Love AZ BUT.....Bill can you help ??

[spanglycruisegirl]

Bill

 

I have been watching this thread with a great deal of interest as I share the frustrations and disappointment of other travellers from the UK. A really bad journey to Athens via Amsterdam last year and this year we have another transfer in Amsterdam to get to Rome.July 2012.

 

Hello

I would be grateful for any information about your flight to Athens as our flight in November is MAN-AMS-ATH. We leave Manchester at 6 am (so allowing for travelling and check-in we will need to leave home at 1 am) and arrive (exhausted) at Athens airport at 4 pm , not the best start to our holiday !

[nuneham]

Hello

I would be grateful for any information about your flight to Athens as our flight in November is MAN-AMS-ATH. We leave Manchester at 6 am (so allowing for travelling and check-in we will need to leave home at 1 am) and arrive (exhausted) at Athens airport at 4 pm , not the best start to our holiday !

 

That's the one! We're closer to the airport so left home at 3.30am. It was hot - August - and we were kept waiting on the coach at the airport in Athens as another flight was late. A bad start. The direct flights are with budget airlines and they won't use them but you are probably also returning through Amsterdam even if a direct flight is available. It happened to us last year and will again in October. This underlines two things - firstly that the onboard experience is exceptional or we wouldn't be back; but equally that AZ's moves to improve matters need to be hastened. Enjoy your cruise! I thought I would hit the deck as the first glass of fizz was pressed into my hand but I survived. And the next three, too!

[KarenR_UK]

The only Celebrity fiasco I have heard of was Century in France last year, when the cruise was canceled after one day.

 

"personal fiasco" - after all the hype about Celebrity service we got the one (?) Eclipse cruise where (bar) service was non-existent - it would take ages to find a venue that was open (the daily program was inaccurate) & with available seating and when we did, one of us would then spend another 15 mins stood at the bar as there was no-one serving tables - this was daytime service by the way - evening wasn't as obviously so bad as we sat at the bars - the bar tender of the molecule bar even apologised on night 2 that we weren't getting the sort of service they (he) would like to give - so they knew it was happening, but it didn't improve until the final day of the 4 night cruise (which was when the daily programme was at its most inaccurate btw) - my OH didn't like paying a 15% service charge where service was non-existent (& he is generally a good tipper in the bars). Added to which Dinner and Cabin service was only adequate (plates removed before a meal was finished, cutlery removed before the meal was served - daily canapés only delivered once in 4 days) & even though I am prepared to see it as a possible aberration & try again (if the price & itinerary is right:)) , he is more reluctant.

 

sorry for going off topic:) but you don't want another rant about my flights issues I'm sure:)

[KarenR_UK]

forgive me for bringing an old topic back to the top, but having just had our flight arrangements for November, I just had to contribute.

 

When i first saw the flights, I was ready to cancel (its 10 days before final payment with the TA) despite the loss of deposit.

Having seen other posts on the same package/cruise I knew there was a midday flight from Heathrow to Athens arriving about 6pm, so expected to be on this - but i now find we are going via Paris, which means being at Heathrow for a 6:40 AM flight - with 2 hrs travelling time to get there plus check-in times, that means travelling all night :(

Yes we arrive in Athens early (10am 12 midday ? - can't remember exactly) - but we aren't going to be in the mood to do an awful lot.

 

it also seems these details were set on 4th July - but we have only just been told about them now.:confused:

 

It really has taken a lot of the shine of the trip for me - its our first fly cruise, and our first Azamara cruise and looks like it might be last for either - assuming we make it at all :(

 

After the Celebrity fiasco, & his experience on Princess, its going to be nigh on impossible to get the OH to book on 'unknown' lines again

 

After ranting on here, I felt it was only fair I updated everyone (who is still reading:) ) with the resolution.

 

After contacting my TA over the weekend, she spoke this morning with AZ & they have found a direct flight for us - still a bit early (8am) but not the tortuous 6:40am of the other flight (amazing what a psycological difference that 80 minutes makes:D). The only draw back being that if we cancel we are liable for the full cost of the flights & because of that, we had to pay the balance of the cruise. As it happens, that was due this week anyway, so I paid it there and then.

Just have to hope that there are no disasters that cause us to consider cancelling, cos it aint gonna happen:D

[cardiffmatch]

Thanks for posting back Karen and I'm really pleased to hear your flight has been amended. I'm looking forward to reading Bill Leiber's response to Nuneham's questions. Us potential customers in the UK are still waiting for Azamara to sort the aftermath of the new website they are "trialling" in the USA which prevents us from booking or even checking prices online and now this?

[Bill Leiber]

Bill

 

I have been watching this thread with a great deal of interest as I share the frustrations and disappointment of other travellers from the UK. A really bad journey to Athens via Amsterdam last year and this year we have another transfer in Amsterdam to get to Rome. I appreciate your involvement and was confident that you would come back with something positive. My question now is - having identified that there is a problem, why is it taking so long to tackle it? Why is the trial restricted to telephone reservations and not beginning before the end of the year? Does it really need to run for 6 months before it tells you what you already know? That there is a problem with this aspect of your service. With this schedule the wider improvements won't be in place before July 2012. You plead for our patience, I plead for AZ to expedite matters.

Hello Nuneham and all others –

 

Your point about speeding up the process to improve the UK air program for current and future guests is well-stated and deserves consideration from our UK management team - “You plead for our patience; I plead for AZ to expedite matters.”

 

I have passed on your complete message to them so that I can provide you with an update about their progress in improving the air program system.

 

In the meantime, here is contact information to reach the “loyalty team” located in the UK who may be able to assist you with your specific issues. I’ve noticed positive comments about their professionalism posted on the Azamara forum from UK guests who had sought out their services:

 

Loyalty Desk UK & Ireland

Email: captainsclub.uk@rccl.com

Tel: 0844 481 7505

 

Once I receive an update on the UK air program, I’ll share it with all of you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

_____________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

[Carnevale]

Hi Bill: What about air arrangements for Canadian guests? We recently booked our first Azamara cruise and had our TA ask about flights. What came back was very frustrating -I'm not sure if it has something to do with the fact we are in Canada or if other issues created our problem.

 

Specifically, we were told that Azamara would not quote air from our city (we are not a major gateway but are a Provincial Capital City so there is a good amount of air travel here). They also would not quote on the airline of our choice which seemed odd as every other cruise line we've been on has been willing to quote Air Canada flights. They also would not quote on buisness class air or transfers (admittedly, our cruise was still 8 months away but we thought they would have some transfer info).

 

Now that I've been reading more on CC I've heard about Choice Air but that was never mentioned as an option. I'm not sure why.

 

Bottom line was that we didn't feel Azamara cared much about our pre-cruise arrangements and doesn't have the flexibility or service we've experienced on other lines (although we had some poor service from Crystal when booking air through them so Azamara isn't alone on this count but there are others who handle the air part of the trip much better).

 

I'm not sure how all of this came about and why Azamara was unable to help us with our air arrangements. As we've heard such wonderful things about the onboard experience we are really looking forward to our cruise. But when we book future cruises we will be looking for a more complete package to be provided.

 

Thanks for all of the support you've given posters on this site and for the info you provide - it truly is helpful and I hope the pre-cruise things you are helping Azamara work on are successful.

[Bill Leiber]

Hi Bill: What about air arrangements for Canadian guests? We recently booked our first Azamara cruise and had our TA ask about flights. What came back was very frustrating -I'm not sure if it has something to do with the fact we are in Canada or if other issues created our problem.

 

Specifically, we were told that Azamara would not quote air from our city (we are not a major gateway but are a Provincial Capital City so there is a good amount of air travel here). They also would not quote on the airline of our choice which seemed odd as every other cruise line we've been on has been willing to quote Air Canada flights. They also would not quote on buisness class air or transfers (admittedly, our cruise was still 8 months away but we thought they would have some transfer info).

 

Now that I've been reading more on CC I've heard about Choice Air but that was never mentioned as an option. I'm not sure why.

 

Bottom line was that we didn't feel Azamara cared much about our pre-cruise arrangements and doesn't have the flexibility or service we've experienced on other lines (although we had some poor service from Crystal when booking air through them so Azamara isn't alone on this count but there are others who handle the air part of the trip much better).

 

I'm not sure how all of this came about and why Azamara was unable to help us with our air arrangements. As we've heard such wonderful things about the onboard experience we are really looking forward to our cruise. But when we book future cruises we will be looking for a more complete package to be provided.

 

Thanks for all of the support you've given posters on this site and for the info you provide - it truly is helpful and I hope the pre-cruise things you are helping Azamara work on are successful.

Hello Carnevale –

 

We’ve found the feedback that we receive on Cruise Critic from current and future guests to be a critical success factor in helping us to achieve our goal of delivering a seamless shipboard and shoreside experience.

 

I will pass on the problems that you’ve experienced so far with booking your air reservations from Canada with our reservations and air/sea management teams to determine more about the process.

 

I will get back to you when I have something to report.

 

Thank you for your time and effort in sharing this constructive feedback.

 

Regards,

 

 

Bill Leiber

_______________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

[LN50]

Like SPURSGIRL I will not book a fly cruise without enquiring about flight times,( we usually book within months of travel so maybe flight times are published). I have expained this to TA's and most are able to check flight details.

 

To us it is an integeral part of the holiday. In fact we have seen some very good bargains this year but on enquiring about flight times we decided not to book.

 

We are located at least 2-3 hours drive from a major airport so will not return from a cruise late at night, having disembarked early and hung around all day to then have a longish drive back home. We would be too tired from the travelling and it would wipe out the benefit of the holiday.

 

We need to be able to return to work refreshed not exhausted from a travel home.

[Bill Leiber]

Hello Carnevale –

 

We’ve found the feedback that we receive on Cruise Critic from current and future guests to be a critical success factor in helping us to achieve our goal of delivering a seamless shipboard and shoreside experience.

 

I will pass on the problems that you’ve experienced so far with booking your air reservations from Canada with our reservations and air/sea management teams to determine more about the process.

 

I will get back to you when I have something to report.

 

Thank you for your time and effort in sharing this constructive feedback.

 

Regards,

 

 

Bill Leiber

_______________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

Hello Carnevale –

 

I just learned from Royal Caribbean Cruises' Director of Travel Services, Troy Martin, that we do offer the ChoiceAir program to guests from any city (including Canada) with scheduled air service, (which allows guests to select their flights).

 

From time-to-time, we also offers “packaged” air promotions, in which the flight selection has been pre-determined by them. ChoiceAir is available to the guests to book directly, or their travel professional can book it for them. Also, they can even call and make the booking over the phone with us.

 

Here is the contact number directly into the Choice Air Support Desk: 1-800-533-7803, from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern Time, 7 days.

 

Also, Azamara is fortunate to have Andy as our Cruise Critic host who does a fine job in managing the Azamara forum and is dedicated to our brand. Earlier this month, Andy had the opportunity to meet with Troy Martin for a complete operational briefing on the Choice Air program. Here is a link to that discussion:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1456868.

 

Thanks again for sharing your concern with us and we look forward to welcoming you onboard!

 

Regards,

 

 

Bill Leiber

_______________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

[Carnevale]

Many thanks Bill for looking into this! I wish I had heard about Choice Air before making our flight reservations but they are now all set. As I mentioned, our TA got a quote from Azamara for flights but what came back was a single option that didn't respond to any of the things I mentioned in my earlier note (we realize that on other lines asking for a specific airline and/or class of service is usually considered to be a deivation that comes with a small additional charge but nothing like that was offered this time). Somehow mention of Choice Air didn't come up - could be that our TA didn't pass that along but that seems a little odd. So until reading CC posts we had no idea that Choice Air existed.

 

The good news is that we are all set and have flights that we want. The bad news is that we may have paid more for our flights than we could have gotten with Choice Air and we are on our own for transfers but I'm sure they won't be a problem. Somehow the info we needed slipped between the cracks but we now have that for future cruises.

 

I'm looking forward to learning more from Andy's discussion. And I agree - we are lucky to have such a great moderator for this community!

 

Thanks again for looking into this.

[MightyQuinn]

I just learned from Royal Caribbean Cruises' Director of Travel Services, Troy Martin, that we do offer the ChoiceAir program to guests from any city (including Canada) with scheduled air service, (which allows guests to select their flights).

We have a similar situation to Carnevale. We live in a provincial capital city (Canada) that has regularly scheduled international air service. But it is not an AZ gateway. We were not able to book Choice Air flights from our home city and had to select the nearest AZ gateway. This is not a biggie - we were actually very happy with the options that Choice Air presented. But it was surprising that we were not able to add our home city to gateway flights onto the Choice Air international ticket, even at a surcharge. Normally, this segment is at no charge if we select carriers carefully!

 

So, in our case, it wasn't possible to select flights from any city. We did our flight booking on-line so now I wonder if it would have been possible thru the Choice Air Support Desk?

[Bill Leiber]

We have a similar situation to Carnevale. We live in a provincial capital city (Canada) that has regularly scheduled international air service. But it is not an AZ gateway. We were not able to book Choice Air flights from our home city and had to select the nearest AZ gateway. This is not a biggie - we were actually very happy with the options that Choice Air presented. But it was surprising that we were not able to add our home city to gateway flights onto the Choice Air international ticket, even at a surcharge. Normally, this segment is at no charge if we select carriers carefully!

 

So, in our case, it wasn't possible to select flights from any city. We did our flight booking on-line so now I wonder if it would have been possible thru the Choice Air Support Desk?

Hello MightyQuinn –

 

Thanks for sharing your past experience with using ChoiceAir from Canada and not being able to add your home city onto the gateway city for ChoiceAir, even at a surcharge. I’m pleased that you were pleased with the ChoiceAir flights which you ultimately received.

 

I am passing on your comments to Troy Martin, Royal Caribbean Cruises' Director of Travel Services for his review and comments. Further, I’ll be asking him if guests in similar circumstances would be better served by working through the ChoiceAir support desk. I’ll let you and others know when I have an answer.

 

As always, thank you very much for your loyalty to Azamara Club Cruises.

 

Regards,

 

Bill Leiber

_______________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

[nuneham]

Like SPURSGIRL I will not book a fly cruise without enquiring about flight times,( we usually book within months of travel so maybe flight times are published). I have expained this to TA's and most are able to check flight details.

 

To us it is an integeral part of the holiday. In fact we have seen some very good bargains this year but on enquiring about flight times we decided not to book.

 

We are located at least 2-3 hours drive from a major airport so will not return from a cruise late at night, having disembarked early and hung around all day to then have a longish drive back home. We would be too tired from the travelling and it would wipe out the benefit of the holiday.

 

We need to be able to return to work refreshed not exhausted from a travel home.

 

 

Really interesting to read this as twice I have been with our TA as she contacted AZ and tried to find flight details. On each occasion they flatly refused, even when she said that the reservation would not be made without the flight info. Were we unlucky with the person contacted or is this company policy? Our TA is certainly not a pushover.

[Albert Ross]

Really interesting to read this as twice I have been with our TA as she contacted AZ and tried to find flight details. On each occasion they flatly refused, even when she said that the reservation would not be made without the flight info. Were we unlucky with the person contacted or is this company policy? Our TA is certainly not a pushover.

Flight schedules are out for 11months in advance, so if your cruise is further out than this then there is no way they could advise flight times.

Otherwise they should advise the times if you insist upon knowing them before you book. Choice Air is available in the UK.

[firestarter_112]

Flight schedules are out for 11months in advance, so if your cruise is further out than this then there is no way they could advise flight times.

Otherwise they should advise the times if you insist upon knowing them before you book. Choice Air is available in the UK.

 

Hi there, According to the UK flight department, Choice Air is not available to guests travelling from UK Airports..

 

I was looking at Choice Air for a forthcoming cruise, and got a bit stuck on which flights to book, so I gave them a quick call.

 

Apparently, choice air doesn't always bring up flights from the UK with valid connection times, i.e. you can't get through Amsterdam in 45 minutes, but choice air shows you flights with those connection times... apparently it does the same in the U.S.A.

[MightyQuinn]

I am passing on your comments to Troy Martin, Royal Caribbean Cruises' Director of Travel Services for his review and comments. Further, I’ll be asking him if guests in similar circumstances would be better served by working through the ChoiceAir support desk. I’ll let you and others know when I have an answer.

Thanks Bill. I really appreciate getting the scoop on ChoiceAir from Troy Martin via you and Host Andy. The more I learn, the better I like it! In the meantime, I did a little digging on our own situation and learned a few things that may be helpful to others.

 

The ChoiceAir website may NOT show all the available flight options to/from home departure cities and selected gateways. In our case, the info out of our home city was not loaded into the system and had to be sourced manually. This could only be done via a phone call to the ChoiceAir Help Desk. I dealt with an excellent reservations agent who was simply fantastic in getting me the exact carrier/flights I wanted, at a price substantially less than I could purchase directly thru the carrier. The added benefit, of course, is that our domestic segments are now written onto the ChoiceAir international ticket.

 

The lesson for me is that the ChoiceAir website is a good proxy of available flights to connect with an AZ cruise, but it is not fully representative of available flights to/from ALL home cities. The best advice is to call and work with a ChoiceAir agent. I must confess that I will do almost anything before phoning into a call centre abyss, but my experience dealing with them today was nothing short of spectacular. After working with a very knowledgeable agent for about 45 min (!!) I came away with superb flights on legacy carriers, excellent connections, all at an excellent price point. And bonus - we’re now eligible for a discount off the AZ cruise. Gotta love it! Can you tell I’m giddy with glee?

[nuneham]

Bill

 

I have been watching this thread with a great deal of interest as I share the frustrations and disappointment of other travellers from the UK. A really bad journey to Athens via Amsterdam last year and this year we have another transfer in Amsterdam to get to Rome. I appreciate your involvement and was confident that you would come back with something positive. My question now is - having identified that there is a problem, why is it taking so long to tackle it? Why is the trial restricted to telephone reservations and not beginning before the end of the year? Does it really need to run for 6 months before it tells you what you already know? That there is a problem with this aspect of your service. With this schedule the wider improvements won't be in place before July 2012. You plead for our patience, I plead for AZ to expedite matters.

 

 

Bill

Apologies for quoting my own posting but this is merely a gentle reminder that Pollypammy started this thread with an enquiry about the unsatisfactory flights offered to travellers from the UK. I do appreciate that travellers from other destinations have genuine grievances but we seem to be running a number of threads here and there isn't a one-size fits all solution on account of AZ's varying operational practices and the increased consumer protection in the UK to those who book fly/cruise. I do not quote my posting in order to 'shout' our case, but because I wish to ensure that it remains on your radar. The number of views that this thread has attracted is perhaps an indication that something is amiss.

[Andy]

Thanks Bill. I really appreciate getting the scoop on ChoiceAir from Troy Martin via you and Host Andy. The more I learn, the better I like it! In the meantime, I did a little digging on our own situation and learned a few things that may be helpful to others.

 

The ChoiceAir website may NOT show all the available flight options to/from home departure cities and selected gateways. In our case, the info out of our home city was not loaded into the system and had to be sourced manually. This could only be done via a phone call to the ChoiceAir Help Desk. I dealt with an excellent reservations agent who was simply fantastic in getting me the exact carrier/flights I wanted, at a price substantially less than I could purchase directly thru the carrier. The added benefit, of course, is that our domestic segments are now written onto the ChoiceAir international ticket.

 

The lesson for me is that the ChoiceAir website is a good proxy of available flights to connect with an AZ cruise, but it is not fully representative of available flights to/from ALL home cities. The best advice is to call and work with a ChoiceAir agent. I must confess that I will do almost anything before phoning into a call centre abyss, but my experience dealing with them today was nothing short of spectacular. After working with a very knowledgeable agent for about 45 min (!!) I came away with superb flights on legacy carriers, excellent connections, all at an excellent price point. And bonus - we’re now eligible for a discount off the AZ cruise. Gotta love it! Can you tell I’m giddy with glee?

 

Hi Mighty Quinn,

 

I wanted to say Thank You for your kind comments, and I'm very pleased to hear that Choice Air worked out great for you !

[nuneham]

Delighted for you, Mighty Quinn. That sounds like a really good deal. I hope that UK passengers also will soon have a better deal on flights. And an excuse to do a little dance!

[nuneham]

Bill, any progress with the possible improvements to flights for passengers from the UK?

[zennor]

Bill, any progress with the possible improvements to flights for passengers from the UK?

 

Any news please on this as I'm thinking of booking another cruise but am not sure whether to DIY flights, hotel & transfers after our Venice issue (flights were OK this time) or go with ACC package. Please can some confirm whether Choice Air is available for the UK? If so how does this work?

[Andy]

Any news please on this as I'm thinking of booking another cruise but am not sure whether to DIY flights, hotel & transfers after our Venice issue (flights were OK this time) or go with ACC package. Please can some confirm whether Choice Air is available for the UK? If so how does this work?

 

Hi Zennor,

 

I reconfirmed with Troy Martin, who is the Director of Air/Sea Travel Services at Royal Caribbean. ChoiceAir is not yet available for UK Guests. They are hopeful for 2012. I will certainly keep you posted should I hear anything further.