Does Azamara have a death wish

[rjcook9]

On Tuesday I received an email from Az asking for my credit card details in order to process a refund. I had no idea what this could be for as I had no notification of itinerary changes, dropped ports etc. I contacted my TA and they had no notification either. Today my TA called me and forwarded this email from Az:

 

This is to inform you that due to a charter, we will need to re-accommodate your guest,

on the Journey 5/3/25 as previously arranged. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

The compensation details are below and all changes must be made by 04/05/24. If no changes are made by the end of business on 04/05/24, the bookings will be cancelled, and refunds will be processed.

 

Compensation Item

Change to another sailing

OBC (Non-Suite) per booking

$250

OBC (Suite) per booking

$500

 

So in order to make more money from a charter my cruise is cancelled and the so called “compensation” is to move to another sailing ( but only given 1 week to choose one) and receive $250 OBC - our booked cruise had $300 OBC attached, so they are offering to take $50 off me for the inconvenience!

 

If this is how Az now choose to treat customers they deserve to go out of business. 
 

The cancelled cruise was on Journey 3rd May 2025 out of Venice. 
 

Anybody else had similar correspondence?

 

[smj]

Wow! 

What about the air and hotels you might have booked or the vacation time you have scheduled?

[ECCruise]

That's really late to dump booked pax.

[takemewithyou]

I read 2025

[Host Jazzbeau]

Sorry this happened to you, but most cruise lines do this.  Charters are guaranteed to be profitable and most of those affected apparently rebook so that income isn't lost either.  The really bad stories are when this happens very close to sailing – since your cruise isn't for over a year, you can't have booked airfare yet so there shouldn't be any ancillary expenses (other than your time and disappointment).  If you have travel insurance, you should be able to move that over to a future trip.  I hope you find a replacement itinerary you like on Azamara.

[Grandma Cruising]

8 hours ago, rjcook9 said:

The compensation details are below and all changes must be made by 04/05/24. If no changes are made by the end of business on 04/05/24, the bookings will be cancelled, and refunds will be processed.

 

Compensation Item

Change to another sailing

OBC (Non-Suite) per booking

$250

OBC (Suite) per booking

$500

 

So in order to make more money from a charter my cruise is cancelled and the so called “compensation” is to move to another sailing ( but only given 1 week to choose one) and receive $250 OBC - our booked cruise had $300 OBC attached, so they are offering to take $50 off me for the inconvenience!

 

I would assume the $250 OBC would be in addition to the existing OBC - that’s what I’d expect & be pushing for.

Edited April 27 by Grandma Cruising

[fruitmachine]

8 hours ago, smj said:

Wow! 

What about the air and hotels you might have booked or the vacation time you have scheduled?

As long as it's booked together through a UK travel agent, all those costs and other similar ones will be covered by the UK's Packaged Travel Regulations and refunded by the TA.  A perfect example of the advantages of having a TA responsible for all significant non-refundable costs.

 

In this instance the cruise is more than a year away (though those US-format, number only dates are easily confusing to the rest of the world) but the same principle applies if it had been next month, next week, or tomorrow.

[Charlie Chan]

recook9, we have had the same experience so completely understand your frustration.  We booked back to back cruises (Greece) for May 2025 while on board the Pursuit last year to take advantage of the various bonuses offered.  2 weeks after booking we were informed that the cruises would not take place as the Pursuit would be remaining in Japan for an extended season.  We were given the opportunity to move to a couple of other nominated cruises but none suited.  We rebooked (at greater cost) for October 2025. We were given a little extra OBC.

 

By sheer chance earlier this year, we discovered that the second of the B/B's was also listed as a Charter. This was listed on our booking when I logged in.  It reverted to the normal booking the next day. I did post about this back in February.  We contacted Azamara for clarification but received no answer. The cruise continued to remain bookable on both the charter and Azamara sites.

 

3 or so weeks ago we received the official email stating the second cruise was now a charter.  We received the same email as you but were given 3 days to decide.   We could not find any cruise round this time that suited us and satisfied the need to retain the back to back status for our OBC etc. The cruise immediately prior to cruise 1 was almost identical to the one we sailed in November last year, so we reluctantly cancelled the first cruise as well. Europe is simply too far for us to travel for a 10 day cruise and it is too early for us to plan 2 years ahead for 2026.  We had $2400 in OBC, so Azamara has certainly benefited financially from our 're-accommodations' while we are back to square 1.

 

We completely understand that the cruise line has the right to do this according to the booking  contract.  The issue is more the way it is handled and the need for the customer to feel some resolution.

 

It also seems to me that it was unethical for Azamara to continue list the cruise as bookable on their sites when the ship had already been listed (and bookable) as a charter. Just because other lines may also do this does not mean it is acceptable.

 

 

 

 

. 

[rjcook9]

5 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

I would assume the $250 OBC would be in addition to the existing OBC - that’s what I’d expect & be pushing for.

The $250 OBC is all that's offered - no offer to transfer our existing $300. We've had similar happen on other cruise lines with much better recompense - particularly Oceania where we have always had a generous FCC + OBC. Maybe they care more about their customers than Az do. As a minimum to consider rebooking I've asked for the $250 to be applied as a FCC and the $300 OBC to be transferred to a new booking - I won't be holding my breath!

[rjcook9]

4 hours ago, Charlie Chan said:

recook9, we have had the same experience so completely understand your frustration.  We booked back to back cruises (Greece) for May 2025 while on board the Pursuit last year to take advantage of the various bonuses offered.  2 weeks after booking we were informed that the cruises would not take place as the Pursuit would be remaining in Japan for an extended season.  We were given the opportunity to move to a couple of other nominated cruises but none suited.  We rebooked (at greater cost) for October 2025. We were given a little extra OBC.

 

By sheer chance earlier this year, we discovered that the second of the B/B's was also listed as a Charter. This was listed on our booking when I logged in.  It reverted to the normal booking the next day. I did post about this back in February.  We contacted Azamara for clarification but received no answer. The cruise continued to remain bookable on both the charter and Azamara sites.

 

3 or so weeks ago we received the official email stating the second cruise was now a charter.  We received the same email as you but were given 3 days to decide.   We could not find any cruise round this time that suited us and satisfied the need to retain the back to back status for our OBC etc. The cruise immediately prior to cruise 1 was almost identical to the one we sailed in November last year, so we reluctantly cancelled the first cruise as well. Europe is simply too far for us to travel for a 10 day cruise and it is too early for us to plan 2 years ahead for 2026.  We had $2400 in OBC, so Azamara has certainly benefited financially from our 're-accommodations' while we are back to square 1.

 

We completely understand that the cruise line has the right to do this according to the booking  contract.  The issue is more the way it is handled and the need for the customer to feel some resolution.

 

It also seems to me that it was unethical for Azamara to continue list the cruise as bookable on their sites when the ship had already been listed (and bookable) as a charter. Just because other lines may also do this does not mean it is acceptable.

 

 

 

 

. 

I agree. Just because they CAN do it doesn't make it right. Maybe my understanding of customer care is different to theirs

[royallondon]

1 hour ago, rjcook9 said:

I agree. Just because they CAN do it doesn't make it right. Maybe my understanding of customer care is different to theirs

Totally agree.

 

It’s as though their customer proposition  is “Your business means a lot to us until someone else’s means more”.

 

Yes, I appreciate Az are within their T&C rights etc but I’d be very disappointed especially when coupled with the poor way this was communicated to you.

 

 

[excitedofharpenden]

This happens from time to time and it will continue to happen. Whether we like it or not Azamara are a business and are there to make money. The cruise is more than a year away rather than being in the booking window for flights.

 

It's disappointing, especially if one is planning b2b cruises involving a chartered one, but nothing you can do except maybe push for the existing benefits to be transferred. Not sure how much luck you'd have with that. It seems that most Azamara cruises these days come with an OBC enticement attached. 

 

Phil 

[Grandma Cruising]

4 hours ago, rjcook9 said:

The $250 OBC is all that's offered - no offer to transfer our existing $300. We've had similar happen on other cruise lines with much better recompense - particularly Oceania where we have always had a generous FCC + OBC. Maybe they care more about their customers than Az do. As a minimum to consider rebooking I've asked for the $250 to be applied as a FCC and the $300 OBC to be transferred to a new booking - I won't be holding my breath!

When we transferred our deposit to a new cruise following the cancellation by Azamara of our Black Sea cruise, we automatically got all the OBC from our original booking.

Edited April 27 by Grandma Cruising

[rjcook9]

49 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

When we transferred our deposit to a new cruise following the cancellation by Azamara of our Black Sea cruise, we automatically got all the OBC from our original booking.

Yes, I’ve written to them now as I got nowhere with them on the phone. See what they come back with.

[uktog]

I think the onboard booking benefits should stay in full (discount and OBC) if a cruise is moved by the cruise line. It’s the very least that should be done to aid retention. I also think the guest should get to choose if they want their original other booking perks or the ones attacking to the new booking (but not both!)

[john1970]

Azamara are like two different companies for me. Onboard you get a great experience and consistently good service. Onshore it can be so hit and miss and they seem to shoot themselves in the foot a lot. For me it's always been like this. I don't know what the answer is but a lot of their service failures seem to comprise of someone not using their common sense. I will still sail them as love it onboard but they make it hard work sometimes! 

[rjcook9]

On 4/28/2024 at 6:49 PM, john1970 said:

Azamara are like two different companies for me. Onboard you get a great experience and consistently good service. Onshore it can be so hit and miss and they seem to shoot themselves in the foot a lot. For me it's always been like this. I don't know what the answer is but a lot of their service failures seem to comprise of someone not using their common sense. I will still sail them as love it onboard but they make it hard work sometimes! 

Yeah I’m like you, onboard everything is great, but the way they handle things makes you want to drop them (this is not the first time we’ve had issues). Maybe they know people will stick with them & that’s why they don’t seem to bother.

[NE John]

I’m new here but from reading other small ship line posts (Seaborne, SS) there are similar complaints about cruises getting bumped for higher revenue charters. Also, many at Seaborne are wondering if their expedition line will take over vs traditional cruising. 
I would hope a good TA would be of great value when problems like this happen. And problems with ocean travel seem not to go away these days…

[AllisonJames]

Wow if this happened to us and they weren’t giving us all the benefits/onboard credits from the cruise we had booked would I be mad! for example, what if you had onboard credit for paying in full from the recent offer? We have that and quite a bit more for our 5/10/25 cruise, they should make good on all existing onboard credit already on the booking…and personally I think $250 more for the disruption to your plans is quite stingy!

[Fairgarth]

On 4/27/2024 at 8:11 AM, fruitmachine said:

 

In this instance the cruise is more than a year away (though those US-format, number only dates are easily confusing to the rest of the world)

 

Hallelujah!  I hate these all numeric dates with a passion.  Take 4/6/2025 - is that the 4th of June or 6th of April?  Haven't a clue, got no idea what the writer intended.  How difficult is it to write 6Apr2025?

[Dodgey]

Can anyone tell me ANYTHING about cancellations of the Middle East cruise on Azamara Pursuit in October and November2024. So far we have not received one word from the company and would love to hear from them about our bookings. 

[govanguy]

13 hours ago, Dodgey said:

Can anyone tell me ANYTHING about cancellations of the Middle East cruise on Azamara Pursuit in October and November2024. So far we have not received one word from the company and would love to hear from them about our bookings. 

I suggest you email Azamara. Don't expect a fast response. Most likely, the response you will get is something along the lines of something like ...we are still assessing the situation.

 

I`m expecting them to cancel following final payment.

 

Not a good situation when flights, accommodation and parking at airports are already paid for.

Very poor when other lines have cancelled their sailings in the Red Sea area .

It's also unlikely that Azamara will get insurance if they go ahead with the cruise.