Richard Twynam's Team

[crinkly cruiser]

May I take this opportunity to encourage any UK Az cruisers who encounter the customary ‘no-can do’ attitude of the Az Kansas operation, to get in touch with Richard Twynam and his team at their corporate head office in Weybridge.

Living on the Isle of Man, we try to avoid the inconvenience of having to spend extra days on the mainland in order to ensure that we can make all our connections. Having booked our June Baltic fly/cruise on the Journey, our TA attempted to re-arrange Az’s proposed flights to allow suitable connections to the IoM, these being; out to Stockholm from Manchester and returning from Oslo into Dublin. He forwarded this brief summary of Az Kansas eventual response.

1.      They can’t book flights which operate into Dublin, so it’s not possible for them to book out of Manchester and into Dublin.  They said this was due to them not having a contract for this.

2.      They also don’t have a contract for booking the SAS Plus product or Business Class.

3.      It is possible for Azamara to book your outward flight to Stockholm but for you to book your own inbound flight, although there is no reduction in cost.

Subsequent to this, they informed our TA that they could up-grade us to SAS Plus (Business class not being available on these flights), but at an additional cost of £362.64 per person (on SAS’s web page, this up-grade costs £54/person!)

I contacted Richard Twynam who within a few days, had sorted out every aspect of our flights exactly in line with what we wanted, including the up-grades at £54!

This forum contains numerous posting relating to the complications encountered when attempting to reach satisfactory conclusions to various issues with Az’s shore-side teams, but I trust that the above might prompt UK based cruisers experiencing difficulties, to contact Richard Twynam rtwynam@azamara.com, we feel sure that he and his team will be only too happy to try to bring a satisfactory conclusion to your concerns.

[alfredo1]

We second that. The UK team are fabulous, very knowledgable and very pleasant to talk to, the complete antithesis of the Azamara operation in Central America!!

Take note Azamara.

[uktog]

I agree too.  I just sometimes feel reticent to bother them about things that US operation should be handling when they have a busy enough workload doing what they are supposed to be doing.  So i start on the official route but in relation to getting our end of cruise accounts that I mentioned on another post, I did after two back and forwards with the USA did copy in the London team on the third exchange - and of course the problem got solved immediately - the UK team seem to have the same attention to detail as onboard Journey and Quest.

 

I believe there is no Guatemala operation anymore and they are still transitioning to Wichita so hopefully the UK team can  continue to highlight what good practice looks like to the new team.  

[malcliz]

I agree Richard and his team are brilliant. They are so helpful in sorting out any issues we have and very responsive to any queries.  What a great team they are!

[Grandma Cruising]

Another vote for the UK team from me.

[Mrs Miggins]

Richard Twynam's team in the UK are excellent.  They are friendly and, even more importantly, extremely efficient.   I believe  that the percentage of U K repeat clients is increasing and I am sure that the UK team can be proud of their invaluable input.

 

I did not know that the Guatemala operation is moving back to the US.   I have had difficulties  with ''Head Office" on several occasions but once Richard's team intervened the problems were solved immediately.

 

Looking forward to another lovely cruise at the end of May, booked after our tour of Pursuit last year.  Richard was the tour leader for our group and his genuine enthusiasm and skill in promoting the onboard experience persuaded us to book again.

[crinkly cruiser]

I agree with UK Tog, one should always go through Kansas first, indeed we have to do so, since as far as I am aware that is the only channel through which we can book an Azamara cruise.

Our understanding of the present situation is that Guatemala is still being used to handle the flight bookings. When our TA rang Barbie in Kansas, he was told that her Azamara reservations team were operating within the Celebrity head office building. However, after a 40-minute phone call, she suggested that he should await a ring back from her because Guatemala still handles all aspects of the flights; this took some time because the Kansas/Guatemala conduit is via reciprocal emails!

In an ideal world Richard's team would be augmented to the required strength and handed the task of completing all aspects of UK and Ireland client’s reservations. Not an unreasonable suggestion given that as Richard states, 25% of Azamara’s clients come from our area. Ref https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uaOTZT2H24

We can now look forward to our Baltic cruise, and to our Dubai-Mumbai Christmas cruise on the Quest, a voyage for which our timescales allow us to book our Emirates flights independently, Hallelujah! 🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️

[jo-b]

I actually approached Mr Twynam via the email address given on the 22nd January as so many people have praised him and his team for their prompt response. But to date I have had not even an acknowledgement. Is this usual

[crinkly cruiser]

Hi Jo-b. No, that is not usual, although he did tell me that he has recently been spending some time with the CEO Larry Pimental. I would re-send the email.

 

[uktog]

1 hour ago, jo-b said:

I actually approached Mr Twynam via the email address given on the 22nd January as so many people have praised him and his team for their prompt response. But to date I have had not even an acknowledgement. Is this usual

Sometimes as with all organisations for no apparent reason things go into spam/junk boxes.  It is unlike them not to respond though the workload must be getting crazy at times.  I would resend.

[jo-b]

Thanks both I will resend 

[excitedofharpenden]

Another positive vote for Richard's team in the UK. They have always been great to deal with and responsive to requests. 

 

Phil