When do you realistically think ABD will start operating again?

[TravelJunkieHubby]

I realize no one can say for certain, and perhaps this question is reflecting boredom since our summer plans were cancelled.

I see ABD still has adventures scheduled in September, and they likely want to hold on to deposits as long as possible... but it seems pretty unrealistic that these will happen. Curious if y'all think there will be adventures that actually run over the holidays in December? Spring? Next summer? 2022?

It's also one thing to operate an adventure and another to have enough people willing to travel overseas. I know some countries are opening but requiring a negative COVID test before you are allowed in. It would seem risky to offer an adventure and then have half the group not be able to go if one or two people in their party tested positive. Do you think ABD would run with smaller groups then we're used to seeing in the past?

 

[sayhello]

I realize no one can say for certain, and perhaps this question is reflecting boredom since our summer plans were cancelled.

I see ABD still has adventures scheduled in September, and they likely want to hold on to deposits as long as possible... but it seems pretty unrealistic that these will happen. Curious if y'all think there will be adventures that actually run over the holidays in December? Spring? Next summer? 2022?

Personally? I don't think it's likely trips will run before sometime in early 2021. If then. Some of the domestic trips *may* go, but what with Americans still barred from the EU, and our numbers still skyrocketing, I just can't see them being able to run most of their trips. Heaven knows I could be wrong, but that's my opinion.

It's also one thing to operate an adventure and another to have enough people willing to travel overseas. I know some countries are opening but requiring a negative COVID test before you are allowed in. It would seem risky to offer an adventure and then have half the group not be able to go if one or two people in their party tested positive. Do you think ABD would run with smaller groups then we're used to seeing in the past?

It's certainly possible. If they feel confident they can run a trip safely, without the risk of the destination not being available, then I imagine it might be worth running it with fewer people just to get things moving again. Fewer people make it easier to Social Distance.

Sayhello

 

[atlmgm]

I think ABD will have to start off with significantly smaller groups. These are not inexpensive trips and expectations are high. I really dont think they will have any international trips until (at least) this time next year. For domestic trips, maybe next spring. The experts are saying fall and winter will be bad as flu and COVID circulate.

ABD needs two things - a vaccine and consumer confidence about traveling. My opinion - I dont see either anytime soon unfortunately.

 

[AquaDame]

I have no clue, but plan on putting off purchasing airfare for our May trip as long as possible. We also are not planning anything else international for next year.

 

[emilymad]

We haven't traveled with ABD but have considered it for the past few years. What do you think is the driving factor? Ability to access the destinations or not being able to social distance in a group travel setting? We have ABD in the back of our minds for a last minute booking whenever travel does start again. It is a lot easier to do a last minute trip if someone else is doing the planning.

 

[aggiedog]

I honestly think a lot is going to depend on if other countries even let us in. I heard an NPR article that said unofficially, SE Asia was looking at a year before Americans were welcome.

It will be a long time before the US gets Covid rates anywhere near Europe. If that is the requirement, it may be 6-9 months easily. If the EU gets desperate for our tour dollars, they may just require a Covid test upon arrival like Iceland is doing. That is inherently risky for the traveler because if you do test positive, you are stuck in quarantine in country until they decide you're safe to fly home. That would be a serious damper on a family trip.

 

[vakamalua]

I don't think any group travel can safely socially distance its participants right now (not to mention trips that require air travel) even if the destinations allowed it from the US. Who would want to put their families at such risk with COVID-19 so active in US communities and abroad

 

[TravelJunkieHubby]

Thanks for the responses - especially got a kick out of AquaDame's tagline.

I think 2022 will be the earliest we consider international travel. At this point guess we should feel thankful for the trips we were able to do previously.

 

[Mathmagicland]

I’m still hopeful for some travel in 2021 - I need some travel to look forward to and be planning this year in the absence of this year’s cancellations. My earliest next trip is end of May, but with the current relaxed AbD cancel policy I’ve found now myself thinking of also booking another one of the same adventure on a later in the year departure in case May ends up not going. I don’t even like starting to think that may be necessary though...It is kind of scary (and a bit depressing) to think things may not be better by then. Guess I have a month to decide....

 

[aggiedog]

I just read a Politico article about, how given the lack of coordinated response to the rising rates of Covid now, all the computer modelers are now looking at around 200,000 deaths by November. Without anything really changing on the public health management level of the disease, I'm going to revise my estimate to at least a year before international travel happens. ABD may be able to run US trips in small groups sooner depending on if we have some sort of coordinated public health plan in place by then.

 

[bearsgirl]

What do you think the likelihood of early October ABD Seine cruise happening this year? Also, if ABD cancels a trip, they will refund the trip and the airfare (even if you didn't purchase through them?).

 

[TravelJunkieHubby]

They won’t refund airfare - they’ll direct you to the airline of wherever you bought i

What do you think the likelihood of early October ABD Seine cruise happening this year? Also, if ABD cancels a trip, they will refund the trip and the airfare (even if you didn't purchase through them?).
[/QUOTE

What do you think the likelihood of early October ABD Seine cruise happening this year? Also, if ABD cancels a trip, they will refund the trip and the airfare (even if you didn't purchase through them?).

I don’t think they’ll refund the airfare - they’ll just direct you to the airline or wherever you bought the ticket.

For us, ABD refunded our Japan trip including prenights and insurance policy within a few days after we called them. The only other purchase we made were the airline tickets through JAL and we were able to cancel online - hard to believe how easy it was.

 

[bearsgirl]

They won’t refund airfare - they’ll direct you to the airline of wherever you bought i


I don’t think they’ll refund the airfare - they’ll just direct you to the airline or wherever you bought the ticket.

For us, ABD refunded our Japan trip including prenights and insurance policy within a few days after we called them. The only other purchase we made were the airline tickets through JAL and we were able to cancel online - hard to believe how easy it was.

I am trying to decide if I should pay more money toward our October 8 date on the Seine. Is ABD doing any river cruises yet? I can't imagine the trip going forward since Americans aren't even allowed in Europe right now. Unless a lot of the passengers on the ABD river cruises are from Europe, not United States.

 

[SingingMom]

Just made our final payment for Oct ABD to Italy. I'm really hoping it is cancelled. I just don't think everything will be opened & operating, and I don't think I can wear a mask with all that walking. We'll probably just take the refund. I'm not sure I'm ready to rebook any time soon .

 

[aggiedog]

I think October is 50/50 at best, probably much less. We will have to have many less cases than we do now and we are currently still going up. A peak would still last 3-4 weeks, then a slow decrease. That will take months even if we locked the country down now, which is never going to happen. Even just contact tracing, testing, and forced quarantine for infected individuals would take months, and that's not going to happen either.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I am trying to decide if I should pay more money toward our October 8 date on the Seine. Is ABD doing any river cruises yet? I can't imagine the trip going forward since Americans aren't even allowed in Europe right now. Unless a lot of the passengers on the ABD river cruises are from Europe, not United States.

I wouldn't pay anymore at least prior to the pay in full date. We had a Sep Rhone cruise. Happened to be paid in full, but I only had paid for 1 of 2 airline tickets. I won't buy they other ticket unless the trip miraculously goes as planned. The difficult choice is whether you should pay in full at the deadline. If you still want to take the trip, I'd pay. If you didn't feel comfortable going, ask your travel agent or ABD to see if you can move your $ to a placeholder. Probably a moot point as I think the trip will eventually be cancelled.

And for my guess as to when ABD's will start up again... I don't think we'll see ABD's start back up while social distancing is recommended. That probably puts us into early 2021 depending on vaccine progress and herd immunity. I have 3 ABD's scheduled - Rhone, Backstage Magic, and SE Asia. I give the BSM a 25% chance. The others I give next to a 0% chance.

 

[bearsgirl]

I wouldn't pay anymore at least prior to the pay in full date. We had a Sep Rhone cruise. Happened to be paid in full, but I only had paid for 1 of 2 airline tickets. I won't buy they other ticket unless the trip miraculously goes as planned. The difficult choice is whether you should pay in full at the deadline. If you still want to take the trip, I'd pay. If you didn't feel comfortable going, ask your travel agent or ABD to see if you can move your $ to a placeholder. Probably a moot point as I think the trip will eventually be cancelled.

And for my guess as to when ABD's will start up again... I don't think we'll see ABD's start back up while social distancing is recommended. That probably puts us into early 2021 depending on vaccine progress and herd immunity. I have 3 ABD's scheduled - Rhone, Backstage Magic, and SE Asia. I give the BSM a 25% chance. The others I give next to a 0% chance.

Hey Dr. M —The PIF date is moments away and I don’t want a placeholder just because I am ticked at the way ABD is handling this—not the best reason, I know. I feel strongly enough that the trip isn’t going to go that I am willing to PIF just to have the ability to get full refund. We have both Oct 6 Paris Escape and Oct 8 Seine and I noticed they did NOT cancel the September 15 Paris Escape yet but did cancel all other trips through September 15. Obviously it is safer to change it to a placeholder, but DH is 75 and I don’t see us traveling until vaccine is available. We did buy the vacation protection with both Adventures but “fear of travel” is not a covered reason to cancel.
Would you gamble on PIF or go Placeholders?

 

[atlmgm]

Hey Dr. M —The PIF date is moments away and I don’t want a placeholder just because I am ticked at the way ABD is handling this—not the best reason, I know. I feel strongly enough that the trip isn’t going to go that I am willing to PIF just to have the ability to get full refund. We have both Oct 6 Paris Escape and Oct 8 Seine and I noticed they did NOT cancel the September 15 Paris Escape yet but did cancel all other trips through September 15. Obviously it is safer to change it to a placeholder, but DH is 75 and I don’t see us traveling until vaccine is available. We did buy the vacation protection with both Adventures but “fear of travel” is not a covered reason to cancel.
Would you gamble on PIF or go Placeholders?

I am in a similar situation to you but with a Backstage Magic trip in late Oct. I am going to play chicken with ABD. I do not like they way they are treating us with either PIF (and gamble) or move monies to a future date. Many of us simply cannot move or commit to future travel for a variety of reasons (COVID and non-COVID).

My opinion is that ABD knows it will not be doing any trips this calendar year and is making us twist in the wind with the PIF or placeholder options. From a customer service view ABD should have provided a no questions asked refund policy due to COVID. I would have gladly rebooked with ABD after there is a vaccine or therapeutics and my scheduled allowed me to travel.

My other concern with ABD is if they rush these back and the ABD is subpar, their reputation will take a huge hit considering the cost of each ABD.

 

[bearsgirl]

I am in a similar situation to you but with a Backstage Magic trip in late Oct. I am going to play chicken with ABD. I do not like they way they are treating us with either PIF (and gamble) or move monies to a future date. Many of us simply cannot move or commit to future travel for a variety of reasons (COVID and non-COVID).

My opinion is that ABD knows it will not be doing any trips this calendar year and is making us twist in the wind with the PIF or placeholder options. From a customer service view ABD should have provided a no questions asked refund policy due to COVID. I would have gladly rebooked with ABD after there is a vaccine or therapeutics and my scheduled allowed me to travel.

My other concern with ABD is if they rush these back and the ABD is subpar, their reputation will take a huge hit considering the cost of each ABD.

Absolutely agree with you. Not a good look for ABD and I am trying not to take it out on the Vacationistas because they are only doing what they are told from above. This is not Good Show, Disney! Previously, I was a big cheerleader for ABD but this is leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth. Do the right thing, ABD!

 

[sayhello]

Hey Dr. M —The PIF date is moments away and I don’t want a placeholder just because I am ticked at the way ABD is handling this—not the best reason, I know. I feel strongly enough that the trip isn’t going to go that I am willing to PIF just to have the ability to get full refund. We have both Oct 6 Paris Escape and Oct 8 Seine and I noticed they did NOT cancel the September 15 Paris Escape yet but did cancel all other trips through September 15. Obviously it is safer to change it to a placeholder, but DH is 75 and I don’t see us traveling until vaccine is available. We did buy the vacation protection with both Adventures but “fear of travel” is not a covered reason to cancel.
Would you gamble on PIF or go Placeholders?

I don't know if this will affect your decision, but the ABD vacation protection plan *does* include 75% "Cancel for any Reason" coverage provided by ABD, not the insurance company. If the insurance company turns down your claim (which they probably would for "fear of travel") ABD will give you a voucher for 75% of your non-refundable trip costs booked through them.

New! Cancel For Any Reason Travel Credit Feature
Provided by Adventures by Disney (non-insurance services)

Adventures by Disney has enhanced the Vacation Protection Plan with the addition of our Cancel For Any Reason Travel Credit Feature. Available at any time up until departure, if you need to cancel for a reason not covered under the terms of the Vacation Protection Plan, Adventures by Disney will provide a travel credit equal to 75% of the pre-paid non-refundable cancellation fees so that you may travel at a later date.

The following Travel Credit Feature is provided by Adventures by Disney and is not an insurance benefit.

Cancel For “Any Reason” Travel Credits - Equal to 75% of the Pre-Paid Non-Refundable Cancellation Fees

In the event that you choose to cancel for a non-insured reason at any time up until departure, and you have purchased the Adventures by Disney Vacation Protection Plan, you will receive an Adventures by Disney travel credit equal to 75% of the pre-paid non-refundable cancellation fees imposed for your use toward a future trip.

This program enhancement is offered by Adventures by Disney as a special service to our valued guests. Certain restrictions on the use of these travel credits may apply. Credits are valid for one year from issue date, are not transferrable, and have no cash value. To be eligible for credits, notification of cancellation must be given to Adventures by Disney prior to the tour’s departure. Credits are issued in the event your cancellation claim is denied. To file a cancellation claim please visit www.travelclaim.com or call Aon Affinity at 1-800-543-0865.

Sayhello