Web Masters or Masters of Procrastination

[oddjob16]

Dear Bonnie, I would like to adress this as a common subject and you may see if you can find any resolution to some of the problems I am pointing out.

Azamara’s web site is not bad at all, by first glance, but there are so many discrepancies within it that make people wonder if anyone is responsible for it at all. Or call it a web master or IT department, - whatever. One example is the senior officers schedule. It is not correct. It has been uncorrect for a long time but nobody thinks it is worth their effort to correct it. This fall it looks like Johannes is staying on board for 5 months, which he obviously is not going to be. Why not just put it right and be done with it.

Another thing is Shore Excursions. For some cruises it looks like they just copy-paste some old excursions and put it in for a new year. If they are working on it and don’t have correct info, just put in some info that there is work in progress ( like for the New Zealand cruise which has been pointed out in another thread by Snowglobe). There are so many other examples of pure negligence on the web site and I do invite others to give their view on this. First: Can you at least get them to update the Senior Officers Schedule. If they don’t they might as well take it down.

[snowglobe]

I am now in Day 5 of “WHOOPS!” missing pages when trying to book any shore excursions in the Voyage Planners for my two cruises.

[Ladys Mom]

Being relatively new to the website I agree it is difficult to navigate and the information on shore excursions for voyages that are not within a six month window seems to be boilerplate at best.  When you first look at a cruise, the SE list seems to have no rhyme or reason to it.  Why don't they just say that these are potential examples and leave it at that.  In order to get information as to whether the cruise I wanted to book would have an SE to the Edinburgh Tattoo I called Azamara directly, l and spoke with a lovely young woman who said they would but didn't have any specific information because the sailing date was too far out.  This made me choose the cruise, but I would not be choosing excursions until closer to the sail date.

[BBMacLaird]

Hi oddjob16,

You make some good points. I’ll see if we can get the senior officer schedule updated. Please be patient though...it may be next week as I know of at least one person on early Fourth of July vacation. And I’m heading off for a long weekend tomorrow. But back online Monday morning!

[screen-gem]

Another example is the schedule for their WWF speakers program. That web page has been out of date for six months.

 

 

Yet another issue is that the descriptions of shore excursions may not correctly describe what is actually delivered.  That happened to us on a recent Pursuit cruise. If you book and pay for an Azamara excursion, you may find that what is provided will not measure up. Caveat emptor.

[snowglobe]

1 hour ago, screen-gem said:

Yet another issue is that the descriptions of shore excursions may not correctly describe what is actually delivered.  That happened to us on a recent Pursuit cruise. If you book and pay for an Azamara excursion, you may find that what is provided will not measure up. Caveat emptor.

 

IMO, one of the best advertising features Azamara could nurture for the future sales of their Land Voyages would be happy guests of a strong Shore Ex programme.

 

Instead, it seems to be the weak link of the “Destination Immersion” marketing focus. I started out wanting to book almost all of my shore excursions through Azamara, for a b2b reservation of 30 days’ worth of cruising. Now I feel like a rube, and I’m opting out.

 

The website’s many missteps in their shore excursion offerings (just looking at my upcoming cruises) gives me the distinct impression that there’s a blasé corporate attitude in MIA’s Shore Ex management that views us as “sheep”, who will be content with being thrown into a bus and shlepped to see whatever... and that the guests who really care about their time will have booked their land experiences independently anyway.

 

Bonnie, if you read this when you get back on Monday, there’s a definite disconnect between what Azamara wants its mission to be, the marketing to that effect (including the website), and the actual land experiences it offers and delivers. This will probably have a boomerang effect on the Land Voyages’ success, if this disconnect is not addressed. Maybe the IT and Shore Ex departments can invest more in Human Resources... and the appropriate improvements and corrections be prioritized, in order to better meet the expanded direction that Azamara wishes to achieve. And, maybe, these ongoing issues need the undivided attention and commitment of a senior V-P.

Edited June 27, 2019 by snowglobe

[excitedofharpenden]

18 hours ago, BBMacLaird said:

Hi oddjob16,

You make some good points. I’ll see if we can get the senior officer schedule updated. Please be patient though...it may be next week as I know of at least one person on early Fourth of July vacation. And I’m heading off for a long weekend tomorrow. But back online Monday morning!

Just to help out, according to Captain Johannes' Facebook posts he goes on vacation 14th September 2019 and returns 21st November 2019 to 23rd February 2020.  

 

I honestly think the webmasters are asleep at the wheel. 

 

Phil

[LuAnn]

2 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Just to help out, according to Captain Johannes' Facebook posts he goes on vacation 14th September 2019 and returns 21st November 2019 to 23rd February 2020.  

 

I honestly think the webmasters are asleep at the wheel. 

 

Phil

 

Thanks Phil...that means he'll be on board for all of us!!! :)  LuAnn

[oddjob16]

Hi, again

Just interested if there are any progress regarding the web site. I bet you got no answers either?

 

 

Edited July 8, 2019 by oddjob16

[LuAnn]

NO...I think what i "see" is not "what I get" anymore re staff??? LuAnn

[oddjob16]

Just keeping this thread alive, hoping for some answers. The fact that I was looking for a Norway intensive cruise in 2021 triggered me to post again. ( I was just about to give up).

This screenshot of the Norway and Spitsbergen cruise is headlined with « See more of Iceland than ever before». 

Trust me: You are not remotely close to Iceland on this cruise. But it is an example of how incredibly wrong you can venture when there is NO quality control whatsoever with the web site. It is embarrassing.

Still hoping for some resolution from Bonnie, but in reality expecting none. How about just starting with correcting the Senior Officers Schedule

[Lottie A]

You are right Odd...it IS embarrassing and someone at Head Office with at least a rudimentary knowledge of geography should be proof reading these descriptions. It is bad enough to make a mistake in the flowery shore ex descriptions but to say a cruise is  "seeing more of Iceland" when it's not even going there is just shameful. It is like some high school dropout at HO thought "oh well, it's cold there so it must be near Norway"! 😬

I can just see some passengers asking onboard that cruise saying "so when are we getting to Iceland"?

 

At least the Senior Officer Schedule has been updated today. 

[excitedofharpenden]

Sorry, but that is just inept. Who are they employing to check this stuff out?  They need to get a grip of this. Not sure who reads this board at Azamara, but someone needs to knock heads.  

 

Phil 

[uktog]

That is so so bad but it is sadly typical of the attention to detail in some departments these days.  

If you think, the errors in the new land programme brochure, the constant errors in published land discoveries and errors in published itineraries.  

The excuse that they have problems with legacy systems doesn't wash for issues like this.  Its not as if its a high cost to take time to properly proof read and sense check things. Its nothing to do with the systems.

It reflects appallingly badly on Azamara.

A grip, a firm hand and some serious hard talking is needed at the highest level, sorry!

[BBMacLaird]

3 hours ago, oddjob16 said:

Just keeping this thread alive, hoping for some answers. The fact that I was looking for a Norway intensive cruise in 2021 triggered me to post again. ( I was just about to give up).

This screenshot of the Norway and Spitsbergen cruise is headlined with « See more of Iceland than ever before». 

Trust me: You are not remotely close to Iceland on this cruise. But it is an example of how incredibly wrong you can venture when there is NO quality control whatsoever with the web site. It is embarrassing.

Still hoping for some resolution from Bonnie, but in reality expecting none. How about just starting with correcting the Senior Officers Schedule

Which ship/sail date is this, oddjob?

[BBMacLaird]

On 6/27/2019 at 12:54 PM, excitedofharpenden said:

Just to help out, according to Captain Johannes' Facebook posts he goes on vacation 14th September 2019 and returns 21st November 2019 to 23rd February 2020. 

 

The Senior Officer Schedule has been updated: https://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/life-onboard/crew/senior-officer-schedule

[oddjob16]

6 minutes ago, BBMacLaird said:

Which ship/sail date is this, oddjob?

Bonnie, it is Journey sail date 28.07.21

And.... The officers schedule is still faulty. Or should I say Fawlty... 

[Bloodaxe]

3 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Sorry, but that is just inept. Who are they employing to check this stuff out?  They need to get a grip of this. Not sure who reads this board at Azamara, but someone needs to knock heads.  

 

Phil 

 

These are probably employing nobody to check but if they are they are next to useless.

 

Edited July 12, 2019 by Bloodaxe

[BBMacLaird]

9 minutes ago, oddjob16 said:

Bonnie, it is Journey sail date 28.07.21

And.... The officers schedule is still faulty. Or should I say Fawlty... 

Are you referring to the TBDs in the schedule as faulty, oddjob16?

 

[oddjob16]

19 minutes ago, BBMacLaird said:

Are you referring to the TBDs in the schedule as faulty, oddjob16?

 

More that according to schedule Johannes is the Master of Journey from july. 1.st until December 6th.

This is totally wrong. I know he goes off in Barcelona on sept 14th.

His next contract from November 26th 2019 to february 23rd. 2020. And now we are in the TBD months.... and yes I accept TBD, but not false info in current contracts. 

Btw. the SOS the JOURNEYS first cruise in feb 2020 is dated feb 7th. Correct date is feb 8th. 

Edited July 12, 2019 by oddjob16

[oddjob16]

I realise the start date for the new contract has changed because of Cuba. 21.st instead of 26.th

[BBMacLaird]

5 hours ago, oddjob16 said:

This screenshot of the Norway and Spitsbergen cruise is headlined with « See more of Iceland than ever before». 

 

Hi oddjob16, this has been corrected, it now says NORWAY. Thank you for letting me know.

 

[BBMacLaird]

1 hour ago, oddjob16 said:

And.... The officers schedule is still faulty. 

I understand it is under review.

[snowglobe]

Btw, it’s now Day 21 of being taken to a webpage that literally says “WHOOPS!”, when I try to book a shore excursion in the Voyage Planner.

 

I was waiting until Saturday morning (tomorrow) to sit out the wait to talk to an agent on the phone... however, the tour that I wanted to swap for in Gisborne NZ is now sold out as of today. The Azamara shore excursion that I had originally booked, according to the operator, will not be happening at all due to the dependent tides not coinciding with our port schedule. For this port of call, I’m again forced to book outside of Azamara.

 

I can’t help but feel, several months before my b2b cruises are set to sail, that the destination “intensive/immersive” aspect of our cruise cannot be relied upon... already Azamara has been deficient in paying attention to several of the details that will affect our land-based experiences. 

 

The destination-focused marketing is what tipped the choice towards Azamara for us, between equally good and competitive options for where/when we wanted to go - and I feel frankly let down by Azamara in this crucial aspect right now.

Why such incongruence between the message and the reality?

The company’s latest push to “land discoveries” makes this level of dissonance even more troubling.

 

For such very basic stuff that we are bringing to you on this forum (wrong country, wrong port of call, outdated schedules, impossible timings, inaccurate descriptions, etc. etc.), these things MUST be systematically avoided through the actions of diligent and educated employees, rather than pointed out by Cruise Critic posters and re-directed for correction.

 

Bonnie, all of these constant missteps add up.

In this day and age, your website IS who you are...

[oddjob16]

6 hours ago, BBMacLaird said:

 

Hi oddjob16, this has been corrected, it now says NORWAY. Thank you for letting me know.

 

Thank you, Bonnie. Now that the headline has been altered how about taking a look at the description of the cruise itself. It shouldn´t be difficult to find words to describe the differnt ports and fjords, but in this case I would sincerely ask the author to «stay off the weed».

Somebody has been told to pimp up the story, but now it just sounds like a intro to an adventure in a parallell dimension.

e.g «Olden—a world of towering glaciers, cascading waterfalls, and deep mountain valleys.», which is NOT the Olden I have been to. Maybe there is a another place like it somewhere. I have never seen towering glaciers, nor cascading waterfalls there.

Or even stranger: «arrive in Svolvaer to catch a glimpse of enormous whales feeding in nearby waters.» - sounds downright dangerous.

I cut down to the last one «a day in Bergen, a quaint old town with hidden gems around every corner.».  Well Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a lot going for it, but I have never heard anyone call it quaint. It is old,- it celebrates it´s 950th anniversary in 2020, but it is also modern and busy.

I don´t bother with the rest of the description, -it speaks for itself and anyone who has been to Norway must at least have gotten a good laugh out of this. 

I know you keep saying that there are so many dedicated people at Head Office and that we might be overly critical. Why these completely unnecesary mistakes and blunders.

The cruise takes Azamara to the archipleago of Spitsbergen for the first time. It is a fantastic opportunity to make a big story out of it. Sorry, it is a fail. Again

 

Edited July 13, 2019 by oddjob16