Jem 12

Thank you for the amazing pictures and updates, I was hoping to do this cruise but it wasn’t to be. We have done several Azamazing evenings, all enjoyable with the exception of maybe one, but in these days of thinking more about our impact on the climate, does it make sense to move 600+ people off the ship to a venue, rather than bringing half a dozen or maybe a dozen musicians/ dancers etc onboard. I know they would have to do more than one session, but actually by the time you get on and off the ship and travel etc it usually involves a 3 hour time slot, for maybe a 40 minute show. Just my humble opinion. Enjoy the rest of your cruise Anne, I have always wanted to go to The Virgin Baths, now I know how to, thank you. Jean

Thank you for posting Ann, I’m enjoying reading your posting very much. Have a wonderful cruise. Jean

Thank you for posting as you go along on your cruise, wish we were onboard. I hope the seas are kind to you, the weather here in the UK is awful. Enjoy.

I think the only thing that Azamara is consistent in, is that they are totally inconsistent. 😀

I keep trying to convince myself that we haven’t been offered an upgrade offer because we got such a fabulous deal in the first place.😀

If your post is correct, it makes my blood boil, I love the onboard experience but everything before stinks, I make all the bookings, I’m the lead person on our bookings and yet I receive emails on my email account addressed to my husband, I have cruised with my sister on Azamara I also get emails addressed to her. I have tried to book cruises with Azamara Uk, requested quotes for back to back received nothing, requested call backs nothing, a complete lack of information about changes to upgrade system and loss of perk to loyal members. I have been been wanting to book another cruise with Azamara for later this year, but I have now decided to wait until I have been on our next cruise, in case the onboard experience is as bad as the service before. Good luck with your bids boco010, you must be on a winning streak as you at least managed to get an offer. 😀

Thank you uktog, we will, so glad to be sailing from Southampton on this cruise, otherwise I would be worrying about air strikes, IT issues etc. Jean

Thank you uktog for taking the time to post the detail above. So looking forward to our cruise in our booked guarantee room. 😀😀

I did have a conversation with somebody from the CEO’s office, she did say we couldn’t get an upgrade offer as we booked under a special fare, we booked through Azamara Uk on an advertised fare she didn’t mention a guarantee fare being the reason. I have been unable to find this in writing, if anyone has I would love sight of it. Perhaps Bonnie could help? Interestingly we are going on a Celebrity cruise in October on a guarantee basis we have just been offered an upgrade for a fee??? If I had spent a lot of time choosing a cabin and location I for one would be reluctant to go into a potluck upgrade programme. I’m sure we will book guarantee cabins in the future, financially they make more sense to us, but we will have no expectation of getting anything better than the worse cabin in the grade on Azamara in future. We wish everyone else the very best of luck with their upgrades though.

Thank you, we never really book anything more than a balcony, we spend very little time in our cabin, but breakfast on the balcony is rather nice, but I will think long and hard before booking a guarantee in future. Enjoy Oceania, we haven’t tried them yet. 😀

Our cruise is in two weeks time, but our experience mirrors yours, I didn’t know when we booked a guarantee cabin that we wouldn’t have the option of the $399 upgrade, then I was hoping be able to bid for an upgrade but that wasn’t offered to us either, I also suspect now that when you book guarantee cabins they are the worst available at least that has been my experience for my first booking under the new system. After having to cancel our last Azamara cruise, due to ill health we are still determined to enjoy every minute of our next one 😀

I would like more exercise classes but not too early in the morning. Pilates, Zumba dance classes. My husband would also enjoy art classes or decent lectures.

No I don’t think they do, if you go into the programme link there is Q and A paragraph, which I’m fairly sure you don’t lose any promotions that you already have.

Hi Phil sorry for slow reply, I have been out for the evening. Yes we did indeed book an outside guarantee, I didn’t know that they are not eligible for upgrades and indeed the person I spoke too from Azamara did not quote that, she said we had booked under summer savings!!! We have previously had a $399 upgrade from an outside to a balcony and we also several years ago been upgraded from inside guarantee to a balcony, so I’m not complaining about the fairness of the new system, but just trying to get a transparent explanation of who can or can’t bid, so I know not to bother to keep checking. I am quite happy to have an outside cabin, but was hoping for one on deck 4, but hey ho we will have a great cruise. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment etc. I appreciate it. Elizabeth

After writing to the CEO as advised on here, I had a very quick response from Mr Twynam, he passed my email on to one of his colleagues, who called me back today She agreed with me that the message from the Upgrade site is rather unclear and has asked her web designers to make the restrictions clearer. Basically what I have been told is that if you book under any special deal you do not qualify for the programme, I didn’t think anybody actually paid brochure price for their cruise these days, but apparently that is why we are not eligible. i only actually bothered to email Mr Twynam because I was also incredibly frustrated at the awful website, plus the lack of response to emails and the callback facility, which I had used to try and book another back to back cruise, but I didn’t hear back from anybody at Azamara. At least now I know not to bother trying to upgrade our cruise at least.