CaliforniaGirl09
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2009
I am at the 90-day mark for our October Rhine River Cruise, and I am absolutely furious that I've heard basically nada from ABD about this trip. I see that an August 5th River Cruise is still listed on the website. Is anyone booked on that? Presumably travelers on that have been given some information on protocols and itinerary changes?
I just wrote my DU travel agent a very frustrated/angry email about ABD's handling of these trips. Here is the meat of it (I left out the specifics about our air):
As today is our 90 day mark, I am extremely angry and anxious about the status of our Rhine River cruise in October. Although we are prepared to go and PIF at 60 days, I just got back from 2 weeks in England, and I am extremely concerned about the growing cases in Europe (England is talking about making France a red country due to a variant there and the Netherlands has a sharp increase of cases and has pulled back on their openings) as well as the potential for shutdowns and travel disruptions due to the spread of Delta—not to mention the issue of air travel, which I can attest is very difficult right now with all the different requirements in Europe.
The fact that we have heard absolutely NOTHING from Disney about the COVID protocols that will be in place, any potential changes in itinerary (especially visiting the WISH which was pretty much our sole reason for booking this trip), and whether they are requiring vaccinations for the ship, which seems a no-brainer to me but I’m concerned that they haven’t said anything. I have very little interest on getting on a ship with unvaccinated people as that will greatly increase the possibility of travel disruptions and infections.
It is unacceptable to me that that a company as big as Disney is holding our deposit hostage for months when none of these trips have gone for over a year and they are unwilling to give us any concrete information. It would be fine if they gave us an option of a refund as they should have under the circumstances. I had a much different experience with another high-end travel company I had a trip to Nepal booked with. They gave me the option of a refund at any point until the decision on running the trip had been made. ABD is essentially playing chicken with people trying to force them to switch their deposit to another trip even though they know (1) the trip won’t go or (2) their customers don’t want to travel during a pandemic. I’m fairly disgusted with ABD’s handling of trips during the pandemic and doubt I’ll be booking them ever again. The refusal to cancel trips well ahead of time when they know they aren’t going during the pandemic, holding on to deposits to force people to PIF and then days later cancelling trips, and the ill-advised and irresponsible refusal to cancel trips early in the pandemic when it was obvious no one should be traveling (Australia and UK travelers actually were forced to travel to destination before the trips were cancelled) are all reasons I would hesitate to ever travel with them again.
ABD still has an early August 5th Rhine River cruise on the website as available, so I’m assuming that means they hope to run one of the river cruises. I think it’s ill-advised given the situation in Europe, but I would like to know what information they have provided to travelers on that cruise and what itinerary changes have been made.
We scheduled our flights to go through London. As England is now the European pariah requiring quarantine in some places, we are planning to change our flights. Given that I see this trip as very unlikely to go forward, I would like ABD to book flights for us. That way if they cancel the trip they can be responsible for the refunds, etc.
I will post if I hear anything substantive, but if anyone is on earlier River Cruises and has info, I'd greatly appreciate it.
I just wrote my DU travel agent a very frustrated/angry email about ABD's handling of these trips. Here is the meat of it (I left out the specifics about our air):
As today is our 90 day mark, I am extremely angry and anxious about the status of our Rhine River cruise in October. Although we are prepared to go and PIF at 60 days, I just got back from 2 weeks in England, and I am extremely concerned about the growing cases in Europe (England is talking about making France a red country due to a variant there and the Netherlands has a sharp increase of cases and has pulled back on their openings) as well as the potential for shutdowns and travel disruptions due to the spread of Delta—not to mention the issue of air travel, which I can attest is very difficult right now with all the different requirements in Europe.
The fact that we have heard absolutely NOTHING from Disney about the COVID protocols that will be in place, any potential changes in itinerary (especially visiting the WISH which was pretty much our sole reason for booking this trip), and whether they are requiring vaccinations for the ship, which seems a no-brainer to me but I’m concerned that they haven’t said anything. I have very little interest on getting on a ship with unvaccinated people as that will greatly increase the possibility of travel disruptions and infections.
It is unacceptable to me that that a company as big as Disney is holding our deposit hostage for months when none of these trips have gone for over a year and they are unwilling to give us any concrete information. It would be fine if they gave us an option of a refund as they should have under the circumstances. I had a much different experience with another high-end travel company I had a trip to Nepal booked with. They gave me the option of a refund at any point until the decision on running the trip had been made. ABD is essentially playing chicken with people trying to force them to switch their deposit to another trip even though they know (1) the trip won’t go or (2) their customers don’t want to travel during a pandemic. I’m fairly disgusted with ABD’s handling of trips during the pandemic and doubt I’ll be booking them ever again. The refusal to cancel trips well ahead of time when they know they aren’t going during the pandemic, holding on to deposits to force people to PIF and then days later cancelling trips, and the ill-advised and irresponsible refusal to cancel trips early in the pandemic when it was obvious no one should be traveling (Australia and UK travelers actually were forced to travel to destination before the trips were cancelled) are all reasons I would hesitate to ever travel with them again.
ABD still has an early August 5th Rhine River cruise on the website as available, so I’m assuming that means they hope to run one of the river cruises. I think it’s ill-advised given the situation in Europe, but I would like to know what information they have provided to travelers on that cruise and what itinerary changes have been made.
We scheduled our flights to go through London. As England is now the European pariah requiring quarantine in some places, we are planning to change our flights. Given that I see this trip as very unlikely to go forward, I would like ABD to book flights for us. That way if they cancel the trip they can be responsible for the refunds, etc.
I will post if I hear anything substantive, but if anyone is on earlier River Cruises and has info, I'd greatly appreciate it.