Initial Booking Letter

[tiggr33]

I booked my September Imperial Cities trip in December. I still haven't recieved the confirmation letter from ABD. Did anyone else has have trouble getting the letter? I have been in contact with them, and they keep telling me they will re-send it.

Does the initial letter say anything I should be aware of. At this point I have no faith that I'll actually get it.

 

[mary1025]

I'm in the same boat. We leave in 16 days and are yet to receive ANYTHING from ABD. Our travel agent keeps checking with them and being told "toward the end of the week" - for 2 weeks now.

We have the charges on our Disney Visa from ABD - but that's about it.

We are taking a leap of faith that our money for the Tuscany trip is well spent, but so far not impressed with the service. Also, after listening to Kevin's podcast and getting excited about the high quality of accomodations they encountered, I've looked at the villa for the 4 days we are based in Tuscany and online the reviews have been lukewarm.

It's hard to get excited with no paperwork and so-so reviews of our accomodations. Someone help me get in the mood!

 

[ronny1]

Hi Mary,

Don't despair about the Villa in Tuscany. I am sure that Disney would not pick a dive for us to stay in. Is the villa that you're staying in Borgo San Luigi? I know that's the one we stay in and you're right, the reviews have not been the greatest, however the reviews for any of the hotels for the Viva Italia have not been spectacular. I know from experience to take everyone's opinions with a grain of salt. All of us know Disney, though, and we know that they make everything special. They have made all our vacations magical and those of us lucky enough to go on a tour are going to be swept up by Disney magic I know that you, me and all the rest of us going on an ABD adventure are going to have the times of our lives. You make sure you give us a review when you come home, okay?

 

[mary1025]

The Tuscany Tour stays at Villa Belvedere Campoli, Tuscany.

Thanks for the words of wisdom. As you said, I'm sure that the pixie dust and magic follows the Disney franchise.....And of course I will write a trip report when we return!

 

[DisneyMeMa]

mary1035 amd Tiggr 33, I also have had difficulties with getting confirmations with AbD. With some effort on my part, at this time I have them resolved. Everyone that is traveling with us has gotten their confirmation letter and release. IMO be persistent. I wanted to see something in writing, not just credit card charges. I was beginning to think of alternatives for the trip that would not include AbD, LOL, even though I think that the AbD trip will be very special. This is the third year we will be traveling with AbD, and we plan to travel again with them next year. My DH is at the "we'll see" point for next year. I tend to make excuses for them because they are offering so many adventures this year. I was told that the final documents and backpacks were not be sent until about 30 days before the adventure date. Have you received yours?

 

[tiggr33]

MeMa,
I finally got our confirm letters and releases. Our trip isn't until Septemebr so we havent gotten the "goodies" yet. But our letters were wrong!!! Suprise suprise. Two of us won this trip, and one of our party used DVC points. That threw them. The letters said that the person who used DVC hadn't paid. Well many emails later, they say it is all correct in their mind now. I have to say I am not at all impressed by ABD at this point.

 

[DisneyMeMa]

I agree, Tiggr33. I'm glad to read you have also received your confirmation. Our 2007 experience has not been, as Disney states it will be - effortless and magical - thus far. The booking process and communication needs improvement, and IMO AbD can/will. Like you, I try to understand the complications we present to them. In our case we have multiple last names and addresses for them to deal with. That said, it is their job! Obviously, I like AbD and want to do business with them. As my DH said, almost everyone gives you a receipt these days even if it is just for a candy bar. Here we've committed valuable vacation time, traveling many thousands of miles, lots of $s, etc. DisneyKevin, I've even gotten my Euros from our local bank for our gratuities... Then nothing arrives comfirming that we have paid in full as well as the who, what, when and where specifics of the trip. And when it does, everything isn't correct, is accompanied by every disclaimer imaginable and I'm delighted to see it, LOL.

 

[mary1025]

We leave in 14 days and have yet to see confirmations, paperwork, or the package. Our TA indicated she had just received the "large" package yesterday and sent it out to us.

We booked at the end of March, but, in a customer service driven industry such as travel, I find there is no excuse for the lack of communication. So far, not impressed. I am, however, keeping an open mind and hoping that the trip itself will more than make up for the poor start.

And.....this tops it all.....AbD wants me to sign their diclaimer and release of liability form "asap". I indicated in no uncertain terms I will not sign anything until I receive the paper work they reference in the release.

 

[jlou]

so, how did everything turn out?

I just booked a trip 3 days ago, for next year, and am already anxious for a letter confirming my reservation. I hope to receive something soon. I will not do well waiting for several months to receive something from them. I was told that I had to sign something within 14 days and return it to them, or I would forfeit my reservation.

 

[tiggr33]

You'll get a booking letter and waiver to sign now. But you won't get anything else from then until to 35-45 day mark.

 

[cindy18]

We also booked in August for next July (doing the save the date thing and plonking down $300 per person). We received a one page confirmation letter (with tons of disclaimers on the back) and were told to expect a full packet in early September, with 14 days to commit. Nothing yet. I called them yesterday, and they said there were problems with the quality of the printing, and they had to send everything back to be redone. I was told that they would be mailing out the packets by the end of this coming week. We'll see. This is our first experience with ABD. Everything else we've ever done with Disney has been terrific, and the blogs I've been reading about the tours sound so wonderful that I am just going with it for now.

 

[jlou]

called today to cancel my trip insurance through ABD and the price went up instead of down. Seems they were now calculating my trip based upon the full rate (without the early booking discount). The agent I spoke with said he would get it fixed, but it's unnerving to know that I will never get a letter from them once I've paid in full, confirming that they agree that it's paid in full. I also still have not received anything from them..... I guess I will have to print out copies of all the payments I make and keep very good records.

I hope it all turns out. I haven't read that anyone has ever had problems that weren't ultimately worked out, but I don't want this to have to be a worry for me. I would love it if they would set up some sort of account on the website, where you can check your account, make payments, etc.

 

[jlou]

I got my package yesterday (via UPS). Read it, copied it, signed it and..... couldn't mail it back, as it was Columbus Day! Everything looked in order, no mistakes. So nice to have something official.

It's in the mail today.

I guess we're really going! I can't wait.

 

[Pixmaus]

Congratulations!

It's so nice to have the official paperwork in your hands....

 

[cindy18]

Our packet came last week, and we sent in the confirm a few days ago. It all looked good, except they booked us automatically into a quad (we are 2 adults and two girls, ages 12 and 10). Considering the cost this year is the same whether you have 2 rooms or 1, I asked them to change it to 2 adjoining rooms. They did it, but doing that meant that we now actually have 2 separate reservations, one with me and one daughter and one with my husband and the other daughter. Now why would that be? They also said that the new reservation technically wouldn't qualify for the early booking discount (which I guess is all gone for our trip) but since we originally booked during the "save the date" period, they honored the early booking discount for the new reservation. I'm a little uncomfortable about it, but they assured me that everything would be fine.

 

[jlou]

Our packet came last week, and we sent in the confirm a few days ago. It all looked good, except they booked us automatically into a quad (we are 2 adults and two girls, ages 12 and 10). Considering the cost this year is the same whether you have 2 rooms or 1, I asked them to change it to 2 adjoining rooms. They did it, but doing that meant that we now actually have 2 separate reservations, one with me and one daughter and one with my husband and the other daughter. Now why would that be? They also said that the new reservation technically wouldn't qualify for the early booking discount (which I guess is all gone for our trip) but since we originally booked during the "save the date" period, they honored the early booking discount for the new reservation. I'm a little uncomfortable about it, but they assured me that everything would be fine.

Hi Cindy,
we were also booked as a quad. I wondered about that as well, since we're paying the same amount. I asked a concierge agent about it (because like you, I wondered why it was automatic), and he said that we would be in adjoining rooms. Here's what I read from the ABD website:

Note on accommodations:
Subject to availability:
• Parties of three in London are accommodated in one room having two double beds. Parties of three in Paris are accommodated in one room having either two double beds, or one king bed and a rollaway.
• Parties of four booked as a quads: Quads are accommodated in two connecting rooms, each having either one king bed or two double beds.
• Parties of four booked as two doubles are accommodated in two rooms, each having either two double beds or one king bed. Connecting rooms and rollaways may be requested.

from reading this, I can't see any difference. It looks like if you're booked as a quad, the rooms will be connected for sure, and if you're booked as a double, then you can request connecting rooms.

I will be a little peeved if I end up spending the same amount for one room as others have paid for 2. This is my main concern, but I asked about it, and hopefully, he knew what he was talking about. I considered doing what you did, just to be on the safe side, but figured I would rather have the adjoining rooms guaranteed. I'm not sure if my reasoning is right on that, but I guess we'll see.

edited to add: maybe it's different for your adventure? We're doing London/Paris. I'm not sure how quads are done for other adventures.

 

[cindy18]

We're doing the Southwest Splendors trip, and they told me that one of the 3 resorts does not have adjacent rooms. While the other 2 do, they can't guarantee them, they can only request them. Somehow that wasn't too inspiring. What we did was request one king bedded room and double bedded room with 2 beds. This way, if the rooms aren't adjoining and the kids are not comfortable sleeping apart from us, we'll all sleep together in the room with 2 beds. So it seemed worth it to do, but I have no idea how it will actually pan out.