Travel Changes?

[neurosx1983]

For the first time, I'm not too excited about the trip releases in May---there is no place safe to go anymore, unless things improve dramatically by then. It's a big gamble as these trips are so expensive. I put so much effort into planning pre and post trips and I'm just not motivated right now because any decision is filled with so much risk. But with the DCL policy, I would be more willing to book future trips. Even the airlines are offering flexibility, which is a way to earn loyalty, business, and consumer confidence. If ABD adopted the DCL policies, I would not cancel my trip, instead I would relax knowing that ABD supports me.

Good point. I wonder if they'll scale back releases in May... I'm sure the number of bookings for ABD in general are going way down because of all this.

 

[Rapunzellover]

For the first time, I'm not too excited about the trip releases in May---there is no place safe to go anymore, unless things improve dramatically by then. It's a big gamble as these trips are so expensive. I put so much effort into planning pre and post trips and I'm just not motivated right now because any decision is filled with so much risk. But with the DCL policy, I would be more willing to book future trips. Even the airlines are offering flexibility, which is a way to earn loyalty, business, and consumer confidence. If ABD adopted the DCL policies, I would not cancel my trip, instead I would relax knowing that ABD supports me.

It is faaaaaar too early to be worried about next year. Frankly, I'm of the mindset that either this will be under control by then, or so widespread that you won't be safe anywhere and the travel industry will be forced to adapt to handle that.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I honestly wouldn't cancel Costa Rica or places that aren't having a larger than average issue with COVID. France and Germany's numbers are pretty alarming. That's why I'm mildly freaking out.
Again, if this ABD was just the UK, I wouldn't care a bit.

Costa Rica has a traveller from the US that tested positive (currently in quarantine there); it seems the virus is starting to spread in S. America. Personally I'd be worried about travel there at this time, but everyone has their own comfort level. I think ABD should be allowing customers booked on upcoming trips to move their funds to another trip, no matter the destination. I am very saddened by their response to this crisis and it will definitely impact my future travel-related decisions.

 

[lovetotravel]

It is faaaaaar too early to be worried about next year. Frankly, I'm of the mindset that either this will be under control by then, or so widespread that you won't be safe anywhere and the travel industry will be forced to adapt to handle that.

Yes you’re right and I agree it’s too early to be worried. I normally book ABD during May to take advantage of the early offers. But that won’t be enough to entice me this time as I’m too focused and concerned about this year that I can’t even imagine trying to book a trip next year with all the uncertainty of today. Even if it’s widespread I would still prefer to be home. The 2 ABD I have this summer are stressful enough. If the DCL policy was in place, it would have the flexibility that I would be comfortable with and might actually help me want to plan another ABD.

 

[Sakura1017]

So... I just spoke with ABD. Their rationale for changing dcl cancellation policy and not ABD was literally "because cruise line is dealing with thousands of passengers and ABD is smaller and more flexible"
Makes absolutely no sense. Anyway, This whole episode has left a bad taste in my mouth for ABD. Poor communication and it seems similar to issues they had about 10 years ago, from what I've heard from Pete's rants on the DIS unplugged shows.

Still cruise credit is not great customer service at all. At least ABD is refunding entirely if trip is canceled. I hope ABD doesn't follow the cruise line and do a credit that needs to be used within a year. No one can predict what will happen in a year. I doubt they will keep allowing rebooking. It's just not fair that DCL will give you a credit that needs to be used within a year, and it's based on the prevailing sailing date right now. So of course your spending more money again just to rebook to a different cruise that might be a lesser number of nights sailing.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I've never thought ABD has particularly good customer service--I'm talking about the company itself not the trips--however its handling of this has even surprised me. The wait for the pack mentality is *not* what I'd expect from a brand that relies so much on its public image. The "I know ABD will take care of me" thing. (As an aside, I do think if you are caught in a bad situation on a trip abroad they have more flex than a lot of other operators, and I would prefer to be with them, It's all the pre-trip/company policy stuff I'm talking about).

Anyway, I commiserate with all of you are having plans interrupted. It sucks to have to miss out on a trip and take a financial hit in the process.

Since I'm traveling right now (in London), I thought I would give an update on how things are going. I have to admit that it's been more difficult and anxiety provoking than I anticipated. Don't get me wrong, the UK feels about where the US is in terms of community spread danger, so its not that I feel more vulnerable here to catching the virus than I would at home. It's the "unknown" aspect of being caught away from home if something goes wrong. I'm watching the rate of new cases very carefully. If anything goes sideways, DH will try to be on the first flight out. Our situation is complicated a little by the fact that our special needs son is at college in CA. He won't be coming home until Spring Break early next month, but I'd want at least one of us there. Our DD is at school in England so me being "stuck" here would at least keep me on the same side of the world as her.

We are enjoying ourselves, but I way underestimated the anxiety of traveling with a bug like this going around. Avoiding public places, public transportation, etc. really limits what we want to do while we are here. It's not as big a deal for us since we visit London 3-5 times a year, but it would be a real downer for a first time visitor. We've literally walked miles to avoid jumping on the tube (which we normally love). We are doing our first train trip tomorrow, and I have to admit I'm not looking forward to it, which is a shame. We went to the British Museum for an exhibit, and it was kind of coronavirus petri dish nightmare: tons of people in a tight space and waiting for a cough or sniffle to make you jump.

Londoners are very good about "the keep calm and carry on" mentality, which is nice, but picking up a paper or turning on the news is instant anxiety. There is an undercurrent of unease everywhere, which is understandable but not exactly holiday fun inspiring. We went to dinner a couple nights ago at a UK chain Italian restaurant in the heart of Mayfair, and at 7:30 we were the only people. Two more parties came in about 20 minutes later, but this place would usually have a wait or be packed. It was unsettling.

So I guess I would caution anyone who is thinking about traveling ANYWHERE in the near future to think about what you are planning to do (activities) and how COVID19 anxiety might impact your vacation fun. Losing a few hundred dollars to travel later might be money well spent. Just some food for thought ...

 

[lovetotravel]

I've never thought ABD has particularly good customer service--I'm talking about the company itself not the trips--however its handling of this has even surprised me. The wait for the pack mentality is *not* what I'd expect from a brand that relies so much on its public image. The "I know ABD will take care of me" thing. (As an aside, I do think if you are caught in a bad situation on a trip abroad they have more flex than a lot of other operators, and I would prefer to be with them, It's all the pre-trip/company policy stuff I'm talking about).

Anyway, I commiserate with all of you are having plans interrupted. It sucks to have to miss out on a trip and take a financial hit in the process.

Since I'm traveling right now (in London), I thought I would give an update on how things are going. I have to admit that it's been more difficult and anxiety provoking than I anticipated. Don't get me wrong, the UK feels about where the US is in terms of community spread danger, so its not that I feel more vulnerable here to catching the virus than I would at home. It's the "unknown" aspect of being caught away from home if something goes wrong. I'm watching the rate of new cases very carefully. If anything goes sideways, DH will try to be on the first flight out. Our situation is complicated a little by the fact that our special needs son is at college in CA. He won't be coming home until Spring Break early next month, but I'd want at least one of us there. Our DD is at school in England so me being "stuck" here would at least keep me on the same side of the world as her.

We are enjoying ourselves, but I way underestimated the anxiety of traveling with a bug like this going around. Avoiding public places, public transportation, etc. really limits what we want to do while we are here. It's not as big a deal for us since we visit London 3-5 times a year, but it would be a real downer for a first time visitor. We've literally walked miles to avoid jumping on the tube (which we normally love). We are doing our first train trip tomorrow, and I have to admit I'm not looking forward to it, which is a shame. We went to the British Museum for an exhibit, and it was kind of coronavirus petri dish nightmare: tons of people in a tight space and waiting for a cough or sniffle to make you jump.

Londoners are very good about "the keep calm and carry on" mentality, which is nice, but picking up a paper or turning on the news is instant anxiety. There is an undercurrent of unease everywhere, which is understandable but not exactly holiday fun inspiring. We went to dinner a couple nights ago at a UK chain Italian restaurant in the heart of Mayfair, and at 7:30 we were the only people. Two more parties came in about 20 minutes later, but this place would usually have a wait or be packed. It was unsettling.

So I guess I would caution anyone who is thinking about traveling ANYWHERE in the near future to think about what you are planning to do (activities) and how COVID19 anxiety might impact your vacation fun. Losing a few hundred dollars to travel later might be money well spent. Just some food for thought ...

Thank you for this post. This is exactly why I cancelled OYO and 1 ABD upcoming trips. The whole point of a vacation is to relieve stress. And going with ABD is the ultimate stress free vacation. Going on a vacation during this crisis is the exact opposite. As much labor and trouble as it was to cancel my OYO trip, I did it within less than 2 weeks of the trip start with very minimal loss. My 2 upcoming ABDs while still a few months away is now something I’m not looking forward to, because I’m increasing the chance that I or my family member might contract a deadly virus.

While I love ABD, I admit that I’m having a very hard time at their “Keep Calm and Carry On” approach with my 2 trips this summer. Just give me the DCL policy on this so I can move on and keep the trip and might actually have less stress the next few months. But then let me cancel when there are a thousand cases.

 

[neurosx1983]

I've never thought ABD has particularly good customer service--I'm talking about the company itself not the trips--however its handling of this has even surprised me. The wait for the pack mentality is *not* what I'd expect from a brand that relies so much on its public image. The "I know ABD will take care of me" thing. (As an aside, I do think if you are caught in a bad situation on a trip abroad they have more flex than a lot of other operators, and I would prefer to be with them, It's all the pre-trip/company policy stuff I'm talking about).

Anyway, I commiserate with all of you are having plans interrupted. It sucks to have to miss out on a trip and take a financial hit in the process.

Since I'm traveling right now (in London), I thought I would give an update on how things are going. I have to admit that it's been more difficult and anxiety provoking than I anticipated. Don't get me wrong, the UK feels about where the US is in terms of community spread danger, so its not that I feel more vulnerable here to catching the virus than I would at home. It's the "unknown" aspect of being caught away from home if something goes wrong. I'm watching the rate of new cases very carefully. If anything goes sideways, DH will try to be on the first flight out. Our situation is complicated a little by the fact that our special needs son is at college in CA. He won't be coming home until Spring Break early next month, but I'd want at least one of us there. Our DD is at school in England so me being "stuck" here would at least keep me on the same side of the world as her.

We are enjoying ourselves, but I way underestimated the anxiety of traveling with a bug like this going around. Avoiding public places, public transportation, etc. really limits what we want to do while we are here. It's not as big a deal for us since we visit London 3-5 times a year, but it would be a real downer for a first time visitor. We've literally walked miles to avoid jumping on the tube (which we normally love). We are doing our first train trip tomorrow, and I have to admit I'm not looking forward to it, which is a shame. We went to the British Museum for an exhibit, and it was kind of coronavirus petri dish nightmare: tons of people in a tight space and waiting for a cough or sniffle to make you jump.

Londoners are very good about "the keep calm and carry on" mentality, which is nice, but picking up a paper or turning on the news is instant anxiety. There is an undercurrent of unease everywhere, which is understandable but not exactly holiday fun inspiring. We went to dinner a couple nights ago at a UK chain Italian restaurant in the heart of Mayfair, and at 7:30 we were the only people. Two more parties came in about 20 minutes later, but this place would usually have a wait or be packed. It was unsettling.

So I guess I would caution anyone who is thinking about traveling ANYWHERE in the near future to think about what you are planning to do (activities) and how COVID19 anxiety might impact your vacation fun. Losing a few hundred dollars to travel later might be money well spent. Just some food for thought ...

All excellent points. My point to ABD whenever I call them which is almost on a daily basis, is that I just don’t feel comfortable going on this trip anymore. And I would hope that it would sink into them even more because I’m a physician saying that. My wife is a physician too by the way. And we’re both honestly concerned. However I and everyone else on the trip who has not canceled yet just don’t want to lose at least 25%… Maybe that’s a silly thing but these trips are expensive so 25% is quite a bit. Anyway, we will see what happens in the next couple of days I guess.

and it’s not that their customer service is rude or dismissive in any way. They’ve been very nice it’s just that they have this mentality almost like it’s not a big deal. And God knows I hope they’re right in the long run

 

[ImprovGal]

I've never thought ABD has particularly good customer service--I'm talking about the company itself not the trips--however its handling of this has even surprised me. The wait for the pack mentality is *not* what I'd expect from a brand that relies so much on its public image. The "I know ABD will take care of me" thing. (As an aside, I do think if you are caught in a bad situation on a trip abroad they have more flex than a lot of other operators, and I would prefer to be with them, It's all the pre-trip/company policy stuff I'm talking about).

Anyway, I commiserate with all of you are having plans interrupted. It sucks to have to miss out on a trip and take a financial hit in the process.

Since I'm traveling right now (in London), I thought I would give an update on how things are going. I have to admit that it's been more difficult and anxiety provoking than I anticipated. Don't get me wrong, the UK feels about where the US is in terms of community spread danger, so its not that I feel more vulnerable here to catching the virus than I would at home. It's the "unknown" aspect of being caught away from home if something goes wrong. I'm watching the rate of new cases very carefully. If anything goes sideways, DH will try to be on the first flight out. Our situation is complicated a little by the fact that our special needs son is at college in CA. He won't be coming home until Spring Break early next month, but I'd want at least one of us there. Our DD is at school in England so me being "stuck" here would at least keep me on the same side of the world as her.

We are enjoying ourselves, but I way underestimated the anxiety of traveling with a bug like this going around. Avoiding public places, public transportation, etc. really limits what we want to do while we are here. It's not as big a deal for us since we visit London 3-5 times a year, but it would be a real downer for a first time visitor. We've literally walked miles to avoid jumping on the tube (which we normally love). We are doing our first train trip tomorrow, and I have to admit I'm not looking forward to it, which is a shame. We went to the British Museum for an exhibit, and it was kind of coronavirus petri dish nightmare: tons of people in a tight space and waiting for a cough or sniffle to make you jump.

Londoners are very good about "the keep calm and carry on" mentality, which is nice, but picking up a paper or turning on the news is instant anxiety. There is an undercurrent of unease everywhere, which is understandable but not exactly holiday fun inspiring. We went to dinner a couple nights ago at a UK chain Italian restaurant in the heart of Mayfair, and at 7:30 we were the only people. Two more parties came in about 20 minutes later, but this place would usually have a wait or be packed. It was unsettling.

So I guess I would caution anyone who is thinking about traveling ANYWHERE in the near future to think about what you are planning to do (activities) and how COVID19 anxiety might impact your vacation fun. Losing a few hundred dollars to travel later might be money well spent. Just some food for thought ...

Thank you for your perspective. I'm booked for a trip to London in a couple of weeks (not a tour, just a long weekend to see a play, already rescheduled once due to storm Dennis). I've accepted that I will most likely be cancelling, but am watching and waiting until the last minute to decide.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Still cruise credit is not great customer service at all. At least ABD is refunding entirely if trip is canceled. I hope ABD doesn't follow the cruise line and do a credit that needs to be used within a year. No one can predict what will happen in a year. I doubt they will keep allowing rebooking. It's just not fair that DCL will give you a credit that needs to be used within a year, and it's based on the prevailing sailing date right now. So of course your spending more money again just to rebook to a different cruise that might be a lesser number of nights sailing.

I so agree with this. I just canceled a trip to Mexico and ended up with a credit with Delta and with the resort in Mexico. Both credits have to be used by mid-December - it's thousands of dollars in credits and I'm sweating when I'm actually going to use them. If our ABD is a go for the summer, I can use the Delta credit, but I have no clue when we can get to Mexico prior to December with school and camp schedules. ugh.

 

[Calfan]

I've never thought ABD has particularly good customer service--I'm talking about the company itself not the trips--however its handling of this has even surprised me. The wait for the pack mentality is *not* what I'd expect from a brand that relies so much on its public image. The "I know ABD will take care of me" thing. (As an aside, I do think if you are caught in a bad situation on a trip abroad they have more flex than a lot of other operators, and I would prefer to be with them, It's all the pre-trip/company policy stuff I'm talking about).

Anyway, I commiserate with all of you are having plans interrupted. It sucks to have to miss out on a trip and take a financial hit in the process.

Since I'm traveling right now (in London), I thought I would give an update on how things are going. I have to admit that it's been more difficult and anxiety provoking than I anticipated. Don't get me wrong, the UK feels about where the US is in terms of community spread danger, so its not that I feel more vulnerable here to catching the virus than I would at home. It's the "unknown" aspect of being caught away from home if something goes wrong. I'm watching the rate of new cases very carefully. If anything goes sideways, DH will try to be on the first flight out. Our situation is complicated a little by the fact that our special needs son is at college in CA. He won't be coming home until Spring Break early next month, but I'd want at least one of us there. Our DD is at school in England so me being "stuck" here would at least keep me on the same side of the world as her.

We are enjoying ourselves, but I way underestimated the anxiety of traveling with a bug like this going around. Avoiding public places, public transportation, etc. really limits what we want to do while we are here. It's not as big a deal for us since we visit London 3-5 times a year, but it would be a real downer for a first time visitor. We've literally walked miles to avoid jumping on the tube (which we normally love). We are doing our first train trip tomorrow, and I have to admit I'm not looking forward to it, which is a shame. We went to the British Museum for an exhibit, and it was kind of coronavirus petri dish nightmare: tons of people in a tight space and waiting for a cough or sniffle to make you jump.

Londoners are very good about "the keep calm and carry on" mentality, which is nice, but picking up a paper or turning on the news is instant anxiety. There is an undercurrent of unease everywhere, which is understandable but not exactly holiday fun inspiring. We went to dinner a couple nights ago at a UK chain Italian restaurant in the heart of Mayfair, and at 7:30 we were the only people. Two more parties came in about 20 minutes later, but this place would usually have a wait or be packed. It was unsettling.

So I guess I would caution anyone who is thinking about traveling ANYWHERE in the near future to think about what you are planning to do (activities) and how COVID19 anxiety might impact your vacation fun. Losing a few hundred dollars to travel later might be money well spent. Just some food for thought ...

Really interesting to get your perspective on this since you travel so much. We’re still planning to make our Spring Break trips to Hawaii and then on to Scotland for DD and me to attend the offer holder days at Glasgow and Edinburgh. Nothing from either school so far about cancelling. In fact, Glasgow just sent out their event guide and info on how to download the Offer Holder Day app. But I’m going to wait until the night before to cancel the SW flights that would take DD and me back to Boise from the Bay Area with DH and DS just in case both schools cancel last minute. If that happens, we shouldn’t be out of pocket too much. Hotel is on points and cancellable. All flights are on miles and worse case is a redeposit fee for those but hopeful those would be waived. I also think the return train tix I bought from Glasgow to Edinburgh are refundable as well. I’d be so disappointed for DD if those days get cancelled though. We’re also still waiting and seeing for our Japan trip in June. PIF is March 22, but waiting to see if Thomson will tell us to hold off.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I received the below e-mail from Tours by Locals with respect to a day tour we have booked in Bergen in June. How hard would it be for ABD to adopt a similar policy? If a family isn't comfortable traveling with the virus currently spreading around the globe, then they should be able to cancel and not have to worry about the financial impact.

We hope you are looking forward to your upcoming tour with ToursByLocals, and that you don’t have to make any changes to your travel plans. We understand though that uncertainty surrounding the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is making it difficult for many people to make travel plans right now, or to decide whether they can proceed with plans already arranged. It’s stressful not knowing whether a destination that is unaffected today will still be safe in a week or a month. We understand that your concerns are stretching around the globe right now, and we want to respond to that.

We’re doing a couple things: first, we’ve created a Coronavirus Info Page. Here we’re sharing updates from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with our own real-time data on where ToursByLocals travelers are booking the most tours, and cancelling the most tours. We hope it will give you a sense of where people are currently feeling comfortable traveling.

Second, we’ve updated our cancellation policy. ToursByLocals has always had a Force Majeure policy in place for all travelers, meaning that should an event beyond our control prevent you from taking a tour, your tour will be refunded in full. Coronavirus has become a global force majeure event, not only in hotspots like China and South Korea, but everywhere.

What does this mean for you? Effective immediately, you can receive a full refund on any tour you book, or have already booked, then choose to cancel due to the Coronavirus.. You can book your tour with confidence, or proceed with your current plans for the time being, knowing that if the global situation changes and you choose not to travel, you will receive a full refund. This applies to every ToursByLocals tour, in every destination, booked for anytime in 2020.

This option will be in place until the end of April, at which point we’ll re-assess the travel situation.

Why are we doing this? While we are hopeful that the current outbreak will be contained, we want your trip planning experience to be an exciting one, not one fraught with anxiety. We’ve heard from many travelers that their other travel providers – be they airlines, cruise lines or hotels – just aren’t responding in a fair or considerate way to the current situation. We want to do better.

If you have any questions about this notice, or about booking tours in any destination, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us via LiveChat, email or phone. Our support team is available 24/7.

 

[Calfan]

I received the below e-mail from Tours by Locals with respect to a day tour we have booked in Bergen in June. How hard would it be for ABD to adopt a similar policy? If a family isn't comfortable traveling with the virus currently spreading around the globe, then they should be able to cancel and not have to worry about the financial impact.

We hope you are looking forward to your upcoming tour with ToursByLocals, and that you don’t have to make any changes to your travel plans. We understand though that uncertainty surrounding the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is making it difficult for many people to make travel plans right now, or to decide whether they can proceed with plans already arranged. It’s stressful not knowing whether a destination that is unaffected today will still be safe in a week or a month. We understand that your concerns are stretching around the globe right now, and we want to respond to that.

We’re doing a couple things: first, we’ve created a Coronavirus Info Page. Here we’re sharing updates from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with our own real-time data on where ToursByLocals travelers are booking the most tours, and cancelling the most tours. We hope it will give you a sense of where people are currently feeling comfortable traveling.

Second, we’ve updated our cancellation policy. ToursByLocals has always had a Force Majeure policy in place for all travelers, meaning that should an event beyond our control prevent you from taking a tour, your tour will be refunded in full. Coronavirus has become a global force majeure event, not only in hotspots like China and South Korea, but everywhere.

What does this mean for you? Effective immediately, you can receive a full refund on any tour you book, or have already booked, then choose to cancel due to the Coronavirus.. You can book your tour with confidence, or proceed with your current plans for the time being, knowing that if the global situation changes and you choose not to travel, you will receive a full refund. This applies to every ToursByLocals tour, in every destination, booked for anytime in 2020.

This option will be in place until the end of April, at which point we’ll re-assess the travel situation.

Why are we doing this? While we are hopeful that the current outbreak will be contained, we want your trip planning experience to be an exciting one, not one fraught with anxiety. We’ve heard from many travelers that their other travel providers – be they airlines, cruise lines or hotels – just aren’t responding in a fair or considerate way to the current situation. We want to do better.

If you have any questions about this notice, or about booking tours in any destination, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us via LiveChat, email or phone. Our support team is available 24/7.

What an awesome approach and email. *That* is the way to make people want to book with you now and in the future!

 

[Calfan]

Here is the latest from Thomson about our Japan trip. We still really want to go, so fingers crossed.


We have no reason to believe that your trip will be impacted, and – as with all our destinations – we are closely following local and international sources of information on the situation. No governments have proposed restricting travel to Japan as a result of the virus, and the US Department of State as well as the CDC still consider Japan as a category 2, which is the same level as Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, UK, Spain, and many others. There are high numbers of the virus reported for Japan and this includes people quarantined on the cruise ship. On mainland Japan, there are not as many cases.

Our trips are operating normally, and guests are still enjoying their worldwide adventures! Thomson Family Adventures normal booking conditions remain in effect, and should the government declare any changes to the current status, and advise against traveling to Japan, we will, of course be as flexible as possible to ensure they are able to travel at a later time. As we get closer to departure this will become more difficult, but we will do our best. We want our travelers to be and feel safe when traveling. This is our top priority.

On the day to day level, life is proceeding as normal in Japan. In fact, people in Japan are more concerned about the flu, like we are here in the U.S. Many people, particularly in hospitality, are wearing face masks as a precaution, and as a public service, hand-washing stations and disinfectants have been made widely available in many public locations. This is a very common practice all the time in Japan though. Many doctors have suggested that frequent, thorough hand-washing and avoiding touching your mouth and eyes are amongst the best preventive measures.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Thank you for this post. This is exactly why I cancelled OYO and 1 ABD upcoming trips. The whole point of a vacation is to relieve stress. And going with ABD is the ultimate stress free vacation. Going on a vacation during this crisis is the exact opposite. As much labor and trouble as it was to cancel my OYO trip, I did it within less than 2 weeks of the trip start with very minimal loss. My 2 upcoming ABDs while still a few months away is now something I’m not looking forward to, because I’m increasing the chance that I or my family member might contract a deadly virus.

While I love ABD, I admit that I’m having a very hard time at their “Keep Calm and Carry On” approach with my 2 trips this summer. Just give me the DCL policy on this so I can move on and keep the trip and might actually have less stress the next few months. But then let me cancel when there are a thousand cases.

It really sucks that you had to cancel your two trips, but I agree about a vacation not being about stress! I think ABDs lack of response to this has been pretty abysmal.

All excellent points. My point to ABD whenever I call them which is almost on a daily basis, is that I just don’t feel comfortable going on this trip anymore. And I would hope that it would sink into them even more because I’m a physician saying that. My wife is a physician too by the way. And we’re both honestly concerned. However I and everyone else on the trip who has not canceled yet just don’t want to lose at least 25%… Maybe that’s a silly thing but these trips are expensive so 25% is quite a bit. Anyway, we will see what happens in the next couple of days I guess.

and it’s not that their customer service is rude or dismissive in any way. They’ve been very nice it’s just that they have this mentality almost like it’s not a big deal. And God knows I hope they’re right in the long run

I hope it sinks into them, too--25% is a ridiculous amount to lose. I'm sure the vacationistas are awesome at repeating the party line, but IMO friendly agents don't make good customer service. That's where I think Disney gets it mixed up. They may have the friendliest workers in the business but that doesn't make up for unfriendly customer policies. They are obviously very centralized and don't have the nimbleness and flexibility to deal with things quickly--or on the ground. It all has to come from above.

Thank you for your perspective. I'm booked for a trip to London in a couple of weeks (not a tour, just a long weekend to see a play, already rescheduled once due to storm Dennis). I've accepted that I will most likely be cancelling, but am watching and waiting until the last minute to decide.

I don't wish we hadn't come--although I have to admit I would feel *much* better if it were just me here and DH as at home to take care of anything that might happen there. I think my advice to anyone trying to figure out whether to cancel is to think of what would happen if you got stuck wherever you are going for a few weeks. Also, think about the type of things you are planning on doing and whether they involve lots of public transportation and/or tourist sites. Even doing a walk outside today I was very uncomfortable when we walked by Buckingham Palace because of all the crowds. I'm finding myself looking at everyone with suspicion. If I were on a tour going from tourist site to tourist site, I would not be happy. So sorry to hear that the hurricane had interrupted your first go around,. That sucks!

Really interesting to get your perspective on this since you travel so much. We’re still planning to make our Spring Break trips to Hawaii and then on to Scotland for DD and me to attend the offer holder days at Glasgow and Edinburgh. Nothing from either school so far about cancelling. In fact, Glasgow just sent out their event guide and info on how to download the Offer Holder Day app. But I’m going to wait until the night before to cancel the SW flights that would take DD and me back to Boise from the Bay Area with DH and DS just in case both schools cancel last minute. If that happens, we shouldn’t be out of pocket too much. Hotel is on points and cancellable. All flights are on miles and worse case is a redeposit fee for those but hopeful those would be waived. I also think the return train tix I bought from Glasgow to Edinburgh are refundable as well. I’d be so disappointed for DD if those days get cancelled though. We’re also still waiting and seeing for our Japan trip in June. PIF is March 22, but waiting to see if Thomson will tell us to hold off.

I'm going to be watching Hawaii very carefully. It really is uncomfortable traveling right now, and if things get much worse in the US, I might be cancelling. Getting stuck somewhere is a real fear, and I underestimated how much I"d be thinking and worrying about it.

I received the below e-mail from Tours by Locals with respect to a day tour we have booked in Bergen in June. How hard would it be for ABD to adopt a similar policy? If a family isn't comfortable traveling with the virus currently spreading around the globe, then they should be able to cancel and not have to worry about the financial impact.

We hope you are looking forward to your upcoming tour with ToursByLocals, and that you don’t have to make any changes to your travel plans. We understand though that uncertainty surrounding the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is making it difficult for many people to make travel plans right now, or to decide whether they can proceed with plans already arranged. It’s stressful not knowing whether a destination that is unaffected today will still be safe in a week or a month. We understand that your concerns are stretching around the globe right now, and we want to respond to that.

We’re doing a couple things: first, we’ve created a Coronavirus Info Page. Here we’re sharing updates from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with our own real-time data on where ToursByLocals travelers are booking the most tours, and cancelling the most tours. We hope it will give you a sense of where people are currently feeling comfortable traveling.

Second, we’ve updated our cancellation policy. ToursByLocals has always had a Force Majeure policy in place for all travelers, meaning that should an event beyond our control prevent you from taking a tour, your tour will be refunded in full. Coronavirus has become a global force majeure event, not only in hotspots like China and South Korea, but everywhere.

What does this mean for you? Effective immediately, you can receive a full refund on any tour you book, or have already booked, then choose to cancel due to the Coronavirus.. You can book your tour with confidence, or proceed with your current plans for the time being, knowing that if the global situation changes and you choose not to travel, you will receive a full refund. This applies to every ToursByLocals tour, in every destination, booked for anytime in 2020.

This option will be in place until the end of April, at which point we’ll re-assess the travel situation.

Why are we doing this? While we are hopeful that the current outbreak will be contained, we want your trip planning experience to be an exciting one, not one fraught with anxiety. We’ve heard from many travelers that their other travel providers – be they airlines, cruise lines or hotels – just aren’t responding in a fair or considerate way to the current situation. We want to do better.

If you have any questions about this notice, or about booking tours in any destination, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us via LiveChat, email or phone. Our support team is available 24/7.

This is phenomenal and exactly what I mean by great customer service. I think it's actually going above and beyond. Wow. ABD wake up!

 

[SnappySerape]

Here is the latest from Thomson about our Japan trip. We still really want to go, so fingers crossed.


We have no reason to believe that your trip will be impacted, and – as with all our destinations – we are closely following local and international sources of information on the situation. No governments have proposed restricting travel to Japan as a result of the virus, and the US Department of State as well as the CDC still consider Japan as a category 2, which is the same level as Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, UK, Spain, and many others. There are high numbers of the virus reported for Japan and this includes people quarantined on the cruise ship. On mainland Japan, there are not as many cases.

Our trips are operating normally, and guests are still enjoying their worldwide adventures! Thomson Family Adventures normal booking conditions remain in effect, and should the government declare any changes to the current status, and advise against traveling to Japan, we will, of course be as flexible as possible to ensure they are able to travel at a later time. As we get closer to departure this will become more difficult, but we will do our best. We want our travelers to be and feel safe when traveling. This is our top priority.

On the day to day level, life is proceeding as normal in Japan. In fact, people in Japan are more concerned about the flu, like we are here in the U.S. Many people, particularly in hospitality, are wearing face masks as a precaution, and as a public service, hand-washing stations and disinfectants have been made widely available in many public locations. This is a very common practice all the time in Japan though. Many doctors have suggested that frequent, thorough hand-washing and avoiding touching your mouth and eyes are amongst the best preventive measures.

That's interesting! I have the Japan ABD in mid May. I was just contacted by my TA yesterday to tell me that ABD has cancelled the trip. Now I'm trying to feel out whether I'm comfortable pushing it to later this year or wait until 2021. I'm leaning towards the latter...

 

[Calfan]

That's interesting! I have the Japan ABD in mid May. I was just contacted by my TA yesterday to tell me that ABD has cancelled the trip. Now I'm trying to feel out whether I'm comfortable pushing it to later this year or wait until 2021. I'm leaning towards the latter...

Our departure date with Thomson is June 19, but we are scheduled to arrive on June 16 for 3 nights at TDR.

 

[disneyholic family]

That's interesting! I have the Japan ABD in mid May. I was just contacted by my TA yesterday to tell me that ABD has cancelled the trip. Now I'm trying to feel out whether I'm comfortable pushing it to later this year or wait until 2021. I'm leaning towards the latter...

ABD cancelled japan in May?
Have they cancelled any other tours?
The numbers in France are starting to go exponential as also appears to be the case now in the UK which had a huge jump in cases from yesterday to today (more than double the cases in only one day).
So i really don't know why they're not cancelling.

the current numbers are at this website (UK is up to 206, France up to 716):
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
and this one's a bit more visual (though i prefer the Hopkins dashboard above - perhaps because i'm a Hopkins grad ).
https://nextstrain.org/ncov
.

 

[AddictedtoTravel]

quoting Thomson Family Adventures...
CDC still consider Japan as a category 2, which is the same level as Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, UK, Spain, and many others.

According to the CDC this is not accurate. The only level 2 country for Covid-19 listed is Japan. There are no level 2 or even 1 for "Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, UK, Spain, and many others" I'm not sure what they are referring to?

 

[sayhello]

Still cruise credit is not great customer service at all. At least ABD is refunding entirely if trip is canceled. I hope ABD doesn't follow the cruise line and do a credit that needs to be used within a year. No one can predict what will happen in a year. I doubt they will keep allowing rebooking. It's just not fair that DCL will give you a credit that needs to be used within a year, and it's based on the prevailing sailing date right now. So of course your spending more money again just to rebook to a different cruise that might be a lesser number of nights sailing.

This is DCL's policy if *you* cancel, and is very generous. They haven't said anything about their policy if *they* cancel. I imagine that's on a case by case basis. I can't imagine them not giving you a refund if *they* cancel, though.

According to the CDC this is not accurate. The only level 2 country for Covid-19 listed is Japan. There are no level 2 or even 1 for "Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, UK, Spain, and many others" I'm not sure what they are referring to?

Yes, that's confusing. Level 3+ is China and Iran, Level 3 is South Korea and Italy, Level 2 is Japan, and Level 1 is Hong Kong. I haven't seen anything different than this.

Sayhello