Upgrade bid experiences

[Oslo Dutch]

We have booked a last-minute April 1st, 2023 Rome to Athens. Initially booked a Y guarantee however today we were confirmed in one of the outsides on deck 6.

 

This is a European booking that does not receive upgrade emails from Azamara. I tried to look for a paid upgrade on the Azamara website however we were unable to do this online. 

 

When will the next opportunity arise to be able to bid?  Last summer it wasn't until we were onboard. (however, being in a CC Suite we didn't need it.)

 

 

 

 

[Grandma Cruising]

We got our invitation to bid for our 7 March 23 cruise on 23 January, 39 days before the cruise.

[oddjob16]

45 minutes ago, Oslo Dutch said:

We have booked a last-minute April 1st, 2023 Rome to Athens. Initially booked a Y guarantee however today we were confirmed in one of the outsides on deck 6.

 

This is a European booking that does not receive upgrade emails from Azamara. I tried to look for a paid upgrade on the Azamara website however we were unable to do this online. 

 

When will the next opportunity arise to be able to bid?  Last summer it wasn't until we were onboard. (however, being in a CC Suite we didn't need it.)

 

 

 

 

You are in a guarantee stateroom and hence not eligible for bidding for upgrade.

[Fitz1986]

Hi, I am off on Azamara Onward for my first ever cruise in March. I applied for an upgrade and received an email today say it has been cancelled because my booking was modified. But I didn't change anything about my booking and I've already paid in full etc. Can anyone shed any light as to what this means please? Thank you

[Fatfish]

Did you opt out of emails etc.

 

o be Eligible, the following requirements must be met:

• Booking must be after final payment.
• Booking must be made under full fare or general marketplace promotions only.
• You must not be opted out of Azamara marketing e-mails.

*Please note that in order to receive an email invitation from us and make an offer on a stateroom upgrade, you must be on our mailing list. To opt-in to receive emails you can sign up here or within My Account.

[Oslo Dutch]

2 hours ago, Fatfish said:

Did you opt out of emails etc.

 

o be Eligible, the following requirements must be met:

• Booking must be after final payment.
• Booking must be made under full fare or general marketplace promotions only.
• You must not be opted out of Azamara marketing e-mails.

*Please note that in order to receive an email invitation from us and make an offer on a stateroom upgrade, you must be on our mailing list. To opt-in to receive emails you can sign up here or within My Account.

 

Thanks, however, it doesn't;t show up, it might have to do with the fact I am in Europe and they only do for US-based guests

[Scots Caz]

1 hour ago, Oslo Dutch said:

 

Thanks, however, it doesn't;t show up, it might have to do with the fact I am in Europe and they only do for US-based guests

I am in UK and receive the upgrade emails, normally don't upgrade but did on last trip in December (I have never booked a guarantee, always select a V1 cabin number)

Edited February 8, 2023 by Scots Caz

[uktog]

1 hour ago, Oslo Dutch said:

 

Thanks, however, it doesn't;t show up, it might have to do with the fact I am in Europe and they only do for US-based guests

The email and or your location are red herrings - the issue is as Oddjob16 said in post 1053, you booked a Guarantee Cabin, even though you are now assigned a cabin on Deck 6 your booking is as a Guarantee (Y).  The terms of the upgrade scheme is you are not eligible to bid if you are Booked as a Guarantee (Y).  The only way you could be eligible is to have your booking changed from a Y to a V3 or whatever, pay the current price difference and then bid which is unlikely to be worth it.

[Grandma Cruising]

Did the email say the upgrade request was cancelled or your cruise booking was cancelled. If it’s definitely the upgrade request, then it will be because you have a guarantee cabin. However if it’s unclear what they mean, I would be inclined to give Azamara a ring or email to ask them to explain.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Grandma Cruising

[Lookyboy]

3 hours ago, uktog said:

The email and or your location are red herrings - the issue is as Oddjob16 said in post 1053, you booked a Guarantee Cabin, even though you are now assigned a cabin on Deck 6 your booking is as a Guarantee (Y).  The terms of the upgrade scheme is you are not eligible to bid if you are Booked as a Guarantee (Y).  The only way you could be eligible is to have your booking changed from a Y to a V3 or whatever, pay the current price difference and then bid which is unlikely to be worth it.

We are not eligible either for our March cruise, booked a veranda.

[uktog]

1 minute ago, Lookyboy said:

We are not eligible either for our March cruise, booked a veranda.

Did you book direct?

[Lookyboy]

37 minutes ago, uktog said:

Did you book direct?

No...via a travel agent here in UK. 🙄

[Fitz1986]

3 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Did the email say the upgrade request was cancelled or your cruise booking was cancelled. If it’s definitely the upgrade request, then it will be because you have a guarantee cabin. However if it’s unclear what they mean, I would be inclined to give Azamara a ring or email to ask them to explain.

It said the upgrade request was cancelled because the booking was modified. I don't think I booked a guaranteed cabin, I picked what cabin I wanted but again I don't really know what I'm doing to be fair. I have awful trouble contacting Azamara as I'm calling from Ireland and have to call the UK office or us office which ends up costing a bit when I'm on hold for ages inevitably....I will book with a travel agent in future, I know that now! Thank you for your response. 

[uktog]

1 hour ago, Lookyboy said:

No...via a travel agent here in UK. 🙄

That can be an issue if they book you on a group rate (not that they tell you!)

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, Fitz1986 said:

I have awful trouble contacting Azamara as I'm calling from Ireland and have to call the UK office or us office which ends up costing a bit when I'm on hold for ages inevitably...

When I need to call UK from the US, I use Skype.  Calls cost so little that even with hold time it's still pennies.  Can you use Skype from UK to US?

[fruitmachine]

7 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

When I need to call UK from the US, I use Skype.  Calls cost so little that even with hold time it's still pennies.  Can you use Skype from UK to US?

We can.  Few people realise, so it's worth pointing out that you just add some credit to your Skype account to do this.  It's ages since I've don it, but I think there's a £5 or £10 minimum spend for us in the UK.  Presumably a similar number if Euros for Ireland.

[Vivasea]

17 hours ago, Fitz1986 said:

It said the upgrade request was cancelled because the booking was modified. I don't think I booked a guaranteed cabin, I picked what cabin I wanted but again I don't really know what I'm doing to be fair. I have awful trouble contacting Azamara as I'm calling from Ireland and have to call the UK office or us office which ends up costing a bit when I'm on hold for ages inevitably....I will book with a travel agent in future, I know that now! Thank you for your response. 

I phoned Azamara Yesterday.  Because all Agents busy recording states press button No.1 and you will be in queue for call back.   I received call in 10 minutes.

[Fitz1986]

On 2/8/2023 at 10:13 AM, Fitz1986 said:

Hi, I am off on Azamara Onward for my first ever cruise in March. I applied for an upgrade and received an email today say it has been cancelled because my booking was modified. But I didn't change anything about my booking and I've already paid in full etc. Can anyone shed any light as to what this means please? Thank you

Just to update, in case this happens to anyone else. My bid was cancelled because my bank declined the request, thinking it was suspicious so essentially my card was declined. So I have to resubmit with a different one if I so choose. It didn't say my card was declined anywhere so no wonder I was confused! Thanks for the advice I got, I appreciate it 🙂

[tgg]

7 hours ago, Fitz1986 said:

Just to update, in case this happens to anyone else. My bid was cancelled because my bank declined the request, thinking it was suspicious so essentially my card was declined. So I have to resubmit with a different one if I so choose. It didn't say my card was declined anywhere so no wonder I was confused! Thanks for the advice I got, I appreciate it 🙂

Thanks for explaining what happened. 

[Riocca]

Possibly the imminent change of website is causing some problems, on the 24th January we received an invitation to bid for an upgrade, we didn’t do so as the upgrade price wasn’t worth it, we’re currently in a CC suite.

Today out of interest I looked at availability and there were plenty of options available so wondering if the upgrade price had reduced I responded to the email to get the message that we’re not eligible for an upgrade. If we were eligible 3 weeks ago and nothing has changed since then it makes no sense that we’re not now eligible other than bidding for an upgrade which was a RC invention maybe changing. I’m sure everything will become clear in the not too distant future.

[voyager1964]

On 2/13/2023 at 7:32 AM, Riocca said:

which was a RC invention

I believe the original inventor was FDR of NCL 😉

[brazilgirl]

Hello

 

We will go on our first ever Azamara cruise on March 7th. It is a Rio to Lisbon repositioning cruise ( 16 days). 
 

I bid on a CC Suite. We are booked in a Veranda Plus and Explorer level ( due to previous Celebrity cruises).

 

The minimum bid is $300 pp. I bid $410. Not sure if that is a good bid and what will happen, but curious to see. I will update the result if it goes through.

[Grandma Cruising]

32 minutes ago, brazilgirl said:

Hello

 

We will go on our first ever Azamara cruise on March 7th. It is a Rio to Lisbon repositioning cruise ( 16 days). 
 

I bid on a CC Suite. We are booked in a Veranda Plus and Explorer level ( due to previous Celebrity cruises).

 

The minimum bid is $300 pp. I bid $410. Not sure if that is a good bid and what will happen, but curious to see. I will update the result if it goes through.

Thanks, added to the spreadsheet. We’re on that cruise too & also made an upgrade bid. Fingers crossed for us both. 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M/edit

[skiinglaketahoe]

We are just back from an Onward cruise, Miami to Lima. It was wonderful! We were booked in a verandah cabin and bid on a suite. We bid a fraction above the minimum ( think that was 300 dollars ) and we were successful. My sister did the same and was also successful. The suite was a wonderful experience. The ship was not full so that may have been the reason for our success. We submitted our bids about 3 weeks before the cruise and were notified 3 days before the start of the cruise. 
Susan

[jaceyar]

We booked a Veranda cabin for 25th Feb & 7th March B2B.

Invited to upgrade on 24th Jan.

Bid £520pp for a CC Suite.

We are Discovery.

Success today for 25th sailing.

The 7th March cruise is full I think, so may not be successful for that one. 🤞

Edited February 15, 2023 by jaceyar