Xport

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1917905

At the time, another Member said that my statement was untrue and you indicated that it had not been your experience...

Can't explain it... But it does happen...

Regarding the new point levels, the system was set up so that in the majority of cases you will move into the same level as your current level. We are seeing from your comments that there may be some issues with this on the calculations as the point system has been converted. We will need to do some research on these cases and get back to you with an update. From past test and current point conversions we so far have not had any issues documented. Because of the upcoming New Year's holiday it will take some time to respond, but we will hopefully get back to you by end of this week or early next week. Thanks for your patience!

If Azamara is using the Celebrity loyalty accounting system without alteration--as you have twice asserted on this thread--the threshold for assignment to Elite membership [ostensibly comparable to Azamara Discoverer status] will not necessarily yield testing errors...

Cruise Critic Member "2fromTO"--see post #38, dated 29 December, above--very articulately describes a potential disconnect...

Celebrity's uppermost limit for Select [Azamara Explorer] membership is 299 Cruise Points with Elite membership starting at 300 Cruise Points... Azamara has twice posted--you and Bill have both done so--that the uppermost limit for Explorer status is 309 points with Discover status starting at 310 points...

If Azamara's intent is to replicate membership levels in Le Club Voyage on the same Cruise Points basis as Celebrity--so as to require no system modification and remain parallel--there is a ten point discrepancy in what has been published...

If that difference is unintentional--perhaps caused by a typo in what has been published here versus the testing standards that are being used [goodness knows what might have been used for the upcoming personalized communication]--it seems entirely possible that no testing errors would be detected... And if that's all it is, a correcting post to this thread will remedy the situation--at least for Cruise Critic members--and perhaps negate the need for further system validation...

If the difference is instead intentional--so as to have required systems customization--it would seem that one could forego reinvention of the testing wheel by inviting "2fromTO" to contact you--perhaps via e-mail--with his/her identity/LCV membership # so as to help pinpoint the circumstances that prompted his/her observation...

My thoughts are intended to be constructive... Hope they help...

--Mike

Hi Joel. Thanks for posting an update, but to be honest I read it as a lot of words that didn't really seem to answer any of the questions, certainly mine. It's also left me a bit confused with reference to staying in the same category as we are now in most cases. I was Discoverer, but under the new points system appears I will be Discoverer Plus and am guessing from reading through your posts that this will be confirmed in January. What I was getting at is the reference to no additional benefits within the to new levels until the second quarter of 2014 which seems odd to me. I'm taking it that 2nd quarter will mean some time between March and June. I'm taking three cruises in April/May hence my interest in this last point!

Only my upcoming 42 nights on Journey happen to run from early February through mid-March...

While I too am appreciative of the update, I remain flabbergasted that Azamara apparently thinks it's okay to have implemented the new Club Points accrual system while deferring implementation of improved benefits for those who have already earned assignment into one of the new membership tiers until some undefined future date during Second Quarter... For those of us caught in the cusp, it certainly does take the buzz off having learned of our new status via the early previews of the LCV changes here by Bill [easily anticipated after the Captain's Club announcement; cruisers loyal to Celebrity/Azamara have long known of the ties between the two in terms of loyalty accounting systems, could easily predict that Azamara and Celebrity have more emergent needs competing for systems development funding, and those facts came as no surprise to Azamara leadership either] only to find out that Azamara has yet to define what those new loyalty levels mean and apparently assigns no urgency to doing so... By doing things as announced, it's a win/win financially to Azamara--though I can't imagine that the financial impact is material when measured against guest goodwill-- and shows disregard for those with the highest levels of proven loyalty to the Celebrity and Azamara brands... Gee; thanks!

A few other things are true...

Information systems are intended to support management goals and not to serve as an impediment or subterfuge to doing the right thing... Celebrity apparently made system adjustments--via award of extra Cruise Points--for those who would be further away from achieving Elite status under new Club rules... Similarly, if Azamara subscribes to the suggestion--as some have posted here--that, for instance, a night in an Azamara verandah stateroom should be valued higher for loyalty purposes than a night in a Celebrity verandah from a cost perspective, one could easily program that--behind the scenes and without changing the cabin categories used publicly--to recognize an Azamara verandah stateroom as a Celebrity Aquaclass or Concierge Class stateroom for loyalty purposes; it's not an expensive fix... And finally, Azamara could--if it chose to do so, it would probably take no more than a fairly brief and simple spreadsheet and a bit of manual intervention [surely a protocol exists for account corrections]--provide additional Cruise Points, calculated via the Celebrity conversion formula of 30 new Cruise Points per former Cruise Credit--to those who have attained a higher level of LCV membership status before Azamara is prepared to provide the yet undefined benefit improvements associated with those new membership tiers...

The recent Captain's Club changes have been rumored for years and have been a virtual certainty for months... I--and I'm sure others--was made aware of their impending implementation [it actually occurred later than some initially expected] by a variety of managers/officers--without details--during multiple sailings on Celebrity between March and July 2013... Surely Azamara leadership could not have been caught off-guard and, as such, the lack of preparedness--now interestingly portrayed as a need to assert a unique operational identification for Azamara/Le Club Voyage--suggests instead, from a guest perspective, a lack of managerial priority... That's quite a statement...

It is said that "where there's a will; there's a way"... Sadly, the "will" seems to have been lacking to do things in a cohesive, concurrent, timely manner with excellent, candid communication [i don't envy your job, Joel, and do appreciate your efforts]... Guests don't have to like every aspect of what unfolds and, once again--I do not personally deny Azamara the right to make changes; I understand/respect the need for them--but it strikes me that Azamara has missed the proverbial boat in rolling this out... It could have been flawlessly/logically executed from a guest perspective and could have garnered guest respect for a job well done regardless of message...

--Mike

In order of preference:

 

HAL

Princess

Celebrity

Your cruise history suggests that you haven't sailed Celebrity yet! I don't understand how one can rank the three cruise lines under discussion here on that basis...

As for the changes in Le Club Voyage, I can provide you with the following update: As you are all very familiar with the RCCL family of cruise lines, many of you realize that we (Azamara Club Cruises) are tied to Celebrity's Captain's Club program and their loyalty tier structure, so some changes have taken place as to how your records are being calculated. As some of the members on this thread has indicated, we have therefore also re-structured the loyalty program to the points by day system rather than the credits by voyage. We are in the process of creating the communication to all club members as we speak, and it will be arriving in your email inboxes in mid-January. That email will tell you what level you are in the new hierarchy, as well as how many points you will have in the new program. If you are sailing between now and the time you receive that email, the ships staff will have the new information.

 

In the meantime, below is a summary of the changes that have been made:

 

Stateroom Category — Points per Day

Club Interior & Club Oceanview — 2

Club Veranda — 3

Club Continent Suites — 8

Club Ocean and Club World Owner Suites — 18

 

 

Membership Level — Points Needed

Adventurer (after 1st voyage) — Up to 149

Explorer — 150 – 309

Discoverer — 310 – 749

Discoverer Plus — 750 – 2,999

Discoverer Platinum — 3,000 Plus

 

At this point, the benefits of the program - including the reciprocity between Royal and Celebrity - will stay the same for Le Club Voyage. The 3 Discoverer tiers in terms of benefits will continue to be handled as the current Discoverer level. However, we are working on changes to the benefits, we are currently planning to launch these in the 2nd quarter of 2014 - around Azamara Club Cruises 4th anniversary.

But in all candor, it does not appear as if the changes to Le Club Voyage as outlined above--and though I might wish some of the details were different, I do not dispute Azamara's right to make them--are equitable to those of us who are sailing during the first quarter of 2014 after having already achieved a higher level of membership...

By having already adopted the Club Points/Day--based upon level of accommodation--rather than Cruise Credits/Sailing technique for recognizing loyalty, I will--on a 42 night B2B2B voyage in a verandah cabin--wind up with 54 fewer club points than if the 6 cruise credits that would have been awarded under the old system had been converted--as Celebrity did; including past Azamara cruise history--at 30 points per cruise credit...

In and of itself, I was prepared for that after having watched the Celebrity conversion and after having read Bill's preview here of the changes coming for Club Points accrual in Le Club Voyage... What I wasn't prepared for is the fact that improved loyalty benefits associated with new levels of membership--in my case, Discover +--will not be rolled out until Second Quarter 2014... The changes in recognizing loyalty--both in terms of how it's determined and in how it's rewarded--ought, to my mind, be introduced coextensively...

The disconnect--albeit conceptual since we don't know what the benefits at new loyalty levels will be--astounds me... I lose Points that are roughly equivalent to those I'd earn during an 11 night cruise in Celebrity AquaClass--by far, my most frequent choice of accommodation during my sailing history--while gaining no additional benefits during my upcoming trips aboard Journey that I'd not previously enjoyed as an Azamara Discoverer in the past...

It's difficult to understand how such practices engender loyalty... And frankly, it's more difficult to understand how Azamara could not be fully ready for the conversion given that the Captain's Club changes, though announced just over a month ago, have been years in the making and the tie in loyalty accounting between lines has existed for years...

Very disappointing, very ill-conceived, not at all in keeping with the image that Azamara seemingly--but sometimes, very clumsily--wishes to convey, and just not ready for primetime...

It's difficult not to evaluate situations such as this through one's own prism... I apologize for that, but surely, I'm not the only one in like situation and my scenario demonstrates a bigger issue that should've been--and can still be-- avoided...

--Mike

We also booked that cruise and trying for days to book that excursion as well as 3 others, it takes the reservation but never shows up on our account as booked.

But ship-sponsored excursions are not in any way reserved until paid for via credit card if booked online or until posted to your onboard account if booked once aboard ship... Given their need to make commitments to subcontracted tour operators [who in turn garner guides and commit to transportation resources in advance], Celebrity does not maintain lists of guests who express potential advance interest in a tour for payment later... Both the cruise line and their subcontracted tour operators are in the game to make a profit and plan accordingly...

Cancellation terms are quite liberal with full refund generally granted if you were to cancel at least 2 days/48 hours prior to tour commencement; I say "generally" as the refund terms can be more restrictive if the tour is scheduled to occur less than 2 days/48 hours after the ship's initial sail-away and you wait to cancel until aboard ship... Tours cancelled online before ship embarkation will be refunded to the credit card used to purchase the tour; tours cancelled after ship embarkation are--whether initially purchased by credit card or once aboard ship--refunded to your onboard account [unlike most Onboard Credit, unused amounts--if any--are refundable to the credit card associated with your onboard account at cruise conclusion (charges are applied to non-refundable Onboard Credit first; charges in excess of that non-refundable Onboard Credit are then applied to any refundable Onboard Credit you may have)]...

It's difficult to assess whether or not a tour in which you are interested will have space available for booking once you are aboard; Celebrity often--but not always--holds back some space from the online booking process for onboard sales [if you choose to do that; get to Shore Ex as soon as you board but recognize that you may still be disappointed (X does maintain wait lists once aboard); some tours are fully subscribed pre-cruise]... In highly evolved tourism markets with lots of available resources of every required type, it's often easy enough--depending upon how many other tourists/ships are in a port town when you visit--for Celebrity/their tour partners to adjust capacity to meet demand... In some places, that's just not possible...

If the tours you are considering are ones that you view as essential to your travel experience [and especially if there aren't a whole lot of tour offerings at a given port; fewer offerings create competition for space], I'd personally be inclined--your mileage may vary--to bite the bullet and reserve/pay online in advance...

Regarding conversion, my previous Azamara cruises were shown as tier credits on the old Captains Club program. Each of the old tier credits were converted to 30 new points in the new program.

Is the same as I noted above and as cited by Andy in terms of conversion of Azamara Cruise Credits to Cruise Points... As such, I'd think it fact...

Interesting. Do you know how they will convert our existing cruises?

Converted Azamara cruises in the same way that they converted Celebrity cruises [30 new Cruise Points per old Cruise Credit]...

Per my post above, it appears as though Le Club Voyage and Captain's Club will continue to track together...

Celebrity's Captain's Club has been 'revamped', and a mid-month announcement re: the changes to Azamara's version was promised. So far, nothing. I don't mind, but would love to know whether the current 'reciprocity' will remain or whether Le Club Voyage will be spun off as a separate entity as has often been talked about.

Already addresses the issue of reciprocity between Azamara's Le Club Voyage [including allusion to the two new levels of membership for which benefits have not yet been defined], Celebrity's Captain's Club [as revised last month], and Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society...

You wil find full details--defined when Celebrity changed its program a month ago on 25 November--via the following web link...

http://www.celebritycruises.com/captainsclub/membershipBenefits.do?pagename=cc_benefits&cS=SIDENAV

Upon reaching the web page, click on the link at the bottom right corner entitled "Captain's Club Terms & Conditions" [and tab down]...

It would appear that reciprocity as we have known it--redefined to consider two new membership levels within Le Club Voyage and Captain's Club--and cross accumulation of Cruise Points between Azamara and Celebrity is alive and well... Further, it appears as though the different relationship between both lines/their loyalty programs remain unchanged from past practice relative to Royal Caribbean/Crown & Anchor [no cross accumulation of Cruise Points and static reciprocity level]...

Not that I'm expecting anything special, but I am curious about the Le Voyage Club gifts "sent to your home" after the cruise.

There was an extensive thread covering Azamara's gift policy that appeared here several months ago... Following is the link...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1893227

Note that gifts are sent under very specific circumstances and, if you are sailing Azamara with status in Le Club Voyage based upon reciprocity with Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society and/or Celebrity's Captain's Club, there is good chance that nothing will be sent unless your Azamara sailing causes you to achieve a new level of participation in Captain's Club [credits/points cross accumulate between Azamara and Celebrity; they do not cross accumulate between Azamara/Celebrity and Royal Caribbean]... Even the gift associated with completion of a first Azamara cruise is not sent if you've sailed within the family of brands before...

Don't want to burst your bubble but wise in my opinion--I seem to recall your allusions to having C&A and Captain's Club status on the other boards--to curb your expectation...

--Mike

Has never been a benefit associated with having attained Elite status in Captain's Club and, even with the recent changes, is still not a benefit at Elite level... Those who now have Elite + status do get a specialty dining discount and those who now have Zenith status do--I believe--get some sort of complimentary specialty dining consideration...

Complimentary specialty dining has been offered to those sailing in suites [with the level of benefit varying--I believe--by level of suite and/or length of sailing]... You may want to check out the specifics appropriate to you at Celebrity's website...

Could anyone share their experience with obtaining Visas for India, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Philippines, or even any other port where Celebrity stops and visas are required?

But Azamara has an account with CIBT Visa Central that is available for guest use... Best I can tell, guests who use the Azamara account access Visa Central Reps--via a dedicated phone line--who are very familiar with Azamara's itineraries [for instance, they confirmed--as Azamara has consistently represented--that I'll be able to get my visa for Vietnam while aboard Journey]... If interested, Azamara guests receive a discount on Visa Central's concierge services [essentially guests complete a questionnaire and they complete the applications for your review/signature; I didn't avail myself of it though I did use Visa Central in securing my visa for China or for a pre-cruise land tour to Cambodia]...

I was very impressed by the knowledge, helpfulness, and professionalism of the Visa Central staff and--though the applications took some time [the one for China is four typed pages long and requires meticulous, extensive documentation]--I had both visas, one processed in Houston and the other in Washington, and my passport back within two weeks [inclusive of the two day US Thanksgiving holiday] of submittal...

Their website--seemingly they have a Canadian version and operation too, Arno--is a treasure trove of thorough/up-to-date information [China changed its application in August; an update was available online virtually immediately]... One need not have an account affiliation--such as the one I had access to through Azamara--to use their website or services...

I would use them again--no, I'm not affiliated with them--without hesitation... They reviewed my applications and documentation for accuracy/completeness before sending them off to the Consulates so as to avoid problems during processing... And they did an outstanding job of orchestrating multiple transactions seamlessly... All in all, it was far less painful a process--but it did require a good bit of my time upfront--than I had anticipated...

Hope this helps...

Can anyone tell me where the 2014 June 14 Journey will leave from? And what time of day shall we be prepared to embark? I ask because we are trying to plan our time in Hamburg. Thank you!

They post information relative to all of their embarkation ports--including Hamburg--here...

http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/plan-your-voyage/after-booking/helpful-information/directions-embarkation-ports

When you do Online Check-In for your cruise, you will be provided with a suggested boarding time... That said, it's generally during the afternoon of embarkation day and--if the ship is not overnighting at Hamburg as part of your itinerary--several hours prior to sail-away...

Following is a link to the Roll Call for your cruise... That's the thread at which you can "meet" your cruise mates [same ship/same dates] prior to sailing...

Suggest that you stop by, read through postings of others who will be sailing with you [your question may have already been answered!], introduce yourself, and repost your cruise-specific inquiry...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1647575

You're far more likely to get a response there than you are on this forum... This area addresses more general questions and offers comment/advice about the Celebrity brand and it's practices/policies on a fleet-wide basis...

Enjoy your trip!

-----

Sorry to repeat the good advice that you got from Keith above; got interrupted while responding to you...

Agree, that's why I wanted to see my sailing history.

Unfortunately when I log into MY CELEBRITY/Captain's club. I can see my points (286), but no sailing history. I can not find the link to view sailing history (as I have see in the past). I was wondering if someone could tell me where that link is now hidden.

There is a Captain's Club link on the home page of Celebrity's website and, if you place the cursor over that heading, there is a drop-down list that includes your "Sailing History"... Click on that; you'll find your detailed history there...

Keep in mind that a VERY large number of people have the priority tender tickets. Everyone in a suite, Aqua class and Concierge cabin get priority tickets in addition to all the Elites (and higher now). On Millennium class ships there are two decks of Aqua class and Concierge cabins. That is a large percentage of the ship (at least 25%). On the Century two of the three balcony decks are Concierge cabins.

Guests booked in AquaClass and Concierge Class do not receive priority tendering during port calls by virtue of their accommodation... They do get priority embarkation--via separate check-in line; sometimes helpful, sometimes not--at cruise start and priority disembarkation--via a dedicated departure lounge; sometimes helpful, sometimes not--at cruise conclusion...

Guests booked in all levels of accommodation--including AquaClass and Concierge Class--who have Elite status or higher [the website has been corrected/is now clear] in Captain's Club do receive priority tendering during intermediate port calls by virtue of their loyalty status, not their stateroom level...

Suite guests--regardless of Captain's Club membership/level--are provided with priority tendering...

Believe that it originated in Rome... Per the Port Everglades ship schedule, Silhouette is in route from Tenerife...

Full immigration checks for crew and a variety of federal inspections are routine--with associated boarding delays for the subsequent cruise--when a ship first returns to the US after months outside the country...

We have two adjacent veranda cabins. What is the criteria for having them opened? Would I be great if they could.

Millennium and Constellation--as well as Infinity and Summit--are all of the same design and, unless you have two of the three adjacent cabins in the series described above by Happy Cruiser 6143 , I would not expect that the verandah partitions will be available for opening...

When you dload the brochure, I'm pretty sure it says that the prices contained are with the 25% discount already applied, so it should be the same price you see when you book online.

One sees the undiscounted shore excursion price on the tours summary page [the listing of tour offerings by port] and sees the discounted price upon drilling down to a tour's more detailed description and getting to the section one uses to initiate on-line booking of that tour...

When Journey visits Kobe on 10 March, Azamara is offering an excursion--Kobe Beef Dinner Tour--that has been listed on the website for months but which has never offered a discount for early booking...

The cost is a whopping $540/person :eek: so, even if it were offered at 25% discount, I wouldn't be remotely interested [and can't imagine that there are many--if any--who might be]... A search of Kobe's top-rated restaurants and an online review of their menus suggest that dinners of the same [or essentially the same] content--without transportation [there really is no tour associated with Azamara's offering regardless of how they've titled it]--would, at most, carry a price tag of ~ $150-$175 per person...

When one looks at that tour at Azamara's website, there is a notation--highlighted in red--that says...

"Please note that the prices shown in the box above are full fare. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to view the reduced rate you will pay if applicable. If savings are not offered on the tour of your choice, all pricing on this page will be the same."

I don't recall [perhaps I missed it] that the Shore Excursion Discount promotion--as originally offered well before the 3 January booking deadline was added--ever indicated that some tours would not be subject to the discount... But clearly, the circuitous language cited above seems to suggest that Shore Ex planners think so; this is no oversight...

When first noted, I thought that the practice was somewhat disingenuous but knew that, at any likely Azamara price, it was not something I'd be willing to do and chose to let the matter go without question... But it's one thing to forego a dinner and another to pass on a tour that one really wants to do; hope this resolves to your satisfaction...

But you can also use the Advanced Search function--via the Search link at the top of each page--and enter the screen name of the member whose posts you wish to follow...

All ships have them except for Century...

Xpedition, the ship Celebrity uses in the Galapagos, doesn't have a covered solarium either...

What do you receive on a Holiday cruise that you don't receive the week before. Holiday are about twice the price.

It comes down to the ability to sail when business slows [lots of people using up vacation], schools are on holiday, and demand is high...

The little things that they may/may not do--like a festive dinner or a bit of holiday celebrating [ie; for kids at Christmas, for adults on New Year's Eve]--don't, in my opinion, come close to justifying the cost differential...

My TA is going to call Azamara tomorrow to find out why my reservation is locked and I can't book excursions. I did get my invoice and TA says the reservation is confirmed and good so my excellent price of $1,899 per person for deck 4 category 5 ocean view is valid.:D

The Azamara website is undergoing improvements [hopefully!] and the Manage My Reservation function--the typical means for booking tours--hasn't been operational in the US for a month or so now...

One can, however, view and book excursions via the Online Check-In screens that can be accessed via My Azamara... You need not complete check-in to do so and the functionality is essentially identical--you just access it differently--to what you're accustomed to with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity...

Of course, it is also possible that you cannot yet access your booking online if your reservation is extremely new and/or you have purchased your cruise from a block of staterooms in control of your Travel Agent and he/she has not yet notified Azamara...

Suggest you first give the Online Check-In route a try...

Are--at least in the US--typically reserved in the same manner that shore excursions are booked... Have you looked at the ship-sponsored tours that are posted for the date on which you expect that your AzAmazing Evening will occur? If posted, a review of that description will give you a good clue as to whether you need to formally book or not [i suspect--but do not know--that you will; in essence, it's an RSVP to Azamara for their planning purposes]...

At the present time [and again, in the US], Shore Excursion bookings cannot be accomplished via the "My Azamara/Manage My Reservation" route but are available via the "My Azamara/Check In" route [though you needn't finalize check-in to book tours].