Ridiculous new Azamara "Sale"

[rallydave]

Kind of agree either you Bob but, since the number of cruises supposedly in the promotion why for goodness sake are cruises included with no savings at all?

 

To not be disingenuous every cruise listed in the promotion should be discounted and by the specified number of days!

 

Not doing that is the problem and why Azamara cannot be trusted. It is false advertising to list some cruises without a penny of discount when there is no limited language in the promotion

 

Often times advertisers say up when talking about discounts and in those cases zero discount fits the advertising but without the limiting language it is simply wrong!!

 

 

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[travelberlin]

I clicked on Learn More on the Nights on Us promo slide, then scrolled down to the eligible cruise and, finally on the April 20th cruise. Could you consider that date?

 

Do you consider almost $ 8000 for 8 days a good price? This is not even a special itinerary....

[ChucktownSteve]

Do you consider almost $ 8000 for 8 days a good price? This is not even a special itinerary....

 

Yes I do however not for you...but for Azamara. :D

[bob278]

Dave,

 

What you say is absolutely true. But we are consumers and think one way while marketers think an entirely different way.

 

From their perspective, this is a way to entice people to buy using psychology. We don't know what their thinking is, but one assumption (with all the dangers that implies) is that once the sale is over, the price will revert to the higher price without the "free" days. It would have been a nice gesture to include only those cruises where the bottom line is actually less than it was before in the list, but that would take logic which is in very short supply with marketing people.

 

We all need to keep in mind that Cruise Critic, for the most part, is made up of pretty intelligent and experienced cruisers. The many consumers may see the words "sale" and buy without knowing or researching the underlying history. I'm confidant they were the focus of the program.

 

I'm certainly not going to check cruise-by-cruise, but of the examples given here, it's probably close to 50/50 where an individual cruise is actually less expensive. The point of most of my posts here is that this is neither a wonderful across-the-board sale nor a complete bust. If it doesn't generate enough bookings, they can go behind the scenes and reduce the base fare (which is typically how it works).

 

Do you consider almost $ 8000 for 8 days a good price? This is not even a special itinerary....

Well, for a suite on Azamara, less than $500/day per person is in the mid-range of many of their cruises in a suite. They have a pretty good percentage of their cabins booked so plenty of people consider that a good price (or at least a good enough value). It's on the high end of my comfort zone.

 

When we looked at it, it was the second leg of a b2b with the TA. Since we have several friends on both legs, we considered it but couldn't justify the per diem cost. But at nearly $1,200 less than before, it would have taken longer to turn it down. But we've made other plans now so I don't have to even think about it.

[rabin1]

Kind of agree either you Bob but, since the number of cruises supposedly in the promotion why for goodness sake are cruises included with no savings at all?

 

To not be disingenuous every cruise listed in the promotion should be discounted and by the specified number of days!

 

Not doing that is the problem and why Azamara cannot be trusted. It is false advertising to list some cruises without a penny of discount when there is no limited language in the promotion

 

Often times advertisers say up when talking about discounts and in those cases zero discount fits the advertising but without the limiting language it is simply wrong!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Dave

Being in the advertising business I would like to suggest this to all of you complaining about the false advertising which by the way I agree with you. I agree with you but I personally would not do this because I am paying a great rate I am right now over $3000 less than what the cruises are selling for on my sailing.

 

I will probably get some nasty comments about this. However false advertising is illegal. If someone would start and get everyone not happy to join in a class action suit could be filed against Azamara. It would have to to filed in the United States where their corporate office is located which is in Miami.

 

I am really saying this because bottom lime no matter how a passenger complains and is upset you have only a few options: 1. go to another cruise line and not sail Azamara 2. Do as I said and file a class action suit. 3. Accept the pricing as I have done because I am happy.

 

In my humble opinion the answer is their is no answer except what I just said.

 

Kathy

[rallydave]

Dave

Being in the advertising business I would like to suggest this to all of you complaining about the false advertising which by the way I agree with you. I agree with you but I personally would not do this because I am paying a great rate I am right now over $3000 less than what the cruises are selling for on my sailing.

 

I will probably get some nasty comments about this. However false advertising is illegal. If someone would start and get everyone not happy to join in a class action suit could be filed against Azamara. It would have to to filed in the United States where their corporate office is located which is in Miami.

 

I am really saying this because bottom lime no matter how a passenger complains and is upset you have only a few options: 1. go to another cruise line and not sail Azamara 2. Do as I said and file a class action suit. 3. Accept the pricing as I have done because I am happy.

 

In my humble opinion the answer is their is no answer except what I just said.

 

Kathy

 

Thanks for the good words Kathy. No nasty comments from me. Problems are at least three fold. First, don't believe most if not all cruise lines are actually based in countries other than the US just like their ships so would take a law suit in another country; then is there a false advertising law in that other country. Next would be to find a law firm that would take this case.

 

I do know that other cruise lines rely on false advertising like buy one, get the second person free or my favorite, free unlimited shore excursions when more and more are extra cost and for the ones that ar "free" they are actually included and are limited in many ports. Suing a cruise line is not much different than suing the government which is almost impossible.

 

Nice idea but, implausible Unfortunately more and more cruise lines are resorting to this type of advertising and enough people are being attracted so no harm, no foul except for those of us who understand the big picture. Also, on some cruise lines, there are extremely vocal cheerleaders who rationalize the false statements. And, understand your position, sometimes we just have to vote with our wallets..

[AllisonJames]

I'm glad I started this thread and I stand by my comments that on the two cruises I am tracking it is no "sale." Congratulations to those who found differently, you are the lucky ones. I also recognize that everyone has their own "sweet spot" on prices. For us on Azamara it is $750 per couple for a Veranda stateroom, a price we paid for our upcoming Baltic cruise (along with $850 in onboard credit) so we were quite pleased and this represented "value" to us. For us, if we are looking at $1,000 per night, we are looking at Seabourn or Silversea. To each his or her own!

[hiccups]

I hadn't been pricing any Azamara cruises for next year, because we never plan that far ahead :) Out of curiosity from this thread, because we're doing one the PerryGolf cruises this year, I checked their website because they have basic pricing listed. Based on those prices, the 2018 cruises that have the PerryGolf option are lower under this promotion. I was surprised to see the 2018 British Open cruise, which is very close to this year's itinerary, is about $750 less PP than what we paid for this year's cruise for an OV cabin. Of course, there were no promotions going on when we booked last September, and I checked weekly until our final payment and prices never budged.

 

We weren't going to consider Azamara again because I didn't think we received good value for our upcoming trip--we're doing it solely for the golf. Based on the current promotion prices for the 2018 golf cruises, they are a much better value. Provided my husband enjoys the golf, Azamara might be back on our radar.

[the mice]

We weren't going to consider Azamara again because I didn't think we received good value for our upcoming trip--we're doing it solely for the golf. Based on the current promotion prices for the 2018 golf cruises, they are a much better value. Provided my husband enjoys the golf, Azamara might be back on our radar.

 

The Aug 8, 2018 11 Night Romantic Baltic Copenhagen-Stockholm cruise on which I got the $2728 price drop for a cat 4 OV is a Perry Golf cruise. We are not golfers, but really love this itinerary, esp. having 3 full days in St. Petersburg instead of the usual 2.

[ABoatNerd]

Compliments on the observations and analysis.

 

I was checking into CC and noticed this thread.

 

Cruise line pricing, marketing tactics, downgrading of product offering, combined with the OBC approach, inclusive pricing, ended our cruising. Was a dedicated Celebrity patron before that.

 

We now do all our cruising only on CC.

 

Any company will push pricing to their advantage when there are willing consumers who will pay - seems today there are many consumers quite willing to purchase the cruise product.

 

Interesting that so many of you knowledgeable cruise purchasers have indicated price ceiling sensitivity - good for you.

 

Do not be taken for granted - all companies in every sector depend upon the "obedient consumer" to keep "afloat" and to make more profit.

 

Happy sailing

[marinaro44]

Do not be taken for granted - all companies in every sector depend upon the "obedient consumer" to keep "afloat" and to make more profit.

I'm sorry to say I find this offensive. People look at the price of something and decide if the product or service is worth that price to them. Those that don't think so spend their money elsewhere or not at all. Those that do think the product or service is worth it to them will continue to purchase it. Doing so does not in any way make them an "obedient consumer."

 

Profit is what businesses do or they no longer remain businesses. I would be very surprised if Azamara's bottom-line profitability comes anywhere close to pharmaceutical companies, petroleum companies, personal technology companies, etc.

[ABoatNerd]

I'm sorry to say I find this offensive. People look at the price of something and decide if the product or service is worth that price to them. Those that don't think so spend their money elsewhere or not at all. Those that do think the product or service is worth it to them will continue to purchase it. Doing so does not in any way make them an "obedient consumer."

 

Profit is what businesses do or they no longer remain businesses. I would be very surprised if Azamara's bottom-line profitability comes anywhere close to pharmaceutical companies, petroleum companies, personal technology companies, etc.

 

Thank you for your analysis and you obviously are a discerning purchaser.

 

Not everyone is. Got to love the modern duo of marketing and bean counters - driving increasing profitability while reducing the product offering and people still repeatedly purchase fully aware they are getting less value.

 

This scenario is what is causing many of the posts on CC about the declining value proposition in cruising.

 

Time will tell if this is sustainable.

 

Sail on!

[bob278]

Thank you for your analysis and you obviously are a discerning purchaser.

 

Not everyone is. Got to love the modern duo of marketing and bean counters - driving increasing profitability while reducing the product offering and people still repeatedly purchase fully aware they are getting less value.

 

This scenario is what is causing many of the posts on CC about the declining value proposition in cruising.

 

Time will tell if this is sustainable.

 

Sail on!

That statement doesn't exactly make sense in the context of this thread.

 

Posters here have shown themselves to be very aware and have said in many ways that the do recognize diminishing value (when it occurs) and have a threshold where they won't buy the product.

 

I think there are very few people who "repeatedly purchase fully aware they are getting less value". Sure, there are stupid people in this world but not too many of them have the resources to cruise and knowingly overpay.

[marinaro44]

That statement doesn't exactly make sense in the context of this thread.

 

Posters here have shown themselves to be very aware and have said in many ways that the do recognize diminishing value (when it occurs) and have a threshold where they won't buy the product.

 

I think there are very few people who "repeatedly purchase fully aware they are getting less value". Sure, there are stupid people in this world but not too many of them have the resources to cruise and knowingly overpay.

We're wasting our keystrokes here, Bob.

[bob278]

We're wasting our keystrokes here, Bob.

I take my fun where I find it. :D

[bwindi]

Has anyone in the UK seen lower prices. Everything I look at is £1-2k higher than a few months ago

 

I booked a Baltic cruise June 2018 and have been keeping an eye on the price. I have previously booked with Princess and have taken advantage of price drops to upgrade the cabin. However I noticed that the price for the AZ cruise rose by £1k but then following the free nights promotion has dropped considerably. If I had booked now I would be able to get an ocean view for the price of my current inside. I contacted the TA to discuss this and was advised that AZ were stating this promotion was just for new customers. I reminded the TA of the promise on their website for this cruise which stated "free upgrades if price decreases". Well I think I've put the cat amongst the pigeons and I am still awaiting a reply from the TA. They have also now removed this promise from their website. Not having booked AZ before can I ask what other peoples experiences have been in respect of price drops.

[takemewithyou]

Let me preface this to say we are in USA.

I checked our prices for the 3 cruises we have booked...all 3 are listed in this new promotion.

One has only gone up and up since booking.

The other 2, have dropped significantly.

Today I contacted the TA and we have saved over $3500!!!

So, thank you, Azamara!!