Question on Pre-Cruise ABD

[TrySomethingNew]

My family has signed up for the ABD for next year as a 3 night Pre-Cruise in Copenhagen. I am confident this will be a positive experience as that is what Disney strives for, but I have a few questions:

1. Do the ABD pre-cruise adventures really keep you busy for a full day - and what are typical hours for these types of trips (9am-7pm) or (7am - 9pm) as examples. Just wondering how much action to expect.

2. With only 2 guides and 44 (or 40) guests, do you really get much attention or interaction from the guides? - we will have an 8yo and a 16yo, so am expecting 8yo will do well with the trip

3. Along those lines, I was part of a tour group (not ABD) many years ago to France and Switzerland. I remember that it was sometimes hard to hear everything bc the group had so many in number and some of the places we visited made being close to the guide difficult. The number of 40+ for ABD makes me wonder if this will occur.

4. What if a large family or friend group makes up a large portion of guests - does it still work out well? Sometimes situations like that can overwhelm a group because so many know each other. I do not know if this is the case for our trip, but for example, just 10 people is approx a quarter of the group.

5. So this bumps up our cruise cost by adding the ABD pre-cruise, and I am excited to be a part of it. Just wondering if others who have done pre-cruise adventures would do it again (the pre-cruise trip).

So please, any thoughts and insights from those experienced with these types of add-ons will be appreciated!

 

[Bobo912]

I haven't done an ABD cruise add on, but here's my 2 cents based on my non-cruise ABD experience.

2. With only 2 guides and 44 (or 40) guests, do you really get much attention or interaction from the guides? - we will have an 8yo and a 16yo, so am expecting 8yo will do well with the trip

The guides try to give everyone their fair share of attention, but obviously, the bigger the group, the less attention each individual will receive. And some people are more needy than others and require more of the guide's time.

3. Along those lines, I was part of a tour group (not ABD) many years ago to France and Switzerland. I remember that it was sometimes hard to hear everything bc the group had so many in number and some of the places we visited made being close to the guide difficult. The number of 40+ for ABD makes me wonder if this will occur.

We were on the Peru ABD last year with 44 guests and when we toured Cusco many people could not hear what the guide was saying. With the narrow streets, it was impossible for everyone to be near enough to the guide to hear. On some tours Whisper wireless devices are used and then it's not a problem. Maybe you'll be lucky and they'll use them on your tour.

4. What if a large family or friend group makes up a large portion of guests - does it still work out well? Sometimes situations like that can overwhelm a group because so many know each other. I do not know if this is the case for our trip, but for example, just 10 people is approx a quarter of the group.

I've been on several tours, ABD and others, with large families and it was never an issue.

 

[Tozzie]

My family has signed up for the ABD for next year as a 3 night Pre-Cruise in Copenhagen. I am confident this will be a positive experience as that is what Disney strives for, but I have a few questions:

1. Do the ABD pre-cruise adventures really keep you busy for a full day - and what are typical hours for these types of trips (9am-7pm) or (7am - 9pm) as examples. Just wondering how much action to expect.

2. With only 2 guides and 44 (or 40) guests, do you really get much attention or interaction from the guides? - we will have an 8yo and a 16yo, so am expecting 8yo will do well with the trip

3. Along those lines, I was part of a tour group (not ABD) many years ago to France and Switzerland. I remember that it was sometimes hard to hear everything bc the group had so many in number and some of the places we visited made being close to the guide difficult. The number of 40+ for ABD makes me wonder if this will occur.

4. What if a large family or friend group makes up a large portion of guests - does it still work out well? Sometimes situations like that can overwhelm a group because so many know each other. I do not know if this is the case for our trip, but for example, just 10 people is approx a quarter of the group.
5. So this bumps up our cruise cost by adding the ABD pre-cruise, and I am excited to be a part of it. Just wondering if others who have done pre-cruise adventures would do it again (the pre-cruise trip).

So please, any thoughts and insights from those experienced with these types of add-ons will be appreciated!

Why would you think it wouldn't work out well. The itinerary is the Itinerary no one can change that so what issues do you think there would be?

All the trips I have done in Europe and the excursions from the 2 med cruises I have done have used the whisper devices so while you have to be in the vicinity for the range you don't have to be up close and personal to hear what is going on.

 

[TrySomethingNew]

Bobo, thanks for the insight. I'm glad to hear that your expereinces were good, and that the whisper devices might be an option.

I asked the questions since I have not been on any ABD, and it has been quite some time since I have been on a tour such as this. Considering the time and cost investment, I like to hear what others have experienced.

Thanks!

 

[2PrincesseInTow]

2. With only 2 guides and 44 (or 40) guests, do you really get much attention or interaction from the guides? - we will have an 8yo and a 16yo, so am expecting 8yo will do well with the trip

You will also have at least one local guide that actually gives the tours, the Adventure Guides are technically "tour escorts". On our Adventure, the Guides did an amazing job of creating a "family". The kids all bonded and had their meals together (which they loved). If some of the kids looked bored at a museum, one of the guides would engage them. We just finished our first Adventure and I was very concerned prior to the trip, not sure if my family would enjoy it. The kids think it was our best vacation ever and can't wait to do it again. The main reason was our Adventure Guides.

3. Along those lines, I was part of a tour group (not ABD) many years ago to France and Switzerland. I remember that it was sometimes hard to hear everything bc the group had so many in number and some of the places we visited made being close to the guide difficult. The number of 40+ for ABD makes me wonder if this will occur.

We did the add on to the Greece/Turkey cruise and all of our tours used the whisper device and there were no issues.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

 

[DisneyHelen]

We did precruise ABD in Barcelona last year. We only had 13 in our group. It was fantastic. The meals were excellent. We had one free evening and dinner on our own.The whisper audio was used a lot. We also had a local guide for parts on the tour. They took lots of pictures of families which was nice.