CANCELLED AZAMARA CRUISE - CROATIA INTENSIVE MAY 2020

[need2cruisesoon]

7 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

 

" Do you want to be known as the cruise line that cannot be trusted? "  

 

 

 

 

Seems that way already, doesn't it?

Edited July 4, 2019 by need2cruisesoon

[CYNSport]

9 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

It's really a shambles. No matter how Azamara dress up another messed up itinerary.  It's obvious that Marketing Department certainly has a strong influence at the moment in their quest to fill the ships.  Forget loyal guests. Oh and fire sell unsold cabins on cruises that remain unaltered at a fraction of the cost and fill with people who aren't Azamara's target market at all. Nice!😏

 

Phil 

Yes. I am seeing more and more Azamara (and Seabourn and Crystal, for that matter) in emails from a US cruise consolidator at prices below what is available on their own websites, plus, this  lower price also includes international airfare, hotel, transfers, and a departure city tour. Fire sales indeed!

Edited July 4, 2019 by CYNSport

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, CYNSport said:

Yes. I am seeing more and more Azamara (and Seabourn and Crystal, for that matter) in emails from a US cruise consolidator at prices below what is available on their own websites, plus, this  lower price also includes international airfare, hotel, transfers, and a departure city tour. Fire sales indeed!

 

That would seem to reflect an industry-wide over-reaction to the economic upswing [i.e. they raised prices too much] – if all these lines are needing 'fire sales,' it can't be a reaction to Azamara's itinerary changes and cruise cancellations.  But I suppose it is a good opportunity for those upset with Azamara to see if the grass is greener over there.

[CYNSport]

15 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

That would seem to reflect an industry-wide over-reaction to the economic upswing [i.e. they raised prices too much] – if all these lines are needing 'fire sales,' it can't be a reaction to Azamara's itinerary changes and cruise cancellations.  But I suppose it is a good opportunity for those upset with Azamara to see if the grass is greener over there.

I think all of these events (charters, fire sales with consolidators, etc) are related to elasticity of demand and the fire sales have the added benefit for cruise lines of preventing booked cruisers from getting a matching price decrease.  I agree that unhappy customers will check out other cruise lines. We have only cruised Celebrity and Azamara, but are now looking at Viking and Regent. All have their pros and cons and it’s nice to have so many choices. 

[hubofhockey]

With talks of a new fourth ship, it's unlikely that Azamara is hurting.  Of course, treating booked passengers poorly will catch up with them.  We have our first Azamara cruise in 100 days, but I am not going to spend this kind of money again and take on that risk.  It might open me up to Oceania though.

[ellbon]

4 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

With talks of a new fourth ship, it's unlikely that Azamara is hurting.  Of course, treating booked passengers poorly will catch up with them.  We have our first Azamara cruise in 100 days, but I am not going to spend this kind of money again and take on that risk.  It might open me up to Oceania though.

Done a few with O. Bored at night and no late nights in port. Plus you need a drink package. Better lines out there vs Oceania.

[DRJVH]

On 7/3/2019 at 11:18 PM, Cruise Junky said:

What the hell? This is ridiculous some people could have bought air.  I get charters but it should be hands off once Air is released. 

Yes, we have already bought our air tickets and fly out from UK on 15 May, so the offer of the 10 night cruise after is of no use to us at all.  Similarly, we cannot take an earlier cruise, because they will not offer any compensation other than that of the 10 night cruise.

[uktog]

4 hours ago, DRJVH said:

Yes, we have already bought our air tickets and fly out from UK on 15 May, so the offer of the 10 night cruise after is of no use to us at all.  Similarly, we cannot take an earlier cruise, because they will not offer any compensation other than that of the 10 night cruise.

I feel for you, you are paying a price for being organised early.

i would have your agent (if you used one) alternatively yourself email Azamara and detail the specifics of your situation and see if they can help more with a solution that fits your needs and potential losses. 

As you seem to have sailed with them before you could send your email to the LCV ambassador- she will not be able to deal with it herself but is well connected to ensure your issue is looked at by the right person. 

[Belfastman]

8 hours ago, ellbon said:

Done a few with O. Bored at night and no late nights in port. Plus you need a drink package. Better lines out there vs Oceania.

Done quite a few with O had several late nights in port (incl overnights). All of my cruises had drinks included at no extra cost.

[Shawnino]

25 minutes ago, Belfastman said:

Done quite a few with O had several late nights in port (incl overnights). All of my cruises had drinks included at no extra cost.

 

This. Choose the basic drinks package as your OLife perk (the other ones make little sense: the shore-ex package works out to mostly pano bus tours and sites easy to DIY; who would ever pay cash for the exact same amount of OBC and call that a perk??). Then upgrade to the full on becerage package for $20/day if interested.  

 

O overnights are a bit like the mainstream lines. Classic O/night ports (Leningrad, Istanbul...) will have at least one o/ night. Others generally won't. We are getting an o/night in Bordeaux next year.

[hubofhockey]

2 hours ago, Belfastman said:

Done quite a few with O had several late nights in port (incl overnights). All of my cruises had drinks included at no extra cost.

 

I shouldn't have brought up Oceania as an option in this thread.  My point was that it's a bit upscale from the mass market lines and also casual.  I agree that, if you have a good TA, you usually find yourself with a drinks package or some other package comped.  Azamara canceling a cruise within a calendar year of the voyage leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.  The issue of a booked passenger having it canceled and then being out of pocket on airfare goes beyond the bad taste to vomit.  I'll enjoy my cruise on Azamara in October, but think twice about booking another Azamara cruise.  Who needs this aggravation?  I guess I would feel better if Azamara took care of the OP here. 

[Riocca]

On the subject of prices dropping today there’s been an advert on Facebook from a U.K. travel agent specialising in premium cruise lines. The banner refers to Penthouse Suites but the tag line is asking if you would like an Azamara cruise.

However if you click for details there are Oceania, Regent, Silverseas, Seabourn and Crystal cruises some at unbelievably good prices yes there are a couple of very close in (July) cruises but not discounted as heavily as the others. If you believe the press here in the U.K. bookings for all types of overseas holidays are down with many choosing a “staycation”.

If cruises aren’t selling, all the cruise lines are going to be keen to accept charters and will be tweaking poor selling itineraries to make them more attractive. We had 2020 itinerary changed yesterday no changes to the start or finish ports but plenty in between, there were pluses and minuses for us but given we were offered $1000 OBC to accept we are happy.

[DRJVH]

On 7/4/2019 at 3:31 AM, BBMacLaird said:

Hi DrJVH,

I am very sorry you're upset about the charter of your May 9, 2020 voyage. Unfortunately full-ship charters are part of the industry, every line is open to the possibility; and frankly charters have been around for as long as I've been in the cruise industry...since 1983! Way back then I oversaw both Revenue Management AND Marketing and I can assure you the decision was always stressful. The 2 rule of thumbs were always 'focus on under-performing cruises' for RM sake + 'the further out from sailing date the better' for our booked guests' sake.

The letter notifying booked guests went out on 5/22/19; so almost one year in advance. I've shared a bit of the letter below.  I do hope you'll transfer your booking to another Azamara voyage. We value you!

 

 

"May 22, 2019

Dear Azamara Guest,

We’re writing to inform you of some important changes regarding your 7-Night Croatia Intensive Voyage scheduled to depart on Azamara Quest May 2, 2020.

Azamara Quest, has been chartered by a private group which has required us to cancel your voyage. We deeply apologize for this inconvenience, and hope you will understand that when planning so far in advance sometimes circumstances arise that require us to alter our sailing schedules.

We understand your cruise vacation is extremely valuable to you and your family and we try to minimize disruptions to your travel plans, which is why we create compensation offers that will ensure you are provided an appealing alternative when have a change such as a charter.  As a valued guest, we would like to present you with one of the compensation alternatives described below:

• We invite you to embark on a 10-Night Dalmatian & Amalfi Coasts Voyage that departs Venice, Italy on May 9, 2020. That’s just one week later than your originally scheduled departure and you’ll still sail aboard the beautiful Azamara Quest. Re-book on this recently modified voyage, in like accommodations and we will honor the lower rate. Consider the extra three nights a complimentary “thank you” from Azamara. What’s more, this new itinerary happens to include many of the Croatian ports of call on your original voyage.
• Alternatively, you may choose to move to any other Azamara voyage not listed above at the prevailing rate, and receive a $100 onboard credit per standard stateroom; a $200 onboard credit for suites when you re-book any Azamara sailing.
• If you choose to cancel, a full refund for amounts paid will be processed to the original form of payment however, you will not receive the other incentives described above.

Thank you for your response Bonnie. Unfortunately Azamara just don’t get it. 

We cannot take up the offer of the 10 night cruise as our flights are already booked and we have to return to Australia..  We are actually sailing on the preceding cruise departing  Athens on 23 April and our flights were booked on 19 May this year for travel on 21 May 2020 through Qantas. 

But getting back to the “incentives”:-

• It seems that if you’re ok to take up the 10 night cruise you get compensated with ”3 complimentary nights”, as per the letter
• If you don’t take up the offer and book another “Azamara  Voyage”,  you will be compensated by a  $100 OBC. Not sure whether this is fair compensation, in fact a bit of an insult really.  
• Then, if  neither of these work for you,  forget any incentive !!! 

We booked this cruise, along with the preceding cruise onboard in June 2018 !   We are also on another voyage with Azamara  in August this year. So our loyalty to you is quite apparent. 

Azamara could quite easily have transferred the ‘3 complimentary nights’ to our voyage in August and all would have been ok, but it seems that’s not going to be the case because loyalty and advocacy don’t count for anything. 

I also find your remark “ we value you”  flippant because you don’t “value us “as a loyal customer. 

[DRJVH]

45 minutes ago, Riocca said:

On the subject of prices dropping today there’s been an advert on Facebook from a U.K. travel agent specialising in premium cruise lines. The banner refers to Penthouse Suites but the tag line is asking if you would like an Azamara cruise.

However if you click for details there are Oceania, Regent, Silverseas, Seabourn and Crystal cruises some at unbelievably good prices yes there are a couple of very close in (July) cruises but not discounted as heavily as the others. If you believe the press here in the U.K. bookings for all types of overseas holidays are down with many choosing a “staycation”.

If cruises aren’t selling, all the cruise lines are going to be keen to accept charters and will be tweaking poor selling itineraries to make them more attractive. We had 2020 itinerary changed yesterday no changes to the start or finish ports but plenty in between, there were pluses and minuses for us but given we were offered $1000 OBC to accept we are happy.

See $1000 OBC not a miserly $100🤔🤔

[DRJVH]

On 7/3/2019 at 9:12 PM, Shawnino said:

Sorry to read, OP.

That's pretty terrible.

Can you shoehorn in the cruise prior instead of the cruise after?

We’re already on the cruise before. Can’t  go any further back as our flights are already booked to arrive in Athens on 21 April 

[Riocca]

1 hour ago, DRJVH said:

See $1000 OBC not a miserly $100🤔🤔

The full offer was $500 OBC for a stateroom & $1000 for a suite to stick with the cruise, $250/$500 OBC if you wanted to change to another cruise without penalty, $100/$200 if we wanted an open passage certificate or cancel with no penalty and a refund of deposit. The cruise is 340 days out so there was nothing offered for air if booked,  we had actually booked air as BA flights opened last Sunday and using FF miles we had snapped up Business class flights for £18.40 pp.

[Mrs Miggins]

Riocca, We are thinking of booking for next June (Journey Med cruises).  Just curious about your itinerary change ?

[Lottie A]

24 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Riocca, We are thinking of booking for next June (Journey Med cruises).  Just curious about your itinerary change ?

Me too John. Thinking of booking for the three of us on Pursuit in two weeks but nervous about it with all the late fire sales and itinerary changes. 

[Riocca]

25 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Riocca, We are thinking of booking for next June (Journey Med cruises).  Just curious about your itinerary change ?

No it’s Quest, old itinerary was Denmark intensive lots of small unusual ports but they’ve changed it to a Northern Capitals cruise no new ports for us but we will transit the Kiel Canal something we’ve never done.

Letter was quite honest in that the cruise wasn’t selling so they decided to change it, remains to be seen if it works. We got it at a very reasonable price for a CC suite only a few weeks ago, price has increased for the new itinerary so with the OBC were reasonably happy.

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 minutes ago, Riocca said:

No it’s Quest, old itinerary was Denmark intensive lots of small unusual ports but they’ve changed it to a Northern Capitals cruise no new ports for us but we will transit the Kiel Canal something we’ve never done.

Letter was quite honest in that the cruise wasn’t selling so they decided to change it, remains to be seen if it works. We got it at a very reasonable price for a CC suite only a few weeks ago, price has increased for the new itinerary so with the OBC were reasonably happy.

 

This is setting up a death spiral:  what attracts us to Azamara is the destination focus, and particularly the country-intensive itineraries.  But it seems that those are the most likely to get changed if they don't sell well [Croatia and now Denmark] – so regulars will shy away from booking them, which means they will get changed because they aren't selling well.  Azamara needs to decide if this is their métier and support it.

[uktog]

Oh drat we had that one circled as a possible to use three nights on - the new itinerary doesn't appeal - done the Keil Canal but it disappointed a little as there was such a delay at the first lock most of the transit was in the dark

 

[Riocca]

9 minutes ago, Lottie A said:

Me too John. Thinking of booking for the three of us on Pursuit in two weeks but nervous about it with all the late fire sales and itinerary changes. 

Lottie I think it’s just the odd Quest itinerary all the others look to be selling well, I can appreciate that a Denmark intensive might not appeal to everyone but it was something different for us. To be honest not sure the new itinerary is going to be any more popular as it’s just pretty standard fair, but they had to fill 10 days between two normally popular cruises the Wine Intensive and a Baltic itinerary.

We are planning to book the 3 nights on Pursuit before and have had confirmation it counts as an extended voyage so even more OBC!

[ellbon]

5 hours ago, Belfastman said:

Done quite a few with O had several late nights in port (incl overnights). All of my cruises had drinks included at no extra cost.

I never did anywhere but Pappeete.  There an O Package  which is not worth it to me.  I found it mire money than the amount of booze i can drink. i do get free internet and laundry.  i heard 60 to 80 a day fro drinks and on a ten day cruise.. some days i drink 30 and others more.

 

[Riocca]

18 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

This is setting up a death spiral:  what attracts us to Azamara is the destination focus, and particularly the country-intensive itineraries.  But it seems that those are the most likely to get changed if they don't sell well [Croatia and now Denmark] – so regulars will shy away from booking them, which means they will get changed because they aren't selling well.  Azamara needs to decide if this is their métier and support it.

I think Croatia is still selling well although it is being over cruised at the moment, main problem there is it’s very attractive for charterers to take a small ship Venice round trip for 7 or 8 days. We lost our Croatia Intensive cruise a couple of years ago to the infamous swingers charter, the compensation was generous and we managed to make the cruise the following year.

However a Northern European country intensive cruise might not capture everyone’s imagination unless its Norway or Iceland.

[Riocca]

31 minutes ago, uktog said:

Oh drat we had that one circled as a possible to use three nights on - the new itinerary doesn't appeal - done the Keil Canal but it disappointed a little as there was such a delay at the first lock most of the transit was in the dark

 

It’s a shame but as with most things it’s the big names that sell, the Kiel Canal is good for us as previously we’ve only been to the Baltic on ships too big to transit the canal. May be wrong but I can see there are possibly going to be big discounts on this cruise later on, however we’ve secured our favourite cabin at a price we’re happy with and have OBC so won’t be getting too upset about it.