AZ Upgrade Program - NEW - effective 3/12/19!!

[boco010]

We submitted our Upgrade Form for our cruise march 20th 2019 on 31-10-2017. So now I have to apply again? I tried but got this message:

Sorry - looks like you're not eligible for an upgrade at this time.
Please verify that you meet the eligibility requirements listed below and check again within 90 days of your departure.

Does our original request still apply.......

Bit confusing

 

[Grandma Cruising]

3 minutes ago, boco010 said:

We submitted our Upgrade Form for our cruise march 20th 2019 on 31-10-2017. So now I have to apply again? I tried but got this message:

Sorry - looks like you're not eligible for an upgrade at this time.
Please verify that you meet the eligibility requirements listed below and check again within 90 days of your departure.

Does our original request still apply.......

Bit confusing

 

As I understand it your old request no longer applies and you will need to submit a request 89 days before departure.

[boco010]

I tried, but it seems I I not eligible, our cruise is next wednesday:)

[uktog]

4 hours ago, aussie travel bird said:

Agreed, Sorry our loyalty benefits are probably at end of their ‘life’ as we know it with Azamara. As sad as it is it’s probably the time to take up the offer of  a small ship competitor to match our loyalty level for our business. we’ll follow our current bookings through but sadly we’re not getting the feeling that’s our business is appreciated and loyalty is of value anymore. It’s time to speak with our feet.

 

Having said that we always book a cabin we’re happy with , an upgrade is a bonus and the recognition of booking early (and often at a premium price) often only to find price drops but our chances of an upgrade remain intact, not so any more. A sad day for us on the Pursuit today.

Excellent post, our thoughts exactly.  

 

Booking early onboard also secured us another LCV benefit, the discount which we lose if we try and take a price drop.  So with the erosion of any benefits and loyalty now giving us very little recognition we too will be thinking long and hard about where we stand with Azamara for the future.  

 

Since prices went high, we continued to book, partly in the knowledge of a possible sweetener down the line of a higher category room. We always knew it was only possible, but it encouraged us to take a chance and given how much we have given Azamara since 2009 we felt that was fair.

 

We were also comfortable in knowing we could turn down a request and we had to when a bath tub suite was offered, something else we’ve now lost. 

 

Like Lottie we have a significant gap in our travel plans for 2020 which by now based on previous cruising history would have several Azamara cruises scheduled- not this time I’m afraid and this move certainly won’t change that. 

 

Bonnie appreciate you are only the messenger,  we are not shooting you, we’d like to shoot someone else, but then maybe they are shooting themselves in the foot dragging Azamara down the RC corporate route.

The error in the flyer is typical of the RC sloppiness that’s crept in over recent times.

 

We came to Azamara because it was not RC it was not Celebrity it was different, it was excellent, it treated guests as individuals before, during and after every sailing.  That USP has gone. 

[tiggertom]

5 minutes ago, boco010 said:

I tried, but it seems I I not eligible, our cruise is next wednesday:)

Me too, but it doesn’t explain why I am not eligible. As Phil says, there may be no cabins left but surely that should be explained.  Is it me that is not eligible 😪 or are there no cabins left 🧐

[manc]

We are Discoverer Plus and sail in about 10 days. Having submitted a LCV upgrade request when we booked in 2017 I feel as though we are being put in an untenable position. We are b2b and have more trips booked into 2020. There are not that many passengers on a cruise and a computer generated list is not time consuming. The proposed scheme appears to be more complex for admin staff. 

[Grandma Cruising]

6 minutes ago, tiggertom said:

Me too, but it doesn’t explain why I am not eligible. As Phil says, there may be no cabins left but surely that should be explained.  Is it me that is not eligible 😪 or are there no cabins left 🧐

It may be worth an email to LCV to ask them to explain. When I emailed the address on the Upgrade webpage I got a very quick response from an member of the ‘Upgrade Team’.  If you do email them and get an answer could you publish it here as it might help  us all to understand the system better.

[Mrs Miggins]

What a retrograde step.  This appears to be a very down market way of doing business for a supposedly Upmarket operation.

The only upside is that at last I have received an email from Azamara.

It tells me to apply for the upgrade as my cruise departs before June 30th (May 28th)  however typically when I put my details in, like others on this board, I am not eligible.

I would think that the lovely Richard Twynam in the UK is tearing his hair out.

 

[Lottie A]

6 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

What a retrograde step.  This appears to be a very down market way of doing business for a supposedly Upmarket operation.

The only upside is that at last I have received an email from Azamara.

It tells me to apply for the upgrade as my cruise departs before June 30th (May 28th)  however typically when I put my details in, like others on this board, I am not eligible.

I would think that the lovely Richard Twynam in the UK is tearing his hair out.

 

Glad you finally got an Azamara email Pam. However, like the rest of us, I'm sure you are not happy with its contents. See you soon! 

 

 

[Mrs Miggins]

39 minutes ago, Lottie A said:

Glad you finally got an Azamara email Pam. However, like the rest of us, I'm sure you are not happy with its contents. See you soon! 

 

 

Hi Lottie,,

Yes apparently I am not eligible to bid for an unknown cabin, in an area I may not like, for an unspecified amount.  

[Lottie A]

2 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Hi Lottie,,

Yes apparently I am not eligible to bid for an unknown cabin, in an area I may not like, for an unspecified amount.  

That's it exactly. 🙁

 

[excitedofharpenden]

Ok, putting aside receipt of emails etc, because we all know what issues there are here (I’ve not received one), I would like to focus on the way this has been communicated to us.

 

Bonnie, I know you are only the messenger here and I have no wish to shoot you, but please stop with the spin.  You are trying to justify this change with many benefits.  From what I have read and understood, there are none.  Just come out and say it.  Due to the popularity of our upgrade program you are making some changes, not all of which will be popular with our members.

 

I did ask a question of you earlier which you didn’t reply to.  It’s a key one when we truly talk of loyalty.  If an Adventurer level LCV member offers more for an upgrade than a Discoverer Plus member, who gets priority?  

 

As was said earlier by another poster, I too find it a sad day when loyalty does not count so highly with Azamara.  I find it insulting that this change has been spun the way it has here.

 

Phil

 

 

[Bloodaxe]

58 minutes ago, procter said:

Another sloppiness is that in the FAQs for travel agents is that they either do not proof read or else nobody knows how to spell thier  their.

Perhaps they do not know their  ar... e  from their from their elbow.

Their organisational skills should be used in a brewery

 

Do you really think they could organize a party in a brewery (I think you will know what I mean).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Bloodaxe

[WhitlocksEnd]

NO!

 

[nordski]

I’m certain this won’t be a popular view but I never thought the previous programme was particularly transparent as to how upgrade decisions were made. Was loyalty the only/primary determinant? Date of application?

 

In our only experience of an upgrade experience with the old system there was a real issue concerning the timing of our response.

 

There are features of this new policy that may well make it very unattractive. Experience will test that assessment.

 

But I never had a lot of faith in the old one.

[marinaro44]

1 hour ago, excitedofharpenden said:

As was said earlier by another poster, I too find it a sad day when loyalty does not count so highly with Azamara.  I find it insulting that this change has been spun the way it has here.

 

Phil

 

 

"Insulting" is an apt descriptor.  I'd add demeaning.  I won't participate.  This is simply a bad deal in every way.  Larry should be ashamed for having approved this.

[uktog]

51 minutes ago, nordski said:

I’m certain this won’t be a popular view but I never thought the previous programme was particularly transparent as to how upgrade decisions were made. Was loyalty the only/primary determinant? Date of application?

 

In our only experience of an upgrade experience with the old system there was a real issue concerning the timing of our response.

 

There are features of this new policy that may well make it very unattractive. Experience will test that assessment.

 

But I never had a lot of faith in the old one.

I believed it was loyalty level first then date of application second.  Personally I have no proof if this actually happened or not.  But as we were from time to time been offered upgrades as Discoverer Platinums it seemed to work.  We always applied when we booked and used to book one-two years ahead   Of course there were times when we came across other people who got free upgrades when we did not who were first time Azamara cruisers, that is the way of business for all sorts of reasons.

 

The only thing the previous scheme lacked was transparency when you applied e.g. a confirmation you are No x in the applicants from the y loyalty level.

 

So I see this as a commercial bean counter decision and I agree with Phil, what price loyalty now and like Marinaro will not be participating (probably the bean counters are cheering to read that but its another step nearer testing other lines again so hold that bean count......).  As I said earlier, their USP that Larry talked about and which we bought into so much has gone.

Edited March 13, 2019 by uktog

[comas]

All this bidding malarkey has us thoroughly confused!!

We have taken 4 cruises with Azamara and also 4 with Crystal and have been looking at both with a view to booking a 2019 cruise.

Whilst we have enjoyed Azamara, none more so than our first cruise in 2009 on Quest, we would thoroughly recommend Crystal. Take a look at this link.

 

https://www.crystalcruises.co.uk/experience/ocean

 

Following this ‘news’ from Azamara, we will be seriously looking at Crystal.

[nordski]

39 minutes ago, uktog said:

I believed it was loyalty level first then date of application second.  Personally I have no proof if this actually happened or not.  But as we were from time to time been offered upgrades as Discoverer Platinums it seemed to work.  We always applied when we booked and used to book one-two years ahead   Of course there were times when we came across other people who got free upgrades when we did not who were first time Azamara cruisers, that is the way of business for all sorts of reasons.

 

The only thing the previous scheme lacked was transparency when you applied e.g. a confirmation you are No x in the applicants from the y loyalty level.

 

So I see this as a commercial bean counter decision and I agree with Phil, what price loyalty now and like Marinaro will not be participating (probably the bean counters are cheering to read that but its another step nearer testing other lines again so hold that bean count......).  As I said earlier, their USP that Larry talked about and which we bought into so much has gone.

 

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

 

I do hope that management takes into account the responses here. Despite my cynicism, maintaining the old strategy appears to be a useful means  to maintain a distinguishing feature of Azamara's product.

 

I also note that in another venue Azamara recently mentioned its strong brand loyalty in the British market. That's something they should wish to maintain. 

[Bobal]

I did get the email - and before I opened it, when I read the title, I knew straight away what this would be about, having seen the same thing happen with RC and Celebrity.

 

The only advantage I can see over their programmes is that everyone gets a chance to bid with Azamara if a booking has been made. With Celebrity and RC opportunities to bid come via an invitation email and, from what I've seen, these emails are only sent to customers of the US (and Australia in the case of RC) and it seems to be a lottery who actually gets them - haven't heard of a single UK person receiving one.

 

We loved our 6 or 7 cruises with Azamara but haven't sailed with them for a couple of years and have no plans to do so due to the pricing - we can sail on 2 cruises with other lines for the price of an Azamara cruise and whilst the product is good I don't think it's twice as good. The old upgrade programme was one thing which may have tempted us to book again (we were fortunate enough to get upgraded twice from balcony to suite). This makes it even more likely that, sadly, we won't be sailing with Azamara again.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Bobal

[alfredo1]

"LOYALTY AND TRANSPARENCY v PROFIT........ONLY ONE WINNER"

 

Reading the email from Azamara I have to conclude that Azamara have totally lost their way, and senior management really need to examine how where they want to position the Azamara brand, because all the changes made to the product and continual "nickel and diming" and drive to upsell on board packages demean the premium cruising description, and currently Celebrity offer a much better product at a much better price point, and comparing the Azamara inclusive drinks package with the likes of mainstream lines such as Marella, NCL, and MSC should have them hanging their heads in shame.

 

We have sailed with Azamara for many years and love the crew and sailing environment to such an extent that after our next cruise we will have travelled with them for the best part of a year in total, but fear it may be our last as our other favourite line Seabourn demonstrates just how inclusive cruising should be, often at a price point comparable to Azamara, even if that means for us one less cruise per year. We have never been offered an upgrade at Discoverer Plus level, despite availability although being content with our booked balcony/suite, it does seem lacking in transparency and regard for loyalty. 

 

The elephant in the room for Azamara is the fact that they have old ships, getting older by the day, and without newbuilds the brand will wither and die which would be a poor reward for the great crew across the board, who contribute much to the lovely atmosphere on board. Shame really.

 

 

 

 

[DebbieMacG]

14 hours ago, uktog said:

Another distinctly unimpressed vote here.  Do I read that I have to accept any stateroom in the category I am bidding?  Sorry but in relation to suites, I can only have  one with a shower and could not stay in one with a tub so if I read correctly this has removed the upgrade benefit to me.  Bonnie I am reading this correctly?

 

Notwithstanding this, I do not like this bidding war, this is a revenue grab, the current system was fair, fixed price and transparent.  I do not see recognition of loyalty in the future - that only comes into play if I bid the same sum as the less loyal player chances of which are slim.

 

I look forward to hearing how this shapes out for others in practice. 

I’m the same, I can’t take a cabin with a bath and I need room for my wheelchair, I can manage without an accessible cabin if it’s big enough and has a shower, but this new scheme means I can’t bid because I can’t take just any cabin.

 

I applied for an LCV upgrade (I’m discover) just after booking, I tried the new system to see what it offers, but it  says I’m not eligible although my cruises is less than 90 days away and is paid. There are cabins left in every category, although less than a few days ago when the two accessible OVs vanished at the same time.

 

Disappointing  

Edited March 13, 2019 by DebbieMacG

[hants52]

4 hours ago, tiggertom said:

Me too, but it doesn’t explain why I am not eligible. As Phil says, there may be no cabins left but surely that should be explained.  Is it me that is not eligible 😪 or are there no cabins left 🧐

It seems that I’m also not eligible for either of the two cruises I have coming up. No explanation was provided but the response suggests I should check again when within 90 days of departure. Both cruises are already due to depart within the next 90 days and final payments were made sometime ago.

[Grandma Cruising]

On the one hand we are told that loyalty still counts and that bids from LCV. Members will have a multiplier applied, on the other hand the terms of the upgrade say that 

 

• “Booking must be made under full fare or general marketplace promotions only.”

To me that seems to exclude any booking where an LCV discount has been applied and/ or where LCV free nights have been included. If that’s the case, and I’m not misreading the situation, I think this is a huge down-grading of loyalty benefits. I wonder what percentage of LCV members book onboard to get the LCV discount - quite a high percentage I would guess, especially those in higher LCV levels. 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[marinaro44]

What would have made more sense to me--and I've thought this since the original upgrade program was announced--was to have adjusted the upgrade charges to be in line with the differences in prices between the various categories of staterooms and suites.  For example:  $298 to upgrade from inside to oceanview; $398 from oceanview to veranda; $598 from veranda to Club Continent; and $998 to $1498 (or even more, perhaps) for Club Continent to Spa, Ocean, or Owner's.