Are sessions ever canceled?

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Lin
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Are sessions ever canceled?

Post by Lin »

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to book my flight for the 3-day adult space camp Aug. 31-Sept 2. However, I see the camp reserves the right to cancel sessions that don't get enough attendees. Does this ever actually happen?

I completely understand the camp not wanting to run a session with only, say, two people. But I don't want to book a flight and have my session change on me. How big of a risk is this?

Note: I do plan to call the camp and ask about my specific session, but the representative at the 1-800 number wasn't very knowledgeable last time I called, so I'm concerned about being told the wrong information. On that note, is there a different number (or an email) I should try?

Thanks! :D
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Post by p51 »

Oh crap. I never even thought of that and I'll be there the weekend after you... 8O
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Post by Vincent »

It does happen. Certainly it's most likely to happen in the off season (when all of the adult programs run).

If you ask nicely about how many people have signed up, you might feel better.

I think they do 18 to an adult team. If they're at least half full at this point, you're probably fine.
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Post by Lin »

p51 wrote:Oh crap. I never even thought of that and I'll be there the weekend after you... 8O

I'm probably being overly cautious.....
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Post by Lin »

Vincent wrote:It does happen. Certainly it's most likely to happen in the off season (when all of the adult programs run).

If you ask nicely about how many people have signed up, you might feel better.

I think they do 18 to an adult team. If they're at least half full at this point, you're probably fine.
Thanks! That's good to know. The half full thing gives me a benchmark at least when I call to ask tomorrow.
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Post by Vincent »

If they're not half full, ask what the cancellation cut-off is. I think they can still run a full mission with...12? So they don't have to fill a team necessarily to keep the session.
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Post by p51 »

How common does it happen? My wife just this moment asked me to commit to the airline ticket to get the best deal with our mileage points.
This is my one shot at SC for god knows how longer in the future,,,
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Post by Vincent »

*shrugs*

Probably best to hold off until tomorrow so you can call and check on numbers.

Though it's good to be cautious, I doubt it likely that your session will be cancelled.
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Post by p51 »

Lin, I think we're both good. I called and asked today, they told me there 18 people already signed up for my weekend and the nice lady there said she didn't see any unusual sign-up numbers for any of the adult sessions. She said adult sessions hardly ever get cancelled unless, "something catastrophic happens."
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Post by Lin »

p51 wrote:Lin, I think we're both good. I called and asked today, they told me there 18 people already signed up for my weekend and the nice lady there said she didn't see any unusual sign-up numbers for any of the adult sessions. She said adult sessions hardly ever get cancelled unless, "something catastrophic happens."
I called too (they must be wondering where all these calls are coming from all of the sudden! :) and she told me 35 have signed up for my session, so it's a go. YAY! And yay for yours! :D Have fun booking your flight.

She didn't tell me about adult sessions hardly ever getting canceled-- good to know.
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Post by SpaceCanada »

In 1998 they changed the session dates after I registered and had flights booked. By changing dates, they used to start on Wednesdays (?) and shifted all the sessions to start on Saturdays (or whatever it was). Thankfully, we could switch the flights for free with the Space Camp letter to the airline. It threw a few things off though, as one of our teammates didn't get the memo and arrived mid-session for the original dates. They let him stay for the remaining half of our session and changed his flights so he could stay for a full session afterwards. They even did his laundry on the gap day. Sweet deal for him!

Back in 2004, a friend and I originally registered for a 6-day adult camp. It was cancelled due to low registration numbers and they bumped us up to the 8-day alumni camp a few weeks later. In doing so, they waived the additional tuition and paid the change fees for our flight tickets. So it can happen...

With only weekend adult camps running now, and high registration numbers, you should be in the clear! :)
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Post by Lin »

SpaceCanada wrote:In 1998 they changed the session dates after I registered and had flights booked. By changing dates, they used to start on Wednesdays (?) and shifted all the sessions to start on Saturdays (or whatever it was). Thankfully, we could switch the flights for free with the Space Camp letter to the airline. It threw a few things off though, as one of our teammates didn't get the memo and arrived mid-session for the original dates. They let him stay for the remaining half of our session and changed his flights so he could stay for a full session afterwards. They even did his laundry on the gap day. Sweet deal for him!

Back in 2004, a friend and I originally registered for a 6-day adult camp. It was cancelled due to low registration numbers and they bumped us up to the 8-day alumni camp a few weeks later. In doing so, they waived the additional tuition and paid the change fees for our flight tickets. So it can happen...

With only weekend adult camps running now, and high registration numbers, you should be in the clear! :)
Awesome to know! Thanks!
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