Work around for OBC for early 2018 cruises?

"Or, if you prefer, you could just do things as they were before Azamara instituted all these changes in an attempt to please people here: Pre-book excursions you simply must have, pay with a credit card, and use your OBC for something else, which you are now able to do. There are ample opportunities to spend it onboard. This way there will be no currency conversion issues."

 

 

 

Precisely what we've done for our Feb-March cruises! Lots of opportunities to happily use OBC onboard, and we've secured spots for our must-have excursions.

We struggled last cruise shops had nothing exciting and we already had speciality dining. It all depends what interests you I suppose

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The lost revenue, which is really OBC? ;)

Or more importantly negative customer sentiment as a consequence of the poor UI and functionality on the web site. I have worked in IT services for over 20 years and I cant believe how poor the Azamara site is, looks and behaves like something from early 21st century.

I thought the Celebrity web site was bad but at least I can view my booking without messing around manipulating URL's and spending OBC works a treat!

It's a good job the rest of your product is excellent and you have loyal customers....

I wonder if the website upgrade delay has something to do with Pursuit? If itineraries are going to be added and information on the new ship included, I would think that Azamara would do everything at once (including the new OBC for shore excursion functionality) That would make the most sense.

In the meantime, I am not waiting for the temporary "fix." I have booked private excursions and will try to use the OBC for things like better beverages and the Chef's table. I'm a bit disappointed, but somehow or other we will spend the extra money.

mare

Or more importantly negative customer sentiment as a consequence of the poor UI and functionality on the web site. I have worked in IT services for over 20 years and I cant believe how poor the Azamara site is, looks and behaves like something from early 21st century.

 

I thought the Celebrity web site was bad but at least I can view my booking without messing around manipulating URL's and spending OBC works a treat!

 

It's a good job the rest of your product is excellent and you have loyal customers....

I'm not disagreeing with you. Every budget season I understand it is on our wish-list. But it's a big 'ask' for a small company, and other things have taken priority. Maybe now with 3 ships...

Or more importantly negative customer sentiment as a consequence of the poor UI and functionality on the web site.

I thought the Celebrity web site was bad but at least I can view my booking without messing around manipulating URL's and spending OBC works a treat!

It's a good job the rest of your product is excellent and you have loyal customers....

Agreed . . . under the same "big umbrella" of Royal Caribbean . . . if the Celebrity pre-book using OBC is up & running (and has been for some time) just why is it taking Azamara so long to deliver???

Agreed . . . under the same "big umbrella" of Royal Caribbean . . . if the Celebrity pre-book using OBC is up & running (and has been for some time) just why is it taking Azamara so long to deliver???

Trying to compare the two systems is not really logical. It would be like comparing websites for Cadillac and Chevrolet - both part of General Motors with similar corporate missions but entirely separate operations. If you really look at the RCL, Celebrity and Azamara websites, it is clear that they have a different architectural organization and have almost certainly been maintained by different teams.

Even if they had started at one time from the same beginning point (which they obviously didn't), over several years, they would look different and have very different internal structures. I don't mean to defend them, the website is horrible and desperately needs an overhaul. The problem is money and priorities. As long as sales remain strong and/or until someone at or very near the top is convinced this is costing them money, it won't get fixed.

I was on the Journey earlier this year and noted the prices of all of the excursions from the web site prior to our sailing. Once onboard, I found that the price of EVERY excursion had gone up $20.00 per person. (I was told by a staffer at that time, it is common practice to see higher shore excursion prices once onboard.)

In a couple of months, we are sailing on the Quest for 7 days with $1,200 in non-refundable OBC. (I know...lucky us) I would like to use this OBC for shore excursions, exclusively. Using the "OBC Workaround" and booking my wanted shore excursions today using my credit card, can I assume that I will be refunded 100% of my total credit card charges onboard, but, will be "charged" $20.00 per person more per excursion against my OBC when I rebook? For example if I book 10 shore excursions costing $120.00 per person today, will I need $1,400 in OBC (($120.00 +$20.00) x 10) to cover the same 10 excursions when I rebook onboard?

I was on the Journey earlier this year and noted the prices of all of the excursions from the web site prior to our sailing. Once onboard, I found that the price of EVERY excursion had gone up $20.00 per person. (I was told by a staffer at that time, it is common practice to see higher shore excursion prices once onboard.)

 

In a couple of months, we are sailing on the Quest for 7 days with $1,200 in non-refundable OBC. (I know...lucky us) I would like to use this OBC for shore excursions, exclusively. Using the "OBC Workaround" and booking my wanted shore excursions today using my credit card, can I assume that I will be refunded 100% of my total credit card charges onboard, but, will be "charged" $20.00 per person more per excursion against my OBC when I rebook? For example if I book 10 shore excursions costing $120.00 per person today, will I need $1,400 in OBC (($120.00 +$20.00) x 10) to cover the same 10 excursions when I rebook onboard?

I see you are in Chicago, so presume you will be paying in $US, in which case the excursions you pre-booked will be fully refunded. It's a different story for those who have to pay in their home country currency and are refunded in $US on board.

$20 sounds just a little bit more than has been my experience . . . usually $10 more on board (last in June this year) . . . but with the all around increase in cruise pricing, many excursions well may be $20 more on board, especially if they are towards the more expensive end to start with. Rarely an inexpensive excursion may remain at the same price it was before boarding.

I always look at the excursions in pounds sterling, and have found that the brochure price beforehand varies from time to time, depending on the exchange rate.

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Bonnie,

Do you expect the permanent fix for using OBC to book shore excursions to be available soon? If not, will it be possible to extend the work around? I'm on a February 8, 2018 sailing and would like to book the excursions.

I always look at the excursions in pounds sterling, and have found that the brochure price beforehand varies from time to time, depending on the exchange rate.

And, even after the "permanent fix" is up and running, excursion costs may change from what you expected to pay using the exchange rate at the time you pre-booked to what you actually pay using the exchange rate at the time you disembark.

Bonnie,

Do you expect the permanent fix for using OBC to book shore excursions to be available soon? If not, will it be possible to extend the work around? I'm on a February 8, 2018 sailing and would like to book the excursions.

We are in the same boat (literally! Feb.8). It is pretty poor of Azamara to have us tie up our money ahead of time and then charge us a premium for doing so by charging a higher rate on board. We have been waiting patiently for the September fix so that we could book using our OBC.

If Azamara can't fix it one way, they should fix it by allowing us to call in and make the booking through ShoreEx.

Why is it each time I sail with Celebrity/Azamara they do something really dumb to extremely annoy me? Then I stay away for a few years.

Considerable lost revenue on RCI part.

John

And, even after the "permanent fix" is up and running, excursion costs may change from what you expected to pay using the exchange rate at the time you pre-booked to what you actually pay using the exchange rate at the time you disembark.

I looked at pre-booking a couple of shore excursions yesterday (something I said I would not do again until the permanent fix was in place) and found the exchange rate $US : $AU to be a very poor one . . . so much so that I went and checked whether the $US price had been increased . . it had not.

I must wonder at this stage, whether when the process is up and running, will the bookings be made in the same currency as the OBC, or will people outside USA remain disadvantaged?

And, even after the "permanent fix" is up and running, excursion costs may change from what you expected to pay using the exchange rate at the time you pre-booked to what you actually pay using the exchange rate at the time you disembark.

Why OBC is in dollars the exchange rate becomes irrelevant? You're missing the crux of the issue for international guests

And yes the exchange rate is currently very poor indeed against the £ which is trading fully 10% above the rate being applied.

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Why OBC is in dollars the exchange rate becomes irrelevant? You're missing the crux of the issue for international guests

 

And yes the exchange rate is currently very poor indeed against the £ which is trading fully 10% above the rate being applied.

Sorry, Ann, you need to clarify your first sentence. Do you expect Azamara to do business in every possible currency of its passengers' home countries?

I think there are 2 issues here. The first is the fact that if you are from anywhere except the USA and buy excursions beforehand intending to use the ‘work round’ to get a refund and rebook onboard using OBC, you lose out twice because of a poor exchange rate used both in pricing the excursion then again for the repayment - so you never get back as much as you paid.

The second issue relates to people from outside the US buying excursions without involving OBC. When you compare the dollar price of the excursion with the sterling (or other currency) price you find that the exchange rate used is considerably worse than both the current market and tourist exchange rates. For example, I have just done a comparison on 2 excursions on my forthcoming cruise from Athens to Dubai - tour of Luxor and Dead Sea tour. The Luxor tour is $199, but £163 and the Dead Sea Tour is $129, but £106. This uses an exchange rate of $1.21 to the pound sterling. The current official exchange rate is $1.34 to the pound sterling and I can buy dollars at $1.31 to the pound.

It would be better if Azamara sold all their pre-booked excursions in dollars, no matter where the purchaser is from. That way it is up to us to find a mechanism to pay that gives us the best deal. For example I have a credit card that charges no commission and uses the market exchange rate, which would save me quite a lot of money on excursions.

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Sorry, Ann, you need to clarify your first sentence. Do you expect Azamara to do business in every possible currency of its passengers' home countries?

I understand what Ann is saying. Example for me as a guest from the UK. I pre-book some shore excursions online using my $1000 early booking bonus. When I book them the exchange rate for the USD to GBP conversion on my credit card is 1.31 so I pay £763. When I board the ship the $1000 is refunded to my credit card and the OBC is used. The $1000 is credited back to my card, but at a buy back rate of 1.375 (taking account the typical spread in the bank buying and selling rate). So I get back £727. A loss in this case of £36. This of course assumes that there is no movement in exchange rates between the time of booking the excursions online and getting the refund and any "hidden" foreign exchange fees charged by the credit card company. Of course this might be mitigated if the exchange rate drops between booking and refunding, but my own experience is that foreign exchange is a mugs game and it could end up going the other way.

Phil

I understand what Ann is saying. Example for me as a guest from the UK. I pre-book some shore excursions online using my $1000 early booking bonus. When I book them the exchange rate for the USD to GBP conversion on my credit card is 1.31 so I pay £763. When I board the ship the $1000 is refunded to my credit card and the OBC is used. The $1000 is credited back to my card, but at a buy back rate of 1.375 (taking account the typical spread in the bank buying and selling rate). So I get back £727. A loss in this case of £36. This of course assumes that there is no movement in exchange rates between the time of booking the excursions online and getting the refund and any "hidden" foreign exchange fees charged by the credit card company. Of course this might be mitigated if the exchange rate drops between booking and refunding, but my own experience is that foreign exchange is a mugs game and it could end up going the other way.

 

Phil

Exactly Phil. I've still to do the maths but my purchase was at 1.21. Two excursions were +$10 so that's +$40 as far as I can see. Looks like refund will be at 1.36 so it's quite a cost.

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I continue to follow this thread closely due to the fact between early booking OBC, TA OBC, and if I understand it correctly OBC for being in an Owners Suite instead of the provided excursion we are up to about $3000 for our first cruise. We are on the 8 Day Iberian passage next September from Lisbon to Barcelona.

My question is for anyone who has sailed this or similar itinerary with Azamara: Is it likely that many of the excursion will be sold out if I wait to book on board should the elusive change to using OBC in advance to book excursions never occur? If I don't use my OBC for excursions I guess my wife will have a heck of a shopping spree in the shops on board.

Exactly Phil. I've still to do the maths but my purchase was at 1.21. Two excursions were +$10 so that's +$40 as far as I can see. Looks like refund will be at 1.36 so it's quite a cost.

Yes, I understand that. But what do you expect Azamara to do? Refund more in US currency than you paid to compensate for the stronger pound?

Azamara has gone out of its way to institute this "work-around" in response to complaints here, and has said it would now let passengers use the excursion-only OBC for anything, significantly mitigating the problem. If the refund currency exchange problem is such an issue then just don't use the work-around. Book the excursions you really want in advance, pay at the time, and use OBC for excursions less important to you and for everything else while on-board. Just as we all did before Azamara's promotion offering excursion-only OBC prompted this brouhaha.

I'm not sure why the refund situation is any different than my charging to my card a briefcase at Harrod's today and returning it two weeks later when the US dollar is 10% stronger. I wouldn't expect Harrod's to credit my card with 10% more pounds than I paid for the briefcase to compensate for the change in exchange rate.

This whole argument (currency exchange, etc.) could be made moot if Azamara would just get the website functionality instituted to buy shore excursions in advance with OBC. It's been months now. Oh, and the current website (I looked a few days ago) still says, in the FAQ section, that a workaround for OBC is prohibited. We lucky ones on Cruise Critic are aware that it can be done, but what about everyone else? I love Azamara but this type of thing is so off-putting.

mare

Yes, I understand that. But what do you expect Azamara to do? Refund more in US currency than you paid to compensate for the stronger pound?

 

 

 

Azamara has gone out of its way to institute this "work-around" in response to complaints here, and has said it would now let passengers use the excursion-only OBC for anything, significantly mitigating the problem. If the refund currency exchange problem is such an issue then just don't use the work-around. Book the excursions you really want in advance, pay at the time, and use OBC for excursions less important to you and for everything else while on-board. Just as we all did before Azamara's promotion offering excursion-only OBC prompted this brouhaha.

 

 

 

I'm not sure why the refund situation is any different than my charging to my card a briefcase at Harrod's today and returning it two weeks later when the US dollar is 10% stronger. I wouldn't expect Harrod's to credit my card with 10% more pounds than I paid for the briefcase to compensate for the change in exchange rate.

I'm not returning the excursions as your analogy is based I'm still taking the excursions I'm having to use a work around and it costs me, it doesn't cost you to use it so it is discriminatory against non US guests. Azamara bill me in Sterling they know exactly how much so I should have the option to have the refund in dollars onboard or in the sterling I paid back to my card. Non US guests are in the majority on virtually every cruise and if the line is to grow as we all want it to, they need to avoid measures that disadvantage overseas guests. This is just one example of many

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I'm not returning the excursions as your analogy is based I'm still taking the excursions I'm having to use a work around and it costs me, it doesn't cost you to use it so it is discriminatory against non US guests. Azamara bill me in Sterling they know exactly how much so I should have the option to have the refund in dollars onboard or in the sterling I paid back to my card.

Azamara changed perks to OBC personally the only thing I can use it on is excursions because the range of merchandise in the shop is poor, I'm not a big drinker and the spa is overpriced for the treatments I have - identical treatments and products for me are 45% the onboard price at home that's why this whole LD issue frustrates.

Non US guests are in the majority on virtually every cruise and if the line is to grow as we all want it to, they need to avoid measures that disadvantage overseas guests.

This is just one example of many

 

 

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This whole argument (currency exchange, etc.) could be made moot if Azamara would just get the website functionality instituted to buy shore excursions in advance with OBC. It's been months now. Oh, and the current website (I looked a few days ago) still says, in the FAQ section, that a workaround for OBC is prohibited. We lucky ones on Cruise Critic are aware that it can be done, but what about everyone else? I love Azamara but this type of thing is so off-putting.

 

mare

Exactly! I don't want any faffing around with exchange differences by anyone. I just want the system to be right for all.

Phil

Exactly! I don't want any faffing around with exchange differences by anyone. I just want the system to be right for all.

 

Phil

I agree - especially the "for all".