Riocca

You are probably looking at the most confusing time as Azamara untangles its IT system from Royal Caribbean, the cut off date for points earned on Celebrity and Azamara counting on both was the 1st February 2023. But as you have completed an Azamara cruise we’ll before that date your current points will be saved with Azamara giving you Discover status, equivalent to Elite on Celebrity. Azamara’s current live website is still the old Royal Caribbean administered one but that is due to shutdown on the 16th March with Azamara’s own new website going live on the 20th March if things go to plan. Probably best to take a print of your cruise history from either the Azamara or Celebrity website as a precaution and then waiting for the new system to go live and seeing where you stand. Your loyalty number with Azamara will stay exactly the same as your Celebrity number as it is now but you will need to create a new login on the new system. If you then need to query anything with Azamara I would leave it a couple of weeks as I’m sure there are going to be a few issues to deal with once the new system is live. Hopefully I haven’t confused you even more, but we’re all having to work out how things are going to go with the new system.

I’m pretty sure the points shown on the Azamara page are just a mirror of the Celebrity page given the way RC seem to write their software, so post the cut off date I would disregard anything you see on the current version.

I understand your angst but having experience of these IT migrations it would be better, post the cut off date, to add points to the new system which you can’t see than the old one that you. Remember the current website is Royal Caribbean’s and they won’t want Azamara points added to their system as they would have to remove them afterwards because of the link to Celebrity. Same as Celebrity points added to the current system can be seen on Azamara no doubt these won’t be showing on Azamara’s new system. Might be best to consider the old system dead as I’m pretty sure the new system is running in the background during the migration, hopefully all will go smoothly but unfortunately there’s bound to be some problems to resolve afterwards.

We enjoy Pinotage it’s sweet or oaky wines we find unpalatable, we tried one of the currently trendy “jammy” reds 🤢 threw the remainder of the bottle away.

Phew! You had me worried for a minute saying Miami as we’ve booked everything around Fort Lauderdale, we only received the notification saying it’s a 10 day cruise although I will admit I didn’t actually notice it, probably because I already knew about the change from the roll call. Over the years we’ve been astounded by the lack of attention to detail in communications from all cruise lines.

Can’t remember which hotel chain but it wasn’t the Copacabana Palace, it was in the days of Richard Twynam and only found out the details afterwards as the hotel claimed no knowledge of anything and the local agent disappeared very quickly.

We had mega problems with the port handling agent disembarking in 2014, we had Azamara flights & transfers including a day room in a hotel on Copacabana Beach. First we were taken miles away and dumped in a hotel with a communal room that RC used for check in, we got Azamara customer service involved and the agent then told us that there were no coaches available to take us to the right hotel. Azamara arranged taxis and when we arrived at the right hotel they had the booking but were surprised to see us, long story but they’d bribed the agent to take us to a sister hotel so they could double book our rooms. Not long after Azamara pulled out from South American cruises because of the corruption and difficulty dealing with local ports, from reports of Pursuit’s season there it doesn’t sound to have improved. We are doing the same trans Atlantic on Quest next year and will be more prepared this time.

Just received the following email relating to our upcoming 25th March cruise, I assume that we can expect a few weeks disruption while they migrate information to the new system. March 8, 2023 Dear Azamara Guest, Azamara will undergo an IT systems migration starting on March 16, 2023, and we do not expect the migration to be completed before your cruise begins. Therefore, the last day you will be able to pre-book or cancel Shore Excursions before your upcoming cruise will be March 15th. Any Shore Excursions booked pre-cruise before the IT migration will remain booked. In addition, you will still be able to book and cancel Shore Excursions while onboard your cruise. Thank you for your patience as we implement our systems upgrade. We look forward to welcoming you onboard. Sincerely, AZAMARA®

One of the better articles I have seen, lots of information with any embellishment, only misinformation was that Onward was Pacific Princess not Ocean Princess. Also didn’t continually use the word luxury as others have done, description was instead boutique which is much more accurate.

I can only suppose that with their customer service being in transition and difficult to contact at times they are reliant on travel agents to take the burden. This gives the travel agents the upper hand and no doubt that despite what Azamara says the agents will say anything to get bookings, especially as Azamara have been running some attractive promotions for travel agents.

Quite possible, but also a couple of big online U.K. travel agents had some very large trade bookings on some repositioning cruises, Quest in particular. These were packaged with flights and pre and post cruise stays that were not without their own problems, as usual many passengers were led to believe that Azamara were responsible for things the travel agents had booked. Now independent of RC I fear that some of our less scrupulous travel agents might take advantage of Azamara’s desire to grow passenger numbers. A few years ago we experienced an Azamara cruise that RC dumped on the U.K. market using a travel agent they owned at the time. With 80% U.K. passengers most having bought the deal with no idea what to expect and had been given flights that were far from acceptable the experience was not the usual Azamara one. If it was someone’s first experience of Azamara then they probably would give low scores on a survey.

Unfortunately the survey is of such a small sample size it would only take the odd person to adversely affect the results.

Over the 20 years we’ve been cruising we’ve been on 16 different ocean cruise lines so we have been able to hone our likes and dislikes and know our tastes have changed significantly over that time. We used to enjoy formal nights and production shows but now prefer a more relaxed low key style however sometimes it’s the cruise lines have changed. In the early days P&O was our go to line but post Carnival it’s become too family focused with ships that are way too big for our liking. We enjoyed Celebrity for a short while until they became millennial focused with music everywhere. All cruise lines provide something different so people should do their research to see if it provides what they like. If I booked MSC thinking it would be like Azamara when I am disappointed is it MSC’s fault or mine for booking the wrong cruise line? Mine of course so it would be unfair to criticise them for my mistake, but these days that’s part of the problem people won’t acknowledge their own mistake and want the cruise lines to change to their requirements. We’ve been on a few cruises that haven’t lived up to our expectations but realised we were as much to blame for choosing the wrong cruise line. Wouldn’t dream of leaving bad reviews as we know that lots of others enjoy what they offer it’s just not for us so we just wouldn’t book again.

This is the t&c’s for the free nights program from the U.K. website but I’m sure it applies to all markets, free nights are combinable with the onboard booking program (we have booked this way with free nights twice) and Refer & Receive. Earned Complimentary Nights: Complimentary nights have no cash value, are not redeemable for cash, cannot be transferred to other bookings or other members’ loyalty account and must be booked within one year after date earned on a new reservation. Complimentary nights can only be redeemed on sailings 7-nights or longer. Complimentary nights cannot be used with Cruisetours. Guests are responsible for paying pro-rated amount of prevailing cruise fare rate at the time of booking (calculated as the per night price of the cruise times the numbers of nights not covered by the certificate), as well as full taxes, fees & port expenses for total duration of the cruise. Complimentary Nights can only be combined with the Azamara Circle Onboard Booking Program, Back to Back Offer, and the Azamara Circle Refer & Receive Future Cruise Credit. Complimentary nights cannot be combined with any other program, promotion, Restricted Rates, Contracted Groups or Incentive Groups. Complimentary nights earned when reaching different levels cannot be redeemed together. A balance of any unused complimentary nights can be redeemed only by Discoverer Platinum members who book 7-9-night voyages within one year of when the complimentary night(s) was awarded. Stateroom category will be based on category guest most frequently purchased on Azamara.

Wow I hadn’t noticed that, in fact the total survey responses represents less than 0.1% of the passengers who sailed from Southampton alone. Hardly fair on any company to publish a survey with such a small sample size.

Can’t say I would agree with you about Viking, admittedly we’ve only done one cruise with them in 2019 but it was a complete shambles. Starting with embarkation when they notified all passengers of the wrong docking location, service was poor and food mainly cold, problem was possibly launching so many ships too quickly and staff were poorly trained things no doubt have improved but a poor first impression. Agree that Azamara suffers from the impression it’s a luxury line probably promoted more by travel agents than the cruise line. Azamara reminds us of P&O U.K. pre Carnival but without the formal element offering a premium not luxury product.

We did a similar itinerary last October and the good news is that Azamara will be docked in Nice so it’s easy to walk into town. With regards to Monaco it’s dependent on the local authorities but no doubt you will be able to come and go once formalities are completed. Bad news unless you have cruised with Azamara before 1st February 2023 you won’t keep your Celebrity status, currently the Azamara website is still administered by Royal Caribbean but Azamara’s own website is due to go live on the 20th March.

There are U.S. 110v and 220v European sockets on all the ships and USB sockets in the bottom of the bedside lights. However Onward also has a U.K. socket again voltage will be 220v.

In addition to uktog’s answer, booking onboard you will also get $200 onboard credit for the cruise you book which is increased to $300 if you book in the first half of the cruise.

I’ve found a few general photos of last year’s AzAmazing Day in Portovenere, according to someone who was there special food and drinks stations were set up and music was provided. Personally I wouldn’t mind this as an alternative to the evening’s, some of which seem a little rushed.

All 4 ships are scheduled to be together in Koper again on the 5th October 2023, we will be on Onward and originally the AzAmazing event was with all 4 ships. Recently we received notification this has been cancelled and replaced with an AzAmazing Evening at Revelin Fortress in Dubrovnik. Koper had originally been the venue for 3 ships meeting with an evening event in October 2020 which obviously didn’t happen, possibly it was decided either by Azamara or local authorities that the additional passengers from an extra ship made this impossible. Viking Sea is scheduled for the same day this also may have had some bearing on the cancellation of the event.

OP does say 3 segments so presumably b2b2b and that would then make the end port Venice.

In the U.K. Choice Air isn’t offered but this is from the Azamara website announcing its new systems for trade partners which gives an indication that air offerings will be taken in house once the new system is live. New Versonix Seaware Touch Booking Platform Seamlessly accessible through Azamara Connect, the all-new booking engine with easily accessible features and functionality for travel partners to book across channels over one integrated platform with a 360° view of everything. Travel partners can book FIT, plus back-to-back and combo voyages, including cruise, air, shore excursions, onboard packages, and more.

The following email went out to loyalty members on the 30th August to loyalty members: In an ideal world anyone booking after that date should have been made aware of this but as has already been established the current website is unable to break the link between Celebrity and Azamara loyalty points.

This information was put on Azamara’s website on the 30th August 2022, I can also remember CC posts about it at the time: Currently, Azamara Circle and Captain’s Club members earn points cumulatively in both programs. After the sale of Azamara to private equity firm Sycamore Partners, we announced that loyalty members who sail on Azamara or Celebrity, continue having reciprocity and earn cumulative loyalty points until February 1, 2023. After February 1, 2023, Azamara Circle Members will no longer earn cumulative points and have reciprocity with Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International. Although this may take some getting used to, this is great news for all of us. Having our own independent systems allows us to implement loyalty program suggestions and improve pre- and post-cruise guest experiences more effectively. We thank you for your patience as we work through details. We will continue to keep you up to date with more updates and reminders in the coming months. In the meantime, please see the frequently asked questions below. I would also say that the current website is administered by Royal Caribbean not Azamara and I doubt if a company they’ve sold is high on their priority list. What the future holds with Azamara’s IT remains to be seen but the company that’s been brought in to provide IT, Versonix Seaware have a lot of experience with the cruise industry providing services to NCL, Windstar, Virgin, Disney, MSC and many others. We have no experience with any of these cruise lines, maybe others who have will be able to provide some feedback.