Who is and who's not booking with ABD for 2010

[Bobo912]

I almost forgot to say: Bobo912 & marcemch, you will love, love, LOVE Yosemite! It's an incredible place. One of the most fabulous places I've ever been, and I've been to a few fabulous places! A definite must-see!

Sayhello, thanks for the comment. I've never been to Yosemite and I've really been wanting to go since I watched the Ken Burn's National Parks documentary on PBS and I was very glad when DS brought it up a couple of weeks ago with no prompting from me. But I also want to travel out of the country and visit some place that is totally different than anywhere else I've ever been, and although I haven't been to Yosemite, I have been to San Francisco, so the Northern CA trip wouldn't be totally new. So I have a very, very small misgiving about going on this trip and it helps to hear a hearty recommendation. I'm also pretty excited about not having to pay the hefty international airfare. I think at least one of us will be able to fly free on Southwest by next summer. Then I can take the money we save and put it aside to help pay for the 2011 vacation.

 

[Diskidatheart]

I've been on several cruises before. I think a lot of it is what you make of it. If your not willing to participate in the activities on board, then the cruising part could be boring. It's only been my wife and me on the cruise, so maybe not having kids makes a difference. Our second cruise, a Southern Caribbean cruise on RCCL, was a great cruise. We had a blast. Our table consisted of 3 couples around the same age. At first, everyone was pretty shy, but by the end of the cruise, we were all asking, so what are we all doing tonight. I think who you sit with at dinner can make a cruise more enjoyable also. We haven't booked DCL before because we thought it would be too kid oriented, however, after further research, I'm not sure if that is the case and may do a DCL cruise down the road.

One thing that I've found out is that cruising isn't for everyone. Some of the things that my wife and I really enjoyed, other do not. Cruising is definitely a great way to sample different locations without committing to a week or so there. For example, one of our stops was in St. Lucia. We loved it and hope to go back there some day. If it wasn't for the cruise, we may not have even considered St. Lucia for vacation.

 

[Bobo912]

I've been on several cruises before. I think a lot of it is what you make of it. If your not willing to participate in the activities on board, then the cruising part could be boring. It's only been my wife and me on the cruise, so maybe not having kids makes a difference. Our second cruise, a Southern Caribbean cruise on RCCL, was a great cruise. We had a blast. Our table consisted of 3 couples around the same age. At first, everyone was pretty shy, but by the end of the cruise, we were all asking, so what are we all doing tonight. I think who you sit with at dinner can make a cruise more enjoyable also. We haven't booked DCL before because we thought it would be too kid oriented, however, after further research, I'm not sure if that is the case and may do a DCL cruise down the road.

One thing that I've found out is that cruising isn't for everyone. Some of the things that my wife and I really enjoyed, other do not. Cruising is definitely a great way to sample different locations without committing to a week or so there. For example, one of our stops was in St. Lucia. We loved it and hope to go back there some day. If it wasn't for the cruise, we may not have even considered St. Lucia for vacation.

I'm sure that is true. I thought I would enjoy participating in some of the adult activities, while somebody else watched over my son. I'm a bit of a foodie and I was really looking forward to the martini and wine tasting, but after that first night of nausea and vomiting, those activities didn't seem appealing any longer. It's probably more fun when you have another adult with you too, so when your kids go off on their own, you're not left alone. And it was a little more difficult to fill the time, since we missed Castaway Cay and had the extra day at sea. I did go to one of the lounges with our dinner companions a couple of times to listen to the piano player and that was nice. DCL definitely tries to seat you with families with children of the same age. We had three 9 year-olds and a 10 year-old at our table. The adults seemed to have more in common than the kids did though.

 

[gayleaboone]

Since I travel solo, wandering around ports, etc, at night is not really a practical or safe option for me anyways. On the DCL Med cruise, it looks like most port days go to 7 or 9pm...

If I do the DCL/ABD Med thing, I plan on diverging from the ABD on the day in Naples, and doing Pompeii on my own, and then rejoining the ABD for the Amalfi coast. While the pizza making sounds like all kinds of fun, I can't imagine being that close & not going to Pompeii. Maybe if enough people want to do it, they might split the group up. I'm willing to spend the extra $ to go see Pompeii...

Other than that, the itinerary sounds fabulous!

Sayhello

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I am sooo glad you are going to do Pompeii---it is amazing. I think the other ports of call on DCL Med look fabulous---and there are some exotic places like Tunisia that you often don't get on other cruises---that is a real plus. I think you should do it!!!!!

 

[Turtlemom]

Bobo and Marcemace--
We are also considering the Yosemite trip this summer and I am looking at both ABD and Tauk Bridges. Just curous, what about the Tauk Bridges trip appeals to you more than ABD??? We've had such great experiences with the Disney Adventure Guides that I'm hesitant to go elsewhere, but shopping around never hurts. . . .

 

[Bobo912]

Bobo and Marcemace--
We are also considering the Yosemite trip this summer and I am looking at both ABD and Tauk Bridges. Just curous, what about the Tauk Bridges trip appeals to you more than ABD??? We've had such great experiences with the Disney Adventure Guides that I'm hesitant to go elsewhere, but shopping around never hurts. . . .

I think they both look great, but I think my son would enjoy Monterey more than Lake Tahoe. He is a sea life enthusiast and really likes to visit aquariums. I figure we can use some of our free time or stay an extra day to do a whale or dolphin cruise (or whatever creatures are out at that time of year around Monterey). The Yosemite part of the trip looks fantastic for both. The ABD trip stays within the park and Tauck just outside, but I don't really mind that, since I won't be the one driving into Yosemite looking for a parking spot. And the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls has horrible reviews on Trip Advisor. I try to take that with a grain of salt because I know people sometimes blow things all out of proportion. But as I was looking through the reviews even the people who gave it a good rating had nothing good to say about it other than the location was fantastic. A lot of them said it was dirty and the plumbing didn't function properly. I will happily deal with a room that is old and small, but dirty isn't something I can put up with, no matter how great the location. The other thing is that there are two bike rides on the ABD trip which isn't DS's favorite thing (or mine either). There is a lot of time on your own on the ABD trip, so passing up two of the scheduled activities would be a significant hit. And then there is the price. The ABD trip is an extra $1188 for the two of us, plus the tips for the guides (which is included in the Tauck price). Comparing the two, I'm not sure why the ABD trip is that much more. I checked the prices posted on the hotel's websites and ABD's hotel in San Francisco is higher, but other than that the price of the accommodations is similar and the activities aren't significantly different. Lastly, there are only two dates for the ABD trip. The first trip ends on July 4th and I'm not too enthusiastic about traveling around a holiday. The other date would be okay, if we decided to go with ABD, but doesn't give us any flexibility. I'm sure either one would be just wonderful.

 

[marcemch]

Wow - once again, I find myself in full agreement with Bobo912's response. I really liked the idea of spending some time at the ocean, as the west coast is so different than what we are used to here in NC, and the TB tour has 2 days in Monterey. I was also concerned about the additional cost to get from SF to Lake Tahoe, where the TB tour starts and ends in SF (or with an airport Tfr to SFO). The bike trip across the GG Bridge sounds a little scary for me (with my fear of heights), although I really enjoy bike riding. My daughter doesn't like to ride her bike where cars are anywhere near, so like Bobo912, the bike trips were questionable activities. I like the idea of the night scavenger hunt in Yosemite (sounds like a good kid bonding activity for sure!) offered by T.B.. The T.B. hotels have pretty good reviews on Tripadvisor as well.
The cost was a biggie for me - I just can't see spending basically $7K for the two of us to do a domestic trip like this. I have a mental ceiling of $6K for our vacation (prior to airfare), which is why most of the ABDs are now out of reach financially thanks to elimination of the EBD. The lack of positive feedback on the ABD trip (and only negative comments about the trip being a work in progress) also factored into my preference for the T.B. trip.

 

[Diskidatheart]

Monterey and the surrounding areas are fantastic. I personally thought that the aquarium was over-rated. I guess after reading everything about it, I thought it was going to be more spectacular than it was. Don't get me wrong, it was nice, but I had very high expectations. The one thing that you do not want to miss while in Monterey is to take a drive on 17-mile drive. There are some amazing views here. Also, the one thing that I loved the most was the views along Highway 1 heading towards Big Sur. That was the most amazing stretch of road that I've ever seen. We took a ton of pictures. (I'd post a couple of them, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.) We wanted to do a whale watching tour while in Monterey, but ran out of time.

 

[glassslipper2004]

Bobo - I'm so sorry your cruise didn't go well. I think the thing I like best about cruising is just the way the breeze feels up on deck, especially early in the morning. I love the water and sailing, and so cruising really hits me in just the right place. I don't go to meet people or learn anything -- like I do with ABD -- just to relax and enjoy the feeling of being on the ocean. Although we have met people through the Disboards, and met up with a few on the ship, which was fun, even if not the point of the cruise for me. Since we are a family of four we had a table to ourselves (at our request) so we didn't have to risk being seated with people we didn't want to hang out with. This is a totally different approach than ABD, I realize as I'm typing this - maybe I'm changing as I get older, because lately on our two ABD trips I love meeting people (and sitting with them at dinner!)

Of course, bad weather would really ruin a lot of what I like about cruising, so I guess I've been very lucky. My girls weren't that into the kids' clubs, but we had fun being together and seeing the shows (we love musicals) and doing some of the corny family activities (pirate stuff, towel animals). I hated the way the kids pool was a mob scene, and really didn't care for the competitive pool chair hogging that went on.

Overall we had a great time on the Disney cruise, mostly because of the lovely tropical breezes and the full time pampering. Someday I imagine we'll do it again.

 

[Bobo912]

Bobo - I'm so sorry your cruise didn't go well. I think the thing I like best about cruising is just the way the breeze feels up on deck, especially early in the morning. I love the water and sailing, and so cruising really hits me in just the right place. I don't go to meet people or learn anything -- like I do with ABD -- just to relax and enjoy the feeling of being on the ocean. Although we have met people through the Disboards, and met up with a few on the ship, which was fun, even if not the point of the cruise for me. Since we are a family of four we had a table to ourselves (at our request) so we didn't have to risk being seated with people we didn't want to hang out with. This is a totally different approach than ABD, I realize as I'm typing this - maybe I'm changing as I get older, because lately on our two ABD trips I love meeting people (and sitting with them at dinner!)

Of course, bad weather would really ruin a lot of what I like about cruising, so I guess I've been very lucky. My girls weren't that into the kids' clubs, but we had fun being together and seeing the shows (we love musicals) and doing some of the corny family activities (pirate stuff, towel animals). I hated the way the kids pool was a mob scene, and really didn't care for the competitive pool chair hogging that went on.

Overall we had a great time on the Disney cruise, mostly because of the lovely tropical breezes and the full time pampering. Someday I imagine we'll do it again.

Thanks. We've been so lucky to have good weather on vacations for many years, so it was bound to happen sooner or later. I was mostly just looking forward to the warm weather and I would have been happy to just sit on deck most of the time, if it had been warm and sunny. I tried sitting on deck 4 a few times, but the wind was just too bad to stay out for very long and it was even worse on deck 9. Besides the sea sickness, I caught a stomach virus and started feeling sick again on the plane home. That wiped me out for about 3 days. For awhile just thinking about the ship nearly made me sick again, but now that I've recovered, I think I may try another cruise someday, but probably not Disney. I've seen some cruises to Australia and New Zealand that look interesting, so maybe in a few years I'll give it another try.

 

[Bobo912]

Monterey and the surrounding areas are fantastic. I personally thought that the aquarium was over-rated. I guess after reading everything about it, I thought it was going to be more spectacular than it was. Don't get me wrong, it was nice, but I had very high expectations. The one thing that you do not want to miss while in Monterey is to take a drive on 17-mile drive. There are some amazing views here. Also, the one thing that I loved the most was the views along Highway 1 heading towards Big Sur. That was the most amazing stretch of road that I've ever seen. We took a ton of pictures. (I'd post a couple of them, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.) We wanted to do a whale watching tour while in Monterey, but ran out of time.

How did you think the aquarium compared with other aquariums you've visited? We've been to some large aquariums - Shedd, Georgia, Tennessee, Ripley's (Myrtle Beach)- and some smaller ones - Estuarian (Mobile Bay), Alaska Sea Life Center - and Sea World in Orlando and San Diego. We enjoyed them all. My favorite is the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. It is the most unique and just a beautifuul building in a great location. My expectation is that the Monterey Aquarium is similar to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, only overlooking the ocean, so in a much more eye-pleasing location.

 

[Turtlemom]

There's also that National Acquarium in Baltimore--close to me, that is pretty fabulous. I love acquariums, but I don't think it would be the major draw for me. The 17 mile drive and Big Sur is another matter.

Just curious--Diskidatheart--did you do Monterrey on your own? or with a group?

 

[Diskidatheart]

How did you think the aquarium compared with other aquariums you've visited? We've been to some large aquariums - Shedd, Georgia, Tennessee, Ripley's (Myrtle Beach)- and some smaller ones - Estuarian (Mobile Bay), Alaska Sea Life Center - and Sea World in Orlando and San Diego. We enjoyed them all. My favorite is the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. It is the most unique and just a beautifuul building in a great location. My expectation is that the Monterey Aquarium is similar to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, only overlooking the ocean, so in a much more eye-pleasing location.

I've been to the Pittsburgh Zoo Aquarium and the Baltimore Aquarium (years and years ago) and I thought they were all equal, maybe a slight edge to the one in Baltimore. I would say that going to the Monterey Aquarium is similar to going to the one in Baltimore in the sense that since you are there, you go, but that is not the reason to go to Baltimore (or Monterey). Please don't get me wrong, the Monterey Aquarium is really nice, I just think I had very high expectations from all the research I did about it.

 

[Diskidatheart]

There's also that National Acquarium in Baltimore--close to me, that is pretty fabulous. I love acquariums, but I don't think it would be the major draw for me. The 17 mile drive and Big Sur is another matter.

Just curious--Diskidatheart--did you do Monterrey on your own? or with a group?

My trip to Monterey was actually a dream trip for me. I got to play Pebble Beach for the first (and possibly the only time). We went on our own. We stayed at the Inn at Spanish Bay, which was a gorgeous place to stay. We were only there for 3 days, but we tried to pack in as much as possible in those 3 days, including a drive to Big Sur (unfortunately, that was the time that Big Sur was on fire a couple of years ago). The drive down to Big Sur was just breathtaking. We also were able to test drive a Lexus convertible for 2 hours , so we took it through 17 mile drive and made stops at each spot. The Lone Cypress tree was incredible to see live and was one of my favorite spots, but there are so many cool things to see during that drive. We spent one day in Monterey and went to the aquarium and walked around. If we had more time, we definitely would have done a whale watching tour or some other type of excursion like that. Of course, the highlight of my trip was playing Pebble Beach, but I won't bore you with the details of that.

 

[Bobo912]

To digress for a moment to our previous discussion about companies that offer return guest discounts. I have learned that Thomson offers a $500 discount per family for returning guests. That's not bad for a small family like mine, but not so great if you have 4, 5 or more. For a large family, ABD's is better, but the Nov 30 deadline for booking needs to go away, IMO.

 

[Bobo912]

Wow - once again, I find myself in full agreement with Bobo912's response. I really liked the idea of spending some time at the ocean, as the west coast is so different than what we are used to here in NC, and the TB tour has 2 days in Monterey. I was also concerned about the additional cost to get from SF to Lake Tahoe, where the TB tour starts and ends in SF (or with an airport Tfr to SFO). The bike trip across the GG Bridge sounds a little scary for me (with my fear of heights), although I really enjoy bike riding. My daughter doesn't like to ride her bike where cars are anywhere near, so like Bobo912, the bike trips were questionable activities. I like the idea of the night scavenger hunt in Yosemite (sounds like a good kid bonding activity for sure!) offered by T.B.. The T.B. hotels have pretty good reviews on Tripadvisor as well.
The cost was a biggie for me - I just can't see spending basically $7K for the two of us to do a domestic trip like this. I have a mental ceiling of $6K for our vacation (prior to airfare), which is why most of the ABDs are now out of reach financially thanks to elimination of the EBD. The lack of positive feedback on the ABD trip (and only negative comments about the trip being a work in progress) also factored into my preference for the T.B. trip.

maremch, and anybody else who is considering the Tauck Bridges Northern CA trip, I just noticed that the Aug 1 trip is now listed as limited availability. The Jul 11 trip is already sold out. There are 6 other dates. I'm planning to wait a few days after ABD's free cruise offer expires and see if they offer anything else as an incentive before I book anything. But I'm beginning to think I shouldn't wait too long.

 

[marcemch]

Thanks for the "heads up". We are currently in WDW (freezing our rear ends off, but otherwise enjoying the lack of crowds), so haven't checked the disboards in a few days. But seeing "Soaring" for the first time has helped to envigorate my hope to go to N. CA!
Do you know if AAA or any other travel agents are offering any booking discounts on Tauck tours like they do for ABD? I also need to look at Tauck's change/cancellation policies as my work schedule for this summer is a little up in the air.

 

[Bobo912]

Thanks for the "heads up". We are currently in WDW (freezing our rear ends off, but otherwise enjoying the lack of crowds), so haven't checked the disboards in a few days. But seeing "Soaring" for the first time has helped to envigorate my hope to go to N. CA!
Do you know if AAA or any other travel agents are offering any booking discounts on Tauck tours like they do for ABD? I also need to look at Tauck's change/cancellation policies as my work schedule for this summer is a little up in the air.

I'm sorry the temps are so cold. We always had such good luck with the weather when we went to WDW in January , back in the days before missing school became an issue. I looked on the AAA website and they list Tauck World Discovery as one of their vendors. I'll try to call them this week and see if they offer any discount for Tauck Bridges. When I booked my ABD trip in 2008 I called AAA and they did not have discounts or incentives then - at least not on my trip. I think they had gift cards last year. It looks like they are only offering a digital photo frame this year. I did find a price of $2635 for the Tauck Bridges Northern CA trip listed on affordabletours.com, which is around a $300 savings. But I don't know anything about them.

 

[Bobo912]

I got an interesting newsletter from Thomson today. I don't want to start a thread on the ABD board but thought I would let you know what the newsletter said since we have discussed discounts with Thomson and other companies on this thread. I think I mentioned somewhere on this thread that Thomson said their rates go down once the group size exceeds 6 and go down again once the group is over 11 people. I've wondered how that works and how it would be fair to the first six (or 11) people who book. Based on this email, they refund the difference to the earlier bookers. The group size discounts are listed on their website now and they are singnificant, especially once the groups is over 11 people. For example, for Peru its $350 per person, Galapagos is $500 per person and China is $600 per person. Here's the bit from the newsletter:

Rate Breaks
We're constantly tweaking and negotiating and bringing the savings home to you. First we brought in large group discounts for 2010; we're refunding thousands of dollars to our March travelers.These discounts start at just six guests, so bring along your friends or other family members and everyone saves.

Now we've renegotiated two destinations to make them more affordable without sacrificing our quality or service. China is back to 2009 prices; this summer, add on a few days and wrap up your adventure with a visit the World's Fair in Shanghai. Looking for something tropical? Consider Belize, full of Mayan ruins and offering world class snorkeling. We've redesigned our package so now you can visit this amazing country for less than last year's pricing.