments were refunded to an earlier iteration of one of my Chase credit cards, so that likely explains the delay in having them post. So I do take back any accusations of nefarious dealings on the part of ABD on this issue, but I'm still not happy overall with the way ABD has handled bookings during the pandemic, and the forced PIF only to have the trip cancelled two weeks later still rankles. We still don't plan to travel with ABD again because of all this.