Vaccination Update from ABD

[Magnum_PI]

Just received this email re: our Egypt Feb 2022 reservation. Thought I'd share it here. This is not intended to spark debate, it's simply an FYI. Please delete if not allowed!

EDIT to add: Our trip is an adults-only trip. I am unsure if exceptions apply to children under 5!

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As we welcome Guests back to exploring the world with us, promoting health and safety is a top priority. With this in mind, we are reaching out with updated information about the COVID-19 vaccination requirements for your trip. We continue to resume trips with multiple layers of health and safety measures developed in consideration of guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local and international health authorities, and our own team of health experts. Vaccination and COVID Testing Requirements For departures before January 12, 2022, all Guests must be fully vaccinated before joining any trip, or provide proof a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 5 days prior to the start of the trip. Certain destinations may require COVID-19 vaccination due to country entry requirements. Adventures by Disney all Guests to be fully vaccinated for travel to countries identified as Level 3 in the CDC’s Travel Recommendations by Destination. For departures beginning on or after January 12, 2022, all Guests must provide proof of being fully vaccinated before joining any trip. For departures beginning on or after January 12, 2022, proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test result will no longer be accepted as an alternative. In consideration of guidance from the CDC, Adventures by Disney accepts the following vaccine types: Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines fully vaccinated as 14 days after receiving: a single-dose of an accepted 1-dose vaccine the second dose of an accepted 2-dose vaccine Please note that details about your specific trip will be shared closer to your scheduled departure. Additional information about our health and safety measures can be found in the Health and Safety Protocols section of our website. Guests on trips through May 31, 2022, may modify their travel date or cancel their trip without any Adventures by Disney-imposed cancellation fees by contacting our reservations team at 1-800-543-0865 by December 1, 2021. Please note that cancellation fees imposed by third-party suppliers, including airlines, as well as travel insurance, are not refundable. Refunds will be processed back to the original form of payment. Standard cancellation policies and terms and conditions apply for any cancellation or modification requests received on or after December 2, 2021."

 

[AquaDame]

Interesting... same effective date for DCL cruises but it only applies to 5+ as those are the only ages approved for the vaccine in the US at present. I imagine there aren't many travelers under 5... if you had a child that was not eligible I hope Disney would let you cancel without penalty!

 

[Magnum_PI]

Interesting... same effective date for DCL cruises but it only applies to 5+ as those are the only ages approved for the vaccine in the US at present. I imagine there aren't many travelers under 5... if you had a child that was not eligible I hope Disney would let you cancel without penalty!

I should have noted, and I'll add this to my original post - we're on an adults-only trip. So it's possible there are different policies for family trips!

 

[Rapunzellover]

The no penalty deposit refund is good to see. I'm taking advantage of it, and I'm going to get my deposit back for Portugal 2022. I don't feel like things will be quite stable enough for me, and work schedule changed so I'm getting a refund to rebook for 2023- here's hoping 3rd time's the charm

 

[sayhello]

Interesting... same effective date for DCL cruises but it only applies to 5+ as those are the only ages approved for the vaccine in the US at present. I imagine there aren't many travelers under 5... if you had a child that was not eligible I hope Disney would let you cancel without penalty!

I should have noted, and I'll add this to my original post - we're on an adults-only trip. So it's possible there are different policies for family trips!

I've looked at the policy on ABD's website, and I don't see any mention of children under 5. I know there are (were?) some itineraries that allow kids down to 4, but they rarely recommend that age. Since they don't mention anything about kids under 5, perhaps they are, for now, not allowing children under 5 on their trips? Now I need to go look at the FAQs for a bunch of trips and see if they've changed the minimum age...

ETA: Well, I started with Italy, and the FAQ says this:

While we welcome children ages 4 and up at the time of travel to discover the stories of the world with us, we recommend that children be at least 6 years old at the time of travel on our Italy trip.

Maybe they currently have no kids under 5 booked? It's weird that they don't say anything about it (at least, not that I could find!)

The policy says "All Guests" in multiple places. So my *assumption* is, no-one under 5 allowed until they lower the age for vaccination.

https://www.adventuresbydisney.com/important-updates/

Sayhello

 

[Magnum_PI]

The no penalty deposit refund is good to see. I'm taking advantage of it, and I'm going to get my deposit back for Portugal 2022. I don't feel like things will be quite stable enough for me, and work schedule changed so I'm getting a refund to rebook for 2023- here's hoping 3rd time's the charm

Yea, I hear you. We paid for airfare and insurance nearly two years ago that they won’t refund so feeling pressured into pushing onward with our trip, but I’m sure lots of folks will benefit from having that option!

 

[Rapunzellover]

Yea, I hear you. We paid for airfare and insurance nearly two years ago that they won’t refund so feeling pressured into pushing onward with our trip, but I’m sure lots of folks will benefit from having that option!

I just feel ABD isn't having enough trips run yet in Europe especially (at least to my knowledge). May just feels too soon for what I'm hoping for in my experience. It's a lot of money to get a trip I'm not perfectly satisfied with.

 

[Skylarr29]

I just don’t understand the random date in May for trips to be able to get their refunds back. I’m all for Disney’s policies, they can choose what they want, however people should have the option to cancel with a change this big. We have trips booked in July and August and I’m going to request a refund and see what happens. I won’t hold my breath though. They’ve been horrible to deal with during all of this.

 

[Grifdog22]

I just don’t understand the random date in May for trips to be able to get their refunds back. I’m all for Disney’s policies, they can choose what they want, however people should have the option to cancel with a change this big. We have trips booked in July and August and I’m going to request a refund and see what happens. I won’t hold my breath though. They’ve been horrible to deal with during all of this.

For us, this policy is what makes the trip do-able and drops a substantial amount of worry and concern about traveling with a group. I won't let my family go to school with kids that did not get their diphtheria, pertussis, polio, meningococca, MMR or hep B. I do not want to be a part of a group traveling with someone not vaccinated. I've already lost friends to this disease because they were working around unvaccinated. I had a massive amount of shots in the Army, and frankly we were not "asked" if we wanted them. It was necessary for the good of the group. This past weekend my wife asked me to find a way out of our multiple ABD trips as she just was not going to take the risk of dealing with people unvaccinated. This policy change means we are now good to go on both big trips next year. BTW, I had meningitis and was hospitalized for three months; this was just before the schools here began requiring it.

 

[Skylarr29]

For us, this policy is what makes the trip do-able and drops a substantial amount of worry and concern about traveling with a group. I won't let my family go to school with kids that did not get their diphtheria, pertussis, polio, meningococca, MMR or hep B. I do not want to be a part of a group traveling with someone not vaccinated. I've already lost friends to this disease because they were working around unvaccinated. I had a massive amount of shots in the Army, and frankly we were not "asked" if we wanted them. It was necessary for the good of the group. This past weekend my wife asked me to find a way out of our multiple ABD trips as she just was not going to take the risk of dealing with people unvaccinated. This policy change means we are now good to go on both big trips next year. BTW, I had meningitis and was hospitalized for three months; this was just before the schools here began requiring it.

I’m all for vaccines. I just think it’s unfair to give some people an out and not others. Just let the people who want to cancel, cancel. Stop holding their money hostage.

also, only American children are being vaccinated. That’s an important factor as well and why I said I don’t understand them saying only trips until May 22 can cancel for a refund.

 

[Magnum_PI]

I am also feeling much more comfortable with our upcoming trip knowing that vaccines are required. I'm leaning much more toward PIF now (due mid-December for us).

I also think that if you are coming from a place where your kids *cannot* be vaccinated, they need to work with you on refunds - even if it is from a 3rd party (airfare, insurance, etc). It isn't your fault if you're coming from a country where complying with their new policy is literally impossible.

 

[Rapunzellover]

It's also a little weird that they chose until December 1st to get the deposit refund. Why not up to PIF? I'd have waited if that was the case.

 

[AquaDame]

It's also a little weird that they chose until December 1st to get the deposit refund. Why not up to PIF? I'd have waited if that was the case.

I believe that part is the rolling method of cancellations they've been doing for awhile now... at least the language matches what happened when ours was cancelled. They may extend it after Dec 1st but eventually they're going to stop and no one knows when... I'd say they could be using vaccination as a line in the sand so they can get back to normal where possible.

 

[wishiwasindisneyjen]

I'm torn as to if I should use this as an excuse to get my money back. We are booked for the SoCal short escape in March, the first one, and I really don't think it will happen and if it does, it will be a watered down version. We moved to that trip when we decided not to do a River Cruise this year for obvious reasons, so our deposit was non refundable. If this is an opportunity to get all of our money back, I wonder if it's best to do so and then we could always rebook in the spring if trips are happening. We are fully vaxxed, so I wonder if I can still use this out or not.

 

[AquaDame]

I'm torn as to if I should use this as an excuse to get my money back. We are booked for the SoCal short escape in March, the first one, and I really don't think it will happen and if it does, it will be a watered down version. We moved to that trip when we decided not to do a River Cruise this year for obvious reasons, so our deposit was non refundable. If this is an opportunity to get all of our money back, I wonder if it's best to do so and then we could always rebook in the spring if trips are happening. We are fully vaxxed, so I wonder if I can still use this out or not.

You don't need any kind of excuse: "Guests on trips through May 31, 2022, may modify their travel date or cancel their trip without any Adventures by Disney-imposed cancellation fees by contacting our reservations team at 1-800-543-0865 by December 1, 2021."

It doesn't stipulate needing a reason. I would do whatever makes you happy.

 

[sayhello]

I just don’t understand the random date in May for trips to be able to get their refunds back. I’m all for Disney’s policies, they can choose what they want, however people should have the option to cancel with a change this big. We have trips booked in July and August and I’m going to request a refund and see what happens. I won’t hold my breath though. They’ve been horrible to deal with during all of this.

I believe it's so they aren't dealing with refunds for everyone who needs to cancel due to this change all at the same time. Once they get things settled with the first wave, they will most likely extend this policy out further. It certainly can't hurt to request a refund and see what happens. Let us know what they say!

Sayhello

 

[rchristiansen]

You don't need any kind of excuse: "Guests on trips through May 31, 2022, may modify their travel date or cancel their trip without any Adventures by Disney-imposed cancellation fees by contacting our reservations team at 1-800-543-0865 by December 1, 2021."

It doesn't stipulate needing a reason. I would do whatever makes you happy.

True! I didn't have to give ANY excuse. I'm all for everyone being vaccinated on the trip.

I emailed Kevin asking him a question about cancelling because we booked with a credit for our deposit and told him we were on the fence about this trip anyway. (We've got a few different conflicts to resolve)

And he forwarded the cancellation confirmation in minutes

Makes me wonder what's going on with ABD. I'm not sure what I'm wondering, but it's kinda weird.

 

[Skylarr29]

I believe it's so they aren't dealing with refunds for everyone who needs to cancel due to this change all at the same time. Once they get things settled with the first wave, they will most likely extend this policy out further. It certainly can't hurt to request a refund and see what happens. Let us know what they say!

Sayhello

This makes a lot of sense and I hope that’s the case. It’s been a rough two years dealing with ABD so being snake bitten I automatically was negative about it. For example they made trip deposits refundable during a certain time period however since we had moved a deposit from a previous trip, we were ineligible, things like that gave me a pessimistic outlook. I honestly just want an out and hope this is it.

 

[sayhello]

This makes a lot of sense and I hope that’s the case. It’s been a rough two years dealing with ABD so being snake bitten I automatically was negative about it. For example they made trip deposits refundable during a certain time period however since we had moved a deposit from a previous trip, we were ineligible, things like that gave me a pessimistic outlook. I honestly just want an out and hope this is it.

I *TOTALLY* get this. A lot of people are/were in the same position with ABD. I hope it all works out for you!

Sayhello

 

[Rapunzellover]

This makes a lot of sense and I hope that’s the case. It’s been a rough two years dealing with ABD so being snake bitten I automatically was negative about it. For example they made trip deposits refundable during a certain time period however since we had moved a deposit from a previous trip, we were ineligible, things like that gave me a pessimistic outlook. I honestly just want an out and hope this is it.

Yes, this and some work schedule issues are why I've put off my ABD to 2023