Other Options...

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Now that the deposit is higher, groups are larger and there are few guaranteed trips to be had we will also be looking at other companies as well. We've got the ABD river cruise and post cruise Prague add-on booked for this summer and Winter in Wyoming booked for the end of the year. I'm glad to hear about the good experiences with Nat. Geo. I'd like to go to Africa for my 50th birthday but ABD doesn't have Victoria Falls in their itinerary but some of the Nat. Geo ones do. Besides, that is definitely not a trip where I want to risk a cancellation.

You could always book the ABD S. Africa and use a private company to add on Victoria Falls. I have been corresponding with Rhino Tours in S. Africa and they are amazing. Honestly the range of options for safaris in Africa is mind boggling. Having said that I think the best combination for us would be Cape Town (it's supposed to beautiful), the Garden Route and Kruger Park (all covered by ABD). Then a flight from Johannesburg to Livingstone to see the falls (a day or 2 max is all that is needed). After visiting the falls you could travel to Botswana (easy drive from Livingstone) for a few days for another safari before flying from Kasane Airport back to Johannesburg and back home (perhaps with a brief visit in London). From what I've heard people keep going back to Africa year after year to visit so what you don't see with ABD you'd likely see again another time.

Honestly there are so many independent safari operators in Africa that I don't think it would be a problem if ABD cancelled a planned trip. You could give the itinerary to a local tour operator and they could duplicate it (or tweak it to your specifications) for less money I'm sure. You wouldn't be with a group and maybe wouldn't have the little surprises but you'd have a more intimate experience and do exactly what you wanted when you wanted. If you wanted to sit and watch elephants for 2 hours you could do exactly that. Believe me if it wasn't just myself and my soon-to-be 14 year-old daughter I would do a solo trip in a heartbeat. But a large part of me feels that she needs the group interaction at this point.

You should check out some of the private reserves in Kruger like Sabi Sands and the Singita Boulder Lodge. WOW. Luxury safari defined.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Both were expeditions. Our trip was a cruise in the Galapagos, so it was a bigger group. For our group of 94 guests we had an expedition leader, 6 naturalists and a video chronicler. There were 14 kids (unless I'm forgetting somebody) between ages 9 and 16, with the majority of them being 11 to 13. I would say most of the parents with children were in their late 30's to late 40's. There were maybe 4 people in their 60's or 70s, one grandmother with her daughter and granddaughter, a mother with her grown son, and a gentleman traveling solo who had booked the trip for himself and his wife, who passed away before the trip, and a lady traveling solo. The remainder were couples in their 30's, 40's and 50's, including a couple who were married on board the ship as we cruised around Leon Dormido. Our trip began on March 12, which was during spring break for us, but I think our spring breaks are earlier than a lot of US schools. But there were still quite a few kids.

The two couples that I met who were with the Nat Geo group in Peru were late 30's/early 40s with kids around 10-12, I would guess. Of course, I don't know who all of the people were with Nat Geo, but Sol y Luna isn't that big, so it was probably every other guests who wasn't part of the ABD group. I don't recall seeing a lot of older people, like the Tauck group we saw in California wheeling around their oxygen tanks.

Lol at the Tauck comment!

It had never occurred to me to look at Nat Geo trips that weren't family ones. That might be another option for us. I'm just not fond of how they market their Peru trip as 8 days when it is only 5.5 days of touring; they count 2 full days of traveling (to get there and to return home) as "trip" time. I find that to be a bit deceptive. But that's just me. I've always been a tad irked that ABD expects guests to tip the guides for the first day (which is just a meet and greet dinner) and the last day (departure to the airport). But at least the first day you actually see the guides; the last day we only saw the guides once in our 3 trips (that was in Australia this past summer - they both came down to see everyone before we boarded the coach to the airport). Again just my opinion for what it's worth !

 

[Rapunzellover]

......as they sing in "Grease"....."Tell me more, tell me more....."

I'm just getting estimates. Not much to tell yet. They gave me some sample itinerary. We're using it as a template. I consulted with kensington and travcoa but like A&K best. Their people seemed most interested in my business.

What more do you want to know?

 

[Bobo912]

Lol at the Tauck comment!

It had never occurred to me to look at Nat Geo trips that weren't family ones. That might be another option for us. I'm just not fond of how they market their Peru trip as 8 days when it is only 5.5 days of touring; they count 2 full days of traveling (to get there and to return home) as "trip" time. I find that to be a bit deceptive. But that's just me. I've always been a tad irked that ABD expects guests to tip the guides for the first day (which is just a meet and greet dinner) and the last day (departure to the airport). But at least the first day you actually see the guides; the last day we only saw the guides once in our 3 trips (that was in Australia this past summer - they both came down to see everyone before we boarded the coach to the airport). Again just my opinion for what it's worth !

I get it, but it seems like most companies count the first and last day which are mainly just travel days. The first day of the ABD Peru trip is a travel day with no activities or meals and the guides were in the hotel lobby for maybe an hour in the morning and we didn't see them again that day. The eighth day is a flight from Cusco to Lima for the farewell lunch, after which the trip is basically over. About 3/4 of our group, including one of the guides, flew out that night. We had 3 guides because they were preparing for the press trip that was coming up after us. The two guides that weren't flying home, went out to dinner together, and weren't at the hotel to see us off, so we never saw them again after the farewell lunch. There were a few guests with morning flights on the 9th day, which was nothing but breakfast for those few remaining travelers and a transport to the airport. So we saw the guides for a few minutes on Day 1, went home on Day 8 and had a 7 day trip for which we tipped for 9 days. I guess it's my own stupidity that I tipped for the 9th day when I wasn't even there, but I didn't even think about it until it was too late.

 

[calypso726]

You could always book the ABD S. Africa and use a private company to add on Victoria Falls. I have been corresponding with Rhino Tours in S. Africa and they are amazing. Honestly the range of options for safaris in Africa is mind boggling. Having said that I think the best combination for us would be Cape Town (it's supposed to beautiful), the Garden Route and Kruger Park (all covered by ABD). Then a flight from Johannesburg to Livingstone to see the falls (a day or 2 max is all that is needed). After visiting the falls you could travel to Botswana (easy drive from Livingstone) for a few days for another safari before flying from Kasane Airport back to Johannesburg and back home (perhaps with a brief visit in London). From what I've heard people keep going back to Africa year after year to visit so what you don't see with ABD you'd likely see again another time.

Honestly there are so many independent safari operators in Africa that I don't think it would be a problem if ABD cancelled a planned trip. You could give the itinerary to a local tour operator and they could duplicate it (or tweak it to your specifications) for less money I'm sure. You wouldn't be with a group and maybe wouldn't have the little surprises but you'd have a more intimate experience and do exactly what you wanted when you wanted. If you wanted to sit and watch elephants for 2 hours you could do exactly that. Believe me if it wasn't just myself and my soon-to-be 14 year-old daughter I would do a solo trip in a heartbeat. But a large part of me feels that she needs the group interaction at this point.

You should check out some of the private reserves in Kruger like Sabi Sands and the Singita Boulder Lodge. WOW. Luxury safari defined.

Thanks for the advice! Prior to the higher deposit and larger group changes with ABD we were considering doing the ABD Africa and then adding on Victoria Falls on the front or back end as well as a visit with the Maasai and we may still go that route but it remains to be seen. We did wind up copying the ABD itinerary for Ireland and using a private tour company since the ABD dates didn't work out for us. I'm sure we could do that for Africa but like you said there are sooooo many tour operators so narrowing things down will be difficult.

 

[Grifdog22]

Out of curiosity, what was it that made you (anyone on this thread) decide to start looking at other tour companies? Was it just the lack of trip guarantees or was it something specific that happened?

I'll start. On our very first trip last year, which was the Southern California Disneyland trip, we had a great time right up until the very last evening, when ABD screwed up. Throughout the week we had taken part in all the optional activities until the last full trip day at California Adventure. We opted to skip seeing Aladdin (we'd seen the full sized Broadway show a few months earlier) and we really didn't want to see the Frozen sing-a-long after having WDW be nothing but Frozen this and Frozen that. Plus California Adventure had the one attraction I was dying to ride so we opted to skip the optional activities and hit some of the attractions. As the group broke up for lunch/free/optional time, the guides asked us what we were planning to do since we were skipping the optional activities. I told them we were hitting the rides, especially the giant roller coaster behind us at the time (California Screamin'). They seemed surprised but that didn't bother us. I was dying to ride it and I was going to do just that. Our Disney guide had to talk to our DL Guest Relations liaison so we asked our other guide what time and where were we supposed to meet for dinner that night. He told us to meet everyone at the large flower vase at Carthay Circle Restaurant at 5pm. I thought this was a bit odd because the only large vase I remembered seeing at Carthay Circle was up in the centre of the restaurant so I confirmed that I heard him correctly and he again said the vase at Carthay Circle at 5pm. With the meeting time confirmed my mom and I headed off on our own for a great afternoon of hitting the major attractions at California Adventure. As 5pm approaches we head over to Carthay Circle to meet up with everyone only no one is there and no one is showing up. After about 10 minutes of waiting without anyone from our group nor our guides showing up we start to wonder what's going on so I go talk to the check in desk in the restaurant and find out our group isn't due until 6:30pm. Now I'm completely confused so I try calling the guides. No answer. I had to call both guides multiple times before someone finally answered. Turns out we were supposed to meet at the large flower vase back at Grand Californian as everyone is now waiting for us in a meeting room at the hotel. We were NOT impressed. We were given the wrong information, which had been confirmed by a GUIDE and now we are the ones holding everyone up. By the time we get back to the hotel, we were actually going to just skip the rest of the night with the group but 2 ABD reps, they were our guides supervisors who were checking in periodically throughout the trip, found us on our way up to our room and basically insisted we come to the group gathering, insisting it was a miscommunication on our part that got the location messed up. My mom was so upset she really didn't want to go and it just totally ruined the rest of the evening. Needless to say, blaming us for the screw up of the guide left us with a really bad impression. We are giving them another chance with Central Europe but for 2017 we are looking at National Geographic.

We have done four ABD trips and our last one was a major disappointment. The guides were disengaged. The "big" event for us, a full afternoon tour of the Hayden Valley at Yellowstone, was simply cancelled for no reason or explanation except that the guides said they needed to return to set up the farewell dinner. There were no added touches on our trip. We had more fun on our own. The tours no longer, to us, justify the premium price.

I just can't get over the cancellation of the Hayden Valley tour, which was what we had looked forward to the most.

Many trips have hiccups, and we can go with the flow. In Peru there was domestic unrest and ABD handled it well. We still managed all of the major tour aspects. South Africa when the IS killed Bin Laden. No worries. Winter in Wyoming. Poorly executed. Too expensive for the product. Too many risks-cancellations, etc.now.

What struck home for us was we had a Disney Exec and her husband on the last trip with us-and they opted out of a number of the activities. They did things that were much more fun. We chose poorly by sticking with ABD.

We look elsewhere for guided trips or tours.ABD lost us and our vocal endorsements.

We recently visited WDW again, on the other hand, and thoroughly had a blast. Pure magic.

So I fault the guides in our case, management overall on execution, and the VP responsible for not giving a damn. We also had come with high expectations. Don't get me wrong-the scenery was spectacular. We just didn't see much of it with ABD.

 

[carpenta]

We did Yellowstone with Nat. Geo and I can't think of enough compliments to give the company and guides......outstanding trip for everyone involved. Everything that was promised and then some. I "feel your pain" about the quality vs. cost issue.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

The tours no longer, to us, justify the premium price.

This is basically it for me, too--which I find so sad. I think they had a fabulous niche product going, but now it just seems like an expensive tour. That was my my biggest gripe with the ABD Baltics Add-on aside from the huge group--it's wasn't that it was "bad," there just wasn't anything really special about it. It was pretty much just a tour group. ABD seems to be moving in the direction of taking away (in the case of Scotland) or not offering (in the case of the Baltics Add-on) the special/VIP things that make the trips unique. I still can't get over that they eliminated an entire day from the Scotland itinerary (including a flight on a private plane to Lewis) and charged the same price--or maybe it was more, I can't remember. That was one of our favorite days, and the private plane was awesome.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

We are seriously considering doing an Abercrombie and Kent family trip to Peru in December. The only ABD trip that fits our timetable is Amazon & the Galapagos, but the itinerary doesn't work for us (I'd rather take a tour boat around to the different islands as opposed to the ABD land-based stay there). The A&K Peru trip covers most of the same areas / attractions as National Geographic and ABD and is priced fairly IMO. Currently they only have a family of 7 booked so we are in a waiting pattern to see if more families book and what the demographics are. AmEx Platinum also has a promo where you save $250.00 per person on an A&K family trip so that helps a bit.

Another December option for us is an African safari. We are looking at doing a private trip as the ones offered through the tour companies don't fit our schedule. If December doesn't work out for us then we would most likely consider booking the ABD S. Africa trip in the summer of 2017. Just not sure what we will do yet.

You should look at the Private Expeditions offered by Nat Geo for Africa. These trips can be booked at your convenience so you pick the dates that work for you.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Like I said, they were burned out. We were one of the first trips for the general public (although about half were contest winners) and the guides had just spent weeks leading the press and other big shots around. And, right off the bat, they had to deal with adventurers whose flights were delayed and luggage was lost. (Contest winners who were not happy with Disney at all!) And then there was the kid who puked on the bus as we started on the road to Skye. (The smell lingered for the rest of the trip.) They both left for a much-needed trip back to the US after our tour. I understand one of the guides has since stepped up her game.

This is no excuse for yelling at your guests. They work in the service industry. It's their job to lead groups of people around and not yell at them for taking something that was paid for by the group members. It doesn't matter who they may or may not have led or be leading. Yelling at your guests is a sure fire way to a. lose your guests as a potential returning guest and b. get your butt fired.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Thanks for the advice! Prior to the higher deposit and larger group changes with ABD we were considering doing the ABD Africa and then adding on Victoria Falls on the front or back end as well as a visit with the Maasai and we may still go that route but it remains to be seen. We did wind up copying the ABD itinerary for Ireland and using a private tour company since the ABD dates didn't work out for us. I'm sure we could do that for Africa but like you said there are sooooo many tour operators so narrowing things down will be difficult.

Nat Geo will do a customized trip for your travelling party, whether that's a group of 2 or 4 or 10. You tell them where you want to, what you want to see and they will create something for you.

 

[tracyz]

We're going to the Galapagos this summer with another company and here's why:
After 4 ABD's, my family was completely sold on them and felt like loyal customers. I talked them up to everyone and was decided that all of our big vacations would involve ABD. However, about a year ago we decided that our next trip was going to be the Galapagos, and it would be summer 2016. I love to plan ahead and lock in the next trip so I have something to be really excited about. I was getting antsy waiting for ABD to open up 2016 dates, so I did some comparison shopping, mostly just to feed my excitement. What I found was a trip that fit our wishes better, was slightly less expensive, and was open for booking at that time. The tour company we booked with contracts with a company in the Galapagos called Ecoventura.
The trip we booked is a 7 night cruise, rather than the 3 (or 4?) nights you get with ABD. We are really focused on the Galapagos part of the trip, so that's good for us. We'll arrive in Ecuador a couple of days early and see the couple of sights we are interested in on our own "on the cheap."
The other BIG selling point was that the group on our boat will be a max of 20 people (and it's a family-based trip...the company actually sends out 3 boats at once and divides the groups onto the different boats based on the ages of the kids!). Our first ABD was a group of 21, and it was perfect. We really got to know everyone in that group and made some lasting friendships. Subsequent ABD's had around 40, and it was too big a crowd for my liking. It felt a little like we were being herded.
There's a part of me that is a little nervous trying a new company, when we know that ABD is a guaranteed win in our opinion. But with this find, I'll likely be doing more shopping in the future before blindly booking with ABD.
So long story short, the journey began with frustration at the belatedness of release of next year's itineraries, but my biggest area of discontent with ABD at this point is those large group sizes. For that kind of money, I don't want to feel like part of a crowd.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

We're going to the Galapagos this summer with another company and here's why:
After 4 ABD's, my family was completely sold on them and felt like loyal customers. I talked them up to everyone and was decided that all of our big vacations would involve ABD.
So long story short, the journey began with frustration at the belatedness of release of next year's itineraries, but my biggest area of discontent with ABD at this point is those large group sizes. For that kind of money, I don't want to feel like part of a crowd.

Can you tell us what company you are using?

I have been waiting for 9+ days for ABD to let me know if we can be accommodated on the late December Amazon / Galapagos trip (I was told 3 - 4 days). To me this is horrible service; can my TA e-mail me an update, i.e. "still waiting to hear back from ABD" or is the assumption that the product is so superior I am waiting by the computer for acceptance? Ugh.

While waiting I discovered the same thing you did. The time in the Galapagos with ABD is spent at a land-based hotel as opposed to a ship (and only a few days at that). From what I have read you are going to see a lot more if you stay on a ship at night simply because of the ease to move about the islands overnight. The one BIG plus with ABD is the cruise down the Amazon on what looks to be a brand new, beautiful ship. So it would be a toss up for me. Assuming ABD (via my TA) ever gets back to me

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Can you tell us what company you are using?

I have been waiting for 9+ days for ABD to let me know if we can be accommodated on the late December Amazon / Galapagos trip (I was told 3 - 4 days). To me this is horrible service; can my TA e-mail me an update, i.e. "still waiting to hear back from ABD" or is the assumption that the product is so superior I am waiting by the computer for acceptance? Ugh.

While waiting I discovered the same thing you did. The time in the Galapagos with ABD is spent at a land-based hotel as opposed to a ship (and only a few days at that). From what I have read you are going to see a lot more if you stay on a ship at night simply because of the ease to move about the islands overnight. The one BIG plus with ABD is the cruise down the Amazon on what looks to be a brand new, beautiful ship. So it would be a toss up for me. Assuming ABD (via my TA) ever gets back to me

Have you taken a look at National Geographic? It doesn't go in December but if you want to cruise the Galapagos, take a look at this trip. http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/galapagos-family-cruise/detail

 

[Bobo912]

Have you taken a look at National Geographic? It doesn't go in December but if you want to cruise the Galapagos, take a look at this trip. http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/galapagos-family-cruise/detail

This is the same itinerary and ship as our Nat Geo Galapagos trip and it was the most amazing trip we've ever taken in many ways. We chosse Nat Geo because the cruise was longer than what ABD offered. And I'm very glad we did, because the staff, crew and naturalists were amazing. From my experience with 5 ABDs, I would say they definitely fall short in comparison. The regular trip (not listed as family) is exactly the same and does have dates in December.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

This is the same itinerary and ship as our Nat Geo Galapagos trip and it was the most amazing trip we've ever taken in many ways. We chosse Nat Geo because the cruise was longer than what ABD offered. And I'm very glad we did, because the staff, crew and naturalists were amazing. From my experience with 5 ABDs, I would say they definitely fall short in comparison. The regular trip (not listed as family) is exactly the same and does have dates in December.

We're looking at doing National Geographic next year. We're booked for Central Europe with ABD this September but we like the itineraries with Nat Geo better. Especially the Private Expeditions to South Africa and Cambodia/Vietnam.

 

[tracyz]

We found a company called Austin Adventures that does a bunch of "adventure travel" trips. They do a lot of itineraries similar to ABD, so I'll be looking at them in the future as well to compare the options. In the Galapagos, though, I believe they pretty much just contract with Ecoventura. It seems like they must have exclusive dates reserved for their departures, but Ecoventura is its own company and you can book them directly as well. Their website has some good info, and I've been following them on Facebook - they seem great!

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

We found a company called Austin Adventures that does a bunch of "adventure travel" trips. They do a lot of itineraries similar to ABD, so I'll be looking at them in the future as well to compare the options. In the Galapagos, though, I believe they pretty much just contract with Ecoventura. It seems like they must have exclusive dates reserved for their departures, but Ecoventura is its own company and you can book them directly as well. Their website has some good info, and I've been following them on Facebook - they seem great!

I've looked at many of their trips in the past. They sound like a great company. I hope you will write a review for us when you get back so we know how it compares to ABD!

 

[Bobo912]

I just received the email below from Thomson Family Adventures and I received a similar email from Tauck last week. I often see Thomson trips sold out, and I know Tauck has no problem filling up their trips, as well, so I believe these two companies are doing this because it is the right way to treat their customers. Unfortunately, I would be very surprised to see ABD do anything like this. They could learn some lessons from their competitors.

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[CaliforniaGirl09]

I just received the email below from Thomson Family Adventures and I received a similar email from Tauck last week. I often see Thomson trips sold out, and I know Tauck has no problem filling up their trips, as well, so I believe these two companies are doing this because it is the right way to treat their customers. Unfortunately, I would be very surprised to see ABD do anything like this. They could learn some lessons from their competitors.

Check Out our New Low Prices for Thailand, Ireland, and Canada

We have some exciting news. Your family can now visit Thailand, Ireland, and Canada for up to $3,200 less than before. The rate for Ireland is now $800 less per person and Thailand and Canada are now $400 less per person. The US Dollar has gotten stronger against the Thai Baht, the Euro, and the Canadian Dollar and we’re able to pass these savings onto you, our guests! Explore the exotic natural landscapes of Thailand, the beautiful green Irish country side, or the breathtaking Canadian Rocky mountains for a lower price without sacrificing any of the quality that Thomson Family Adventures is known for!

Wow, that is pretty awesome! I definitely can't imagine Disney doing something like that.