Any bets on whether Online Check In will resume this coming Monday (5/15)?

[Marylebone37]

I'm sailing on 5/30/23, and wondering what to expect come Monday, when, according to their FAQ page:

 

Sailings May 15, 2023 and after: 

Online check-in will resume on azamara.com starting May 15th, 2023. 

 

Will I be able to check online or will I will I have to fly half way across the world with my TA paperwork, cross my fingers and toes, click my heels, and show up at the pier hoping that all be well.  I'll report back on Monday.

[curmudgeon98]

Online check-in is pretty low on my worry list, especially for a small ship like Azamara.  I do sympathize with all you folks dealing the system switchover pain, though.  Let's just hope it's not as prolonged as the chaos of the Princess "Medallion" app; that seems to have been a multi-year zoo.

 

By the luck of the draw, we happen to be trying a different cruise line this year and so we missed the mess.  Maybe in a few months the dust will have settled.  

[lisiamc]

9 hours ago, Marylebone37 said:

I'm sailing on 5/30/23, and wondering what to expect come Monday, when, according to their FAQ page:

 

Sailings May 15, 2023 and after: 

Online check-in will resume on azamara.com starting May 15th, 2023. 

 

Will I be able to check online or will I will I have to fly half way across the world with my TA paperwork, cross my fingers and toes, click my heels, and show up at the pier hoping that all be well.  I'll report back on Monday.

Don’t stress about the on-line check in. No one has been turned away at the port, and you’ll be fine. You may not remember back in the dark ages, when everyone had to complete the entire check in at the port. It worked then, and it still does. 

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, lisiamc said:

Don’t stress about the on-line check in. No one has been turned away at the port, and you’ll be fine. You may not remember back in the dark ages, when everyone had to complete the entire check in at the port. It worked then, and it still does. 

I totally agree and that someone starts a thread with a rhetorical question such as this says it all. Just don't stress!

 

Phil 

[uktog]

Ranking from least important to most I would put

Online check in

Accuracy of points

Claims I owe money (we all know that is a glitch)

Ability to pre book excursions using the method I want to use (and if I cannot a guarantee the onboard price will be the same as the pre board price)

Ship having the right information about my OBC and being able to refund in the correct manner

Access to accurate pricing and prompt answering of calls by fully competent agents evidencing the standard of customer care from the past

Flight arrangements being as advised to the guest and access to a priority answered phone line if there are issued.

 

Of course all this should be solved but its clear that is currently still beyond Azamara's technical competence.  

 

[hamrag]

On 5/11/2023 at 11:31 PM, Marylebone37 said:

I'm sailing on 5/30/23, and wondering what to expect come Monday, when, according to their FAQ page:

 

Sailings May 15, 2023 and after: 

Online check-in will resume on azamara.com starting May 15th, 2023. 

 

Will I be able to check online or will I will I have to fly half way across the world with my TA paperwork, cross my fingers and toes, click my heels, and show up at the pier hoping that all be well.  I'll report back on Monday.

Somewhat dramatic I'd say. We had the same 'issue', but they made it clear in an email to us that check-in would be face-to-face in the terminal. From arrival to pool deck bar took less than 40 minutes. 

 

The best advice I can offer is chill, and forget about the body parts you mention! 😉

[nonrev1]

On 5/12/2023 at 6:06 AM, uktog said:

Ranking from least important to most I would put

Online check in

Accuracy of points

Claims I owe money (we all know that is a glitch)

Ability to pre book excursions using the method I want to use (and if I cannot a guarantee the onboard price will be the same as the pre board price)

Ship having the right information about my OBC and being able to refund in the correct manner

Access to accurate pricing and prompt answering of calls by fully competent agents evidencing the standard of customer care from the past

Flight arrangements being as advised to the guest and access to a priority answered phone line if there are issued.

 

Of course all this should be solved but its clear that is currently still beyond Azamara's technical competence.  

 

I agree 100 Pct.  Online check in is the least of your concerns.  There really is no need to check in online.  It might make it a smidge faster ……maybe.  They have everything there.  They will scan your passport, put in your credit card, for Japan we had to Covid test and show vaccine docs ….then you board the ship.  The  IT cutover (mayhem) started over two weeks before our cruise.  Even at the beginning of this, there were not issues checking in at the cruise terminal. 

[voyager1964]

There is no surprise the promised on-line check-in does not work. To me, its importance is related to spreading out the crowds based on the assigned check-in time.

[nonrev1]

If they are doing what they did at the beginning, everyone on the specific sailing will get an email telling them what time their check in time is.  For example: suites and top tier 1:30, discoverer plus and discoverer 2:00 and so on.  So, online check in to give an assigned check in time was not an issue.  

[Marylebone37]

It sure does speak to management's incompetence that they couldn't even take a few minutes today (or over the weekend) to update their web FAQ to let folks know online check in is not available.  It still says May 15th!  The vast majority of guests as we know are not using CC to avail themselves of the latest information.  

[Grandma Cruising]

8 hours ago, voyager1964 said:

There is no surprise the promised on-line check-in does not work. To me, its importance is related to spreading out the crowds based on the assigned check-in time.

Well that doesn’t necessarily work. On our last cruise which was from Rio we went at our assigned time and were waiting nearly 4 hours. That was because Azamara decided to transfer everyone to the terminal at 11;30am regardless of their check in time. As a very large number of people had booked Azamara transport, the terminal was full at 12:00 and they started check-in at 2:00, with only 6 people on check-in desks!

[JAT0303]

Here is the official answer to the O.P. question.  Our cruise starts May 30th in Barcelona.  I just received the e-mail below.

 

Dear Azamara Guest,

We are looking forward to welcoming you aboard. We wanted to send you some important information regarding your upcoming sailing.   Due to our IT system transition, you will not be able to complete your online check-in via our website as planned. Instead, you will now need to check in at the pier on the day of embarkation. For embarkation pier address, please click here.   To ensure a smooth and seamless embarkation experience, we ask that you arrive at the pier at the following times: 1:30pm-4:00pm: Suite Category Guests and Azamara Circle members in the Discoverer Platinum and Discoverer Plus tier levels 2:00pm-2:45pm: Azamara Circle members in the Discoverer and Explorer tier levels 2:45m-3:30pm: Guests staying in staterooms on Deck 7 3:30pm-4:00pm: Guests staying in staterooms on Deck 4 & 6, and all remaining guests Please be sure to bring your passport, and any other necessary travel documents with you to the pier. Our crew and terminal representatives will be available to guide you through the check-in process and answer any questions you may have.   Should you have any questions, please contact your Travel Advisor for more details specific to your country of residence or visit https://www.azamara.com/contact-us for your local Azamara call center number.   We look forward to welcoming you onboard and will do everything we can to provide you with a wonderful experience.   Sincerely, AZAMARA®

[Marylebone37]

24 minutes ago, JAT0303 said:

Here is the official answer to the O.P. question.  Our cruise starts May 30th in Barcelona.  I just received the e-mail below.

 

Dear Azamara Guest,

We are looking forward to welcoming you aboard. We wanted to send you some important information regarding your upcoming sailing.   Due to our IT system transition, you will not be able to complete your online check-in via our website as planned. Instead, you will now need to check in at the pier on the day of embarkation. For embarkation pier address, please click here.   To ensure a smooth and seamless embarkation experience, we ask that you arrive at the pier at the following times: 1:30pm-4:00pm: Suite Category Guests and Azamara Circle members in the Discoverer Platinum and Discoverer Plus tier levels 2:00pm-2:45pm: Azamara Circle members in the Discoverer and Explorer tier levels 2:45m-3:30pm: Guests staying in staterooms on Deck 7 3:30pm-4:00pm: Guests staying in staterooms on Deck 4 & 6, and all remaining guests Please be sure to bring your passport, and any other necessary travel documents with you to the pier. Our crew and terminal representatives will be available to guide you through the check-in process and answer any questions you may have.   Should you have any questions, please contact your Travel Advisor for more details specific to your country of residence or visit https://www.azamara.com/contact-us for your local Azamara call center number.   We look forward to welcoming you onboard and will do everything we can to provide you with a wonderful experience.   Sincerely, AZAMARA®

Yes, got it too. I’m pleased that management is becoming better with their communication… finally.  I suspect we on CC are helping to ensure this improvement.  I’ll see you on 5/30 in Barcelona!

[ccsuwxman]

This is no surprise.  Nor does it upset us.  When we started crusing over 20 years ago, pierside check-in was the norm.  In addition, with Azamara's ships only welcoming some 700 passengers, as compared to today's mega-ships with 4000-5000 passengers, this Azamara check-in should be a breeze.  We expect that AZ employees will be giving out luggage tags at the terminal.  Just be sure to put your cabin number on the tag, and you should be good to go.  If the cruise staff are properly prepared for this, it should go relatively smoothly.

[takemewithyou]

39 minutes ago, ccsuwxman said:

This is no surprise.  Nor does it upset us.  When we started crusing over 20 years ago, pierside check-in was the norm.  In addition, with Azamara's ships only welcoming some 700 passengers, as compared to today's mega-ships with 4000-5000 passengers, this Azamara check-in should be a breeze.  We expect that AZ employees will be giving out luggage tags at the terminal.  Just be sure to put your cabin number on the tag, and you should be good to go.  If the cruise staff are properly prepared for this, it should go relatively smoothly.

Agree.  We just got the email for our 6/13 cruise, as well.  Kind of expected it.  No big surprise and I am confident it will go well based on all the comments from our previous CC posters.

[JaneStarr]

My TA got an email today that online check-in will be unavailable for sailings through the end of June instead of the previously stated May 15th. Not really concerned about check-in itself, but this reflects poorly on their ability to meet self-set deadlines. 

 

It’s disappointing that they can’t seem to dig out from this messy IT transition.

My personal main concern, now that my final payment has been straightened out and paid, is to see my Azamara flights get ticketed. Once I arrive at the port (wherever they finally tell us to checkin for Venice/Fusina), I expect to have a great Italy-intensive cruise.

 

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by JaneStarr

[JM0115]

1 hour ago, Marylebone37 said:

Yes, got it too. I’m pleased that management is becoming better with their communication… finally.  I suspect we on CC are helping to ensure this improvement.  I’ll see you on 5/30 in Barcelona!

It does seem like we are getting more communication from Azamara which is a good thing!

[Travelingwithstyle]

4 hours ago, JAT0303 said:

Here is the official answer to the O.P. question.  Our cruise starts May 30th in Barcelona.  I just received the e-mail below.

 

Dear Azamara Guest,

We are looking forward to welcoming you aboard. We wanted to send you some important information regarding your upcoming sailing.   Due to our IT system transition, you will not be able to complete your online check-in via our website as planned. Instead, you will now need to check in at the pier on the day of embarkation. For embarkation pier address, please click here.   To ensure a smooth and seamless embarkation experience, we ask that you arrive at the pier at the following times: 1:30pm-4:00pm: Suite Category Guests and Azamara Circle members in the Discoverer Platinum and Discoverer Plus tier levels 2:00pm-2:45pm: Azamara Circle members in the Discoverer and Explorer tier levels 2:45m-3:30pm: Guests staying in staterooms on Deck 7 3:30pm-4:00pm: Guests staying in staterooms on Deck 4 & 6, and all remaining guests Please be sure to bring your passport, and any other necessary travel documents with you to the pier. Our crew and terminal representatives will be available to guide you through the check-in process and answer any questions you may have.   Should you have any questions, please contact your Travel Advisor for more details specific to your country of residence or visit https://www.azamara.com/contact-us for your local Azamara call center number.   We look forward to welcoming you onboard and will do everything we can to provide you with a wonderful experience.   Sincerely, AZAMARA®

Our cruise starts June 17th and we received the same email today.

[mexico8]

Ours starts June 17th but we have not received any info.   I will be watching for it....

[Wander58]

We checked in last Sunday in Athens - took maybe 5 minutes, no muss, no fuss.  I don't think it could have been any better.  

[aliaschief]

Our Journey cruise starts June 3 and we received an E-mail from Azamara that they will not be able to process documents and baggage tags and we will have to check in at port in Barcelona. 

It is what it is and we are going to have a great cruise in Spain followed by Intensive France.