Corporate Guest Relations email for Shore Excursion Complaints

[Mrs Miggins]

On our recent Intensive Spain cruise on Journey my husband was booked on an expensive "Discover the Gastronomy of Galicia" in La Corunna. Tour to include two market visits to include picking up local ingredients, tasting treats along the way.  Then a local restaurant where chef will prepare a typical lunch using the day's finds.  "Sip Galician wine and savour authentic dishes crafted fro market secrets".

Didnt start well with miscommunication of amended later start time.  Pleasant young lady guide who confessed at the she didnt cook and knew nothing about food or ingredients.  Walked through market for 10 minutes then given 45 minutes free time.  At that point many thought they were on the wrong tour and in fact left.  Then the group boarded a bus for a one hour tour, not advertised and superfluous since we had visited this port several times before.  On arriving at the second market they spent 5 minutes since it was closing with stall holders packing up.  Then a 35 minute walking tour since it was too early for the restaurant. When eventually seated they were served 4 poorly prepared tapas,   No sign of chef and the guide was hiding.

Everybody complained.   Since we are longterm Azamara cruisers he complained both to Shore Excursions and eventually the Hotel Director.  The response was that it was all Miami's fault.  Eventually after several more conversations we were credited with half the cost.  Others said they had been credited the full amount, perhaps others were given nothing.

Shore Excursions then gave us two printed cards with email addresses CustomerRelationsUK@Azamara.com and AzamaraGuestRelations@Azamara.com headed "Post Cruise concerns/comments".  A complaint was duly sent - but no response - no acknowledgement - nothing.

Adding insult to injury our final email invoice, received several days after we returned, showed we still had OBC - not shown on in cabin TV - and they then charged a further (small) amount to my credit card.  No response to complaint about that.

 

For the first time ever on our two week cruise we did not receive the usual "comments" request half way through.

 

We enjoyed our cruise but unusually we do not currently have a future cruise booked.

[Riocca]

Might be worth calling Azamara’s new U.K. call centre on 0344 493 4016 although the staff have only been in place a few months and obviously won’t be able to provide an instant answer they’re very good at taking ownership of problems and getting it to the right people in Wichita. Open 10am  to  6.30pm answering times have been reasonably good, I phoned Wednesday and didn’t have any wait time at all.

[tgg]

Mrs. Miggans, I'm shocked and amazed that the Hotel Director didn't get your husband a full refund within 24 hours. All participants should have received a nice letter of apology and a full refund within 48 hours. 

 

Who was the Hotel Director?

 

 

[Birdie91436]

We are first time (and probably last time) Azamara cruisers. We had a similar experience on our France Intensive cruise.  Our starting time was changed although the other groups for the same tour left on time.  The tour was billed as The Landing Beaches of Normandy which was supposed to involve a visit to Omaha Beach (as the primary attraction) , the American Cemetary and a walk past Sainte-MereEglise with a sip of coffee and pastries at a local coffee shop.  We were also supposed to listen to first-hand accounts of the battle.  This was not the tour we got (although the other groups did seem to have a much better experience).  Our tour guide knew nothing about WWII or D Day.  The extent of her knowledge seemed to extend to a couple notes she had as to the parachutist caught on the top of the church and the statement that on D Day the Omaha beach was bloody.  Instead of a short walk by Sainte-MereEglise, we were given 45 minutes free time (with nothing to actually see in the town other than a fabulous Airborne museum which we were told we didn't have time for), followed by a 30 minute break for coffee and unimpressive cookies.  So we basically wasted over an hour doing nothing.  We then headed to Omaha Beach where we were given 10 minutes to look at a memorial....no walking on the beaches,  nothing about the battle.  The only part of the tour that worked was the visit to the American Cemetary and even then she did not mention the fabulous visitor center exhibits.

When we got back, at least 2/3 of the people on the tour went to complain to Guest Services and filled out complaints with Shore Excursions.  Two days later I went to check with shore excursions to see what (if anything was happening).  I was told they had contacted the tour operator and needed to get "both side of the story" (basically calling the passengers who complained liars) and they would get back me later that evening. We were finally giving a 99% refund on the tour as a non refundable credit.  This was the last day of the cruise so that wasn't really very useful.  After a long exchange with Guest Services we were able to get the refund changed to a refundable credit so we did get the cash we paid for the tour back.  

Needless to say,  we are not impressed with Azamara's treatment of their guests and probably will not travel with them again.  

 

[takemewithyou]

5 minutes ago, Birdie91436 said:

We are first time (and probably last time) Azamara cruisers. We had a similar experience on our France Intensive cruise.  Our starting time was changed although the other groups for the same tour left on time.  The tour was billed as The Landing Beaches of Normandy which was supposed to involve a visit to Omaha Beach (as the primary attraction) , the American Cemetary and a walk past Sainte-MereEglise with a sip of coffee and pastries at a local coffee shop.  We were also supposed to listen to first-hand accounts of the battle.  This was not the tour we got (although the other groups did seem to have a much better experience).  Our tour guide knew nothing about WWII or D Day.  The extent of her knowledge seemed to extend to a couple notes she had as to the parachutist caught on the top of the church and the statement that on D Day the Omaha beach was bloody.  Instead of a short walk by Sainte-MereEglise, we were given 45 minutes free time (with nothing to actually see in the town other than a fabulous Airborne museum which we were told we didn't have time for), followed by a 30 minute break for coffee and unimpressive cookies.  So we basically wasted over an hour doing nothing.  We then headed to Omaha Beach where we were given 10 minutes to look at a memorial....no walking on the beaches,  nothing about the battle.  The only part of the tour that worked was the visit to the American Cemetary and even then she did not mention the fabulous visitor center exhibits.

When we got back, at least 2/3 of the people on the tour went to complain to Guest Services and filled out complaints with Shore Excursions.  Two days later I went to check with shore excursions to see what (if anything was happening).  I was told they had contacted the tour operator and needed to get "both side of the story" (basically calling the passengers who complained liars) and they would get back me later that evening. We were finally giving a 99% refund on the tour as a non refundable credit.  This was the last day of the cruise so that wasn't really very useful.  After a long exchange with Guest Services we were able to get the refund changed to a refundable credit so we did get the cash we paid for the tour back.  

Needless to say,  we are not impressed with Azamara's treatment of their guests and probably will not travel with them again.  

 

Which ship?  Did you ever speak to Hotel Director?  

[Birdie91436]

The ship was the Azamara Journey and the cruise was in June of this year.  We did not talk to the Hotel Director, just Guest Services.  We were able to resolve the issue and did not realize that talking to the Hotel Director was an option.  It's possible that other people on the tour did so.  Unfortunately, nothing can give us back the wasted time and the Normandy Beach tour was on that I was really looking forward to.

[tgg]

4 minutes ago, takemewithyou said:

Which ship?  Did you ever speak to Hotel Director?  

I'd like to know too please. Many of us long time Azamara customers are now having serious concerns with reports like these.

[Birdie91436]

13 minutes ago, tgg said:

I'd like to know too please. Many of us long time Azamara customers are now having serious concerns with reports like these.

I don't even know how one would contact the Hotel Director.  We have taken taken about 60 cruises oin multiple cruise lines and ship sizes and have never had a problem like this.   

[tgg]

13 minutes ago, Birdie91436 said:

I don't even know how one would contact the Hotel Director.  We have taken taken about 60 cruises oin multiple cruise lines and ship sizes and have never had a problem like this.   

 

We've had problems like this on Oceania, which is why we cruise on Azamara more often.

 

As far as contacting the Hotel Director:  you go to Guest Relations and let them know you'd like to meet with the Hotel Director. 

[Mrs Miggins]

Our Hotel Director was Tomasz Jadczyk.  The ship was Journey.  Sadly he appeared not to have the authority to reimburse us.  He said that they had negotiated a 50% refund with the Tour Company and that was the maximum he could give.

[john1970]

In the UK you might have options with CC charge back or small claims court. It really isn't acceptable. You paid for a product and did not get it. You also wasted your time which is very frustrating.

[wjfan417]

2 hours ago, Birdie91436 said:

I don't even know how one would contact the Hotel Director.  We have taken taken about 60 cruises oin multiple cruise lines and ship sizes and have never had a problem like this.   

The Hotel Directors on Azamara are normally very visible!

[takemewithyou]

Some HD’s are more visible than others.  There will never be another Philip or Heike.

[gowilk]

tomas was great on our cruise….very visible and helpful although seemingly given little options on money….one of the better ones imho

[uktog]

2 hours ago, gowilk said:

tomas was great on our cruise….very visible and helpful although seemingly given little options on money….one of the better ones imho

Absolutely agree, our last few cruises since 2022 we’ve had four different hotel directors from the poor to the excellent “old school”. Tomaz is undoubtedly in the latter category and really understands customer service and good hotel management. You need both of these and to be visible to be a good HD at this level 

[travelberlin]

12 hours ago, wjfan417 said:

The Hotel Directors on Azamara are normally very visible!

Not all. Different personalities. Some are just distant and won’t even make eye contact. And others like Nagwhila, and of course previously Heike,  are always approachable and asking if everything is fine.
Ivi

[Mrs Miggins]

We have been onboard with Tomas before and he is very visible.  However in this instance it appears he was unable to help.  The galling thing is that Birdie 91436 was able to get a 99% refund.  I assume they were also on Journey since the French Intensive was immediately after our Spanish Intensive cruise.

[takemewithyou]

It seems like the shore excursion department is not under the HD control and that’s why Tomas could not help out as much as he probably would have liked to,  It’s just another area of concern that Azamara does not need to have going on right now.

Its under Miami’s  control and that’s where I see mismanagement right now,

[uktog]

34 minutes ago, takemewithyou said:

It seems like the shore excursion department is not under the HD control and that’s why Tomas could not help out as much as he probably would have liked to,  It’s just another area of concern that Azamara does not need to have going on right now.

Its under Miami’s  control and that’s where I see mismanagement right now,

I think you are correct - I think it is under Revenue Management which may or may not have an invisible manager onboard - invisible in that their role is not customer facing.  It was impossible to give feedback last year and we did manage to get a moderate amount back (though it should have been nearer 100%) on a highly unsatisfactory premium excursion.  We were on a b2b and saw the same problem the following week.  They take so long (deliberately??) to tell you their decision - if indeed they do - that you cannot use the OBC as the shops arent open the last day in port etc.  Maybe that of course is good revenue management.....

Edited July 8, 2023 by uktog

[caymancouple]

19 hours ago, takemewithyou said:

  There will never be another Philip or Heike.

AMEN

[JYDCruise]

21 hours ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Our Hotel Director was Tomasz Jadczyk.  The ship was Journey.  Sadly he appeared not to have the authority to reimburse us.  He said that they had negotiated a 50% refund with the Tour Company and that was the maximum he could give.

You didn't contract with the tour company (if you had, the tour would doubtlessly cost much less), but with Azamara. If there is a problem, it's Azamara's issue to fix and make you as whole as possible. That the tour company only refunded 50% is not your problem.

 

It's like doing a home remodel and working with a general contractor. If one of their subcontractors messes up, it's the GC's problem to resolve, not yours. That's one of the reasons you hire a GC instead of directly hiring plumbers, electricians, etc.

[Mrs Miggins]

26 minutes ago, JYDCruise said:

You didn't contract with the tour company (if you had, the tour would doubtlessly cost much less), but with Azamara. If there is a problem, it's Azamara's issue to fix and make you as whole as possible. That the tour company only refunded 50% is not your problem.

 

It's like doing a home remodel and working with a general contractor. If one of their subcontractors messes up, it's the GC's problem to resolve, not yours. That's one of the reasons you hire a GC instead of directly hiring plumbers, electricians, etc.

I understand this exactly and indeed highlighted this to the Shore Excursion Staff as well as Tomas.  However it didn't get us anywhere and now there are no answers to our email complaint either.

[crusinbanjo]

This is all very disturbing!  Mrs Banjo and i are booked on a B2B in January leaving Ft Lauderdale and ending in Papeete.  This trip is a bucket list trip for us and I spared, (,almost), no expense to book this cruise.  With the website issues, not showing promised OBC, and very expensive looking tours I’m having second thoughts.  I have read carefully the tour descriptions and if they can’t live up to these minimal standards, then this trip might be put off another year or two…….  As I have said in other threads, I am watching things carefully as final payment time approaches, I’ll make a final decision.

[JAT0303]

We were on the Pursuit at the end of May (Barcelona to Dublin) and were first time Azamara cruisers.  We had several problems with shore excursions. 

 

The first was a tour we had booked 4 months in advance for Lisbon  - two weeks before the cruise we were notified it was cancelled as the tour doesn't operate on the weekends.  Since the date for the Lisbon stop hadn't changed, they should have picked this up before offering the excursion on the weekend.  

 

The second was an excursion in Bordeaux that was supposed to be an outdoor market with dozens of booths with a guided tour and tasting.  We were taken to an indoor market with approx. 10 vendors that was a social gathering spot for locals.  We were given 45 minutes of free time to wander the market (took about 3 minutes) and then given samples of cheese and meat with a plastic tumbler of wine.

 

I complained when we returned to the ship and received a 50% refund.  The refund was nice but I would rather have regained the time to do something different in Bordeaux.  

 

We were disappointed in the quality of tours on Azamara and if we sail with them again, we would book our own tours with private vendors.

 

The cruise was lovely but we are waiting to see if the current administration problems are resolved before deciding to sail with Azamara again.  

 

 

[Birdie91436]

To avoid being too negative...We booked all our tours for this cruise from the ship.  Except for the Normandy Beaches tour, we enjoyed all of our other tours and were quite satisfied with our choices.  We had some very good tour guides, and except for some crowding at more popular locations (not the fault of the tour or the ship) the tours were as promised.