Greece and Cancellation Criteria?

[KLondon]

Hello fellow ABDers... This has probably been covered before and I just have not noticed, so I thought I'd pose the question. Does anyone have a clear sense of under what conditions ABD will cancel a trip?

Through reading the current Egypt thread, my sense is that an important factor is the US State Dept. advisory level for a particular country - i.e. if CDC and State Dept. issue a Level 4 Advisory, then ABD will cancel. But maybe I'm being too simplistic?

For my own selfish purposes, we are scheduled for the Greece tour starting May 6 - a trip we've re-scheduled multiple times over the past 2 years. While my family is fully vaxxed and boostered, I am growing increasingly nervous about someone in my family testing positive while in Greece and getting stuck there in quarantine. It doesn't help that Greece has just instituted mandatory entry testing requirements until July 2022 - makes me think they need to get infections under control before the prime tourist season. I'm at the point where I'm hoping ABD cancels our trip and then we can wait things out to re-book. I could cancel today with a penalty (lose deposit) and make an insurance claim, but ABD cancelling is more ideal I think.

For the record, I'm Canadian, but we have similar re-entry testing requirements as US citizens. I've noticed that CDC and State Dept have Greece at Level 4. I've also noticed that the ABD Greece trips for April 2022 have disappeared from the website in the last few weeks, but maybe I'm reading too much into that. All of this gives me the notion that perhaps ABD will end up cancelling my trip, as well, but I'll have to sit tight and see what happens.

 

[zmom]

They have been cancelling when a country is at Level 4. I recently saw a post from someone on a Costa Rica trip in April that theirs was cancelled, so I think they are currently working on cancelling April departures. I am also watching it all unfold as we are on the Germany ABD in May and if the pattern holds maybe May trips will cancel in March. My vacationista said they were trying to cancel before paid in full dates for what that's worth.

 

[KLondon]

They have been cancelling when a country is at Level 4. I recently saw a post from someone on a Costa Rica trip in April that theirs was cancelled, so I think they are currently working on cancelling April departures. I am also watching it all unfold as we are on the Germany ABD in May and if the pattern holds maybe May trips will cancel in March. My vacationista said they were trying to cancel before paid in full dates for what that's worth.

Thank you for sharing! If they're trying to hit the PIF dates then that could explain why the April dates have disappeared from the website. So for my trip the 65 day PIF deadline happens to be March 1, so we'll see what happens. And I'll keep my fingers crossed that your Germany trip works out however is best for you!

 

[pjacobi]

While my family is fully vaxxed and boostered, I am growing increasingly nervous about someone in my family testing positive while in Greece and getting stuck there in quarantine.

That uncertainty has ruled out international travel for most of us that need to be back on a particular date for work.

Summer 2023 is looking good for international travel, but let's get through the current winter season and see what happens in fall of 2022.


-Paul

 

[KathyTN]

I've seen it posted that Disney cancels when a country is at Level 4, but it's not on their website anywhere. I think its more than that. Apparently Galapagos is going, and that's at a 4. They are going to Antarctica and Argentina was/is a 4, but thats truly a crusie. I called 2 weeks ago and the vacationista could not tell me what prompts a trip to be canceled other than, if they aren't confident the guests will have a good experience they will cancel the trip and there are issues with even getting the guides to the trips, which is part of the problem. We are supposed to go to Italy in May. Italy has very strict quarantines when testing positive or being a close contact.....10-21 days of mandatory quarantine with PCR testing.....and Disney has no contingency plans. If Italy doesn't relax their quarantine to something more reasonable, and Disney doesn't cancel the adventure, then we will have to cancel and lose our hefty deposits. We also have a trip planned for Seine (France) but I think the quarantine there is more reasonable. Not sure, because I need to look at that some more. We did the Greece trip and it's so amazing. I hope things work out and you can go!

 

[Eastridge]

Does ABD cancel a trip if the destination requires a quarantine or isolation on entry?

New Zealand recently announced plans to reopen to visitors by October, but it wasn't clear to me if they also require tourists to isolate or quarantine for 10 days upon entry before they can go touring. I would hope ABD would cancel trips if that was the policy.

 

[KLondon]

I've seen it posted that Disney cancels when a country is at Level 4, but it's not on their website anywhere. I think its more than that. Apparently Galapagos is going, and that's at a 4. They are going to Antarctica and Argentina was/is a 4, but thats truly a crusie. I called 2 weeks ago and the vacationista could not tell me what prompts a trip to be canceled other than, if they aren't confident the guests will have a good experience they will cancel the trip and there are issues with even getting the guides to the trips, which is part of the problem.

This makes sense. Where Galapagos and Antarctica are concerned, it can be relatively straightforward to create a bubble for the group of Guests. That could explain why those trips are going forward (with some modifications).

 

[KLondon]

Does ABD cancel a trip if the destination requires a quarantine or isolation on entry?

New Zealand recently announced plans to reopen to visitors by October, but it wasn't clear to me if they also require tourists to isolate or quarantine for 10 days upon entry before they can go touring. I would hope ABD would cancel trips if that was the policy.

It looks like New Zealand will still require 10-day self isolation upon arrival, although tourism groups are pushing to eliminate that requirement. I would assume that ABD would not conduct tours anywhere that had a mandatory isolation/quarantine requirement. A few links I saw:

NZ plan for re-opening: https://covid19.govt.nz/international-travel/travel-to-new-zealand/when-new-zealand-borders-open/

Reuters article that mentions 10-day isolation: https://www.reuters.com/world/new-zealand-reopen-borders-phases-end-feb-2022-02-02/