Disappointed related to Shore Excursions

[Lcmandell]

Trying to post this brochure that I picked up on our April 24 Quest cruise, not sure if the size is too small, front page says,

 

Illuminating. Intriguing. Quite Irresistable.

 

Introducing our Apr 2011-March 2012 Voyages with:

 

2-for-1 fares

 

50% savings on pre-booked Land Discoveries

 

Gratuities included

 

Up to $600 additional off your voyage fare when you book while onboard.

 

The 50% savings on pre-booked Land discoveries is listed on 5 different pages, however, on the back page, in small fine print, it does say, Land Discoveries reservations under this program are accepted on a first come, first served bases, and are subject to availability......, Restrictions apply and penalties apply unless Land Discoveries programs are cancelled 24 hours prior to arrival in port. Excursions will be available for pre sale at least 4 months prior to sailing.

 

Within this brochure, it also included a 1 page listing itinerary changes for 5 sailings on Azamara Quest for Oct-Nov 2011.

[alibabatimes]

Hello,

 

Per my earlier post we have now opened the 50% off pre-booked Land Discovery program for a short time period to those guests that qualified for this promotion.

In order to ensure proper customer-friendly service and to provide the time required for Land Discoveries on voyages that depart later in 2011 to be made available for booking, there will be three phases (based in order of voyage pattern) to implement this offer. Travel Professionals and guests will be notified of their exact booking window by Azamara Club Cruises Customer Service.

 

Should you have any questions please contact Azamara Club Cruises Customer Service or your Travel Professional.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

__________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

That is great news re the excursions. It will be good when the travel agents get to know about it as so far mine knows nothing and when I ask I draw a blank each time. Will we hear through our agents or direct from Azamara? We booked back in February for the Quest in November. I have so far not been impressed with communication from Azamara through to their agents and through to me. There seems to be a gap somewhere. When I mentioned Bill's posting on Cruise Critic to my agent she said 'I am unable to comment on Bill Leiber's posting'. All very frustrating.

[grammy2009]

I signed up this morning for half=price excursions!! We are cruising July 2-14 in Baltic. Called cruiseline on Sat. to veriify cost/arrangements for St. Petersburg and agent told me that Journey passengers have this week M-F (10-6 EDT) to sign up for discounted excursions due to misunderstanding and missing Mar. deadline. Call LeClub 1-888-532-5828 and ask for Land Discoveries. I booked 5 excursions for my husband and myself. St. Petersburg car/van trips not included and all must be paid for at time of call. Hope this helps.

I am happy to report that I followed up on this and was successful. First I called my TA and she was told I had to do it myself so I did. When I was first connected, I had to chose from a limited selection of options none of which was Land Discoveries, so I choose "Individual Booking." The agent I reached put me thru a rigamarole of questions mostly trying to determine if I had received a personal letter advising me that I was eligible for the half off. I describe the discussions held here and the comment from Mr. Lieber and was finally put thru to Land Discoveries. It also didn't hurt that there was a record of my TA's inquiry. At any rate, once I was put thru to the approriate Department, it was simply a matter of providing the tour numbers and my credit card info and moments later I had an email of confirmation at half-price. The actual department name at the top of the email was "Shore and Land Excursions" Good luck to the rest of you!

[holomuku]

I just called and was told the original reservation had to be made by March 31st....we booked in early April so I guess we're out of luck.

 

If anyone else who booked after March 31st had luck in getting the 1/2 tours- please share!

 

Thank you.

[brighton seagulls]

Hello,

 

Per my earlier post we have now opened the 50% off pre-booked Land Discovery program for a short time period to those guests that qualified for this promotion.

 

In order to ensure proper customer-friendly service and to provide the time required for Land Discoveries on voyages that depart later in 2011 to be made available for booking, there will be three phases (based in order of voyage pattern) to implement this offer. Travel Professionals and guests will be notified of their exact booking window by Azamara Club Cruises Customer Service.

 

Should you have any questions please contact Azamara Club Cruises Customer Service or your Travel Professional.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

__________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

 

 

We booked prior to the deadline for an eligable cruise- 20th august 2011, and have today contacted Azamara but they knew nothing about this, indeed told me everyone on CC had got it wrong! Could it be this is only being reintroduced in the USA and not in the UK?

 

Karen & David

[taxjam]

We are on a January 2012 cruise too and are interested in any potential resolution. I have difficulty understanding how Azamara expects to retain customers by offering deals publicized in its literature and then unilaterally withdrawing them.

[pacaduli]

Hi Bill,

 

I have had the itch to book an Azamara cruise for awhile, and finally booked an Eastern Med Quest cruise! We are very excited to try out Azamara for the first time.

On another thread there is great debate about the Shore Excursions/50% off deadline issue.

I booked this cruise recently so the March 31, 2011 deadline doesn't apply to me at all, but my question is...

Does/will Azamara offer this discount to it's customers who book new cruises? If I were offered this discount, I would book a ship's excursion in every port, and I would book them TODAY.

However, if no discount is offered, I will for sure book private excursions, or venture out on my own at each port. I am just trying to come up with a game plan.

 

Either way, I am sure this will be a wonderful vacation, an am sooooo looking forward to the Azamara experience.

 

TIA!

[Andy]

Hi Bill,

 

I have had the itch to book an Azamara cruise for awhile, and finally booked an Eastern Med Quest cruise! We are very excited to try out Azamara for the first time.

On another thread there is great debate about the Shore Excursions/50% off deadline issue.

I booked this cruise recently so the March 31, 2011 deadline doesn't apply to me at all, but my question is...

Does/will Azamara offer this discount to it's customers who book new cruises? If I were offered this discount, I would book a ship's excursion in every port, and I would book them TODAY.

However, if no discount is offered, I will for sure book private excursions, or venture out on my own at each port. I am just trying to come up with a game plan.

 

Either way, I am sure this will be a wonderful vacation, an am sooooo looking forward to the Azamara experience.

 

TIA!

 

Hi Pacaduli !

 

Sorry, but as mentioned elsewhere in this thread, you had to book on or before 3/31 to be eligible for this promotion. Enjoy your Cruise !

[Emdee]

Host Andy,

 

We have had no resolution to our issue ... that is those of us who booked prior to March 31 for 2012 cruises on the supposition that the discount would apply!

[r&rd]

Host Andy,

 

We have had no resolution to our issue ... that is those of us who booked prior to March 31 for 2012 cruises on the supposition that the discount would apply!

 

I second that, especially the "onboard booking" promotion.

[Andy]

Host Andy,

 

We have had no resolution to our issue ... that is those of us who booked prior to March 31 for 2012 cruises on the supposition that the discount would apply!

 

I second that, especially the "onboard booking" promotion.

 

Hello Emdee & R&RD !

 

As I do not have an answer for you, I've passed along your comments to Azamara.

[Emdee]

Host Andy,

Thanks for taking up our cause!

Miriam

[Andy]

Host Andy,

Thanks for taking up our cause!

Miriam

 

Hi Emdee !

 

I'ts always a pleasure to help You, and our Cruise Critic Family.

[Bill Leiber]

Hello Emdee & R&RD !

 

As I do not have an answer for you, I've passed along your comments to Azamara.

Hello Miriam and r&rd,

 

I understand how important resolving this issue is to you and others.

 

At this point, we are still reviewing whether to reintroduce the program for 2012; however, if we were to do so, we want to be sure that we have thoroughly reviewed the program’s parameters thoroughly, i.e., have our “i’s dotted” and our “t’s crossed” before we release an announcement.

 

I will let you and others know our final decision after it has been made.

 

In the meantime, I appreciate your allegiance to Azamara and your continuing patience as we carefully consider our decision for 2012.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

__________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

[Bill Leiber]

Hello,

 

Per my earlier post we have now opened the 50% off pre-booked Land Discovery program for a short time period to those guests that qualified for this promotion.

In order to ensure proper customer-friendly service and to provide the time required for Land Discoveries on voyages that depart later in 2011 to be made available for booking, there will be three phases (based in order of voyage pattern) to implement this offer. Travel Professionals and guests will be notified of their exact booking window by Azamara Club Cruises Customer Service.

 

Should you have any questions please contact Azamara Club Cruises Customer Service or your Travel Professional.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

__________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

Hello -

 

As you can see in my post above, I mentioned that there would be three phases to implement this 50% off pre-booked Land Discovery program in order to provide the time required for Land Discoveries on voyages that depart later in 2011 (West Indies, South America and Asia) to be made available for booking.

 

With respect to the final phase as many of you know, the timing for our shore excursions to be live in the system is generally 4 months prior to the season, at which point the guests (or their travel agents) will be contacted directly.

 

In the meantime, thank you for your patience while we established what we trust was an efficient process to demonstrate our good will.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

__________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of AC

[grammy2009]

Host Andy,

 

We have had no resolution to our issue ... that is those of us who booked prior to March 31 for 2012 cruises on the supposition that the discount would apply!

see my post of May 18 - was successful in getting 1/2 price land excursions even without having received notification. See that post for details

[islington]

I booked a B2B in March for October/November this year. I hadn't heard anything new from Azamara with regards to getting the 50% discount so I rang the Shore Excursions dept. in the UK a couple of days ago and spoke to a very helpful young man called James Taylor. He checked and came back to say that they did indeed know about the discount. He then emailed me a form which I have to fax to Miami when we have decided which ones we want , along with payment, once the excursions are published.

Success it would seem!

Jenni

[Emdee]

Grammy 2009,

was your cruise 2011 or 2012 mine is Jan 2012 and no excursions are posted.

Thanks

Miriam

[taxjam]

Hello Miriam and r&rd,

 

At this point, we are still reviewing whether to reintroduce the program for 2012; however, if we were to do so, we want to be sure that we have thoroughly reviewed the program’s parameters thoroughly, i.e., have our “i’s dotted” and our “t’s crossed” before we release an announcement.

 

"Reintroduce" - I don't mean to be disrespectful or argumentative, and I think generally having a CBO is a great benefit to cruisers, but I must be blunt and say I find the word choice/spin, really annoying. Azamara made an offer, customers paid deposits in part based on that offer and Azamara then unilaterally altered its advertised offer. I would think Azamara would be using wording like "living up to its word," not "reviewing whether to reintroduce." Bad customer relations is the reason my wife and I dropped Azamara in early 2008. As I said in prior posts, we are in the 2012 boat and one of the reasons was the belief based in part on the creation of the CBO position that Azamara was worth trying again. Hopefully, Azamara's management will live up to its obligations.

[Jade13]

"Reintroduce" - I don't mean to be disrespectful or argumentative, and I think generally having a CBO is a great benefit to cruisers, but I must be blunt and say I find the word choice/spin, really annoying. Azamara made an offer, customers paid deposits in part based on that offer and Azamara then unilaterally altered its advertised offer. I would think Azamara would be using wording like "living up to its word," not "reviewing whether to reintroduce." Bad customer relations is the reason my wife and I dropped Azamara in early 2008. As I said in prior posts, we are in the 2012 boat and one of the reasons was the belief based in part on the creation of the CBO position that Azamara was worth trying again. Hopefully, Azamara's management will live up to its obligations.

 

I am really surprised at all of these continuing posts (not yours specifically taxjam, but all of them) regarding the 50% off Shore excursion promotion. I was under the impression that Azamara was going to make good on it's offer, and would be contacting everyone (either direct or through their travel partners) who had booked under this Shore Excursion promotion. I totally understand that they are opening up the re-booking of the shore excursions in order of the sailings, but that does not explain why after over two months no letter has gone out.

 

While we knew of the new deadline because of CC and booked our excursions, everyone entitled to the 50% off promotion should have received a letter by now and should have the opportunity to make any changes, especially if new excursions are added or ones are dropped (someone on our role call has had one canceled and I am sure they will be able to book a substitute excursion at 50% off as we were able to do after Egypt was canceled).

 

I also was unclear about the promotion being offered for 2012 as it never was on the website. However, it was pointed out that it was offered in at least one brochure, along with promotional materials given out on the ship (s). If someone would figure out how to scan the brochure page as well as the offer they received while on-board, it would put to rest whether the 50% off was ever offered for 2012 cruises. The responses suggest that Bill is not aware of the 2012 offer, and/or no 2012 offer is being acknowledged by the company.

 

The fact that "marketing" has not sent out letters makes it appear that Azamara will not be making this right unless the guests contact Azamara for resolution (which is what we did when Egypt was canceled, but the premise was that we missed no deadline and Azamara had canceled our excursions).

 

I just do not understand why the company has not made it a priority to send out letters to those booked in 2011.

[r&rd]

I also was unclear about the promotion being offered for 2012 as it never was on the website. However, it was pointed out that it was offered in at least one brochure, along with promotional materials given out on the ship (s). If someone would figure out how to scan the brochure page as well as the offer they received while on-board, it would put to rest whether the 50% off was ever offered for 2012 cruises. The responses suggest that Bill is not aware of the 2012 offer, and/or no 2012 offer is being acknowledged by the company.

 

quote]

 

I think I figured out to attach the scanned brochure - or at least a few pages of it. It is about 10 pages and every page makes reference to the 50% off shore excursions

Azamara brochure[1].pdf

Azamara brochure back page.pdf

Azamara brochure center.pdf

[Jade13]

I also was unclear about the promotion being offered for 2012 as it never was on the website. However, it was pointed out that it was offered in at least one brochure, along with promotional materials given out on the ship (s). If someone would figure out how to scan the brochure page as well as the offer they received while on-board, it would put to rest whether the 50% off was ever offered for 2012 cruises. The responses suggest that Bill is not aware of the 2012 offer, and/or no 2012 offer is being acknowledged by the company.

 

quote]

 

I think I figured out to attach the scanned brochure - or at least a few pages of it. It is about 10 pages and every page makes reference to the 50% off shore excursions

 

Thanks. I see it now. No idea why my posts keep disappearing which are asking if someone can post this promotion. It is pretty clear in this brochure that the promotion was through March 2012, especially on the back cover which contains the fine print.

[grammy2009]

grammy 2009,

was your cruise 2011 or 2012 mine is jan 2012 and no excursions are posted.

Thanks

miriam

2011

[BobTroll]

From Azamara UK, you have got to be kidding.

 

"In early February all touch points, such as the website and our staff were updated with a deadline for the tours to be booked by to get 50% off. Unfortunately as the 50% discount has now ended all systems will reflect the standard price for the tours."

 

The "About Azamara" section of the Azamara (UK) home page at www.azamaraclubcruises.co.uk still has a link labelled "50% off Shore Excursions". The link takes you to the ordinary Shore Excursions page at www.azamaraclubcruises.co.uk/find-and-book-cruises/shore-excursions - which does not mention the 50% discount.

 

(Readers outside the UK, might not be able to access those pages.)

[BobTroll]

The "About Azamara" section of the Azamara (UK) home page at www.azamaraclubcruises.co.uk still has a link labelled "50% off Shore Excursions". The link takes you to the ordinary Shore Excursions page at www.azamaraclubcruises.co.uk/find-and-book-cruises/shore-excursions - which does not mention the 50% discount.

I have attached a copy of the UK webpage to this post.

Azamara UK home page.pdf