cruzluvers

We've been waiting too with baited breath - so far NADA.:confused:

Thanks a lot Bonnie.:)

Proctor, it couldn't have been said any better. Now lets hope the powers that be (?) listen and make everything right. :)

Will keep our fingers crossed.:)

For acknowledging that the LCV redesign as revealed last week may be up for some reconsideration... My initial reactions as to how the changes impact me personally were quickly replaced by personal curiosity as to why Azamara chose to take the drastic actions they did and couldn't help but induce some speculation surrounding the very unusual Corporate behavior...

 

My only hope is that Azamara is mindful that time is of the essence in terms of any fine-tuning that might occur with respect to LCV given that the new program is to take effect 1 January 2015... At the present time, the only "improved" loyalty benefit I accrued for having sailed Azamara--and it was otherwise a wonderful experience--for 28 days during 2014 [which would have been 42 days had Journey not unfortunately become disabled in Tokyo] is a net reduction in my Cruise Point accrual--despite having attained Discover + membership at the time of sailing--for the pleasure! Azamara credits 3 Points per day for a balcony cabin during 2014; that will increase to 5 per day--as it always should have been on a comparative basis to Celebrity's accrual rates for equivalent or lesser spend [the subject was discussed at length here early this year; it seems that Azamara listened but not quickly/not before it adversely affected some without intent--it's already covered in the revised program's Terms & Conditions--to remediate]... Sounds trivial--perhaps it is--but I've long understood that those 56 Cruise Points further delayed and added expense to my journey toward reaching Zenith level on Celebrity and Discoverer Platinum level on Azamara! Last week's "big reveal" merely reminded me of that fact...

 

Thanks, once again, for your advocacy in bringing our observations forward for a hearing... I'm truly sorry that Azamara has placed you in so unenviable a position but am hard-pressed as to how they might have anticipated a different reaction from those with an Azamara/Celebrity track record...

 

Do know that, regardless of how this plays out from a personal perspective [business is--mutually--business; we all view such things differently], I root for the robust future of Azamara, its exceptional onboard Team of Officers and crew, and its very allegiant following... No threats/no promises; I hope to have reason to be among them...

Well said Mike, Our feelings exactly. Hopefully all will work out :)

Thumbs down from me also.

You do not enhance a benefit by removing previous perks.

Not bothered about wine tasting but all others were a nice enhancement which I thought meant that Azamara valued us as a customer/client/guest rather than a money making opportunity.

Sayonara

Sayonara

Japanese for 'goodbye'; however, it carries more finality. Instead of being used at the end of a day, as in "Goodbye see you tomorrow," it would be used in situations where you will either not see the person for a long time, if ever again.

 

Sums up my feelings or possibly "Say no to Azamara"

Any recco as to where next

Oceania or Viking???

 

Top tier member currently.

We always loved Oceania (having sailed on three different ships) before finding Azamara. Their three smaller ships are sister ships to the Quest and Journey. Now, after hearing about Azamara's "wonderful" new loyalty program, we learned that Norwegian has purchased Oceania and Regent. Should be interesting to see what happens there

Love the onboard Azamara experience, the crew, the ships, the atmosphere, the fellow guests. Really dislike the shoreside and marketing operations, lack of communication with me and to cap it all the new loyalty programme brought out with all the finesse of a baby elephant.

 

Phil

Well said Phil. We totally agree and hope that Azamara reconsiders what they are doing to their "loyal" followers.:)

Have a reservation with Azamara under BOgO +$500 obc. A TA I talked with recently is offering from their co. $ for OBC. If I transfer booking does Azamara require total rebooking to do that or will the existing booking plus the obc get transferred..resulting in 2 obc's? Any experiences to share or thoughts...would appreciate it!

We were able to transfer a B2B2B from Azamara to a TA who gave us additional OBC with no problems.:)

Hi Phil,

 

While I'm rarely on Facebook, I actually went looking to see if they posted their announcement on there. I couldn't find anything. Maybe they saw the backlash on here, and decided against posting the news. Or, did I miss it ?

 

I agree about the onboard Officers and crew. They are absolutely wonderful !

 

Maybe I'm the only one out there, but I remain hopeful that Azamara will read the nearly universal negative comments, and re-think this decision.

We certainly hope Azamara will reconsider this terrible decision. Since we switched from Oceania (which we loved) to our new "favorite" cruiseline which included a lot more value, we have talked up this line to all of our cruising friends. Now they want to take away all those great benefits which we were promised for our two already booked two week cruises next year; the least they should do is honor what we were promised when we booked. Otherwise, a lot of us will be looking elsewhere (ie. Celebrity which does give nice benefits to their loyal followers)

We have done 4 cruises on Oceania, and so far one on Azamara. Based on our experience, I think the OP nailed it!

 

The Insignia has been beautifully restored, but Azamara wins on service, friendliness, food , entertainment, shuttles. We had some poor food, service and shuttle experiences on O on our recent Istanbul to Venice cruise, which I outlined in another thread.

 

Subjectively, I would give O a good grade, and AZ an outstanding grade.

Totally agree. We have done three O cruises (Regatta, Insignia and the larger Marina) and loved them all. But this year we decided to try Azamara and booked what was supposed to be a

B2B2B in Asia on Azamara Journey. It met all our expectations and more...

We were on the cruise which damaged a propeller going into Tokyo Bay near the end of our 2nd cruise causing two days on that cruise and the entire 3rd cruise to be cancelled. Azamara was fantastic in handling the situation and all the new arrangements that had to be made. We felt the compensation was more than fair and have already booked two Azamara cruises in 2015. The staff is wonderful and the itineraries can't be beat. Long days, overnights and nice days at sea to break it all up. We found Oceania's itineraries too intensive with little time in between ports.

Hi Cruzlovers, what date is your sailing?? It can't be February as the ships are in South America & Asia. Let me know and I'll ask shorex department.

Hi ScotsAhoy, thanks for the great advice about just showing up :)

My husband & I will be in Edinburgh in August...first-timers! Can't wait...with the name Bonnie MacLaird I'm always mistaken as a Scot. My husband is the Scot-descendant though. His family came over many many generations ago. It'll be his first time too.

Hi Bonnie, Sorry about the mixup, (we are sailing in Feb to South America). We will be on the July 18th cruise starting in Edinburgh. Will appreciate any info about British Open golf packages being offered.

Thanks:)

Does anyone know if Azamara will be offering a package on their Feb 19th cruise to purchase tickets for the British Open? I saw that they are offering a package for the cruise just before ours.

Imagine what it's like on ships where there is no up-charge for the specialty restaurants. To get our two guaranteed specialty reservations on our upcoming Regent cruise for the dates we want, we'll be signing in at 1am on August 25th on the Regent web site. If we're lucky, we'll get a table for two for my wife's birthday. If we're able to book any additional reservations once on-board, it will be at shared tables for four or six. This is luxury?

 

I suspect Oceania, where there is also no up-charge, would work similarly. It can be argued whether the food served in specialty restaurants is worth the up-charge, but, for me, it's worth it for the access.

Having sailed on Oceania three times, I can say that it is not the same as Regent. You may not get the first one or two nights, but after that it was easy to book an evening for the two of us.:)

Can anyone tell us about the "view" from Cabin 7054 on the Quest?

A very Happy Birthday Azamara and its wonderful staff. You are the BEST!:)

Received our FCCs today also. The 75% was calculated on the base fare plus the port fees. I've already scanned and sent copies to our TA to be applied to the cruise that we previously booked for next February.

 

Thank you Azamara.

We also received the 25% FCC about a week ago and just received the 75% one yesterday. Still waiting for the credit for the charges incurred at the hotel in Shanghai. Does anyone know if the travel insurance for the third cruise (purchased independently) will be reimbursed?

We also thank Azamara for the great way this was all handled:)

well, not really done, just for 2015. After sailing with Azamara since it's inception, we've done just about every itinerary that we want to and 2015 doesn't have anything that excites us. We also sail with Oceania but are wondering if there are other options with similar style, size and quality that might fill in gaps. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Think about the Paul Gauguin in the South Pacific. We have done both their 7day and 14 day cruises and they were both absolutely wonderful. Only 380 passengers and a fantastic crew. Otherwise, Azamara is now also a favorite.:)

All of the above comments. We like Celebrity but absolutely love Azamara.:)

Welcome aboard Bonnie. We look forward to getting to know you.:)

Rhona & John (aka cruzluvers)

Hi munch1,

 

Between my Cruise Critic & personal email addresses, I get more spam than a spam factory... but nothing more than usual since taking the survey. I highly doubt the survey is the issue.

 

Hope this helps !

Hi Andy,

We were on the b2b2b and after all the arrangements to get home, we went on to the survey and we saw it was taken off. We would like to do the survey, how can we do it?

Thanks for all you do.:)

Rhona (aka cruzluvers)

The response the OP received sounds like a typical RCCL response. One cruise, we did not receive our invitation and they told us we could not attend without it.

On Azamara - everyone is welcome to attend. The date, time and location is printed in your daily activity sheet. So - when you arrive in your cabin, you should be able to see when it is. They will welcome you and not question you. Have a great cruise!

On our cruise, the invitations had not arrived from Miami and the time and date were printed in the daily Reflections. So just go, they don't check.

We were also on the Feb 17th cruise planning to be on the next one (we had actually also done the Feb 3rd one too :)) Yes , we were disappointed about the cancellation but we felt Azamara did everything they could to help all of us with our changes (thanks especially to Francine and Rob) in Shanghai. It certainly could have been a lot worse.

The Hyatt was just beautiful and we enjoyed our days in Shanghai.

We were assisted in getting to Hong Kong for the three days we had previously booked (just changing the dates) and had a great time. We especially want to thank the Journey staff (Captain Jason, Richard and all the others) who went out of their way to make the final days enjoyable. Yes, we were among the many who sat with Cindy and booked another cruise next year with Azamara and we look forward to it. ;)

Which cruise port is Journey sailing out of in Singapore on 2/3/14?

For those of you who were able to get thru the My Azamara maze and book the Azamazing Evening at Binh Quoi Village, check your email. It has been cancelled:( When I called they said they should have more info the end of November. Hopefully they will.

Not working here in Florida either. It won't even recognize my name:confused: