Guarantee stateroom

I believe that very recently someone who had booked a guarantee stateroom on a cruise from Melbourne was informed 2 days before the cruise that there was no room for them. They were at the airport at the time waiting to board their plane to Melbourne ready to embark.

I also understand that Azamara was eventually able to find a stateroom for them, and compensated them well for the stress etc.

I wondered how this could happen, especially at such a late stage, and how often it happens.

I believe that very recently someone who had booked a guarantee stateroom on a cruise from Melbourne was informed 2 days before the cruise that there was no room for them. They were at the airport at the time waiting to board their plane to Melbourne ready to embark.

I also understand that Azamara was eventually able to find a stateroom for them, and compensated them well for the stress etc.

I wondered how this could happen, especially at such a late stage, and how often it happens.

Indeed, that was me, and my partner. Actually the cruise was Journey, 8/2 from Sydney. We were found a cabin and you very kindly made the cruise complementary for us. We are very much enjoying the Azamara product and we will be booking a future cruise so all in all it was a good outcome for us. However I understand that three other couples will left at the quay side as they were in the same position but did not get onto social media or answer their phones quickly enough. Clearly everyone wants to book a cruise and be certain that when they turn up they will be able to happily embark and have a fabulous holiday. Whilst I am greatly appreciative of the complementary cruise, and that cannot be understated, we customers, and I believe also the crew on the ship, would all be interested to know what procedures have been put in place to ensure that this does not happen again. Thank you.

Richard, this issue has been a PR disaster for Azamara and all the loyalists were horrified by what happened to Lahore. It now seems that there were three other couples also affected but obviously they are not CC members. To be frank, a free Holland America cruise and the compensation offered would not make up for the extreme disappointment and inconvenience....to me anyway.

HOW could this happen? Booking a guarantee cabin has always been an option where the booking is a firm one, but your cabin number can be allocated at any time up until sail date. The risk that you might have your cruise cancelled altogether if you book a guarantee cabin has never been specified by Azamara and neither can I find it in the T&C's.

I will never book a guarantee cabin with Azamara again and this whole episode has really affected our confidence in the Azamara product....and you know how much I love it. I can only imagine how upset the wonderful onboard officers were at having to tell passengers at the quayside that they cannot board. I know Heike would have been so upset to have to do that.

I think senior Azamara management should come to the Azamara board to explain WHY this happened to Lahore and the other passengers. We can only imagine it was for the financial benefit of RCCI but it never should have happened.

Hi everyone,

Sincere thanks for the feedback on this from everyone. Allow me toprovide some clarity.

The voyage was short one room because we had planned extraentertainment for guests on this cruise, which required an extra room. As a business it is not and has never been our policy to offload guests.

In very rare circumstances, we make a voluntaryoffer for a guest to take a different cruise if we are short. If theywere not interested, they can decline.

In the Australian voyage case, the message to the guest wasnot communicated or understood as voluntary, this was Azamara's problem and we accept full responsibility for this. As you are aware, in the end we were able tosecure the room and the guests sailed.

I would like to stress that NO guests were turned awayat the pier, it is not accurate to say anyone was left behind.

Many thanks,

Richard

So, no one took a voluntary offer either? The phrase "no guests were turned away" doesn't clarify if anyone had a pier side offer made to them and if pressure was brought to bear in the nicest possible way.

The poster above is correct that this was a PR disaster. Count me among those who will never recommend a guarantee booking.

I think i have been quite measured throughout this whole affair as the directly affected party. I was also extremely happy with the compensation that you offered and content up until I read this post. I’m sorry but this post is insulting to my integrity and everyone else’s intelligence.

I challenge you Richard to listen to the ‘call recorded for training purposes’ that was made to me in relation to this matter. The person working for you said, and I quote almost verbatim “ it doesn’t matter what you say to me, at the end of this phone call I am going to cancel your ticket. If you go to the dock you will not be able to board. ... We can cancel anyone at any time, it is in the contract“.

Obviously that is only a small part of a one hour conversation (diring which I confess to being furious and using profanities at one point). There was never any information of any voluntary nature, or option.

As to the other people that were supposedly turned away at the dock, I will make the same offer to you that I made to Bonnie. I will not be a party to making somebody get into trouble in relation to their job but apart from that I will tell you verbatim but I was told by somebody in your senior management team on this ship. It was a longer conversation than just that they were turned away. If that didn’t happen then somebody has lied and it absolutely was not me.

Dear Lahore,

Please allow me to clarify a little. I totally agree that you have been fair and measured. I sincerely apologise if a member of the team said that to you, that is not acceptable.

As I hope I tried to get across, we recognise we didn't handle this initially well, and I was pleased to read that we were able to accommodate you.

We have taken this case very seriously across our business in order to ensure it is never repeated.

Once again I apologise on behalf of the business.

Kind regards

Richard

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Hi Richard

Thank you for responding.

I just got a bit annoyed there because it sounded as though you thought I somehow misunderstood a voluntary “move over offer” - which was most emphatically not the case. The person on the phone to me absolutely did say what I quoted and I hope you have the conversation for reference, although I will be a little shamefaced about how upset I got at the time.

As an academic who is currently teaching in the Business Faculty of a university, I really do hope most sincerely that your organisation turns this into a learning opportunity. Then we will all have a great outcome from what we all hope was a one-off error in policy/process.

Meanwhile let’s not flog this dead horse any longer. I just disembarked and I am very happy with the experience and the compensation you folk offered. We eagerly anticipate our next cruise which we have already booked and deposited on Azamara Quest in December.

Regards

Lyn

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