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  1. I think I read that Azamara were going to allow OBC to be used to purchase shore excursions, and although I was told that this was scheduled to be implemented in the third quarter of 2017, nothing has happened.
    We have accumulated a considerable OBC for cruise in May 2018 - booked in February 2017!! - but have been unable to use any of this for the shore excursions. Instead we have paid for these advance, have to cancel them asap on embarkation, and simultaneously re-book using the OBC!!
    Any news on this, and if so, anything we can do??
  2. We also wanted to use a part of this OBC to enjoy one night at chef's table but this have proved impossible to do in advance. We are in a suite, so we don't need to purchase an upgrade to specialty dining. Can this be addressed?

Please note that I rang customer services.

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I have a different question about the workaround. I welcome that there is now an accepted workaround but feel UK guests are at a disadvantage when using it.

 

The current system means that UK guests incur quite a financial penalty through no fault of their own. The excursions conversion rate on the website for my upcoming cruises is currently priced at around $1.21 to the $ whereas today on my fee free credit card I could enjoy a rate of $1.39 if paying in $. T

he refund is credited back to my onboard account and, given the number of excursions being booked, some of it will eventually find its way back as a credit to my card as I cannot spend all that amount elsewhere onboard. At that stage, my return is processed at $1.42 to £ so quite a hidden cost here in using a workaround I really should not need to,

Is there no way round this penalty which our US cousins are not having to pay? (I will accept paying in advance and a refund as being my small price for the workaround).

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Same applies to us. I cannot recall whether we paid for our excursions in Euros or in Sterling, but either way, it was certainly not in USD. For us, the (seemingly unfair) exchange rate difference generated by the Azamara process could be costing us as much as £200!!

Of course it could be argued that this is the price we pay for having the knowledge that we are not going to miss out on any of the excursions, but...

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Hi everyone,

 

The digital developments that were due to allow us to facilitate OBC for shore excursions online were scheduled to occur in the second half of 2017.

 

As some of you may have read, RCCL announced a far reaching digital transformation initiative called 'Excalibur' in the Autumn of 2017. This is really exciting for all of the brands and as a result, Azamara will move to a new shore excursion platform that will allow us to facilitate OBC for shore excursions and do much much more.

 

Azamara will be the beneficiary of outputs from this initiative during 2018.

 

Many thanks,

 

Richard

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Thanks for the explanation. I think we will all look forward to being able to use OBC straightforwardly to book Shore Excursions ahead of the cruise. Let’s hope it happens earlier in 2018, rather than later - but I won’t hold my breath as experience in a previous life tells me that digital projects always take much longer than expected!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am so glad to hear that Azamara is updating this aspect Richard. Any more news on a date as to when we will be able to use OBC to prebook shore excursions in advance? My b2b cruises are June 6 and 16 and I would love to have all of that sorted before I fly from Australia. Fingers crossed you are able to get it up and running soon. It will be a great option for many of us.

 

Lou Kitzelman

 

 

Hi everyone,

 

The digital developments that were due to allow us to facilitate OBC for shore excursions online were scheduled to occur in the second half of 2017.

 

As some of you may have read, RCCL announced a far reaching digital transformation initiative called 'Excalibur' in the Autumn of 2017. This is really exciting for all of the brands and as a result, Azamara will move to a new shore excursion platform that will allow us to facilitate OBC for shore excursions and do much much more.

 

Azamara will be the beneficiary of outputs from this initiative during 2018.

 

Many thanks,

 

Richard

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I am so glad to hear that Azamara is updating this aspect Richard. Any more news on a date as to when we will be able to use OBC to prebook shore excursions in advance? My b2b cruises are June 6 and 16 and I would love to have all of that sorted before I fly from Australia. Fingers crossed you are able to get it up and running soon. It will be a great option for many of us.

 

Lou Kitzelman

 

We're on the Quest transatlantic April 7th. Early this month I asked an Azamara rep about using OBC for shorex booked prior to embarkation. I was told this will not be available in April. A big slip from the December '17 date I was told last fall!

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