Cancelled by ABD: It DOES happen :(

[sayhello]

The frustrating thing is there doesn't seem to be many guaranteed dates for the trips I'm interested in.

How can you even tell which ones are guaranteed and which aren't?

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

How can you even tell which ones are guaranteed and which aren't?

Sayhello

Through wdwinfo.com

This happens to be for the Australia ABD. 2 guaranteed departures: Jun 24 and Dec 19.

 

[Tozzie]

I know how frustrating it is to have a trip cancelled heck the first two I ever booked with ABD were cancelled however since the "2009 cancellation debacle" I have not heard of many trips being cancelled, and the ones that have been cancelled seem to be something other than lack of interest.

The only other thing I will say is that the changes such as the departures not being guaranteed and the issues with airfare all changed when Karl Holz took the helm, i think he is an idiot and I cna't believe disney trusts him with ABD and DCL and I think also DVC. To those anxiously waiting to see tif their trips actually go I wish you well.

 

[Tozzie]

I'm saddened to hear this, Bobo, as I have my Ireland adventure set for July this year. But, honestly, pretty much all the ABDs are doable on your own it just takes money and planning.

I also went on the Ireland trip and thougth it was great everyone is going to have a different experience so I wouldn't be saddened yet just go with a positive attitude and enjoy.

 

[Rapunzellover]

Good to know.

 

[TXTransplant]

How can you even tell which ones are guaranteed and which aren't?

Sayhello

I think it's really annoying/frustrating that ABD doesn't disclose these dates on their website (at least not that I've been able to find). I read about guaranteed departure here...AFTER I'd already booked my trip. The dates didn't work for us anyway, but I don't understand why it's a scavenger hunt to find them.

 

[emilymad]

As someone who is just starting to research the details of ABD this information is all very helpful. While I was aware that the trips could be canceled I had no idea that it could be canceled so close to the trip date. It is unbelievable that ABD doesn't at some point guarantee that the trip will go. DH and I have limited time when we can schedule a vacation due to our work schedules. Even assuming that financially ABD would make you whole there is no way we could get back the vacation days.

 

[carpenta]

My fear is that some high executives loose touch with the everyday workings of their business and believe the "reputation" of the business is enough to carry it in the future. "Build it and they will come" seems to be the motto BUT in the service industry a lot of times it is rather "what have you done for me today?". Service,service,service as well as the comfort of the guest should be paramount. Disney seems to have it down in the parks and movies (as the stock can attest) but is lacking in their travel business. As has been posted before maybe the tree needs a good shaking and reorganize to regain focus?

 

[Rapunzellover]

They do at some point guarantee the departure, it's just some get cancelled before that point. And nobody knows when they make that guarantee and it varies from trip to trip. Which is not the blanket 75 out guarantee they used to have. This according to the vaccationista I talked to.

My Italy adventure which I leave for next week was guaranteed before I got the box. This was about 50 days out.

 

[TXTransplant]

They do at some point guarantee the departure, it's just some get cancelled before that point. And nobody knows when they make that guarantee and it varies from trip to trip. Which is not the blanket 75 out guarantee they used to have. This according to the vaccationista I talked to.

My Italy adventure which I leave for next week was guaranteed before I got the box. This was about 50 days out.

How is this information being communicated to you? Because I'm 30 days out, and while I have received my box and an email from my TA reminding me what I need to do to prepare for the trip, I have received nothing from my TA or ABD explicitly stating that our trip is guaranteed (excluding the "beyond our control" reasons, of course).

 

[Rapunzellover]

A week or so after my payment, I noticed my departure date had disappeared from the ABD website. I called ABD and asked because I was concerned. She (vaccationista) said they had taken the trip off because it was closed. Then she said it was a guaranteed trip, except for emergency situation.

 

[TXTransplant]

Interesting...my trip date still shows as being available on the ABD website. I know there are only 20 people on our trip.

 

[Rapunzellover]

Mine has 30-33 (can't remember exactly)

 

[TXTransplant]

The trip scheduled for the week before ours (the one we tried to switch to but ABD wanted to charge me $1000 more) has disappeared from the website. I believe that trip had 30+ guests booked when I inquired about changing. It all makes sense, but I wouldn't expect ABD to take down a trip with only 20 guests booked as long as people could still conceivably book and get airline tickets. So, I'm not sure relying on the website would always be a reliable way to determine if a trip is guaranteed or not. I would think the odds of our trip being cancelled at this point are pretty low, but as long as ABD has this stupid cancellation policy, I won't feel confident until we are on the plane.

I can't think of any reasons why ABD couldn't guarantee our trip at the 30-day mark, other than they just don't want to, and that REALLY irritates me.

 

[Rapunzellover]

No, don't rely on the website. Talk to ABD themselves. The website just led me to call.

 

[tufbuf]

I think this is the reason why it is taking them longer to release the 2016 dates. ABD has gotten a lot more expensive since we started taking them 7 years ago and I can see why the departures are not filling up. That would just be so much hassle to some if they cancel a few weeks before departure. And a big giant downer!

 

[TXTransplant]

Our itinerary doesn't seem to be selling well. There were originally 13 trips to Germany. Ten of those trips still show on the ABD website. One of the ten is wait-list only (and it also happens to be a guaranteed departure). Of the three that have been removed from the ABD website, two were adult only exclusives. Even three of the four guaranteed departure trips are still showing (albeit at a much higher price than what I've paid). Had I been aware of this cancellation policy, I would have thought long and hard about booking the August guaranteed departure date, even though I would much rather travel in June. But the info regarding the guaranteed departure was not presented to me by ABD/my travel agent at the time I booked. I didn't even realize there was such a thing until it was too late.

If for some reason our trip is cancelled, the only possible dates we could even think about rebooking are the trip in August that is wait-listed, since the trip the week before ours has now been removed from the website. None of this is putting my mind at ease about our trip.

My only consolation is that people here have indicated trips have gone with as little as 14 people, and we have 20 confirmed for our trip. But I could definitely imagine a situation where ABD attempts to consolidate some of these trips that still have availability.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

The more I read about this, the more leery I am getting about booking a future non-guaranteed trip. I think it's outrageous TXTransplant that you are only 30 days out and ABD will still not guarantee your trip. This thread has given me a lot to think about.

 

[tufbuf]

I just looked a our ABD and originally there were 8 departure dates. They canceled the one next to ours since it is not in the ABD website any longer and the departure dates are down to 7. Our departure date is not marked guaranteed in the wdwinfo website but we got our box already. That's scary!

 

[tufbuf]

And looks like the SE Asia ABD took the most beating - from 11 2015 departures down to 4!