Azamara 2024 Itineraries

[Host Jazzbeau]

It's August 23 everywhere in the world now – where are the new itineraries?

[uktog]

We were told onboard last week they are finalising for release shortly.  

 

They have had to make adjustments, I suspect because of political issues but also because of emerging environmental rules which are starting to have quite an impact on Azamara's older ships.  

I would also guess if it was my business I might just wait a little before doing initial pricing.  Its a minefield out there.  

As a guest, given how volatile the air prices are and the projections of the cost increases/reduced services in the next two years reported in the financial press over the last few weeks, I am nervous about committing to holidays involving long haul flights in 2024 right now.  Who knows what the cost of the flights will be.  I wonder if they will even commit to cruise plus air costs at this stage.

 

So I am happy to wait

Edited August 23, 2022 by uktog

[blag]

Did I sleep for a year? I could have sworn it was August 2022 when I went to bed last night.

Crikey: will my hotel bill be for 5 nights plus 1 year?

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, blag said:

Did I sleep for a year? I could have sworn it was August 2022 when I went to bed last night.

Crikey: will my hotel bill be for 5 nights plus 1 year?

No, you just never learned to speak American.  A poster on another thread announced that the new itineraries would be announced to Azamara Circle members on August 23 [that is, the 23rd of August.  Capiche?]

[nordski]

3 hours ago, uktog said:

We were told onboard last week they are finalising for release shortly.  

 

They have had to make adjustments, I suspect because of political issues but also because of emerging environmental rules which are starting to have quite an impact on Azamara's older ships.  

I would also guess if it was my business I might just wait a little before doing initial pricing.  Its a minefield out there.  

As a guest, given how volatile the air prices are and the projections of the cost increases/reduced services in the next two years reported in the financial press over the last few weeks, I am nervous about committing to holidays involving long haul flights in 2024 right now.  Who knows what the cost of the flights will be.  I wonder if they will even commit to cruise plus air costs at this stage.

 

So I am happy to wait

Absolutely agree. There are a lot of moving parts to consider now.

[laurieb]

I asked about release dates onboard the Quest last week, and was told it’s now likely still a couple months out 🙁

[Riocca]

I asked one of the more senior customer service advisers a few weeks ago and was told they were expecting to release them within 6 months.

I’m not surprised as uktog says there are too many variables at the moment both economic and geo-political.

In the past Azamara have released itineraries very early then had to deal with problems and upset customers because of changes, so being cautious is probably the best approach even if customers used to early releases are frustrated.

[uktog]

23 minutes ago, Riocca said:

I asked one of the more senior customer service advisers a few weeks ago and was told they were expecting to release them within 6 months.

I’m not surprised as uktog says there are too many variables at the moment both economic and geo-political.

In the past Azamara have released itineraries very early then had to deal with problems and upset customers because of changes, so being cautious is probably the best approach even if customers used to early releases are frustrated.

Spot on, get all the elements sorted out and schedule all your charters before putting things on sale - Perhaps the chartering organisations are also reticent at committing so far ahead and this impacts on the plans significantly.  

I went through a run of 6 alterations/cancellations due to charters and late schedules of dry docks (another issue probably still trying to book dock space) a few years back.  At the time I almost walked away from Azamara because they were Mr Cancel in our book and we even had cancellations after flights were booked.  Funny how covid cancellations knocked all that from my mind so yes yes I want a schedule that has a pretty realistic chance of running for later in 2024.

[Marmaduke]

I think Azamara need to sort out next years itineraries first.  When looking on line to see what was available for Summer 2023 I noticed that they were still advertising several Black Sea cruises.  With the best will in the world I don't see the Black Sea being  an area for cruising for several years to come, even if the war was to stop tomorrow.    

Although Azamara does have an advantage over larger ships in that she can get into the smaller more unusual ports, replacement ports need to be found for these dates and soon before other companies book all the best ports and berths in the Eastern Med. I feel that Azamara is being rather slow over this issue.  They cannot be selling any cruises for these dates at they do not have any viable itineraries to offer, which has to be bad for business .

[Norn Iron Man]

59 minutes ago, Marmaduke said:

I think Azamara need to sort out next years itineraries first.  When looking on line to see what was available for Summer 2023 I noticed that they were still advertising several Black Sea cruises.  With the best will in the world I don't see the Black Sea being  an area for cruising for several years to come, even if the war was to stop tomorrow.    

.

They haven't even sorted out their Venice departures for next year yet!

Edited August 24, 2022 by Norn Iron Man

[john1970]

I have already booked for 2024 with a competitor. If they can get it together I'm not sure why Azamara is unique apart from the age of the ships and the environmental regulations. Still selling Black Sea cruises for next year is a joke.

[Riocca]

It depends on what sort of itineraries, competitors like Viking do repeat itineraries year on year so block booking ports is easier. One of Azamara’s usp’s is doing unusual ports and itineraries and hopefully that will continue under the new management.

[bobmcm]

I heard from my TA that they are [planning to release 2024 schedule in 7-10 days

[Benthayer Gonbak]

16 hours ago, Riocca said:

I asked one of the more senior customer service advisers a few weeks ago and was told they were expecting to release them within 6 months.

I’m not surprised as uktog says there are too many variables at the moment both economic and geo-political.

In the past Azamara have released itineraries very early then had to deal with problems and upset customers because of changes, so being cautious is probably the best approach even if customers used to early releases are frustrated.

 

oh my yes!  China said that they wouldn’t allow ships coming from Korea into China’s ports.  Azamara did a lot of rearranging pretty close to sail dates.  We did get to Korea, but it was added to a different cruise, and we didn’t get 2 ports.  
 

while I wanted to go back to China, and knew Azamara couldn’t start an incident I mused that what should have happened was that they didn’t go to China!   Honestly, that would have had most passenger outraged, but it still seemed appropriate, at least as a muse! 

[Benthayer Gonbak]

14 hours ago, Marmaduke said:

I think Azamara need to sort out next years itineraries first.  When looking on line to see what was available for Summer 2023 I noticed that they were still advertising several Black Sea cruises.  With the best will in the world I don't see the Black Sea being  an area for cruising for several years to come, even if the war was to stop tomorrow.    

Although Azamara does have an advantage over larger ships in that she can get into the smaller more unusual ports, replacement ports need to be found for these dates and soon before other companies book all the best ports and berths in the Eastern Med. I feel that Azamara is being rather slow over this issue.  They cannot be selling any cruises for these dates at they do not have any viable itineraries to offer, which has to be bad for business .

Many years ago, Azamara stoped cruising the Black Sea due to unrest, I agree they are likely to do that again! 

[laurieb]

2024 Europe deployments will be released in September, with new ports and more country intensive itineraries.  Looking forward to seeing them!

Edited August 25, 2022 by laurieb

[Cruise Wonderland]

On 8/24/2022 at 8:23 PM, Marmaduke said:

I think Azamara need to sort out next years itineraries first.  When looking on line to see what was available for Summer 2023 I noticed that they were still advertising several Black Sea cruises.

 

The 28th May 2023 Black Sea cruise on QUEST just changes its itinerary to Greece and Turkey.

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

On 8/24/2022 at 7:36 PM, bobmcm said:

I heard from my TA that they are [planning to release 2024 schedule in 7-10 days

I hope we're getting close now.  To my great surprise, Azamara allowed the 60% off sale to expire as scheduled on August 31 [the prior owners seemed to extend every sale].  That should clear the deck to allow new itineraries to be released.  And we are just at the beginning of your predicted window...

[uktog]

Sales in the UK have to run off to meet consumer legislation.  You cannot have permanent sales, you have to be able to prove you’ve been selling at a higher price in the preceding period or you cannot call it an offer. It’s not unusual for Azamara to have a few days gap between offers here although the previous owners did sail close to the wind in their interpretation of the regulations 

[uktog]

In fact they’ve put a 15% offer on this morning in the UK so 1/9 was there higher price day. I’ve not looked at the current pricing but it’s probably not really any offer and will give them a price from which to drop further in the coming weeks whilst appearing to have a discount running just now. 

[blag]

2 hours ago, uktog said:

In fact they’ve put a 15% offer on this morning in the UK so 1/9 was there higher price day.

I don't understand this sentence. Please clarify.

[uktog]

The day that Azamara used for the higher price benchmark in the UK to meet Consumer Advertising legislation was 1/9

Edited September 2, 2022 by uktog

[Mackdogmolly]

They just started a 2 category upgrade “sale” here in the US. I priced the veranda cabin for the cruise I purchased last month and it would be considerably higher with this “sale.” And no OBC offered to sweeten the deal.

[uktog]

48 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

They just started a 2 category upgrade “sale” here in the US. I priced the veranda cabin for the cruise I purchased last month and it would be considerably higher with this “sale.” And no OBC offered to sweeten the deal.

This is an example of a "sale" that would probably fall foul of UK/EU legislation unless it was a reduction on the 1/9 price

[Vineyard View]

The two category upgrade is only for inside cabins and verandah - - no suites and is a short term sale. 
Is there a time coming up that typically offers suite or all cabin pricing sales?  I believe there was one earlier this summer where the second person sailed at a reduced fare.