uktog

No the bathroom is a reasonable size, single sink, fair storage, tub with shower over - it is not appointed luxuriously but it is fine, certainly we are happy with it

Wouldn't it be lovely if life could be simpler and we had global terms for products such as Passages!

Maybe Santa could note that request from Azamara lovers..............oh and a fully functioning website please Santa, I have been a good girl honest

[quote=ellbon;40509469

There are never tours planed for change over day..

Robin

I have been on two on change over day and there are some planned on the cruises we are on in the coming months. They are however the kind of tour that often gets cancelled as numbers are low.

I read this as if I want to book Land Discoveries for my already booked Quest sailing in the Adriatic on july 5th 2014 I can do so and get 25% off until 4 days prior to sailing date. If there should be NEW excursions after jan 3rd I will not get the discount.

No Oddjob not quite correct, you only get 25% if you book and pay for the excursions by 3rd January - Bill has clarified that here now - you will see I have also told him the statement is still misleading and he has kindly picked up on a wording change I have suggested

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=40506835&postcount=29

I am still in azamazement that the team that wrote the message did not see where there was ambiguity

Thank your your good wishes Bill, we are very much looking forward to this cruise and we know onboard and in the various stops en route it will be special

Thank you Bill, the clarity comes 100% not from the centrally prepared marketing text, the second Bullet of which can still be read two ways, but from the answers to your brain teaser questions. Please encourage those who prepare customer communications to do as you have done, put yourself in the shoes of the customer and write the messages as responses to questions. If we had had that from the outset, at least some of the angst you have been fielding would never have surfaced.

Thanks again for the clarity you have given

Ps Bullet 2 needs the addition of a few words only at the end "whichever date is earlier"

Tim,

Do you have pictures or videos of the Journey since she was dry docked? I've searched and searched but found nothing. :confused: :confused:

The cruise lines website has many now on it, YouTube searches brought up several as well.

Getting back to the lack of an email advising UK customers of the changes to the 25% discount on tours, there is an interesting aspect to this.

 

One of the reasons we in the UK do not get the same flexibility as those in the USA with our cruise purchases is the legislation we have in place mainly "The Package Travel, Package Holidays & Package Tours Regulations 1992" this legislation covers all holidays where accommodation and travel are included together - so all cruises comply whether air travel is booked via the cruise company or not.

 

In this legislation the "offer to purchase" includes all information given in the brochure or web site at the time the holiday is purchased and that becomes part of the sales contract. So if 25% discount on tours is in print at the time you book then it is part of your contract with the cruise company, they may make changes but only if their terms and conditions state this is possible but they have to give notice of any changes in writing. If it was a major change, which this isn't, then you have the right to cancel.

 

I haven't looked at the T&C's but a right of variation is a standard term so I am sure it will be there but Azamara HAVE to advise of this change in writing to comply with UK legislation.

Don't hold your breath, when the dropped from the 50% discount to the 25% discount they did not advise us or make any adjustments. At least this time we are getting a window of opportunity to preserve the pricing and book excursions (though its confusing for how long the window is open for). I have asked the question though for those of us with 2015 bookings

I had heard about the seafood buffet before we sailed but, unfortunately, it never happened on our cruise. I watched for it all the time. :(

And....I'm so glad they don't have the formal nights on Azamara. Men's suits are not fun to pack. I think nice dress pants and a nice shirt is much more comfortable for men too...and no changing after dinner.

That is where we do differ in views (its as well the world does not have us all the same) we like to dress up and never change after dinner. We often pack the tux as husband loves it and I love cocktail dresses

We will let you know how the Cochin evening goes as we are doing that on our cruise that starts next week

It certainly was on the MDR menu one night and was also available the night of the Seafood Buffet upstairs so we had it three times in 11 days (counting our Aqualina visit)

BTW : I haven't received any mail regarding the discontinuation of Land discoveries 25% Savings either.:rolleyes:

Maybe for our sailing they are making very special (better) rules

What I cannot understand, given all the pain we went through in the last "enhancement" and the complete loss of some functionality for over a year is why there was not sufficient testing of this system before "Go live". As usual, its as if IT had set a deadline for it to happen and happen it will regardless of the impact on the customer

Unfortunately I cannot get to any of my bookings though I wonder if Azamara will honour the price they have them all showing for (£1050). All I have is a list of bookings, no functionality to access any of them. They have removed the maintenance message from the front page so I assume they believe that its a job well done and complete

This is a common problem and although we cruise with Azamara a lot, we usually end up phoning them because we can't find a way to get the airfare included!

Will you still do that when the interaction has to be with Guatemala? I fear if this is a longer term "solution" Azamara will loose a lot of potential bookings in the UK as guests will want a one stop website and UK based agents where there are issues to be discussed - time will of course tell if this prediction is right or - like my attempts to fund cruising through the selection of the right six numbers - totally flawed and incorrect

Right. Bill's second sentence says that quite clearly.

Yes agree, but the reason for my query is that whilst this sentence and the response to Q and A 3 would support that view, Q and A 2 is at the very least ambiguous and appears to contradict that view. I know Bill will have been given the script from HO I am not having a go at him at all, but at the very least Q and A 2 needs rewriting or removing

I got on twice today after reading here. sonetimes there was no place to click "manage my rez" but i retried and it worked.just trying to figure out if i need to book tours for summer of 2014.

There is still absolutely no way in to manage a reservation on the UK site, there is only a list of future cruises booked, no functionality to select one of these cruises and no manage my reservation button.

There should be a message on the site advising guests that there is an issue, as it is just now it appears to guests that they are doing something wrong and for those who know they are not, there is the frustration that the company appears to be in denial that there is an issue.

I hope Bill comes back with good news soon and if it continues any longer that they make exceptions to the four day rule for guests wanting to book shore excursions on the cruises that are leaving shortly - ours are booked but I know others were about to finalise theirs at the weekend and with no advance warning of the shut down are panicking now

There is no formal night on Azamara - all nights are open dining and smart casual dress. Lobster will certainly appear at some point on the menu, but you will have plenty other items to choose as well that night

Bill

Please tell us this revision is incomplete or has gone wrong

In the UK we have no drop down menu nothing - some of us are trying to finalise things for a cruise that departs in ten days.

In the UK, we cannot even see an excursions tab or access to the online check in section (although I completed the process I was not able to print the form due to printer issues here and wanted to return to do so today)

I have to disagree with the above 2 posts. I stand to be corrected of course if I am wrong.

 

To me, this is saying that you have to have booked the shorex by 4th Jan in order to receive the discount and is not related to booking the cruise.

 

I cannot see how they would work it that if Joe Bloggs booked a cruise for September 2014 today and Jane Doe books the same cruise, but on Feb 1st, that Joe will get the discount up until 4 days prior to sailing and Jane won't! I just cannot see how their systems will be smart enough! :rolleyes:

 

Bill, please can you answer this:

 

Guest A books Quest for September 2014 today.

Guest B books Quest for September 2014 in February of next year.

 

Will Guest A, B or both get the 25% discount when they try to book their shorex in August of next year?

That was how I read it as well and wanted clarification either way the communication is unclear

I posted this official list on your roll call on 17 October in response to your query

There is no list re over the counter medication, like most countries, the list is based on the official pharmacological naming

http://www.uaeinteract.com/travel/drug.asp

In reality, as long as items are in official packaging the odds of having an issue are very slight, most likely if you offend the checkers for some other reason. Being pleasant to them and allowing them to take the time they want in any search works wonders

I guess that may be the difference between US and UK tastes ;). We always find most "popular" CDs not at all to our taste.

 

Sue

I think you are right Sue, James is from Oxford. However on board he seemed to be well liked by all guests, though on some cruises clearly some have issue based on this board. Like you I cannot abide some CDs and entertainers others engineer bookings to be with.

Just as well we do not all like the same thing!

If he's the one who goes by JC, he was on the Infinity this spring.

JC who was on Infinity is James Cox - really nice guy, so friendly and interacts well with guests when we were onboard

As the person who is travelling with Lottie A in June 2014 I can only echo how dreadful our dealings with Azamara UK shoreside has been this last week. It is beyond disappointing and totally unacceptable.

 

It is my hope that the soon to be appointed new MD of Azamara here in the UK will come from one of the cruise companies offering the far superior customer service that Azamara consumers deserve.

 

Like the majority of us on these boards I cannot praise the on board experience highly enough but even I am now actively considering other companies for future cruises

Hazel (and Lottie)

I could not agree more. The service from Azamara Uk has gone down hill significantly in the last few months and customers, especially repeat guests are being treated quite shabbily in my view. We do not even have a named loyalty consultant - or indeed anyone who seems remotely interested in loyalty.

We visited a Cruise Fair and whilst the PCS as ever gave great service, the behaviour by a manager was unacceptable in our view, we have made these views known to Azamara Uk in writing two weeks ago but our communication remains unanswered. I hope you are not waiting for a call from the manager we encountered as her concept of customer service is light years away from the onboard experience.

Funnily enough our experience at the fair was of first class service from other smaller cruiselines and river cruise companie and in the case of one river cruise company the follow up has been personal and exemplary - with Azamara, it felt like you were at the meat counter of a low quality supermarket - and that was even before we encountered the abrupt behaviour of the manager!

Good luck in getting your issue resolved - indeed good luck in getting a call back and having the opportunity to feedback to a manager!

I'd suggest that you transfer your booking to a travel agent. They earn their money by making sure that you don't have to worry about things like this. And, at least in the US, they can save you lots of money. (No, I'm not a travel agent;).)

Whilst that might be an option in the US for those posting who have not been advised, none as far as I can see are travel agents and my own experience in the UK is travel agents are even worse at updating guests than the cruiseline.

Bill

Thanks, can I clarify the small print. In the beginning of your post you indicate guests currently booked will continue to receive the discount (no qualification on booking period) but later I read it I have to book the discoveries before 4 January. (q2 and 3)

Glad to be given the window of opportunity, it is nice to see feedback from when we lost out last year has been taken onboard) but want to be 100% sure when I have to book things by.

A second question, there are excursions offered for 2014 Med cruises already. Given the "new look excursions" will more be added later on based on the new programme?

And finally, what about guests booked on the 2015 programmes where again the materials on which we booked mentioned 25%. We cannot book excursions for that in the period?

Thanks for telling us here, unlike other cruisers, no email notifications have been received from the cruiseline here though my bookings are direct with them