Let's Get Azamara's attention

[Susan-M]

What does that say?

 

They seem to be saying that any problems or concerns need to be brought to their attention before getting off the ship, since there is no specific mention of feedback by email, mail or CC posts.

[houstontx]

"Since the Quest had its inaugural 2-day sailing on the 24th Oct following another of 5 days ending today, and preceded by a 2 day sailing for your company executive and various travel agents, etc., there have been an alarming number of negative comments. There have also been favourable things said about the ship but the reported problems need to be rectified without delay. Rather than make a list here, I suggest that your department and the powers that be take a look at the Cruise Critic site where you will see what your customers are saying.

 

We appreciate that hiccups do occur at the beginning but after the fiasco with Journey at the start, there should be very little for Quest passengers to be concerned with. At the moment, this is not the case. Please prove us wrong."

Very well put!!

Thanks to all who are contacting Azamara. This will indeed help all of us future Azamara cruisers. Remember, if Azamara is not informed of issues/problems from their customers then those issues will never be resolved because Azamara will think everything is great.

 

Alan & Regina

[Host Karen]

What does that say?

 

It could also mean that customer service is not responsible for monitoring the Cruise Critic boards and/or that any information gleaned from these boards has not been shared with them at this point. Since many of us are previous Celebrity cruisers and have dealt with customer service at one point or another, I think it can be safely written that customer service often has no idea what's happening "in the field." It doesn't surprise me if this is the case with Azamara as well.

 

Karen

[GRBlizz]

Striking. There was NO mention made of cruise critic, even though you did specifically put that in your initial email.

 

What does that say?

 

It was a form letter, anyone with experience in customer service can see that. If X thinks CC doesn't shape opinion, why did they specifically ask you to post your thoughts on CC after your "dog and pony" preview cruise?

[tbelian]

why did they specifically ask you to post your thoughts on CC after your "dog and pony" preview cruise?

 

Sure, they wanted my opinion. I gave it. 'Dog and pony' show or not.

 

I think they realize there is some impact a balanced opinion would have. I also think that in general, CC members put too much value on what reciprical influence ttheir postings here would have on the overall direction of the product.

 

Did you read my review?

[GRBlizz]

Sure, they wanted my opinion. I gave it. 'Dog and pony' show or not.

 

I think they realize there is some impact a balanced opinion would have. I also think that in general, CC members put too much value on what reciprocal influence their postings here would have on the overall direction of the product.

 

Did you read my review?

 

Yes, I read the review, and perhaps you read mine. We didn't have dissimilar conclusions, but that's not the point. I wasn't commenting on the substance of your review. I was rebutting your dismissive comment that X management doesn't pay attention to what is written on here.

 

If Management doesn't think that what is written on CC has the power to shape customer opinion, why would they specifically ask their "VIP cruisers" to write something on this particular site? Of course they know that a certain segment of their market pays attention to what they read here. They would be nuts not to at least follow it.

 

Naturally, they will take all customer feedback with a grain of salt and disregard the outliers. Should they follow up on every nit that is picked? Surely not. But if they don't take action on a few consistent themes on here they will be missing an opportunity.

[Playful Mermaid]

Hi Everyone,

After reading all of the posts of the first three short cruises on Azamara Quest, and after posting my review on these boards, I would appreciate it if everyone who sailed would spend 10 minutes of their time and send an email to azamaracustomerservice@celebrity.com ,or a telephone call to customer service at 1-877-222-2526, or a phone call to Captain's Club at 1-800-760-0654 or a fax to Captain's Club at 1-305-373-4384 or snail mail to Dan Hanrahan, President and CEO of Azamara Cruises 1050 Caribbean Way Miami, FL 33132. As I said in my thread on my review of the Quest inaugural sailing I've already sent my three page letter concerning the issues I encountered on the sailing by email, snail mail and fax. I received the charges on my credit card for the sailing today, however, since the ship never provided an itemized statement, and the charges do not match the handwritten charge slips I received on the ship, I will await my response from Azamara before paying the billed amount to make sure it is correct. Mr. Hanrahan as President and CEO of Azamara Cruises is paid an extremely large salary and deferred benefits which is reported on both the RCL website and forbes.com. If Azamara wants positive reviews and customer loyalty to this new brand, then they need to timely address all of the real concerns, the initial passengers had on these sailings. I believe that the passengers' concerns and service issues can be addressed and rectified by Azamara,but communication is key. I do know that that Azamara representatives read the boards in a telephone conversation I had with them, but written documentation with them is harder for the company to ignore. My family and friends (30 or so) usually book an annual cruise (many times in the past on Celebrity).

If Azamara wants our future business, as well as the passengers who have already sailed on the Quest, then hopefully they will respond quickly to everyone's concerns.

kk

 

You have made some very good points, KK99. I am waiting to try Azamara until after Celebrity gets its act together. It is hard to fathom how after the initial introduction of the Journey and all of the problems that followed that introduction, that Celebrity would do almost the exact same thing with the Quest. I hope that Celebrity does read these boards and will take action to correct some of these very basic lacks of providing what they had promised. If nothing else is gleaned from this board maybe customer service will not be as totally out of the link as Host Karen indicated when she said "customer service often has no idea what's happening in the field". Common sense would suggest that to be of any value to consumers, then customer service SHOULD have some idea of what is going on with the product they are selling. If Celebrity has had this much difficulty launching a two relatively small ships with less than 700 passengers, how in the world will they be able to manage the launch of the new Solstice cruise ships which carry well over 3,000 passengers!

[kk99]

Hi everyone,

I receieved a call from an executive in Mr. Hanrahan's department in response to the letter that I had sent. It was a very nice lenghty conversation about my letter and the improvements that they will be instituting on the Quest to improve on the service and sanitation issues. The upshot is that they are sending me(and I did not request or ask for it) a future cruise credit on Azamara, as well as the tote bag that I had requested to buy for my 83 year old mother(ours was not delivered to the suite). Management does read the boards and was definitely concerned about all of the problems reported with the first few sailings on the Quest. The service training issues are being worked on, they are updating the computer software, so the room cards work consistently, and they are also trying to call every person who sent them a letter. This is definitely a step in the right direction for Azamara. I would love to hear from future cruisers on the Quest about improvements that they see on the sailings. Thanks to everyone who took the time to notify Azamara on their experiences. Have a good evening,

kk

[Brian Raine]

Am I missing something here ?. I have read this thread and still cannot understand some of the problems encountered.

First ,the Azmara vessels are not brand spanking new , off the slipway, vessels. They were last deployed by a Spanish cruise line, so they were "run in"consequently every sysytem should run perfectly.

Two, Celebrity personnel, I am sure, were seconded /transferred to the Azmara fleet, hence they would be "ship trained" or "office trained"

Three,the overall operation should have run like clockwork, apparently this was not so.What did Celebrity-Azmara get wrong? I think it was a case of "Corporate lets make money" as soon as possible. The cruising public like a bit of glamour, lets flim flam them with "New Luxury cruise line" etc but it seems to have backfired.

Four I am off on the Journey in February from Buenos Aires and heaven help those on board if they do not perform.

Having cruised over 30 plus times using nearly every line going and I have standards which I expect to be reached, whether they be ship board or beachside.I think my up coming trip on Costa will just give me a little practice.

[Playful Mermaid]

Am I missing something here ?. I have read this thread and still cannot understand some of the problems encountered.

First ,the Azmara vessels are not brand spanking new , off the slipway, vessels. They were last deployed by a Spanish cruise line, so they were "run in"consequently every sysytem should run perfectly.

Two, Celebrity personnel, I am sure, were seconded /transferred to the Azmara fleet, hence they would be "ship trained" or "office trained"

Three,the overall operation should have run like clockwork, apparently this was not so.What did Celebrity-Azmara get wrong? I think it was a case of "Corporate lets make money" as soon as possible. The cruising public like a bit of glamour, lets flim flam them with "New Luxury cruise line" etc but it seems to have backfired.

Four I am off on the Journey in February from Buenos Aires and heaven help those on board if they do not perform.

Having cruised over 30 plus times using nearly every line going and I have standards which I expect to be reached, whether they be ship board or beachside.I think my up coming trip on Costa will just give me a little practice.

 

H Brian: I was thinking the same thing too. The way the launch of the Journey and now the Quest has gone, you would think these were brand new ships that had just been rushed from the ship yard and put into service before being tested. What ever happened to sea trials that most cruise lines perform to be sure everything is working? Also the way things have gone from the service and food perspective, you would think that Celebrity was brand new to the cruise industry game and was just feeling their way around.

 

By Februrary all the kinks for the Journey should be ironed out, if they are not already, and it sounds like a great cruise.

[SunDapple]

Actually the one concern we had was our connecting door to the adjoining suite. We didn't have or felt we didn't many of the other issues.

 

The door that connects Royal Suite 6003 and OV 6005 does not have any seals around it allowing any noise...i.e regular conversation, t.v, doors and drawers opening and closing...to pass right through. I'm just glad they weren't verbally intimate, It would have been like being in the middle of an X-rated movie. There was also a 1/2 gap at the bottom between the door and the threshold allowing the light to shine through underneath. So while we were in bed in the dark, and they flicked on their light it lit up the back half of our cabin...

 

This is an issue that can be resolved with a bit of thought, and would have been overlooked if there were no previous passengers on board in one room or the other.

 

Unfortunately there was nothing that could be done at the time and those pax in 6003 were a bit obnoxious, loud, and quite possibly inebriated especially after wandering in around 2 am and not settling down till hours later each night...

 

Not to trivialize any of the other issues like not receiving breakfast on time, seeing a table with dirty dishes by the pool or having an inattentive waiter which are service issues, this will involve a tech person to resolve the problem.

 

Dave:eek:

 

I would like to point out that had I really paid attention to this post back in November I would have changed my booking for this cabin immediately. I am just back from a Panama Canal sailing on the Quest. I was traveling with my family, a party of six. Two adult members of our party were in OV 6005. What a mistake to book this cabin. Unless others in your party are in the adjoining RS 6003 I would stay away from 6005. While the cabin is a nice size with a lovely large round window, everything Dave has said about the noise and light is true, and I would add since we had high seas (18 ft.), that there is quite a lot of rock and rolling as well. Bring your dramamine. And you might as well pack your ear plugs and your sleep mask too.

When one finds oneself coping with these conditions one just has to try to make the best of it, and not rudely and constantly complain to your neighbors. If you can hear them, they can hear you.

I have never heard of these adjoining room complaints on any other ship, and neither has our TA. I would advise Azamara to take this complaint seriously and do something about it quickly.

[stanjj111]

I will be going on the Journey March 10th. Even though I booked through a travel agency I have been in contact with AZ customer service and they have been quite responsive; actually better than X for my previous cruises.

Just a comment from one customer.

[dabear]

You always will feel more ups and downs in the forward part of any ship. If motion bothers you stick to the midship.

[JAXlakerdogerfans]

My Husband & I were married on the first full-length sailing of the Quest, 12 NOV 07. We had a signed contract for the wedding package and we are still trying to get some kind of resolution from Azamara Weddings regarding items we paid for in the contract that were never received.

 

We had a horrible experience with the Image Photo Services who photographed the wedding, but never even had the supplies on board to create any of the photography packages in our wedding brouchure for us to purchase. The photographer tried to grossly overcharge us for some made up package & all we left with was a couple of pictures from the ceremony and a bitter experience. I emailed the wedding coordinator (they never seemed to be at the office). Then resent the e-mail and about a month later they send some apathetic response saying that they did in fact, not give us what we paid for, and basically said too bad we're not doing anything about it. I guess a contract means nothing to these people, nor does customer service. We had our fill of problems on the ship with one frustrating experience after another because of the green staff - especially with our lack of butler service for our suite. We will never sail on Azamara again & I would definately not recommend them for an important event such as a wedding either.

[drpad]

We tried writing to Azamara- got a very nice form letter, but- no action. Azamara (quest) was a ig disappointment- supposed to be a notch above celebrity, but ended up 2 notches under the old Ren, which we had done in the past. azamara is all hype, and, rather than engage in more letter writing to them, we opted to switch to other lines.

Let the market decide...

[JAXlakerdogerfans]

I have to agree that the market will decide.

 

We still haven't heard from the "Wedding Experience" folks or Azamara as of yet. We have already booked our Anniversary Cruise this November on a Princess Ship. If that experience is any better, we'll continue to sail the other line. We were really looking forward to trying out other Celebrity Cruises before this experience with the Quest happened. We knew that it was a refurbished vessel so there would be a mix of the old & new. We did not expect to be awakened each night by all the commotion in the Windows Cafe above us, but we knew that we were below that restaurant and noise might be an issue - we were okay with that.

 

We were not prepared for the nonsense that we are going through right now trying to simply get what we paid for and is stated on a contract.

 

I used to think in my PollyAnna brain that companies who advertise how great their customer service is, must actually know how to provide customer service. All people want is what they are told they should expect by the marketing. If they advertise that you will have priority disembarkation with the purchase of a suite, and you are not allowed to disembark the ship until dead last, causing you to lose the rental car reservation you had because you believed that the ship would be true to it's advertising, then you end up a bitter customer like myself. Customer satisfaction is pretty easy for my DH & I, just deliver what you say you are going to do and we'll be happy as clams.

[CHILLS]

I would like to point out that had I really paid attention to this post back in November I would have changed my booking for this cabin immediately. I am just back from a Panama Canal sailing on the Quest. I was traveling with my family, a party of six. Two adult members of our party were in OV 6005. What a mistake to book this cabin. Unless others in your party are in the adjoining RS 6003 I would stay away from 6005. While the cabin is a nice size with a lovely large round window, everything Dave has said about the noise and light is true, and I would add since we had high seas (18 ft.), that there is quite a lot of rock and rolling as well. Bring your dramamine. And you might as well pack your ear plugs and your sleep mask too.

When one finds oneself coping with these conditions one just has to try to make the best of it, and not rudely and constantly complain to your neighbors. If you can hear them, they can hear you.

I have never heard of these adjoining room complaints on any other ship, and neither has our TA. I would advise Azamara to take this complaint seriously and do something about it quickly.

Re the connecting door..........

We had this cabin 6005 from 5th - 19th Jan and had the same problem on the first night - coupled with an horrendous wind noise as the occupants in 6003 seemed to like their balcony door open much of the time.

We asked the maintenance to tape it up, which they did on both sides.

The peace was blissful and we would recommend this course to anyone else to enjoy this surprisingly large cabin!

[Taxguy7]

When I booked my cruise on the Quest, I was asked some questions, to which I responded we would be on board my wife's birthday and we were celebrating our 50th wedding aniversary. I do not know why they asked, as NOTHING went any further. Our friends at dinner for her B-day told the seating matre-d abount it, and we got a small cake, but they did not know (or care) other than that.