Price Reductions

[shoshona2]

Hi,

 

We changed our booking twice and retained our OBC and prepaid gratuities. Call your TA and put pressure on him or her.

 

Sheila

[MVPinBoynton]

Hi,

 

We changed our booking twice and retained our OBC and prepaid gratuities. Call your TA and put pressure on him or her.

 

Sheila

 

Ours was able to do the same thing. If your TA can't do it, I would question if they are really working for you and/or if they have enough clout with the cruise lines to the right TA for you.

[a2zarts]

Mike, Shiela, Ed,

 

Thank you for your advice. I'm beginning to suspect I may indeed have a lazy TA. As of today the prices seem to have bounced back up again. I'm sure this is temporary and when they drop back to the April 1 levels again I will be hounding my TA again to try harder. A question that I'm unsure of the answer to is this. If I'm not getting any joy from my TA can I transfer the booking to Azamara or another TA ?

 

Thanks,

 

Ian

[greeneg]

Ian, I do not know for certain, but I have it in my head that the only way that Azamara would do it would be to issue a new booking number which would make the issue moot. I don't know about another agent, the same might or might not be true.

 

I would call Azamara and see what you get from them.

 

 

Addendum: I did a search for "Transferring Bookings" on both the Azamara and Celebrity Boards and this is the latter. There well may be some useful information there; there didn't seem to be much on the Azamara Board, but the Customer Service People and Policies are the same so shouldn't matter. Link to search:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=12869558

 

Hope that helps some, but would still call and ask the question. You never know. You could also call the TA and tell him or her that you are "going "to call the cruise line; that may apply some pressure.

[Albert Ross]

Anyone on Azamara Journey May 2nd 2009 - Venice to Athens (wonderful itinerary!)

£779.10pp in Balcony cruise only incl all tips and taxes!

Now that is a good price.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Looking at 2010. Wondering if there are going to be prices slashes there. I've never cruised on A, but looking at the Best of Italy 14-day trip. I'm thinking a Sky Suite would be a minimum for us. Do they go really fast? I am in no hurry to book anything, given this economic climate, but wondering if there will be any incentives to do so in terms of prices, or weather this type of suite can be expected to be unavailable, say, in the fall.

[maryann ns]

So since I booked with Azamara direct and kept my booking number, I am now paying less for a much better stateroom and am keeping the OBC. This sounds too good to be true. No one else has posted under the roll call for my cruise (Quest Nov. 14, 2009, Ancient Empires). What are the chances of it being cancelled?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

So since I booked with Azamara direct and kept my booking number, I am now paying less for a much better stateroom and am keeping the OBC. This sounds too good to be true. No one else has posted under the roll call for my cruise (Quest Nov. 14, 2009, Ancient Empires). What are the chances of it being cancelled?

 

That was one of the cruises I was thinking of going on since we would have our 30th Wedding Anniversary during the cruise

but since we never cruised be we decide to do a 7 day one first on the Journey May 16

We were also worry that it could be to cool at that time of the year and dark early

Maybe if we enjoy the Journey, and win the lotto we will be on the Ancient Empire because it sounds great

[greeneg]

So since I booked with Azamara direct and kept my booking number, I am now paying less for a much better stateroom and am keeping the OBC. This sounds too good to be true. No one else has posted under the roll call for my cruise (Quest Nov. 14, 2009, Ancient Empires). What are the chances of it being cancelled?

 

I think it highly unlikely that the cruise would be cancelled; the people on Cruise Critic are really a pretty small percentage of the people who actually cruise.

 

Try doing a "phantom" booking on Travelocity or Expedia ( obviously don't actually put in a credit card or finalize anything) but you can sometimes get an idea of how much of a ship is booked at any given time. Again it isn't exact, but you can get a feel.

[Jancruz]

Looking at 2010. Wondering if there are going to be prices slashes there. I've never cruised on A, but looking at the Best of Italy 14-day trip. I'm thinking a Sky Suite would be a minimum for us. Do they go really fast? I am in no hurry to book anything, given this economic climate, but wondering if there will be any incentives to do so in terms of prices, or weather this type of suite can be expected to be unavailable, say, in the fall.

 

Hi Wendy,

Keep in mind on the Ren 6,7 and 8 there were no suites so when Azamara added them they only added 32 Sky Suites.

I suggest you put the deposit down and you can always cancel with Azamara without penalty..better that, than miss out on a SS!

Jancruz1

[a2zarts]

Ed,

 

Thanks for your help and advice. I'll call Azamara and get their response. Unfortunately right now the whole thing is moot as the prices are still higher than they were on April 1. If and when they drop agaion I will certainly tackle my TA.

 

Also thanks for doing the search. I realized that a search might yield some answers about 5 minutes after I posted. Since I've worked in IT for over 30 years I really should know how to use a search feature! I wouldn't want to incur the wrath of BrianUK as someone else did on another post ;) Especially as we are on the same cruise later this year. I might end up as shark bait < Sorry Brian - Couldn't resist winding you up >

[greeneg]

No worry about shark bait and Bryan's very easy to get along with. It was a tone issue and I was at fault as much as anyone else. The problem is that so many times topics like that do get beaten to death ( the smoking threads are another ) and even if you are new to a Board Community, it doesn't hurt to develop good habits.

 

But the poster who pointed out that our tone wasn't very welcoming is exactly right and I do apologize for my part in that and do stand appropriately corrected.

 

Of course, I could just be getting old and crotchety........

 

Ed

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Hi Wendy,

Keep in mind on the Ren 6,7 and 8 there were no suites so when Azamara added them they only added 32 Sky Suites.

I suggest you put the deposit down and you can always cancel with Azamara without penalty..better that, than miss out on a SS!

Jancruz1

 

Thanks for the reply, Jan. How does A deal with falling prices with existing bookings? I think I will have to take my chances in any case, since this trip would be contingent on cancelling another cruise, in December, and final payment date on that is a long way off.

[acruisergirl]

What's the chance of getting further reductions if final payment has been made? I am currently on a b2b cruise, May 2-9, and May 9-16.

 

Thanks, Pat

[greeneg]

I can't tell you for certain with regard to outside TA's, but we booked directly with Azamara and have had two reductions for our May 16th Cruise on the Quest ( significant amount, too) since I made final payment. Both have been credited back to the Credit Card and have shown on my statement.

 

Remember, you have to "find" the reduced price and ask for the reductions, but we've never had a problem receiving the appropriate credit, either from Azamara or Celebrity.

 

If you booked through a TA, I'm certain that you will have to go through them, but most people who have commented in this area on these boards have noted that reputable agents don't usually have a problem with this, but you want to initiate ( IMHO) the contact rather than to wait and see if they pick it up and get it for you.

 

At the risk of repeating myself from a couple of other of my posts, you need to make certain that the booking number stays the same if you have on-board credits, that sort of thing, otherwise you could lose those which would be a bummer....

[Jancruz]

Thanks for the reply, Jan. How does A deal with falling prices with existing bookings? I think I will have to take my chances in any case, since this trip would be contingent on cancelling another cruise, in December, and final payment date on that is a long way off.

 

They are really good about changing your rate if it goes down..I am leaving May 1st for my 3rd Azamara cruise and cant wait..I really like it.

Jancruz1

[maryann ns]

Thanks for the tip about Travelocity. They only had a few 2A staterooms available so I guess we will have company.

[sinova]

In addition to the price reduction, there is $300 shipboard credit too.

 

Eddy

:)

OOPS sorry ..it did but not cabin specific

I would think it would be on their website

 

May 2, 2009 Verandas from: Was $2,099 / NOW $1,049

May 23, 2009 Verandas from: Was $3,399 / NOW $1,699

August 9, 2009 Verandas from: Was $3,999 / NOW $1,999

 

October 17, 31; November 14, 2009 Verandas from: Was $3,799 / NOW $1,899

 

[brian_uk]

Ed,

 

Thanks for your help and advice. I'll call Azamara and get their response. Unfortunately right now the whole thing is moot as the prices are still higher than they were on April 1. If and when they drop agaion I will certainly tackle my TA.

 

Also thanks for doing the search. I realized that a search might yield some answers about 5 minutes after I posted. Since I've worked in IT for over 30 years I really should know how to use a search feature! I wouldn't want to incur the wrath of BrianUK as someone else did on another post ;) Especially as we are on the same cruise later this year. I might end up as shark bait < Sorry Brian - Couldn't resist winding you up >

 

 

Being the sensitive type I take great umbrage at your comments............yeah right. I will be bringing my own Gang Plank and you had better mend your ways or at least offer to buy me a drink...........or Me Hearty you will find yourself walking that plank.

 

Although with Jancruz on board I may just have to behave !!

 

Brian

[greeneg]

Brian, I'll buy you a wee dram of Longmorn.......

[a2zarts]

Being the sensitive type I take great umbrage at your comments............yeah right. I will be bringing my own Gang Plank and you had better mend your ways or at least offer to buy me a drink...........or Me Hearty you will find yourself walking that plank.

 

Although with Jancruz on board I may just have to behave !!

 

Brian

 

Brian I never took you for being the sensitive type. My sincerest apologies for upsetting the delicate balance of your emotions. I will of course make amends by proferring you a drink or two. I would hate for you to have to pay excess baggage for the plank :)

 

Of course this does all depend upon my getting the aforementioned price reduction which is after all the topic of this thread :D

[cs91]

Greeneg, I'm very curious about your comment re: shareholder's credit. I requested that months ago and Azamara insisted it wasn't combinable with any other promos. I resent the request numerous times and they wouldn't 'budge'. How/when were you able to get the shareholder's credit. I'd really appreciate the info. Thanks!

[greeneg]

We originally made this booking for a Quest cruise in Asia in January, 2010 while we were on the Journey. For several reasons, we decided to not take that sailing and changed to this one, retaining the On-board Booking Credit and the shareholder credits by keeping the same booking number. At the time, credits could be combined; however, RCCL did institute a policy change since then, which took that away. I personally think that it's a dumb policy, the idea is to maintain the stock prices and occupancy by encouraging people to buy the stock and shareholders to sail the ship, but I guess that the Bean Counters are still in charge.....

 

Anyway, that's how it worked for us.

 

As usual, it's all in the timing.