HELP! Azamara is trying to cancel my trip because of their mistake! Horrible Cruise!

[rallydave]

21 minutes ago, Eurocruiser11 said:

Thanks for the recommendations Dave we will definitely check them out!

 

I have about 180k Chase Sapphire Reserve points saved up so I am hoping that covers the flights.  We like Royal so that is why our TA recommended Azmara.  It is hard for us both to get 2 weeks off at the same for work so we can't plan that far ahead until my wife retires, she is in Medical and I have my own business.  

Unfortunately if you are planning on Business Class you most likely a bit short and most likely all of those seats were spoken for months ago.  Economy is a possibility depending on the airline.  Seems so%me of the airlines have recently increased the miles necessary and/or taken to pricing that varies depending on availability and how close to the flight so have seen some astronomical number of points no matter the class.

 

As to laurieb's comment we have no problems with the ship experience.  It is the home office that is so horrible it overcomes the great onboard experience.  The issues in this thread are a bit unique but, seems issues become known on CC quite frequently and this is for around 5% to 10% of the total Azamara customers so who knows how many more screwups like this occur.  Even frequent cruisers on Azamara and Azamara cheerleaders have posted their being upset with the home office.  If you can put up with the inept Miami office, you will have a wonderful time on board.

 

And, yes I have a beef with the home office after they cancelled the TA we booked on board our first Azamara cruise and only offered us the replacement that was 4 days and 3 ports shorter at the same price we had already booked and within 2 to 3 weeks of cancelling were selling the replacement cruise several thousand dollars less than they wanted us to pay and absolutely no compensation for them cancelling our cruise in the name of increased profits going to Cuba.

[hiccups]

54 minutes ago, Jimmycruiser said:

I am very surprised and disappointed by many posters on this thread for the rush to judgement against Azamara with only one side presented and somewhat confusing claims being made. I am not saying the OP is not telling the whole story from their perspective but it was a very negative headline post without much time to come to a fair resolution, and not sure the reason for the post to begin with without more time to resolve it. It can only hurt the case not help it. Having dealt directly with Azamara on several occasions and receiving reductions of 20 % or more before final payment there is definitely more to Azamara’s side, and the fact Bonnie has not commented yet says it is more complicated. Let’s give it a rest for a few days and have the OP tell us the final resolution since they are waiting to hear back.

 

I enjoy reading the posts on Cruise Critic, but so far this is a very frustrating thread, and no I am not paid by Azamara to defend them!

There was no need for Bonnie to comment, as OP was already dealing with Azamara.  She has made statements in the past that she does not comment on incidents like this, which is a wise position for her to take.

OP made a reservation and Azamara took the money.  Who, exactly,  would be posting Azamara's side here?  There isn't much else to say, and I'm surprised and disappointed at those implying OP is being dishonest or a liar.

Edited June 12, 2019 by hiccups

[Jimmycruiser]

Hiccups - what is in my post that thinks the OP was being dishonest or a liar. To the contrary but without knowing the outcome and the entire story that you assume has been told, I disagree, but we all have our opinions. I am finished commenting on this thread.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Eurocruiser – I agree with RallyDave that Seabourn, Crystal, Silversea, and Regent are the US-based luxury lines, but every time I look at their offerings I find the itineraries to be so plain vanilla that I come back to the Azamara website/brochure.  The only other lines that similarly tempt me for their destination focus are Windstar and Ponant.  Azamara is luxurious enough for us [at least in a Club Continent] and the onboard experience is just great.  We're trying to do mostly hiking trips over the next couple of years [since they may be the last years we can hike], but we'll definitely be back on Azamara after that!

[CruiseGal999]

1 hour ago, Eurocruiser11 said:

I am so glad I came across this post.  My wife and I are about to book our first Luxury cruise for our upcoming anniversary in September and she told me to do some research on Azmara before pulling the trigger, because of the cost compared to other cruises that we have done in the past.  We have been on 4 Royal Caribbean cruises out of Tampa and Fort Lauderdale and we only ever had one issue (Norovirus Independence of the Seas back in December of '17). 

 

Would anyone recommend any other Luxury cruise lines that visit Europe,  we would like to book something in the next few weeks so we can still get a decent deal on flights.  We are flexible on ports and cities.  

 

Thanks!

 

Please don't hijack the OPs post.  You can start your own post and get responses to cruise line recommendations. 

[dabear]

7 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Please can I remind everyone to be courteous and mindful of the community guidelines

”we are here to provide you with an environment that is free from advertising and soliciting, free from harassment, vulgarity and disparaging statements, as well as providing you with a safe haven brought together by those sharing a mutual interest: cruising!”

 

Thanks for deleting some poor posts. One can agree or disagree with a poster or ask questions, but it should be done respectfully.

[Anchor Light]

3 hours ago, florisdekort said:

Basic customer service left this business the day Nicole Lukacs moved to RCI.  

Nicole was the best and things are very different at LCV now.

[Eurocruiser11]

47 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Eurocruiser – I agree with RallyDave that Seabourn, Crystal, Silversea, and Regent are the US-based luxury lines, but every time I look at their offerings I find the itineraries to be so plain vanilla that I come back to the Azamara website/brochure.  The only other lines that similarly tempt me for their destination focus are Windstar and Ponant.  Azamara is luxurious enough for us [at least in a Club Continent] and the onboard experience is just great.  We're trying to do mostly hiking trips over the next couple of years [since they may be the last years we can hike], but we'll definitely be back on Azamara after that!

Thanks!  The itineraries for Azmara look great compared to some of the others, it sounds like the trip itself is a great experience too and our TA has said nothing but positive things.  Have you ever had any issues with them canceling your reservation or switching ports/rooms on you last minute?  I just want to avoid that and it seems like there are a few post out there online where this situation has happened.    

[PatG2]

1 hour ago, laurieb said:

 

Azamara IS a wonderful cruise line!  I hope you don't rule them out because of this one thread and the opinions of some that seem to have an axe to grind

 

1 hour ago, laurieb said:

Without knowing the whole story from both sides, which I'm sure we never will, it does come off as disturbing.  Could be Azamara's fault, could be that it isn't.  Hopefully this thread will soon be laid to rest.

I also don't work for Azamara, I just really love cruising with them

Thank you for sharing Laurie, I hope that when this is all done I can start sharing more positive experiences as you have had.

[Eurocruiser11]

44 minutes ago, CruiseGal999 said:

 

Please don't hijack the OPs post.  You can start your own post and get responses to cruise line recommendations. 

I apologize that was never my attention, I sincerely hope that the OP gets his trip honored for what he originally purchased.

Edited June 13, 2019 by Eurocruiser11

[PatG2]

5 minutes ago, Eurocruiser11 said:

I apologize that was never my attention, I sincerely hope that the OP gets his trip honored for what he originally purchased.

No worries Eurocruiser, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I too hope that Azamara honors what was promised and confirmed multiple times.

[PatG2]

10 minutes ago, Eurocruiser11 said:

Thanks!  The itineraries for Azmara look great compared to some of the others, it sounds like the trip itself is a great experience too and our TA has said nothing but positive things.  Have you ever had any issues with them canceling your reservation or switching ports/rooms on you last minute?  I just want to avoid that and it seems like there are a few post out there online where this situation has happened.    

Not to change the subject but RallyDave's experience is also pretty disturbing. Azamara can't always help if the itinerary changes but to offer a cruise 4 days and 3 ports less without any partial refund (not even to match the going rate) is a little disturbing. Yes, there is always 2 sides to the story, but based off of what Dave has shared I would say Azamara could have dealt with the situation better.

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 minutes ago, Eurocruiser11 said:

Thanks!  The itineraries for Azmara look great compared to some of the others, it sounds like the trip itself is a great experience too and our TA has said nothing but positive things.  Have you ever had any issues with them canceling your reservation or switching ports/rooms on you last minute?  I just want to avoid that and it seems like there are a few post out there online where this situation has happened.    

 

I have booked three Azamara cruises and all sailed as originally planned.  We decided to cancel one of them, and my TA was able to get my deposit back (less the cancellation fee, which I expected) very quickly and easily.  The first cruise we booked a regular cabin and stayed with it – that was the Norwegian Fjords and it was spectacular.  The cancelled cruise was an unusual itinerary from Copenhagen to London that did some Baltic ports but not St. Petersburg [which DW refuses to visit under Putin]; we cancelled it in favor of a Viking Ocean cruise ("British Isles Explorer") which also had a destination focus – but we found Viking overpriced because we ended up not taking any of the included shore excursions – and no other Viking itinerary strikes me as out of the ordinary.  The third Azamara cruise was Costa Rica intensive – it visited just about every possible port on the Pacific coast of CR plus one in Nicaragua and and overnight in Panama City – we booked a Club Continent but were able to get a good price on an upgrade to a Club World [which really elevates the Azamara experience] – that cruise made Azamara our favorite cruise line when the itinerary works out.  Note that even though I had booked the third cruise through a TA, I called Azamara directly for the upgrade [because I didn't know it was covered by the upgrade program] and the rep offered me good deals for either CO or CW [rather than telling me they would only speak to my TA].  And, needless to say, Azamara honored the deals they offered.

[rallydave]

13 minutes ago, PatG2 said:

Not to change the subject but RallyDave's experience is also pretty disturbing. Azamara can't always help if the itinerary changes but to offer a cruise 4 days and 3 ports less without any partial refund (not even to match the going rate) is a little disturbing. Yes, there is always 2 sides to the story, but based off of what Dave has shared I would say Azamara could have dealt with the situation better.

Have to add, don't know if they would have reduced our rate when it dropped since we could not accept the new dates due to having already booked a river cruise that dovetailed with the original dates plus the ports on the new cruise were completely different from the Canary islands that were on the original cruise and ports we had no interest in.

 

We were lucky that we found a Seabourn TA that began in the same port and same date as our original cruise and also included the Canaries and we greatly enjoyed that even costing a lot more than the Azamara cruise.  The letter we got canceling the cruise was poorly written with no letterhead or who it was from.  The entire episode turned us off Azamara after we were enjoying our first and thought we had found our go to cruise line.  Since that time have followed the Azamara board and similar incidents have happened too often with Azamara not learning from previous errors and repeating them time after time.  If it weren't for the home office am sure we would still be cruising Azamara so agree with Host Jazzbeau about the on board experience but, refuse to be treated like a second class customer.

 

In fact our first and only Azamara cruise was the same Norwegian cruise as Host Jazzbeau and his DW Diana went on and we became friends and spent quite a bit of time on board and touring.  Very much respect his views and comments and agree with most of what he said but, as I said, cannot accept the treatment we had or the treatment many long time cheerleaders have complained about

Edited June 13, 2019 by rallydave

[PatG2]

2 hours ago, hiccups said:

There was no need for Bonnie to comment, as OP was already dealing with Azamara.  She has made statements in the past that she does not comment on incidents like this, which is a wise position for her to take.

OP made a reservation and Azamara took the money.  Who, exactly,  would be posting Azamara's side here?  There isn't much else to say, and I'm surprised and disappointed at those implying OP is being dishonest or a liar.

Thank you hiccups. I appreciate your post.

[PatG2]

2 hours ago, Jimmycruiser said:

I am very surprised and disappointed by many posters on this thread for the rush to judgement against Azamara with only one side presented and somewhat confusing claims being made. I am not saying the OP is not telling the whole story from their perspective but it was a very negative headline post without much time to come to a fair resolution, and not sure the reason for the post to begin with without more time to resolve it. It can only hurt the case not help it. Having dealt directly with Azamara on several occasions and receiving reductions of 20 % or more before final payment there is definitely more to Azamara’s side, and the fact Bonnie has not commented yet says it is more complicated. Let’s give it a rest for a few days and have the OP tell us the final resolution since they are waiting to hear back.

 

I enjoy reading the posts on Cruise Critic, but so far this is a very frustrating thread, and no I am not paid by Azamara to defend them!

Thanks Jimmy for all your input. I respect your opinion. I do regret putting "horrible cruise" in the headline. I was pretty frustrated at that point (I believe justifiably so) but still should have left that part out. However, I will say that Azamara was the one that gave me a deadline, not the other way around. They had already come up with their resolution which was to take the OV, pay more, or cancel my trip. When I told them I was not happy with those options, they said to me "if you don't pick an option by Tuesday, we will  cancel your cruise" (that gave me about 4 days). That was it. Don't know how giving them more time at that point would have helped anything. Posting this when I did might be the only reason I do have more time for them to come to a resolution.

[rallydave]

1 hour ago, Anchor Light said:

Nicole was the best and things are very different at LCV now.

You can say  that again and again.  The only sign of intelligent life in the Miami office.  Remember the CEO being asked on this board about fixing the email list that either won't add people to the list or keeps dropping people from the list again and again.

 

Those new may not believe this but, his response was to contact Nicole!!!  Nothing about rebuilding or getting a new list just call Nicole who had enough to do in her job as boss of Le Club. This was in writing and posted on CC.  And for the 90% of the customers who are not on CC, NOTHING>   That is just one example of the top executives management brilliance or lack thereof!!!!!

 

And, Azamara is still asking people to contact Azamara singly so they can fix each person's issue with the email list individually.  Again forgetting about the 90% or so not on CC and not knowing about this.  Anybody want to guess how long and how much manpower to fix the thousands of accounts one at a time???  And how many customers they have lost because emails they wanted were not being sent???

Edited June 13, 2019 by rallydave

[Grandma Cruising]

8 hours ago, Eurocruiser11 said:

I am so glad I came across this post.  My wife and I are about to book our first Luxury cruise for our upcoming anniversary in September and she told me to do some research on Azmara before pulling the trigger, because of the cost compared to other cruises that we have done in the past.  We have been on 4 Royal Caribbean cruises out of Tampa and Fort Lauderdale and we only ever had one issue (Norovirus Independence of the Seas back in December of '17). 

 

Would anyone recommend any other Luxury cruise lines that visit Europe,  we would like to book something in the next few weeks so we can still get a decent deal on flights.  We are flexible on ports and cities.  

 

Thanks!

I’d still recommend Azamara. I’ve had 7 cruises with Azamara, Cruise 8 & 9 coming up and planning to book cruise 10 shortly and have thoroughly enjoyed every one. Every travel company, whether cruise or land, makes mistakes from time to time, but these are few compared with their total number of bookings. Where there are issues they tend to predominate on social media sites such as Cruise Critic.

Try Azamara and judge for yourselves.

[hiccups]

10 hours ago, PatG2 said:

Thanks Jimmy for all your input. I respect your opinion. I do regret putting "horrible cruise" in the headline. I was pretty frustrated at that point (I believe justifiably so) but still should have left that part out. However, I will say that Azamara was the one that gave me a deadline, not the other way around. They had already come up with their resolution which was to take the OV, pay more, or cancel my trip. When I told them I was not happy with those options, they said to me "if you don't pick an option by Tuesday, we will  cancel your cruise" (that gave me about 4 days). That was it. Don't know how giving them more time at that point would have helped anything. Posting this when I did might be the only reason I do have more time for them to come to a resolution.

So based on this post, Azamara does have the suites available, but they said you had to pay a higher price?  I had thought maybe part of the issue was they didn't have any availability in that category and the cabins had been listed erroneously.  Wow.  That makes it even worse IMO.

[hubofhockey]

A couple of things before I move on.

 

I object to any notion of "online bullying"  here.  You can't have bullying, which is personal in nature, on an anonymous message board.  I was only weighing in on contractual rights here by two parties to a dispute while clearly not reading all of he facts.  One of those facts is actual price of a cruise.  I do believe OP relied on what he/she thought was an acceptance and consummation of the deal by Azamara to book flights to Europe and that reliance probably makes Azamara legally liable for that airfare.  

 

I had a bad pre-cruise experience with the Azamara back off and how they handled a cruise that never happened for me.  We had a 14-day cruise booked Greek Islands and Amalfi Coast.  It was to begin Istanbul and also had a next day 1/2 day in Kusadasi.  After those 2 days, no part of the itinerary was in Turkey.  There was unrest in Turkey and instead of swapping out Istanbul for Athens, they canceled the cruise and didn't alert us.  I later found out (on Cruise Critic - not through my TA or Azamara) that they would offer alternate cruises on the other ship, but that my itinerary would be broken out into two distinct 7-day cruises and each of those itineraries was the same price (in other words, double the cost to me) as the deal I had.  I felt ripped off and I thought Azamara handled it poorly.  We made chicken salad out of chicken poop and booked a 9-day Celebrity cruise with two overnights in Malta and Dubrovnik and spent the weekend after the cruise in Cinque Terre.  That was to be our first Azamara cruise and we felt let down a bit by the line and how ineffectively they communicated with us or our TA and were "Azamazed" by how poorly this back office was.  However, I am not going to come on Cruise Critic and berate Azamara's back office and the cruise line because of one bad experience.  I got my licks in on CC in frustration at the time and moved on in the same manner we moved on from another cruise line whose ships and quality of cruise experience have deteriorated by what I think relates to its parent, Carnival. 

 

Despite my one bad experience, I was convinced by many, including many regulars here, that Azamara was worth a shot.  We found a perfect itinerary and a great deal on Southeast Asia.  Most Southeast Asia itineraries are in the beginning of the calendar year.  My profession dictates that I cannot vacation from January through April.  Only Azamara would do this itinerary in October and only smaller ships can dock right in Saigon and Bangkok.  Celebrity docks 2-3 hours away from those cities.  We found a TA who knows Azamara really well and communicates with them well and we are giving them another shot.  People that I am sharing excursions with have told me what I will love about Azamara and the on ship experience and I am excited for our trip.  One commenter here opined that Azamara (and I assumed Oceania) are not the luxury lines that others are.  That's actually what we're looking for.  We want upscale, but not uptight.  I love the fact that Azamara is casual and relaxed.  If we enjoy our cruise, we'll keep an open mind to more Azamara cruises.  

 

However, I am somewhat sympathetic to the OP here, but I am a bit skeptical because there may be another side to this.  When OP says 25% of price, is that catalog price or currently advertised last minute price?  I do hope it works out and OP gets something here, especially given flights are booked.  I think the Oceanview cabin offer would bother me a bit too.  How about balcony cabins and a little nonrefundable OBC for the trouble?  Maybe that's not good enough for OP.  Maybe Azamara also knows something that I don't.  Good luck Pat.  I never meant to bully you or be mean to you.

 

 

[laurieb]

I certainly don’t think you’ve been bullying!  You’ve said nothing that even comes close.  

Edited June 13, 2019 by laurieb

[fingolfin269]

I'm just going to assume everything the OP has been saying is correct since that side is the only one talking.

 

I get that people keep asking for the price as if it makes a difference.  And in many cases it absolutely should make a difference. I do believe that price mistakes happen and that generally speaking the seller does not have to honor those price mistakes.  However, in this instance if what the OP is saying is true then I don't see how anyone can defend this company.  How far should a consumer be expected to go to protect themselves?  Per the OP, multiple calls were made to the company asking for confirmation.  Apparently even a supervisor/senior manager even commented along the lines of "wow, you got a fantastic price" and then went on to say everything looks good.  How many more times should the OP call?  Should the OP go to social media to confirm? Fly out to the corporate office?  Etc.

 

Yes, a pricing mistake was likely made.  But if the OP's side of events is true then this company needs to just eat the cost here.

Edited June 13, 2019 by fingolfin269

[PatG2]

4 hours ago, hiccups said:

So based on this post, Azamara does have the suites available, but they said you had to pay a higher price?  I had thought maybe part of the issue was they didn't have any availability in that category and the cabins had been listed erroneously.  Wow.  That makes it even worse IMO.

Yes hiccups, they are still selling suites and verahndas. It was never an issue of over-booking.

[PatG2]

4 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

A couple of things before I move on.

 

I object to any notion of "online bullying"  here.  You can't have bullying, which is personal in nature, on an anonymous message board.  I was only weighing in on contractual rights here by two parties to a dispute while clearly not reading all of he facts.  One of those facts is actual price of a cruise.  I do believe OP relied on what he/she thought was an acceptance and consummation of the deal by Azamara to book flights to Europe and that reliance probably makes Azamara legally liable for that airfare.  

 

I had a bad pre-cruise experience with the Azamara back off and how they handled a cruise that never happened for me.  We had a 14-day cruise booked Greek Islands and Amalfi Coast.  It was to begin Istanbul and also had a next day 1/2 day in Kusadasi.  After those 2 days, no part of the itinerary was in Turkey.  There was unrest in Turkey and instead of swapping out Istanbul for Athens, they canceled the cruise and didn't alert us.  I later found out (on Cruise Critic - not through my TA or Azamara) that they would offer alternate cruises on the other ship, but that my itinerary would be broken out into two distinct 7-day cruises and each of those itineraries was the same price (in other words, double the cost to me) as the deal I had.  I felt ripped off and I thought Azamara handled it poorly.  We made chicken salad out of chicken poop and booked a 9-day Celebrity cruise with two overnights in Malta and Dubrovnik and spent the weekend after the cruise in Cinque Terre.  That was to be our first Azamara cruise and we felt let down a bit by the line and how ineffectively they communicated with us or our TA and were "Azamazed" by how poorly this back office was.  However, I am not going to come on Cruise Critic and berate Azamara's back office and the cruise line because of one bad experience.  I got my licks in on CC in frustration at the time and moved on in the same manner we moved on from another cruise line whose ships and quality of cruise experience have deteriorated by what I think relates to its parent, Carnival. 

 

Despite my one bad experience, I was convinced by many, including many regulars here, that Azamara was worth a shot.  We found a perfect itinerary and a great deal on Southeast Asia.  Most Southeast Asia itineraries are in the beginning of the calendar year.  My profession dictates that I cannot vacation from January through April.  Only Azamara would do this itinerary in October and only smaller ships can dock right in Saigon and Bangkok.  Celebrity docks 2-3 hours away from those cities.  We found a TA who knows Azamara really well and communicates with them well and we are giving them another shot.  People that I am sharing excursions with have told me what I will love about Azamara and the on ship experience and I am excited for our trip.  One commenter here opined that Azamara (and I assumed Oceania) are not the luxury lines that others are.  That's actually what we're looking for.  We want upscale, but not uptight.  I love the fact that Azamara is casual and relaxed.  If we enjoy our cruise, we'll keep an open mind to more Azamara cruises.  

 

However, I am somewhat sympathetic to the OP here, but I am a bit skeptical because there may be another side to this.  When OP says 25% of price, is that catalog price or currently advertised last minute price?  I do hope it works out and OP gets something here, especially given flights are booked.  I think the Oceanview cabin offer would bother me a bit too.  How about balcony cabins and a little nonrefundable OBC for the trouble?  Maybe that's not good enough for OP.  Maybe Azamara also knows something that I don't.  Good luck Pat.  I never meant to bully you or be mean to you.

 

 

Thanks hubohockey. I accept you apology and thanks for sharing.

[hiccups]

2 minutes ago, PatG2 said:

Yes hiccups, they are still selling suites and verahndas. It was never an issue of over-booking.

And the irony is that under either the old or new upgrade system, Azamara could be placing someone in a suite that will not have paid any more for that cabin than the price you booked.