Experience with "Stateroom Upgrade Benefit"

Good Morning.

We had applied for a "stateroom upgrade benefit" {$398. (U.S.)} for our upcoming cruise.

On Friday, a TA from our local agency called to tell us that we had been chosen for the upgrade.

I asked the stateroom number and she said she would check. About 5 minutes later, she called back. She stated that she had asked the Azamara agent to stay on line while she talked to me, the agent didn't, and when she managed a reconnection the room had already been assigned.

Is this typical of the procedure?

Did I drop the ball in not notifying the agency of my request and institute immediate acceptance? (My regular TA knew, but she had suffered a tragic family loss.)

Or was this just a confluence of unfortunate events?

Thanks for any reflections upon your own experiences with this policy so that we can utilize it in the future.

Hard luck, how disappointing!

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Wow, this must be so disappointing for you. I hope it doesn't cast a shadow on your cruise. I guess this is the downside of this. At least for other upgrades no-one knows they are being considered so there is no disappointment. By the way which sailing was this for? We have our hat in the ring but don't think they are up to our sailing yet!

We applied for the upgrade, but had a call from TA on Friday offering a Club Continent Suite for a little more than the 398$ - had a choice of cabins too! Sailing on October 19th. We are in UK.

Sue

Hard luck, how disappointing!

 

 

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Thanks.

Yes, it may have been just hard luck but I wonder if I messed up somewhere in the process.

Wow, this must be so disappointing for you. I hope it doesn't cast a shadow on your cruise. I guess this is the downside of this. At least for other upgrades no-one knows they are being considered so there is no disappointment. By the way which sailing was this for? We have our hat in the ring but don't think they are up to our sailing yet!

You are correct, it might be better not to know and thus not experience the disappointment. Or, in my view, at least provide a reasonable time to make the choice clear.

We'll be fine for the cruise. I'll just keep a box of tissues handy the first few days :).

We applied for the upgrade, but had a call from TA on Friday offering a Club Continent Suite for a little more than the 398$ - had a choice of cabins too! Sailing on October 19th. We are in UK.

Sue

Thanks for the comment. It's helpful.

I can only assume they were talking to other cruisers on the list whilst my TA contacted me. The time involved was only about 4-5 minutes by the time she reconnected with Azamara. Since there were only 3 Club Continent Suites available, I'm surprised they seemed to be in such a rush.

But again, perhaps I just don't understand the system. I do want to avoid this result again.

Thanks for the comment. It's helpful.

 

I can only assume they were talking to other cruisers on the list whilst my TA contacted me. The time involved was only about 4-5 minutes by the time she reconnected with Azamara. Since there were only 3 Club Continent Suites available, I'm surprised they seemed to be in such a rush.

 

But again, perhaps I just don't understand the system. I do want to avoid this result again.

Keep an eye out. Not sure when your sailing is, but something might open up and then get your TA on the case straight away to say you missed it once and can they do anything for you. Have a great cruise regardless.

Phil

Keep an eye out. Not sure when your sailing is, but something might open up and then get your TA on the case straight away to say you missed it once and can they do anything for you. Have a great cruise regardless.

 

 

 

Phil

As usual, good advice.

Thanks for the kind wishes.

I've just chatted with Nicole, the LCV Ambassador. She says typically a guest has one week to decide whether to upgrade, but if the sailing is departing soon the window of time to decide is much shorter.

We are both sorry for your disappointment.

As others mention here, let your agent know you want to be called again if another suite opens up.

I've just chatted with Nicole, the LCV Ambassador. She says typically a guest has one week to decide whether to upgrade, but if the sailing is departing soon the window of time to decide is much shorter.

 

We are both sorry for your disappointment.

 

As others mention here, let your agent know you want to be called again if another suite opens up.

Thanks for checking, but this is becoming more frustrating.

Indeed, 5 minutes to decide is much shorter than one week. It just seems unreasonable to us, but perhaps not to others.

In fact, it is a little difficult to believe that, with just 3 staterooms left for assignment, even if the ACC rep had stayed on the line that the room offered would necessarily still have been available.

Perhaps this system should be revisited to be tweaked a bit for future clients.

I'm certainly glad to hear that others have benefitted from this programme. As for us and our agent, at this point we really don't want to potentially experience the same disappointment. We want to focus now on the positives.

Again, thanks for bringing this up with Nicole and for the empathy.

I have to say from my experience about 10 days out from the voyage was that a call was received and you had to make up your mind pretty well there and then. This came from my TA in the UK. No one week hold was mentioned, but as I said it was only 10 days out.

Phil

My own experience was complicated by the fact that Azamara could not get a hold of the agent (a major UK booking site). I am not sure how the communication broke down but it affected more than myself and I do not think it was anything to do with Azamara

We read here lots of guests were being called so after three days unable to track down our nominated agent we emailed Nicole to ask what our position was, got a lovely reply from her in 5 minutes in which she explained she had tried to offer us our upgrade 10 days previously but the agent was not picking up her calls/emails.

We still got our upgrade however we were in the silly situation of being booked through the agent so spent 3 days trying to get them to say yes to Nicole and move the correct payment to Azamara - Nicole and Azamara UK were great during this time, a certain UK agency confirmed why I do not like doing that kind of booking (they even after it was sorted had the nerve to tell me off for contacting LCV direct)

Given how close it always is to sailing (even at 3 weeks out) I was very surprised to read in Bonnies reply guests had a week to choose, would have thought one day more like or even less.

I hope the OP still has a great cruise and who knows you may still be lucky :)

(they even after it was sorted had the nerve to tell me off for contacting LCV direct)

I would never use your TA. With the amount of business you give them they must be nuts to even try to tell you off. Their reply should have been "yes mamm, sorry mamm, yes mamm.

(they even after it was sorted had the nerve to tell me off for contacting LCV direct)

 

I would never use your TA. With the amount of business you give them they must be nuts to even try to tell you off. Their reply should have been "yes mamm, sorry mamm, yes mamm.

Lol

Actually it was our first non direct booking with Azamara - and suffice it to say I will not be repeating that experience :)

My own experience was complicated by the fact that Azamara could not get a hold of the agent (a major UK booking site). I am not sure how the communication broke down but it affected more than myself and I do not think it was anything to do with Azamara

 

We read here lots of guests were being called so after three days unable to track down our nominated agent we emailed Nicole to ask what our position was, got a lovely reply from her in 5 minutes in which she explained she had tried to offer us our upgrade 10 days previously but the agent was not picking up her calls/emails.

Such a pity that you're not allowed to name and shame the UK TA.

I really appreciate the responses from people who have participated in the programme.

The procedure now seems somewhat clearer to me, but I still don't think that in our case it worked as described in the instances mentioned here.

I have contacted Nicole, the LCV ambassador, to clarify if there were steps that I or our TA should have taken to ensure that we would have been able to confirm our willingness to accept the upgrade.

I will post her reply as it may help others in the future.

My TA already had my authorization to accept an upgrade if she considered the cabin a good one (location etc)

That way she did not need to track me down !

My TA already had my authorization to accept an upgrade if she considered the cabin a good one (location etc)

That way she did not need to track me down !

Well, as I posted, I don't think I needed to be "tracked down" since she talked to me while she thought the agent was still on the line.

It was "tracking down" the agent that took the 5 minutes. Had my TA had problems reaching me, then I would accept totally that it was my tough luck.

But perhaps Nicole will agree with you.

As to your second point, in most circumstances I would be reluctant to give the authority to most TA's to accept an upgrade since relatively few are familiar with the deck plans for Azamara. My usual TA, as I noted, who did know my wishes was at a family funeral.

At this stage this is now only a personal concern, and perhaps Nicole's reply will give guidance to others.

No way would I give a general authorisation either!

Thanks for starting this thread. It spurred me to email my ta and check at least that the contact details I completed on the online form were correct for my November trip. Even a 48 hour courtesy hold would be better if they have one specific cabin in mind for you. I was offered a choice of three or four, but only because there were a few available. I realise they can't hold them all.

Phil

Interesting everyone has a different level of comfort with their TA. Mine has booked our Regent cruises and is familiar with ship layouts and what is a good location vs an undesirable location. She certainly tries to reach me when practical, but I loved it she calls to tell us what the "upsell" fairy sent our way. She knows how Azamara works and has sailed on their ships. I'm very comfortable letting her make that decision.

This works for us, it just may not work for everyone!

You are lucky to have such a knowledgable TA. I bet you are in the minority. By far the best resource for those of us that don't is the cabin thread sticky at the top of this page maintained by Ann (uktog). That is what I go by and also from personal experience on the ships.

Phil

You are lucky to have such a knowledgable TA. I bet you are in the minority. By far the best resource for those of us that don't is the cabin thread sticky at the top of this page maintained by Ann (uktog). That is what I go by and also from personal experience on the ships.

 

 

 

Phil

Never saw it quite that way! She has sailed most of the luxury lines and knows what we like and my husbands tolerance for what the two of us might cook up. And she has definitely turned down the "upsell" fairy mostly due to location.

Since she has sailed Azamara multiple times and I have not any upgrading would depend heavily on her opinion. No one else in her office has this authority and if my TA for some reason is out of the office, then they have to call us. It's worked for us!

You are lucky to have such a knowledgable TA. I bet you are in the minority. By far the best resource for those of us that don't is the cabin thread sticky at the top of this page maintained by Ann (uktog). That is what I go by and also from personal experience on the ships.

 

Phil

Indeed this is a very valuable resource maintained by uktog. Hazel and I used it when choosing our cabin for our next Journey cruise in a month. :)

Indeed this is a very valuable resource maintained by uktog. Hazel and I used it when choosing our cabin for our next Journey cruise in a month. :)

Totally agree.

Always check it to avoid unexpected problems.

Great idea by uktog.