Azamara rebrands and Ventures Beyond the Sea

[snowglobe]

8 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

Are we reinventing again?

 

No, not really. It sounds like it’s more of an expansion - wayyy more.

 

Especially if they offer as many as they aim for, for just 3 ships’ worth of cruises. It looks like this will be a standard offering for the majority of Azamara’s cruises, rather than the exception for a select few like other cruise lines (at least presently).

Edited June 18, 2019 by snowglobe

[hrhdhd]

I got an e-mail with the subject line "We have exciting news to share" that details the change to the name and the land-based travel.

[hubofhockey]

There are risks here.  I just looked at the Hong Kong 3-day tour.

 

All programs have a limited capacity and are available on a first-come basis. A minimum number of guests is required to operate this Land Journey. Should that minimum not be met, the program will be repriced and guests will have the option to cancel or repurchase at the new selling price.

 

Meals and beverages, as noted in your itinerary - Interesting on this one.  For HK, it doesn't even say the hotel includes breakfast and they are serving one dim sum lunch at a restaurant and a vegetarian lunch at Po Lin Monastery, and also a welcome dinner.  

 

The hotel is nice, but not a luxury hotel.  It's the Shangri-La Hotel in Kowloon, which goes for $260 a night.  People who want a luxury experience should book the Peninsula and have the hotel arrange excursions.  

 

 

 

 

[BBMacLaird]

Currently, all land programs must be purchased in conjunction with an Azamara voyage.
Guests also have the option to add a land program to an existing booking, if available.

[laurieb]

11 hours ago, Redtravel said:

A bit retro in the name.  If you started cruising in the early days of Azamara, it was Azamara Cruises. The Club was added a few years later. When they changed the logo, they gave away stuff that had the old logo.  Still using that stuff.  Azamara keeps changing. Destination immersion for me has always meant fly in and stay in one place for several days, not just overnight. I often pick a cruise that either embarks or disembarks from a port that is near a place that I want to spend time exploring.  There are other cruise lines that have land trips that coordinate with cruises. They work well for people who are visiting a new place and want a tour The big change is booking Azamara land without booking a cruise. 

A cruise has to be booked with the land

[Host Jazzbeau]

11 hours ago, Redtravel said:

A bit retro in the name.  If you started cruising in the early days of Azamara, it was Azamara Cruises. The Club was added a few years later.

 

First it was Azamara Cruises.  Then Azamara Club Cruises.  Now it is just Azamara.  So not really retro, more modern.  And luxury.  Too bad 'modern luxury' is taken [NOT]

[ellbon]

I looked at one in Spain for next year. The price was high. Thought the hotel was nice and a location I liked. So I might book on my own. But I thought too many meals and no museums or churches were included. You arrive day one and day two was too busy but the third day a lunch was included in the middle of the day. Rather have the day free to do my own thing.

 

my agent said the price was like 7K more. I can do a lot of eating and drinking for that money.

[tv24]

Never liked the word "club" anyway.

[Grandma Cruising]

I’ve just merged the rebranding and new venture topics as they had a lot in common.

[Riocca]

On Twitter it’s being reported that the logos on the side of the ship will be illuminated using fibre optics, that will be interesting.

I know the existing ones, at least on Quest & Pursuit, were applied using what looked like pre-space vinyl so should be relatively easy to remove. 

[Lottie A]

I think it was UKTog who referred to "more style over substance" when talking about the comfort of the new sun beds onboard. I think this rebranding could very much be described in the same way! 

[Riocca]

We have used cruise line pre and post cruise tours in the past, Princess used to do some very good and competitively priced tours in Alaska, Canada and South America. 

When we booked our October Hong Kong returning cruise on Quest last year I did enquire about a pre cruise tour of China and told there wasn’t one so we sourced one ourselves. I’ve now been able to compare the 8 day tour we’ve booked with a well established Chinese tour company with Azamara’s 5 day offering with Cox & Kings. The Beijing and Xi’an portion is very similar but we’ve been able to add Guilin as well, our tour has specific hotels and first class flights, we asked for these because of the luggage allowance, Azamara’s doesn’t specify hotels or flight class. Price wise we are paying about £300 more for 2 than Azamara are asking per person, it does seem a lot to be paying for the convenience of it being arranged for you but appreciate there will be some who will be happy to pay for that. 

Same applies to the 2 day pre cruise offering in Dubai it’s over double the cost of what we’ve booked independently.

 

Obviously Azamara will have done their homework on this but will the new target customers change the onboard dynamic? Most of the passengers we have met over the years have certainly been able to easily put together their own pre and post cruise arrangements. I remain open minded as to how this is going to progress but I can’t see that it’s something that we are going to be using.

 

 

[oddjob16]

As long as we can buy «cruise only» it will not affect us at all. Azamara’s pricing is not favourable if we would like a pre or post package. We usually arrange this ourselves or use local contractors. Azamara would do well to also offer pre and post cruise packages that only included the hotels and transfers.

[Cruise Junky]

1 hour ago, Riocca said:

 

 

Obviously Azamara will have done their homework on this but will the new target customers change the onboard dynamic? Most of the passengers we have met over the years have certainly been able to easily put together their own pre and post cruise arrangements. I remain open minded as to how this is going to progress but I can’t see that it’s something that we are going to be using.

 

 

I was going to say the same thing. Azamara’s customer base seems fairly well travelled and would have no issues making their own arrangements. Time will tell I guess but it seems a bit of an odd fit. 

[hubofhockey]

Agree that this is somewhat benign since it only impacts those who buy these packages.  They really don't need many to make this work because they are getting both pre and post cruise passengers at the same time.  If they only get 5 couples per cruise, that's 20 people on the tours.  Any more than that is a risk of overcrowding.  It's a nice vertical integration for them.  

[uktog]

Yes time will tell how popular this will be.  The itineraries do give a useful clue to things you can book on your own but most savvy cruisers know how to work out itineraries.  In some places they are staying in high end hotels, for example in Edinburgh some (But not all) packages as based in the 5 star Balmoral.  However when I price out that itinerary based on my local knowledge and doing all Azamara is offering based in the Balmoral  but with your own private guide for 2 the cost is about 60% what Azamara is asking.  So the premium for having it done for you is around 40% which some may be very prepared to pay.

Edited June 19, 2019 by uktog

[Riocca]

54 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

I was going to say the same thing. Azamara’s customer base seems fairly well travelled and would have no issues making their own arrangements. Time will tell I guess but it seems a bit of an odd fit. 

Reading the launch marketing part of targeting seems to be to attract those who normally do land tours and get them cruising as part of the package, obviously if it works will be a good strategy for Azamara. Hence the possibility of changing the dynamic with slightly higher numbers of first time cruisers, as others have said as long as we can book cruise only and there’s no pressure for add ons were happy.

[tgg]

41 minutes ago, uktog said:

Yes time will tell how popular this will be.  The itineraries do give a useful clue to things you can book on your own but most savvy cruisers know how to work out itineraries.  In some places they are staying in high end hotels, for example in Edinburgh some (But not all) packages as based in the 5 star Balmoral.  However when I price out that itinerary based on my local knowledge and doing all Azamara is offering based in the Balmoral  but with your own private guide for 2 the cost is about 60% what Azamara is asking.  So the premium for having it done for you is around 40% which some may be very prepared to pay.

Thanks for giving us a real world example based on local knowledge.

[upwarduk]

1 hour ago, hubofhockey said:

If they only get 5 couples per cruise, that's 20 people on the tours

I make that 10 people.

[CA Oceanfront]

Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the board room when all of this was hashed out...

[workingtocruise-59]

6 hours ago, Riocca said:

On Twitter it’s being reported that the logos on the side of the ship will be illuminated using fibre optics, that will be interesting.

I know the existing ones, at least on Quest & Pursuit, were applied using what looked like pre-space vinyl so should be relatively easy to remove. 

Hi, 

I asked my DH about this today and expressed concern about the cost of replacing the logos. But he assured me that they were only "stick-on" and could easily be replaced at very little cost.

[Riocca]

18 minutes ago, workingtocruise-59 said:

Hi, 

I asked my DH about this today and expressed concern about the cost of replacing the logos. But he assured me that they were only "stick-on" and could easily be replaced at very little cost.

Yes the existing logos should be relatively easy to remove, here’s a picture of Pursuit’s being fitted.

 

 

Not sure if the fitting of fibre optic ones will be as easy, or cheap.

[hubofhockey]

2 hours ago, upwarduk said:

I make that 10 people.

 

2 hours ago, upwarduk said:

I make that 10 people.

 

My math has 20 people.  Each land vacation suits two different itineraries.  One is the itinerary for the cruise disembarking at the port and the other is for the cruise embarking at that port.  If they get 5 couples from each of those two cruises, that's 20 people.  It's not a big ask to get 5 couples per cruise.  Even if you say, that these expensive land add ons aren't being marketed to those in insides and verandah cabins, that still leaves 46 suites of couples.  Even if 90% of the couples in suites want to plan pre and post cruise land portions, they will still get 20 people.  

 

Where you can't double count is when beginning and ending ports are the same.  Those Cape town itineraries are round trip, but land portions could be very interesting.

[hiccups]

Here's a post I made last year about the then-branded "City Stays."
 

"I've been looking at a 7 night Pursuit cruise in October 2019, Monte Carlo to Barcelona. The cruise price starts at $2499, while the cruise plus the 3 night Barcelona City Stay starts at $6839. While I'm pretty tight with a dollar, I also weigh out convenience, and at times we've booked a hotel, air or transportation through the cruise line.

 

For the life of me, though, I can't figure out why the city stay would be $4340 more per person. As far as I can tell, it's transportation, hotel, some meals (B, L, D first day, B and L the second, B the third), and a private guide for a day. Two of the meals are advertised as dining with a local family, and there's a flamenco performance one evening, and a wine tasting the next. Can convenience really be worth that much to someone, or am I missing some factor that makes Azamara-booked city stays worth the extra price?"

It looks like those premiums are continuing!

[Mrs Miggins]

It seems to me that the prices for these packages are extremely high and likely to appeal to those with very deep pockets and either no time or no inclination to do any leg work.  Wouldn't these same people be those who would want to cruise on a luxury line rather than Azamara ?