Pro/Con: Is Azamara headed for a stormy future with its sale or will their dedicated supporters come to their rescue

[SmoothFlying]

I guess it makes sense in Royal Caribbean's new business model to kill two birds with one stone i.e.: Unload the 'R' ships of Azamara thus allowing RCCL to concentrate on the bigger floating 'family' amusement/malls that are being launched. Does this signal the end of Viking Ocean and similar cruise lines ? What's your opinion...I'm curious what do you think.

 

Mac

[Host Jazzbeau]

Why should Azamara's sale signal the end of Viking Ocean?  Viking offers sparkly new ships doing meh itineraries.  Apparently plenty of market for that.  Azamara offers classic ships doing really interesting itineraries – and based on my vote there's plenty of market for that too.  🙂

[donaldsc]

Viking and Azamara are totally different products.

 

DON

[sippican]

We had just booked our first cruise with Azamara.

However, since they will no longer be recognizing loyalty status from X, or the stockholders benefits, they've already lost us.

Edited January 29, 2021 by sippican

[uktog]

12 minutes ago, sippican said:

We had just booked our first cruise with Azamara.

However, since they will no longer be recognizing loyalty status from X, or the stockholders benefits, they've already lost us.

Not sure we actually know all that for certain - for example they might recognise points accrued on X up to 19 January 2021.  There hasn't been an official communication issued on this yet so hold on!

Edited January 29, 2021 by uktog

[marinaro44]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

Not sure we actually know all that for certain - for example they might recognise points accrued on X up to 19 January 2021.  There hasn't been an official communication issued on this yet so hold on!

Thought I read somewhere or heard in a video that existing Azamara Circle status would be carried over but future Celebrity cruises would not be additive.

[tgg]

34 minutes ago, marinaro44 said:

Thought I read somewhere or heard in a video that existing Azamara Circle status would be carried over but future Celebrity cruises would not be additive.

I heard the same thing.

[eggcream3]

I think everyone is loosing sight of the true endgame.  By Sycamore partners buying a fourth ship for Azamara (R-1) and hiring a highly qualified person as chairman. They are in the cruise industry for the big payoff.  The payoff is to take Azamara public which means they will do everything that is needed to make the line actually better than it was before.  Azamara was a nusiance for Royal.  Royal never really let the brand fly. Do not throw the towel in on the line.  Companies actually get better when someone is paying attention.   

[Baynanno1]

I was recently in touch with our Loyalty Ambassador Sandra to enquire about not receiving emails from Azamara. In her very prompt response she included the following unsolicited information :

 

"Your loyalty tier won’t be affected once we fully transition to a new system (we don’t know when that’s happening yet). We should expect some minor changes, but nothing that will affect your loyalty with us. More information will be released once provided to us."

[TeaBag]

On 1/29/2021 at 6:31 AM, sippican said:

We had just booked our first cruise with Azamara.

However, since they will no longer be recognizing loyalty status from X, or the stockholders benefits, they've already lost us.

I got confirmation of our shareholder credit on our  May 2022 cruise, the other day.  When I log in to Azamara, it shows my tier points.  Our May 2022 cruise is our first with them also.  i was very impressed with their quick response.....much quicker than Celebrity has ever been.

Edited January 30, 2021 by TeaBag

[sippican]

On 1/29/2021 at 3:52 PM, Baynanno1 said:

I was recently in touch with our Loyalty Ambassador Sandra to enquire about not receiving emails from Azamara. In her very prompt response she included the following unsolicited information :

 

"Your loyalty tier won’t be affected once we fully transition to a new system (we don’t know when that’s happening yet). We should expect some minor changes, but nothing that will affect your loyalty with us. More information will be released once provided to us."

 

I attended the travel agent webinar. If you have current loyalty status with Azamara, it will remain. After the finalization of the sale (approximately 60 days), they will no longer recognize reciprocal loyalty benefits from the other RCCL brands. Since I am Elite + with Celebrity and none of my points were earned on Azamara, I will not be eligible for any loyalty benefits on our cruise in 2022. 

Spounds like you have already earned stsus with Azamara, we have not.

 

[Baynanno1]

42 minutes ago, sippican said:

 

I attended the travel agent webinar. If you have current loyalty status with Azamara, it will remain. After the finalization of the sale (approximately 60 days), they will no longer recognize reciprocal loyalty benefits from the other RCCL brands. Since I am Elite + with Celebrity and none of my points were earned on Azamara, I will not be eligible for any loyalty benefits on our cruise in 2022. 

Spounds like you have already earned stsus with Azamara, we have not.

 

 

Yes, we have done most of our cruising on Azamara.

 

I was aware that reciprocal benefits will no longer be earned once separation is finalised. It would be illogical to think they would.

 

It seems you have been informed that your points earned prior to separation of the brands will not be recognised by Azamara once separated, as you have not yet sailed with Azamara.

 

May be worth a query directly to Azamara's Loyalty Ambassador Sandra, particularly if your 2022 Azamara cruise was booked and your Loyalty status recognised prior to the sale.

loyalty ambassador at azamara dot com

Edited January 30, 2021 by Baynanno1
split address

[ECCruise]

1 hour ago, sippican said:

 

I attended the travel agent webinar. If you have current loyalty status with Azamara, it will remain. After the finalization of the sale (approximately 60 days), they will no longer recognize reciprocal loyalty benefits from the other RCCL brands. Since I am Elite + with Celebrity and none of my points were earned on Azamara, I will not be eligible for any loyalty benefits on our cruise in 2022. 

Spounds like you have already earned stsus with Azamara, we have not.

 

If you have loyalty status with Celebrity, you have loyalty status with Azamara as of today.

 

Try this.  Go to https://www.azamara.com/account/ and create an account. Use your Celebrity Captain's Club number as your Discover number (they are exactly the same).  You should already be at the same level on Azamara as you are with Celebrity.  We had status on Azamara (Discover +) on Azamara because of our Elite + status on Celebrity before we ever sailed with Azamara.

[Host Jazzbeau]

@sippican your reading of the Azamara message is the opposite of mine.  There are no separate Azamara loyalty statuses or points at this point, so what is going to remain is your joint Celebrity/Azamara level (Elite+ on Celebrity = Discoverer Plus on Azamara).  I haven't heard definitive detail about how they will handle the points, but the only thing that seems feasible to me is for you to keep your present point total.  If they tried to separate out the Azamara-earned points from the others, they would then have to reset the levels of all the loyalty tiers – and there would be no way to do that that everybody would perceive as fair.  So my guess is you are fully protected.

[laurieb]

On 1/29/2021 at 11:32 AM, eggcream3 said:

I think everyone is loosing sight of the true endgame.  By Sycamore partners buying a fourth ship for Azamara (R-1) and hiring a highly qualified person as chairman. They are in the cruise industry for the big payoff.  The payoff is to take Azamara public which means they will do everything that is needed to make the line actually better than it was before.  Azamara was a nusiance for Royal.  Royal never really let the brand fly. Do not throw the towel in on the line.  Companies actually get better when someone is paying attention.   

Totally agree!  RCCL never really invested in Azamara; I think this is a great opportunity for Azamara to excel as a small destination focused cruise line. 

[laurieb]

4 hours ago, sippican said:

 

I attended the travel agent webinar. If you have current loyalty status with Azamara, it will remain. After the finalization of the sale (approximately 60 days), they will no longer recognize reciprocal loyalty benefits from the other RCCL brands. Since I am Elite + with Celebrity and none of my points were earned on Azamara, I will not be eligible for any loyalty benefits on our cruise in 2022. 

Spounds like you have already earned stsus with Azamara, we have not.

 

Your loss if you don’t give Azamara a chance. 

[donaldsc]

This is based on the title of your post and not the post itself.  You have it totally backward.  Why is it up to us to rescue Azamara.  It is up to the new Azamara to provide a product that is worth paying for.  I like Azamara cruises but If they don't come up with a good product and they don't cheapen the product, I am gone.  I don't owe them anything; they owe me a good cruising experience.

 

DON

[Empehi]

Something to consider.  Financially .... would you be more comfortable with RCL or the new Azamara holding your funds for a future cruise. I would guess that Azamara now has deeper pockets to navigate the future uncertainty of the cruise industry. Also ... for those hung up on reciprocal loyalty plans ...

I wouldn't be surprised of RCL does what Carnival and NCL does ...... no reciprocity between brands.

[sippican]

16 hours ago, ECCruise said:

If you have loyalty status with Celebrity, you have loyalty status with Azamara as of today.

 

Try this.  Go to https://www.azamara.com/account/ and create an account. Use your Celebrity Captain's Club number as your Discover number (they are exactly the same).  You should already be at the same level on Azamara as you are with Celebrity.  We had status on Azamara (Discover +) on Azamara because of our Elite + status on Celebrity before we ever sailed with Azamara.

 

Yes,  I undestand that completely. What we were told today during the TA webinar is that if we are cruising prior to the completion of the sale, our corresponding loyalty level would be honored by Azamara. After the transfer is complete, we would be starting at the base level of the Azamara loyalty tiers, no matter what our Captains Club status is. It would be great to learn that they will honor the terms under which you booked and that only applies to new bookings.

Since posters here feel I am not correct, I will reach out to Azamara again. One of the reasons we booked (with friends who are also E;lite+) is because of the added benefit of those loyalty perks - they add up to significant $, so we would already be paying more than when we booked to cover those perks.   I'm interested in trying a couple of the other smaller brands so may take a wait and see approach to see what happens.

[ECCruise]

14 minutes ago, sippican said:

 

Yes,  I undestand that completely. What we were told today during the TA webinar is that if we are cruising prior to the completion of the sale, our corresponding loyalty level would be honored by Azamara. After the transfer is complete, we would be starting at the base level of the Azamara loyalty tiers, no matter what our Captains Club status is. It would be great to learn that they will honor the terms under which you booked and that only applies to new bookings.

Since posters here feel I am not correct, I will reach out to Azamara again. One of the reasons we booked (with friends who are also E;lite+) is because of the added benefit of those loyalty perks - they add up to significant $, so we would already be paying more than when we booked to cover those perks.   I'm interested in trying a couple of the other smaller brands so may take a wait and see approach to see what happens.

That is what I don't understand.  If you would be starting at the lower tier, then why would all of us not be in the same boat if we don't sail until the closing?   Plus, there will be no sailing before the closing since it will close Q1 and sailings are cancelled into Q2.  And, like I said, Celebrity's Captains Club and Azamara's Circle program are the same number, cruise history, etc., I can't imagine if you have an Azamara Discover + # (which you do) they would suddenly cut you off before the first sailing even took place.  And honestly, I don't see the big monetary benefits in the program but maybe i am missing something.

But I would make a call to confirm.  

 

[NC&KY]

1 hour ago, ECCruise said:

But I would make a call to confirm.  

 

Wouldn't it be nice if the Azamara Team weighed in on this?

[ECCruise]

Just now, NC&KY said:

Wouldn't it be nice if the Azamara Team weighed in on this?

Yes.  They haven't posted a great deal but would think that they have seen this thread.  It could put the discussion to bed one way or the other.

[tert333]

I would expect very little from the Azamara team until the deal closes.    They need to finalize the terms first and the deal closes.

 

Once that happens, we may see some new promotions and/or details around how things like loyalty will work.

[ikelmay]

I can see the logic of cutting over the loyalty programme when the sale completes.  As at that point, anyone with just Celebrity cruises is part of a separate entity; Azamara have talked about doing this for years.

 

[ECCruise]

39 minutes ago, ikelmay said:

I can see the logic of cutting over the loyalty programme when the sale completes.  As at that point, anyone with just Celebrity cruises is part of a separate entity; Azamara have talked about doing this for years.

 

I am pretty sure you are right.  That is why I mentioned to sippican that it might be a good idea, today, to open an account at Azamara, use their Captains Club # as their loyalty number on Azamara since the number is the same, and see the level that Azamara shows for them (should be Discoverer Plus). If that is the case, I wouldn't think they would pull that account after the deal closes.