Worried Disney might cancel my China trip

[TXTransplant]

Guess that means it's time to start planning plan C since plan A is ABD goes as scheduled, plan B is to have a private trip organized by another company should ABD cancel with enough notice and plan C is planning it on my own. I know it may not be necessary but I like to have plans in place should something happen.

I had a lot of anxiety about it last year. Even if a cancellation occurred at the 90 day mark, it would be hard to put together a substitute vacation that is of the same caliber as these ABD trips. Heck, I tried to book a hotel at the Grand Canyon a couple of years ago in January or February for a June trip and literally had my choice of one or two rooms (at the lodge with no A/C).

Ultimately, I just decided to take the risk and figured, even if we didn't get the super-vacation I had planned, at least I would get all of my money back. I'm taking the same approach this year. Next year, we will either do Hawaii on our own or Canada with Tauck Bridges.

 

[sayhello]

OK, this is confusing. I think I'm going to call ABD about this. After the standard "What happens if my trip is cancelled?" portion of the FAQ, I found this on the Danube Cruise FAQ page:

• What are the Terms and Conditions of the Adventures by Disney Guaranteed Departure Program? Expanded
  Adventures by Disney Travel Services, Inc. will not cancel any: (i) regularly scheduled departure less than 70 days prior to its scheduled start date; or (ii) any other departure, as identified by Adventures by Disney Travel Services, Inc., prior to its scheduled start date, except if cancellation of the same is due to: (A) non-payment by the Guest; or (B) factors beyond our reasonable control, such as, but not limited to: industry-wide strikes, civil unrest, embargos, fires, explosions, floods, earthquakes, typhoons or similar severe storms, wars (whether declared or not), or acts or threats of terrorism or a direct response to the same, in which case the provisions of our standard Terms and Conditions shall apply. The Adventures by Disney Guaranteed Departure Program does not apply to any Adventures by Disney packages offered in conjunction with any Disney Cruise Line® cruise.
  

The clause marked (i) says "[any] regularly scheduled departure less than 70 days prior to its scheduled start". It doesn't say "Designated Guaranteed departures" it says "any regularly sheduled departure" I wonder what this actually means?

Sayhello

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

OK, this is confusing. I think I'm going to call ABD about this. After the standard "What happens if my trip is cancelled?" portion of the FAQ, I found this on the Danube Cruise FAQ page:

The clause marked (i) says "[any] regularly scheduled departure less than 70 days prior to its scheduled start". It doesn't say "Designated Guaranteed departures" it says "any regularly sheduled departure" I wonder what this actually means?

Sayhello

I would be interested in knowing this too. If it's any of their originally scheduled trips then it would mean that my trip would be good to go pretty much at the start of July, which would take a huge weight off if I knew that if I hadn't heard anything by the start of July my trip would be going.

 

[sayhello]

I would be interested in knowing this too. If it's any of their originally scheduled trips then it would mean that my trip would be good to go pretty much at the start of July, which would take a huge weight off if I knew that if I hadn't heard anything by the start of July my trip would be going.

I'll let you know what I find out!

Sayhello

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

I'll let you know what I find out!

Sayhello

Thanks.

 

[anonymousegirl]

Me too! Very interesting to see what SayHello finds out.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Quite frankly in my opinion, if final payment is due by a certain day, say 90 days in advance, then the trip should either be confirmed or cancelled 89 days in advance because at that point ABD would know if they have enough people or not. Would make life so much easier for everyone. Below their chosen threshold at 90 days, trip is cancelled, over it, trip is confirmed.

 

[sayhello]

OK, so I talked to ABD, and it wasn't very useful. At least she didn't try to BS me, but she basically said, look at your travel contract. The website is transient, and could be wrong, so the fact that that one FAQ page contradicted itself doesn't really mean much, and she would report it to the higher ups to get it fixed. My contract definitely does not mention the 70 days prior to departure thing, so it looks like the "any time up until departure" is still the policy.

Now if the contradiction is on your contract, then there's a problem.

She *did* say that to her knowledge, they always *try* to cancel at least 6 months ahead of time for lack of people. I know that hasn't always been the case with what we've seen here, but I do think that in general, it has been well in advance. Why they don't just go ahead and guarantee at some point is still a mystery to me, and makes me more & more hesitant. It's really sad, because I do so love these trips.

Sayhello

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Well, since mine falls under the "Cancel at anytime" scenario and it has yet to be guaranteed, I guess I'll just keep planning my own version of the trip should my trip get cancelled. Good thing I found a great day trip company that can take us from Prague to Salzburg and Salzburg to Vienna. I can book my trips with them and cancel if it turns out my trip is a go (which I will assume is still going when I receive my documents) since I can book with the day trip company and cancel up to 24 hours in advance without penalty.

This is why we have booked with an alternate company for next year.

 

[distravel]

Yay, now have 13 people booked. Plus agent said that adult only departures tend to have lower numbers needed for trip to be guaranteed, so maybe there is a chance it will go after all.

We just booked this trip today , so now there are 15 people on the trip. In 2011 we went with ABD to Australia with only 10 guests and 1 guide so there is definitely a chance that the trip will not be cancelled. Looking forward to traveling with you on this exciting busy trip. We are also returning to Shanghai for a few days after the tour ends but we are not going to spend any additional time in Hong Kong.

 

[anonymousegirl]

We just booked this trip today , so now there are 15 people on the trip. In 2011 we went with ABD to Australia with only 10 guests and 1 guide so there is definitely a chance that the trip will not be cancelled. Looking forward to traveling with you on this exciting busy trip. We are also returning to Shanghai for a few days after the tour ends but we are not going to spend any additional time in Hong Kong.

Awesome! Welcome! We don't need extra time in Hong Kong either--we did it pretty thoroughly back in 1995. We are leaving right after breakfast for Shanghai on departure morning. Haven't bought the tickets HKG-PVG yet. Definitely waiting for final payment

 

[Pawleys4]

Christian is one of the regular Adventure Guides on the China ABD itinerary and he is AWESOME! We had him on the Southern California ABD trip during his off time from the China excursions and he was amazing. Always, always smiling and upbeat. i don't when the guy ever had time to sleep! You will have a blast!

 

[anonymousegirl]

Christian is one of the regular Adventure Guides on the China ABD itinerary and he is AWESOME! We had him on the Southern California ABD trip during his off time from the China excursions and he was amazing. Always, always smiling and upbeat. i don't when the guy ever had time to sleep! You will have a blast!

I was thinking the same thing about our Peru guides. When do they sleep? Always first up and out, always last to bed, always doing stuff for us. It was amazing. Rudy and Emily, if you are reading this, thank you, thank you, thank you!