Misleading pricing or am I stupid

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Dear customer,

the prices and/or availability for some of the cruises you are watching have changed. You can find information on how to manage these alerts at the bottom of this message.

* M/S Azamara Journey: 15 days Caribbean from/to Miami (FL), 21/12/2018 *

-> Voyage description:

Prices per person for occupancy of 2 persons

Current changes for this cruise:

- Cat. CO........new price: 17504 EUR (instead of 10913 EUR); continously sold out

- Cat. CW........new price: 18384 EUR (instead of 11833 EUR); continously sold out

- Cat. N1........new price: 13644 EUR (instead of 9399 EUR)

- Cat. N2........new price: 13284 EUR (instead of 9219 EUR)

- Cat. SP........new price: 16344 EUR (instead of 10263 EUR); continously sold out

- Cat. V1........new price: 11524 EUR (instead of 5101 EUR)

- Cat. V2........new price: 11344 EUR (instead of 5101 EUR)

- Cat. V3........new price: 11164 EUR (instead of 5101 EUR)

- Cat. VX........new price: 12224 EUR (instead of 7293 EUR)

Our advice: Availabilities can change every minute. By clicking on the button "Availability" on the page with the voyage description, you can check the up to date availability directly in the cruise line's reservation system.

I know azamara play the game but do they think we are COMPLETELY STUPID

Owners suite WAS 11883 euros each 23766 now 18834 plus 2nd at 50% now 28251.

VX was 7293*2 =14856 now 12244 plus 2nd at 50% 18346

Or perhaps it is just me!!!!???

If the pricing isn't a computer glitch then it is certainly interesting. Glad I made my 2018 reservations some time ago

It looks like yet another attempt to fool people into thinking that they are getting a bargain.

Sadly, I think many of us came to that conclusion at the LCV event yesterday.

However the prices quoted above are such a huge difference that I really think it must be a computer glitch? If not .....!

Those aren’t the prices on the UK Azamara site. They are quite a bit less total than you’ve quoted above:

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I’m wondering about the effect of the higher prices on AZ. I have now received three different notifications from an unmentionable US travel agent who has AZ Cuba cruises on offer in a full package (domestic air, hotel, and cruise) which amounts to a huge discount off the published AZ price.

I’m wondering about the effect of the higher prices on AZ. I have now received three different notifications from an unmentionable US travel agent who has AZ Cuba cruises on offer in a full package (domestic air, hotel, and cruise) which amounts to a huge discount off the published AZ price.

Searching, but I can not seem to finds these deals online.

I’m wondering about the effect of the higher prices on AZ. I have now received three different notifications from an unmentionable US travel agent who has AZ Cuba cruises on offer in a full package (domestic air, hotel, and cruise) which amounts to a huge discount off the published AZ price.

As somebody from Azamara said to me, as long as they sell, they could charge the higher prices...

As somebody from Azamara said to me, as long as they sell, thefy could charge the higher prices...

Not surprising, I watched a documentary about Concorde last night. When it was operating at a loss, the specialist division that was set up with the target to make it profitable discovered that the people travelling didn’t know how much they were paying for seats as they were mostly corporate types. When asked what they thought they were paying, it was much higher, so BA put the prices up accordingly and went into profit with no loss of custom!

I have a 2019 Pursuit cruise on hold. I'm not sure about confirming yet because the per day rate is so high....in Crystal territory. Is it safe to assume that if there is a future sale on these 2019 cruises that they will roughly be the same price as today? I will not book at this price for Azamara.

I have a 2019 Pursuit cruise on hold. I'm not sure about confirming yet because the per day rate is so high....in Crystal territory. Is it safe to assume that if there is a future sale on these 2019 cruises that they will roughly be the same price as today? I will not book at this price for Azamara.

I think there is no guarantee there will be a real drop in prices sometime in the future. If they can fill the ship at the higher price - and they are saying the sales are very strong - then no real price drops will be seen - possibly even price increases could arise

Searching, but I can not seem to finds these deals online.

These offers come from an email list maintained by the Travel agent. They are not available on line.

These offers come from an email list maintained by the Travel agent. They are not available on line.

I wonder why they aren’t available on the travel agency web site?

Are certain agents getting special deals available only to special clients?

I wonder why they aren’t available on the travel agency web site?

Are certain agents getting special deals available only to special clients?

This person isn’t a traditional travel agent. He gets group cruise rates, adds airfare, hotel, sometimes excursions and then fills the spots via his very large email data base. We found out about him when a large group of his clients were booked on a Celebrity Transatlantic cruise with us a few years ago, He doesn’t use on line bookings as far as I know. He has had many more upscale cruises this year than usual including Azamara, Seabourn, and Crystal in addition to his usual mass market cruises. This is one way that cruise lines fill empty cabins without changing their published rates.

This person isn’t a traditional travel agent. He gets group cruise rates, adds airfare, hotel, sometimes excursions and then fills the spots via his very large email data base. We found out about him when a large group of his clients were booked on a Celebrity Transatlantic cruise with us a few years ago, He doesn’t use on line bookings as far as I know. He has had many more upscale cruises this year than usual including Azamara, Seabourn, and Crystal in addition to his usual mass market cruises. This is one way that cruise lines fill empty cabins without changing their published rates.

Never heard of this before.

I wonder if this is considered a cruise consolidator?

This may be what Azamara is doing.....working under the table with consolidators to fill their empty cabins.

Never heard of this before.

I wonder if this is considered a cruise consolidator?

This may be what Azamara is doing.....working under the table with consolidators to fill their empty cabins.

This bundling of packages is exactly how much of the UK market works. The online companies do not use Azamara air all the time, they buy cruises, then package up flights, pre cruise hotel and transfers and the purchaser buys the bundle with little option to change any component. They also sometimes include a land excursion in the bundle. The cruise line sets conditions on how the bundle is marketed. One thing, I notices was the deposits through these people are much higher than booking through the cruise line

This bundling of packages is exactly how much of the UK market works. The online companies do not use Azamara air all the time, they buy cruises, then package up flights, pre cruise hotel and transfers and the purchaser buys the bundle with little option to change any component. They also sometimes include a land excursion in the bundle. The cruise line sets conditions on how the bundle is marketed. One thing, I notices was the deposits through these people are much higher than booking through the cruise line

With this particular one, you have to pay in full at the time of booking.

It’s difficult sometimes to ascertain the published cruise price, because the cruise appears fully booked on AZ. I happened to be following one AZ cruise, eventually received an email from the agent that was selling it for the same price as I had recently seen on the AZ website, BUT it included airfare (into Singapore and out of Hong Kong, I think it was) from the US, plus two hotel nights and transfers.

This bundling of packages is exactly how much of the UK market works. The online companies do not use Azamara air all the time, they buy cruises, then package up flights, pre cruise hotel and transfers and the purchaser buys the bundle with little option to change any component. They also sometimes include a land excursion in the bundle. The cruise line sets conditions on how the bundle is marketed. One thing, I notices was the deposits through these people are much higher than booking through the cruise line

I have heard of this in the UK market, but it isn’t typically done this way in the USA. It is interesting that certain individuals are doing this. We receive e mails from some very large travel agencies. I have never seen these type of offers for Azamara.

With this particular one, you have to pay in full at the time of booking.

 

It’s difficult sometimes to ascertain the published cruise price, because the cruise appears fully booked on AZ. I happened to be following one AZ cruise, eventually received an email from the agent that was selling it for the same price as I had recently seen on the AZ website, BUT it included airfare (into Singapore and out of Hong Kong, I think it was) from the US, plus two hotel nights and transfers.

Some agencies are allowed blocks of rooms.

Wonder if this is what was done?

All rooms appeared to be booked, but this agency had a block of rooms to offer with packages.

Some agencies are allowed blocks of rooms.

Wonder if this is what was done?

All rooms appeared to be booked, but this agency had a block of rooms to offer with packages.

I’ve often seen Big Box travel offers with the same pool of rooms available as on the cruise line website (but with different prices). However, when particular cabins are only available via the third party booking, i’ve wondered if those are handled differently.

I think there is no guarantee there will be a real drop in prices sometime in the future. If they can fill the ship at the higher price - and they are saying the sales are very strong - then no real price drops will be seen - possibly even price increases could arise

I will wait and see for 2019, if people are happy to book at current prices then I say good luck to them.

If I don't end up on Azamara there are plenty of other fish in the sea.