Revised Black Sea Itinerary

[ECCruise]

I guess our take on this is this:

 

Our sailing is the first week in June, and we made final payment a while ago (no option to extend like those in July, August, etc.)

 

We've known for months that there was no chance we would be going to Odessa (or if we were on any of the other sailings, Russia or Georgia).  We had virtually no hope, as well, for Romania or Bulgaria. Knowing that, we could have easily cancelled the cruise, moved it to something else or done whatever. No harm, no foul as they say.

 

We are excited, frankly, that we DO still have 2 ports in the Black Sea (Varna and one new in Burgas, knowing that those 2, also, may never happen). We are happy with the replacement ports (some we have been to before).

 

I guess what I don't understand is, if someone is not happy with what has been offered, and you have to option to cancel and move on, why wouldn't they?

 

 

[Baynanno1]

3 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

I guess our take on this is this:

 

Our sailing is the first week in June, and we made final payment a while ago (no option to extend like those in July, August, etc.)

 

We've known for months that there was no chance we would be going to Odessa (or if we were on any of the other sailings, Russia or Georgia).  We had virtually no hope, as well, for Romania or Bulgaria. Knowing that, we could have easily cancelled the cruise, moved it to something else or done whatever. No harm, no foul as they say.

 

We are excited, frankly, that we DO still have 2 ports in the Black Sea (Varna and one new in Burgas, knowing that those 2, also, may never happen). We are happy with the replacement ports (some we have been to before).

 

I guess what I don't understand is, if someone is not happy with what has been offered, and you have to option to cancel and move on, why wouldn't they?

 

 

 

Indeed, why wouldn't they?

 

The vast majority appear to be happy to "go with the flow" knowing that changes to itineraries are not made lightly (given the amount of initial planning) and are made because of the restrictions imposed by, or conditions in the country of a particular port, as well as to keep passengers and crew safe and healthy.

[blag]

1 hour ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

What a ridiculous "comparison"!

 

 

I thought the comparison was quite apt. The revised itinerary (for obvious reasons) is VERY different from the original! 

Not wishing to provoke any animosity, what would you propose as an alternative, reasonable, comparison? (Apples and oranges, chalk and cheese etc...) 

[blag]

1 hour ago, ECCruise said:

I guess our take on this is this:

 

Our sailing is the first week in June, and we made final payment a while ago (no option to extend like those in July, August, etc.)

 

We've known for months that there was no chance we would be going to Odessa (or if we were on any of the other sailings, Russia or Georgia).  We had virtually no hope, as well, for Romania or Bulgaria. Knowing that, we could have easily cancelled the cruise, moved it to something else or done whatever. No harm, no foul as they say.

 

We are excited, frankly, that we DO still have 2 ports in the Black Sea (Varna and one new in Burgas, knowing that those 2, also, may never happen). We are happy with the replacement ports (some we have been to before).

 

I guess what I don't understand is, if someone is not happy with what has been offered, and you have to option to cancel and move on, why wouldn't they?

 

 

Ah... And there is the rub!

Some may not have the option to cancel, or like me, in addition, have made nonrefundable, uninsured (insurance will not cover voluntary cancellation) payments for flights and hotels. 

[blag]

Finally, I have the revised itinerary for the erstwhile 'Black Sea' cruise on July 30th out of Istanbul.

It's on this link. 

[I'malreadypacked]

8 hours ago, blag said:

We are on the same cruise, but have not received any such notification. Would you please be so kind as to post the revised itinerary? 

We have not received that notification either.  I am so disappointed that they would not communicate with everyone who is booked on the cruise.  

[Grandma Cruising]

3 hours ago, I'malreadypacked said:

We have not received that notification either.  I am so disappointed that they would not communicate with everyone who is booked on the cruise.  

Did you book through a travel agent. If so Azamara will have communicated with them.

[blag]

12 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Did you book through a travel agent. If so Azamara will have communicated with them.

I contacted my TA about this. She received the email about this (from her HQ admin) in the late afternoon Friday 18th March, but due to other commitments had not yet forwarded it to me. Other cruisers may be subject to the same delays.

[SummmerInKefalonia]

Does anyone have the revised itinerary of Azamara Journey's 6 September 2022 cruise?

[I'malreadypacked]

11 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Did you book through a travel agent. If so Azamara will have communicated with them.

Yes, we used our regular travel agent who has always been good about notifying us of other information from cruise lines.  I hope the email is on the way, but not yet.  

[john1970]

I have a very good TA and neither of us got the first email and further survey. They chased Azamara twice and told me that I would now receive any further updates. I did get the recent email telling us about the itinerary change so whatever they did worked. Something is not joined up somewhere at Azamara as we have accounts set up and we get all the other emails from them. Anyway, we are now thinking through our options. It would have been good on the email for them to state whether we could get a refund or a free change. However my TA is asking Azamara that question. I am guessing the answers will depend on the country you live in as we usually have more consumer protection in the UK compared to the USA.

 

[Janet&Carl]

On 3/19/2022 at 10:09 AM, ECCruise said:

 

I guess what I don't understand is, if someone is not happy with what has been offered, and you have to option to cancel and move on, why wouldn't they?

 

 

 

 

I will give you an answer here with our circumstances.  Our cruise is part of a 6 week holiday in Europe. We are travelling from Australia.  I am unhappy with the ports that we have been offered as replacement.  There are three ports that we have no interest in going to again. Those being Santorini, Mykonos and Marmaris which we have already been to twice. Another port already on our itinerary  Ephesus was going to be a quiet onboard day for us because we don't want to go there again.  So now we have 4 ports that are a bit meh !! replacing an "exciting" destination that we have not been to before.

 

Being part of a land and two cruise holiday our flights are already booked our MSC Yacht Club cruise is set to sail and paid for.  The only  part we can play with is the dates of this now "average" cruise we would not have booked in the first place.  I cannot find another cruise to replace it because of the specific dates.

[ECCruise]

3 minutes ago, Janet&Carl said:

 

 

I will give you an answer here with our circumstances.  Our cruise is part of a 6 week holiday in Europe. We are travelling from Australia.  I am unhappy with the ports that we have been offered as replacement.  There are three ports that we have no interest in going to again. Those being Santorini, Mykonos and Marmaris which we have already been to twice. Another port already on our itinerary  Ephesus was going to be a quiet onboard day for us because we don't want to go there again.  So now we have 4 ports that are a bit meh !! replacing an "exciting" destination that we have not been to before.

 

Being part of a land and two cruise holiday our flights are already booked our MSC Yacht Club cruise is set to sail and paid for.  The only  part we can play with is the dates of this now "average" cruise we would not have booked in the first place.  I cannot find another cruise to replace it because of the specific dates.

I see your point. 

Our sailings are part of a 12 week trip but we had the advantage of having replacements for any part that disintegrates or morphs to something not acceptable. Part of our trip is in Poland 100 miles from the Ukrainian border so if that becomes a problem we are ready to push the button with an alternative. Not even close to what we wanted but it is what it is. 

Another difference from your situation is that we are very happy with the replacement ports (they are different from yours).  Still going into the Black Sea and although we've been to some of the ports many times, we've already found alternate thing's to do (e.g. renting a car in one of our 2 trips to Ephesus In 5 days). 

After having over 20 trips in the last 2 years either cancelled or severely impacted, we've learned that we have to go with the flow, even when it hurts to do it. 

[Baynanno1]

On 3/19/2022 at 11:46 AM, blag said:

I thought the comparison was quite apt. The revised itinerary (for obvious reasons) is VERY different from the original! 

Not wishing to provoke any animosity, what would you propose as an alternative, reasonable, comparison? (Apples and oranges, chalk and cheese etc...) 

 

I think the only really reasonable comparison would be another cruise similarly impacted by the current war zone in the proximity of the proposed cruise ports.

And yes, I would be extremely disappointed that the once in a lifetime ports had been cancelled. But I would understand why the changes had to be made!

 

No, I would not be happy with the substitution of the ordered vehicle, but that would be something not affected by being in a war zone and able to be replaced with the original order, although having to await it's arrival.

 

Apples and oranges, chalk and cheese etc...are also ridiculous comparisons in my opinion. We are all entitled to our opinions.

[ECCruise]

As of about 5 minutes ago, they are starting to upload the new itineraries on the website, starting with the new itinerary showing up in our Cruise Personalizer.  Shore excursions not ready to be booked yet, but guessing they should be available before we sail. 

[SummmerInKefalonia]

Yes when you try to book them it shows the new itinerary,

Here's a sum up of the new itineraries (with green colour the new destinations):

 

AZAMARA PURSUIT

5/5/22: Istanbul, Istanbul, Varna, Burgas, At Sea, Kepez, Kavala, Thessaloniki, Volos, Cesme, Mykonos, Piraeus, Piraeus.

 

AZAMARA ONWARD

29/6/22: Istanbul, Varna, Burgas, At Sea, Kavala, Thessaloniki, Volos, Cesme, Kusadasi, Kepez, Istanbul, Istanbul.

30/7/22: Istanbul, Varna, Burgas, At Sea, Thessaloniki, Volos, Paros, Mykonos, Kusadasi, Kepez, Istanbul, Istanbul.

 

AZAMARA JOURNEY

5/6/22: Piraeus, Kusadasi, At Sea, Varna, Burgas, Istanbul, Istanbul, Kepez, Cesme, Kos, Iraklion, Piraeus, Piraeus.

27/6/22: Piraeus, Kusadasi, Cesme, Kepez, Istanbul, Istanbul, At Sea, Mykonos, Iraklion, Agios Nikolaos, Patmos, Piraeus.

26/8/22: Piraeus, Patmos, Kusadasi, Bodrum, Marmaris, Agios Nikolaos, Santorini, Paros, Mykonos, At Sea, Istanbul, Istanbul.

6/9/22: Istanbul, Istanbul, Varna, Burgas, At Sea, Kepez, Kavala, Thessaloniki, Volos, Syros, Piraeus, Piraeus.

[annandme]

It's great that many cruisers are excited about the new itinerary, but frankly, we're not and we're looking to cancel.  If we cancel before the end of this month, the Ts & Cs of our reservation state that we will have to pay Azamara a $75.00 cancellation fee.

 

If anyone has already recently canceled their cruise AFTER seeing their new "Black Sea" itinerary, can you tell me if Azamara still charged them the cancellation fee?  If so, can you tell me if you had to do anything special to have it waived or was Azamara forthcoming with a waiver?

 

Thanks.

[blag]

36 minutes ago, annandme said:

It's great that many cruisers are excited about the new itinerary, but frankly, we're not and we're looking to cancel.  If we cancel before the end of this month, the Ts & Cs of our reservation state that we will have to pay Azamara a $75.00 cancellation fee.

 

If anyone has already recently canceled their cruise AFTER seeing their new "Black Sea" itinerary, can you tell me if Azamara still charged them the cancellation fee?  If so, can you tell me if you had to do anything special to have it waived or was Azamara forthcoming with a waiver?

 

Thanks.

I do not believe that there is any 'wiggle room here. I feel the same as you, and we have paid in full for a CC suite, plus Business Class flights to and from Istanbul.

 

From past experience (again arising from a drastic change of itinerary by Azamara) insurers will regard any cancellation by you as voluntary (i.e. you are choosing not to go on the much-altered cruise) and not coverage does not apply.

 

If you went to a restaurant and ordered turbot and the waiter arrived with a small sardine (because the chef had been called away on an emergency) , would you

a) accept the sardine and

b) expect to pay the same price?

 

As you say, many may be happy with the new itinerary, but it is NOT what I paid for. I have better things to do with my money than spend it on a cruise I do not want. But, I will almost certainly be out of pocket for at least £1500.

 

I understand that Azamara had no alternative, but they, in turn, are not recognising that the new itinerary is inferior and that their customers should be compensated either by substantial reductions or by offering to reimburse uninsured losses. As it is, Azamara's is saying: take it or leave it, with no mention of any other costs.

 

I am very disappointed by Azamara's apparent uncompromising attitude, and may well cancel all three of my upcoming cruises with them.

[ECCruise]

Those who are unhappy because of cost/value, what was Azamara's response when you asked them for a concession on the price since the sailing is not what you booked?  Curious as to why they are sticking to their guns when these are obviously pretty significant changes on some of the sailings.

[blag]

1 minute ago, ECCruise said:

Those who are unhappy because of cost/value, what was Azamara's response when you asked them for a concession on the price since the sailing is not what you booked?  Curious as to why they are sticking to their guns when these are obviously pretty significant changes on some of the sailings.

I await a response from Azamara. I have made my feelings known to my TA, who tells me she has passed them on to Azamara. I hold little hope that there will be any adjustment in the price - if there were to be any, I reckon that Azamara would have referred to it in the communication advising passengers of the changed itinerary.

 

As you say, these are significant changes to a cruise which was offered at a premium price.

[ECCruise]

13 minutes ago, blag said:

I await a response from Azamara. I have made my feelings known to my TA, who tells me she has passed them on to Azamara. I hold little hope that there will be any adjustment in the price - if there were to be any, I reckon that Azamara would have referred to it in the communication advising passengers of the changed itinerary.

 

As you say, these are significant changes to a cruise which was offered at a premium price.

Honestly, I would wait to hear their response before I began to complain and compare the situation to a restaurant order that was changed?  

If they tell you "no dice" then you have every right to complain.  Without a response yet, I feel that you are jumping the gun and speaking negatively of a situation that you do not have the information needed to make those comments.

Thanks.

[john1970]

My TA called me and said Azamara will offer a full refund of my deposit if we decide we aren't happy with the new itinerary. At least now I have my available options which appear to be, accept the changes and that it could change again, refund of deposit and go back to the drawing board or transfer to something in 2023/24 in the hope the world is less unpredictable. I am not sure if the offer of a refund on my deposit is a UK thing due to the package travel rules we have.

[Grandma Cruising]

7 hours ago, john1970 said:

My TA called me and said Azamara will offer a full refund of my deposit if we decide we aren't happy with the new itinerary. At least now I have my available options which appear to be, accept the changes and that it could change again, refund of deposit and go back to the drawing board or transfer to something in 2023/24 in the hope the world is less unpredictable. I am not sure if the offer of a refund on my deposit is a UK thing due to the package travel rules we have.

It may well be - as I understand it under UK law if a holiday is changed ‘substantially’ then a refund has to be made available.i think these changes would certainly count as ‘substantial’.

[blag]

20 hours ago, ECCruise said:

Honestly, I would wait to hear their response before I began to complain and compare the situation to a restaurant order that was changed?  

If they tell you "no dice" then you have every right to complain.  Without a response yet, I feel that you are jumping the gun and speaking negatively of a situation that you do not have the information needed to make those comments.

Thanks.

I have now received a response from Azamara. They state that no further communications other than the original notification of the change of itinerary are expected.

But they did confirm that I am entitled to a full refund of the sums paid and for a cash refund for FCC's applied for this cruise.

No other contributions toward other expenses nor any reductions are anticipated by Azamara.

It would seem, therefore that I was not 'jumping the gun' and things are as I expected.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Frankly, a full cash refund – including cash for FCCs applied – seems pretty generous to me.  Sorry that it doesn't make you completely whole, but it's far better than the impression I had gotten that they were leaving you high and dry.