We have an October trip with Tauck planned (New Zealand), and Quantas cancelled the flights today. For October! Crimeny.
I'll be cancelling our September ABD / AMA Danube cruise. So far, all ABD will let me do is move my money as far as next March. I'd rather push it to next August, so I may have to cancel and lose it all before my PIF in two weeks.I totally agree with you about the booking in advance. It didn't use to be like this, and I really don't enjoy it now that it is. It's one of the things I hate about DCL, this pressure to book early and pressure over booking excursions early, etc. It really is not enjoyable at all.
Sayhello
I'll be cancelling our September ABD / AMA Danube cruise. So far, all ABD will let me do is move my money as far as next March. I'd rather push it to next August, so I may have to cancel and lose it all before my PIF in two weeks.
I'm now heading in your direction on the advance commitments. We're now retired, so think we'll shift to only last-minute deals, which in a lot of cases will eliminate ABD, DCL, and even the parks. I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with the nonsense of months early fast passes and dining requests. I've been a proponent of planning WDW visits since the late 1980s, and was a user and promoter of the original Unofficial Guides. But to commit to what attraction I'll be on, and what meal I'll be having at what time months from now, naaah. My dollars will be migrating elsewhere.
I'm pretty sure Walt would understand.
March??? So they'll only allow you to move to one of the current year's offerings? That's ridiculous! I thought you could park your deposit for 2 years. I would really try talking to someone different or higher up. March 2021 is ridiculous.I'll be cancelling our September ABD / AMA Danube cruise. So far, all ABD will let me do is move my money as far as next March. I'd rather push it to next August, so I may have to cancel and lose it all before my PIF in two weeks.
I'm now heading in your direction on the advance commitments. We're now retired, so think we'll shift to only last-minute deals, which in a lot of cases will eliminate ABD, DCL, and even the parks. I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with the nonsense of months early fast passes and dining requests. I've been a proponent of planning WDW visits since the late 1980s, and was a user and promoter of the original Unofficial Guides. But to commit to what attraction I'll be on, and what meal I'll be having at what time months from now, naaah. My dollars will be migrating elsewhere.
I'm pretty sure Walt would understand.
I totally agree with this. So much of this is NOT how ABD was years ago when I fell in love with it. And I'd be extremely surprised if any trips sell out in advance this year.Seems to me that ABD has this culture (like everything at Disney) of making people plan stuff 18 months in advance...I can understand at WDW if you want to get certain dining (which is still insane), but I don't see a good reason to commit so early for ABD unless you want a few hundred dollars off for an early booking discount (in exchange for a few hundred you're giving them thousands in a deposit). I guess the other reason to book early is to get on the new trips which fill up fast, but I suspect that may not be happening for the next year or so.
Well, we called and after about a 1.5 hour wait we got through to a guy we could barely hear/understand, and after repeatedly asking why it was cancelled and confirming it was the airline cancelling and not us, he hung up. Then a refund notice showed up in our email in box. I suspect his main objective was to get us to agree to a credit rather than a refund-- wouldn't do us any good if Tauck goes forward with the trip in October. (BTW, we like ABD and Tauck-- we had a Tauck trip cancelled for this month and it has been difficult getting a refund/future trip credit--- but I don't blame them or ABD for current difficulties, given the unprecedented worldwide disaster. Yes, tough for everyone re travel plans, but we can weather those sorts of problems with good humor and patience, and instead focus on the health and safety of family, friends and those on the front lines of this). Be safe and well all!Did they say it was due to the virus? Maybe it's something else?
ABD and Disney shouldn't be blamed for a culture of booking trips well in advance. That's been driven by customer demand for years. Every Spring on this forum people ask when ABD will release the new ABDs so they can book them. Same with DCL. And the trips historically have booked up fast. New DCL and ABD itineraries as we all know have been ridiculously popular. Simply put, they book up early and prices begin to rise early because they're popular. That culture wouldn't exist without demand.
Now whether that demand goes down is another question. I'd certainly expect ABD demand to be soft for the next year due to uncertainties in international travel and whether there would be additional waves of COVID. If I were in charge of ABD, I'd release a new domestic trip to try to drive business rather than a hot new international trip (Egypt/Japan). I'd save that for the following year. And I'd relax the nonrefundable down payments and paid in full dates. The strictness of both the down payments and the PIF 120 days in advance were possibly due to contracts they had with hotels and tour operators. Needless to say, all these hotels and tour operators should be willing to renegotiate. If ABD can relax both the the downpayment and the PIF 4 months in advance, I think they could still see a decent 2021 despite the uncertainties of the world. If they don't see a need to change, I'd expect their numbers to be soft. Definitely no travel expert here. Just seems common sense.
I am holding off booking any travel for 2021 with a tour company. I plan on booking the Waldorf Astoria Maldives for next April (on points); we were supposed to be there now, but I cancelled the trip 3 weeks ago (and was able to get everything refunded that I had paid for). I would like to add on a trip to either India or Sri Lanka before heading to the atoll, but I am not ready to commit to anything outside of a stay on points currently (that can be easily refunded).
If a vaccine is developed and this virus is eradicated, I will consider a cycling trip to NZ with Backroads in January or February. Other than that and the aforementioned WA trip I don't have any travel plans for 2021. Too many uncertainties with dd being a freshman in university next year.
kaseyC, Our deposit for Scotland in July was already moved from a SA trip that we couldn't do. I spoke with them and they agreed because of COVID and the uncertainty to let me put it back as a place holder, I have until Dec 31 2020 to move it to a different adventure. Call them and ask.I'm not sure about 2021 yet. I have our final payment coming up for our early September ABD Rhine river cruise. I would love to move that deposit to a 2021 trip but the deposit was already moved from an Egypt itinerary so I can't. I expect things will still be chaotic in Europe at that time and will not be a good time if the trip goes forward. So now I'm trying to decide before my May PIF date if I will cancel and just lose the deposit or make payment and hope ABD cancels.
ABD and Disney shouldn't be blamed for a culture of booking trips well in advance. That's been driven by customer demand for years. Every Spring on this forum people ask when ABD will release the new ABDs so they can book them. Same with DCL. And the trips historically have booked up fast. New DCL and ABD itineraries as we all know have been ridiculously popular. Simply put, they book up early and prices begin to rise early because they're popular. That culture wouldn't exist without demand.
Now whether that demand goes down is another question. I'd certainly expect ABD demand to be soft for the next year due to uncertainties in international travel and whether there would be additional waves of COVID. If I were in charge of ABD, I'd release a new domestic trip to try to drive business rather than a hot new international trip (Egypt/Japan). I'd save that for the following year. And I'd relax the nonrefundable down payments and paid in full dates. The strictness of both the down payments and the PIF 120 days in advance were possibly due to contracts they had with hotels and tour operators. Needless to say, all these hotels and tour operators should be willing to renegotiate. If ABD can relax both the the downpayment and the PIF 4 months in advance, I think they could still see a decent 2021 despite the uncertainties of the world. If they don't see a need to change, I'd expect their numbers to be soft. Definitely no travel expert here. Just seems common sense.
ABD and Disney shouldn't be blamed for a culture of booking trips well in advance.
BTW, we like ABD and Tauck-- we had a Tauck trip cancelled for this month and it has been difficult getting a refund/future trip credit---
Um, yes, they should be blamed. People book early because the prices go up as filled, which causes people to book early. And because they offer early booking discounts. ....It's a profit motivated system.
kaseyC, Our deposit for Scotland in July was already moved from a SA trip that we couldn't do. I spoke with them and they agreed because of COVID and the uncertainty to let me put it back as a place holder, I have until Dec 31 2020 to move it to a different adventure. Call them and ask.
I agree it’s their pricing structure and early discounts combined with demand that feed the need to book early. I just don’t see it’s something that deserves blame. They’re not doing anything nefarious. It’s the same method most hotels, airlines and cruises follow. Sell the early seats at a lower price and gradually increase as availability decreases. Allows a company to predict demand and adapt accordingly. I suppose they could have just picked an avg price for their Japan trip. Maybe $1000 above their intro price and $1000 below their upper price. Charge everyone that same price to maintain the same revenue. Wouldn’t have the immediate rush of requests, but they might not know it’s necessary to increase the number of trips before it was too late. Plus I appreciate the ability get an early booking discount.
In all likelihood, ABD will have softer numbers for both 2020 and 2021 and they should adjust their T & C to reflect that. But after that, I don’t see a long term systemic problem for them. I will probably not travel with them as often as I have in the past, but that’s more because I’ve done close to 20 trips with them and they’ve frankly run out of trips for me. As my kids grow up, there’s other destinations I’d like to take them that ABD doesn’t go to.