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

[takemewithyou]

1 hour ago, nonrev1 said:

We just met with the assistant hotel director.  He read our comments and wanted to explain. ( love that they always read the comments)  On the Journey about a year ago they stopped ice buckets in rooms and beverages in the fridge.  He said they never really knew what customers wanted and beverages expired and they lost control of inventory.  I get it.  But, for us long time Azamara cruisers it was surprising and for new cruisers they don’t know or expect it.  All of the items that were provided before are still available but you have to ask.  We suggested that they put a note in the cabins to let cruisers know what is available……just ask for it.  Also, there is no uniformity/ consistency  between ships. So, where we saw this as a reduction/cut back in amenities. It was really a better allocation of amenities. You just don’t realize that they are available but you have to ask for them. If you are new to Azamara how can you ask for what you don’t know is available?  They need to communicate.  

Do you mean they read your comments here on CruiseCritic and wanted to explain to you or they read comments that you submitted from onboard the ship?

 

I am sorry, but I think there should be consistency across all ships and I see that as something that has changed in the last few years since Covid and the restart of sailing.  Azamara knows they have a high percentage of repeat cruisers each sailing!  Or should know that.  maybe they won’t have so many repeaters in the future and that’s changing, but I digress!  I agree that there should be a note in the stateroom to explain why there is not a stocked mini bar on Journey.  Interesting…..Journey is my next booking.  Who is the Hotel Manager currently? 

[Grandma Cruising]

I think the differences started when Pursuit started - for a while there seemed to be a Pursuit way of doing things, rather than the Azamara way.

[takemewithyou]

9 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

I think the differences started when Pursuit started - for a while there seemed to be a Pursuit way of doing things, rather than the Azamara way.

I think you may be right on that.  I seem to remember that discussion when Pursuit first was introduced into the fleet on Azamara.  Thanks 

[uktog]

The appeal certainly used to be - as one Captain put it - the only difference between the ships is the artwork.  

Azamara appears to have veered away from that

Other lines like Viking are absolutely rigid in being the same fleet wide in terms of service standards, ship layout and guest experience

I know this is a generalisation but the older demographic tends to like that consistency and predictability more than the younger market.

Perhaps symptomatic of Azamara's current direction of travel, consistency does not fit their plans.

Time will tell if that is the right path or one that will come back and bite them big time.

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by uktog

[crzrr]

Personally, I think that it's great that the fridges are empty and you can ask to have whatever you would like in them.  We have always asked for the fridge to be emptied of everything but diet coke and bottled water.  Now we will just ask for those items.  However, I also think that there should be a note in the room stating what is available to be stocked in your room... ice, sodas, water, etc.  Also, if in a suite you can be asked about afternoon tea, etc.  We've always told our butler not to bother with the afternoon goodies as they would just be wasted... we can make it a few hours without eating (maybe)!  It's all about communication and consistency which, unfortunately, has not been Azamara's forte recently.

[uktog]

This was the note we had (was personalised Dear Mr and Mrs) in our room as a little stand up sign on our recent Scenic river cruise which made it nice and clear what perks we had - an easy thing Azamara could do and it was a nice personal welcome, the butler hand signs each note

 

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Hope you liked Scenic as much as we do.  Are you going to do a review ?

 

[uktog]

10 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Hope you liked Scenic as much as we do.  Are you going to do a review ?

 

It was an excellent river cruise- reminded us of Azamara when we first sailed with them. Fabulous food and just a great service ethos throughout 

[Mrs Miggins]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

It was an excellent river cruise- reminded us of Azamara when we first sailed with them. Fabulous food and just a great service ethos throughout 

I agree entirely.  

[nonrev1]

I don’t think there is anyone monitoring this board in Miami.  . He contacted me regarding the comments we made on our comment card. The sheet that you show from scenic tours is something like what we suggested for all cabins versus for a suite, Like I mentioned, there’s no longer consistency among the ships. That is disappointing to the Long-term customers and also new customers have no idea what to expect or not to expect 

[uktog]

4 minutes ago, nonrev1 said:

I don’t think there is anyone monitoring this board in Miami.  . He contacted me regarding the comments we made on our comment card. The sheet that you show from scenic tours is something like what we suggested for all cabins versus for a suite, Like I mentioned, there’s no longer consistency among the ships. That is disappointing to the Long-term customers and also new customers have no idea what to expect or not to expect 

I suppose it’s progress your comment card was noted. There was no reaction to ours (which highlighted both positives and significant issues).
 

Our travel agent is also tearing her hair out trying to deal with our booking for two other cruises. It’s taking up too much time and emails are being ignored - it’s clear she doesn’t want us to book Azamara again (aka telling me all she discovered on agents visits to two other lines and why she thinks they’d be great fits for us. - sad) 

[nonrev1]

My travel agent has said the same thing. We have a booking that we have been trying to cancel, and she has spent hours upon hours upon hours. She has no success with Azamara. She finally gets through they commit to fixing it, and nothing happens.

[uktog]

24 minutes ago, nonrev1 said:

My travel agent has said the same thing. We have a booking that we have been trying to cancel, and she has spent hours upon hours upon hours. She has no success with Azamara. She finally gets through they commit to fixing it, and nothing happens.

Snap! 

[Yvonne203]

Does anyone have recent experience of the Azamara Experience More packages. I’ve booked and paid for the solo package and have been told I can’t use the Shore Excursion Credit till I get on the ship. Quite frustrating as I’m afraid the excursions I want will be booked out. Any advice appreciated. 

[Marylebone37]

39 minutes ago, Yvonne203 said:

Does anyone have recent experience of the Azamara Experience More packages. I’ve booked and paid for the solo package and have been told I can’t use the Shore Excursion Credit till I get on the ship. Quite frustrating as I’m afraid the excursions I want will be booked out. Any advice appreciated. 

It was on board only in May/June on the Pursuit.  Just a suggestion… you may want to ask this in a new thread with an appropriate title vs. on p.6 of this one.  

[Yvonne203]

1 minute ago, Marylebone37 said:

It was on board only in May/June on the Pursuit.  Just a suggestion… you may want to ask this in a new thread with an appropriate title vs. on p.6 of this one.  

Thanks, you’ve answered my question. 

[Grandma Cruising]

1 hour ago, Yvonne203 said:

Does anyone have recent experience of the Azamara Experience More packages. I’ve booked and paid for the solo package and have been told I can’t use the Shore Excursion Credit till I get on the ship. Quite frustrating as I’m afraid the excursions I want will be booked out. Any advice appreciated. 

Not what I was told. My cruise is in Feb next year, so I was told it was too early to apply the OBC, which includes $700 from the Indulgence package. The Azamara agent I spoke to said I could book the excursions, but not pay yet and they would stay on my booking until the OBC could be applied. They’ve been there for a couple of weeks and are still there.

[moonglum]

Booked two shore excursions for Pursuit cruise out of Cape Town in February when I was on the Azamarta site.  Paid for these the same day but I am seeing a still to pay message when I go into my reservation online.

 

Contacted Azamara and was told that as I had booked the cruise through a Travel Agent then I should speak to them re the bookings.  Explained that the excursions were not done through the TA and was told that they would relay my concerns to Customer Services and the person could not discuss financial issues.

 

Asked how long this would take and was told it could be weeks as they have a big backlog to deal with.

 

Certainly not inspiring confidence at the moment. I have tours booked in Cape Town otherwise I would be thinking about cancelling.

[uktog]

Yes we seem to have a new rule that excursion payments have to go through your travel agents - if this is actually the new way of working it’s ridiculous and will absolutely drive people away at least from the cruise line’s excursions and possibly from booking full stop. 
 

I fear it is how Seaware is set up based on what I saw on Explora. Didn’t Azamara understand how their customers preferred to do business with them before implementing this product, did they not notice this problem or had they no choice? 

[Riocca]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

Yes we seem to have a new rule that excursion payments have to go through your travel agents - if this is actually the new way of working it’s ridiculous and will absolutely drive people away at least from the cruise line’s excursions and possibly from booking full stop. 
 

I fear it is how Seaware is set up based on what I saw on Explora. Didn’t Azamara understand how their customers preferred to do business with them before implementing this product, did they not notice this problem or had they no choice? 

I suspect the latter, Seaware is no doubt customisable but probably within given parameters, RC’s system was bespoke and provided options that suited them best and we’ve all become accustomed to their way of operating. To other cruise lines we’ve sailed with onboard credit is exactly that and was only available once onboard, I’ve a feeling that that’s the was Seaware is written and Azamara are trying to find a work round to provide what went before.

There’s no way Azamara could have produced their own bespoke system and the choice of off the shelf systems is very limited so like it or not we’re going to have to get used to the new system.

Booking tours with OBC and finding available cabins excepted it’s a far more comprehensive system than RC’s if you spend time looking around, and I except it’s not intuitive, there’s a lot of good information available within the booking. I was able to make final payment very easily for our next b2b booking, once Azamara had sorted it out, that was something that wasn’t possible with the old system.

[Grandma Cruising]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

Yes we seem to have a new rule that excursion payments have to go through your travel agents - if this is actually the new way of working it’s ridiculous and will absolutely drive people away at least from the cruise line’s excursions and possibly from booking full stop. 
 

I fear it is how Seaware is set up based on what I saw on Explora. Didn’t Azamara understand how their customers preferred to do business with them before implementing this product, did they not notice this problem or had they no choice? 

Yet I am booked through a travel agent, but had no problem booking excursions by telephone with an Azamara agent in the UK a couple of weeks ago. Very strange, seems like the right hand doesn’t know  what the left hand is doing.

[uktog]

51 minutes ago, Riocca said:

I suspect the latter, Seaware is no doubt customisable but probably within given parameters, RC’s system was bespoke and provided options that suited them best and we’ve all become accustomed to their way of operating. To other cruise lines we’ve sailed with onboard credit is exactly that and was only available once onboard, I’ve a feeling that that’s the was Seaware is written and Azamara are trying to find a work round to provide what went before.

There’s no way Azamara could have produced their own bespoke system and the choice of off the shelf systems is very limited so like it or not we’re going to have to get used to the new system.

Booking tours with OBC and finding available cabins excepted it’s a far more comprehensive system than RC’s if you spend time looking around, and I except it’s not intuitive, there’s a lot of good information available within the booking. I was able to make final payment very easily for our next b2b booking, once Azamara had sorted it out, that was something that wasn’t possible with the old system.

There was no OBC involved in my Seaware transaction just straight cash to pay for an excursion and it still had to go through the TA with Explora so I’m a little concerned OBC isn’t the reason. 

If you have to wait until the cruise is fully paid on Azamaras books before you can book excursions yourself that for many guests booked with large agencies is going to be only about 14 days before the cruise. 
I have a cruise to Japan next year, at our age it’s probably a one and done so will be doing many excursions and would have wanted to set them up several months ahead.  You can do on several competitors so if it proves the case that this ridiculous system is permanent it will be another factor that will encourage us to cruise with other lines. 

[uktog]

52 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Yet I am booked through a travel agent, but had no problem booking excursions by telephone with an Azamara agent in the UK a couple of weeks ago. Very strange, seems like the right hand doesn’t know  what the left hand is doing.

There’s the rub ….. by telephone.    In this era of technology that’s not the way many people want to work. Booking shore excursions pre cruise used to be an evening job when you had the time to sit down and plan it all. I refuse to sit on a phone probably listening to music or advertising material to service a holiday!!!

[nordski]

1 hour ago, Riocca said:

I suspect the latter, Seaware is no doubt customisable but probably within given parameters, RC’s system was bespoke and provided options that suited them best and we’ve all become accustomed to their way of operating. To other cruise lines we’ve sailed with onboard credit is exactly that and was only available once onboard, I’ve a feeling that that’s the was Seaware is written and Azamara are trying to find a work round to provide what went before.

There’s no way Azamara could have produced their own bespoke system and the choice of off the shelf systems is very limited so like it or not we’re going to have to get used to the new system.

Booking tours with OBC and finding available cabins excepted it’s a far more comprehensive system than RC’s if you spend time looking around, and I except it’s not intuitive, there’s a lot of good information available within the booking. I was able to make final payment very easily for our next b2b booking, once Azamara had sorted it out, that was something that wasn’t possible with the old system.

Thanks for this informative post. 

Given that there are still a number of issues affecting individuals who are/have signed up for cruises, it would certainly be understandable that those concerns are the priorities, 

 

Once those priorities have been resolved, we can hope that the Seaware programme can be revised in terms of how it handles shore excursions, finding available cabins, and paying with OBC.

Edited August 8, 2023 by nordski

[Grandma Cruising]

54 minutes ago, uktog said:

There’s the rub ….. by telephone.    In this era of technology that’s not the way many people want to work. Booking shore excursions pre cruise used to be an evening job when you had the time to sit down and plan it all. I refuse to sit on a phone probably listening to music or advertising material to service a holiday!!!

Yet I was able to book one excursion online a couple of months ago for my November cruise without going thro’ my TA. Seems to be quite haphazard what works & what doesn’t.