Final Payment Extention

[Norn Iron Man]

On 7/26/2020 at 1:08 AM, Norn Iron Man said:

Very noticable by their absence

The silence is deafening!!!!!!!!!

[Norn Iron Man]

Today is the day my travel agent says they will be ringing me to demand my "final payment" for my October Cruise. I am going to have to pay them almost £3000 for a cruise that both they and I know will not be taking place. They will have my money for several months before they refund it to me, (probably when the november and december cruisers pay for their non-happening cruises). Thee phrase "robbing Peter to pay Paul" springs to mind.   This has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

[excitedofharpenden]

And you wait. A week after final payment date they will cancel the cruise. Maddening if you could really use that money for something else. 

 

Phil 

[uktog]

This is so unfair on Norn Iron Man. It’s not as if there is even a remote chance his cruise will happen so why won’t people do the right thing.  I don’t blame him having a bitter taste, I would too.

Edited July 31, 2020 by uktog

[excitedofharpenden]

This was the original post from the Azamara Team. It's so disappointing when one promises long and delivers short. Not at all professional.

 

Phil 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2020 by excitedofharpenden

[uktog]

54 minutes ago, Norn Iron Man said:

Today is the day my travel agent says they will be ringing me to demand my "final payment" for my October Cruise. I am going to have to pay them almost £3000 for a cruise that both they and I know will not be taking place. They will have my money for several months before they refund it to me, (probably when the november and december cruisers pay for their non-happening cruises). Thee phrase "robbing Peter to pay Paul" springs to mind.   This has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

One for Watchdog or Martin Lewis?

[john1970]

It's a very cynical ploy to gather in as much customer money as possible when they know Azamara will not cruise in Europe this season. It might be financially astute but it will upset many loyal cruisers. I guess they are betting that we will have short memories when the world starts to recover from Covid. The board misses Bonnie as she would have at least put our views forward. 

[Norn Iron Man]

Excited of Harpenden:  Its not that I have anything specific I just begrudge paying for something that won't be happening and then having to wait for MY money back. Disappointed with the lack of response from Azamara who we all know monitor this board

 

UKTog:  Even the dogs in the street know this cruise will not be taking place.  BBC consumer programme have been informed

[Riocca]

I feel your pain we had a similar situation but it’s ended with a positive outcome.

Back at the beginning of June we were being chased for the balance for our October b2b (Pursuit 3rd & 10th October) we weren’t offered a chance to defer payment not that it mattered as it was only going to delay the inevitable decision. As it was almost impossible to get to speak to our TA’s customer service I completed Azamara’s online form, where they are supposed to advise your best option, almost immediately both cruises were cancelled. Unfortunately Azamara didn’t inform our TA who continued to chase payment, this was eventually sorted and I received a cancellation invoice, fortunately they were both onboard bookings so the deposit was reduced but still £500.

As I already had a dialogue running with Azamara’s Customer Services over our cancelled March cruise I questioned what was happening and was told FCC’s would be issued for the deposit but it would take 45 days. One of the cruises was booked using 3 free loyalty days and those were returned but had to be used by 31st December 2021.

Fast forward to last week we had still not received the FCC’s so I contacted Azamara, apparently they were stuck in the system so Customer Services immediately issued some.

So this week armed with 3 free days and 2 FCC’s each we looked at the cruise options for later in 2021 settling on Quest’s France intensive enquired about pricing via our usual TA to compare with Azamara’s online price the saving was about £250 based on the BOGOHO offer but thought I would compare the price using 3 free days not holding out much hope.  Travel agent phoned Azamara saying she would get back to me ASAP, 20 minutes later she was back! Using the free days worked out about £1000 cheaper (didn’t expect that on a 10 night cruise) not only that we could use the deposit FCC’s as the deposit so nothing to pay and the FCC’s from our cancelled March cruise could be used against the balance. 
Added to all of this we also received compensation from Azamara for the flights we lost for the cancelled March cruise, ok it’s taken almost 5 months to resolve everything and it’s been frustrating but we are happy with the eventual outcome. Whether we get to take the September 2021 cruise is anyone’s guess but we still have the “Cruise with Confidence” guarantee and a protected deposit.

 

 

 

 

 

[xtynyc]

15 hours ago, Riocca said:

Back at the beginning of June we were being chased for the balance for our October b2b (Pursuit 3rd & 10th October) we weren’t offered a chance to defer payment not that it mattered as it was only going to delay the inevitable decision. As it was almost impossible to get to speak to our TA’s customer service I completed Azamara’s online form, where they are supposed to advise your best option, almost immediately both cruises were cancelled. Unfortunately Azamara didn’t inform our TA who continued to chase payment, this was eventually sorted and I received a cancellation invoice, fortunately they were both onboard bookings so the deposit was reduced but still £500.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm glad it worked out for you....BUT, the October 3 and 10 Pursuit sailings are not cancelled on the Azamara website...so what's the deal? Are they cancelled? Are they still going? We are on an October 3 sailing and have heard ZERO about cancellation of the cruise. Is anyone else confused? Are the October sailing cancelled or are they still "scheduled"? This screenshot from 10 seconds ago shows Azamara selling these two sailing currently on their website!!

[Riocca]

2 hours ago, xtynyc said:

 

I'm glad it worked out for you....BUT, the October 3 and 10 Pursuit sailings are not cancelled on the Azamara website...so what's the deal? Are they cancelled? Are they still going? We are on an October 3 sailing and have heard ZERO about cancellation of the cruise. Is anyone else confused? Are the October sailing cancelled or are they still "scheduled"? This screenshot from 10 seconds ago shows Azamara selling these two sailing currently on their website!!

No Azamara haven’t cancelled the cruise, yet, but in reality there’s zero chance of these cruises actually happening. Pursuit and Journey are currently in cold lay up in Glasgow it’s been said many times on this site that getting the ships ready to sail could take months. Currently there’s a skeleton crew looking after all three ships so getting crew back to the ships would be impossible given the current restrictions on travel to the U.K. from many parts of the world. Many other cruise lines are now cancelling cruises through to the end of 2020 it’s only a matter of time before RCI follow suit.
So although Azamara haven’t cancelled these cruises we know it’s only a matter of time before they are cancelled, having gone through the pain of getting a refund for our cancelled March cruise we weren’t going to give over a large balance to go through it all again.

[Norn Iron Man]

5 hours ago, xtynyc said:

 

I'm glad it worked out for you....BUT, the October 3 and 10 Pursuit sailings are not cancelled on the Azamara website...so what's the deal? Are they cancelled? Are they still going? We are on an October 3 sailing and have heard ZERO about cancellation of the cruise. Is anyone else confused? Are the October sailing cancelled or are they still "scheduled"? This screenshot from 10 seconds ago shows Azamara selling these two sailing currently on their website!!

 

 

I wondered about this too!!!  I have a cruise booked on Journey ex Venice on 10th October with my TA chasing me for the balance.  I argued with them that the cruise would not be going ahead and there was little point in paying. I was advised that I WOULD LOSE MY DEPOSIT if I didn't pay the balance.  The deposit was over £800.00 and the balance £3000.00 so basically I must pay £3000 to ensure the return of my £800 until someone at Azamara makes the decision to OFFICIALLY cancel the holiday.  I am sure the decision has been made at Corporate HQ but its nice to get thousands of interest free loans from customers who are being forced to pay balances for something which will not be happening

 

[uktog]

I’m wondering if it’s even legal here to take new bookings on these cruises.  I hope Azamara USA fully understands UK Consumer legislation

Edited August 1, 2020 by uktog

[Norn Iron Man]

19 minutes ago, uktog said:

I’m wondering if it’s even legal here to take new bookings on these cruises.  I hope Azamara USA fully understands UK Consumer legislation

Being Devil's Advocate here I would say they (Azamara) could argue that they intend the cruise to take place.  In reality everyone knows its an impossibility. Probably be up to M'Learned friends to argue the case in the courts.

 

Azamara may or may not be aware of UK Consumer legislation but I'm very sure the Travel Agents in the UK are fully au fait with it.

 

[uktog]

I believe you cannot sell a product if there is a reasonable prospect it cannot be delivered. An individual agent might argue they don’t know about the cold lay up of the vessel of the cruise being sold but that defence wouldn’t work for the cruise line. And I doubt they could argue there is a reasonable prospect the voyage will take place. Someone would have to test that though. 

Edited August 1, 2020 by uktog

[Riocca]

3 hours ago, Norn Iron Man said:

 

 

I wondered about this too!!!  I have a cruise booked on Journey ex Venice on 10th October with my TA chasing me for the balance.  I argued with them that the cruise would not be going ahead and there was little point in paying. I was advised that I WOULD LOSE MY DEPOSIT if I didn't pay the balance.  The deposit was over £800.00 and the balance £3000.00 so basically I must pay £3000 to ensure the return of my £800 until someone at Azamara makes the decision to OFFICIALLY cancel the holiday.  I am sure the decision has been made at Corporate HQ but its nice to get thousands of interest free loans from customers who are being forced to pay balances for something which will not be happening

 

Agree all travel operators should be more upfront about the fact cruising is not going to start up again any time soon but I suppose the cost of refunding so many customers in a short period of time would drive even some of the biggest under. We have a Marella New Year cruise booked with the balance due at the end of September our options with them are extremely limited, at least Azamara are still offering the option to cancel and get a FCC for the deposit. I realise this might not be ideal and depends on your future cruise plans but at least the deposit money is not lost and is protected by ABTA.

 

Cancel My Cruise

Cancel any cruise (booked by September 30, 2020) that sets sail from now through April 30, 2022 and you’re covered. Cancel at least 48 hours before the sail date, and you will receive a Future Cruise Credit that can be used on any cruise through the later of December 31, 2021 or 12 months from the date you cancel.

[Norn Iron Man]

27 minutes ago, Riocca said:

Agree all travel operators should be more upfront about the fact cruising is not going to start up again any time soon but I suppose the cost of refunding so many customers in a short period of time would drive even some of the biggest under. We have a Marella New Year cruise booked with the balance due at the end of September our options with them are extremely limited, at least Azamara are still offering the option to cancel and get a FCC for the deposit. I realise this might not be ideal and depends on your future cruise plans but at least the deposit money is not lost and is protected by ABTA.

 

Cancel My Cruise

Cancel any cruise (booked by September 30, 2020) that sets sail from now through April 30, 2022 and you’re covered. Cancel at least 48 hours before the sail date, and you will receive a Future Cruise Credit that can be used on any cruise through the later of December 31, 2021 or 12 months from the date you cancel.

 

I agree to a certain extent. Surely it would be better to pay me back my deposit rather than have to pay back the deposit and the final payment.  If I look at this cynically I would almost imagine that they are using MY money to pay back August and September cancelled cruises.  Then it begins again using the final balance they receive in August and September to pay back the October cruisers.  Cheaper than borrowing money from the bank.

 

[Riocca]

1 hour ago, Norn Iron Man said:

 

I agree to a certain extent. Surely it would be better to pay me back my deposit rather than have to pay back the deposit and the final payment.  If I look at this cynically I would almost imagine that they are using MY money to pay back August and September cancelled cruises.  Then it begins again using the final balance they receive in August and September to pay back the October cruisers.  Cheaper than borrowing money from the bank.

 

Don’t think your being cynical it’s absolutely what they’re all doing and the reason that they limit the number of cruises cancelled. I agree it would make sense to repay just the deposit amounts if of course they didn’t need the balance to finance their operations, issuing FCC’s first before you can apply for a refund is another delaying tactic.
We were lucky to come out of this without suffering too much financially, but I can only see our Marella, December and APT, March cruises costing us big time these companies might think they’re being clever protecting them selves at the moment but I think they will suffer in the long term.

[Norn Iron Man]

1 hour ago, Riocca said:

Don’t think your being cynical it’s absolutely what they’re all doing and the reason that they limit the number of cruises cancelled. I agree it would make sense to repay just the deposit amounts if of course they didn’t need the balance to finance their operations, issuing FCC’s first before you can apply for a refund is another delaying tactic.
We were lucky to come out of this without suffering too much financially, but I can only see our Marella, December and APT, March cruises costing us big time these companies might think they’re being clever protecting them selves at the moment but I think they will suffer in the long term.

 The travel agent I booked with will certainly never have me as a customer again. If I ever book a cruise again it will be as a last minute decision for a good price. So much for loyalty. If some of the proposed restrictions are implemented cruising will lose its magic anyway. 

[CHTobi]

On 7/8/2020 at 6:30 PM, Phxazzcruisers said:

We have a cruise from Lisbon to South Africa in November of this year.  Final payment was originally due July 13.  I just got an email from our TZ that final payment is now not due until August 13th !   I am not sure we will actualluy be able to take this cruise, but am hapy they have postponed final payment or 30 days.  We will probaly reschedule the same cruise for 2021.  Kudos to Azamara for giving us an additional 30 days to make the decision !!!

We are booked on the same sailing. Ironically I received the e-mail about the payment extension a few days after our final payment due date (kind of defeated the purpose of the extension). My recommendation is to pay in full by due date if you are planning on taking this cruise in the future. You are right, it most likely will not happen this year, but with Azamara's "lift and shift" policy, which I hope will remain in effect (to include this particular Lisbon to Cape Town sailing) you will be much better off than with a refund and/or a Future Cruise Credit. That is always assuming that Azamara will not go bankrupt (not an absolute impossibility at this point, but let's hope for the best!) So, if the 2020 Lisbon to Cape Town sailing is canceled you should be able to "lift and shift" your old price which - considering the current retail pricing for 2021 (outrageously expensive in my opinion - for some odd reason that must go beyond just pure demand and supply) - will give you a great deal for the 2021 sailing. In our case, should there be a lift and shift, we are looking at a price differential of US$26,450.00 in our favor as current retail is US$45,501.00 and we paid US$19,051.00 for the pretty much exact same sailing. There are, of course,  some risks involved in the "lift and shift" strategy, like inventory at the point of "lift and shift" but "life's a gamble"! Hope whatever you will decide to do it will work out for you!

[hiccups]

On 8/1/2020 at 3:49 PM, CHTobi said:

We are booked on the same sailing. Ironically I received the e-mail about the payment extension a few days after our final payment due date (kind of defeated the purpose of the extension). My recommendation is to pay in full by due date if you are planning on taking this cruise in the future. You are right, it most likely will not happen this year, but with Azamara's "lift and shift" policy, which I hope will remain in effect (to include this particular Lisbon to Cape Town sailing) you will be much better off than with a refund and/or a Future Cruise Credit.

You don't have to pay the balance to Lift & Shift.  We just have a deposit on our November South America cruise, and were able to do a L&S to another South American cruise in January 2022.

[CHTobi]

1 hour ago, hiccups said:

You don't have to pay the balance to Lift & Shift.  We just have a deposit on our November South America cruise, and were able to do a L&S to another South American cruise in January 2022.

I was not aware of that. I did another lift and shift for a fully paid sailing that got canceled (Black Sea, July 2020 - moved to 2021) and Azamara issued full credit minus deposit after the lift and shift and gave me a new 2021 due date. I was assuming that with the due date on the South Africa sailing being up (Azamara telling me about the final payment extension too late) I had better pay my balance. I have not yet done the lift and shift on that one, but probably will do so soon as I do not believe the 2020 sailing will be happening end of this year. Initially I thought that lift and shift was only possible AFTER Azamara canceled - I guess that is not so. Interesting that you were able to do a lift and shift from a NOVEMBER 2020 to a JANUARY 2022 - I thought the sail dates had to be within four weeks of each other. Well, I guess the dates are close enough. We are booked from Miami to Lima, Peru and then Lima to San Antonio, Chile  in January 2022 - so we’ll probably see you on Azamara around then! Assuming that things will settle down with the virus and normalize...

[hiccups]

17 minutes ago, CHTobi said:

 Interesting that you were able to do a lift and shift from a NOVEMBER 2020 to a JANUARY 2022 - I thought the sail dates had to be within four weeks of each other. Well, I guess the dates are close enough.

 

Because there was nothing similar in 2021, I contacted Azamara to see if we might be eligible to switch to the January 2022 cruise, and we received an exception.  I preferred the itinerary of our original cruise, plus it's a PerryGolf cruise and my husband was signed up for that.  But we just don't see how the 11/30/20 cruise will take place, and combined with a new job for me and a possible work conflict even if the cruise does happen, it made sense to go ahead and change it now.

Edited August 3, 2020 by hiccups

[Norn Iron Man]

9 hours ago, hiccups said:

You don't have to pay the balance to Lift & Shift.  We just have a deposit on our November South America cruise, and were able to do a L&S to another South American cruise in January 2022.

I know that I don't have to pay the balance to lift and shift.  That is not the issue here.  The issue is that the TA and Azamara are chasing a final payment for a cruise which is obviously not going to take place.

 

Unfortunately today I had the ultimatum of pay the balance now or lose the deposit.  So with reluctance and under protest I have paid the balance. Now Azamara will owe me 5 times the amount of money that they owed me yesterday.  Why can they not admit that the cruise will not take place.  

[Baynanno1]

On 7/31/2020 at 6:49 PM, excitedofharpenden said:

This was the original post from the Azamara Team. It's so disappointing when one promises long and delivers short. Not at all professional.

 

Phil 

 

 

 

Seems they are still M.I.A.