Land Discoveries planner issues (again) and exchange rate bias

I posted the issues with these brochures in December, I also emailed Miami but I have had no response and the Land Discoveries options are still not accurate enough to allow any preplanning.

Here again specifically are my questions and the issues plus one new one

1. 25 March cruise has two nights in Bangkok arriving at noon on 3rd and departure noon on 5th. There are no short excursions posted for 5th. Is this correct?

If it is, it makes a wasted time and poor destination planning the 4th is the only day you can do anything (3rd is Azamazing evening leaving late afternoon). We had hoped the 5th would offer the early floating market tour as we had other plans for the 4th.

2. Myanmar. The excursions over the three days that appear in my voyage planner available for booking are they accurate? On the final day several excursions are listed returning at 4pm - but the ship sails at lunchtime. Again we have the exact repeat of the Bangkok issue re timings if the port times are correct, Day 1 arrive lunchtime but it’s Azamazing evening and day 3 little time to do anything. I know this country well and was taking my husband to show him where I’ve been. Looks like we won’t see much and it’s yet another let down for him.

3. The OBC workaround - is there no way guests who live outside the USA can do what they do with their onboard accounts - pay for Land Discoveries in dollars and have their card company do the conversion. The current pricing was set months ago and is at a rate of $1.225. The rate has been above $1.25 to £ since March 2017 and $1.30 since September. Today if I put a $ transaction through my credit card, the rate would be $1.371.

To put into context I’m looking at an excursion to use some OBC that is space limited, two person will cost £389.96. The dollar cost for 2 is $478. So if I paid through my card company in dollars the cost will be £348.65. (and for the record if I use the OBC workaround my refund would be £344.38.). A difference in Azamara’s favour of £41.

As I was actually looking at three such excursions in various ports I will be approx £125 down (c$170) even before refund.

I hope I can get answers on the brochure accuracy very soon as I can’t do planning and I only have a short time available to me personally to complete it. I also hope Azamara will work out how we can pay in dollars if they do not want to reprice their published brochures.

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This is absolutely ridiculous. These issues have been ongoing for years now and Azamara management still haven't done anything to resolve them.

The OBC workaround which costs non American guests is so unfair. Why should Ann be giving Azamara £41 of her money on just ONE excursion? And £125 for three excursions? You can be sure that if Azamara was at a disadvantage in these conversion costs then it would have been fixed very quickly indeed. I have a lot of OBC for our June B2B cruises but I don't think I will be spending much of it on shore ex.

As for the descriptions and mistakes for the shore excursions online brochures...well again, it's a joke. Does no-one proof read these or do any research? On our last cruise in October an excursion in Rhodes offered us the opportunity to see The Colossus of Rhodes statue. We would be a bit disappointed as it was completely destroyed in the earthquake of 226 BC!

Our expensive Jerusalem excursion in October was a shambles and did not visit the advertised sites. I could go on....

The cost of some of the standard ship excursions are outrageous compared to Viking for instance. Is it any wonder that most experienced cruisers use the roll calls to arrange private excursions to go where we want to go at much less cost? Again on our last cruise there was a shore ex Sabbath dinner in an Israeli home advertised at a cost of around £550 EACH. There were two problems with this. Firstly it seemed an outrageous cost for a two and a half hour excursion when the travel time was 40 mins each way and secondly, even though I'm not Jewish, I know that a Sabbath dinner does not take place on a Tuesday....the day it was advertised! This description would breach The Trades Description Act in the UK.

This week I booked a land holiday to Italy online with a British holiday company. Within 2 hours I had complete documentation with all details correct, a nice online booklet with tour excursions at reasonable cost and my special requests confirmed. The Viking and Silversea pre cruise and Admin experience is also outstanding and from the start of your booking, you know you are going to have a premium experience. Why can't Azamara be like this?

As nonrev has said in another thread, once we get onboard all is well and we relax into the stellar onboard experience.... maybe Heike, Ryszard or Philip could have a secondment to MIA for a short time? I'm sure with their impressive management skills they could sort out the problems with the Admin departments in a few weeks! 😄

So tell us again Azamara ....after years of these problems with the website, OBC issues, shore ex issues etc... just WHY can't they be fixed?

 

So tell us again Azamara ....after years of these problems with the website, OBC issues, shore ex issues etc... just WHY can't they be fixed?

Because on board the staff cares about the customer and Miami only cares about profit. That said, looking out for the profit isn't a bad thing until it impacts the enjoyment of the customer and drives people to a competitor.

We are booked for our first cruise with Azamara in March on the Journey and have been looking at tours. The prices are in pounds. I was going to pay by debit card. Am I correct in saying that the price shown for a tour is the price that will be shown on my bank balance!.

We are booked for our first cruise with Azamara in March on the Journey and have been looking at tours. The prices are in pounds. I was going to pay by debit card. Am I correct in saying that the price shown for a tour is the price that will be shown on my bank balance!.

Yes, that’s right.

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Thank you for replying so quickly. Can you tell me if the tour gets cancelled or we cancel when on board do we get all the money back.

Thank you for replying so quickly. Can you tell me if the tour gets cancelled or we cancel when on board do we get all the money back.

The cancellation will be credited to your on board account. You might book another trip, spend the money on something else, or if you do not this is refundable onboard credit so it will be returned to your credit card at the end of the cruise. You will not get the exact sterling amount you paid back though :( You will be subject to the buy back exchange rate of your card provider and as you will have bought the trip at 1.22 and will have a buy back of around 1.39 at todays rate, there is a difference.

We had a trip cancelled on our Christmas cruise having prepaid in sterling, we were refunded in dollars but as we bought other trips other days we did not lose out on the exchange.

To be honest, unless you are really keen to ensure you get a trip, I would not prebook. You can buy dollars (notes) for 1.32 today (M and s) you could buy notes and deposit these to your onboard account once onboard, or you can leave it and just pay with your credit card once onboard.

Bonnie

How do I get an accurate land discoveries brochure for 8 April cruise on Journey?

I’ve tried all the usual routes without joy

Thanks

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Thanks uktog we will probably wait until we are on board.

Bonnie

How do I get an accurate land discoveries brochure for 8 April cruise on Journey?

I’ve tried all the usual routes without joy

Thanks

 

 

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Forget it

I’ve found another escalation route.

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1. There are no short excursions posted for 5th. Is this correct?

 

If it is, it makes a wasted time and poor destination planning the 4th is the only day you can do anything (3rd is Azamazing evening leaving late afternoon). We had hoped the 5th would offer the early floating market tour as we had other plans for the 4th.

 

2. Myanmar. The excursions over the three days that appear in my voyage planner available for booking are they accurate? On the final day several excursions are listed returning at 4pm - but the ship sails at lunchtime. Again we have the exact repeat of the Bangkok issue re timings if the port times are correct, Day 1 arrive lunchtime but it’s Azamazing evening and day 3 little time to do anything. I know this country well and was taking my husband to show him where I’ve been. Looks like we won’t see much and it’s yet another let down for him.

 

 

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The early departures on the third day are upsetting. In Bangkok there are plenty of local taxis that can do a short early market tour. Just arrange it the day ahead.

In Mynamar the departure is predicated by tides, and that is a timing that waits for no man. Azamara can not control the timing of the departure, and the port is hours away from anything.

The early departures on the third day are upsetting. In Bangkok there are plenty of local taxis that can do a short early market tour. Just arrange it the day ahead.

 

 

 

In Mynamar the departure is predicated by tides, and that is a timing that waits for no man. Azamara can not control the timing of the departure, and the port is hours away from anything.

I’m not disputing the tides. We have already lost a day in Myanmar because of changes made to the itinerary I just want an accurate list of excursions that don’t show us doing daylight sightseeing at 8pm in the dark or worse returning to port 5 hours after the ship has left!

I really don’t want the hassle of taxis early in the morning in Bangkok (actually there weren’t many around this month when others tried to diy the trip) and I’ve OBC I want to use for that trip but thanks for the suggestion

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Not only would you be out the exchange rate but your card is likely to tack on 2.5% on both the charge and the refund making it even more out of your pocket. It's not work around for anyone outside the US.

I didn’t realise that Azamara converted the USD price for tours at “their exchange rates” for overseas passengers.

That is hugely disappointing if the rate is so poor. I have been used to just paying in USD and my bank/card provider/myself being responsible for whether I get a good rate or not, not having my hand tied on a crap rate with no other option.... and then losing out again on the reverse conversion.:o

I didn’t realise that Azamara converted the USD price for tours at “their exchange rates” for overseas passengers.

 

That is hugely disappointing if the rate is so poor. I have been used to just paying in USD and my bank/card provider/myself being responsible for whether I get a good rate or not, not having my hand tied on a crap rate with no other option.... and then losing out again on the reverse conversion.:o

Hi :) would it perhaps be based on whether you booked locally in pounds or if you used a US agent?

Hi :) would it perhaps be based on whether you booked locally in pounds or if you used a US agent?

Yes, you are probably right! Rarely do I actually book cruises in GBP as the overall Cruise deals and flexibility/cancellation terms are often significantly better when booked with my overseas TA in USD, but the recent devaluation in the GBP (and the fact that I had 2 future cruise certificates bought onboard in GBP) means I now have 3 Azamara Cruise booked in GBP :( Bad news.....

I think the Shabbat dinner on a Tuesday is a bigger ripoff than the monetary conversion, but that's just me.

I think the Shabbat dinner on a Tuesday is a bigger ripoff than the monetary conversion, but that's just me.

So if we are in Miami end of june, Azamara would treat us to a fourth of July without blinking 😀

So if we are in Miami end of june, Azamara would treat us to a fourth of July without blinking [emoji3]

I’m looking forward to seeing the flotilla of small boats chasing after Journey in several ports ;)

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I now have a sort of answer from the Escalations team which I am going to be honest and say just captures the whole reason why I keep saying the delivery of Land Discoveries shore side falls far short of what anyone paying for a premium cruise line should have to put up with.

I am not criticising the person who is now taking ownership of the issue but basically NO ONE had noticed there was a problem until now. So the answer is they are going to have to contact the operator to see if the tours can run or not (em how can a 10 hour operate with a noon departure??) and if they cannot they will change the website.

So no one checks the information before they load it onto a website?? Attention to detail onboard is outstanding, shoreside is MIA. Cant we have a website attention to detail form so we can highlight anything positive or negative when dealing with shoreside. Shipboard these are such useful forms to use to praise service and suggest any adjustments. The onboard team usually react in a very appropriate manner to the forms and they have developed and enhanced the service as a result. But most of all they show they care....

Alternatively is there no way through these boards we can be sure feedback is being reacted to. Despite posting about this cruise's issues before it seems no one picked up on it.

I love azamara onboard, but I cannot be a "cheerleader" as long as this back office shambles continues and I will not "refer" a friend for fear of what they might find before they get onboard.

I now have a sort of answer from the Escalations team which I am going to be honest and say just captures the whole reason why I keep saying the delivery of Land Discoveries shore side falls far short of what anyone paying for a premium cruise line should have to put up with.

 

I am not criticising the person who is now taking ownership of the issue but basically NO ONE had noticed there was a problem until now. So the answer is they are going to have to contact the operator to see if the tours can run or not (em how can a 10 hour operate with a noon departure??) and if they cannot they will change the website.

 

So no one checks the information before they load it onto a website?? Attention to detail onboard is outstanding, shoreside is MIA. Cant we have a website attention to detail form so we can highlight anything positive or negative when dealing with shoreside. Shipboard these are such useful forms to use to praise service and suggest any adjustments. The onboard team usually react in a very appropriate manner to the forms and they have developed and enhanced the service as a result. But most of all they show they care....

 

Alternatively is there no way through these boards we can be sure feedback is being reacted to. Despite posting about this cruise's issues before it seems no one picked up on it.

 

I love azamara onboard, but I cannot be a "cheerleader" as long as this back office shambles continues and I will not "refer" a friend for fear of what they might find before they get onboard.

Great Idea, Kind of like a suggestion box

Kathy

I think the Shabbat dinner on a Tuesday is a bigger ripoff than the monetary conversion, but that's just me.

The Shabbat Dinner offering was ludicrously expensive but a friend and I were considering it as we felt it would be a unique occasion. That is until we realised it was being held in Jerusalem ( the ship was berthed in Ashdod) it lasted less than 3 hours and we would have got indigestion bolting down our food in less than an hour but most vitally NOT held on Shabbat.

We thought this totally ludicrous though Shorex didn't seem to realise quite how ridiculous (and some would say offensive) this was. Our tour of Jerusalem was also not as described, vastly overpriced and very disappointing

Obviously as UKtog has reported these are not isolated incidents. Not sure who in Miami plans and researches these tours but they need to either be retrained or replaced. It is totally unprofessional.

The answer to poorly described and over-priced ship’s Tours is obvious. Book your own private tours with others through Cruise Critic. As long as people keep booking the ship’s tours, they will keep offering them. This is not just an Azamara problem, we have had similar issues with HAL.

We mostly just use the Voyage Planner, along with Trip Advisor, to give us ideas about what excursions might be bookable in any port.

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The answer to poorly described and over-priced ship’s Tours is obvious. Book your own private tours with others through Cruise Critic. As long as people keep booking the ship’s tours, they will keep offering them. This is not just an Azamara problem, we have had similar issues with HAL.

We mostly just use the Voyage Planner, along with Trip Advisor, to give us ideas about what excursions might be bookable in any port.

 

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I am sorry Host Grandma but in my opinion that is certainly NOT the answer! If a passenger has OBC to use on ship's excursions or maybe just chooses to go on a ship's tour, then they should be able to rely on the correct stated descriptions of that tour. It's really not rocket science to get it right ....even P&O can do it.

We agree that Azamara really need to sort out their shorex information. We did a Land Discoveries in Porto Cervo, Sardinia late last year which promised upmarket shopping and "people watching". Unfortunately, it was the end of the season.. 95% of the shops were closed... the store signs were covered with saran/cling wrap and the only people we could watch were fellow cruisers!