PatG2

10 hours ago, florisdekort said:

 

Please stop taking the bait. You’re never going to convince certain people on here who cheerlead Azamara on every single thread. 

Your right floris. I think everything that can be said about this has been said at this point. Those who have chosen one side or another are probably not budging.

I'm glad the majority of people voted in my favor on Elliot but I was surprised it was even that close. There are strong opinions on both sides and I don't think there is anything else to be said.

Thank you again to everyone for contributing.

2 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

As to OP misleading and using social media to pressure Azamara, everyone can decide for themselves.

 

There aren't quotas for salesmen in the cruise industry, but that aside, we still don't know if the cruise was two months away as stated in the original post or several months away as indicated in the Elliott Advocacy article.  Nobody would ever confuse couple with several. 

 

I find it funny how everything I said on here was questioned, but yet, what was written on the other site was  mostly taken as accurate. I can see why you would believe a third party source more, I understand that, but everything they said wasn't accurate.

When Elliot looked up the price of the suite, it was in fact, closer to 10% of the price. When I looked up the prices it was in fact closer to 25%. Once again shows you how cruises have thousands of dollars in price differences from one day to the next. The person that paid over $5,000 more than what another cruiser paid a few days later is out of luck.

I like how you posted that "nobody would ever confuse couple with several." When in fact, it was 2 months away. Maybe Elliot used "several" instead of "couple" to keep my itinerary private. Or maybe "several" sounded better to prove their point. Not sure why they used the words they did but it seems like someone in fact did "confuse couple with several".

You can agree or disagree with my point of view, that's fine. But what I have posted on here has been accurate.

8 hours ago, CruiseGal999 said:

 

I think you're being very gracious in accepting an OV room.  The very least Az could have/should have done was largest balcony cabin. They SHOULD have honored the price ... I don't care how ridiculously low it was ... you did back flips verifying and confirming with everyone.  This is such an awful situation.  

Thanks CruiseGal999

2 hours ago, oddjob16 said:

My post #10

These posts turns up. Sometimes valid, sometimes not. Another lesson learned 

Not sure if your implying that anything I said on this thread was invalid, but if so, please explain.

1 minute ago, hiccups said:

Thanks for the update.  I'm disappointed that Azamara wouldn't give you a balcony cabin, as I feel that would have been a much fairer offer to you and would have provided a bit more goodwill. 

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks hiccups. I thought it was a reasonable ask. Hoping the experience from here on forward is all positive.

Just now, PatG2 said:

Well, I finally got a response from Azamara. There is a much longer thread with many more post under the Azamara forum. Take a look there if you would like an update on the story. Thanks everyone.

The link to that forum is:

Well, I finally got a response from Azamara. There is a much longer thread with many more post under the Azamara forum. Take a look there if you would like an update on the story. Thanks everyone.

So for the long awaited update everybody is waiting for...

Like some had suggested, I told Azamara I was not happy with an OV but that I would settle for a veranda. The manager took a few days to discuss with the management team and at the end of the day came back to me with the same options. I asked if I could at least keep the OB credits that were offered which included $500 OBC, internet, and specialty dining that was part of the promo when I booked. They agreed to let me keep the credits.

Is it a good deal? Sure. Would I have booked the OV originally at this price? No. Although it's a good deal, there were other itineraries I liked better. However, I decided to accept because after planning the whole trip it was just too much of a headache to change everything. I'm also just tired of all this and would like to try to enjoy my cruise at this point. I'm sure I will have a good time, it was just very stressful leading up to this point.

I'm not a lawyer, but from my research I've learned that cruise lines have the right to cancel a "mistake price" even after it is booked. Something I completely disagree with but it seems like they can. However, I wonder at what point does this right go away? After final payment? After 1...2...3... confirmations? When a cruise is less than 2 months away? Once you've printed your tickets? At what point are they fully liable is unclear.

Something more important then the legal question, is the ethical one. Ok, they made a mistake.If I received a phone call immediately after or the next morning telling me about the mistake, I probably wouldn't have cared as much. Instead, immediately after and the next morning I received 2 verbal confirmations and multiple email confirmations (even more confirmations after that). It was no longer 1 price mistake at this point, it was multiple mistakes that a multi-billion dollar company should be able to prevent. Why is it that they made all the mistakes, I did all the right things, and I'm the one that suffers the consequences.

I hope to write very positive reviews about Azamara after my first cruise with them. I'm just disappointed on how everything went down so far.

Thank you all for your feedback and for sharing your stories. I appreciate your help.

17 hours ago, SoCalTraveler said:

I recognize I'm late to this party.  From what I can read, OP booked two cabins on a cruise and Azamara confirmed.   That's a binding contract in all of the English speaking world in the absence of some part of the cruise contract which allows Azamara to cancel without penalty.  (Azamara's advertisement is typically considered an invitation to contract.  Your response to that invitation is an offer to enter into a contract.  When Azamara took your money and executed the contract, a binding agreement was formed.)

 

I have not seen what the price difference is.  I do not recommend giving in to this behavior but I would not want to ruin my vacation, scarce vacation time, and pay airline cancellation penalties over a small amount of money that you can fight about later.  You may be able to dispute the charge (either the original charge, the upcharge, or both) with your credit card company.  (In the States, read the billing error dispute information on the back of the bill. Your complaint MUST be in writing and within certain tight time limits.)  You also may be able to sue Azamara in your local small claims court.  That's a more complicated question and involves reading the very fine print venue provisions in your cruise contract.  Given the short time between booking and your credit card bill, that would seem the best way to go.  (Ordinarily, cruise lines want payment in full far enough out to avoid credit card billing error disputes.)  And disputing the credit card charge does not typically bar you from a small claims action later.

 

I had a similar experience on Royal Caribbean (Azamara's parent) where after the contract was confirmed and I had paid (for two cabins, balcony and interior), RCCL decided that my future cruise credit was incorrectly labeled and it was really an on-board credit, and that because I was getting an onboard credit, I would not get the shareholder credit because it was not combinable.  RCCL even said to me that their credits were "bewildering."   As we had an alternate Princess Cruise at a lower price in mind for the same time period, we cancelled and went on Princess for less money, and there the shareholder credit is fully combinable.  I then made RCCL an offer it could not refuse and RCCL wrote me a check for the full FCC.  No release.  No agreement to keep quiet.  A check.  For cash.  Which is just as good as money.  

Very interesting. Thanks for joining SoCalTraveler. I didn't think of the credit card dispute piece. I'm glad you were able to get things worked out on your end.

On 6/14/2019 at 1:14 PM, travelberlin said:

To the OP: I am sorry this happened to you with Azamara. The price does not matter imho. You bought the suites and got the confirmation. It is not fair nor professional to say “Sorry our mistake and your problem...”

Something similar happened to me with a river cruise, but not because of a mistake in the price, but because after receiving my deposit and confirming my cabin they sold the cruise to a group. So they offered me another cruise, which was at a time I could not make it. Thanks to my travel agent and thanks to the professionalism of the river cruise representative, they have given me my place back on the originally booked cruise.  Azamara has still time to assume the responsibility for its mistake and show professionalism. I am optimist this will be in your case. Azamara is a responsible company.

Ivi

Thanks for sharing Travelberlin. You would think that after making a mistake, most companies would not try to fix it by putting their problem onto the consumer.

On 6/13/2019 at 3:54 PM, snowglobe said:

Six years ago, I saw a ridiculously low price for a luxury resort in Jamaica. This was for an all-inclusive Valentine’s winter vacation including flights, transfers, an ocean-front verandah suite, all meals and premium liquor. I called a friend, then called the supplier direct (not a third-party agent) to book two suites. The reservations agent took my booking, and our two payments.

 

After we were done, I mentioned to her that the price was very, very low since it wasn’t a last-minute deal, and that she may want to bump a message up about it. The next day, I got a call letting me know that there had indeed been a pricing mistake. In the system, they had only loaded in the net price of the hotel - missing the flights, transfers, and their own profit percentage from the total gross. She also assured me that my booking was protected, and chuckled that, luckily, only my friend and I scored the mistaken price before they pulled the inventory pending correction. They definitely ate a loss on it, but consumer protection where I live covers this kind of situation.

 

I would definitely look into what consumer protection or a media consumer watchdog would have to say about your situation.

Thanks for sharing snowglobe. Unfortunately, it seems like some laws in the US are geared to protecting corporations more so than consumers. More to come on this soon.

On 6/13/2019 at 2:58 PM, Wonderingabout said:

So the negative posters on this topic are that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.  And that the original poster should have known it was a mistake and not banked too much on it actually being legitimate.  But substantial discounts do happen and they are not necessarily mistakes. 

 

 I was able to purchase two round trip tickets direct from United Air Line from anywhere  the east coast to anywhere on the west coast in the next four months for $100 each when the going price at the time being well over $500 a piece.  I booked to SFO and return from Seattle.  A mistake you and I might say but no.  It was a sale that lasted from 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon one day and I was only made aware of it by an independent travel agent who happened to work in the same building as the local United Air Lines office.  I had used the agent only once a few years before but mentioned I would consider a trip to California if the price was right.   He called that morning and I made the decision by 11:00 AM..

 

Companies do sometimes make offers that are too good to be true.  Should the original poster presume that there was a mistake in the offer and not respond to the offer?  Should the original poster believe it more likely than not that it was a mistake but on the off chance that she was just lucky make the reservation and wait for the result?   With the acceptance of her payment and the confirmation of her reservations can she now presume that she was lucky and it was not a mistake?  At what point was she being unreasonable in her assumptions?  At what point would her actions be considered unreasonable?

Thanks for sharing wonderingabout. I don't know how any reasonable person would still believe their was a pricing mistake after multiple confirmations, printing tickets and paying in full.

On 6/13/2019 at 1:04 PM, LHT28 said:

PATG

 so the big question is

did they cancel your bookings ?

Did you get a refund or accept their terms for another cabin

 curious minds want to know  🙂

 

 

Update coming... Stay tuned!

3 minutes ago, hiccups said:

And the irony is that under either the old or new upgrade system, Azamara could be placing someone in a suite that will not have paid any more for that cabin than the price you booked.

People pay 75% less for a cruise than others have paid all the time. Someone could have booked a Verahnda during a last minute fire sale, bid $400 to be upgraded to a suite if there were still plenty left, and ended up paying thousands upon thousands of dollars less than the person that booked a suite during the height of pricing. Same room and amenities but 75% off.

1 hour ago, fingolfin269 said:

I'm just going to assume everything the OP has been saying is correct since that side is the only one talking.

 

I get that people keep asking for the price as if it makes a difference.  And in many cases it absolutely should make a difference. I do believe that price mistakes happen and that generally speaking the seller does not have to honor those price mistakes.  However, in this instance if what the OP is saying is true then I don't see how anyone can defend this company.  How far should a consumer be expected to go to protect themselves?  Per the OP, multiple calls were made to the company asking for confirmation.  Apparently even a supervisor/senior manager even commented along the lines of "wow, you got a fantastic price" and then went on to say everything looks good.  How many more times should the OP call?  Should the OP go to social media to confirm? Fly out to the corporate office?  Etc.

 

Yes, a pricing mistake was likely made.  But if the OP's side of events is true then this company needs to just eat the cost here.

Thanks fingolf. I really appreciate you commenting on the facts that have been presented instead of making up what could have happened.

4 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

A couple of things before I move on.

 

I object to any notion of "online bullying"  here.  You can't have bullying, which is personal in nature, on an anonymous message board.  I was only weighing in on contractual rights here by two parties to a dispute while clearly not reading all of he facts.  One of those facts is actual price of a cruise.  I do believe OP relied on what he/she thought was an acceptance and consummation of the deal by Azamara to book flights to Europe and that reliance probably makes Azamara legally liable for that airfare.  

 

I had a bad pre-cruise experience with the Azamara back off and how they handled a cruise that never happened for me.  We had a 14-day cruise booked Greek Islands and Amalfi Coast.  It was to begin Istanbul and also had a next day 1/2 day in Kusadasi.  After those 2 days, no part of the itinerary was in Turkey.  There was unrest in Turkey and instead of swapping out Istanbul for Athens, they canceled the cruise and didn't alert us.  I later found out (on Cruise Critic - not through my TA or Azamara) that they would offer alternate cruises on the other ship, but that my itinerary would be broken out into two distinct 7-day cruises and each of those itineraries was the same price (in other words, double the cost to me) as the deal I had.  I felt ripped off and I thought Azamara handled it poorly.  We made chicken salad out of chicken poop and booked a 9-day Celebrity cruise with two overnights in Malta and Dubrovnik and spent the weekend after the cruise in Cinque Terre.  That was to be our first Azamara cruise and we felt let down a bit by the line and how ineffectively they communicated with us or our TA and were "Azamazed" by how poorly this back office was.  However, I am not going to come on Cruise Critic and berate Azamara's back office and the cruise line because of one bad experience.  I got my licks in on CC in frustration at the time and moved on in the same manner we moved on from another cruise line whose ships and quality of cruise experience have deteriorated by what I think relates to its parent, Carnival. 

 

Despite my one bad experience, I was convinced by many, including many regulars here, that Azamara was worth a shot.  We found a perfect itinerary and a great deal on Southeast Asia.  Most Southeast Asia itineraries are in the beginning of the calendar year.  My profession dictates that I cannot vacation from January through April.  Only Azamara would do this itinerary in October and only smaller ships can dock right in Saigon and Bangkok.  Celebrity docks 2-3 hours away from those cities.  We found a TA who knows Azamara really well and communicates with them well and we are giving them another shot.  People that I am sharing excursions with have told me what I will love about Azamara and the on ship experience and I am excited for our trip.  One commenter here opined that Azamara (and I assumed Oceania) are not the luxury lines that others are.  That's actually what we're looking for.  We want upscale, but not uptight.  I love the fact that Azamara is casual and relaxed.  If we enjoy our cruise, we'll keep an open mind to more Azamara cruises.  

 

However, I am somewhat sympathetic to the OP here, but I am a bit skeptical because there may be another side to this.  When OP says 25% of price, is that catalog price or currently advertised last minute price?  I do hope it works out and OP gets something here, especially given flights are booked.  I think the Oceanview cabin offer would bother me a bit too.  How about balcony cabins and a little nonrefundable OBC for the trouble?  Maybe that's not good enough for OP.  Maybe Azamara also knows something that I don't.  Good luck Pat.  I never meant to bully you or be mean to you.

 

 

Thanks hubohockey. I accept you apology and thanks for sharing.

4 hours ago, hiccups said:

So based on this post, Azamara does have the suites available, but they said you had to pay a higher price?  I had thought maybe part of the issue was they didn't have any availability in that category and the cabins had been listed erroneously.  Wow.  That makes it even worse IMO.

Yes hiccups, they are still selling suites and verahndas. It was never an issue of over-booking.

2 hours ago, Jimmycruiser said:

I am very surprised and disappointed by many posters on this thread for the rush to judgement against Azamara with only one side presented and somewhat confusing claims being made. I am not saying the OP is not telling the whole story from their perspective but it was a very negative headline post without much time to come to a fair resolution, and not sure the reason for the post to begin with without more time to resolve it. It can only hurt the case not help it. Having dealt directly with Azamara on several occasions and receiving reductions of 20 % or more before final payment there is definitely more to Azamara’s side, and the fact Bonnie has not commented yet says it is more complicated. Let’s give it a rest for a few days and have the OP tell us the final resolution since they are waiting to hear back.

 

I enjoy reading the posts on Cruise Critic, but so far this is a very frustrating thread, and no I am not paid by Azamara to defend them!

Thanks Jimmy for all your input. I respect your opinion. I do regret putting "horrible cruise" in the headline. I was pretty frustrated at that point (I believe justifiably so) but still should have left that part out. However, I will say that Azamara was the one that gave me a deadline, not the other way around. They had already come up with their resolution which was to take the OV, pay more, or cancel my trip. When I told them I was not happy with those options, they said to me "if you don't pick an option by Tuesday, we will  cancel your cruise" (that gave me about 4 days). That was it. Don't know how giving them more time at that point would have helped anything. Posting this when I did might be the only reason I do have more time for them to come to a resolution.

2 hours ago, hiccups said:

There was no need for Bonnie to comment, as OP was already dealing with Azamara.  She has made statements in the past that she does not comment on incidents like this, which is a wise position for her to take.

OP made a reservation and Azamara took the money.  Who, exactly,  would be posting Azamara's side here?  There isn't much else to say, and I'm surprised and disappointed at those implying OP is being dishonest or a liar.

Thank you hiccups. I appreciate your post.

10 minutes ago, Eurocruiser11 said:

Thanks!  The itineraries for Azmara look great compared to some of the others, it sounds like the trip itself is a great experience too and our TA has said nothing but positive things.  Have you ever had any issues with them canceling your reservation or switching ports/rooms on you last minute?  I just want to avoid that and it seems like there are a few post out there online where this situation has happened.    

Not to change the subject but RallyDave's experience is also pretty disturbing. Azamara can't always help if the itinerary changes but to offer a cruise 4 days and 3 ports less without any partial refund (not even to match the going rate) is a little disturbing. Yes, there is always 2 sides to the story, but based off of what Dave has shared I would say Azamara could have dealt with the situation better.

5 minutes ago, Eurocruiser11 said:

I apologize that was never my attention, I sincerely hope that the OP gets his trip honored for what he originally purchased.

No worries Eurocruiser, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I too hope that Azamara honors what was promised and confirmed multiple times.

1 hour ago, laurieb said:

 

Azamara IS a wonderful cruise line!  I hope you don't rule them out because of this one thread and the opinions of some that seem to have an axe to grind

1 hour ago, laurieb said:

Without knowing the whole story from both sides, which I'm sure we never will, it does come off as disturbing.  Could be Azamara's fault, could be that it isn't.  Hopefully this thread will soon be laid to rest.

I also don't work for Azamara, I just really love cruising with them

Thank you for sharing Laurie, I hope that when this is all done I can start sharing more positive experiences as you have had.

57 minutes ago, florisdekort said:

This is how you handle a situation like this:

 

http://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2019/01/02/cathay-pacific-pricing-gaffe

 

Wow. Great article. And it was picked up by fortune! Thank you for sharing Floris!

2 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

Different company but Cunard advertised a Solo deal on their US website at approximately 20% of the correct fare for the Christmas 2018 on Queen Elizabeth. Several posters on the Solo special offers thread took advantage and their bookings were honoured.

Thank you for sharing Host Hattie. Seems like a few cruise lines have honored their "mistakes".

Couple further questions to this whole saga:

1) When you buy tickets to a cruise, it says all legal disputes must go through arbitration. Do you still have to go through arbitration if they cancel? Are you still bound by it at that point?

2) Has anyone gone through arbitration? What was the process like?

Not what I want to do. Would much rather come to an agreement with Azamara but wondering what this is like so I know my options.

Note: I'm not trying to turn this into an argument of what the outcome would be. Just wondering specifically about the 2 questions above.

I appreciate all the feedback and support to the thread thus far. Thank you everyone.