Thoughts on whether Greece trip in October 2021 will go?

It's the POD part that make me hope our New Zealand (dec, PIF and flights booked) gets canceled. We travel with ABD so that my child can hang out with other children on the trip.

In case anyone is interested, here are the rules they gave us for the Wyoming trip:

Your travel pod consists of everyone you are traveling with. Travel pods need to stay 3 ft. away from other travel pods. Everyone will need proof of vaccination or a negative covid test. Proof will be submitted to a 3rd party, not directly to AbD. Everyone will need to submit an online health assessment prior to the trip. We must wear masks indoors and on the motor coach, and on the motor coach, we must wear one of the three masks they will be sending us that are made specifically for the motor coach environment. We will need to wear masks outdoors only if we can't distance our pod at least 3 ft. away from other pods. They will also be sending everyone hand sanitizer and wipes to have with on the trip.

I wonder what the masks are that are made specifically for the motor coach?
 
I don't know the reason, the cancellation went through our TA. But when we last called ABD there were 17 on the trip, which they said was enough to go, so my best guess is that they weren't able to figure out the safety protocols or guarantee they could in time. They did offer a rebooking discount (400-500 pp), but we opted to just get our money back. We'll see how long that takes...
They have, in general, been pretty good about the turnaround time on refunds.

My suspicion on why they cancelled it is due to the sharp uptick in COVID cases in Greece the past days/weeks. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/greece/

I am in London right now--this is my 5th/6th trip to the UK (depending on whether you count the initial shut down) since the pandemic started--and as much as it seems the world is ready to re-open, I think we are heading into a really uncertain period, and ABD should cancel the remaining of the fall European trips. This is from someone who is obviously very proactive about International travel and can't wait to get back to "normal." But the Delta variant is no joke, and the potential for serious disruption of these trips is very real. Not to mention the hoops that you have to jump through--hoops that aren't consistent and can change at any minute--are a nightmare for planning purposes.

I was in London about 6 weeks ago as well when cases were just starting to go up. Look what has happened since then with a country who has done extremely well with vaccinations. Cases have exploded. The good news is that if you are vaccinated the vaccinations seem to be lowering the curve of hospitalizations and death, but that doesn't help the portion of the population who is not vaccinated. There is also a potential for a new variant due to the "variant facotories" of the unvaccinated. My point is that in any country (US included) where you are starting to see a slight uptick ... be ready.

Organized/group travel right now is very problematic due to the fact that you are somewhat reliant on the behavior of other people around you. Right now, I feel a certain level of "control" in that most of my family is fully vaccinated (my daughter lives in England and only has her first shot as she's 21--she can get the second in a couple weeks), we can wear N95s, avoid eating inside, moderate our activities/calculate risk, and pretty much avoid other people as much as possible. This is not possible with a group trip. I also can't understate the amount of stress that is involved with testing, etc. In the UK right now, travelers from the US have to do 4 or 5 tests: pre-test to enter, day 2 test, test to release on day 5, a day 8 test, and a test to re-enter the US. Even just the last test is very stressful with 3 people. The three travelers in our party are fully vaccinated and have been since late February, but there is always the chance that one of us could test positive, and we'd be forced to isolate another 10 days (or longer if a second persons tests later). I'd be way more worried if we'd been sitting on a bus with fellow travelers who weren't wearing masks properly, who weren't vaccinated, etc, or inside tight places (i.e. many of the tourist sites).

We are signed up for an October ABD River Cruise and being on a boat/ship is a whole other can of worms. Disney seems very resistant to mandating vaccines, which is IMO the only responsible thing when you are talking about putting people on a ship in a closed environment and a potential for a disruption of travel with positive cases. I understand that you aren't eliminating the possibility with vaccinated travelers only, but you are definitely lowering the risk/chance of problems. I just googled, and in the past couple of days two cruise ships have cancelled/returned due to a few/handful of positive cases (Cunard & American Constellation). Is ABD really going to run river cruises when there is every chance that COVID cases are going to send the ship back and impact other passengers trips?

Don't get me wrong, I actually think we are going to have to adjust to COVID and start living our lives again. But International travel is different, and with the number of countries involved (and different rules), the uncertainty, and the potential for disruption and massive headaches with Delta running rampant, I don't think opening it up as we are heading into the colder months makes any sense. They also haven't issued any guidance on any of these trips, which to my mind suggests they aren't ready.

I know some of the counties these trips are going to have relatively low numbers right now, but Spain, Greece and Portugal have all opened travel and are seeing upticks. Even small upticks now, can turn into big upticks in a couple months (see England) with Delta. I think France is starting to see a slight rise, too.

I'm worried. I hope things settle down, but after being in the thick of it the past two weeks, I am very pessimistic as we head into the fall/winter.
Wow, thanks for all the insights. So very sad. Makes me glad I didn't book anything international for this or next year, but your post has me worrying about my Classic Journeys Utah/New Mexico trip this October.
It's the POD part that make me hope our New Zealand (dec, PIF and flights booked) gets canceled. We travel with ABD so that my child can hang out with other children on the trip.
I really, really, really mean this seriously, and not in a snide way (really!) but, if I remember correctly, they announced that they were using the Pods protocol for all trips when they announced the 2021 trips last year. Were you hopeful they would have changed that by now? Or am I wrong about the timing? It's one reason I have nothing booked with ABD for 2021, or until late 2022. As a solo traveler, I travel with ABD to interact with other people, not be in a pod all by my lonesome.

Sayhello
 
Wow, thanks for all the insights. So very sad. Makes me glad I didn't book anything international for this or next year, but your post has me worrying about my Classic Journeys Utah/New Mexico trip this October.
Sayhello
I think booking in the US is much much safer, but still could be iffy in the fall depending on vaccination rates of where you are going. From the England experience, you can see that small upticks take a while to manifest into the full explosion of cases, i.e. there is a couple month lag from when Delta makes an appearance to things exploding. It feels funny to be visiting places where the case rates are going crazy.

The biggest issue with International travel is the different and changing hoops. The testing regime in the UK is NOT fun. We were visited by Track and Trace this time in person twice. Last time I had daily phone calls. And everywhere you go, you have to leave your information. Every museum, restaurant, etc. I worry that the European counties who have opened to summer travelers are going to see an uptick of cases that is going to really get going in the fall. There just isn't enough certainty anywhere right now to start tours. Delta really screwed things up.
 
I think booking in the US is much much safer, but still could be iffy in the fall depending on vaccination rates of where you are going. From the England experience, you can see that small upticks take a while to manifest into the full explosion of cases, i.e. there is a couple month lag from when Delta makes an appearance to things exploding. It feels funny to be visiting places where the case rates are going crazy.

The biggest issue with International travel is the different and changing hoops. The testing regime in the UK is NOT fun. We were visited by Track and Trace this time in person twice. Last time I had daily phone calls. And everywhere you go, you have to leave your information. Every museum, restaurant, etc. I worry that the European counties who have opened to summer travelers are going to see an uptick of cases that is going to really get going in the fall. There just isn't enough certainty anywhere right now to start tours. Delta really screwed things up.
This makes me even more relieved that ABD actually cancelled our Portugal trip in a timely manner. Was shockingly impressed, actually. I hope travel can return to normal soon but agree it’s too risky right now. I’ve been thinking from the start Disney should have cancelled all international trips and tried to pull out some more US trips this year.
 


These are the face masks Disney is providing for their adventures. As I understand it, it’s not that they are specific to motor coaches. Rather, it’s for consistency among all guests for the mask materials, filtering ability, and working with the distancing they use on the coaches with assigned seating, to provide best possible protection for all. They are quite comfortable and lightweight.

https://evolon.freudenberg-pm.com/applications/face-masks
That makes sense. Thanks for the info.
 
This makes me even more relieved that ABD actually cancelled our Portugal trip in a timely manner. Was shockingly impressed, actually. I hope travel can return to normal soon but agree it’s too risky right now. I’ve been thinking from the start Disney should have cancelled all international trips and tried to pull out some more US trips this year.
How many weeks before the trip did AbD cancel it?
 


We're scheduled for Greece Oct 8-17, 2021 and that's still listed.
In fact we got our 90 day reminder that we needed to provide our airline flight information.
So I went ahead and made them (I'd been holding off as long as possible).
I've been following vaccination progress in Europe and there's hope that they'll be where we are by the end of August, early September.
Fingers crossed!
 
Well, the Greece trip that departs Sept. 24 and the one that departs Oct. 8 are still listed on the AbD website, but the trip that was scheduled between those 2 trips is no longer listed. We have to pay by Aug. 5, so I'm sure they won't cancel ours until after that date, if they are going to. With the latest news on the Delta variant, I am not too hopeful.
 
Well, the Greece trip that departs Sept. 24 and the one that departs Oct. 8 are still listed on the AbD website, but the trip that was scheduled between those 2 trips is no longer listed. We have to pay by Aug. 5, so I'm sure they won't cancel ours until after that date, if they are going to. With the latest news on the Delta variant, I am not too hopeful.
It's *possible* the one in between didn't have enough people, and they consolidated those folks into the September trip and your trip. I hope that's what happened. :confused3

Sayhello
 
We were scheduled for AbD Greece October 2020. When that was cancelled, we switched it to October 2021. It looks like they are now canceling the August 2021 Greece trips, a week at a time, giving only about 45 days notice. We haven't booked our airfare because we don't know if the trip will go or not. Any thoughts? Should we go ahead and book airfare? Should we continue to wait and see what happens? Is anyone else scheduled for a Greece trip this fall?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Our Italy trip scheduled for October was just cancelled. When I called to ask why, I was told it was because there weren't enough people signed up. I suppose you could call and ask if there are enough people in your trip for it to proceed.
 
ABD just called and told us our October 8 Greece Trip was cancelled. This was the trip we rescheduled from October 2020.
In fact all Greece departures for 2021 are now missing from the ABD Greece page.
Greece was just put on the CDC's "do not travel list" because of surge of COVID delta variant cases.
We were offered a discount up to $500 if we rebook another land trip or a complete refund.
We're going to have to think about it, but I think rebooking Greece again for October 2022 is what we'll end up doing.
 
I was just going to post the same thing. We found out earlier today that the Sept. and Oct. 2021 trips were cancelled. And we think we will rebook for Oct. 2022 as well. That will be our 3rd attempt to try to go to Greece with AbD!
 
They have, in general, been pretty good about the turnaround time on refunds.

Wow, thanks for all the insights. So very sad. Makes me glad I didn't book anything international for this or next year, but your post has me worrying about my Classic Journeys Utah/New Mexico trip this October.
I really, really, really mean this seriously, and not in a snide way (really!) but, if I remember correctly, they announced that they were using the Pods protocol for all trips when they announced the 2021 trips last year. Were you hopeful they would have changed that by now? Or am I wrong about the timing? It's one reason I have nothing booked with ABD for 2021, or until late 2022. As a solo traveler, I travel with ABD to interact with other people, not be in a pod all by my lonesome.

Sayhello
They may have but when we rolled our cancelled egypt trip into new zealand there was no mention of it from our agent. And yes it would really suck to be a pod of 1.
 
My January 2022 Winter in Wyoming trip just got cancelled. They called me in July and gave me all the health and safety rules. Now, today, they said that they had to cancel the Winter in Wyoming trips because the travel pods cannot maintain social distancing on the snowcoach. They just realized it??? Come on!
I had 2 AbD trips cancelled last year and re-booked them both, and now both have been cancelled again. If they would just cancel in a more timely fashion it wouldn't be quite as bad, but somehow they always do it after I have booked our flights. We have so much credit with airlines, I don't know how we will ever get it all used - especially if the trips never go!
 
Yes they wait too long - I was happy that the canceled December New Zealand early.

My January 2022 Winter in Wyoming trip just got cancelled. They called me in July and gave me all the health and safety rules. Now, today, they said that they had to cancel the Winter in Wyoming trips because the travel pods cannot maintain social distancing on the snowcoach. They just realized it??? Come on!
I had 2 AbD trips cancelled last year and re-booked them both, and now both have been cancelled again. If they would just cancel in a more timely fashion it wouldn't be quite as bad, but somehow they always do it after I have booked our flights. We have so much credit with airlines, I don't know how we will ever get it all used - especially if the trips never go!
 
I am so glad we booked our flights through ABD, full refund!

My January 2022 Winter in Wyoming trip just got cancelled. They called me in July and gave me all the health and safety rules. Now, today, they said that they had to cancel the Winter in Wyoming trips because the travel pods cannot maintain social distancing on the snowcoach. They just realized it??? Come on!
I had 2 AbD trips cancelled last year and re-booked them both, and now both have been cancelled again. If they would just cancel in a more timely fashion it wouldn't be quite as bad, but somehow they always do it after I have booked our flights. We have so much credit with airlines, I don't know how we will ever get it all used - especially if the trips never go!
 
Even I also visited in October only. The greatest time to visit the Greek islands, such as Santorini, Mykonos, Corfu, and Kefalonia is in October when the weather is still pleasant and there are few tourists. With temperatures ranging from 50°F (10°C) to about 100°F (38°C), the Greek islands are a year-round holiday destination.
 

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