ABD really pushing the Cruise promotion

[Tozzie]

ABD is really pushing the "free" cruise promotion

I received a message last week from ABD, I had waitlisted a trip before I actually booked a different date, they were telling me that I could get a free cruise if I wanted to book a different date than I had wait listed, then the woman went on to say that she could see that I had actually booked a trip and the date that I booked was not elegible for the cruise but if I wanted to cancel and rebook for a date that was elegible for the cruise just to give them a call, of course I would have to pay a cancelation fee but after all I would get the "free" cruise.

I also own DVC and I received an email today telling me about a "wonderful" oppourtunity to book a ABD trip and get a cruise.

I think they need to give it a rest, I already booked a trip, why would I cancel, lose my deposit and my loyalty discount for a cruise that will cost me money, I also received a free cruise when I added on points with DVC, and that truly is a free cruise as I don't have to pay a dime, not taxes not gratuities nothing and since I would have been going to Florida at the time of the cruise that we are taking for my nephews birthday the airfare is negligible. The confirmation I have from DCL shows the gratuities are prepaid and my balance is zero. Why would they think I would lose money to get a cruise that really isn't free?

I will admit I wasn't happy with ABD when the new itineraries came out and I did research different companies and ended up booking a trip with ABD because of the itinerary, the Airport Transfers (very important to me especially in a foreign country) and the little details.

I just think the phone call was very tacky and is not something a company like ABD should be doing,

Anyone else get the calls or other promotional advertisements about the cruise?

 

[sayhello]

ABD is really pushing the "free" cruise promotion

I received a message last week from ABD, I had waitlisted a trip before I actually booked a different date, they were telling me that I could get a free cruise if I wanted to book a different date than I had wait listed, then the woman went on to say that she could see that I had actually booked a trip and the date that I booked was not elegible for the cruise but if I wanted to cancel and rebook for a date that was elegible for the cruise just to give them a call, of course I would have to pay a cancelation fee but after all I would get the "free" cruise.
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I just think the phone call was very tacky and is not something a company like ABD should be doing,

Anyone else get the calls or other promotional advertisements about the cruise?

They wanted you to cancel the date you'd already booked, pay a cancellation fee, choose some date that had nothing to do with the date you wanted, for a "free" cruise?????? If the cruise were really that great an incentive, they wouldn't be pushing it so much!

I'm shocked! I could understand it, sort of, if you were wait listed and hadn't already booked another date, or if they offered to wave the cancellation fee. But to expect you to CHANGE what you'd already booked? At your own expense? That's delusional!

Seriously!
Sayhello

 

[Bobo912]

Tozzie, do you think maybe your date is full or nearly full and they have someone else who wants to book on that date, so they're trying to get you to switch? If that's the case they should have just offered you a free cruise. It's ridiculous to expect you to pay the cancellation fee.

 

[Tozzie]

They wanted you to cancel the date you'd already booked, pay a cancellation fee, choose some date that had nothing to do with the date you wanted, for a "free" cruise?????? If the cruise were really that great an incentive, they wouldn't be pushing it so much!

I'm shocked! I could understand it, sort of, if you were wait listed and hadn't already booked another date, or if they offered to wave the cancellation fee. But to expect you to CHANGE what you'd already booked? At your own expense? That's delusional!

Seriously!
Sayhello

Yes they gave that to me as an option cancel my date and rebook one of the crusie elegible dates, pay the cancellation fees and get a cruise.

 

[Tozzie]

Tozzie, do you think maybe your date is full or nearly full and they have someone else who wants to book on that date, so they're trying to get you to switch? If that's the case they should have just offered you a free cruise. It's ridiculous to expect you to pay the cancellation fee.

I don't know, I hope the trip is full as I have already dealt with the cancellation thing twice and don't want to do it again. I wouldn't switch my date even if it wouldn't cost me anything. I picked my date trying to book when the least amount of children would be on the trip as there were no adult only departures for this trip and I am going on a cruise next October and I am not really a cruise person so I don't want another one.

 

[Bobo912]

Tozzie, did you book Alpine Magic for 2010? I am seriously considering this trip, since it looks so great and seems fairly unique (I haven['t found any other companies with a similar itinerary) and you never know whether it will be offered in the years to come. I would like a trip with kids, since I'll be traveling with one of my own. Which date did they try to convince you to switch to? I wonder if that date has low bookings and they are trying to avoid cancellations. Just like you, we were victims of cancellation last year and want to avoid that this time around. It would probably be best for me just to pick a date and not speculate about what ABD is doing. I am just floored that they would ask you to change dates and expect you to pay for it, whatever the reason. The cruise just isn't that great of an incentive.

 

[Tozzie]

Tozzie, did you book Alpine Magic for 2010? I am seriously considering this trip, since it looks so great and seems fairly unique (I haven['t found any other companies with a similar itinerary) and you never know whether it will be offered in the years to come. I would like a trip with kids, since I'll be traveling with one of my own. Which date did they try to convince you to switch to? I wonder if that date has low bookings and they are trying to avoid cancellations. Just like you, we were victims of cancellation last year and want to avoid that this time around. It would probably be best for me just to pick a date and not speculate about what ABD is doing. I am just floored that they would ask you to change dates and expect you to pay for it, whatever the reason. The cruise just isn't that great of an incentive.

Yes I booked the Alpine Magic for June 6-14 2010 as it does look like a fabulous trip. The date they mentioned in the phone call for the Cruise was the June 20th departure. I know one poster booked Alpine Magic for June 20 and he has a 7 year old.

GL

 

[RSM]

We did book the June 20th Alpine Magic tour and are extending it by 5 days in Paris on our own. Our son will be 7 years and 11 months old next June. He is pretty outgoing and makes friends easily (also has a pretty high energy level), so the activities on this trip really appealed to us. About 4 weeks ago, our travel agent checked with ABD on how well the trip was booking. ABD indicated that it was about 25% booked. They indicated that this was booking at a good rate and they didn't anticipate a problem as they have yet to hit the heavy booking season. So, we are keeping our fingers crossed.

 

[Bobo912]

We did book the June 20th Alpine Magic tour and are extending it by 5 days in Paris on our own. Our son will be 7 years and 11 months old next June. He is pretty outgoing and makes friends easily (also has a pretty high energy level), so the activities on this trip really appealed to us. About 4 weeks ago, our travel agent checked with ABD on how well the trip was booking. ABD indicated that it was about 25% booked. They indicated that this was booking at a good rate and they didn't anticipate a problem as they have yet to hit the heavy booking season. So, we are keeping our fingers crossed.

That's exactly what they told me last year. I had to look back through my old posts to find the date I called them to see if my trip was filling up. It was 12/16/08 and the trip was at 14%. I got the same line about how they hadn't hit the heavy booking season yet. ABD called on 1/6/09 to tell me the trip was cancelled. I don't mean at all to suggest that your trip will be cancelled RSM. I don't think that will happen. I'm hoping it means there will be some more offers made to try to fill the trips up. I suppose 25% means there are 10 people booked, so you probably don't need a too many more for the trip to be a go. I know we've had reports of trips that went on as scheduled with less than 20 people. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you too!

 

[Bobo912]

RSM, did you book your flight for Alpine Magic yet? I've been watching airfare for several weeks. I'm considering several trips and airfare may end up being a deciding factor. I was seeing fares around $1200 before taxes to Milan and back from Zurich, but when I checked today all but one of the airlines I was keeping track of had go up by almost $250. It's still a long way off, and fares will probably fluctuate, but I'm pretty sure I won't book as long as the airfare for the two of us would be more than $3000. Just wondering if you had found any good fares.

 

[RSM]

Hi Bobo912, we lucked out on booking our airline tickets. We were able to book our airline tickets using frequent flier miles. We are flying from Boston to Milan, then Paris back to Boston on Lufthansa (ff miles are with United, but Lufthansa is part of the star alliance). We still need to decide whether to fly or take a train from Zurich to Paris. Keep an eye on the airfare rates, and I wish you the best of luck finding a great vacation for next year. This is our first ABD, and it would be nice to have someone from this board on the trip with us.