OBC Cuarrency?

[Lynda S]

In the past the OBC offered to us has always been in USD even to those of us in Canada that paid in CDN funds.

 

Has anyone here in Canada had any experience with the OBC now being in CDN and converted down to USD when you sail?  I booked a couple of shore excursions using the OBC today and my TA is saying the OBC offer is in CDN as well as the B2B $400 per leg offering. So basically that means the $400 per leg offering would actually only be  $294.00 USD per leg if you happen to be Canadian.

[uktog]

I think your agent needs to call again

When I get $400 OBC from Azamara, this appears as a converted £ rate eg £320 on my account for excursions that are all priced in sterling when I log in.  Say I use only half of the OBC as excursions, leaving £160 that is then converted onboard to $200 

[Lynda S]

Thanks uktog!  I will set my agent to asking them again as that really does not seem fair that we lose out just because we do not live in the US.

[Whitby100]

On our most recent cruise in September shore excursions booked in advance were converted to Canadian dollars when purchased.  The amount remaining was waiting for us in US dollars when we boarded.  We purchased our shore excursions in advance by calling AZ directly as it was during some turmoil with the new computer system (we had booked the trip through a TA).  I suspect your TA will clear this up quickly.

[sovilav01]

We are Canadian and we board the Onward on the 4th of January and we got our final invoice with OBC showing in USD with no discrepancy. One section shows excursions booked without price and another one shows OBC in USD, looks good!

Edited December 22, 2023 by sovilav01
Add

[Lynda S]

My TA just called me.  She spoke with Azamara again and they said, the OBC is in Canadian dollars :-).  So that means the $400.00 for each leg for booking a back to back is only $290.00 CDN each leg.  And the $1000 OBC that was offered with the cruise?  That's $740.00 USD to those of us who live north of the border, not the $1000.00 USD that those south of the border would get.

 

I am SO disappointed!  Our travel agent has offered to make up the difference, which is really nice, but I am disappointed in Azamara. 

[uktog]

6 hours ago, Lynda S said:

My TA just called me.  She spoke with Azamara again and they said, the OBC is in Canadian dollars :-).  So that means the $400.00 for each leg for booking a back to back is only $290.00 CDN each leg.  And the $1000 OBC that was offered with the cruise?  That's $740.00 USD to those of us who live north of the border, not the $1000.00 USD that those south of the border would get.

 

I am SO disappointed!  Our travel agent has offered to make up the difference, which is really nice, but I am disappointed in Azamara. 

I have never heard that happen before. Maybe we are lucky our currency is not “dollars” but our offer obc is certainly in US dollars 

[Grandma Cruising]

Same here, ours has always been in US dollars. If I were you I’d email Azamara directly - I wonder if your TA is pulling the wool over your eyes!

[Lynda S]

The TA has offered to give us the difference from her commission, which I thought was an Amazing offer, after all, it isn’t her fault. 
 

Good idea -I will try to email Azamara because it really does not seem fair at all!  

[uktog]

Have you logged into your account to see what it shows?  Knowing how flakey their systems are it might just be a bug there. 

[hamrag]

8 hours ago, Lynda S said:

My TA just called me.  She spoke with Azamara again and they said, the OBC is in Canadian dollars :-).  So that means the $400.00 for each leg for booking a back to back is only $290.00 CDN each leg.  And the $1000 OBC that was offered with the cruise?  That's $740.00 USD to those of us who live north of the border, not the $1000.00 USD that those south of the border would get.

 

I am SO disappointed!  Our travel agent has offered to make up the difference, which is really nice, but I am disappointed in Azamara. 

That doesn't sound credible to me, the Az onboard currency is USD and the 1000 promised surely will be applied on board. Where you live, and the currency used to pay for the cruise, will not alter the onboard currency

[Ayden]

11 hours ago, Lynda S said:

My TA just called me.  She spoke with Azamara again and they said, the OBC is in Canadian dollars :-).  So that means the $400.00 for each leg for booking a back to back is only $290.00 CDN each leg.  And the $1000 OBC that was offered with the cruise?  That's $740.00 USD to those of us who live north of the border, not the $1000.00 USD that those south of the border would get.

 

I am SO disappointed!  Our travel agent has offered to make up the difference, which is really nice, but I am disappointed in Azamara. 

Not our experience.  We always receive US OBC. Four separate cruises this year alone.

I would push your agent to continue to obtain clarification on this by escalating the file in case it is a misunderstanding, which i believe may be the case. 

Good luck. 

[Whitby100]

I would make a cold call to Azamara asking about currency for OBC (don’t let them know you have a booking).   I suspect you will get the answer that you want.  Ask them if this is in print anywhere on their website.  It makes no sense what you are being told. Good luck.

[nordski]

7 hours ago, Lynda S said:

The TA has offered to give us the difference from her commission, which I thought was an Amazing offer, after all, it isn’t her fault. 
 

Good idea -I will try to email Azamara because it really does not seem fair at all!  

I may be misunderstanding the issue so this may not be helpful, but our OBC for a cruise in June is in US$ when I log into our reservation on the website. 

[Lynda S]

10 hours ago, nordski said:

I may be misunderstanding the issue so this may not be helpful, but our OBC for a cruise in June is in US$ when I log into our reservation on the website. 

Thanks!  I was going under my reservation number in Manage My Booking, and it shows no currency at all - but I will try under my log-in in general.

[Lynda S]

I just logged in and went into 'Upcoming Cruises' in my Profile as opposed to going in thru my reservation number in Manage My Booking and came up with a little bit of hope.  The OBC in Manage My booking is showing with the correct amounts - but makes NO reference to what currency it is at all.

 

Under the 'Upcoming Cruises' in my Profile, the cancelled cruise is still showing, and it says very clearly USD for the OBC.  But it is definitely for the wrong amount so it looks like what the TA found out was right.  On the two cancelled cruises we had a total of $2100.00 offered to us and it shows $1600.00 USD only.  $2100.00 CDN would be about $1600.00 USD. 😒

 

The newly booked cruise we switched to is also there, but it says "OBC - not available."  . 

Edited December 24, 2023 by Lynda S
found additional info

[nordski]

8 hours ago, Lynda S said:

I just logged in and went into 'Upcoming Cruises' in my Profile as opposed to going in thru my reservation number in Manage My Booking and came up with a little bit of hope.  The OBC in Manage My booking is showing with the correct amounts - but makes NO reference to what currency it is at all.

 

Under the 'Upcoming Cruises' in my Profile, the cancelled cruise is still showing, and it says very clearly USD for the OBC.  But it is definitely for the wrong amount so it looks like what the TA found out was right.  On the two cancelled cruises we had a total of $2100.00 offered to us and it shows $1600.00 USD only.  $2100.00 CDN would be about $1600.00 USD. 😒

 

The newly booked cruise we switched to is also there, but it says "OBC - not available."  . 

it is certainly not ideal that there are these issues when you log in, and I hope that all is eventually satisfactorily resolved.

 

As you have experienced, the cruise that we reserved two days shows, as of yet, no OBC.

 

Your post was a good reminder that we should record the amount of OBC involved in case there is some question raised.

 

Thanks.

[crusinbanjo]

On 12/24/2023 at 5:15 AM, nordski said:

it is certainly not ideal that there are these issues when you log in, and I hope that all is eventually satisfactorily resolved.

 

As you have experienced, the cruise that we reserved two days shows, as of yet, no OBC.

 

Your post was a good reminder that we should record the amount of OBC involved in case there is some question raised.

 

Thanks.

Mrs Banjo and I will be boarding for our B2B cruises in the near future.  The website now shows OBC credits that came from who knows where, and don’t seem to match anything we have previously documented.  We have been assured that this will all be straightened out when we board, but, as I told the customer service person, I am not looking forward to having to go, with email printouts in hand, to discuss this on board.  What we really purchased and wanted was a stress free cruise.  This issue, along with the odd process of making dining reservation when you first board, has not helped in that regard.  It looks to me like our first day on board will be about negotiating OBC, more negotiations for dining reservations and the required life boat drills. Relaxing, lunch and exploring the ship?  Not so much!
 

We are first timers with Azamara, and if this goes poorly, we will be last timers.

[Mackdogmolly]

6 minutes ago, crusinbanjo said:

It looks to me like our first day on board will be about negotiating OBC, more negotiations for dining reservations and the required life boat drills.

None of this will take all that long and you will have plenty of time for lunch and to explore the ship. Enjoy your cruise!

[crusinbanjo]

1 minute ago, Mackdogmolly said:

None of this will take all that long and you will have plenty of time for lunch and to explore the ship. Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you, I hope you are correct.  I don’t want controversy, if these things take too long, or go poorly, my plan is to accept what is offered, enjoy the cruise, and make future decisions accordingly.

[Grandma Cruising]

Making dinner reservations is very easy, but it helps if you go with a plan of which restaurant booking you want and when, with some flexibility in your plan to allow for things like White Nights.

[Whitby100]

3 hours ago, crusinbanjo said:

Mrs Banjo and I will be boarding for our B2B cruises in the near future.  The website now shows OBC credits that came from who knows where, and don’t seem to match anything we have previously documented.  We have been assured that this will all be straightened out when we board, but, as I told the customer service person, I am not looking forward to having to go, with email printouts in hand, to discuss this on board.  What we really purchased and wanted was a stress free cruise.  This issue, along with the odd process of making dining reservation when you first board, has not helped in that regard.  It looks to me like our first day on board will be about negotiating OBC, more negotiations for dining reservations and the required life boat drills. Relaxing, lunch and exploring the ship?  Not so much!
 

We are first timers with Azamara, and if this goes poorly, we will be last timers.

As first time Azamara guests it may seem odd to make dinner reservations.  In fact, this is entirely optional.  Only guests wishing to pay for the specialty restaurants need to do this.  The main dining room is excellent with open and flexible seating.  We do reserve specialty dining just to switch it up and because we think Prime C is fabulous.  
Clearly individual patrons have personal needs and expectations.  Makes perfect sense that if you don’t enjoy these cruises you won’t be back.  I hope you do - after my first cruise I turned to my husband and told him that  I don’t know when or where, but I wanted back on this cruise line! Fingers crossed you feel the same way.   Good luck!

[Keeria]

On 12/27/2023 at 5:29 PM, Whitby100 said:

As first time Azamara guests it may seem odd to make dinner reservations.  In fact, this is entirely optional.  Only guests wishing to pay for the specialty restaurants need to do this.  The main dining room is excellent with open and flexible seating.  We do reserve specialty dining just to switch it up and because we think Prime C is fabulous.  
Clearly individual patrons have personal needs and expectations.  Makes perfect sense that if you don’t enjoy these cruises you won’t be back.  I hope you do - after my first cruise I turned to my husband and told him that  I don’t know when or where, but I wanted back on this cruise line! Fingers crossed you feel the same way.   Good luck!

We feel the same. After our first Azamara cruise, we knew this was our favoured cruise line. Our next one in March will be the 11th cruise on Azamara and any issues about OBC were solved within a very short time. Our OBC always shows in US$ even though we pay our cruises in Euro.

[oceanpark]

Lynda, it will be in US dollars when you get onboard.  I had the same issue with Azamara before we left on our trip in September, but once onboard everything was fine.  OBC was in US dollars.  Call me if you want to discuss.  R

[sovilav01]

We are Canadian and have boarded the ship on Friday. Our OBC are, until now, correct so we are happy with it!