Complimentary nights

[lizee1979]

Can anyone tell me how complimentary nights work and their value? My TA has said I can use them against a future booking but I’ve equated them to equal £223 which surely can’t be right! 

[Grandma Cruising]

It depends which cruise you use them against. They’re best value used on an expensive short cruise like Norway or the Black Sea (tho’ it has to be at least 7 days. Look at the cruise you’re interested in, take off the port fees and taxes, divide the remaining price by the number of nights and that gives you the amount you’ll save for each complimentary night.

[PirateWife]

I know there are many cruisers that have more experience using free nights than I do. I simply take the cost of the cruise and divide it by the number of nights to get a cost per night and then multiply by the number of free nights I have. This gives me a rough estimate. They have a time limit to book a cruise using them but not a time limit when that cruise is. You have to use them on a new booking. In the past, I usually book a new cruise applying my free nights while on a cruise.

[Riocca]

Unfortunately it’s not that easy because any offers that might be advertised will be removed before the calculation is made. The only way we’ve found is to ask Azamara to calculate a price with and without the free nights, sometimes it’s cheaper using them but more often the market offer that’s cheaper.

Depends of course how many nights you have, if it’s 6 then booking a 7 night cruise means you only have to pay for 1 night plus taxes for the whole cruise. If you’re looking at a longer cruise or have 3 nights then the above applies.

[Baynanno1]

As @Riocca has said it is worthwhile asking Azamara to calculate the price both with and without free nights.

 

However, one point not made clear in any of the above is that (unless it has been changed and I am unaware) the free nights must be used on a full priced cruise, not a discounted one, so the maths really need to be done carefully, as often it has been found that paying in full for a discounted cruise is less expensive than having free nights applied to a full priced cruise.

 

We have used free nights on short cruises and a longer expensive one that was never discounted (Norway).

For the first time in our cruising life, that cruise was later discounted!

[Riocca]

However it’s sometimes difficult to understand the logic, we have 2 cruises booked on Onwards one for 2022, The Maiden which is 11 nights, the other in 2023 which is 10 nights. We had 3 free nights handed back because of pandemic cancelled cruises and needed to be used before we lost them.

Both onwards cruises had the same introductory offer and the price per night was similar, we had both priced by Azamara using the free nights. The 2022 cruise was slightly more expensive using the nights however the 2023 cruise was over £900 cheaper using the free nights. Azamara agents can give a rough idea of the price but the booking has to go to another department for the nights to be applied before you know the actual price and this can take a week or so.
You will of course lose any other perks that might be on offer such as free wi-fi or beverage package upgrade so you need to do all the sums.

[KirkNC]

I am disappointed to read that the complimentary nights may have little to no value.  What is considered a full priced cruise?  Isn’t that what the AZ site advertises?

[uktog]

3 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

I am disappointed to read that the complimentary nights may have little to no value.  What is considered a full priced cruise?  Isn’t that what the AZ site advertises?

They made £100 difference for us but now with price drops they are costing us. It’s something pre pandemic that was talked about a bit on these boards. They really don’t have value until you hit the 6/10 day ones 

[Grandma Cruising]

2 hours ago, KirkNC said:

I am disappointed to read that the complimentary nights may have little to no value.  What is considered a full priced cruise?  Isn’t that what the AZ site advertises?

The prices on the Azamara site take into account the promotion that is current at the time. Sometimes that includes a percentage discount, sometimes it’s a cabin upgrade, sometimes it’s OBC and/or a drinks package/free Wifi etc.

[laurieb]

Your travel agent can easily figure out a very close estimate.

[Riocca]

19 minutes ago, laurieb said:

Your travel agent can easily figure out a very close estimate.

Might be different here in the U.K. our travel agent always had to ask Azamara for a quote as they didn’t have the information. Now we book direct with Azamara the agents in Wichita always see to have this full price information to hand.

[combine]

Dont be disheartened, it does work! 
 

We have just returned from Journey where we made it to Discoverer plus and were eligible for our 6 free nights. I had worked out figures prior to getting on board for a couple of cruises later in the year. You are able to use the free nights discount in conjunction with the discounts for booking on board. In our case this was 7% and $300 obc and as others have said the base  price from which it is calculated  does not include any current  discounts offered and does  not  include taxes.
 

We have booked a 7 night cruise later in the year and the price we are paying is actually 18% of the fare price  offered on line at the moment. We are happy  with this and even if the cruise is reduced later it would be miraculous  if it got down to the price we have just locked in. 

 

[lizee1979]

So I’d appreciate some further guidance. The actual monetary value Az will deduct for the 4 free nights equates to £408 for 2 passengers. The actual breakdown of 2 cruises are £701.42 for 4 nights and £671.14. The figures really don’t add up!

[Mrs Miggins]

We have 4 free nights booked on our April Quest cruise.  However the free nights are based on the "standard" fare not on any price you can see on their website.  We had to get the standard rate from Azamara direct - or via our UK TA who also had to phone them.  

Whilst we are happy to get any discount - the price we paid certainly did not equate to what I originally expected. I believe port taxes were not free and have been added.

I would add that these "free" nights have been moved because of 2 cancelled cruises.  The cruise has now been discounted and our benefit as a percentage of the online price has now been reduced.  

I don't think we are ever likely to move to Discoverer plus so I am grateful for small mercies and am happy to believe that we will be onboard again in April.

[Host Jazzbeau]

I haven't qualified for any free nights on Azamara because too many of my points came from Celebrity, but after reading threads about this program over the years I really wonder how much good will Azamara is getting from it – since the 'gotchas' seem to bite so deeply that the actual value is often minimal [or even negative!].  Other cruise lines with 'free cruise' programs actually deliver real benefits.  IMHO Azamara should fix this:  make it easy to understand, easy to use, and actually worth something to most people who qualify.

[Riocca]

11 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I haven't qualified for any free nights on Azamara because too many of my points came from Celebrity, but after reading threads about this program over the years I really wonder how much good will Azamara is getting from it – since the 'gotchas' seem to bite so deeply that the actual value is often minimal [or even negative!].  Other cruise lines with 'free cruise' programs actually deliver real benefits.  IMHO Azamara should fix this:  make it easy to understand, easy to use, and actually worth something to most people who qualify.

I think a lot of the complications have been caused because Azamara never really had their own scheme it was simply an add on to Celebrity’s Captain’s Club. The complications with free nights was trying to ensure it only applied to Azamara earned points and cost too much, which always seemed to be RCG’s concern with Azamara.

We are starting to see Sycamore unpick Azamara from the RCG web and hopefully moving to a new headquarters will accelerate this. We’ve already seen bookings changed from being administered by Royal Caribbean to SP Cruises OpCo Limited based in Bermuda. The big changes will be in getting rid of the RCG operated web site and making a new loyalty offering. No doubt these are well underway but it’s something Sycamore & Azamara have to get right first time, we’ve all experienced the nightmares of online offerings being rushed to market and the chaos it can cause.

On a positive note we have always been able to use our free nights to good financial effect, but we do have the luxury of being flexible with applying them.

[uktog]

I thought I had made a good choice on my free nights this year, now even on a best price guarantee recalculation, I’m paying marginally more using my free nights than a new full price booking. 
I would expect a new loyalty scheme to be less generous given how much repeat booking Azamara gets anyway - if they don’t have to buy loyalty why take a bottom line hit on it? 

[Riocca]

48 minutes ago, uktog said:

I thought I had made a good choice on my free nights this year, now even on a best price guarantee recalculation, I’m paying marginally more using my free nights than a new full price booking. 
I would expect a new loyalty scheme to be less generous given how much repeat booking Azamara gets anyway - if they don’t have to buy loyalty why take a bottom line hit on it? 

It’s so easy for these loyalty schemes to turn into a negative for customers and they can be divisive. Marella don’t have a loyalty scheme and it doesn’t do them any harm, they still have lots of loyal repeat passengers.

[excitedofharpenden]

I've said it here before. Often the free nights are anything but free. You need to look carefully at the number you have and the cruise you are booking as to whether it's much benefit. Booking them whilst you are onboard seems to be the best way to do it for ease. 

 

As uktog points out, the deals out there can really negate the perk. This goes for the onboard booking discount too. Better if you have the flexibility to watch for the deals when you are home. Pricing is so fluid. It's one of the things I hope the new owners move away from so we know what we are paying 

 

Phil 

[uktog]

Viking has virtually no recognition of loyalty which does encourage those with no loyalty to cruise with them as it’s an “everyone is equal” culture 

[Riocca]

56 minutes ago, uktog said:

Viking has virtually no recognition of loyalty which does encourage those with no loyalty to cruise with them as it’s an “everyone is equal” culture 

Viking does have the Viking Explorers Society which gives past passengers a £100pp discount on top of any market offers and an onboard members only cocktail party, very simple.

This really is all that’s needed as a thank you, personally I would prefer that any loyalty discount is available whenever you book rather than linked to booking onboard. The current Azamara offering probably restricts bookings rather than encouraging them.

[manc]

We are Discoverer Plus and have not used any of our complimentary nights for the reasons above.

 

[nordski]

Apparently we have been lucky and have used our complementary nights to good effect. The last set of 6 nights resulted in very significant savings. However, since those nights are to be applied this summer, we may lose them anyway.

 

I agree that there is a bit of a game in trying to make the nights work, although not much more than I end up playing with the "specials" etc. that may influence my other bookings. The price game is both interesting and frustrating.

 

Should applying  the complementary nights be simpler? No doubt, but as sale prices fluctuate I am not certain how that would work. As excitedfromharpenden notes, maybe the new management will stop the seemingly constant and confusing "specials".

 

Bottom line, we treat the nights as something we may benefit from but failing to do so is certainly in the cards and we just accept that.

Edited February 10, 2022 by nordski

[audobon_tx]

We are D+ and will cross 1500 points soon.  We have 6 nts good for booking thru 12/22 and as noted will have an additional 3 soon.

 

If we booked a cruise of 9 nts this summer would the cruise not be free (taxes excepted) regardless of promotion or whatever other pricing acrobatics are in place on that cruise at that time?

[Grandma Cruising]

7 hours ago, audobon_tx said:

We are D+ and will cross 1500 points soon.  We have 6 nts good for booking thru 12/22 and as noted will have an additional 3 soon.

 

If we booked a cruise of 9 nts this summer would the cruise not be free (taxes excepted) regardless of promotion or whatever other pricing acrobatics are in place on that cruise at that time?

Not sure how that would work, but I think you would at least have to pay port fees & taxes.