lexdisic

Update - On Journey now and recently had coffee presentation talk and they are currently using Lavazza medium roast from previously using Illy

5 minutes ago, uktog said:

I think I posted before I had a survey sometime ago, asking about the concept that Azamara might introduce of packaging together cruises aimed at people who still wanted to work while on the cruise.  This morning I have had an email outlining the concept in more  detail and offering bookings on some Cruises under the tag work and wonder.
 

To be honest at the time of the survey I was very dismissive of the idea and I continue to be so although I do work whilst on a cruise.
 

I’m not sure that paying extra to have a cruise with supposedly high bandwidth and the opportunity to network with others is what I want. It will be interesting to see if this concept is popular or whether it quietly disappears in due course. 

Do you know if they have upgraded the system generally to "High speed" or an extra for fee service

Depending where you are going - some countries are asking if you're fully vaccinated,  as stated on our upcoming cruise for visa purposes. What the consequences are if you're not, was not indicated on the application as we are vaccinated anyway. The UK covid pass NHS site, stated yesterday that they are no longer needed for most countries, but cover themselves with saying to check with the appropriate countries and the .GOV website. 

Nice to hear success stories about TA's - I am jealous, but lets not forget the reason for this thread - nothing to do with them - just sayin' 🙂

What threw me was the  - "When you arrive at the port with your documents in hand" - I was expecting something more than just my passport 🙂  This is what my TA said I should do -

Checking-in

6 minutes ago, Riocca said:

Does sound like you might have booked a travel agents package, in the U.K. it’s very difficult to spot unless you ask the right questions. 
Often travel agents will purchase cabins from cruise lines at net rates and package them with flights, hotels and transfers difference is that then the travel agent is the holiday provider not the cruise line. It’s OK and can provide a much cheaper option as long as the agent is ABTA & ATOL registered. We’ve been offered packages cheaper than we could book the cabin directly from the cruise line in the past, but they often don’t have the flexibility we often require. I’ve also known agents to blame everything on the various providers they’ve contracted with and refuse to take any responsibility when things go wrong.

 

Yes it was a package - we normally do our own flights/hotels etc but on this occasion we regretfully chose it due to price - it is a well known online provider and thought naively "what could go wrong" lol. The question is though - what can we arrive at the dock to check in with?

21 minutes ago, Rus Tee said:

By buying add ons from Azamara directly I was able to get booking confirmation's and other paperwork from Azamara that hasn't been available through my TA. Currently I have to say that dealing with Azamara is lot simpler than my TA. I suspect we will be swapping TA's for our next adventure!

Dependant who you speak to at azamara - I purchased add on's direct with Az and they said they can only forward invoice and receipt to the TA who would then forward them to me - still can't get them

36 minutes ago, uktog said:

I think if you buy onboard that makes a difference but if you just start the process with a TA you are less likely to see paperwork. 
From what you describe you’re not buying pre bundled packages though albeit you do by adding a hotel via the agent create a packaged holiday under the UK rules. 
@Host Jazzbeau it’s probably much simpler in the US though you have much more franchise owners rather than what we would call travel agents 

If I don't receive any paperwork from my TA (bought complete package -flights/hotel etc) can I just turn up with the booking ref and account screengrab from Az when I turn up for embarkation ? After numerous requests all the TA have sent me are e-mail links which are dead to the Az "checkin portal". I purchased add on's direct with Az and they said they can only forward invoice and receipt to the TA who would then forward them to me. 

3 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Don't UK passengers get a Booking Confirmation from Azamara?  All this website tsuris is merely a sideshow when you have an official Azamara document spelling out your deal.

 

Booked with TA - received nothing from them or Az - totally reliant on website

20 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Mine too – but I have the Booking Confirmation which spells out all the details of my booking promotion

I should be so lucky

 For the first time in 5 months my DW and me can see our reservations with purchases and OBC at the same time - things have come and gone so many times now that a screen grab is my only hope of keeping them.

We cruise in 3 weeks - it would be so nice for this to resolve itself so we can enjoy ourselves without being camped out at customer services  🙂

18 minutes ago, Mrs.Dukes said:

Just an FYI, just logged into my Azamara account, and my missing OBC has re-appeared.

Mine too - screen grab about to happen me thinks

3 hours ago, fernem said:

I haven’t been on Journey in a while but they used to have a Pilates reformer as well as mat Pilates classes for a fee. 

Thank you fernem - passed that onto DW - very helpful 

A strange enquiry from DW - What type of Pilates is practiced on board?

TIA

55 minutes ago, blag said:

Why dump your TA? Are you sure that he/she/they have failed you? Or, are there other reasons for dissatisfaction? 

I changed from my usual TA to this one as they had a good deal, but the service is very automated with outdated and wrong/contradictory information. Getting through to customer service there is a lot of jumping through hoops to speak to a human - you gets what you pay for so I will revert back to my original and pay a bit more.

3 hours ago, lexdisic said:

My whole cruise has disappeared on my account 😞

 

Good news that our cruise has now appeared on my account and remains on Dw's 

15 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

If it’s any consolation, I’m on a Viking cruise at the moment and my TA OBC is nowhere to be found.

My whole cruise has disappeared on my account 😞

3 hours ago, Riocca said:

Sounds more like you need a travel agent that’s more on the ball, the link they gave you hasn’t been used for about two years the correct email is AzamaraCustomerService@Azamara.com

If you book with a travel agent all communication will be sent to them so if Azamara have sent receipts then they will have gone to your travel agent as it will be their contact details on the booking.

I'm afraid you missed the point. I know what the TA has done and what they should have done - they were simply the last straw. My problem was the bit you didn't address and that was the account debacle that has been going on for months and the history of communication or lack thereof from Az. Any other product with this standard of service would not be tolerated. You maybe able to excuse it and put up with it, but I can't - far too much aggravation for me - same goes for the my current TA 🙂

Yesterday our OBC disappeared - again - today I have no cruise at all showing but the wife has for the first time on her account, but no OBC. My TA tells me to print out documents for our cruise and sends me a link to azamaraclubcruises.com which returns a cannot find ip address. Az told me receipts for packages and excursions I paid for will be emailed - they haven't and so it goes on.

No more Azamara - the onboard experience once on board (hopefully)  will be enough to put this debacle behind us. We said this on our last Az cruise when shoreside admin was beyond a joke - once bitten, twice shy, thrice?  never again. 

Rant over

44 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

It wasn’t Illy when I asked. I’d have remembered that, because I think it’s ok, and Lavazza isn’t bad either. It wasn’t a name that I’ve ever seen in an Italian bar. 

We've been Lavazza drinkers for some 15 years now since we visited La Spezia, Italy and have been hooked ever since - haven't found a decent MDR or filter coffee on any ship, even hotel.

19 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

I’m a coffee enthusiast (kind euphemism for horrible coffee snob 😄) and I asked to see one of the coffee bags earlier this year. It was not a brand I recognised or remember, unfortunately. It had a best before date more than 12 months in the future, and they load it on by the pallet. FWIW, it was 100% Arabica. In the hands of a good barista, it can be very nice. In the hands of someone just learning, it was pretty bad! 

Thanks - I had been trawling for an answer for sometime and can now see how I failed in my quest. 

Can anyone shed light on the brand of coffee used in Mosaic (not Nespresso) in 2023 ? 

TIA

Adrian

22 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

As I posted earlier, I rang the UK Weybridge number a while ago and booked a number of excursions for our Feb 24 cruise. Although I have lots of OBC (some from the booking promotion and some from the Experience More package we bought through our TA) I was told that none of it could, as yet, be applied to the excursions, but that I didn’t need to pay upfront for them as the excursions would stay on the booking until the OBC could be applied.  I went into my account today and found that the amount owing had reduced by an amount equal to the promotions OBC, so clearly this has been applied to the excursions automatically as soon as it was available to do so.

It seems that something is working properly!

On the advice of my TA, I rang Weybridge the other day and booked the experience more package (Nov 20 cruise), and was told after being put on hold for 10mins, that the OBC the package gives towards excursions, can only be used once onboard and the booking OBC I already had could only be used for excursions 30 days before departure.

Another case of depends who you talk to. 

I paid for the package with a CC but it is still showing "to pay" on my account  - I wonder if my package will come out of the OBC as well. 

50 minutes ago, moonglum said:

Booked two shore excursions for Pursuit cruise out of Cape Town in February when I was on the Azamarta site.  Paid for these the same day but I am seeing a still to pay message when I go into my reservation online.

 

I rang direct to book and pay for a  package  and it still shows to pay on the reservations. I was told they would confirm by email and with my TA and needless to say, neither has happened. I feel a copy of my credit card statement being printed off as proof is being produced at boarding.

1 hour ago, Grandma Cruising said:

UK (Weybridge) number is 020 8159 9960.

Its on the website under Contact Us on the menu at the very bottom of the website

Thank you - II will give them a go - just need them to confirm obc  - the rest can wait

2 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Try ringing them - the girl I spoke to could see my & my husbands level and was happy to email me a screenshot.

What number do you ring please