tgg

From the Palm Beach Post: "The company has acknowledged that new ownership is operating the cruise line. Ivy declined to offer details but The Post has learned that Sycamore Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, is the hedge fund that now has a controlling interest in Margaritaville at Sea." Two former Costa ships are involved, each with a passenger capacity of almost 4 times an Azamara ship. Oh the possibilities!😃

Amanda's LinkedIn message says that she and Matt have decided to step back from life at sea to be close to home and family.

Sounds like Azamara is upping its game. My husband, an adventuresome eater, would be thrilled.

Hi Woodards. I hope your cruise experience improves. Nice to know Fevertree is aboard. Could you answer a few questions for me? We are sailing on the Dec. 12 cruise and are planning a Cruise Critic get together for 54 people. Did you have a get together for your roll call? If yes, where was it held and at what time? Who will be the Hotel Director and Cruise Director on the Dec. 12 cruise? Thanks. Toni

Cabins with connecting doors are among the least desirable on any cruise ship. We would never book one.

Here's a link to the US website, which does have the terms and conditions. Pages of them.😉 https://www.azamara.com/refer-a-friend

Just curious. Did you know which cabins were available BEFORE you bid? Were you allowed to withdraw your bid when you were told which cabins were left and you didn't want any of them?

No.

I wonder what would happen if, instead of creating more complicated packages, Azamara fixed the existing product problems and restored travel agents' confidence in the brand.

Not helping others? If people know what is being offered in the marketplace, they will know what to look for. We know many Canadians who book with US travel agents.

I get 5-10% refundable OBC from my TA on every cruise. And she can see every available cabin on the ship.

If I'm interested in a particular cruise, I check a major online travel agency for a deck by deck diagram of all available cabins. I choose a few that would be acceptable and then call my travel agent. She has the same interactive listing I've seen and she confirms that I've made the best choice. (She doesn't work for the online TA whose site I check.) I've never heard of a TA not having access to a complete list of all available cabins. Perhaps you need a new TA.

The IT department is using $150 x 2 as a placeholder. They know the person has OBC but they haven't updated the account with correct information. The $300 total has NOTHING to do with your OBC amount.

So glad I could help. 😄😄😄 Have a great cruise.

After getting into my reservation by signing in, I am able to see both prices and descriptions for shore excursions when I click on the little pencil symbol. With only 3 months until your cruise, I would hope all that information is there. These day, you never know.

Best advice in the world. Travel agents are paid to give you good advice and solve problems when they occur. They have TA-only cruise line phone numbers that connect them with people who can make decisions and fix things. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the 5-10% refundable OBC.😄 The hard part is finding a great travel agent. Ask fellow passengers for recommendations.

Call Azamara and book your shore excursions with them. If you get someone who doesn't seem to know the system, just hang up and call back. Have everything confirmed by email. Of have them email you your Guest Ticket Booklet. The website is still a slog and counterintuitive in many areas. (Example: you do not find your booking under BOOKED GUESTS.)😡

If people booked non-refundable long haul business or first class flights, they will suffer major losses. Very unfortunate.

I want to let you all know how our OBC problems were resolved. I called my travel agent and she initiated a 3-way conversation with Azamara. It took a while, but all questions were answered, OBC amounts are now correct, and a $400 B2B credit was restored. I hated to bother my travel agent with stuff like this. Before the changeover it had NEVER been necessary. But I would never have gotten this resolved without my longtime TA. It's too bad that we can't recommend people like this here on this board.

The B2B OBC has disappeared from the updated invoice for our second cruise. When I called, I was told it would be put back. The new invoice shows nothing. I anticipate a good bit of time will be spent with the Guest Relations folks when we board. I expect we'll have lots of company.

I've never considered asking my TA to book shore excursions for me. Until today. I just got off the phone with Azamara. My online account said I had $800 OBC and had used $400. WE HAVE NO EXCURSIONS OR ANYTHING ELSE BOOKED ON THIS CRUISE. I supplied my reservation number, my name, my husband's name, the ship name and the sail date. Then I was asked for the name of the cruise. REALLY? This was my third call to Azamara today. I give up.

I'm all for value. But I've found that the money saved by booking a cruise close to the sailing date is frequently eaten up by the airfare increase close in.😟 Driving to the port is a nice option for some of us.

Ithikan, try sending a message to Host Jazzbeau. He can get this problem fixed. He fixed one for one of my previous cruises.

There are several online travel agency sites that will give you this information. As you probably know, naming any here is against the rules.

I checked a major online travel agency's prices on this cruise. There is a large number of unsold cabins. This site (which of course cannot be named) is offering V2 balcony cabins for $2,848 per person including taxes and fees. For a 17 day cruise, the per diem is $167 per person. This is MUCH lower than the Azamara website. If you can find a reasonable airfare to get to Rio and home from Lisbon, it's a great deal.