DCL/ABD Med Cruise May 15, 2010

[sayhello]

Congratulations on beating the blood clot.

Talk about corny. Today's my father's 74th birthday, but he died 10 years ago. He was a big history buff and had always dreamed of a Mediterranean cruise. He had one booked for a few months after he died. This is why I'm taking my cruise, with my children, now.

Thanks abdmom! And yes, stuff like that really makes you see that you need to do stuff NOW if you can, and not put it off. Because who knows what "later" will bring...

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[Christyvoltron]

I hope they go too -- it will be hard for us being newbies to get onto some of the more popular excursions I would imagine -- however, I can think of no other company that would be so "flakey" and yet manage to still attract customers. Any other company would be out of business. And it is not very good publicity for them either because you only have to google ABD to find that they have this seriously bad reputation for cancelling trips. I am, however, very hopeful that they will go as it sounds like a really fun trip.

 

[sayhello]

I hope they go too -- it will be hard for us being newbies to get onto some of the more popular excursions I would imagine -- however, I can think of no other company that would be so "flakey" and yet manage to still attract customers. Any other company would be out of business. And it is not very good publicity for them either because you only have to google ABD to find that they have this seriously bad reputation for cancelling trips. I am, however, very hopeful that they will go as it sounds like a really fun trip.

DCL just told me that the August ABD add-ons were sold out. They couldn't/wouldn't give me numbers for May or September. I hope that's a good sign, but I'm not holding my breath just yet.

ABD is an excellent product. It's just not managed very well.

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[Christyvoltron]

We agree 100% -- just now that the excitement of booking and planning is over now comes the worry. LOL But the ABD tour guides are TOP TOP TOP notch and the two trips we have done with them have been absolutely unforgetable, once in a lifetime trips -- I have nothing but appreciation and respect for the ABD program -- just wish they didn't have this propensity to cancel all the time. I can't say I would know how to solve their problems but they shouldn't promise what they can't deliver. But we would not be on this trip but for the ABD add on.

 

[WeLoveABD]

We agree 100% -- just now that the excitement of booking and planning is over now comes the worry. LOL But the ABD tour guides are TOP TOP TOP notch and the two trips we have done with them have been absolutely unforgetable, once in a lifetime trips -- I have nothing but appreciation and respect for the ABD program -- just wish they didn't have this propensity to cancel all the time. I can't say I would know how to solve their problems but they shouldn't promise what they can't deliver. But we would not be on this trip but for the ABD add on.

Guides are great for sure! I do disagree with the characterization that there is a propensity to cancel all the time...it did occur this past year with the economic downturn (coupled with a huge growth, especially in the US trips), but they are still a relatively new travel company and I think they've worked out a lot of the growing pains!

 

[sayhello]

So I got an interesting bit of clarification from DCL. On the ABD website page for the Med add-on, under "What's included?", it lists "onboard and onshore photos ". I was thinking maybe we'd get some prints of the DCL photos from Shutters that they take on the ship, the same way you get a few photo prints from the ABD guides while on regular ABD's. The Shutters photos can get pretty expensive, so that sounded nice.

So the Supervisor I'd talked to (no, she still can't tell me how many people have signed up for my date) called me back with this detail: What we get are 2 photo CD's. One CD will be the Guides' photos (so, basically, the $120 photo CD that you can buy from Photopass.) The second one will be all the photos taken onboard by DCL's photographers. The cost of the photo CD's from Shutters varies according to the length of the cruise, but I've seen that the CD for the 7-day cruises cost anywhere from $299-399!!!! I can't imagine what an 11-night one goes for! I really wasn't intending to buy that one, given the price, but having it included is a nice bonus... (Yes, I realize I'm paying for that bonus, but even the $120 CD isn't included with regular ABD's. Not that I don't think it SHOULD be included...)

Only 17 more days until that magical "90 days out", after which the ABD portion won't be cancelled. I *WISH* they'd give me *some* idea of how well my date is selling... But I'm still optomistic, knowing that the August dates have supposedly all sold out.

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[Tozzie]

So I got an interesting bit of clarification from DCL. On the ABD website page for the Med add-on, under "What's included?", it lists "onboard and onshore photos ". I was thinking maybe we'd get some prints of the DCL photos from Shutters that they take on the ship, the same way you get a few photo prints from the ABD guides while on regular ABD's. The Shutters photos can get pretty expensive, so that sounded nice.

So the Supervisor I'd talked to (no, she still can't tell me how many people have signed up for my date) called me back with this detail: What we get are 2 photo CD's. One CD will be the Guides' photos (so, basically, the $120 photo CD that you can buy from Photopass.) The second one will be all the photos taken onboard by DCL's photographers. The cost of the photo CD's from Shutters varies according to the length of the cruise, but I've seen that the CD for the 7-day cruises cost anywhere from $299-399!!!! I can't imagine what an 11-night one goes for! I really wasn't intending to buy that one, given the price, but having it included is a nice bonus... (Yes, I realize I'm paying for that bonus, but even the $120 CD isn't included with regular ABD's. Not that I don't think it SHOULD be included...)

Only 17 more days until that magical "90 days out", after which the ABD portion won't be cancelled. I *WISH* they'd give me *some* idea of how well my date is selling... But I'm still optomistic, knowing that the August dates have supposedly all sold out.

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Is the cruise add on different because for the other trips the guarantee is 85 days not 90

 

[sayhello]

Is the cruise add on different because for the other trips the guarantee is 85 days not 90

Tozzie, yes, the policy for the cruise add-on was changed so that it matched the cancel-with-no-penalty timeframe for the cruise (90 days out). (ie, if they cancel the ABD portion at 90 days out, you can still cancel the cruise portion at that point, and get a 100% refund. At 89 days, you lose your cruise deposit.) If ABD cancels the add-on, they'll refund the money for the add-on, but not for the cruise, so that was important. This was one of the things that was firmed up *after* they'd made the announcement, but before I signed up. I like to think my nagging phone calls had something to do with it!

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[Christyvoltron]

I will admit that despite assurances to the contrary I am still quite nervous they are going to cancel the ABD portion of the trip and then you have very little time to decide what you want to do.

 

[sayhello]

I will admit that despite assurances to the contrary I am still quite nervous they are going to cancel the ABD portion of the trip and then you have very little time to decide what you want to do.

Oh, I agree with you, Christyvoltron. I think they could have been much nicer about it, since they were changing the policy anyways, and made it at least 95 days, so you'd have at least a couple of day to think about it. I'm trying to stay positive, and think it's likely to go, but honestly, I'm pretty nervous, too. I really don't want to do this cruise without the ABD add-on, but I'm just not sure what I'd do instead. But I'm thinking it's likely I'll cancel the whole shebang, and do Hawaii or something. Guess I'll figure it out on Feb 14th...

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[sayhello]

I will admit that despite assurances to the contrary I am still quite nervous they are going to cancel the ABD portion of the trip and then you have very little time to decide what you want to do.

Hey, Christy, just thought I'd let you know. I spent a while chatting with a DCL rep yesterday. He couldn't actually tell me "Yes" or "No" about our ABD add-on, and was very clear he had no actual numbers, but said the add-on *was* selling very well. He also said that, since Feb 14th was a Sunday, it was *very* likely that *if* ABD did cancel, they would most likely do it on the Friday before, and not wait for a Sunday (ie, doing it on the last regular business day, not the weekend). He also said that even though, technically, we have until Midnight Sunday night/Monday morning to cancel the cruise, in actuality, the offices close at 8pm on Sunday, so you'd need to cancel the cruise before then (because you actually need to call them to cancel the cruise).

Just a few things to keep in mind. None of this is going to make me any less nervous for the next 2 weeks, but it's always good to have a clearer idea of what's going on...

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[Pluto 2]

i wouldnt worry about the abd getting cancelled. theres only 40 spots to fill for a ship that holds a little over 2500 passengers. so lets say that your cruise is not sold out , it only has 2,000 passengers on your cruise. you will only need 2 percent of them to book the abd for that to be sold out. im sure they will still go with 30 people thats only 1 and a half percent. they might even go with 20 people thats only 1 percent.

 

[Christyvoltron]

Thanks for the update Sayhello. Even if the ABD part is cancelled we are still going on the cruise. We are still extremely hopeful that ABD will come through. While I am a huge fan of ABD and have really enjoyed the two trips we have taken with them and we are really looking forward to taking this trip with them, the uncertainty is killing us.

 

[sayhello]

Thanks for the update Sayhello. Even if the ABD part is cancelled we are still going on the cruise. We are still extremely hopeful that ABD will come through. While I am a huge fan of ABD and have really enjoyed the two trips we have taken with them and we are really looking forward to taking this trip with them, the uncertainty is killing us.

I keep changing my mind. Most of the time, I'm pretty sure that if the ABD portion is canceled, that I'm going to cancel the cruise; sometimes I think, well, no. But the whole idea of fighting for DCL excursions (75 days out, since I'm a newbie) or trying to get in on someone else's private excursions (doing private for one person just doesn't make sense or seem safe) just doesn't appeal to me. And 11 days is a LONG cruise to be on alone. I was really hoping for the continuity of the 40 people...

We'll see. I'm still hopeful. It's just going to be a long 2 weeks.

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[glassslipper2004]

There's probably still plenty of time to get on a regular ABD if the ABD cruise portion gets cancelled, right? I hope that it doesn't, though - I need you to go on it and report back to us all!

 

[sayhello]

There's probably still plenty of time to get on a regular ABD if the ABD cruise portion gets cancelled, right? I hope that it doesn't, though - I need you to go on it and report back to us all!

Heheheheh. I'll do my best to oblige!

Unfortunately, I'm pretty locked into vacationing in May now (because of work schedules and my coworkers' vacations), and there's not a lot of ABD's being offered in May this year. We'll see. I'm REALLY hoping it's all a moot point, and this cruise add-on is a go. Fingers & toes crossed...

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[jonandtina]

Hello,

First time DCL and First time ABD. I'll try to post a summary of our trip along the way so anyone leaving after us might get some useful information.


If anyone works for a Disney Alliance Partner- great deal on the 4/2010 and 5/2010 and 6/2010 cruises.

 

[sayhello]

Hey, jonandtina! I'll look forward to your report! Information is always a good thing.

So you just hit the magic 90-day period, didn't you? That means your ABD/DCL is a go for sure! That's encouraging! Hopefully if yours is a go, ours will be, too!

Welcome! You're going to love ABD! I'm a first time DCLer, also, so I can't say for sure, but I've *heard* we'll love DCL, too!

Oh, and what's a Disney Alliance Partner?

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[sayhello]

7 more days until no more cancellation for this ABD...

Not that I'm counting or anything!

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[Christyvoltron]

We're holding our breath too. I think we just won't answer the phone. Although what that accomplishes I don't know. I will be so disappointed. That much I know.