ABD China changes?

June itineraries for the China ABD have been removed from the website. July and later are still showing.
This whole thing just makes me so sad. China is such an amazing ABD. I hope all of you who have been affected by these cancellations try again when things calm down. I also feel sorry for all the awesome guides we had on this trip. They must be having a tough time.
 
I also feel sorry for all the awesome guides we had on this trip. They must be having a tough time.
This is exactly what we have been thinking about. Our local guides in China as well as our fabulous Adventure Guide who lives in Beijing and whose income depends solely on tourism in China. He has a family to support. This is affecting people's livelihoods which is why we have to be careful about spreading misinformation via social media. This is very sad and I hope for everyone's sake that this virus gets contained soon.
 
This whole thing just makes me so sad. China is such an amazing ABD. I hope all of you who have been affected by these cancellations try again when things calm down. I also feel sorry for all the awesome guides we had on this trip. They must be having a tough time.
I so agree with this. SUCH an amazing trip, with SUCH amazing Guides! It has to be hard on them financially as well as emotionally. SUCH a hard thing!
This is exactly what we have been thinking about. Our local guides in China as well as our fabulous Adventure Guide who lives in Beijing and whose income depends solely on tourism in China. He has a family to support. This is affecting people's livelihoods which is why we have to be careful about spreading misinformation via social media. This is very sad and I hope for everyone's sake that this virus gets contained soon.
I totally agree with this!

Sayhello
 


My husband, who from the beginning of this outbreak has been nothing less than 100% certain that it would blow over and not impact our trip in late August, finally admitted that he believes that there is a possibility that we might not be able to go.

Now my backup plans don’t seem so silly to him.

But I agree that’s it’s not just sad for those whose trips are cancelled but also all the people who rely on income from these trips and other tourism. I feel like even if you’re not personally ill that this outbreak is negatively impacting a huge amount of people.
 
So my trip is scheduled in September and I got the email that my balance is due less than a month. China is still a level 3 warning so Im not sure why they didnt extend the balance. There's no way Im traveling there and I dont want to just lose the money I already deposited. Anyone have any luck of just getting it back?
 
So my trip is scheduled in September and I got the email that my balance is due less than a month. China is still a level 3 warning so Im not sure why they didnt extend the balance. There's no way Im traveling there and I dont want to just lose the money I already deposited. Anyone have any luck of just getting it back?
Does that include the new extended PIF policy? Our departure date is supposed to be 8/30 and I haven't heard anything. Originally our PIF was 5/1 but with the new policy it should be 5/31 for us.
 


Does that include the new extended PIF policy? Our departure date is supposed to be 8/30 and I haven't heard anything. Originally our PIF was 5/1 but with the new policy it should be 5/31 for us.
The email I received a few days ago says final balance is due 5/16. There was no extension date on there.
 
The email I received a few days ago says final balance is due 5/16. There was no extension date on there.
That's odd, was it direct from ABD? I would call either ABD or your travel agent (if you booked with one). PIF dates should have automatically been extended for any departures through 9/30.

As for any luck getting it back, we're in a similar boat. Waiting until right before our PIF to pull any kind of plug just so we can get our money back if Disney does cancel.
 
That's odd, was it direct from ABD? I would call either ABD or your travel agent (if you booked with one). PIF dates should have automatically been extended for any departures through 9/30.

As for any luck getting it back, we're in a similar boat. Waiting until right before our PIF to pull any kind of plug just so we can get our money back if Disney does cancel.
It was direct from ABD. I'm on hold trying to reach them to clarify.
 
So my trip is scheduled in September and I got the email that my balance is due less than a month. China is still a level 3 warning so Im not sure why they didnt extend the balance. There's no way Im traveling there and I dont want to just lose the money I already deposited. Anyone have any luck of just getting it back?
So they are extending it till june 16. Plus theres still only 13 going on the trip so far.
 
It's interesting to note that now on the ABD website the only two trips that are still bookable are July 26 & Oct 18. The rest say they're accepting wait list/available for private group travel. A PP mentioned that typically means they don't have enough people booked on the trip but aren't ready to cancel it yet. I checked some other random itineraries (Japan, SE Asia, Italy, England/France) to see if this was a common thing and none of those had anything similar. So maybe there's a good chance that a lot more of the China trips get cancelled soon.
 
It baffles me that the July 5th trip is still on the website. The Chinese Embassy's are all closed. Folks can't even get a visa, how are they supposed to fly there in two months?
 
It baffles me that the July 5th trip is still on the website. The Chinese Embassy's are all closed. Folks can't even get a visa, how are they supposed to fly there in two months?

Disney is so incredibly cash strapped right now that they’re going to wait until the absolute last second to cancel because they want to hang on to as much cash as possible. Their entire business is crumbling.
 
Disney is so incredibly cash strapped right now that they’re going to wait until the absolute last second to cancel because they want to hang on to as much cash as possible. Their entire business is crumbling.
I will say as of now they all have this status: 492879

Which to me says they'll probably be cancelled. I'm just surprised they haven't done it yet for July.
 
Disney is so incredibly cash strapped right now that they’re going to wait until the absolute last second to cancel because they want to hang on to as much cash as possible. Their entire business is crumbling.

I still suspect it is a deliberate move... the bigger problem for them is going to be the length of time for things to pick back up. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when they see the bookings for 2021 in a couple weeks...
 
Disney is so incredibly cash strapped right now that they’re going to wait until the absolute last second to cancel because they want to hang on to as much cash as possible. Their entire business is crumbling.
Disney has Billions in cash. Parts of their business are still doing well. ABC and ESPN are going great as is Disney +
 
One thing I learned from the DIS podcast was that ABD is a niche custom travel company and to unravel the trips and cancel trips is a complicated scenario because they rely on outside vendors. It's really too bad that they cannot offer more flexible policies for current trips in 2020, esp July and August guests. And even the 2021 flexible policy must be booked by June, but what about displaced guests in the future? I really like the Amawaterways "Travel with Peace of Mind" policy. I would definitely book future ABDs if I could have the piece of mind when I booked, without all these 'book by' limitations.

If Disney truly has BILLIONS, they could at least offer the Amawaterways type of policy to us, their most dedicated supporters of their business. I would love it if ABD could offer a similar 'Travel Waiver Plus' for $80/$175 per person!

https://www.amawaterways.com/travel-updates
Travel with Peace of Mind
APPLICABLE FOR FUTURE SAILINGS (COMMENCING AUGUST 1, 2020)

In light of the recent global events and uncertainties around travel, we wish to offer our guests additional flexibility and peace of mind so they may continue to safeguard the wonderful plans they have made for their much-anticipated river cruise with AmaWaterways. As a result, we will offer for a limited time, special provisions which allow guests with new or existing reservations to purchase AmaWaterways Travel Waiver Plus*. AmaWaterways Travel Waiver Plus provides cancellation for any reason, up to 24 hours prior to the start of their AmaWaterways booked services (cruise, pre-cruise land extensions, air etc.)

Should guests decide to cancel their cruise for any reason, they will have the following options based on date of cancellation:
  • Cancellation received up to 7 days prior to start of AmaWaterways services:
    Future Cruise Credit** covering cancellation penalties, and the balance will be refunded based on our standard cancellation policy for services purchased through AmaWaterways.
  • Cancellation received between 6 days to 24 hours prior to start of AmaWaterways services:
    Future Cruise Credit** issued for 100% of AmaWaterways services to be used towards any sailings within 24 months of cancellation date
For all new or existing reservations for Europe and Southeast Asia (deposited or paid in full), Travel Waiver Plus may be purchased up to 48 hours prior to the start of AmaWaterways purchased services. For Africa Safaris & Wildlife Cruises, Travel Waiver Plus must be purchased within 90 days prior to sailing and once full payment has been received.
Travel Waiver Plus price:

  • $80 per person – for those who purchase AmaWaterways Cruise Protection Plan*
  • $175 per person – if purchased without AmaWaterways Cruise Protection Plan* or if you have purchased travel protection independently
 
Disney has Billions in cash. Parts of their business are still doing well. ABC and ESPN are going great as is Disney +

Yes they have billions in cash, but consider that the end of the second quarter of their fiscal year their profit just fell 91%, and if you think about it, COVID only was a thing for the second part of March. Their next quarter will most likely be worse.

I think its the same idea of the airlines not wanting to give refunds either...they're cash strapped. United/Delta/AA and Disney, if you think about it, are just a super scaled up version of a mom and pop store that's bleeding business. Their revenues are huge (in the billions) but I'm guessing they're spending billions also... Same reason United apparently needed a bailout from the govt.

I'm not an economist so maybe I'm not one to talk. I'll stick to brain surgery!
 

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