BOGO 50% off sale -- is it a sales price?

For the cruises I am tracking, for example Irish Seas/British Open 2018, the Azamara pricing games continue. The prices have been increased so that when the 50% is taken into account, it brings you back almost to the dollar to what the price was before the sale. This has happened to me for several cruises I am tracking during every supposed "sale" or "deal" this year. I don't know why they bother, it just makes good customers like me angry. If you got an actual sale on your cruise, I would love to hear about it! FYI, the last two years, I did get an actual sale price on Irish Seas 2016 (double upgrade promotion) and Baltic 2017 (BOGO 50%). Can't seem to make it work this year.

Guys

I have said this all before several times. I own an ad agency. When a company markets/sells they are putting price points to the greatest masses. Here is an example. If I have a client that sells Ribs then why would he sell chicken at a discount even though he has it. Just because its cheaper. No he needs to advertise ribs at the discount not the chicken. They do it to bring business in the door. They are hoping they come in for the chicken and buy the ribs which are more expensive.. It is called heads in beds. Another example are cars they sell them at let's say $24999 instead of $25000 because in our brains we are wired to hear the 24 and it sounds cheaper. What Azamara is doing is advertising to the greater masses. Do they care if you leave and go elsewhere? They will say they do but really don;t. The reason is they will replace you with a customer that will pay the higher price. I do it as well. Older clients always want discounts upon discounts upon discounts. Finally I get to the point and say I am sorry I can no longer take that price lower. They will go elsewhere but I know I can replace them with a client that will pay the price I want with no discounts. I would have given those new clients a small discount if they had asked but I don't tell them unless I am pushed. So I have actually made more money by letting the old discount oriented people go bye bye. There is a whole world of people out there waiting to cruise. They are not savvy cruisers and do not know the game but they will buy at the higher price. So if you go to another line it means nothing to them because they will replace you with a cruiser willing to pay the price even though they think they are getting a deal and are not really. Remember this they are in the profit business. I personally won;t sail Azamara again even though I haven;t been on my first cruise yet but because I think whomever is really making the decisions is a fool. You don;t have a company this big and leave a web site with so much misinformation and so many people who know nothing or give conflicting information. Everyone has a choice and whether it is buying a car, taking a flight, or buying a dress again we all have choices. So quite frankly the people that control the bottom line hope you choose them but if not they do what I do and say NEXT............

Kathy

For the cruises I am tracking, for example Irish Seas/British Open 2018, the Azamara pricing games continue. The prices have been increased so that when the 50% is taken into account, it brings you back almost to the dollar to what the price was before the sale. This has happened to me for several cruises I am tracking during every supposed "sale" or "deal" this year. I don't know why they bother, it just makes good customers like me angry. If you got an actual sale on your cruise, I would love to hear about it! FYI, the last two years, I did get an actual sale price on Irish Seas 2016 (double upgrade promotion) and Baltic 2017 (BOGO 50%). Can't seem to make it work this year.

Unfortunately we, the loyal customers, are not Azamara target group anymore. They are aiming at new customers, who would not do the maths...

For the cruise I previously booked (Spain Intensive October 2018), this is a true sale. The price per person before the promotion has remained the same so the BOGOHO is a significant benefit.

I am booked on a B2B August/September. The first leg - the price went up if I wanted the new sale price. The second leg - went down a bit ( not huge, but still a savings) so we rebooked with the BOGOHO sale for the second cruise.

Just so sick of the game playing with the pricing!

I can ‘t take it anymore!

One more Azamara cruise on the books.

Next 2 cruises are booked with some other cruiseline.

I just did a comparison price using this new offer on our B2B cruises next June.

On our first cruise we would be £48 better off if we now booked the "buy one and second passenger pays 50%" offer and had not booked the special "two sisters meet" deal onboard Quest last summer. So the new deal is better on this cruise by £48. That buys a few nice cocktails.

However on our second of the B2B cruises we would be a whopping £760 WORSE off if we booked this "new deal" with the second passenger "only paying 50%"!

These pricing games that Azamara are playing are dangerous. We are not fools and no-one likes to feel they have been conned. We can vote with our feet and after speaking to some previously very loyal Azamara cruisers at the LCV event on Monday....that is exactly what they are doing.

We booked a cruise on Pursuit in an oceanview cabin within a couple of days of the itineraries being released. The prices basically doubled within a few days of our booking. This new sale offer is over £1800 (for 2) more than we paid. We also are very fed up with Azamara’s pricing. This could well be our last Azamara Cruise!

We booked a cruise on Pursuit in an oceanview cabin within a couple of days of the itineraries being released. The prices basically doubled within a few days of our booking. This new sale offer is over £1800 (for 2) more than we paid. We also are very fed up with Azamara’s pricing. This could well be our last Azamara Cruise!

I also booked two cruises in an OV shortly after the release of the Pursuit itineraries. Basically I think Azamara messed up and weren’t charging what they should have for that particular category. Both insides and balconies were way more and the OVs for the cruises I booked have now more than doubled too. Great we were able to take advantage of it, but not a measure unfortunately of the way it seems to be at the moment.

Phil

Our April cruise isn't offering the BOGOHO. They raised the price of inside and OV cabins for the Double Upgrade promotion, and haven't reduced them--they've simply now raised the higher categories. The OV that was $2599 in May, then dropped in June, is now $3299. I guess that cruise was selling well enough not to need help. Luckily we booked onboard in July, and had the LCV savings and quarterly discount, which with taxes/port fees worked out to a reasonable $245 per person per night. The prices now are just too steep for us, so without a "real" sale I don't see that we'll be back any time soon.

Unfortunately we, the loyal customers, are not Azamara target group anymore. They are aiming at new customers, who would not do the maths...

Celebrity is doing the same over there. I believe it's the parent company's philosophy of not discounting any longer. It part of their plan called double/double instituted two years ago to increase sales and profits.

You can Google RCL double/double to find out what it means. Basically it's raise the price of cabins and increase cutbacks to produce record profits. In the last quarterly report, they bragged the concept worked and produced the targeted results.

The cruise line target is now people who are willing to pay more for less. Business 101 as Rabin1 pointed out. That's why when I see a sale ad from Celebrity or Azamara, it goes in the virtual circular file because I know they marked it up to mark it down.

I've tried to book several AZ cruises but the pricing was just out of line even with their "sale." I wound up booking five upcoming cruises on other lines that had much better value. I'd really like to sail AZ again so when their pricing practices catch up with them, I'll book a real sale although it may take a few years.

Excellent posts from Rabin1 and ChucktownSteve.

Azamara came replace me anytime they want because I will not fall for these sales gimmicks.

One key point that Azamara hasn't realized yet, that I learned running my businesses, is a thing called value added. I spent over 40 years in marketing and recommended that to my clients in order to increase feet through their door.

I instructed them that they didn't need to discount if they included things with a high perceived value but low out of pocket cost. It's not always about price but it is about value to a lot of customers. Like Rabin1, I was always willing to not sell to those customers who were only buying on price. Then you become a commodity product with customers who would jump ship for the next company to offer it for "50 cents cheaper."

There are some deals to be had. A voyage I have been tracking is now £1500 cheaper for the two of us with this new discount than it was in November. I always screen shot everytime I am looking at prices .

Since retiring I have been watching prices very closely. The bogo seems to work only for CC and up cabins and sometimes for VX class. We managed to get a release day 10 day VX on Pursuit for under $3000 per person. Increased by $600 the next day, two weeks later it was $4600 per person. With the bogo, it has dropped only $200 each. VX is now only $1 less than CC suite, but much higher now than we paid.

Doing 17 day this spring that we booked on board over a year ago for CC cabin that had almost tripled since booking.

Also have Alaska booked 2019 and finally getting discount of over $1000 each.

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Excellent posts from Rabin1 and ChucktownSteve.

Azamara came replace me anytime they want because I will not fall for these sales gimmicks.

I so agree.

ChucktownSteve, you nailed it!

I am a shareholder and the stock price is thru the roof.

It is working for them right now, but will it work forever?

I can understand that RCL thinks there are new cruisers coming everyday, but why turn your back on loyal cruisers who are guaranteed repeat bookings? We are already hooked on cruising! It may be a risky proposition. Not sure Millenials are wanting to cruise......

I so agree.

ChucktownSteve, you nailed it!

I am a shareholder and the stock price is thru the roof.

It is working for them right now, but will it work forever?

 

I can understand that RCL thinks there are new cruisers coming everyday, but why turn your back on loyal cruisers who are guaranteed repeat bookings? We are already hooked on cruising! It may be a risky proposition. Not sure Millenials are wanting to cruise......

Yes there are new cruisers coming but so are the ship builds!!!! Acquisition costs for an established customer are far less than attracting a new customer. Basically, it's cheaper to keep her.

Cruise lines have a record number of cruise ships on order over the next ten years with the major cruise lines having over 40 new ships to enter service by 2026. Wanna see the list?

https://cruisefever.net/cruise-ships-under-construction-on-order-2017-2026/

I so agree.

ChucktownSteve, you nailed it!

I am a shareholder and the stock price is thru the roof.

It is working for them right now, but will it work forever?

 

I can understand that RCL thinks there are new cruisers coming everyday, but why turn your back on loyal cruisers who are guaranteed repeat bookings? We are already hooked on cruising! It may be a risky proposition. Not sure Millenials are wanting to cruise......

Please read my post number 2 and you will have your answer

Kathy

Please read my post number 2 and you will have your answer

Kathy

But don't you believe that many of the newbie cruisers, who don't know any better now, will quickly become more savvy as they continue to sail and chat with other savvy cruisers?

But don't you believe that many of the newbie cruisers, who don't know any better now, will quickly become more savvy as they continue to sail and chat with other savvy cruisers?

No I do not and even if they do it won;t matter. Look how long it took a lot of Azamara customers to figure out what they were doing. The cruise I am going on the price has tripled in cost. My guess would be that a lot of people are like me. I don;t cruise more than once a year. When I do cruise I go for the itinerary and the longer cruises. Azamara is taking a page out of Celebrity and RCCL. My guess again would be the average age bracket on RCCl is a lot younger, Middle age and up Celebrity more experienced travelers and older on Azamara. So as the people age again as I said targeting the greatest masses as they move on up the cruise food chain. Also the people on Azamara are a lot retired and can take longer vacations. People who still work cannot unless they plan ahead. I have to plan ahead a long way ahead for 3 weeks off. The main point is as I said it will take in my prediction a decade for the RCCl clients to reach the Azamara ships. When they do they will be like me............they will go for itinerary not the ship or the price. Also there are more people growing into cruisers as they exit college and begin in the work force who will start on the RCCL class. The last thing as I said in post number 2. I don;t care if I lose my discount people I say NEXT and move on to people who don;t nickel and dime me and pay me full price.

Kathy

But don't you believe that many of the newbie cruisers, who don't know any better now, will quickly become more savvy as they continue to sail and chat with other savvy cruisers?

I certainly believe they are much more savvy and people are much more aware of ways to communicate with others to check information/trends etc etc. I look at my son whose first experience of cruising was with us as a 17 year old and he is destination driven but very very savvy and knows the way to search and get information.

No I do not and even if they do it won;t matter. Look how long it took a lot of Azamara customers to figure out what they were doing.

I’d take issue with that comment. I’ve been sailing Azamara a while now and it hasn’t taken me very long to figure it out and I think many regular Azamara cruisers have done the same. Thing is the pricing such as it is at present hasn’t been this way very long either. I’d say less than a year.

I think we all appreciate that prices inevitably rise a little and we are happy to pay up for it. Trouble is the prices being quoted now have risen dramatically in a relatively short time and are being hidden with so called special offers and promotions to make it look like you are getting a deal when you really aren’t. That is what is cheesing me off. Nobody likes being taken for a fool.

Phil

I certainly believe they are much more savvy and people are much more aware of ways to communicate with others to check information/trends etc etc. I look at my son whose first experience of cruising was with us as a 17 year old and he is destination driven but very very savvy and knows the way to search and get information.

And he had your awesome knowledge to advise him..............your key word was with us. When I took my first cruise I was as dumb as a door nail and knew nothing or anybody that cruised.

Also for those already taking issue with things I have said this is why I don;t say my opinions or knowledge regarding things. I don;t like being berated. If you all knew about this why continue to book even as far out as 2019? Don;t answer as I am not responding. Feel free to disagree, take issues or whatever else you feel about what I have just said. This is my final info and thoughts. I am done with this thread on this topic. I won;t be on Azamara again after the cruise I have booked so it really doesn;t matter.

Kathy

Kathy, I know you will have a great cruise coming up. Thank you for your input here. :)

I’d take issue with that comment. I’ve been sailing Azamara a while now and it hasn’t taken me very long to figure it out and I think many regular Azamara cruisers have done the same. Thing is the pricing such as it is at present hasn’t been this way very long either. I’d say less than a year.

 

I think we all appreciate that prices inevitably rise a little and we are happy to pay up for it. Trouble is the prices being quoted now have risen dramatically in a relatively short time and are being hidden with so called special offers and promotions to make it look like you are getting a deal when you really aren’t. That is what is cheesing me off. Nobody likes being taken for a fool.

 

Phil

Totally agree.