That's It For Azamara

[BBMacLaird]

We are on Journey now, and had OBC as part of our purchased More to Love package. We had no problem booking tours onboard for each of our ports (hope none are cancelled!).

 

 

Hi Rabo, I'm glad to hear you had no difficulty booking the tours of your choice using your OBC. Thanks for letting us know :)

[BBMacLaird]

I'll address the issues noted in this thread since we'd hate to lose any of you due to unhappiness with our tour offerings!

 

1) Tour time/date/title/description inaccuracies: Fixing inaccuracies in our tour offerings is a top-priority for us. We are in the midst of a comprehensive audit and a reshuffling of resources to facilitate this. In some cases we must consult with the local tour operator to make sure descriptions are still accurate, or even to redesign a tour to better suit our Azamara guests. But please be assured we are working on this and have dedicated resources to this issue.

2) Tour Quality & Tours being cancelled: We are addressing this in a multi-faceted manner...first of all we now have in-house dedicated staff (versus shared-with-our-sister-lines tour staff) selecting&designing the tours we will offer on each particular voyage. Second, in almost all cases we are limiting the number of tour participants to 20-25, versus 35-40 as is common in the industry. Third, we are looking to limit the number of tours offered in each port, thereby assuring they should all operate as planned...aka, much fewer cancellations!

3) Tour pricing: We have not done an overhaul of our tour pricing in a few years. Some individual tours have seen a price increase due to an operational increase from our tour operator but these have been on a case-by-case basis.

There are so many factors involved with pricing tours, even more so when selling them to a finite audience (e.g., the complement of guests on a particular cruise, of which only a percentage is going to be interested in buying in any given port. We realize many guests make private tour plans in a port, or simply want to walk around, or perhaps want to stay aboard and have the ship to themselves!) And when all is said & done, the reality is that tour prices like cruise prices, like all prices, go up over time.

 

I hope I've answered your questions. Please know that with our new Cruise Global, Connect Local all the issues you're discussing are all being addressed internally. As I said at the beginning, we'd hate to lose any one of you because you're unhappy with our tour offerings. We want to make you happy!

[uktog]

Thank you Bonnie.

That answers some of the questions- for me my "confusion" came because I had assumed it was like the work based launches I'm used to - you put right then come to market with the launch. I now realise Azamara has gone for the more risky reverse approach.

Not wanting to put people under pressure but when will we have the new look products in place for example for cruises between April and September?

Whilst I might want to try and give Azamara the benefit of the doubt and try some new look excursions as I've credits I don't want to lose the opportunity to source better independent operators by waiting too long.

Any idea?

Edited February 22, 2017 by uktog

[km32937]

Thank you Bonnie. Any word when OBC can be used to book excursions prior to sailing. I know it is 2017 but any word on a more specific date?

[Eboracum_d]

An excellent response from Azamara which explains why such a high percentage of its passengers are repeat cruisers.

 

 

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[nordski]

Appreciate your comments, Bonnie, and hope these changes move the ball forward to the satisfaction of most.

 

One other suggestion:

 

Is it possible to decide on the cancellation of some Land Discoveries at an earlier date than what seems to be the present policy? I would be thinking up to a week before embarkation since, if one needs to change a tour, doing so online is closed several days prior to the beginning of the cruise.

 

Two reasons for this suggestion:

 

1/ As the OP's post hinted, the cancellation of tours must be a difficult issue for the Land Discoveries staff on board. Standing near the counter, it's not unusual to hear passengers vehemently take the officers to task over concerns of far less significance. I often marvel at their patience. An earlier cancellation might well help to lessen the tension at that desk and increase the happiness of all.

 

2/ I would imagine the cancellation problem primarily affects smaller, more expensive tours. Is there much likelihood that these tours will fill once the ship is underway? I doubt it, but the staff at Miami should know.

 

Clearly, this change would only make sense once OBC can be used for Land Discoveries via the website.

 

Moving beyond my "one other suggestion" would it be helpful if passengers could make two selections, suitably ranked? Would that help decide on the appropriate decision re: cancellations or would that simply prove too cumbersome?

 

Thanks for considering this.

[florisdekort]

Is it possible to decide on the cancellation of some Land Discoveries at an earlier date than what seems to be the present policy? I would be thinking up to a week before embarkation since, if one needs to change a tour, doing so online is closed several days prior to the beginning of the cruise.

 

A change like that would undoubtedly come with a matching restriction of guest cancellation deadlines (now 48 hours from memory). It would not be a smart business decision for Azamara to guarantee tours while guests can still cancel. If that's the case, I wouldn't support your suggestion and prefer Azamara to leave things as they are.

 

Floris

[uktog]

I wish when OBC can be used before boarding to book land Discoveries that it could have the same back end system as some independent provider has ( and as most training management systems have)

You see a figure for the maximum and minimum guests for each trip and either a numbered tally or as some have a red amber green indicator where green is the trip will run and red indicates risk of cancellations.

At least guests can then make informed decisions about booking vs alternative arrangements.

[Riocca]

It's good to hear that Azamara are working hard for a solution to the current Land Discoveries problems, although we do agree with UKTog that it may have been better to have the issues resolved before the recent Destination Immersion launch.

 

However we still do have a major concern, we have booked for Journey's 2018 Monaco GP voyage specifically because it is in Monaco for the Saturday and Sunday of the Grand Prix. Because this is the focal point of the trip we have also booked Azamara's 2 Day Grand Prix experience, yes we could do it cheaper ourselves but whichever way it's an expensive event and should we for whatever reason not reach Monaco at least Azamara would refund the cost. Our major concern is that should the Land excursion be cancelled either shortly before or when we board the whole trip would be wasted as it would be nearly impossible to get good tickets at short notice.

This cruise is part of Journey's World Cruise so there will be passengers who have no interest in the GP in addition post Brexit the cost to UK customers for the LD trip has risen by over £200. Maybe Bonnie would like to comment on this specific event and put our minds at ease?

 

As an aside I was amused at Azamara's new description of this excursion which is "Celebrate Local, Cruise Global" as this is without doubt one of the biggest international motor sports events in the calender.

[nordski]

A change like that would undoubtedly come with a matching restriction of guest cancellation deadlines (now 48 hours from memory). It would not be a smart business decision for Azamara to guarantee tours while guests can still cancel. If that's the case, I wouldn't support your suggestion and prefer Azamara to leave things as they are. Floris

 

Excellent point, Yes I'm presupposing a committment by both parties. And perhaps it makes matters worse that I believe that it's roughly a 24 hour deadline for a cruiser to cancel.

 

Having never encountered a Land Discoveries cancellation, I keep wondering if it's the more esoteric offerings that are subject to this problem. Thus my suggestion may be far too heavy a hammer indeed to address the issue.

[florisdekort]

This cruise is part of Journey's World Cruise so there will be passengers who have no interest in the GP in addition post Brexit the cost to UK customers for the LD trip has risen by over £200. Maybe Bonnie would like to comment on this specific event and put our minds at ease?

 

 

Azamara's F1 cruise has run for many years and has always reached Monaco. (This year the ship is chartered out however.) I have taken this mini cruise (usually it's only 4 or 5 nights) 3 times as I love the ship as a floating hotel during race weekend. I would *never* book Azamara's F1 Land Discovery however. You pay $1100+ for $300 tickets and all you get is someone walking you from the tender drop off point to your seats plus a rain poncho and seating pillow that retail for $5 at Walgreens.

 

To ease your concern: Azamara will not cancel this tour last minute as in that scenario it's stuck with non-refundable F1 tickets it needs to purchase in advance. They need this tour to run to prevent an expensive write off.

 

See you on the ship and at the race - I'm on the World Journey next year.

 

Cheers,

Floris

 

 

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[Riocca]

Azamara's F1 cruise has run for many years and has always reached Monaco. (This year the ship is chartered out however.) I have taken this mini cruise (usually it's only 4 or 5 nights) 3 times as I love the ship as a floating hotel during race weekend. I would *never* book Azamara's F1 Land Discovery however. You pay $1100+ for $300 tickets and all you get is someone walking you from the tender drop off point to your seats plus a rain poncho and seating pillow that retail for $5 at Walgreens. To ease your concern: Azamara will not cancel this tour last minute as in that scenario it's stuck with non-refundable F1 tickets it needs to purchase in advance. They need this tour to run to prevent an expensive write off.

 

See you on the ship and at the race - I'm on the World Journey next year.

 

Cheers,

Floris

 

 

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Thank you for the update, the two day packages we were looking at were about £200 cheaper than Azamara based on 2016 prices, once 2018 is on sale I think we may well review our options,

The World Cruise should be an interesting voyage, we have done one at 101 days a good few years ago and it was a great experience and one we will never forget. These days there is too much going on within our families to contemplate another.

Looking forward to meeting you onboard 2018 will come round all too soon.

[BBMacLaird]

Thank you Bonnie. Any word when OBC can be used to book excursions prior to sailing. I know it is 2017 but any word on a more specific date?

 

 

I haven't heard yet. Hopefully soon (yn)

[BBMacLaird]

I wish when OBC can be used before boarding to book land Discoveries that it could have the same back end system as some independent provider has ( and as most training management systems have)

You see a figure for the maximum and minimum guests for each trip and either a numbered tally or as some have a red amber green indicator where green is the trip will run and red indicates risk of cancellations.

At least guests can then make informed decisions about booking vs alternative arrangements.

 

 

Let's not go crazy here! I too would love some type of graphic or gauge but realistically we first must get the early-booking w/OBC functional!

[BBMacLaird]

Thank you Bonnie.

That answers some of the questions- for me my "confusion" came because I had assumed it was like the work based launches I'm used to - you put right then come to market with the launch. I now realise Azamara has gone for the more risky reverse approach.

Not wanting to put people under pressure but when will we have the new look products in place for example for cruises between April and September?

Whilst I might want to try and give Azamara the benefit of the doubt and try some new look excursions as I've credits I don't want to lose the opportunity to source better independent operators by waiting too long.

Any idea?

 

 

Hi uktog...I'm pretty sure we didn't intentionally go for "the more risky reverse approach" :eek: but I know the in-house team is working through the fixes quite diligently.

I've not heard when we can expect corrections to be published, but I'm going to assume they are prioritizing the soonest departures first, so April should be soon.

Do let me know when you see them...I don't actively track our tour offerings on the various voyages.

[critterchick]

We will be departing. We start in Venice on Oct 4th and doing a b2b that ends in Barcelona.

 

 

We are on the same cruises, but my invoice says October 3. Although we overnight in Venice, so you are correct that we don't depart until the 4th.;)

[uktog]

Let's not go crazy here! I too would love some type of graphic or gauge but realistically we first must get the early-booking w/OBC functional!

 

 

Not crazy but same functionality as hotel and airline websites use its out there and used a lot and people expect it more and more. Trouble with IT if you take the one step at a time approach you limit your later options by decisions taken earlier.

[beachseeker]

We are on the same cruises, but my invoice says October 3. Although we overnight in Venice, so you are correct that we don't depart until the 4th.;)

 

 

Sorry, about the confusion. Yes, we board the 3rd and depart the 4th. When we originally looked at this cruise it did start on the 4th and it was extended by 1 day. The roll call still has the 4th in the title.

[travelberlin]

I think the problem is now we have lost our price discount for back to back cruises and had this replaced with OBC and we forgo access to later price drops in return for land discoveries credit we can be sitting on a significant sum we can only use for excursions.

I totally agree in many parts of the world DIY is the way to go but when you feel you have a $value to spend with Azamara could have given you in other ways including a small price reduction as they used to do it stings.

 

 

I think you are right. It would be better also for us to have the discounts back than apparently plenty of OBC, which we can not really use. The shops do not have a large offer and the shore excursions who interest us can be cancelled because other people might not be interested. The products in the shops and the shore excursions are also quite overpriced and even if we buy them with OBC we still are price conscious. At the end what looks like good value because of OBC, it is not really so, because the purchasing power of the OBC diminish due to the overpriced products and shore excursions offered on board.

[marinaro44]

I'll address the issues noted in this thread since we'd hate to lose any of you due to unhappiness with our tour offerings!

 

1) Tour time/date/title/description inaccuracies: Fixing inaccuracies in our tour offerings is a top-priority for us. We are in the midst of a comprehensive audit and a reshuffling of resources to facilitate this. In some cases we must consult with the local tour operator to make sure descriptions are still accurate, or even to redesign a tour to better suit our Azamara guests. But please be assured we are working on this and have dedicated resources to this issue.

One more question on tour descriptions: Occasionally, a tour will be said to have a restriction. For example, the Carcassone tour on Journey's September 16 sailing says you can't weigh more than 260 pounds. A year ago a tour in Central America (I think) had a height restriction (over six-foot-something not allowed). But no explanation was given for why these restrictions were there.

 

If someone weighed 245 pounds, he or she might want to know why there was a 260 pound restriction. A 2000-year-old rope bridge over a 500-foot deep gorge?:eek: Seems to me explanations in such cases should be given so passengers would know why they are being excluded, and what the issues are that are requiring the restrictions.

 

[i am naturally curious about the Carcassone restriction even though neither of us is anywhere 260 pounds.]