Journey cancelled our resv!g

We had reserved and put deposit ( many months ago)on a N1 suite ( large cabin) for the Jan. 2016 Caribbean sailing. I recieved a call from my TA last week saying...

1. My cabin was no longer available did to the fact it would be under refurbishment.

2. There are no other large cabins available on my sailing.

I would be given a 2$K reduction and would need to move to a 175sq ft. Cabin

I am livid....was planning on sailing with friends who have booked with me.Their cabins are not under refurbishment and all is ok with their bookings.

I am shocked that this has happened as thought all was protected.

Was told they could do nothing for us..

Just wondering....does this happen often? I am now searching for other possibilities but very upset! I was told 'there is nothing the cruise line can do.

Just wondering....does this happen often? I am now searching for other possibilities but very upset! I was told 'there is nothing the cruise line can do.

How often does it happen that they do a major refurbishment of their ships? Probably not too often.

There is another thread on this subject at:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2238260

It seems that a number of CC Suites will be having final touches done in the 3-5 days after the dry dock, so affected passengers are being requested to downgrade as the OP indicated.

I have had this happen twice before (once on Crystal and once on Celebrity), when we were downgraded due to renovations not being completed. I have learned to avoid any sailings from now on that are right after drydock. Most cruise lines begin work the days leading up to a major refit, or continue working during the cruise just after. I know it's frustrating, as we've been where you are. We, personally, were okay with accepting the price reduction reflecting the cabin downgrade. Not much you can do, except to switch to another cruise if you must have that cabin type.

Michael

This is very disappointing for you and can well understand your annoyance.

If you decide to stick with the cruise there is a small possibility that a cabin of N1 grade may become available around final payment time. Have your TA monitor the situation for you.

. I have learned to avoid any sailings from now on that are right after drydock. Most cruise lines begin work the days leading up to a major refit, or continue working during the cruise just after.

 

Michael

Excellent sage advice! The O boards have had several threads on this topic. Crew doing "little" things for the upcoming drydock like removing art, plants, and even some furniture in prep for the refit.

Looking at the deck plan, it looks like the N1 is the larger CC suite; why would you only be offered $2000 fare reduction to move to a much smaller cabin? When there was a fare sale going, I would have had to pay $3000 to upgrade from N2 to N1, both CC suites.

After specifically asking Azamara UK if we were going to be affected and being told they knew nothing about it today we get the dreaded email. But of course being in the UK we don't even get the courtesy of being told what cabin we would be moved to but a cost reduction of only £650pp (we don't even know what basis that has been calculated on!) on top of that we would get a derisory $500 OBC on a 11 day cruise this won't even cover the entitlement of eating in a speciality restaurant every night (should we wish to) so Azamara have gone from hero to zero in our opinion.

It was probably obvious that completing the works in the two weeks allowed was far too optimistic, so that being the case this cruise should have been cancelled months ago. We are now left with flights booked and paid for, a Princess cruise that we are doing pre Azamara now within 180 days so we we will lose £1000's should we wish to cancel.

To say we are unhappy is an understatement, we currently have 5 Azamara cruises booked all in CC suites if we had wanted a veranda stateroom we would have booked one.

Surely when they took your deposit a contract was entered into.

They have broken the contract with you and should offer you a full refund and compensation for the expenses you will incur.

I doubt that this will happen.

Get in touch with Richard Twynam asap and see whether or not he can help.

It is very poor treatment of such a loyal customer.

Yes we apparently can cancel with a refund or transfer, although that doesn't help much as we have fixed parameters to work to. We have been looking at what we lose in being downgraded and no way is $500 anyway near enough "compensation" to allow us to have the same comforts on the cruise.

Email to Richard Twynam will be with him very shortly!

Carol and John. So sorry to hear about this. Maybe you could negotiate to have the benefits of a club continent suite. That might lessen the blow a bit.

Regards to you both Gill

Carol and John. So sorry to hear about this. Maybe you could negotiate to have the benefits of a club continent suite. That might lessen the blow a bit.

 

Regards to you both Gill

Thank you Gill we are in the middle of moving house and just at the moment at the most stressful stage so could have done without Azamara adding to it.

We will see what happens next.

Yes we apparently can cancel with a refund or transfer, although that doesn't help much as we have fixed parameters to work to. We have been looking at what we lose in being downgraded and no way is $500 anyway near enough "compensation" to allow us to have the same comforts on the cruise.

 

Email to Richard Twynam will be with him very shortly!

Carol and John. So sorry to hear about this. Maybe you could negotiate to have the benefits of a club continent suite. That might lessen the blow a bit.

Regards to you both Gill

Hi Riocca,

I'm very sorry to hear of your situation, especially as you have been very loyal to Azamara over the years. I certainly understand why you are unhappy. With that said, what matters at this point, is to resolve the matter, and make you happier about what's transpired.

I agree with Grandma Gilly. I'd ask for some additional compensation and Suite benefits - including specialty dining.

This is one time I hoped *not* to be right.... but from the get go, I commented on this forum, wondering whether 2 weeks would be sufficient for such a major upgrade. Based on our member comments, that seems to be the case - at least in some areas of the ship.

Mr. Twynam gets very high praise on here, and I sincerely hope that he will come to the rescue. Please let us know the outcome, and good luck !

So sorry to hear about your problems.

Forgive me if I end up pointing out the obvious but I would ask if all the suites are out of commission for your cruise? If not could you have first refusal on any which become available. Unfortunately I don't know if the system allows this or would this entail someone looking everyday ?

I agree with those who have suggested you ask the full suite experience in your balcony.

Hopefully Azamara will come through for you.

Thank you Host Andy for your kind words, problem is we all have a specific way we like to travel and we are not sure even given suite benefits that a much smaller veranda cabin would give us the cruise experience we would be happy with remembering that even given the price reduction we still have a not insubstantial balance to pay. It is difficult to see a way forward at the moment and the last thing we want to do is embark on a cruise in a negative frame of mind as that could affect not only this cruise but our future Azamara experience as well.

Welshfamily thank you for your response, the email we received states that there are no other CC suites available hence the downgrade, Bonnie did say on another thread that there were only a small number of CC suites affected but did not quantify how many or which ones. I think Host Andy is right it was never really feasible to do the proposed extensive upgrades in two weeks, Azamara should have been honest with themselves and us and cancelled this cruise a long time ago.

Hi Carol and John,

Another thought, why did it take Azamara an extra week to notify you compared

to the OP?

I always seem to get the feeling that UK guests are treated as second class citizens compared to our North American cousins :(

We always take a verandah cabin as I worry about the noise from the deck above the suites, that's why the cheapy upgrade has no benefit to me.

Maybe you could cope, just this once, in one :)

Wishing you luck :)

Hi Carol and John,

Another thought, why did it take Azamara an extra week to notify you compared

to the OP?

I always seem to get the feeling that UK guests are treated as second class citizens compared to our North American cousins :(

We always take a verandah cabin as I worry about the noise from the deck above the suites, that's why the cheapy upgrade has no benefit to me.

Maybe you could cope, just this once, in one :)

Wishing you luck :)

Thank you for the good wishes, we wondered the same regarding timing is it that Azamara planners are constantly reviewing the refurb program, or are we "giving way" to someone who has made a lot of noise?

Know what you mean about noise from above on deck 8 but we have found a nice quiet spot where there is minimal movement above and virtually no noise. Yes maybe we could cope with a veranda but would we be happy? We would still have a substantial balance to pay for a veranda and we don't even know in what location it will be or what grade. Worse thing is having looked at the alternatives all the good cabins are long gone and prices are very high compared with what was available 12 months ago when we booked this cruise.

We are booked on the Quest April 15 2016 voyage out of Singapore after the refurb, and reading the postings concerning the slow release of the bad news on the CC suites, we are wondering if this is one cruise to be cancelled.

We cannot even ascertain whether we may get a proper shower or a bath shower, with Azamara not replying to Emails on this subject. Now to hear of the pathetic handling of the refurb, we are worried!:confused: