UPDATE: Azamara Journey October 2018 sailings

I suspect that it's something in their system that is automatic for cancellations and your refund will be corrected as soon as they are notified

 

 

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laurieb, have been doing more thinking this morning and really doubt this was a system error and a human error and why I recommended making sure the revised invoice is correct. Strongly believe the problem was with the agent who took the cancellation and put the $1,000 credit on the invoice rather than the correct $1,100 credit. The way I believe it works is that the invoice is the key to what the refund or charge will be and when it goes into the system, the computer either looks for a payment in the positive amount that is on the invoice or issues a credit for the credit amount on the invoice.

With prices so much subject to change and variable credits the key is what the agent agrees to and what they then put on the invoice to send to the TA and finally to the customer. Example, recently booked a river cruise where the port fees were charged at $240 pp. A couple of days later I saw on line that the port fees were now $140 pp. Contacted my TA who contacted the cruise line who responded that the $240 was correct but, that since they had erroneously shown the $140 on their website they would refund the $200 total difference. Got revised cruise line and TA invoices showing the $200 credit. Looked at the website and the typo had already been corrected and about 5 days later the $200 credit appeared on my credit card account.

Perfect way to handle and the invoice in this case and when the cruise is cancelled need to be handled in the same manner so pretty sure it was the agent handling the cancellation who put the incorrect $1,000 credit on the invoice which now requires the customer to notice the discrepancy and notify the TA who notifies Azamara and another invoice has to be created to credit the money. More time and effort due to a lack of communications at Azamara and another error on their part and why I strongly recommend reminding your TA to verify the amount of credit when cancelling and the new invoice as this most likely won't be the last time this occurs.

This thread makes for very sad reading and I am so sorry for all those who are affected.

We had a cruise cancelled by Azamara about three years ago. I was initially very disappointed but they bent over backwards to make things right and I was very impressed. But it appears that things have changed. It's very disappointing for all of us Azamara loyalists.

This thread makes for very sad reading and I am so sorry for all those who are affected.

 

We had a cruise cancelled by Azamara about three years ago. I was initially very disappointed but they bent over backwards to make things right and I was very impressed. But it appears that things have changed. It's very disappointing for all of us Azamara loyalists.

it goes beyond money as many people put in for vacation time- B2B do not work out. little things that add up. i sent two couples on AZ for their first cruise ever. can you imagine if things went wrong for them. the roll call really sad to read.

Such a shame, because as so many people have said, the experience on board is very very different from what is described in this thread.

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After my sailing for October 15, 2018 dropped off of the web site last Friday August 4th I made a couple of calls to Azamara inquiring what happened. The Reps that I spoke to just said that the sailings for October 2018 were "Under Maintenance". I decided to email Larry Pimentel and express my displeasure on how this was being handled and how no one could get any answers. Today, I received a call from his office. A lady by the name of Janelle informed me that tomorrow (Thursday) we will be notified of the "modifications" to the itinerary. She stated that if one booked directly with Azamara they would be receiving a direct call from Azamara and if the sailing was booked through a travel agent they would be contacted. Also, she said that later in the week the modified sailings would be made public via the Azamara website etc...

I do appreciate very much getting the call from Janelle today and I hope we are all happy with the decisions.

 

Just wanted to share with you what I know as of today.

 

Julie

Spoke to Azamara UK Wednesday no itinerary changes known about. Re OBC use before cruising Not possible on U.K. site.

I think it was suggested at some point on this thread that the staterooms on the affected cruises were being released before clients on the original itineraries had made up their minds as to their course of action.

 

That was not our experience. Our original stateroom was still reserved.

 

That, of course, is supported by your experience.

It wasn't suggested; it was a fact. Fortunately, seems no one else wanted "our" cabins initially because for the first three days, all cabins were available on all travel websites. AZ didn't get around to holding them back until we complained here. We can hope they didn't double book others during those three days.

It wasn't suggested; it was a fact. Fortunately, seems no one else wanted "our" cabins initially because for the first three days, all cabins were available on all travel websites. AZ didn't get around to holding them back until we complained here. We can hope they didn't double book others during those three days.

Then thanks for your intervention, and glad that Azamara acted upon it.

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Laurieb never said or implied they were criminals. They are simply incompetent Almost everything they seem to do has to be redone and that takes time and costs Azamara and the TAs time and money. When we booked this cruise on board a year ago it took 5 yes five tries to get a correct invoice for the correct cruise. Yes the first invoice was not for the cruise that we told the consultant to book.

 

As I said earlier they have had more than enough tried to get things correct the first time and all I suggested in the previous post was to get the money due back from the credit card company now and let the credit card company get the money back from Azamara Thus saving the TA time and money

 

This does give them another chance to get things right with the customer and TA not waiting and without the full refund.

 

It is painfully obvious that Azamara has a systemic problem and has had it for a long time but has chosen not to fix it. And you said they are not going under but if they continue to not fix this problem and loyal customers continue to move to other companies and pass the word never know how long before they might go under.

 

 

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Fair enough [emoji4]

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I'm the person whose TA didn't want to deal with all the problems associated with this cancellation. He told me yesterday that it was "too much work" and "not worth it" and he was turning my booking back to me!!...I was so flabbergasted and angry with that response I told him to give ALL my bookings back to me...my other AZ booking (a T/P in fall '19) and an O spring T/A in '19. I didn't even have a chance to tell him I had an O fall '18 T/A on hold as a replacement for the cancelled T/A!!!!

This has just really added to my nightmare!! I called AZ today and the bookings are still showing as being held by the TA!!...and it could take 5 to 7 business days to have the change noted on the system. (I do have a copy of his email to AZ turning the bookings over to me)

I contacted a new T/A yesterday suggested to me by a CC friend and she is trying to help me resolve all this. Good thing the deadline has been extended to 9/8 as it may take me that long to get the transfer back to me!!! :mad: LuAnn

I'm the person whose TA didn't want to deal with all the problems associated with this cancellation. He told me yesterday that it was "too much work" and "not worth it" and he was turning my booking back to me!!...I was so flabbergasted and angry with that response I told him to give ALL my bookings back to me...my other AZ booking (a T/P in fall '19) and an O spring T/A in '19. I didn't even have a chance to tell him I had an O fall '18 T/A on hold as a replacement for the cancelled T/A!!!!

This has just really added to my nightmare!! I called AZ today and the bookings are still showing as being held by the TA!!...and it could take 5 to 7 business days to have the change noted on the system. (I do have a copy of his email to AZ turning the bookings over to me)

I contacted a new T/A yesterday suggested to me by a CC friend and she is trying to help me resolve all this. Good thing the deadline has been extended to 9/8 as it may take me that long to get the transfer back to me!!! :mad: LuAnn

So sorry to hear what you are going thru. Makes our issues seem insignificant. Am sure you know this but, this may help others in a similar situation. Don't think your exact situation is covered but, believe your old completely unacceptable TA will get most of his undeserved commission for your cruises which makes finding another TA virtually impossible as they will get nothing for any future work on these 4 bookings. At least they will get commission on your replacement cruise(s).

As this situation is unique, can't be sure of the above but, am sure if you transfer a cruise more than 30 days after booking the booking TA has to approve the transfer in any case and after the 30 days he or she gets most of all of the commission. Really hoping there is someway you can cause this so and so to get NOTHING from your cruises.

Regards and sorry we won't see you on Seabourn but, it is longer and more expensive..

This thread makes for very sad reading and I am so sorry for all those who are affected.

 

We had a cruise cancelled by Azamara about three years ago. I was initially very disappointed but they bent over backwards to make things right and I was very impressed. But it appears that things have changed. It's very disappointing for all of us Azamara loyalists.

I've had cruises bumped by other cruiselines (chronic early booker), but none have gone as far as Azamara has for me in this instance, so I am impressed. Just wish others were as well :(

Hi! Not sure if this is relevant to the conversation. I guess it only is if this is a place to express astonishment at Azamara ... when I love their product but am learning to detest their customer relations! Having decided not to take the newly reconstituted fall 2018 Transatlantic, I directed my travel agent to get our deposit refunded. Today I seem to see that they deducted the hundred dollar forfeiture for cancellations. However, of course, they cancelled, not me. Just wrote my travel agent. She will be so pleased to have to hassle with this.

Just a heads up from me.

fern

This all makes me so sad. I think that I remember my wonderful cruise on Quest last year as being part of a repositioning cruise necessary because of a sudden charter, and that many people were inconvenienced because of the charter. I had had my cruise on hold for a long, long time, so maybe the cancellation pains weren't quite as terrible because the cruises were farther off (and therefore, the charter wasn't "sudden" as I described it). I don't understand why Azamara is being so terribly arbitrary in the replacement suggestions and pricing; they aren't really established enough in the marketplace to think their loyal repeat passengers will allow them to act this way.

I'm sorry that y'all are being put through all this, truly.

I'm the person whose TA didn't want to deal with all the problems associated with this cancellation. He told me yesterday that it was "too much work" and "not worth it" and he was turning my booking back to me!!...I was so flabbergasted and angry with that response I told him to give ALL my bookings back to me...my other AZ booking (a T/P in fall '19) and an O spring T/A in '19. I didn't even have a chance to tell him I had an O fall '18 T/A on hold as a replacement for the cancelled T/A!!!!

This has just really added to my nightmare!! I called AZ today and the bookings are still showing as being held by the TA!!...and it could take 5 to 7 business days to have the change noted on the system. (I do have a copy of his email to AZ turning the bookings over to me)

I contacted a new T/A yesterday suggested to me by a CC friend and she is trying to help me resolve all this. Good thing the deadline has been extended to 9/8 as it may take me that long to get the transfer back to me!!! :mad: LuAnn

Oh my goodness! I am in shock that a TA - especially one you have used alot- would dump you like this! You might have to write to Azamara and request that they be turned back to you or over to your new TA ( I believe that your old TA will also have to agree to turn over all of the bookings). Even if you don't have to, I would recommend that you let them and Oceania know how this TA has treated you! I also think that your new TA should be able to get the commissions on these and not your old TA. I suppose if push comes to shove you could cancel your cruises and rebook with the new TA. So sorry and best of luck.

Of course, they will probably sell these cruises out later down the road to others, and sadly not learn a lesson....

They will not only sell out the new cruises, but at higher prices/margins too. Cuba is hot. And they'll attract a lot of first timers. First timers are, on average, much easier to please, give higher evaluation scores, cost less (no perks) and spend more money on board. RCI tracks Azamara's performance against all these numbers and more, so Management will ultimately be very happy with their decisions.

Many on here, myself included, tend to overrate the importance of "loyalty". Cruise lines don't care if YOU are on board; they care if someone is on board - the person who pays the highest per day price with the least OBC and ideally no free perks.

If it brings more margin, your cruise will be cancelled for a charter or your itinerary will be changed to a more profitable one. Azamara does seem to do this a lot more often than other lines however. I don't know if that's a function of having only 2 ships, releasing itineraries (too) early, planning poor itineraries (from the cruise line's "margin" point of view) in the first place or all of the above. What I do know is that it is one of the reasons I'm no longer a loyalist myself and am enjoying other lines - like so many others on here.

Floris

They will not only sell out the new cruises, but at higher prices/margins too. Cuba is hot. And they'll attract a lot of first timers. First timers are, on average, much easier to please, give higher evaluation scores, cost less (no perks) and spend more money on board. RCI tracks Azamara's performance against all these numbers and more, so Management will ultimately be very happy with their decisions.

 

Many on here, myself included, tend to overrate the importance of "loyalty". Cruise lines don't care if YOU are on board; they care if someone is on board - the person who pays the highest per day price with the least OBC and ideally no free perks.

 

If it brings more margin, your cruise will be cancelled for a charter or your itinerary will be changed to a more profitable one. Azamara does seem to do this a lot more often than other lines however. I don't know if that's a function of having only 2 ships, releasing itineraries (too) early, planning poor itineraries (from the cruise line's "margin" point of view) in the first place or all of the above. What I do know is that it is one of the reasons I'm no longer a loyalist myself and am enjoying other lines - like so many others on here.

 

Floris

I agree that it is easier to take customers for granted when you're in a no growth mode. There is no incentive for them to make displaced passengers whole. In fact, doing what many would say is the right thing would cost them current profits. Long term, if they hope to grow, this hurts them.

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Oh my goodness! I am in shock that a TA - especially one you have used alot- would dump you like this! You might have to write to Azamara and request that they be turned back to you or over to your new TA ( I believe that your old TA will also have to agree to turn over all of the bookings). Even if you don't have to, I would recommend that you let them and Oceania know how this TA has treated you! I also think that your new TA should be able to get the commissions on these and not your old TA. I suppose if push comes to shove you could cancel your cruises and rebook with the new TA. So sorry and best of luck.

An update on my "saga"...I did have to cancel and re-book the '19 spring T/A on Oceania with the new TA...fortunately the rates were still the same as when I booked that back in June...and I just allowed the O '18 fall T/A hold to expire and the new TA created a new booking for that one as well. So the O cruises are taken care of now.

AZ is still hanging because the transfer back to me has not been recorded yet. I certainly hope the previous TA doesn't get ANY $$ from this fiasco!!...that would really "tick me off"!!

The AZ fall '19 T/P has gone up in price so I don't really want to cancel that one to re-book it! And that cruise already has another "CruiseNow" discount applied to it so don't know if AZ will apply the "CruiseNow' discount on the removed T/A to be transferred to that one!!???? Oh...the "plot thickens" doesn't it ?...almost a "soap opera" at this point!! :loudcry: LuAnn

Oh my goodness! I am in shock that a TA - especially one you have used alot- would dump you like this! You might have to write to Azamara and request that they be turned back to you or over to your new TA ( I believe that your old TA will also have to agree to turn over all of the bookings). Even if you don't have to, I would recommend that you let them and Oceania know how this TA has treated you! I also think that your new TA should be able to get the commissions on these and not your old TA. I suppose if push comes to shove you could cancel your cruises and rebook with the new TA. So sorry and best of luck.

Why use a TA at all? On another thread we were criticized by AZ regulars, one who was "mystified" that we liked to plan & book our own travel. The TAs haven't been much help in this situation, have they? Never had an issue calling the travel operator or booking directly online.

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Most are helpful and care about clients. This fellow that won't help his client has no business being in the travel industry.

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Why use a TA at all? On another thread we were criticized by AZ regulars, one who was "mystified" that we liked to plan & book our own travel. The TAs haven't been much help in this situation, have they? Never had an issue calling the travel operator or booking directly online.

 

 

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Not all TAs can be judged by one experience. I plan our travel, but book through a TA to get the extra benefits. $1400 off on our first Azamara cruise was a nice bonus.

laurieb, have been doing more thinking this morning and really doubt this was a system error and a human error and why I recommended making sure the revised invoice is correct. Strongly believe the problem was with the agent who took the cancellation and put the $1,000 credit on the invoice rather than the correct $1,100 credit. The way I believe it works is that the invoice is the key to what the refund or charge will be and when it goes into the system, the computer either looks for a payment in the positive amount that is on the invoice or issues a credit for the credit amount on the invoice.

 

With prices so much subject to change and variable credits the key is what the agent agrees to and what they then put on the invoice to send to the TA and finally to the customer. Example, recently booked a river cruise where the port fees were charged at $240 pp. A couple of days later I saw on line that the port fees were now $140 pp. Contacted my TA who contacted the cruise line who responded that the $240 was correct but, that since they had erroneously shown the $140 on their website they would refund the $200 total difference. Got revised cruise line and TA invoices showing the $200 credit. Looked at the website and the typo had already been corrected and about 5 days later the $200 credit appeared on my credit card account.

 

Perfect way to handle and the invoice in this case and when the cruise is cancelled need to be handled in the same manner so pretty sure it was the agent handling the cancellation who put the incorrect $1,000 credit on the invoice which now requires the customer to notice the discrepancy and notify the TA who notifies Azamara and another invoice has to be created to credit the money. More time and effort due to a lack of communications at Azamara and another error on their part and why I strongly recommend reminding your TA to verify the amount of credit when cancelling and the new invoice as this most likely won't be the last time this occurs.

I am not affected by this but I have decades of experience with a computer company and their system. When we cancel an order, the credit is automatically computed and processed by the system according to the terms of the order. We do not enter an amount. If there is a cancellation fee, it is automatically deducted from the refund. If we are waiving the fee because we were in error, we have to do an additional manual credit. And it MAY take extra time to process thru the systems.

I am not saying that the people who have not received their entire refund should just wait quietly. I would call Azamara and ask for the status of the $100 to ensure that has been processed.

I do feel your pain, having gone thru something similar with Seabourn a few years ago. And that fiasco occurred 6 months before the cruise, AFTER we made our own flight arrangements. They eventually refunded/reimbursed all of our expenses but we haven't booked with them since.

I just changed over to one of the options that I was offered.

I switched to the 9 night cruise at the price of the 7 day cruise. So, other than some re-scheduling issues, for us it worked out well.

I hope it will ultimately work out well for others.

As we get more posts from passengers who have been offered deals that work well for them, it appears that the number of passengers who feel they are getting a raw deal is fairly small (especially TA/B2B pax). So it is even more surprising that Azamara hasn't identified that small group and called with personalized offers. Small luxury cruise lines are supposed to be distinguished by their personalized service!

Just checked my mastercard and noticed a credit for 1000.00 for the cruise cancelled in Oct.Our deposit was 1100.00.Why are we being charged a cancellation charge when they cancelled the cruise?Check your mastercards people.I sent a message to my t/a to check it out.

I am sorry for the confusion. Your refund will be in full, with no CX penalty.

It's just that our system automatically charges the penalty, and to correct this we are manually issuing a second refund to make everyone whole again.

Truly sorry for this.

As we get more posts from passengers who have been offered deals that work well for them, it appears that the number of passengers who feel they are getting a raw deal is fairly small (especially TA/B2B pax). So it is even more surprising that Azamara hasn't identified that small group and called with personalized offers. Small luxury cruise lines are supposed to be distinguished by their personalized service!

Sorry Host Jazzbeau have to respectfully disagree with you. From my POV, the only ones being made whole and more and happy are those few who are able to take a 9 day cruise for the price of a 7 nite. The TA was fairly well booked and everyone booked on that was affected and the only offer was to take the horrid new TA two weeks earlier and 3 nites and 3 ports fewer for the same price so all TA people could either change or cancel.

Have only seen a few people who got the longer cruise for no extra cost while everyone booked on the TA are aggrieved.

Also, don't forget the horrid lack of communications and lack of fixing all except for the missing decision date which is only for those on CC. And now people getting refunds that are short $100 thru more problems at Azamara. While typing Bonnie posted that the shorting of the refunds has been acknowledged and they will issue a second refund for the difference. laurieb, you were correct and I was incorrect. This reminds me of the old saying they have enough time to do things over again but, not enough time to do things right the first time.

Really believe the vast majority on affected people who are upset is a very significant number of the total affected.