Azamara refund problems (merged)

[Grandma Cruising]

baymenow, I moved your post and the subsequent related ones to the refund topic.

[royallondon]

A possible option may be to instruct your second CC provider to reclaim the due monies via a section 75 claim?  If successful, I suspect the monies would then be refunded to the correct card.

 

Irrespective, I Hope you soon receive your refund and that things work out for you.

[Mrs Miggins]

Slightly different question.  I have asked for a refund via my Travel Agent rather than fill in the online form I could have completed from a link online.

I will presumably be credited (eventually) with the deposit paid direct to Azamara and the balance paid to the Travel Agent,  That amount included a small discount.  

Does the Travel Agent end up with any commission for the work they have done ?

I presume they retain the remaining part of their original commission.

I work with a small Travel Agent and they are having a really hard time at the moment.  They did try to persuade me to go for the 125% FCC but DH's current health problems may continue so cruising may be off the agenda and a bird in the hand etc etc.

[Bloodaxe]

58 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Slightly different question.  I have asked for a refund via my Travel Agent rather than fill in the online form I could have completed from a link online.

I will presumably be credited (eventually) with the deposit paid direct to Azamara and the balance paid to the Travel Agent,  That amount included a small discount.  

Does the Travel Agent end up with any commission for the work they have done ?

I presume they retain the remaining part of their original commission.

I work with a small Travel Agent and they are having a really hard time at the moment.  They did try to persuade me to go for the 125% FCC but DH's current health problems may continue so cruising may be off the agenda and a bird in the hand etc etc.

 

There's a post over on the Celebrity board by a U$A travel agent that talks about their commission when cancellations occur

[Mrs Miggins]

58 minutes ago, Bloodaxe said:

 

There's a post over on the Celebrity board by a U$A travel agent that talks about their commission when cancellations occur

Had a look on the Celebrity Board but cannot locate this.  Could you tell me the name of the thread ?

[Bloodaxe]

49 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Had a look on the Celebrity Board but cannot locate this.  Could you tell me the name of the thread ?

 

I had trouble finding it again myself, it's on the  How can we help Celebrity thread.

By Johnny CT81,  post 235

Edited April 18, 2020 by Bloodaxe

[sunlover33]

The only question then is what do people who have accepted FCC with Azamara  do then, change to celebrity, but the conditions do not allow for changes to other ships? 

[marinaro44]

58 minutes ago, sunlover33 said:

The only question then is what do people who have accepted FCC with Azamara  do then, change to celebrity, but the conditions do not allow for changes to other ships? 

The only other RCI-affiliated cruise line that is anything like Azamara is Silversea.  Celebrity is just another mass-market line.  Silversea is not going to take Azamara FCCs.

[Grandma Cruising]

1 hour ago, sunlover33 said:

The only question then is what do people who have accepted FCC with Azamara  do then, change to celebrity, but the conditions do not allow for changes to other ships? 

I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that, but my guess would be they would allow FCCs to be moved across, after all from their point of view that would be better than people asking for refunds.

Edited April 18, 2020 by Host Grandma Cruising

[sunlover33]

1 minute ago, marinaro44 said:

The only other RCI-affiliated cruise line that is anything like Azamara is Silversea.  Celebrity is just another mass-market line.  Silversea is not going to take Azamara FCC

That’s exactly my point, what are RCC expecting people holding Azamara FCC to do? 

[Grandma Cruising]

4 hours ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Slightly different question.  I have asked for a refund via my Travel Agent rather than fill in the online form I could have completed from a link online.

I will presumably be credited (eventually) with the deposit paid direct to Azamara and the balance paid to the Travel Agent,  That amount included a small discount.  

Does the Travel Agent end up with any commission for the work they have done ?

I presume they retain the remaining part of their original commission.

I work with a small Travel Agent and they are having a really hard time at the moment.  They did try to persuade me to go for the 125% FCC but DH's current health problems may continue so cruising may be off the agenda and a bird in the hand etc etc.

My Travel Agent daughter is having to repay commission on all the holidays her customers have cancelled. Not sure if this is the same in other countries, but it seems to be the case in the UK.

[Andy]

 

10 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Not sure why you'd think that Andy. Azamara share many functions with Royal now and I'm pretty sure I have seen it confirmed that refunds are being dealt with together for all the brands. 

 

Phil 

 

I should have been more precise Phil. When I said "run independently" - I meant the brands are run independently as far as management teams go. Has that changed ? I was aware that Azamara shares services with other departments at Royal.

 

Not sure who is handling FCC's for Azamara, but (FWIW), when I asked Celebrity about their FCC's this week, they stated they're handling their Celebrity bookings. Whether that's 100% accurate, is anyone's guess.

 

Hope all is well with you. Please stay safe.

[Grandma Cruising]

3 minutes ago, sunlover33 said:

That’s exactly my point, what are RCC expecting people holding Azamara FCC to do? 

At present this is all speculation. I’ve seen nothing in the news to suggest RCCL will ditch Azamara.

[Grandma Cruising]

7 minutes ago, Andy said:

 

 

I should have been more precise Phil. When I said "run independently" - I meant the brands are run independently as far as management teams go. Has that changed ? I was aware that Azamara shares services with other departments at Royal.

 

Not sure who is handling FCC's for Azamara, but (FWIW), when I asked Celebrity about their FCC's this week, they stated they're handling their Celebrity bookings. Whether that's 100% accurate, is anyone's guess.

 

Hope all is well with you. Please stay safe.

On a Journey roll-call a member has recently posted that they have been told that refunds and FCCs were being handled by different departments, so maybe Azamara is handling FCCs while RCCL is handling refunds. 

[Andy]

5 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that, but my guess would be they would allow FCCs to be moved across, after all from their point of view that would be better than people asking for refunds.

 

Agree Host Grandma. **IF** anything were to happen to Azamara (and I sincerely hope it does not come to that !) I'd be confident they will allow you to move FCC's to Royal or Celebrity. Marinaro brings up a good point about Silversea. They would be the only Royal brand (sort of) in the same Universe as Azamara. Whether they would accept their FCC's is uncertain, but I would think it's possible, as they are now part of the Royal Family -- again, IF it ever came to that.

 

I highly doubt any of us knows what the future holds. Honestly, I felt pretty good about Azamara's future, until Larry resigned. IMO, it boils down to "who knows" - but the same could be said for a number of other brands. I wouldn't be surprised to see a major brand go bankrupt (probably not Royal) IF this lasts for many months. IMHO, I'm not convinced on the most dire shutdown predictions, but I suppose anything is possible at this point. FWIW, I'm still hopeful that we will see at least some ships sailing this Summer. Probably a small percentage - but some.

We live in unprecedented times, and Cruising will change - at least in the early phase of sailings. I truly believe the industry will rebound, and ships will eventually sail full again, but it's going to take a fair amount of time before we get there. 

[sunlover33]

I would like to know how the refunds are being handled. Our cruise was cancelled by Azamara on 14 th March,  We have had shore excursions credit refunded  from celebrity (not Azamara) but no refund for cancellation of the cruise or indulgence package from Azamara. Whereas in another thread there are people who have self cancelled future cruises with celebrity  at the beginning of April which were  paid in full for June July and have already received full refunds from celebrity. I was advised when questioning the refund from celebrity that they have combined their admin and are working together to process refunds. But from other threads there does not seem to be any consistency in how they prioritise refunds, it seems a bit of a free for all and of course there is no communication being given re this. 

Edited April 18, 2020 by sunlover33

[baymenow]

Re Azamara:  So we only could get future cruise credit, not a refund.  When we purchased the original cruise it was bogoho and passenger 1 paid 6789 and passenger 2 paid 3099.  They gave us a certificate for FCC for $4949 each instead of the split we really paid.  Now we’re trying to book a new cruise and it’s still the bogoho deal so the cost for passenger 1 would be  6459 and 3229 for passenger 2.  Azamara is saying that if we book that cruise, passenger 1 will owe $1510,  and passenger 2 will still have 1720 fcc!!!  They should issue the fcc based on how it was originally paid.

[MakingUpForLostTime]

4 hours ago, Andy said:

 

Agree Host Grandma. **IF** anything were to happen to Azamara (and I sincerely hope it does not come to that !) I'd be confident they will allow you to move FCC's to Royal or Celebrity. Marinaro brings up a good point about Silversea. They would be the only Royal brand (sort of) in the same Universe as Azamara. Whether they would accept their FCC's is uncertain, but I would think it's possible, as they are now part of the Royal Family -- again, IF it ever came to that.

 

I highly doubt any of us knows what the future holds. Honestly, I felt pretty good about Azamara's future, until Larry resigned. IMO, it boils down to "who knows" - but the same could be said for a number of other brands. I wouldn't be surprised to see a major brand go bankrupt (probably not Royal) IF this lasts for many months. IMHO, I'm not convinced on the most dire shutdown predictions, but I suppose anything is possible at this point. FWIW, I'm still hopeful that we will see at least some ships sailing this Summer. Probably a small percentage - but some.

We live in unprecedented times, and Cruising will change - at least in the early phase of sailings. I truly believe the industry will rebound, and ships will eventually sail full again, but it's going to take a fair amount of time before we get there. 

From a shareholder perspective it would be logical to let Azamara go bankrupt. Let the old ships go and not pay the deposits back to the customers. This would conserve cash to save the parent company. This is just one of the reasons Azamara customers are not getting their refunds and select Celebrity and RCI customers are getting them. The damage to customer loyalty is beyond repair. They will let it go. The FCC’s will be worthless and not transferable. In the end we are used to save the company and shareholder value. I smell Class Action?

[nordski]

6 minutes ago, MakingUpForLostTime said:

From a shareholder perspective it would be logical to let Azamara go bankrupt. Let the old ships go and not pay the deposits back to the customers. This would conserve cash to save the parent company. This is just one of the reasons Azamara customers are not getting their refunds and select Celebrity and RCI customers are getting them. The damage to customer loyalty is beyond repair. They will let it go. The FCC’s will be worthless and not transferable. In the end we are used to save the company and shareholder value. I smell Class Action?

Well let’s create another scenario.

 

Recognize that in this situation bigger may be a problem. Royal and its shareholders recognize that people may be reluctant to get on one of the “Leviathans” of the Seas, particularly having seen photos of large Princess ships docked with no place to disembark passengers.

 

But there are Azamara’s “R” ships, older indeed but much smaller,  and also the Celebrity “M” class available. To passengers, and their travel agents. both may now seem to be a safer choice and thus easier to fill, especially if an older demographic of avid cruisers is unable to cruise for a while.

 

Reinstate some cruises with the “R” and “M” ships, mothball temporarily the “Behemoths”, and gradually re-establish some cash flow to satisfy the financiers while everyone waits for a vaccine.

[Robson1]

7 hours ago, Dylandude said:

There is a lot of sense in this posting. With Azamara having no plans for new builds I have had concerns for a while.

Royal Caribbean as a group have a track record of moving ships on to third party operators once ships across the fleet reach twenty years of age. It’s well documented that at least three of Celebrity’s M class ships are presently up for sale now they have passed twenty.

I hope I am wrong and Azamara survive in this cruise market meltdown.

 

Is that official they were not planning a new build? Back in December during the captains Q&A it was all but confirmed a new build was in the pipeline. It was wink wink, nudge nudge but I can't see why an Azamara captain would all but confirm it if it wasn't quite a way along the planning stages at that time.

 

A potential positive way to look at the situation for Azamara, is that cruise passengers across the board may now be more reluctant to travel on the behemoth ships because of the perceived potential of spreading of viruses. There is already lots of non cruisers who think like this. There could be a lot more demand for small ships.

 

The 5-7 night Caribbean booze cruises will suffer most I think. Especially with the demographic they attract, many of whom are younger working people and families who will be suffering from job losses and the upcoming mega recession. 

[Baynanno1]

On 4/18/2020 at 7:30 AM, baymenow said:

We got $4800 each FCC as we had to cancel our March 23 cruise .  If we’d cancelled 2 days prior we woudd have had125% FCC but because we cancelled 2 days prior to that we only got 100% fcc.  NOW were trying to book a cruise March 2021 and they are saying that passenger 1 gets the $4800 credit but passenger 2 only gets 50% credit.  That means passenger 1 would owe $2100 and passenger 2 would have $1700 credit!!  This is BS and when i talk to my other cruising friends they are not being treated that way.  Crystal is doing the right thing.  We are repeat Azamara cruisers but will be looking elsewhere.

 

You are not alone with strange figures for your FCC.

We received FCC a couple of days ago for a cruise cancelled by Azamara.

 

Your passenger 1 with 100% and passenger 2 with 50% seems to add up to only 75% of what you are owed.

 

0f our total refund, we received 66% and 33% of the total FCC, which added up to the correct total, less fees and taxes which should appear at some stage in our bank account.

 

As you rightly say, we should each receive the same amount, that is 50% each of the total owing.

[Baynanno1]

23 hours ago, BBMacLaird said:

But putting that aside, I’m wondering if you booked your original cruise under a BOGOHO (buy one get one half off) special promotion?

 

An interesting point Bonnie, however, if the poster elected to take cash, in most cases the payments would have come from one account ( regardless of the promotion of the time) and the refund would be paid to that single account, following which the whole of that amount could be used as they wished.

Surely in these circumstances common sense should prevail and refunds of any sort ought to be apportioned evenly in the interest of those cruisers making future bookings.

[Baynanno1]

7 hours ago, sunlover33 said:

I would like to know how the refunds are being handled. Our cruise was cancelled by Azamara on 14 th March,  We have had shore excursions credit refunded  from celebrity (not Azamara) but no refund for cancellation of the cruise or indulgence package from Azamara. Whereas in another thread there are people who have self cancelled future cruises with celebrity  at the beginning of April which were  paid in full for June July and have already received full refunds from celebrity. I was advised when questioning the refund from celebrity that they have combined their admin and are working together to process refunds. But from other threads there does not seem to be any consistency in how they prioritise refunds, it seems a bit of a free for all and of course there is no communication being given re this. 

 

I made a similar point yesterday in a thread "Bonnie . . . is there a reason?"

It irks me to see people who have cancelled their own May (and later) cruises being refunded before we whose March cruises were cancelled by Azamara are still waiting!

[Baynanno1]

4 hours ago, baymenow said:

Re Azamara:  So we only could get future cruise credit, not a refund.  When we purchased the original cruise it was bogoho and passenger 1 paid 6789 and passenger 2 paid 3099.  They gave us a certificate for FCC for $4949 each instead of the split we really paid.  Now we’re trying to book a new cruise and it’s still the bogoho deal so the cost for passenger 1 would be  6459 and 3229 for passenger 2.  Azamara is saying that if we book that cruise, passenger 1 will owe $1510,  and passenger 2 will still have 1720 fcc!!!  They should issue the fcc based on how it was originally paid.

 

I should have read all the posts before responding to your post #140. I was just too late to be able to edit it.

 

I see now that your problem is basically not actually being able to use all your FCC to pay for the new cruise, each of you only able to use their FCC for their part of the booking ( of course you would have no problem had you received cash).

 

I have addressed this problem in post # 156

 

Good luck getting sorted.

[baymenow]

We would have liked a refund but were denied that.  We only got 100% FCC.  People who cancelled a few days after us got 125% FCC.  All we want is total FCC and not have to pay more money because Azamara gave us a 50/50 FCC credit each, which if we book a future cruise will leave passenger 1 owing and passenger 2 with remaining FCC.  Not happy with Azamara right now.  Friends who cruise with crystal seem to be happier so we may switch.