Riocca

I can only suppose that with their customer service being in transition and difficult to contact at times they are reliant on travel agents to take the burden. This gives the travel agents the upper hand and no doubt that despite what Azamara says the agents will say anything to get bookings, especially as Azamara have been running some attractive promotions for travel agents.

Quite possible, but also a couple of big online U.K. travel agents had some very large trade bookings on some repositioning cruises, Quest in particular. These were packaged with flights and pre and post cruise stays that were not without their own problems, as usual many passengers were led to believe that Azamara were responsible for things the travel agents had booked. Now independent of RC I fear that some of our less scrupulous travel agents might take advantage of Azamara’s desire to grow passenger numbers. A few years ago we experienced an Azamara cruise that RC dumped on the U.K. market using a travel agent they owned at the time. With 80% U.K. passengers most having bought the deal with no idea what to expect and had been given flights that were far from acceptable the experience was not the usual Azamara one. If it was someone’s first experience of Azamara then they probably would give low scores on a survey.

Unfortunately the survey is of such a small sample size it would only take the odd person to adversely affect the results.

Over the 20 years we’ve been cruising we’ve been on 16 different ocean cruise lines so we have been able to hone our likes and dislikes and know our tastes have changed significantly over that time. We used to enjoy formal nights and production shows but now prefer a more relaxed low key style however sometimes it’s the cruise lines have changed. In the early days P&O was our go to line but post Carnival it’s become too family focused with ships that are way too big for our liking. We enjoyed Celebrity for a short while until they became millennial focused with music everywhere. All cruise lines provide something different so people should do their research to see if it provides what they like. If I booked MSC thinking it would be like Azamara when I am disappointed is it MSC’s fault or mine for booking the wrong cruise line? Mine of course so it would be unfair to criticise them for my mistake, but these days that’s part of the problem people won’t acknowledge their own mistake and want the cruise lines to change to their requirements. We’ve been on a few cruises that haven’t lived up to our expectations but realised we were as much to blame for choosing the wrong cruise line. Wouldn’t dream of leaving bad reviews as we know that lots of others enjoy what they offer it’s just not for us so we just wouldn’t book again.

This is the t&c’s for the free nights program from the U.K. website but I’m sure it applies to all markets, free nights are combinable with the onboard booking program (we have booked this way with free nights twice) and Refer & Receive. Earned Complimentary Nights: Complimentary nights have no cash value, are not redeemable for cash, cannot be transferred to other bookings or other members’ loyalty account and must be booked within one year after date earned on a new reservation. Complimentary nights can only be redeemed on sailings 7-nights or longer. Complimentary nights cannot be used with Cruisetours. Guests are responsible for paying pro-rated amount of prevailing cruise fare rate at the time of booking (calculated as the per night price of the cruise times the numbers of nights not covered by the certificate), as well as full taxes, fees & port expenses for total duration of the cruise. Complimentary Nights can only be combined with the Azamara Circle Onboard Booking Program, Back to Back Offer, and the Azamara Circle Refer & Receive Future Cruise Credit. Complimentary nights cannot be combined with any other program, promotion, Restricted Rates, Contracted Groups or Incentive Groups. Complimentary nights earned when reaching different levels cannot be redeemed together. A balance of any unused complimentary nights can be redeemed only by Discoverer Platinum members who book 7-9-night voyages within one year of when the complimentary night(s) was awarded. Stateroom category will be based on category guest most frequently purchased on Azamara.

Wow I hadn’t noticed that, in fact the total survey responses represents less than 0.1% of the passengers who sailed from Southampton alone. Hardly fair on any company to publish a survey with such a small sample size.

Can’t say I would agree with you about Viking, admittedly we’ve only done one cruise with them in 2019 but it was a complete shambles. Starting with embarkation when they notified all passengers of the wrong docking location, service was poor and food mainly cold, problem was possibly launching so many ships too quickly and staff were poorly trained things no doubt have improved but a poor first impression. Agree that Azamara suffers from the impression it’s a luxury line probably promoted more by travel agents than the cruise line. Azamara reminds us of P&O U.K. pre Carnival but without the formal element offering a premium not luxury product.

We did a similar itinerary last October and the good news is that Azamara will be docked in Nice so it’s easy to walk into town. With regards to Monaco it’s dependent on the local authorities but no doubt you will be able to come and go once formalities are completed. Bad news unless you have cruised with Azamara before 1st February 2023 you won’t keep your Celebrity status, currently the Azamara website is still administered by Royal Caribbean but Azamara’s own website is due to go live on the 20th March.

There are U.S. 110v and 220v European sockets on all the ships and USB sockets in the bottom of the bedside lights. However Onward also has a U.K. socket again voltage will be 220v.

In addition to uktog’s answer, booking onboard you will also get $200 onboard credit for the cruise you book which is increased to $300 if you book in the first half of the cruise.

I’ve found a few general photos of last year’s AzAmazing Day in Portovenere, according to someone who was there special food and drinks stations were set up and music was provided. Personally I wouldn’t mind this as an alternative to the evening’s, some of which seem a little rushed.

All 4 ships are scheduled to be together in Koper again on the 5th October 2023, we will be on Onward and originally the AzAmazing event was with all 4 ships. Recently we received notification this has been cancelled and replaced with an AzAmazing Evening at Revelin Fortress in Dubrovnik. Koper had originally been the venue for 3 ships meeting with an evening event in October 2020 which obviously didn’t happen, possibly it was decided either by Azamara or local authorities that the additional passengers from an extra ship made this impossible. Viking Sea is scheduled for the same day this also may have had some bearing on the cancellation of the event.

OP does say 3 segments so presumably b2b2b and that would then make the end port Venice.

In the U.K. Choice Air isn’t offered but this is from the Azamara website announcing its new systems for trade partners which gives an indication that air offerings will be taken in house once the new system is live. New Versonix Seaware Touch Booking Platform Seamlessly accessible through Azamara Connect, the all-new booking engine with easily accessible features and functionality for travel partners to book across channels over one integrated platform with a 360° view of everything. Travel partners can book FIT, plus back-to-back and combo voyages, including cruise, air, shore excursions, onboard packages, and more.

The following email went out to loyalty members on the 30th August to loyalty members: In an ideal world anyone booking after that date should have been made aware of this but as has already been established the current website is unable to break the link between Celebrity and Azamara loyalty points.

This information was put on Azamara’s website on the 30th August 2022, I can also remember CC posts about it at the time: Currently, Azamara Circle and Captain’s Club members earn points cumulatively in both programs. After the sale of Azamara to private equity firm Sycamore Partners, we announced that loyalty members who sail on Azamara or Celebrity, continue having reciprocity and earn cumulative loyalty points until February 1, 2023. After February 1, 2023, Azamara Circle Members will no longer earn cumulative points and have reciprocity with Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International. Although this may take some getting used to, this is great news for all of us. Having our own independent systems allows us to implement loyalty program suggestions and improve pre- and post-cruise guest experiences more effectively. We thank you for your patience as we work through details. We will continue to keep you up to date with more updates and reminders in the coming months. In the meantime, please see the frequently asked questions below. I would also say that the current website is administered by Royal Caribbean not Azamara and I doubt if a company they’ve sold is high on their priority list. What the future holds with Azamara’s IT remains to be seen but the company that’s been brought in to provide IT, Versonix Seaware have a lot of experience with the cruise industry providing services to NCL, Windstar, Virgin, Disney, MSC and many others. We have no experience with any of these cruise lines, maybe others who have will be able to provide some feedback.

On Azamara Onwards pre maiden trade cruise they had an AzAmazing Day event in Portovenere which by all accounts was quite special and very successful. Perhaps they have decided to recreate that event, there were some pictures posted on FB at the time and it did look like it was a good event.

We visited these ports on Quest last year in Bilbao there was a shuttle that took you into the city close to the Guggenheim Museum, in Porto we took a ships tour so can’t 100% say if a shuttle was provided but think there might have been.

I can remember the advice to go via Nicole in Azamara loyalty which did work but then we were inundated with RC and Celebrity emails, when we tried to stop them Azamara stopped as well. Having the same login and password for all their websites is a problem, possibly they thought it would be easier for customers, alternatively it might just be lazy web designers. Looking forward to the challenges of the new website 😁

Sad to say on this occasion I agree with you, but we can always hope.

There’s also the problem of Trade sales where agents hide the fact the booking is with the Travel Agent and not the cruise line and it’s the agents t&c’s that apply to the booking which can include all sorts of unwarranted conditions. Sad to say cruise booking in the U.K. has been a minefield for years often catching out the unwary but since covid it’s a lot worse. Cruise lines rely on agents to promote their products so in a way are complicit in some of the things that are going on, we will be continuing to book direct until things improve.

And there’s the problem communication from the Royal Caribbean web system has never been fit for purpose, we’ve had no end of problems either getting on email lists we want to be on or off of those we don’t. Fingers crossed that Azamara’s new system is an improvement, although that won’t be too hard.

Yes it’s these money grabbing changes that’s stopped us using travel agents, we’ve received good service from Azamara direct who have discovered FCC’s that our old travel agent insisted didn’t exist.

In the U.K. it’s loss of deposit which is £250 pp (unless it’s an onboard booking when the deposit is 50%) however I have noticed since the covid hiatus some U.K. travel agents have been adding their own cancellation fees.

Both, that’s how it’s been for our last 3 cruises.