PirateWife

We are on a cruise in September that finishes in Lisbon but arrives that morning. We are going to keep our luggage with us. We have high hopes of making our 11:05 am flight.

5 hours ago, uktog said:

The other person who can help is the Cruise Director as its an "entertainment" issue

Never thought of that. The CD was the one staff member that was out and about.

They tried to turn the music down, but it was being controlled somewhere else on the ship. I believed them because it was so loud, we couldn't hear what the wait staff was saying. I didn't complain to Guest Relations. I had already been to Guest Relations about another issue. This was the Journey in January when there were issues. Never saw the Hotel Director. Rarely saw any staff. Service in Windows was almost non-existent. A lot of the waiters just walked around with trays--looked busy but weren't. It was a very different experience from previous Azamara cruises.

What I don't enjoy is loud canned music for breakfast. On our last cruise on Journey, it was blasting out on the Sunset bar area and there was no way for the staff to turn it down. 

Not seeing anything that interests me in the new itineraries. I have done the Carribean enough times.

20 minutes ago, Dynacruiser said:

When my room is not clean (it happens), I personally prefer to complain directly to the cleaning person.  Their jobs are hard enough and I feel they could get in trouble if I talk to the hotel director.    

 

But I hope Azamara is a good employer and uses negative feedback from guests to better train their employees, rather than punish them.

If I could have found her, I might have said something. I was told she came from another cruise line (I wasn't told which one) and that the situation would be monitored. I wasn't even going to say anything to Guest Relations but, we had no more soap in our room, and I went looking for a bar of soap. I had left a dime size piece of soap on the bathroom counter in hopes she would realize we needed more soap. When we returned to our room in the afternoon, the piece of soap was still sitting on the counter where I left it.

3 hours ago, koconnor214 said:

Based on a message on Twitter, sounds like new ports. i.e. maybe Martinique, etc. 

Oh, no. Our first cruise went to Martinique. It was the worst cruise stop ever.

We were on the Journey in January and the room and hallway cleaning were not up the usual Azamara standards. I talked to Guest Relations and the assistant hotel manager talked to us about the problem. The room attendant let us know she was not happy, but our room cleaning was a little more thorough. Ryszard is excellent but he was not onboard then.

We have cruised on Azamara 5 times since Covid. There are more gluten-free food options than previously. We have always found the food bland, but we lived in New Mexico for years and like our food spicy. On the last two cruises, there were shortages of some food items. It was surprising, but then we remembered our local grocery stores have problems stocking certain basic items. The entertainment has been good. We like seeing new Cruise Directors. Talent brought on board was as it has always been, some excellent, some good, and some awful.

The changes we have seen are mostly due to causes Azamara has no control over. Ports are limiting the number of ships docking. Food supply chains are not the same. Global warming. More and more super big ships. Wars.

As to missed ports, check your trip insurance. Some will reimburse for missed ports.

Our OBC was applied to the cost of the excursions as a line item on our final invoices before we paid for the cruises. We only paid for the difference in cost between the booked excursions and our OBC. The letter about the 10% came to us with confirmation of the booking of the excursions.

We have booked excursions on two future cruises while onboard. The cost of excursions booked was added to invoices for the future cruises and was offset by our OBC. In other words, we didn't pay anything while onboard for the excursions on future cruises. We were given the letter, showed them to the shore excursion staff when we went on the future cruises and were quickly credited the 10% to our ship account. I don't know if the credit would have been credited back to our credit card as the credit was used onboard for some specialty dining. I was delighted that I did not have to pay for the cost of those excursions over the amount of OBC I had when I booked them. Paying for them when the final payment for the cruise (120 days in the US) worked fine for me.

In response to the comment about the quality of the clothing in the shops, we have bought t-shirts, fleece pull-overs and zipper sweatshirts in the ship shop. All high-quality, wash well and we enjoy wearing them.

Miami hotels are expensive. Be aware that most of them tack on a resort fee to the room rate.

In the past I would have said print a copy of the listing of your past cruises that are listed on the Azamara website under your account. However, I see now they are only listing the cruises (so it says) since April 2023. However, that listing is not correct, either.

Not all of the Azamazing Evenings are being eliminated. We attended a wonderful event in Wellington in January. The venue and music were perfect for the cruise. Drinks and chocolate covered strawberries were served. No more tons of wasted food that used to be the norm.

I am trying to fill out the Guest Satisfaction Survey for a cruise that ended January 21, 2024. When I tap Continue Survey, nothing happens. What am I doing wrong? Or, does the survey not work?

On the Journey last week, specialty restaurant was $35 per person.

A reflection of the older population staying active and continuing to explore. Azamara works for our age group because we like the attentive care and the relaxed atmosphere.

4 minutes ago, Thequietone said:

Who has been your contact within Azamara ?

 

I have just called the number on their website. I don't have a contact name. I am in the US and may have a different number than you do in the UK.

I have rarely talked to customer service over the years we have been cruising with Azamara. However, this spring/summer we had an issue and I called many times. However, I now believe most of these issues were caused by a new TA assigned to us who was not familiar with Azamara or us. Customer service from Azamara has been great in the last two months. Questions have been answered, refunds on cancelled excursions have been paid, and transferring to a new TA has been expedited.

14 hours ago, ghstudio said:

Finally, there's a chance Azamara won't just disappear.  Carol should have "left" months ago.Hopefully, the new management team will get the web and back office under control and travel agents will start to be positive about Azamara.They have made so many blunders to date.....starting with the cut off of a group of aging cruisers on Celebrity/RCL who can't transfer their captains club status....great way to cut off a pool of easy future passengers.  One of the first marketing steps  they should think about: Azamara should recognize frequent cruising levels attained on other cruise lines.(yes, each cruise line is different, but in a few days someone in Azamara HQ could figure out the mapping).....a cheap way for customer acquistion.  Of course, fix the web site has to be at the very top of the list....since cruise operations are already sub-contracted.  Azamara is a marketing company....time to start marketing. 

I don't understand why Azamara should recognize cruising levels from other cruise lines. Airlines don't recognize status from other airlines. I thought Celebrity/RCL cruisers were given an opportunity to transfer their status. 

Having recently gone through the experience of having a medical emergency while on a cruise, I can give you some insight. Medicare A & B do not pay anything if you are out of the US. We have supplemental insurance through AARP which paid 80% of medical expenses after $250 deductible. Plan D did not pay for any medications bought out of the US. I first had to submit claims to Medicare and supplemental before applying to travel insurance carrier for medical expenses. I received responses from Medicare and supplemental insurance after filing in about 3 weeks. I applied to travel insurance company for additional travel costs--flew home 10 days after original flights--and that was reimbursed promptly. I was glad to have the travel insurance. We were fortunate to have credit cards that could cover the cost of hospitalization, surgery, prescriptions, extended hotel stay, food, and flight home. If you are wondering, my husband had a heart attack. He was and still is in excellent physical condition.

This couple was lucky. They could cancel their cruise and get back most of their deposit. After 3 months of back and forth between my TA and Azamara, Azamara can still not find my deposit for part of a b2b cruise in 2024.

I booked some excursions for an upcoming cruise when I was on my last cruise. They were added to my booking confirmation. They cost more than the OBC I had available but I did not pay anything at that time. I have since then booked one more excursion and that cost was added to my final payment. This has been since May and all of the booked excursions still show on my account. I make the final payment for the upcoming cruise and excursions next week.

On our Booking Confirmation Copy #8 of February 2023, the two cruises were b2b with the correct OBC on each and deposits for each. In March the booking for the second cruise along with everything else disappeared. Not so funny, the first cruise still shows additional OBC for b2b. Azamara is supposedly still working to fix the problem.