Extended Voyages (Back-to-Back) Benefit

Well, add me to the (growing) list of disgruntled Azamara customers. I recently submitted the Azamara form to request the Extended Voyages Benefit, after having booked two consecutive cruises with two different travel agents. After not hearing back from anyone within the prescribed time, I made inquiry of one of my travel agents, who called Azamara and was unceremoniously advised that I am ineligible for the benefit as both of my cruise segments were booked under a “closed user price code.”

I proceeded to ask exactly what that means, as I have been denied the shareholder benefit several times because of that same price code. I was advised that it means I booked the cruises at the lowest available fare at the time of booking. So it appears that I am being denied the benefit for being a savvy shopper, which in my mind defeats the whole spirit of the promotional benefit.

I am fully aware of all of the exclusions published surrounding the shareholder benefit. However, the terms and conditions of the Extended Voyages Benefit state that the “savings are combinable with most other offers, except reduced fares including but not limited to (this is where they get you!) inter line and TA rates.” My fare was neither of those rates.

Come on, Azamara, why defeat the spirit of the incentive by arbitrarily choosing when to deny a benefit, with no apparent consistency of application of either the Extended Voyages or Shareholder Benefit rules?

After 30 Azamazing cruises, I am an avid fan of the shipboard side of the Azamara operation, but I am growing increasingly frustrated with the shoreside operation. Shame on you, Miami!

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I can understand your frustrations.

Part of the problem seems to be that Azamara are offering very creative pricing bundles to agents which is commercial sense. However cruisers when hunting for that good price are not told they are booking under a bundle that has many conditions attached to it.

Yes, I’d like Azamara to look at what fares attract restrictions- for me the most ludicrous is booking onboard and getting a loyalty benefit knocks out shareholder benefit, but I’m told this is a Royal corporate decision however others may be more in their control. But I’d also like travel agents to be much more transparent with their information at booking time and be honest with guests that a lower fare has x consequences. Claiming they did not know is no defence, if the deal is negotiated by their head office, they need to wise up before selling them.

Is the extra saving you made worth losing the other benefit for? Maybe unlike us, you can rebook without penalty?

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This is disappointing to hear. I’d really like to know what the "not limited to" fares are. The way of it at the moment and for the foreseeable is that there is always a special fare. It’s very confusing. I will say that the last b2b Voyage I did in October Azamara were very helpful in getting the Extended Voyage benefit applied.

Phil

The same thing just happened to us and we're not happy. This is our first cruise on Azamara although we have a lot of days on other lines so we're not new to cruising. I just stumbled on this benefit as I was exploring the Azamara website. We booked back to back cruises at the same time directly through Azamara. I think the agent should have told about this at the time of booking. When I found the form I filled it in and we received $400 for one of our cruises but nothing for the other because we were told we had the "best guaranteed fare of the day" for the first segment. What exactly does that mean? Sounds like a "weasel clause" to me. We had been watching this cruise for about 2 months and the fare had gone up, not down.

We are looking forward to our new experience with Azamara but have to say this leaves a bad taste in our mouth already. Hopefully the cruise itself does not disappoint. $400 isn't a lot in the scheme of things but why offer it if you're going to deny it?

Linda

If you have a B2B, you should imho, get the B2B benefit. I do not understand why Azamara is not giving it to you. Discount rates are one thing, but B2B benefits or member benefits should not suffer because if that discounted price. :mad:

To those of you who have posted on this thread, thank you. It's comforting to know that I am not alone.

So here's a brief update on my situation. I decided to pursue this matter a bit further and deeper, so I had my travel agent (affiliated with a major discount warehouse) place me on a conference call with whomever they were dealing with at Azamara and, upon communicating my frustration and displeasure with Azamara's arbitrary and inconsistent application of the exclusion terms surrounding this benefit, I was asked by the Azamara representative if I could "hold the line a moment while he checked with his supervisor." Interesting.

So he gets back on the line after several minutes and apologizes profusely that he has done everything he can on his end, but they are very limited in what they can authorize, as they are only the call center, as opposed to Miami corporate, and they are charged with the responsibility of complying with all of Azamara's terms and conditions.

Then, quite surprisingly, he suggested to my travel agent that he contact his BDM (Business Development Manager, who is the Azamara-employed liaison between Azamara and the travel agent) to request an exception to this particular rule denying me the benefit, which apparently the BDM has the authority to do. I was left with the impression that there likely would be a positive outcome from this.

Unfortunately, I then had to battle with my travel agent who, upon checking with his supervisor, indicated that "they don't bother their BDM with matters such as these." What?!?! So after challenging this assertion, to put it nicely, they agreed to contact the BDM and, "if I don't hear back from them within a week, to call back." Right! Now it doesn't look as promising.

My next step, after waiting the week, will be to call the travel agent on the other leg of this back-to-back, a major internet travel agency, to see what they can do.

To answer one of the other poster's questions, the amount of this benefit pales in comparison to the fare reduction I received, but it's the principle that is now driving me.

We submitted our form to request the credit (we were denied for one of our cruises). We booked directly with Azamara so I sent an email to our vacation "specialist". He emailed back and said he would send our request on to his supervisor to see if they could do something for us. That was last Friday and we have heard nothing yet. And that's exactly what I'm expecting to get.....nothing.

To those of you who have posted on this thread, thank you. It's comforting to know that I am not alone.

 

So here's a brief update on my situation. I decided to pursue this matter a bit further and deeper, so I had my travel agent (affiliated with a major discount warehouse) place me on a conference call with whomever they were dealing with at Azamara and, upon communicating my frustration and displeasure with Azamara's arbitrary and inconsistent application of the exclusion terms surrounding this benefit, I was asked by the Azamara representative if I could "hold the line a moment while he checked with his supervisor." Interesting.

 

So he gets back on the line after several minutes and apologizes profusely that he has done everything he can on his end, but they are very limited in what they can authorize, as they are only the call center, as opposed to Miami corporate, and they are charged with the responsibility of complying with all of Azamara's terms and conditions.

 

Then, quite surprisingly, he suggested to my travel agent that he contact his BDM (Business Development Manager, who is the Azamara-employed liaison between Azamara and the travel agent) to request an exception to this particular rule denying me the benefit, which apparently the BDM has the authority to do. I was left with the impression that there likely would be a positive outcome from this.

 

Unfortunately, I then had to battle with my travel agent who, upon checking with his supervisor, indicated that "they don't bother their BDM with matters such as these." What?!?! So after challenging this assertion, to put it nicely, they agreed to contact the BDM and, "if I don't hear back from them within a week, to call back." Right! Now it doesn't look as promising.

 

My next step, after waiting the week, will be to call the travel agent on the other leg of this back-to-back, a major internet travel agency, to see what they can do.

 

To answer one of the other poster's questions, the amount of this benefit pales in comparison to the fare reduction I received, but it's the principle that is now driving me.

I am sorry to hear that you still do not have a positive outcome. For me it is not just a matter of principle but I do not see the logic behind this denial. What do discount rates have to do with B2B benefits?

Exactly my point.

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Perhaps your issue is also with the agency who sold you the cruise that is blocking access to the discount. They should have known this would happen and should have alerted you to that at booking. I suppose we have to recognise the Azamara benefit was generous, certainly compared to the benefit of $50 we got on Celebrity. Maybe someone in corporate spotted that and leant on Azamara?

Perhaps your issue is also with the agency who sold you the cruise that is blocking access to the discount. They should have known this would happen and should have alerted you to that at booking. I suppose we have to recognise the Azamara benefit was generous, certainly compared to the benefit of $50 we got on Celebrity. Maybe someone in corporate spotted that and leant on Azamara?

Remember when this benefit used to be a discount from cruise fare? Now is OBC and we know how difficult it is to find something worth the price on board...

The same thing just happened to us and we're not happy. This is our first cruise on Azamara although we have a lot of days on other lines so we're not new to cruising. I just stumbled on this benefit as I was exploring the Azamara website. We booked back to back cruises at the same time directly through Azamara. I think the agent should have told about this at the time of booking. When I found the form I filled it in and we received $400 for one of our cruises but nothing for the other because we were told we had the "best guaranteed fare of the day" for the first segment. What exactly does that mean? Sounds like a "weasel clause" to me. We had been watching this cruise for about 2 months and the fare had gone up, not down.

 

 

 

We are looking forward to our new experience with Azamara but have to say this leaves a bad taste in our mouth already. Hopefully the cruise itself does not disappoint. $400 isn't a lot in the scheme of things but why offer it if you're going to deny it?

 

Linda

This is something I would push for, especially if you booked directly with Azamara. Have you spoken with someone in charge? And then their boss? Like most lines there are employees who don’t really know how things work.

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Perhaps your issue is also with the agency who sold you the cruise that is blocking access to the discount. They should have known this would happen and should have alerted you to that at booking. I suppose we have to recognise the Azamara benefit was generous, certainly compared to the benefit of $50 we got on Celebrity. Maybe someone in corporate spotted that and leant on Azamara?

Not really generous maybe compared to Celebrity -- BUT many cruise lines give 5% off for B2B for each segment (and not OBC).

Mine was denied also but was expecting this as my TA gave me extra OBC and I presume this was part of it.

Those that have had theirs denied -- did you get additional (besides the book early promotion) OBC from your discount TA.

So, another day on cruise critic and another day of complaints / criticisms of Azamara pricing matters. There are very rarely any complaints, rather plaudits, concerning the on-board eexperience (other than disappearing harpists, singers, dancers, pianists and guitarists). So, most contributors to CC are evidently happy repeat AZamara guests.

Since the refits and now extra acquisition, Azamara has been doing nothing but generate badwill to its cruise critic client base over pricing and erosion of benefits. Trying to recoup capital expenditure in the shortest possible time is working well isn't it. As more and more disillusioned LCV members move elsewhere, perhaps Az will get the message but I'm not really hopeful.

We found out the hard way that B2B on board credit is not applied to cruises booked through an Agency at a lower price than offered by booking direct with Azamara.

B2B on board credit is also not applied to cruises booked as a Guarantee, regardless of who they are booked with. Neither is one able to apply for an upgrade on a guarantee booking, as some cruising companions discovered in June this year.

Wow! That is news to me, and quite disappointing, to say the least. That certainly explains why I was denied the benefit. I wonder if Bonnie can confirm this policy?

We found out the hard way that B2B on board credit is not applied to cruises booked through an Agency at a lower price than offered by booking direct with Azamara.

B2B on board credit is also not applied to cruises booked as a Guarantee, regardless of who they are booked with. Neither is one able to apply for an upgrade on a guarantee booking, as some cruising companions discovered in June this year.

That wasn’t the case for us. We have a guarantee cabin for both cruises. We were given the credit on one but not the other.

That wasn’t the case for us. We have a guarantee cabin for both cruises. We were given the credit on one but not the other.

You were very lucky then . . . have you completed the cruises yet?

If you haven't, I hope you don't lose the credit you have on the one cruise!

You were very lucky then . . . have you completed the cruises yet?

If you haven't, I hope you don't lose the credit you have on the one cruise!

Our cruise isn't until January. I have it in writing. Hopefully that will be enough.