Benefits of Le Club Voyager

As a regular Azamara cruiser I find little to complain about whilst on board ship

but find the attitude of on shore management to be condescending. They treat regular customers with disdain. Any criticism of any aspect of management policy is casually brushed aside and any defence they offer is cloaked in platitudes and clichés.

We all known that after the Trojans had dragged the wooden horse left by the departing Greeks into their city, with dire consequences, the phrase “beware Greeks bearing gifts” was coined.

I would urge similar caution on anyone tempted to accept gifts from cruise companies; you could find yourself out of pocket by accepting their “gifts”.

Azamara Club Cruises revised the rewards offered to Le Club Voyager members at the beginning of 2015 and the “big one” was Complimentary Nights.

If you had spent tens of thousands of Pounds Stirling, on previous cruises, to earn Discoverer status, in their Le Club Voyager scheme, you were entitled to 4 such nights but once you had made your way through the, short novella length, Terms, you discovered that they were not combinable with any other offers.

Now that is a problem because it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to find a cruise not on offer. For example -

1. Second passenger travels half price (ran until June 30)

2. Free flights

3. Free upgrade to balcony. (runs from July1 to August 31)

4. 25% Off select voyages 2016/17

5. Up to 25% off, currently running.

Etc, etc.

So to qualify for the free nights you have to forfeit the benefits of any current offer, which is available to everyone else, before applying your expensively earned one.

So in the case of the “2ND passenger travels half price” offer you would have to pay full price for your partner before applying your “reward”.

An agent quoted me £2467 for a balcony on an 11 nights, May 24, 2016

Venice to Istanbul, cruise only.

Azamara quoted me £2353 for the same cruise, after deducting the 4 nights discount. A saving, certainly, but hardly equivalent to 4 nights.

But it could get worse.

From time to time Azamara enter into specific agreements on select

voyages with trade partners who can help drive sales by putting together

their own packages. These packages are far cheaper than the same cruises offered by Azamara.

However you cannot use your complimentary nights discount nor your Open Passage discount against these trade partner packages.

Thus by buying a cruise direct from Azamara and applying both your complimentary nights and your Open Passage discount, on which you may have made a £75pp deposit many months earlier, the cruise could cost you appreciably more than buying a package from an agent.

For example on August 11, 2015, Azamara were quoting, on their website, £2869 for 9 nights, November 1 to November10, Monte Carlo to Barcelona, balcony- Cruise only.

If I were to deduct the 4 complimentary nights and the £250, per stateroom, Open Passage discount from this price I would arrive at a net price of about £1470pp- Cruise only.

Agents were quoting £1550 - £1600 for the same cruise including 1 or 2 nights in a Nice hotel, return flights and private transfers.

Thus making a mockery of their much lauded rewards for loyal, regular customers, who are “much valued”, according to their Le club Voyager ambassador.

They then add insult to injury by claiming that “it is the best loyalty program in the cruise industry; because we listened to you, our most loyal members”. Best for whom?

A classic case of giving with one hand and snatching away with the other.

Johnd, Cheshire

As a regular Azamara cruiser I find little to complain about whilst on board ship

but find the attitude of on shore management to be condescending. They treat regular customers with disdain. Any criticism of any aspect of management policy is casually brushed aside and any defence they offer is cloaked in platitudes and clichés.

 

We all known that after the Trojans had dragged the wooden horse left by the departing Greeks into their city, with dire consequences, the phrase “beware Greeks bearing gifts” was coined.

I would urge similar caution on anyone tempted to accept gifts from cruise companies; you could find yourself out of pocket by accepting their “gifts”.

 

Azamara Club Cruises revised the rewards offered to Le Club Voyager members at the beginning of 2015 and the “big one” was Complimentary Nights.

If you had spent tens of thousands of Pounds Stirling, on previous cruises, to earn Discoverer status, in their Le Club Voyager scheme, you were entitled to 4 such nights but once you had made your way through the, short novella length, Terms, you discovered that they were not combinable with any other offers.

Now that is a problem because it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to find a cruise not on offer. For example -

 

1. Second passenger travels half price (ran until June 30)

2. Free flights

3. Free upgrade to balcony. (runs from July1 to August 31)

4. 25% Off select voyages 2016/17

5. Up to 25% off, currently running.

Etc, etc.

 

So to qualify for the free nights you have to forfeit the benefits of any current offer, which is available to everyone else, before applying your expensively earned one.

So in the case of the “2ND passenger travels half price” offer you would have to pay full price for your partner before applying your “reward”.

 

An agent quoted me £2467 for a balcony on an 11 nights, May 24, 2016

Venice to Istanbul, cruise only.

Azamara quoted me £2353 for the same cruise, after deducting the 4 nights discount. A saving, certainly, but hardly equivalent to 4 nights.

But it could get worse.

 

From time to time Azamara enter into specific agreements on select

voyages with trade partners who can help drive sales by putting together

their own packages. These packages are far cheaper than the same cruises offered by Azamara.

However you cannot use your complimentary nights discount nor your Open Passage discount against these trade partner packages.

 

Thus by buying a cruise direct from Azamara and applying both your complimentary nights and your Open Passage discount, on which you may have made a £75pp deposit many months earlier, the cruise could cost you appreciably more than buying a package from an agent.

 

For example on August 11, 2015, Azamara were quoting, on their website, £2869 for 9 nights, November 1 to November10, Monte Carlo to Barcelona, balcony- Cruise only.

If I were to deduct the 4 complimentary nights and the £250, per stateroom, Open Passage discount from this price I would arrive at a net price of about £1470pp- Cruise only.

Agents were quoting £1550 - £1600 for the same cruise including 1 or 2 nights in a Nice hotel, return flights and private transfers.

 

Thus making a mockery of their much lauded rewards for loyal, regular customers, who are “much valued”, according to their Le club Voyager ambassador.

They then add insult to injury by claiming that “it is the best loyalty program in the cruise industry; because we listened to you, our most loyal members”. Best for whom?

 

A classic case of giving with one hand and snatching away with the other.

 

Johnd, Cheshire

John,

I totally agree with you. We are in the same position, we got to Discoverer level back in April.

We have priced a few cruises to take advantage of the "4 free night" but like you have found it to be nonsense.

We have 2 future cruises already booked. The last one is Sept 2016 . The other problem is that you have to use the free nights offer within 12 months of reaching the new level.

To be honest I don't want to book cruises further ahead than late 2016 so will not be booking any more cruises now until after the 12 months is up.

They always say "there's no such thing as a free lunch" and this seems to be one of those occasions!!

It won't stop us enjoying the next 2 cruises though!

I find the above posts interesting as an American.. i not even sure if it makes a difference.. They changed the rules and now i get a free cruise booked thru AZ while on the ship. If i got 4 free nights or 7 or 10 i would find a cruise. you have to book a cruise using the free days with in 12 months but you can book out more.. that what i did i booked in feb for a cruise in june 2016. really not hard to do on ship. why not look fro a 7 night cruise from England and enjoy your free nights..

After our Panama Canal cruise in March we will earn the 4 free nights and have a B2B cruise in 2017 that looks very enticing. I know we have to book it within 12 months, and in fact we have to book it before going on our January 2017 Summit cruise or we won't have more than 50% of our cruises on Azamara at time of booking. I will be very disappointed if the reward is not what it is promised to be. Will see come the end of March.....

I wish you well in getting your free nights!

Make sure that you read the small print and do check around to get the best possible price; there are deals on offer all the time - current deal is 25% off.

And if you use your free nights against this deal you WILL NOT get the 25% off.

Regards JAYAITCH

.

Hi Robin.

The free nights are NOT COMBINABLE with any other offer and almost all, if not all, cruises are available on some kind of promotion. So if I were to book a 7 night cruise from the UK, as you suggest, it may well be available on a " 2nd person travels half price" promotion which means that if I were to book one of these cruises I would have to pay full price for my partner before getting the benefit of the "free nights", which would lead to a significant diminution off my expensively earned loyalty perk. I'm afraid it's all smoke and mirrors.

You must read all of the small print before committing yourself.

JAYAITCH

Discoverer level:

Does it have to have been earned purely on Azamara cruises or is the offer for passengers who are Elite on Celebrity and therefore Discoverer on Azamara?

Have to totally disagree with some of the comments, we went from Discoverer to Discoverer Plus earlier in the year earning our 6 free nights. Having already booked an eleven night cruise on Quest in September 2017 our plan was to book the following 8 night cruise using our free nights and in the same CC suite. The whole process was totally painless Azamara worked with our TA throughout to achieve what we wanted, OK we had to pay full price for the 2 nights plus all port taxes but the result was more than reasonable for an eight night cruise and in addition we received the £300 B2B saving on the first cruise! So for us we were more than happy with this "perk" just need to get to 1500 points to get some more.

As regards to the question of do all the points have to be earned on Azamara, the t&c's state that it has to be at least 50% on Azamara.

I would be fine with paying for 2 nights at full price to get 6 free nights.. i moved to top tier=Zenith. so i have 2 cruises i am paying for in june and one free one. .this tier is 10 nights. at this point no one has mention port taxes but i did pay a small deposit to get the cabin. to me this is a better deal than celebrity .celebrity you have to sail in bermuda in a smaller cabin. .so far i am in a CC cabin and in Europe lucky me.

How did I ever miss knowing about this????:eek::confused:...but based on what I've been reading it sounds like we would not have qualified because I'm certain 50% of our points/days/cruise or however AZ measures this (can't remember!) have not been "earned" on AZ but X...and even then we became Discoverer Plus when the change occurred and Elite Plus on X way back in November of '13...or well...that is a great benefit for those that qualify!!! ;) LuAnn

How did I ever miss knowing about this????:eek::confused:...but based on what I've been reading it sounds like we would not have qualified because I'm certain 50% of our points/days/cruise or however AZ measures this (can't remember!) have not been "earned" on AZ but X...and even then we became Discoverer Plus when the change occurred and Elite Plus on X way back in November of '13...or well...that is a great benefit for those that qualify!!! ;) LuAnn

In an email from Nicole, Le Club Voyage Ambassador, she started that it is based on number of voyages, not number of days sailed.

In an email from Nicole, Le Club Voyage Ambassador, she started that it is based on number of voyages, not number of days sailed.

it is days -but it is which cabin you are in.. i get more point in a CC than inside and big suites get tons of points per day. i earned my points per day in my cabin. peole said they never see discovery plus i made the next tier.. a name no one can remember.

it is days -but it is which cabin you are in.. i get more point in a CC than inside and big suites get tons of points per day. i earned my points per day in my cabin. peole said they never see discovery plus i made the next tier.. a name no one can remember.

Yes, you accumulate points based on days and cabin category to determine your level, but in terms of the 50% more on Azamara for the free nights it is based on number of voyages, not days on Azamara in comparison to the number of voyages on Celebrity.

Yes, you accumulate points based on days and cabin category to determine your level, but in terms of the 50% more on Azamara for the free nights it is based on number of voyages, not days on Azamara in comparison to the number of voyages on Celebrity.

Thank you:) my voyage number is high but i met several people who are above me.. but only one couple at tier level. why i gave up 2 years ago getting it.

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Hi Robin.

The free nights are NOT COMBINABLE with any other offer and almost all, if not all, cruises are available on some kind of promotion. So if I were to book a 7 night cruise from the UK, as you suggest, it may well be available on a " 2nd person travels half price" promotion which means that if I were to book one of these cruises I would have to pay full price for my partner before getting the benefit of the "free nights", which would lead to a significant diminution off my expensively earned loyalty perk. I'm afraid it's all smoke and mirrors.

You must read all of the small print before committing yourself.

JAYAITCH

I'd like to correct some misinformation in this thread...I've not seen a time when ALL cruises were on a special offer. At any given time we have two to three years of voyages published on our website, and every sales promotion we offer is available only on SELECT voyages and is time constrained.

Yes, you accumulate points based on days and cabin category to determine your level, but in terms of the 50% more on Azamara for the free nights it is based on number of voyages, not days on Azamara in comparison to the number of voyages on Celebrity.

for the clarification!! Either way we have much more on X than AZ and we missed the time frame as well...as I said...great benefit...just won't be one we get to use!!! :D LuAnn

I must say that I didn't have any problem combining my 6 'free' nights with another offer. It did take my TA a few days to work it out with Azamara as she was told we were the first to do this. However, end result was excellent. We booked a b2b and the nights worked out better on one leg than the other so thank you Azamara.

PS. Also the same for our travelling companions who received 4 nights plus the offer

PPS. Can't remember now which offer it was, think BOGOHO in a club continent.

Hi Grandma Gilly

I read several posts from cruisers claiming they got the full benefit of their free nights; I am at a loss to understand how they managed it.

Azamara’s Terms clearly, unambiguously and unequivocally state that the complimentary nights are NOT COMPATIBLE WITH OTHER OFFERS. If anyone has any doubts about this then I suggest that they read Azamara’s Terms.

I have had lengthy correspondence with Ms. Lukacs, the Le Club Voyager ambassador, on the subject and she confirms that there are no exceptions. I quote from a recent email from her

“Complimentary Nights benefit.

As Luis has mentioned, the Complimentary Nights benefit is not combinable with any promotions”

Let’s take one example.

In the period up to June 30 the promotion was “2nd passenger travels half price”

Therefore If they were advertising a 16 night cruise at £4000pp the total cost during the promotion would be £6ooo (£3000pp) rather than the original price of £8000.

However if your wife and you fancied this cruise and you chose to use your 4 complimentary nights you would have to forfeit the £2000 promotion and your “loyalty reward “would be applied to the basic price of £4000pp.

In other words the cruise would cost you a bit more than £3000pp. As I’ve previously said – All smoke and mirrors.

It is possible, of course, that some people are not aware that they’ve not got as good a deal as they think. They may have been taken for a ride - sorry!

I would hate to think that a few “special” customers were being treated differently to the plebs.

You've chosen a situation that makes your argument look most compelling.

An eight-day BOGOHO cruise would result in bottom-line 25% savings, yet with four free nights you'd save 50% after forgoing the BOGOHO promotion. Or look at a 16-day cruise that does NOT qualify for the BOGOHO promotion. Four free nights would result in an effective 25% discount, same as the BOGOHO discount, and that for a popular cruise for which Azamara is not going to offer that promotion.

Some people won't be satisfied unless they cruise for nothing.

I think the bigger issue for some will be qualifying for the 2250 and 3000 rewards. (Unless you are one of the very few lucky ones who have been able to serially cruise in recent years). You may hit the points requirement and have double figures of Azamara cruises but because you sailed Celebrity previously you do not meet the 50% of voyages on Azamara requirement. That is much easier to achieve at the lower leve

Hi Marinaro

You say that I’ve chosen an example to make my argument compelling; does that make it any less valid?

The various promotions that Azamara run, from one month to another, cover most, if not all, of the cruise they sell.

Why on earth would anyone, other than Imbecile, wait until all offers were off before choosing to make use of their complimentary nights?

What offends me is the way that companies bellow from the rooftops supposedly good news and then whisper from the shadows the drawbacks.

I don’t know about wanting to cruise for nothing; after spending tens of thousands of pounds on previous cruise I don’t want to be treated like a simpleton by a marketing executive with a degree in creative writing and the black arts.

After VW I think that the consumer will demand more honest and straightforward treatment from suppliers.

You've chosen a situation that makes your argument look most compelling.

 

An eight-day BOGOHO cruise would result in bottom-line 25% savings, yet with four free nights you'd save 50% after forgoing the BOGOHO promotion. Or look at a 16-day cruise that does NOT qualify for the BOGOHO promotion. Four free nights would result in an effective 25% discount, same as the BOGOHO discount, and that for a popular cruise for which Azamara is not going to offer that promotion.

 

Some people won't be satisfied unless they cruise for nothing.

Hi Marinaro

You say that I’ve chosen an example to make my argument compelling; does that make it any less valid?

The various promotions that Azamara run, from one month to another, cover most, if not all, of the cruise they sell.

Why on earth would anyone, other than Imbecile, wait until all offers were off before choosing to make use of their complimentary nights?

What offends me is the way that companies bellow from the rooftops supposedly good news and then whisper from the shadows the drawbacks.

I don’t know about wanting to cruise for nothing; after spending tens of thousands of pounds on previous cruise I don’t want to be treated like a simpleton by a marketing executive with a degree in creative writing and the black arts.

After VW I think that the consumer will demand more honest and straightforward treatment from suppliers.

I agree with both of you. You usually CAN find a way to use your earned bonuses but, unfortunatelyas usual, AZ as most businesses do nowadays "sell the sizzle, not the bacon". It's unfortunate that they employ these practices that make things look much better than the fine print allows. I was sucked in years ago by an American Express promotion that promised two free companion air tickets. Of course when I went to redeem them I was told that I had to purchase a FULL FARE ticket to get a free one and the full fare was much more than double what I could've gotten a reduced fare for at that time. It's all a big advertising scheme by companies nowadays that, to me, walks a fine line but I'm sure it's all legal. One just has to do their homework to find how to get around the fine print and exploit the companies' few loopholes that they leave. I now look at any big promotions carefully before paying anything for them. Remember the famous admonition....CAVEAT EMPTOR!;)

In reply to BBMacLaird's post regarding offers being available only on selected cruises. I have a printed brochure which, I think, I picked up on-board a Journey cruise in October 2015.

In that brochure there are 34 Journey cruises during 2016; the brochure points out that 4 of those cruises were sold out leaving 30 still available.

Azamara had a promotion which ran from April 1 2015 to June 30 2015. The offer was "2nd passenger travels half price" and was on "selected cruises"

The total number of cruises eligible for the offer was 30. I would call that a universal offer.

I'm sure Im not one of a special few. I wish I could remember the exact deal but I do know that it worked out more beneficial to take our free nights on one of the b2b cruises. I do agree that you have to be so careful these days to get the best deal going. It takes so much time and effort and even then you are never sure you've got the 'best deal'. Oh for a simple life!!!