Whiskers, it's the same policy. You have 14 days in which to cancel with no penalty, and then you would forfeit the deposit.
At the risk of always sounding like the AbD cheerleader, if I can come at this from a travel professional side:
1) At one point, I had booked more AbD trips individually than any one agent in the nation. This was, of course, before the DIS/
Dreams Unlimited began selling AbD again.
I mention this only to say that I had a bit of experience with canceled trips in 2009. Yes, AbD was optimistic on growth. When the economy tanked, there were too many trips with too few guests spread among them. Yes, they did consolidate trips, and about 20% of mine were canceled. However, I don't only sell Disney -- I sell every other tour company, and I can honestly say that I had NO issues with how AbD handled these cancellations. The utmost consideration was given to guests, airfare was either refunded or rescheduled at AbD's expense, and different dates (and even more expensive itineraries) were offered in exchange for the ones canceled.
2) As a couple of my clients on this board will attest, Tauck also cancels tours. Theirs was also canceled in 2009.
3) In the back of the Tauck brochure, there is also small print: "Tauck pledges to make every effort to operate all cruises and tours as advertised. Tauck reserves the right to alter or curtail the itinerary, or substitute sightseeing, ports, hotels, and/or conveyances as deemed necessary...."
I'm not picking on Tauck as this applies to many other tour operators, but I don't see anywhere on the Tauck site or in their trip documents that there's a guaranteed date after which they won't cancel. I think that's a bonus with AbD, not a drawback.
I'm not saying that you don't have cause for concern; I only wanted to add that the concern should be with any tour company, not just AbD. Some companies will offer "guaranteed departures" but even those usually have their own unique small print.
Have fun on whatever trip you choose!
Dotti