New website.

[nonrev1]

I posted previously regarding being on ship and what info they had onboard.  At the beginning of April even onboard they were having trouble booking future cruises.  The cruise before ours they could not book anything.  We had trouble with excursions.  There were excursions we had cancelled well before boarding the ship and tickets for those cancelled excursions were waiting in our cabin. ( I had called Azamara prior to our cruise to find out why I never received the refund)  The excursions  were booked using a credit card.  Instead of crediting the card they made it a non refundable OBC. It took a while, but it did get sorted out.    We tried to book excursion for our summer cruise while onboard since we have a large OBC for that cruise.  The shore excursion team were the ones suggesting it because you got a discount for booking onboard.  They could not see our onboard credit.  We had our paperwork showing the OBC.  They tried to get approval from Miami to book…did not get it so I chose not to book excursions in advance and put them on my credit card. The cruise itself was wonderful….and the staff was as good if not better than ever. 
When  I go on vacation, I want to relax and unwind.  This has seriously become a job trying to wade through this mess.  I also got the email that my account is fixed.  It’s not.  My OBC shows zero, depending on the day my loyalty status changes as do my points. 
 

I have sent several emails to loyalty, guest relations and Ms. Cabezas…..I have not even received an acknowledgment.  

[ECCruise]

Just now, DS said:

It seems all of us have issues with what the web page says our cruise status, price remaining, OBC registered, etc. etc.   What I'd like to hear is from people who are actually on board and if they think their accounts are accurately presented:  right OBC,  right status, etc. etc.   We are only seeing what is obvioulsy a poor transitioned  the web site.   What is important is the transition on Azmara's internal systems and those onboard.   I can live with a bad web page ( for a while, at least) if I know that the REAL system is correct.   Azamara... tell us!

Been on Quest for 20 days on 2 different sailings. 

First sailing Azamara OBC spot on, Circle status and points correct. TA OBC not showing, requiring a form to be filled out and submitted to Miami. Many pax with that problem. 

 

Second sailing all OBC appeared on account, both Azamara and TA, on day 2, yesterday. 

 

I would not worry about status or points or Azamara OBC. I would, however,  request you TA to forward to you the Amenity Confirmation they receive when there is TA OBC involved. 

[islandwoman]

From onboard Azamara Quest day two:

financial issues -

We spoke with the Future Cruise consultant to whom we were referred for these issues.  When we inquired about our phantom amount owed, she pretty much laughed and said something like "don't worry about it".

The refunds for cancelled excursions is another thing,  Azamara's vendor cancelled one of our excursions for the current cruise.  This excursion was booked with a credit card.  She told us credit would appear in our account within 48 hours.  The second was for the second of these two B2B cruises. We cancelled it online (stupid, stupid) and instead of refunding the OBC that we had used to pay for it, the site applied the refund toward payment of our fictitious amount owed. She told us that had we paid for that one with a credit card, shoreside would have to refund the money and it would take up to 8 weeks.  But since we paid for it with OBC, she could put the OBC back in our account, but the OBC would have to be approved by shoreside. We haven't seen any credit in any form for either of the two cancelled excursions yet. 

[Mackdogmolly]

This is beginning to look like potentially a full time job once onboard. None of my OBC (Azamara or TA) is showing for my upcoming cruise and I don’t dare try to book any excursions. Never mind my loyalty status.

[Carnevale]

Like others, I wonder how much revenue AZ is missing out on due to this protracted IT mess.  I would book more things for our July cruise but won’t until this chaos has ended and there’s evidence the site works.  So, private tours it will be as it doesn’t look like things will be working online in time for us.

[ECCruise]

23 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

This is beginning to look like potentially a full time job once onboard. None of my OBC (Azamara or TA) is showing for my upcoming cruise and I don’t dare try to book any excursions. Never mind my loyalty status.

I can only give our experience over the last 3 weeks. Total time expended maybe 20-30 minutes. 

 

Loyalty status, 0 time, incorrect on website, correct on ship. 

Azamara OBC, maybe 5 minutes on day 1 but verified on day 2. All correct. 

 

Future cruises not showing:  0 time. There is nothing they can do and since several months away, not going to agg over it. 

 

TA OBC:  verifying it wasn't there, filling out form to send to Miami with TA verification and checking on TV, 15 minutes total. 

 

Cancelling shore excursion not cancelled on website, 2 or 3 minutes. Refund to OBC immediate. 

 

That's it. Less than 30 minutes time invested in 3 weeks. A non-issue for us.  YMMV. 

 

 

[JM0115]

Can anyone explain why the ship’s would have the correct information on board but not customer service in Miami/Witchita? Doesn’t make sense to me.

[Mackdogmolly]

18 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

I can only give our experience over the last 3 weeks. Total time expended maybe 20-30 minutes. 

 

Loyalty status, 0 time, incorrect on website, correct on ship. 

Azamara OBC, maybe 5 minutes on day 1 but verified on day 2. All correct. 

 

Future cruises not showing:  0 time. There is nothing they can do and since several months away, not going to agg over it. 

 

TA OBC:  verifying it wasn't there, filling out form to send to Miami with TA verification and checking on TV, 15 minutes total. 

 

Cancelling shore excursion not cancelled on website, 2 or 3 minutes. Refund to OBC immediate. 

 

That's it. Less than 30 minutes time invested in 3 weeks. A non-issue for us.  YMMV. 

 

 

That’s good to hear. But in the meantime, I’m not going to book any excursions that I have to charge to my CC. And I guess I might have to wait until I’m onboard to book a future cruise using my “free” nights unless my correct loyalty level pops up in the six months before then.

[ECCruise]

1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said:

That’s good to hear. But in the meantime, I’m not going to book any excursions that I have to charge to my CC. And I guess I might have to wait until I’m onboard to book a future cruise using my “free” nights unless my correct loyalty level pops up in the six months before then.

For those 2 things, likely a good plan. 

[lisiamc]

Things are getting better. Today our travel agent received confirmation that our July cruise is fully paid, and all is in order with the booking. This was not in response to any queries from the agent, or from me. This is something Azamara did proactively. When I look on the Azamara site, all of our future cruises are correct, as are our loyalty points.

[islandwoman]

Onboard Azamara Quest day 5:

Today the refund from the shore excursion that Azamara cancelled appeared in our onboard account.  This was an excursion that we booked before the change in Azamara's website.  We paid for it with $4 of OBC and $194 credit card.  The refund is showing as non-refundable OBC.  DH called Guest Relations who picked up on the first ring,  They told him that they can't access account information with shoreside, so they had to make it a non-refundable OBC and that it will be converted to refundable at the end of the cruise.  🙄

My worst fears have not come to pass.  I worried that since Azamara's customer facing accounts were messed up, that perhaps other parts of their accounts were also a mess and that maybe that would result in bills not being paid.  That doesn't appear to have happened.  So far the ship has not been impounded for failure to pay port fees, there is food and marine fuel, and the crew seem happy! 

 

[takemewithyou]

2 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

Onboard Azamara Quest day 5:

Today the refund from the shore excursion that Azamara cancelled appeared in our onboard account.  This was an excursion that we booked before the change in Azamara's website.  We paid for it with $4 of OBC and $194 credit card.  The refund is showing as non-refundable OBC.  DH called Guest Relations who picked up on the first ring,  They told him that they can't access account information with shoreside, so they had to make it a non-refundable OBC and that it will be converted to refundable at the end of the cruise.  🙄

My worst fears have not come to pass.  I worried that since Azamara's customer facing accounts were messed up, that perhaps other parts of their accounts were also a mess and that maybe that would result in bills not being paid.  That doesn't appear to have happened.  So far the ship has not been impounded for failure to pay port fees, there is food and marine fuel, and the crew seem happy! 

 

Keep an eye on that OBC to see if it turns from non refundable to refundable and enjoy your cruise!  We board in a month or so….l

[nonrev1]

We had the problem with tours charged on my credit card being credited to our account as a nonrefunadable OBC on our cruise at the beginning of April.  They said don’t worry we will fix it on the last day of the cruise.  I did not feel comfortable waiting for resolution until the last day.  Within the week they had it resolved.  
I get the whole timeline thing and how long it took to get certain things handled once onboard.  But at this point it is unacceptable.  It has been two months.  I did the waiting in line already and it sounds like it is getting better onboard now vs. at the beginning of the meltdown.  But, if I am paying a premium price for a cruise I want to get on the ship and have everything done correctly.  

[Mackdogmolly]

This just in from my TA (for those who claim that TAs are having an easier time of it).

 

Betsey,

 

I wanted to stay in touch with you.  I tried to reach Azamara both on Monday and Tuesday.  After being on hold both days for 2 hours I had to take other calls.  Today, I put everything else aside and told myself I was staying on hold for a long as it takes.  After 4 hours and 32 minutes I was disconnected .  Azamara shut their phones off.  Tomorrow, I have a follow up doctor’s appointment, but I’ll be back on Friday and will get back on the phone.

[kent4489]

27 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

This just in from my TA (for those who claim that TAs are having an easier time of it).

 

Betsey,

 

I wanted to stay in touch with you.  I tried to reach Azamara both on Monday and Tuesday.  After being on hold both days for 2 hours I had to take other calls.  Today, I put everything else aside and told myself I was staying on hold for a long as it takes.  After 4 hours and 32 minutes I was disconnected .  Azamara shut their phones off.  Tomorrow, I have a follow up doctor’s appointment, but I’ll be back on Friday and will get back on the phone.

 

And I just now received this from my travel agent:

 

"I’m actually attending a Cruise Summit this week and am trying to get some guidance and additional information about Azamara. Sadly they are not represented here as I was hoping they would be. I’ve talked with many agents about them who are all having very similar issues. I do have a little hope as I obtained a contact name today who has been very helpful in another situation. I’m going to reach out to this person and see what can be done in our situation. In the meantime have you considered looking at other options? One that comes to mind you may want to check out is" ... (intentionally leaving off this last detail from the agent's e-mail.)

 

My thought... Azamara had better wake up and soon as agents are recommending to look at other options. 

 

[terry&mike]

18 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

This just in from my TA (for those who claim that TAs are having an easier time of it).

 

Betsey,

 

I wanted to stay in touch with you.  I tried to reach Azamara both on Monday and Tuesday.  After being on hold both days for 2 hours I had to take other calls.  Today, I put everything else aside and told myself I was staying on hold for a long as it takes.  After 4 hours and 32 minutes I was disconnected .  Azamara shut their phones off.  Tomorrow, I have a follow up doctor’s appointment, but I’ll be back on Friday and will get back on the phone.

I am a travel agent, and can attest to this. 

Thus far, my posts on this board have only been in reference to the issues I have been experiencing on my 2 personal bookings. I have been hesitant to speak on the further issues I am having with client bookings. This view is changing with my growing frustration in getting these bookings corrected, including an error with air in a booking beyond final payment. 
 

My access, communication, and ability to get errors corrected has become a time consuming and frustrating burden. This is also becoming a negative reflection on me as a travel professional, as 2 bookings are clients who have not sailed previously with Azamara that I recommended the experience to, and they are beginning to doubt the product. 
 

What a mess. 

[Mackdogmolly]

8 minutes ago, terry&mike said:

My access, communication, and ability to get errors corrected has become a time consuming and frustrating burden. This is also becoming a negative reflection on me as a travel professional, as 2 bookings are clients who have not sailed previously with Azamara that I recommended the experience to, and they are beginning to doubt the product. 

I am so sorry. I would probably consider just canceling my cruise, but my TA has put so much time and effort into trying to help me that I am just going to muddle through. Not going to bother trying to book another for awhile though!

[uktog]

25 minutes ago, terry&mike said:

I am a travel agent, and can attest to this. 

Thus far, my posts on this board have only been in reference to the issues I have been experiencing on my 2 personal bookings. I have been hesitant to speak on the further issues I am having with client bookings. This view is changing with my growing frustration in getting these bookings corrected, including an error with air in a booking beyond final payment. 
 

My access, communication, and ability to get errors corrected has become a time consuming and frustrating burden. This is also becoming a negative reflection on me as a travel professional, as 2 bookings are clients who have not sailed previously with Azamara that I recommended the experience to, and they are beginning to doubt the product. 
 

What a mess. 

I feel for you so much. Thank you for confirming what I was hearing and trying to highlight here. As a customer I feel unable to ask my travel agent to do anything in relation to my future cruises ( I wanted to upgrade my room on one and find out about the land extension on another). It is not fair to expect them to hold for hours. They have other customers to serve 

[kent4489]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

I feel for you so much. Thank you for confirming what I was hearing and trying to highlight here. As a customer I feel unable to ask my travel agent to do anything in relation to my future cruises ( I wanted to upgrade my room on one and find out about the land extension on another). It is not fair to expect them to hold for hours. They have other customers to serve 

Exactly. I told my travel agent today that I was so sorry to get her involved in this disaster (I don’t call it a mess anymore….it is a disaster!) She was so kind and told me not to worry, that she is here to get it resolved. Still, I feel bad that this has turned into such a disaster. And it is a disaster for a lot of us…. I’ll stop there as a few people do not get it. 
I still say, nice to hear everyone on board now says no problem, but they were all paid in full before this disaster. It was a huge mistake to book right at the beginning of the transition.

[Roel94]

I still have no points. I have several cruises coming up and they are not in order.I am guessing they are all there but I have search for sept and those are not even together.

[excitedofharpenden]

9 hours ago, terry&mike said:

I am a travel agent, and can attest to this. 

Thus far, my posts on this board have only been in reference to the issues I have been experiencing on my 2 personal bookings. I have been hesitant to speak on the further issues I am having with client bookings. This view is changing with my growing frustration in getting these bookings corrected, including an error with air in a booking beyond final payment. 
 

My access, communication, and ability to get errors corrected has become a time consuming and frustrating burden. This is also becoming a negative reflection on me as a travel professional, as 2 bookings are clients who have not sailed previously with Azamara that I recommended the experience to, and they are beginning to doubt the product. 
 

What a mess. 

This really is not good enough. Azamara need to sort this out. I can deal with wrong loyalty points because I know I haven't lost them.  They are there. But the servicing of guest bookings, either by them personally or through their travel professional needs fixing and fast. I book direct and am still waiting for an invoice to be corrected to show the use of an FCC. Phoned and then emailed. No reply to email so I will need to chase. I can't even access the booking online. Yes, I too am getting frustrated, but at least I book my own flights and transfers. 

 

Phil 

[cococruiser]

It’s going on too long now. I’d be interested to know has anyone’s cabin number changed? As of yesterday (after I received email assuring me my account was up to date) mine is different to the one I booked. I’d like my original cabin back! Forward bookings must be suffering, no way would I book at the minute. Not answering the phones to travel agents is unbelievable. I’m sure I can sort my OBC and points once onboard, however I’d like my cabin sorted before that. I’m not traveling until September so will leave it at the minute. 

[islandwoman]

Onboard the Azamara Quest day 7:

The refund of my Azamara vendor's cancelled shore excursion is still showing as "nonrefundable" credit.  Other than that everything is excellent.  Two port calls and the excursions busses showed up and came back on time.  The Azamara evening in Colombo was well organized. 

I love these little ships and sincerely hope that Azamara manages to get their IT straightened out soon.

[Riocca]

Maybe we’re the exception to the rule but since the inception of the new website we’ve been able to see correct loyalty level and points and all 5 of our future cruises originally with errors but over time without contacting Azamara things have gradually been corrected. 
There are problems with the website and things I don’t like but that was always going to be the way. I’m using an iPad running iOS 16.4.1(a) and trying multiple browsers, Safari, Firefox & Chrome only Safari gives me a problem in that I can’t open bookings in my account but as a long time Safari user it always does seem to be the last browser debugged.

All my bookings up to February 2025 show the correct balance due, stateroom & packages, OBC is showing as coupons not a value but we were told that conversion to U.K.£ would be done in about 3 months.

 

When the website went live following Azamara’s instructions we were able to setup new passwords and access our accounts straight away using the icon on the top right hand side of the home page:

 

 

Then select future cruises and everything is there.

 

If I go to the booking engine there is another login option but using that produces different results in that loyalty number, points and level are wrong and I can only see my next cruise so I’m assuming that they are still to populate this part of the system.

 

Would be interesting to know if those currently experiencing problems originally had problems accessing their accounts when the new system went live.

 

[beatnix]

@Riocca My experience is nearly the same. I sign in at azamara.com and everything is correct. We I open my upcoming cruise and switch to 'Manage my booking' I am forwarded to seaware.azamara.com. Here I have no loyalty status and 0 points and an new member number.

So for me it seems that the new booking engine is not yet working properly.