Riocca

Phoned 8.30am and after listening to Azamara U.K. messages received an instant answer! Not sure if it’s significant but when it comes to options I selected 3 for direct bookings and 2 for new bookings it takes you to the same team, don’t trust phone systems with too many options.

No it’s only for arrival by air, that said we did the online forms back in May when we flew to Nice for Onwards maiden. British Airways required us supply details online before check in, we had to supply proof of vaccination from the NHS but when it came to the locator it was just a tick box to say we had one, after that no one actually asked to see it.

Agree, hopefully Miami will take some action although it’s hard to see what can be done short term. To answer your earlier question I was assured last week that they won’t cancel a deposited booking without contacting the customer first, and given the current situation they would be silly to do so. I will be joining you on the phone trail, or should it be trial, tomorrow so good luck.

I’ve contacted an acquaintance in Azamara’s U.K. office, I’ve met them on a couple of cruises, they have no access to the payment system but have alerted the Miami office to the problem. Apparently the current problems with flights and airport problems is overwhelming the call centre they are expanding the department and things will improve but that’s no consolation at the moment. The transition away from Royal Caribbean to Azamara’s own system will also help but that’s a while away, so as I see it there’s no magic bullet but they are trying to resolve the situation. Their suggestion is to phone at 8.30 am when the office opens, but if we are all doing this then it’s still going to cause problems.

Interesting, someone I spoke to a few weeks ago kept on confusing U.K. and U.S. offers, maybe they rotate staff or something. This is where we could do with someone like Richard Twynam in the U.K. who could sort things out as they did in the old days.

To be honest I don’t think it matters which numbers are used as it all seems to end up at the same call centre. I try to avoid what I think might be peak times for U.S. travel agents, that said I struggled last week at 9am U.K. time and in the past got through no problem at 4pm. I’m hoping that once the new staff become more efficient it might improve an of course longer term that Azamara will have an online payment option which would drastically reduce the amount of phone traffic.

Good luck 🤞

Verve Cliquot was available as an option on Onwards Maiden, not sure if this is going to be a thing or it was just on the maiden. Both were available so it wasn’t a case of them being out of NF.

There’s a champagne (Nicolas Feuillatte) included in the Ultimate Package.

No online payment options at the moment unfortunately, we are on the same cruise and spoke to Azamara last week as we are awaiting some FCC. Our payment date was deferred until Wednesday while the query is being dealt with but was assured Azamara will never cancel a deposited booking without contacting the customer first. So I wouldn’t get concerned about them automatically cancelling your booking. I was on hold for over an hour first time I phoned, rang off and immediately redialled and got through in 5 minutes. Possibly there’s a fault in the system, which is still Royal Caribbean’s, so I think the best system is to keep redialling if you don’t get an answer in 10 minutes, that’s going to be my strategy next week.

There’s no UK office to telephone it’s just sales support to travel agents. The UK number takes you through to Azamara customer service in Wichita USA, if you email Azamara UK that also goes to the same office. They have recently added a number of new staff members who I think are struggling to come to terms with all the different offers in different markets across the world. All I can suggest is if you have problems getting your questions resolved ask to speak to a more senior member of the team.

Definitely hit and miss, this week for the first time I was on hold for an hour before I rang off and immediately redialled then got an answer within 5 minutes.

No wish to be controversial but most of the negative comments come from those who haven’t cruised on Azamara Onward. We were on the maiden so have experienced it first hand and have seen what has been done to mitigate the change of use. Firstly there is a library it’s just been relocated to the living room, admittedly books were scarce but this was a logistical issue which I think has now been resolved. Much is made of the wonderful library on Viking ships but this is in the Explorer’s Lounge so a very similar situation to that on Onward. Secondly the Atlas bar only opens in the evening so during the day it’s available as a quiet space, this was our experience and we used it on a number of occasions as did others. I think most people use the Drawing Room during the day we’ve not seen it used much in the evenings except for the Best of the Best and private functions so I’m not sure what people are actually losing. It could be used for private functions during the day as the bar is cleared down, but I think on the maiden meetings were either in the Show Lounge or an area in the Living Room depending on the type of function.

If the Premium package comes as part of booking promotion you can upgrade to Ultimate for $7 per person per day, no loyalty discounts are applicable to this price. We did this when we were on Onwards maiden, as did many others, so I can confirm this. I have heard that if you purchase an experience package then a loyalty discount can be applied but I can’t confirm this as we’ve never purchased an experience package.

We haven’t either, spoke to Azamara yesterday and it’s being chased up, waiting to apply it to an October cruise. Balance was due on Sunday but Azamara have deferred it for a week pending the FCC.

1. Upgrade from Premium to Ultimate is $7 per person per day, if two in a cabin it’s not compulsory for both to upgrade. There’s no loyalty discount applied to the upgrade amount if the Premium package comes with the booking, not sure what the situation is if you’ve purchased the package. 2. Not 100% sure as we don’t use the mini bar but I think it’s included anyway, the small bottle of wine in the room is chargeable even if you have a package. I’m sure others can give more information. 3. You would pay the whole price shown on the price list, although there’s not much other than the ultra premium spirits not included in the Ultimate package.

🍎🍏

Around these parts I’m not sure Strongbow even counts as cider 🤔

Both don’t have to upgrade and yes the wine is served in all the dining venues.

We were originally told 45 days from disembarkation and booked an October cruise based on this, originally Azamara were happy to accept the promised FCC as the deposit. I got nervous about that and a few weeks ago checked it was still ok the agent thought it might be better to pay the deposit just in case which I did. Balance is due next week and it’s looking like August before we get the FCC but the agent said we could either delay the balance or pay the balance less the estimated FCC. She did say they’re dealing with this all the time and it’s not going to be a problem.

Went into hospital for a hip injection in February and had to do a PCR test and isolate for 3 days before hand, going for another in August all that’s required now is a self administered lateral flow test reported to the NHS before attending hospital. I could see this might be a way forward, does rely on a degree of honesty but one would hope that most passengers would adhere to the rules. As regards quarantine isolation onboard this has been happening for years with norovirus without too many complaints so we may have to accept it with covid as well for some time to come.

I’ve just seen a posting on Facebook (Azamara A-Z) someone was told by their travel agent that there was an announcement due from Azamara on the 1st August regarding testing. This is also the date a number of other cruise lines are dropping the testing requirement.

Phoned at 9am U.K. time and got through in under 15 minutes most of that time listening to the multiple out of date recorded messages. I try to avoid phoning once the U.S. market starts waking up as then it can be hit and miss.

The Ultimate package can only be bought onboard.

I think we’re going to have a few months of pain until Azamara can get their own systems working and disentangled from the Royal Caribbean system. I’ve recently spoken with a couple of their new reservation/customer service agents and it’s obvious they’re struggling with having different marketing offerings in different regions. Maybe a little patience is required, it’s frustrating but when I’ve had any issues they’ve always resolved it to our satisfaction, it just may have taken a little longer than’s ideal. Having seen the new onboard system on Onward I believe that they’re moving in the right direction.