lizboyle

Good on you lizboyle for your civil response to several of the posts on this thread. The high road is always the best road.

Thank you so much for that lovely comment. Exactly my thoughts.

Right.

 

Now, maybe you should have titled the thread "Booked a GTY and have a question about my cabin" rather than giving an inflammatory title that leads people to believe Azamara doesn't treat its loyal customers well. This business of generalizing one person's possible issue (and there was no issue in this case) and making it sound like it applies to everyone grows old here on Cruise Critic.

I really don't appreciate being spoken to like a naughty school kid. After I posted, I did try to edit the title, but alas, this was not available. It was never my intention to post anything inflammatory about Azamara. I am full of praise for their product, and have mentioned this. IMO, I did see this as a "possible issue", thankfully my fears have been allayed by the lovely posts of people who have stayed in this cabin. Thank you, have a nice day!

hi - we are the people who robin (elbon) is referring to who have recently stayed in 8018. we had very little noise from above and had no problem whatsoever with the cabin, in fact robin who was in a suite experienced a lot more noise than we did !!!. enjoy it . nick and Cheryl

Thank you so much Cheryl and Nick. That's very reassuring.

We were on deck 8 under the pool area on our last Journey cruise and had no issues with pool or deck noise during normal sleeping hours. Even mid-day wasn't very noticeable at all. OTOH, I would avoid the area under the pool grill. That WAS noisy on a prior Journey cruise.

Thank you Sanatee. We are right under the pool bar so hopefully it will be fine.

The LCV upgrade process not only does not apply to "Guarantee" bookings, but only is available to LCV members. Your profile does not indicate any sailings to-date on Azamara so that option is not available to you yet.

 

The Pool Bar opens at 11 AM and closes before sunset. If the weather is bad it will close early, or not open at all.

 

I have found that Azamara treats all passengers exceedingly well from their very first cruise. The "special treatment" really arises from the relationships that you build with the crew and officers. It sounds corny but they truly make you feel like you are coming "home".

We have sailed with Azamara before, just last year. I'm very slow at updating my profile. 😌. I am discovery level so perhaps I am eligible. We LOVE Azamara!

As you know GTY is a game of chance - you pay a basic price and Lady Luck makes a call.

If you try to upgrade the price you will be quoted is as it was when you booked. They want new customers to snap up the deals not existing customers. I don't think loyalty comes into it - all cruise lines do this.

Enjoy your cruise - I am sure you will have a great time.

Thank you! I'm sure we will.

my friends were in there and heard nothing. the bar is oprn from 9 to 7 so it get quiet there at night.. as all cabins you wil lhear soem chairs movign but that is it.

 

enjoy the cabin

Thank you ellbon. My last experience of being under a pool was chairs being moved from 5am and also late at night. Wasn't Azamara, so let's hope they are more considerate.

To be fair, loyalty does pay and an option to you is to register for a Loyalty upgrade, yes it will cost you a little more but it is one way you might be able to address this issue.

 

I am not sure why you have such a difference in price, you are working with an agent and sometimes their pricing has hidden bundles/perks in it that are not entirely visible so you might not be comparing like for like. They may also have restrictions on what they can change with Azamara.

 

You might like to requestion you agent on this one and ask for a breakdown of the costings of all the components.

 

As you say, you took a risk with a Guarantee, and yes, it is always a risk and in this case the room you got was not what you really wanted

Thank you for your most gracious reply Uktog. Like I said, the exact same product is on my TA's website, free flights as well, cheaper than what we paid. Fair do. I get that prices can fluctuate either way. What baffles me is the difference in price and the reason for it. It's not as if I'm not prepared to pay for an upgrade, but I guess rules are rules, as crazy as they may be!

We have sailed and been in 8018 and not had any noise from above.

Thank you LEESRE. That is reassuring.

What a silly thing to complain about. You booked a guarantee room, and you got the leftover location. That's what happens when you take the cheap way out. If you want a specific location, then you pay for the luxury of getting to do so. I have a long history with Celebrity, yet I wouldn't expect them to assign me a good room based on loyalty. It's a company, not a charity.

 

 

 

Michael

I'm not expecting charity! I was prepared to pay the difference in price from when I booked to today's price. Thank you for your comments.

Hello lizboyle, I am afraid the others are right. When you book a GTY you do not get a say in cabin assignment. If you are particular about location, then the GTY is not the way to go.

 

May I ask if this new thread has anything to do with your recent thread about wanting the 10% LCV voyage discount and the $398 upgrade applied to an existing booking? I had understood from your final post that that was resolved to your satisfaction. It could be that there are no LCV upgrades available on your voyage?http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2190877

 

Your best bet is to work through your TA. Best of luck.

Hi Bonnie, that was indeed resolved satisfactorily. I did apply for the $398 upgrade but the email I got in return said this wasn't applicable to gty cabins. I'm not holding out hope with my TA and Azamara, but shall ask again. Thank you.

I booked a gty inside cabin on Journey and would have been happy with almost any cabin, but knew it was a bit of a risk. Just been assigned cabin 8018, below the pool bar, which I really am not happy with. I have had experience of a cabin below pool before and don't wish to repeat it due to the noise from above. On looking at my TA's website, I noticed the prices for outside cabins had dropped significantly, it's now only £50 more each. I contacted my TA, who in turn contacted Azamara, only to be told it would cost £1450 😱 more to upgrade! The free flights promo was on, and still is, for this cruise when I booked. I presumed that it was just a case of handing over another £100 to have an outside cabin. Not so! It would be classed as a new booking apparently. IMHO It really doesn't pay to book early. Does loyalty pay? It doesn't appear so!

Link not working :(

Allow 90 minutes for your journey. On the weekends it's much quieter.

Hi lizboyle, I'm so glad it worked out for you. And thank you for letting me know, and for bringing it to our attention in the first place.

Best regards,

Bonnie

Hi Bonnie, you're very welcome. Thank you so much for your help. Can't wait to sample what Journey has to offer. If it's as good as Quest we will be very happy.

Pleased to say, after contacting Mr Twynam, I have been told that my cruise does qualify for the 10% off promo and also that the $398 upgrade promotion is available globally. He thanked me for bringing this to his attention. I think more training is required for Azamara customer service but I'm very happy with the outcome. 😃. Thank you all for your help.

Hi lizboyle, I've checked with the LCV Ambassador Nicole. She tells me you were given wrong info and that she'll discuss this with the call center. Here's the rest of her response ...

 

"Regarding the LCV 10% quarterly savings (on select sailings), this is for new reservations so she would have had to cancel her existing reservation and create a new one with today's prevailing rates and any promotions that are out in her marketplace.

 

Regarding the $398 LCV Stateroom Upgrade it is available to ALL LCV members. All she needs to do is go to AzamaraClubCruises.com/LCVUpgrade to submit her reservation to be added to the waitlist."

Thank you Bonnie. I assumed, as I'd booked during the period stated in the 10% promo (Jan 1- March 31) that I would receive the benefit? I hope to hear from Mr Twynam soon as final payment is now due.

I am sure Bonnie will give the same info. but your best bet is to email Azamara's UK Managing Director Richard Twynam ( RTwynam@azamaraclubcruises.com) he is excellent at getting any mis-information sorted out.

Thank you. I have emailed him.

I am sure Bonnie will also reply, but your agent is very wrong re the upgrade it is available to UK guests, I have 4 applications in!

 

Here is the link you use

 

https://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/en-ca/le-club-voyage/offers/stateroom-upgrade

It's not my agent. I called Azamara (guatamala) and was told this by them. My agent said to withhold paying my final balance for now until I get the correct info. He says he always gets conflicting info from Azamara hence why I decided to ask Bonnie for help.

Hi Bonnie. I wonder if you could find out an answer to a query I have? I booked my second Azamara cruise using a UK TA on 14 Jan 2015 for Azamara Journey on 30 July 2015. It is now time for final payment and I noticed on Azamara website that this particular cruise qualifies for up to 10% off for Le Club Voyage members if booked between January 1st and March 31( which I did) I asked my TA to call Azamara, which he did today, only to be told I do not qualify as I did not book this onboard. I have read the terms and conditions and there is no mention of this. It does say it is combinable with other offers. I also asked about the $398 upgrade prior to saling but was told this is not available to UK guests. I would be grateful if you could clarify both these points for me Bonnie.

I'm booked on the same cruise and my TA told me my flights would be the same. I called Azamara and a very helpful lady gave me my flight details which were different to what my TA quoted. We are now arriving in Athens at 16.20 on the 29th and staying at the Hilton. I'm flying from Edinburgh btw. Good result. I started a roll call, please feel free to join in. Glad I'm not on the ship alone. :)

This sounds amazing, we will be there on May 28, I will write to them about a day pass. Usually we do the ship beach package which doesn't give you much time at the beach.

Do you know how far they are from where the cruise ships dock?

Thanks for the tip.

Nel

Did this 2 years ago. It's about 25 minutes drive from the port. You are picked up by mini bus and taken to hotel. I have to say, I didn't think it was worth 70 euro. Breakfast was ok. The lunch wasn't very good but I did enjoy a massage and the pool is lovely with comfy loungers. It is perched on a cliff and it is very steep hills but they do have golf carts that take you up and down. Lots of wealthy people sitting drinking champagne by the pool. Drinks prices are extortionate.

I thought some of you might like to read about our cruise in the Middle East on Costa Serena.

 

 

My family consisting of OH and 3 kids under 4 cruised around the Arabian / Persian gulf in January on Costa Serena. I can honestly say it was the best cruise we have ever completed. Perfect on a number of dimensions - the ship, the staff, the cabin, the itinerary, what to do in each destination,. An cabin upgrade was most welcome and this was the second complementary upgrade received from Costa.The ports of call were Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Khasab and Muscat. The first and last night of the cruise the ship was alongside in Dubai and we also had the bonus of it overnighting in Muscat. Muscat being a welcome contrast from the high rise Dubai and Abu Dhabi with conservatism being very evident. We purchased a cruise only package and tagged KLM flights to it. It was an exceptional value cruise and honestly better value could be got on other dates. I can honestly recommend the Middle East as an alternative to the Caribbean for a winter sunshine cruise. Flights to the area remain affordable though getting there does involve at least one over night flight. Furthermore those that wish to have direct flights, Emirates have a number of UK departures non-stop to Dubai.

 

So if you are interested in adding some exoticism to your cruising portfolio, I would thoroughly recommend a cruise in the Middle East. It is just a pity that the itineraries cannot be varied some more because we certainly would return.

 

Costa does come under a lot of criticism but we found them to be wonderful. If I had two complaints - (a) the ships décor is on the dark side and can be hard on the eye and (b) the entertainment on Serena was lacking in comparison to Pacifica.

 

A full review of all aspects of the ship, dining, its entertainment, the itinerary and what to do in the ports, etc. can be read here.

 

http://www.cruisingmates.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=266&t=9610.

Wonderful review and fab pics, thank you. We are doing the same cruise in March and I'm now very excited. 😃

Here is the roll call for Serena 20th March

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2123501

It is a very long walk to the port gates, not even sure they allow it. taxis are right beside the terminal. Loads of them all day and night.

Thank you.