Let down by ABD. Going through stages of loss and grief

[Woodview]

If you really want to do the Australian tour .... you have done a lot of work on it already .... then Re book and do it

Your way ..... it can be done ... Hire a car ... or campervan. ..... We drove from Brisbane to Sydney ,via coast , & back by inland roads .

Lady Musgrave Island for Great Barrier Reef , start at ( town ) 1792

It can be done and fun

 

[tinka-belle]

Every company that offers escorted tours can cancel for low enrollment and offer you other dates. Some companies (not ABD) publish a more ambitious list of dates than they can fill, and start canceling far in advance of the trip if they see some dates not selling. Others pretty much cancel only a few scattered dates when participation is low. Though it does mess with people's plans there are just not enough people booked to cover the cost of the trip, and often hotels, transportation, and guides have to be notified several months in advance.

The key here is to look for a "guaranteed" departure date, several tour companies offer them, and these tend to fill first over other dates as people want to know their trip will go. Those dates might not exactly fit in with your schedule but at least you know the trip will happen. Some tour companies have a magic number of 20 or 25 passengers before they guarantee a date, others may differ, and others don't guarantee their dates until closer to a final payment date. Some places guarantee certain dates and trips right away since they have a track record for that destination and know it will most likely fill. Another tip is to look at some smaller companies that might not offer many departure dates, but they usually guarantee the ones they have even if just a handful of people book the date, I've seen some guarantee a date with as little as two booked passengers.

Most will not cover any rebooking expenses for flights you've booked yourself. A bummer when you've got miles to use. If flights are booked with the tour company they absorb the penalty or change fees for flights on cancelled dates, but often not any change in the flight cost.

 

[Jadeey]

I'm really sorry it got cancelled, I would be feeling pretty upset myself if i'd been planning a wonderful trip and the ABD part got cancelled. All is not lost though, I agree with those that say you could plan the trip yourself. Australia really is an easy country to travel and tour around in. Even if you aren't keen to drive, there are plenty of easy ways to get around and internal flights can be pretty reasonably priced.

As a New Zealander who has had plenty of holidays in Australia I can promise you that you will have a wonderful time even planning it on your own. And I'm sure if you post on the Australia part of these forums there would be plenty of people willing to help you out with what things you should see and the best ways to get around to those places.

 

[calypso726]

So sorry to hear your trip got cancelled. But there's no reason not to go. You can get a tour company to replicate the ABD itinerary for those dates. We just did something similar for a trip to Ireland for next year. We wanted to visit Ireland en route to our ABD river cruise. Unfortunately, the Ireland ABD dates did not work for our time frame and dates. So, I copied the ABD Ireland itinerary and adjusted it for 2 nights in Ashford Castle and one night at Dromoland castle since I wanted to experience both castles and added other things that ABD didn't include. I sent out my wish list itinerary and dates to about 10 different tour companies in Ireland. I narrowed it down to two companies and now our trip is planned with a private chauffeur that is also supposed to be an excellent guide and storyteller which was one of my requirements. The cost is way less than the ABD Ireland trip but of course does not include meals or Tinkerbell whisking my luggage from place to place. I am sure I will miss having a group to bond with and of course the fabulous ABD guides. That said, I'm sure we will enjoy our little copy cat ABD adventure none the less. I hope it all works out for you but I wouldn;t give up those award seats! Those are hard to come by.

 

[Woodview]

Well done on choosing Ashford Castle in Cong & Dromoland Castle near Shannon Airport

Both are very good & worth it.

Try and take a trip to the Cork area ( I live in cork ) & The Ring of Kerry

 

[scottmel]

So sorry that happened to you and how EXTREMELY disappointing. I can only imagine....I loved my ABD trip but I have to be honest, I don't like ABD as a company. I was disappointed with pre trip issues and how things were handled. Wrote a very long after trip letter, never head a peep back. It has made me second guess using them in the future for various reasons.

 

[DCPhotoGal]

I'm so sorry to hear that your trip was cancelled! We have booked our third and fourth ABD trips for this year. When I book my trips I usually reserve the trip and hold off on purchasing the airfare until closer to the trip. And then I have used ABD to book the airfare just to be safe. In terms of pricing, the ABD agents were able to get better pricing for the airfare than I was able to find online, even through the discounters.