Hello Carol Cabezas (CEO), What on Earth is Going On?

[Marylebone37]

Surely you're not communicating for a reason,  Have the Sycamore partners banned you from saying anything?  After all that great pre-transition communication, for you to go silent regarding this complete disaster seems VERY suspicious to me.  What gives?

[conman]

What’s the disaster?  We sailed almost a month ago and everything was fantastic.  If you are referencing the new web site then I have really no experience with that.

[Marylebone37]

Please do read all the threads recently. It’s embarrassing to me, a guest who used to love the brand. What a train wreck. 

[laurieb]

46 minutes ago, Marylebone37 said:

Please do read all the threads recently. It’s embarrassing to me, a guest who used to love the brand. What a train wreck. 

You are really being a bully towards Azamara.  Why do you feel you need to act this way? 

Edited April 23, 2023 by laurieb

[Grandma Cruising]

I have not seen any diminution of standards across my 12 cruises with Azamara over the last 10 years,. I’ve done 2 cruises with them in the last 6 months and found them to be as good as ever and in fact the service has been even better in the last six months! 
True there were one or two supply issues - exactly the same as I see in my local supermarket!

I agree that the website is clearly an issue, although I haven’t got personal experience of this - my account is fine - loyalty points as they should be, upcoming cruise is there, OBC and addons (Wifi, drinks package) all showing correctly. The excursions are there to see too. I’ve been able to add a photo, passport information etc.

It would be interesting to know what proportion of accounts are wrong - it’s difficult to know whether this is a few or very high percentage. I do understand that those affected are upset and stressed, especially where they are owed money. (Making a Section 75 claim on your credit card may be the quickest way to resolve this - whenever I’ve done this it’s had a very quick result)

[excitedofharpenden]

6 hours ago, laurieb said:

You are really being a bully towards Azamara.  Why do you feel you need to act this way? 

Rhetorical questions like that posed by the OP serve no purpose here. I also think there is a Cruise Critic rule on Cruiseline bashing. Whilst there are some issues, it's time for some to move on and deal with them in a grown up manner. Jmho. 

 

Phil 

[blag]

4 hours ago, CHTobi said:

On top of a clear qualitative deterioration

It would seem that most of the usual suspects - not including me, I hasten to add - would (and do) hotly dispute this!

[ghstudio]

The obviously poor or complete lack of planning and preparation for the change of systems is really inexcusable management.  The lack of executive communications and any timely response to phone calls or emails just compounds the situation.  Surely (from the CEO's point of view), this is all due to their vendor.....reality is that the CEO owns the problem of lack of planning and/or lack of execution of whatever plan they had.   

   

It's difficult to understand how some folks think this situation is normal or even slightly acceptable..

Edited April 23, 2023 by ghstudio

[cruisefam38]

11 hours ago, Marylebone37 said:

or you to go silent regarding this complete disaster seems VERY suspicious to me.  What gives?

Although the horse is taking a beating, it isn't dead, nor will the continued bashing and beating be sufficient to seriously harm Azamara.

Faults have been found, problems identified, points have been made.  For the seriously disgruntled, maybe, just maybe, it is time to consider moving on, figuratively and literally.  As for me, three excellent post-covid cruises with Azamara encourage me to continue vacationing with this cruise line in the future. 

[Marylebone37]

And I am not giving up on them (even given all the conversion issues, including my own, ugh).  I’ve asked for some corporate comms in other threads to hopefully prompt management to give the many stressed travelers (and TA’s) an update on the issues, resolution plan, and timeline.  That would go such a long way to help.  I am supposed to be embarking in about a month and will report back on the experience.
 

 

[cruisefam38]

I hope you thoroughly enjoy your upcoming cruise, Marylebone37. 

Understandably, it is frustrating and worrisome for you not to have important details secured a month before hand, it does interfere with the anticipation. 

To paraphrase:  please, don't let imperfect get in the way of good, and possibly excellent.

[alfredo1]

What should be worrying for Azamara, if they monitor this forum, are the ongoing and continual complaints and dissatisfaction from obviously long time cruisers and supporters of Azamara who do not seek to put the line down but want it deliver the standards experienced some time ago now. We have cruised with Azamara since the early days, been top cruisers etc. and could have bought a nice apartment with what we have paid them, but found that Azamara delivered what we wanted at decent value for money, but there is no denying that things things are awry just now. Over three cruises last year we could see things improving, but still not as good as expected and the huge turnover of crew would not have helped.

The current situation with website and contact centre is disgraceful, it is impossible to properly research cabin availability and book online or even by telephone due to the lack of knowledge being displayed and it seems at times prices are unrealistically high despite the repeated "special offer" emails, to such an extent we have just booked a like for like cruise with Seabourn at a better price all in than Azamara. Something has to give and in troubled times Azamara should be pushing forward unbeatable value to maintain and increase their customer base rather than chasing increasing fares without delivering the quality expected. Wonder how Larry P. is doing??

 

 

 

[ghstudio]

what should be worrying for Azamara is folks like myself who have done many many cruises having dinner with two other couples last night and discussing cruises....and my recommendation that they not consider Azamara at this point.....wait for the dust to settle.  I doubt that I am alone in these cruise discussions among friends and suggesting that Azamara might not be the way to go...at least for now.

 

What would change my mind:

1) a statement from management about how they are addressing the issues and publicly acknowledging the issues on the web site.

2) response to emails within 36 hours

3) return of every phone call within 36 hours

Edited April 23, 2023 by ghstudio

[CHTobi]

2 hours ago, alfredo1 said:

What should be worrying for Azamara, if they monitor this forum, are the ongoing and continual complaints and dissatisfaction from obviously long time cruisers and supporters of Azamara who do not seek to put the line down but want it deliver the standards experienced some time ago now. We have cruised with Azamara since the early days, been top cruisers etc. and could have bought a nice apartment with what we have paid them, but found that Azamara delivered what we wanted at decent value for money, but there is no denying that things things are awry just now. Over three cruises last year we could see things improving, but still not as good as expected and the huge turnover of crew would not have helped.

The current situation with website and contact centre is disgraceful, it is impossible to properly research cabin availability and book online or even by telephone due to the lack of knowledge being displayed and it seems at times prices are unrealistically high despite the repeated "special offer" emails, to such an extent we have just booked a like for like cruise with Seabourn at a better price all in than Azamara. Something has to give and in troubled times Azamara should be pushing forward unbeatable value to maintain and increase their customer base rather than chasing increasing fares without delivering the quality expected. Wonder how Larry P. is doing??

 

 

 

Larry P. Has been hired by Four Seasons - they are going to have a luxury cruise concept and with Larry Pimentel imvolved it will be stellar. Sometimes I vacillate between anger and sadness when I see what has been done to Larry’s brilliant Azamara concepts - deconstructing them, dumbing them down and turning them into bland mass market kind of products only begins to describe the brands deterioration. There really isn’t an appropriate word for what has been happening on the customer service side…

[Grandma Cruising]

You’re right about the website, but otherwise I can’t see how Azamara has been ‘dumbed down’ or made into a ‘bland mass market product’. That’s totally NOT my experience over the 10 years we’ve been cruising with Azamara. 
During that time we’ve done the Athens to Dubai route 4 times (we love the sea days). The first was in 2013 and the last in autumn 2022. They were all as good as each other - and in fact in terms of service, the last one in October last year was stellar! 

[CHTobi]

18 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

You’re right about the website, but otherwise I can’t see how Azamara has been ‘dumbed down’ or made into a ‘bland mass market product’. That’s totally NOT my experience over the 10 years we’ve been cruising with Azamara. 
During that time we’ve done the Athens to Dubai route 4 times (we love the sea days). The first was in 2013 and the last in autumn 2022. They were all as good as each other - and in fact in terms of service, the last one in October last year was stellar! 

Individual experiences and perceptions differ and therefore there seem to be different realities. It is wonderful that things are as perfect as they always were for you. But not everyone agrees with you - as you very well know. The art and ability to agree to disagree comes in handy in situations like that. 

[alfredo1]

1. Glad to see CHTobi agrees with us, both well invested in Azamara over the years, more than most, but wish them well and Larry back. Azamara ain't Holland America and until the new management recognise that they will struggle. We don't want new ships, fancy cocktail bars and falderalls. Great crew, good food, interesting passengers and different itineraries are sufficient for the average discerning Azamara passenger. If not Silversea and Seabourn will welcome us, and too bad for that.

[Grandma Cruising]

Absolutely agree that great crew, good food, interesting passengers and different itineraries are sufficient for the the average discerning passenger. That’s what we’ve always had over the last 10 years.

[lhcruzin]

I enjoyed my last post Covid Azamara cruise.  That is why I have booked another one and am looking forward to it.  However I empathize with guests who are having issues with the new software rollout.  It is extremely frustrating to have paid for airline tickets, find out that they were never paid for and ticketed. My travel agent had difficulty booking and had to wait an extended amount of time to talk to Azamara.  I had friends with special needs who wanted to travel with us but their agent had difficulty with the website and couldn’t get a hold of them.  I agree that this is a big PR issue.  Azamara needs to own it and communicate with guests and agents.  

[Host Jazzbeau]

To quote Yogi, "this is deja vu all over again" – exactly what I witnessed when the Scenic website was hacked and they decided to rebuild it rather than pay the ransom.  Onboard experience never suffered, but Cruise Critic was filled with the same fears that it had [from those who had not sailed during this period] and immense frustration from those who were booked but couldn't access their booking [despite multiple reports that the missing documents were not necessary and both check-in and the cruise were flawless].

 

I empathize with those who are exasperated by the website issues – but you have to keep that on one side when you read reviews of current cruises.  Other than a few outliers [some of whom haven't sailed recently], the vast majority of reports show no diminution of standards.  Watch out for 'confirmation bias' if you are reading through your lens of frustration.  The so-called 'fans' here have many many cruises over many years and are well positioned to note slipping standards if there were any.  I personally only have 2 pre-Covid cruises and 1 post-Covid cruise on Azamara – but my experience mirrors that of those with many more:  the latest cruise was absolutely up to the standards set by the earlier ones.

[marinaro44]

18 hours ago, CHTobi said:

Larry P. Has been hired by Four Seasons - they are going to have a luxury cruise concept and with Larry Pimentel imvolved it will be stellar. Sometimes I vacillate between anger and sadness when I see what has been done to Larry’s brilliant Azamara concepts - deconstructing them, dumbing them down and turning them into bland mass market kind of products only begins to describe the brands deterioration. There really isn’t an appropriate word for what has been happening on the customer service side…

24 days on Onward during the holidays and saw no deterioration in the onboard experience.  Others here have said the same.  So I don't know what is meant by "Larry's brilliant Azamara concepts."  If these concepts involve the onboard experience, there is nothing "dumbed down" or "bland mass market" or "deteriorated" about them.

[uktog]

Whilst not getting into debates about standards - different people have very different perspectives, the one thing that I had first hand experience of twice was Larry Pimintels focus on the customer and when things were not going well, keeping the communication channels open, with regular information even if there was very little that could be said.  

That aspect of Azamara's work has deteriorated significantly as this issue with the IT transition has shown.  

[federalexpress]

18 hours ago, CHTobi said:

Larry P. Has been hired by Four Seasons - they are going to have a luxury cruise concept and with Larry Pimentel imvolved it will be stellar. Sometimes I vacillate between anger and sadness when I see what has been done to Larry’s brilliant Azamara concepts - deconstructing them, dumbing them down and turning them into bland mass market kind of products only begins to describe the brands deterioration. There really isn’t an appropriate word for what has been happening on the customer service side…

 

I'm curious to know what those brilliant Azamara concepts were and how they differ to today's offer.

 

I have no particular skin in this game. I've cruised with AZ once and may not do so again. But that is because I'm not big into cruising, so may not take any cruise again, but they would likely be my first option if there was a location- like my S America trip- which is much easier undertaken on a ship, because I liked what I had (a few inevitable gremlins aside).

 

What was/am I missing?

 

 

[yogagal47]

On 4/23/2023 at 10:28 AM, Grandma Cruising said:

You’re right about the website, but otherwise I can’t see how Azamara has been ‘dumbed down’ or made into a ‘bland mass market product’. That’s totally NOT my experience over the 10 years we’ve been cruising with Azamara. 
During that time we’ve done the Athens to Dubai route 4 times (we love the sea days). The first was in 2013 and the last in autumn 2022. They were all as good as each other - and in fact in terms of service, the last one in October last year was stellar! 

Athens to Dubai 4 times! Wow! I am getting excited for our April '24 Singapore to Dubai cruise. Have you ever done that? Also-do you happen to know if AZ has decent options for vegans? Do they still do the buffet at dinner time? Asking for a friend who is a vegan, loves to cruise and finds buffets work best for him. Thanks.  Julie in Denver

[betsey]

It looks like other cruise lines are having problems too. https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/vantage-travel-cancels-trips-blames-data-security-incident/