New website.

[Riocca]

It’s not just Azamara, this week British Airways cancelled 175 flights because of IT issues, U.K. government having problems with their e-passport system again IT issues. On a personal level Air Canada cancel one of our flights replaced it with an unsuitable alternative and forgot to tell us, today looking for a hotel one of the major hotel booking apps just won’t work after an update.

 

I doubt that the management of many companies understand actually how their IT systems function and are in the hands of software developers who in my experience often produce more problems than they cure when they introduce updates.

[blag]

59 minutes ago, Riocca said:

It’s not just Azamara, this week British Airways cancelled 175 flights because of IT issues, U.K. government having problems with their e-passport system again IT issues. On a personal level Air Canada cancel one of our flights replaced it with an unsuitable alternative and forgot to tell us, today looking for a hotel one of the major hotel booking apps just won’t work after an update.

 

I doubt that the management of many companies understand actually how their IT systems function and are in the hands of software developers who in my experience often produce more problems than they cure when they introduce updates.

Are you suggesting that the prolonged problems with Azamara's website, and the lack of staff manning customer services are 'normal' and therefore justifiable? 

[Riocca]

29 minutes ago, blag said:

Are you suggesting that the prolonged problems with Azamara's website, and the lack of staff manning customer services are 'normal' and therefore justifiable? 

Not at all, Azamara’s problems have gone on longer than is acceptable but there is  general problem of companies and even governments relying on systems these days without having a plan B. 

[JYDCruise]

23 hours ago, kent4489 said:

Well, I'm happy to report that I have seen a little progress today!

 

I called this morning and was on hold for only 45 minutes. ( I did NOT use the TA option or the sailing in 30 days option, just the general option 3.) Got a great agent that was very helpful (helped me even though this is booked with a TA). 

*BTW, my TA was also on hold on my behalf for 1 1/2 hours. I emailed to let her know that I was able to get through so she hung up, so apparently the TA line isn't always getting connected ahead of the general public.

I am truly glad that this worked out for you, though that being on hold for "only" 45 minutes indicates improvement just shows how bad things have been.

 

And not all of us are having even this much luck. I called in this morning, and got the cheery message that "we're shutting our phone lines down to handle the customers in queue, call back tomorrow" - hours before the nominal shut down time.

 

Yes, I am still expecting to have a wonderful time on board (though have resigned myself to having to spend a number of hours of my holiday on board sorting out and booking excursions, etc.), but this has tainted the experience.

 

From IT to PR to customer support, the Azamara executive staff has mismanaged this at every single turn, and frankly Sycamore should replace the entire existing Azamara C-suite.

[kent4489]

16 minutes ago, JYDCruise said:

I am truly glad that this worked out for you, though that being on hold for "only" 45 minutes indicates improvement just shows how bad things have been.

 

And not all of us are having even this much luck. I called in this morning, and got the cheery message that "we're shutting our phone lines down to handle the customers in queue, call back tomorrow" - hours before the nominal shut down time.

 

Yes, I am still expecting to have a wonderful time on board (though have resigned myself to having to spend a number of hours of my holiday on board sorting out and booking excursions, etc.), but this has tainted the experience.

 

From IT to PR to customer support, the Azamara executive staff has mismanaged this at every single turn, and frankly Sycamore should replace the entire existing Azamara C-suite.

I do feel your pain. I'm well aware that not all of us are having luck as I didn't for over 2 months.  A few people on here were saying it was no problem, they were getting through or their TAs were getting through or to stop calling as though the rest of us should just accept the mess that our bookings were in. (I honestly thought it was rude.) So I do not mean to sound dismissive of others that are still having trouble getting through. I was totally frustrated, but finally, I got most of my issues resolved. I just wanted to share (from one of the many unlucky ones) that hopefully things are improving. I totally agree with you that this whole mess has been utterly unacceptable and should never have gone on this long. Yes, the problems are still going on as a 45 minute hold is just bad business. (Airlines have this issue too, but they have a call back feature that works and you do get a call back.) So, I'm wishing you much luck in getting things worked out soon. 

[JM0115]

2 minutes ago, kent4489 said:

I do feel your pain. I'm well aware that not all of us are having luck as I didn't for over 2 months.  A few people on here were saying it was no problem, they were getting through or their TAs were getting through or to stop calling as though the rest of us should just accept the mess that our bookings were in. (I honestly thought it was rude.) So I do not mean to sound dismissive of others that are still having trouble getting through. I was totally frustrated, but finally, I got most of my issues resolved. I just wanted to share (from one of the many unlucky ones) that hopefully things are improving. I totally agree with you that this whole mess has been utterly unacceptable and should never have gone on this long. Yes, the problems are still going on as a 45 minute hold is just bad business. (Airlines have this issue too, but they have a call back feature that works and you do get a call back.) So, I'm wishing you much luck in getting things worked out soon. 

Hopefully some day they will implement a chat feature. It works well on other cruise lines and airlines and typically the agent can multitask with several customers to save resources while still alleviating the issues,

[blag]

1 minute ago, JM0115 said:

Hopefully some day they will implement a chat feature. It works well on other cruise lines and airlines and typically the agent can multitask with several customers to save resources while still alleviating the issues,

Only if it's not a 'bot'.

They are never effective for anything than the kind of issue that anyone with a positive IQ could manage with the benefit of a bit of research. 

[JM0115]

1 minute ago, blag said:

Only if it's not a 'bot'.

They are never effective for anything than the kind of issue that anyone with a positive IQ could manage with the benefit of a bit of research. 

Agree but the way AI is improving you may not even know whether it’s a bot or not?🥴

[blag]

1 hour ago, JM0115 said:

Agree but the way AI is improving you may not even know whether it’s a bot or not?🥴

Seriously? Current experience with 'bots' is invariably unsatisfactory.

I don't share your optimism. I think many companies use 'bots' because they are less expensive than real people, irrespective of their effectiveness.

IMHO there's a LONG' way to go.

[babykay]

I am beyond frustrated at this point.  We booked for Scotland in November. We started booking at their encouragement the day before everything went dark.  My booking didn't show up for 2 months and then it appeared - without a OBC or loyalty information. Then all went dark again and to this day it says that I have no upcoming sailings.  My sister in law had the same problem - but when her booking showed up after about 2 months, she made some shore excursion reservations.  It was not possible to pay for these.  One excursion was $89 when she made it,  Now, on her invoice, it shows that she owes $169 per person.  

 

We went on a 33 day voyage last year with AZ and had massive problems communicating with them because they had taken our sailing off the website.  Same thing - no one ever answers.  Everything worked out for us, but this seems so much worse.  I am planning another cruise with our family (4 cabins) for 2024 but I feel like I can't really commit until I see this solved to my satisfaction.  

 

Does anyone have a workable email for customer service? 

[Toronto Guy]

48 minutes ago, babykay said:

I am beyond frustrated at this point.  We booked for Scotland in November. We started booking at their encouragement the day before everything went dark.  My booking didn't show up for 2 months and then it appeared - without a OBC or loyalty information. Then all went dark again and to this day it says that I have no upcoming sailings.  My sister in law had the same problem - but when her booking showed up after about 2 months, she made some shore excursion reservations.  It was not possible to pay for these.  One excursion was $89 when she made it,  Now, on her invoice, it shows that she owes $169 per person.  

 

We went on a 33 day voyage last year with AZ and had massive problems communicating with them because they had taken our sailing off the website.  Same thing - no one ever answers.  Everything worked out for us, but this seems so much worse.  I am planning another cruise with our family (4 cabins) for 2024 but I feel like I can't really commit until I see this solved to my satisfaction.  

 

Does anyone have a workable email for customer service? 

I feel for you.  I am sailing in August and it has been a complete nightmare dealing with Azamara.  I still haven't paid my final payment (because they still have the number wrong) and I don't trust that they won't file for bankruptcy the day after I pay it.

[islandwoman]

3 hours ago, babykay said:

Does anyone have a workable email for customer service? 

This one worked for me a while ago;

Azamaracustomerservice@Azamara.com

[excitedofharpenden]

9 hours ago, Toronto Guy said:

I feel for you.  I am sailing in August and it has been a complete nightmare dealing with Azamara.  I still haven't paid my final payment (because they still have the number wrong) and I don't trust that they won't file for bankruptcy the day after I pay it.

If that's how you feel (which I think is way over the top) why don't you just cancel?

 

Phil

[Toronto Guy]

55 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

If that's how you feel (which I think is way over the top) why don't you just cancel?

 

Phil

I'm actually very much considering that Phil. I'm trying to find another cruise that will work with the land portion of my trip.  I see no point being loyal to this company that can't get it's act together. 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Toronto Guy

[babykay]

Why would wanting to cancel be "over the top"?  I have already paid in full, but if I hadn't I would think about cancelling. It's not so much that things are showing up wrong on the account,(or not showing at all) but the one thing that Azamara could do is hire far more people to answer phones and service tickets.  That is in complete control of Azamara.  It just speaks to me that they are incompetent and don't really care. 

 

 

[excitedofharpenden]

43 minutes ago, babykay said:

Why would wanting to cancel be "over the top"?  I have already paid in full, but if I hadn't I would think about cancelling. It's not so much that things are showing up wrong on the account,(or not showing at all) but the one thing that Azamara could do is hire far more people to answer phones and service tickets.  That is in complete control of Azamara.  It just speaks to me that they are incompetent and don't really care. 

 

 

That's not what I was talking about. I quoted the post that said about not trusting they won't file for bankruptcy. Nothing to do with cancelling which of course is a choice that can be made. 

 

Phil 

[babykay]

25 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

That's not what I was talking about. I quoted the post that said about not trusting they won't file for bankruptcy. Nothing to do with cancelling which of course is a choice that can be made. 

 

Phil 

My mistake.  

[Nuts4pi]

11 hours ago, islandwoman said:

This one worked for me a while ago;

Azamaracustomerservice@Azamara.com

How do you know it "worked?" Did you get a "real" reply from it?

I always thought the address was customerservice@azamara.com (i.e., no "Azamara" to start).

[JaneStarr]

1 hour ago, Nuts4pi said:

How do you know it "worked?" Did you get a "real" reply from it?

I always thought the address was customerservice@azamara.com (i.e., no "Azamara" to start).

In my case, it is not possible to tell. Any replies I’ve gotten come from a “no-reply” email address and don’t quote the email to which they’re replying. I can never tell if the reply is in reference to one of my support forms (either Loyalty or the general one) to an email from me.

Update:

Here are links to the various forms I’ve used:

https://www.azamara.com/b2c/booking-support

 

https://www.azamara.com/guest-account-login-form?utm_campaign=2023-04-13-Consumer-Update&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=254250135&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-98oR8ODLWbeDohcBNsXVIMdJUR5B7okJ9-dTUYJe6nlMJinEyqc1QZ-WlNKMEqpUxQ5yDVRuqX5KlpnbPwVniSdoCGUw&utm_content=254250135&utm_source=hs_email

 

https://www.azamara.com/about-azamara/contact-us/contact-form

Edited May 28, 2023 by JaneStarr
to add info

[jegoodman]

My travel agent processed final payment today.  She said she could do it through the TA portal.  I received a receipt from the TA for the correct amount, cross checked it with the credit card company to make sure Azamara didn't change the amount, and within minutes the Azamara website showed paid in full.

 

Needless to say I screenshot the paid in full before it disappears.  2 weeks ago I received an email from Azamara confirming OBC.

 

I still need to cancel a few excursions booked before the changeover and book different ones using OBC.  The problem is some show a price of 999,999 and has not been corrected.   I'll wait one month before trying to fix the excursion issue.  Maybe by miracle the website will work by then.

[wjfan417]

56 minutes ago, jegoodman said:

My travel agent processed final payment today.  She said she could do it through the TA portal.  I received a receipt from the TA for the correct amount, cross checked it with the credit card company to make sure Azamara didn't change the amount, and within minutes the Azamara website showed paid in full.

 

Needless to say I screenshot the paid in full before it disappears.  2 weeks ago I received an email from Azamara confirming OBC.

 

I still need to cancel a few excursions booked before the changeover and book different ones using OBC.  The problem is some show a price of 999,999 and has not been corrected.   I'll wait one month before trying to fix the excursion issue.  Maybe by miracle the website will work by then.

Same here as far as payment being processed today through TA without any issues-haven’t tried to book excursions yet (need to go through options with my husband and it’s a real pain not having a PDF he can just look at). I was also able to update our new passport information online.

[Nuts4pi]

Well, I've had mixed results in my online account...

 

Azamara Circle (AZ website):

Correct account # & tier, but points showing is from May, 2021 (i.e., missing almost 600 points from 2 recent cruises).

 

Azamara Circle (Seaware site):

New account # w/ tier set at Adventurer, zero points. Totally wrong!

 

Future Cruises:

While onboard our March cruise, we booked the 2024 Rio Carnival cruise at the very last minute before the website transition. We received the email confirmation showing our deposit made & OBC awarded. This booking has shown up correctly through both the AZ & Seaware sites, albeit the OBC is not showing $$ amounts (just 2 coupons for 2 guests).

We wanted to add a post-cruise land tour. The price showing through the "Manage my Reservation" link was several hundred dollars less than looking at it as if making a new booking! So, we went ahead & added it to our reservation (done online via the Manage link) & the updated invoice is correct. However, we have not yet received an emailed confirmation copy of the updated booking.

 

I'm sending an email inquiry with copies of all our documentation showing what we should have, & asking them to send the updated document showing the added land tour & new price (yes, I've taken a screenshot of what it shows online). Will let you know if I get any results from my inquiry.

 

FYI - I'm trying 4 different emails, too! Hoping that at least one of them generates a positive response. 😏

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Nuts4pi
Corrected grammar

[rickip]

6 hours ago, JaneStarr said:

In my case, it is not possible to tell. Any replies I’ve gotten come from a “no-reply” email address and don’t quote the email to which they’re replying. I can never tell if the reply is in reference to one of my support forms (either Loyalty or the general one) to an email from me.

Update:

Here are links to the various forms I’ve used:

https://www.azamara.com/b2c/booking-support

 

https://www.azamara.com/guest-account-login-form?utm_campaign=2023-04-13-Consumer-Update&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=254250135&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-98oR8ODLWbeDohcBNsXVIMdJUR5B7okJ9-dTUYJe6nlMJinEyqc1QZ-WlNKMEqpUxQ5yDVRuqX5KlpnbPwVniSdoCGUw&utm_content=254250135&utm_source=hs_email

 

https://www.azamara.com/about-azamara/contact-us/contact-form

I've used the booking support form (online) a couple of times now.  The "quickest" response I got was exactly 4 weeks (!!) later - and, the person answering was confused because the situation had changed in the meantime.  A waste of time on all sides.  

 

[cpgrneyes]

On 5/24/2023 at 11:34 PM, Riocca said:

The other this week I was able to make the booking online took a while but a lot of that was my unfamiliarity with the new system, was able to get a 24 hour hold but couldn’t change the cabin the system allocated. However a quick phone call the following day got it resolved and the booking completed.

I’m booked on the same cruise and wanted to take advantage of the new offer. My TA didn’t respond to my request for two days to rebook, so I was able to do it direct online with no issue. I received a confirmation from Azamara with the cabin number I requested. Now when I look online, they have my new booking and rate, but the cabin that the system originally allocated. I’ve submitted the issue on Azamara, but will be calling soon to verify that my confirmation is correct, particularly as there are now no cabins available in the category I want. Frustrating, but I have everything printed out and trust it will be resolved before we sail in October.

[islandwoman]

13 hours ago, Nuts4pi said:

How do you know it "worked?" Did you get a "real" reply from it?

I always thought the address was customerservice@azamara.com (i.e., no "Azamara" to start).

I received a boiler-plate reply.