Azamara disclosing personal information

[cadcruiser]

Hello Mr. Leiber,

 

Once again, thank you for your involvement with the situation. Hopefully, the resolution process will go more smoothly for others as time goes on.

[Bill Leiber]

Hello Azamara Cruise Followers -

 

Sometime on Monday, June 4, I will be able to provide you with a final update about the language improvements that will be added to the content within our website lead follow-up program to ensure "clarity" about the offered options and the opportunity to order a brochure and/or sign-up for Email specials without any unexpected follow-up emails and/or telephone call from a third-party travel partner.

 

I'm sorry for not posting this update yesterday afternoon, but I had forgotten a family commitment to attend my niece's high school graduation and I appreciate your patience.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

___________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

[Jade13]

 

I'm sorry for not posting this update yesterday afternoon, but I had forgotten a family commitment to attend my niece's high school graduation and I appreciate your patience.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

___________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

 

Hi Bill,

 

I just wanted to say congrats regarding your niece's high school graduation.

 

Hopefully there will be resolution next week so those who want can sign up for brochures (we are already receiving those), as well as receive promotions by email.

[takemewithyou]

Monday, June 4th.....just looking to see if Bill had posted his update yet.......

[Bill Leiber]

Hello Azamara Cruise Followers -

 

Thank you very much for your patience and here is the final update about the language improvements that will be added to the content within Azamara's website's lead follow-up program. Once the new language has been added, the program will be tested and then it should be shown on our website no later than sometime early morning on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. (Note - more time may be required.)

 

Azamara's sales and marketing management team, following their meeting with our legal department , and the travel company operating the program have improved the language to clearly define each option included in the lead follow-up program with respect to whether or not you will receive follow-up communication from a third-party travel agent. The program operates on the following areas on our website: (http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/)

 

"Sign Up for Special Offers and News:"

The copy at the top of what Azamara calls the "Opt-in-Form" will state:

"Submit the form below to register to receive special offers, the latest news and information on exciting new offerings from Azamara Club Cruises. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the links included with all of our email correspondence. If you choose below to be contacted, an Expert Azamara Travel Partner will contact you for more information.

 

I have provided the ["outcome"] of each listed option in the brackets for your information only. My comments will not be included on the website.

ÿ I am currently working with a travel agent. [ACC emails / 3rd Pty TA - no action]

ÿ I am a travel agent. [ACC emails / 3rd Pty TA - no action]

ÿ Email me special offers and news from Azamara Club Cruises. [ACC emails / 3rd Pty TA - no action]

ÿ Please have an Expert Azamara Travel Partner contact me about Special Offers. [ACC emails / 3rd Pty TA -follows-up]

 

"REQUEST DESTINATION INFORMATION" - Request a Brochure Form:

The copy at the top of the "Request a Brochure form will state:

"Submit the form below to request an Azamara Club Cruises Destination Guide. If you choose below to be contacted, an Expert Azamara Travel Partner will contact you for more information.

 

I have provided the ["outcome"] of each listed option in the brackets for your information only. My comments will not be included on the website.

ÿ I am currently working with a travel agent. [ACC distributes / 3rd Pty TA - no action]

ÿ I am a travel agent. [ACC distributes / 3rd Pty TA - no action]

ÿ Email me special offers and news from Azamara Club Cruises. [ACC emails & distributes / 3rd Pty TA - no action]

ÿ Please have an Expert Azamara Travel Partner contact me about Special Offers. [ACC distributes / 3rd Pty TA -follows-up]

 

"REQUEST A QUOTE" FORM

The "Request a Quote" form is found on our website when you visit the "Special Offers" section, a sub-menu of the "Plan Your Voyage" tab.

The new copy at the top will state:

"Submit the form below to request a price quote on an Azamara Club Cruises voyage. An Expert Azamara Travel Partner will contact you shortly to assist with further details on fares, special offers and the Azamara experience."

 

Although three options are listed on the form, the "requestor" will be contacted by our travel partner, regardless of whether an option has been selected and ACC will take no action.

 

ÿ I am currently working with a travel agent.

ÿ I am a travel agent.

ÿ Email me special offers and news from Azamara Club Cruises.

 

Remember, you have the option to contact one of our Cruise Sales Consultants for more information by contacting the Azamara Call Center at 1-877-999-9553.

 

"TALK TO AN EXPERT" & "NEED HELP? WE'RE HERE TO HELP"

The "Talk to an Expert" and the "Need Help? We're Here to Help/ ...or We'll Call You" are both located on our Home page and when selected, will directly connect the prospect to Azamara's third-party Expert Travel Partner.

The new copy at the top of the form, which we call "Click-to-Call" will state:

"Azamara is particular about making sure every effort is taken to bring you a smooth and seamless experience. Our Expert Azamara Travel Partner has an intimate knowledge of all the opportunities available to you as you plan your voyage."

 

Once the requestor enters their home phone number, then there is another step which asks "Would you like to discuss a New or Existing Booking?" If "Existing" is selected, it goes to Azamara reservations and "New" goes to our travel partner.

 

Final Comments

I'm hopeful this detailed summary will alleviate your concerns about your privacy issues and that the revised language clearly communicates if your contact information will be shared with a third-party travel agent, when you order a Destination Guide; sign-up to receive Emails about specials; request a quote and/or decide to "Talk to an Expert."

 

From your comments, it seems most of you wish to continue to use your preferred travel agent and to conduct your business as you wish without any interference from Azamara and/or its third-party travel partner. With the more specific language included within the Brochure and Email Sign-Up, it will be "business as usual" when you order a new Destination Guide and/or sign-up for Email specials, without any follow-up contact.

Thank you for your patience while I gathered this information and as a side-note, I realize that I'm late in posting my response. I live in northern California and late this afternoon (June 4) there was an electrical storm that shut down my computer. Finally, I was able to recover earlier iterations of my final response and needed more time to complete this report. I would have made my June 4 target; however, because of the power outage I had to secure a new password to be able to Log In to Cruise Critic.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

___________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

Dated: 12:30 AM (PDT) - 5 June 2012

[Jade13]

 

"TALK TO AN EXPERT" & "NEED HELP? WE'RE HERE TO HELP"

The "Talk to an Expert" and the "Need Help? We're Here to Help/ ...or We'll Call You" are both located on our Home page and when selected, will directly connect the prospect to Azamara's third-party Expert Travel Partner.

The new copy at the top of the form, which we call "Click-to-Call" will state:

"Azamara is particular about making sure every effort is taken to bring you a smooth and seamless experience. Our Expert Azamara Travel Partner has an intimate knowledge of all the opportunities available to you as you plan your voyage."

 

Once the requestor enters their home phone number, then there is another step which asks "Would you like to discuss a New or Existing Booking?" If "Existing" is selected, it goes to Azamara reservations and "New" goes to our travel partner.[/font]

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

___________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

Dated: 12:30 AM (PDT) - 5 June 2012

 

 

Bill,

 

Thank you for the follow-up.

 

I still do not think the average person would expect to go to the Azamara website, ask to "Talk to an Expert" and expect they would be a third party. But, I do understand there is now a disclaimer and also many companies are outsourcing.

 

I just think it is interesting that Azamara has chosen to partner with one particular travel agency. I also note they are affiliated with American Express.

 

I don't know what their cancelation policy is but they do define the term "Service Fee" on their website so that could be one difference a potential new client is not expecting since there are no Service Fees when booking directly with Azamara. This company only has a 24 hour price guarantee and says ALL prices on their website are for New Bookings Only. If they charge fees to make any changes to ones reservation I hope it is listed on their webpage because Azamara direct does not charge any, or has not up until now.

[ilovetexas]

HA! I thought I has gotten rid of this annoying TA that Azamara sent my e-mail to BUT apparently he chose to ignore my nasty e-mail telling him to stop bothering me!

 

He just sent another e-mail. HELP! This agency is so persistent and we can't unsubscribe Azamara! :(

 

If all the actions described by Mr. Leiber don't work, you should just have some fun with that guy. Request info on about 7 different cruises. Make it really complicated....group travel, handicap access needed, special accommodations, allergies, get info on flights and hotel reservations for several people coming from different places, etc...anything truly time consuming you can think of for him to research. Then, when he calls back with all the info, change the dates and/or circumstances and make him do it again. Then do it again. If he gets in touch with you after the third time, tell him you will not ever book with him but since he refuses to stop contacting you, you're happy to give him some busy work.

 

I bet that gets rid of him.

 

I've been thinking about doing some more research on Azamara. All of this makes me think twice.

[nordski]

Bill,

 

Thank you for the follow-up.

 

I still do not think the average person would expect to go to the Azamara website, ask to "Talk to an Expert" and expect they would be a third party. But, I do understand there is now a disclaimer and also many companies are outsourcing.

 

I just think it is interesting that Azamara has chosen to partner with one particular travel agency. I also note they are affiliated with American Express.

 

I don't know what their cancelation policy is but they do define the term "Service Fee" on their website so that could be one difference a potential new client is not expecting since there are no Service Fees when booking directly with Azamara. This company only has a 24 hour price guarantee and says ALL prices on their website are for New Bookings Only. If they charge fees to make any changes to ones reservation I hope it is listed on their webpage because Azamara direct does not charge any, or has not up until now.

Bill

 

Let me echo those thoughts and thank you for all of the work on this file.

It seems to me the solutions are unnecessarily complex, but I'm not privy to all of the details.

 

The first issue, signing up for e-mails, is certainly clearer. However, assuming all of the changes have been made, the last issue, contacting an advisor via the website, is still in my view little improved.

 

For example, on the website four terms are used for contacts: "Expert", "Travel Partner", "Azamara Certified Vacation Planner" and "Travel Professional". My inability to distinguish which of these refers to a third party agency just enhances my latent feelings of inadequacy. Perhaps others will be more competent at discerning who will be receiving their personal information.

 

On a more positive note, my TA has worked with one of your agents (Travel Professional?) to solve a knotty problem not created by ACC. He has been constructive, committed and communicative. My TA is a big fan. If appropriate, I can provide his name.

 

Also, the communications on board from captain and crew do not suffer from a lack of clarity. If they were as opaque as the website I wouldn't be a client.

 

Once again, thanks for your hard work on this and other issues.

[Bill Leiber]

Hello Jade13, Nordski and I Love Texas -

 

I appreciate your time and effort to share your comments about the new language we've added to the content of our website's lead follow-up program along with your opinions about our decision to aggressively follow-up on leads coming in through our website.

 

Before I comment on your specific points, I want you and other readers to know that our recently launched lead follow-up program is a very important component to achieve our goal of creating more "new" Azamara guests to vacation with us NOW and in the FUTURE in order to keep pace with our growing base of valuable past-guests. It is their positive word-of-mouth endorsements about our exceptional onboard experience and compelling value-proposition, highlighted by our more-inclusive tariffs, that is stimulating that growth.

 

Since our strategy is to grow the Azamara brand, we must grow our new-customer base by adopting new, innovative and more resourceful marketing programs that can "tap" into the potential for "new" business from the daily prospects who visit the Azamara website every day and then decide to gather more information about our experience by signing-up to receive Emails about our Specials; by ordering our Destination Guide; by completing the "Request a quote" form when they visit our special promotions; and/or deciding to "Talk to an Expert" through our "click-to-call" program.

 

Most importantly, the new language in the lead follow-up program, discloses to the "requestor" that their private contact information will be shared with our third-party "Expert Azamara Travel Partner" who will then contact them with follow-up information based upon the options listed below each information request.

 

Now, these "requestors" will be consenting "potential" customers. Simply, when a potential customer selects an option that includes the words - "Expert Azamara Travel Partner" - those words indicate their consent to receive follow-up information from a third-party travel partner. Of course, the recipients will be able to unsubscribe at any time by clicking the links. I'll reiterate again that Azamara's privacy policy requires that the third-party travel agency partner participating in this program is acting on Azamara's behalf as a service provider/vendor, and must keep that contact information confidential.

 

 

Now on to your questions:

 

Jade13:

Thank you for your comments. I will seek more information from our travel company partner about your statement, "I don't know what their cancelation policy is but they do define the term "Service Fee" on their website so that could be one difference a potential new client is not expecting since there are no Service Fees when booking directly with Azamara...." I understand your implications.

 

Nordski:

§ I truly appreciate your feedback, especially your opinion that "signing up for e-mails, is certainly clearer."

§ Your comment that "contacting an advisor via the website, is still in my view little improved" is technically correct but only for a few more days. The following new language, expected no later than Monday on the "Talk to an Expert" and the "Need Help? We're Here to Help/ ...or We'll Call You, will state:

"Azamara is particular about making sure every effort is taken to bring you a smooth and seamless experience. Our Expert Azamara Travel Partner has an intimate knowledge of all the opportunities available to you as you plan your voyage."

§ Both portals are found on our Home page and when selected, will directly connect the prospect to Azamara's third-party Expert Travel Partner.

§ Your point about the confusion for "requestors" seeking information created by the inconsistency in the "titles" we use on our website to refer to the "travel agent category" will be improved once this last portal is corrected and finally, our third-party travel partner will be referred to as - "Expert Azamara Travel Partner." The Azamara Certified Vacation Planner and Cruise Vacation Specialist will be removed.

§ When we refer to our in-house Cruise Sales Consultants the website will title them as "Travel Professional." On the lower right side of the Home page, it states "Contact a Travel Professional Today -Call 1-877-999-9553." Thank you for sharing your TA's positive comments about our call center staff member and that he is indeed a "travel professional."

§ That's why your opinions and those from other are so important to improving our communication.

 

ilovetexas:

§ Now that we've removed the risk of receiving unwanted follow-up emails, your solution to seek "revenge" is really an unlikely suggestion but nonetheless an amusing "read."

§ You mentioned, "I've been thinking about doing some more research on Azamara. All of this makes me think twice." Hopefully, after you've had the time to consider my explanation behind this marketing initiative to improve our revenue performance for the company and its shareholders, you might want to "think" about Azamara a "third" time and seriously consider vacationing with Azamara Club Cruises.

 

Now that we've added the new language to our "follow-up" lead program, I'm confident that our sales and marketing executives will be in a position to test the program and evaluate its performance results.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

___________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

[tgg]

Bill. why can't Azamara refer to a travel agent as a "travel agent" instead of an Expert Azamara Travel Partner? Could it be more clear?

 

Why can't they call their in-house Cruise Sales Consultants "in-house cruise sales consultants" instead of "travel professionals"? Or, heaven-forbid, salesperson?

 

Am I going to be referred to as an "esteemed and valued Azamara cruise lover" instead of a past passenger?

 

Bill, your writing is always so clear, with no punches pulled and no euphemisms. Perhaps you could give the "in-house revenue enhancement professionals" some lessons.;)

[nordski]

Great post tgg!

 

It makes the point far more cogently or humourously than I.

 

Perhaps the "in-house revenue enhancement professionals" are simply failures or drop-outs from the George Orwell University school of clear and accurate communication. Or perhaps they learned and have misapplied the lessons on language use far too well.

 

 

Regardless, I agree with your praise of Bill Leiber and again thank him for his efforts.

[tgg]

Great post tgg!

 

It makes the point far more cogently or humourously than I.

 

Perhaps the "in-house revenue enhancement professionals" are simply failures or drop-outs from the George Orwell University school of clear and accurate communication. Or perhaps they learned and have misapplied the lessons on language use far too well.

 

Regardless, I agree with your praise of Bill Leiber and again thank him for his efforts.

 

Thanks nordski. With the huge strides that Azamara has made to improve the shipboard experience, I'm amazed that they can't get the shoreside operation to run more smoothly.

[Viaggio]

Tgg-

 

You are right about shoreside

 

I personally know several people who have cruised on Azamara and LOVED their onboard experience.

 

However because of so many problems that shoreside Azamara has created that cover a range of topics they lost faith in Azamara

 

When these people returned from their back to back cruises they were praising Azamara to everyone that knew they were on holiday.

 

It's too bad that Azamara is striving so hard to gain new passengers that they have forgotten how to retain the customer.

 

just my thoughts on the matter.

[Bill Leiber]

Hello Tgg and Nordski -

 

Thank you both for your very witty opinions and a "heads-up" about our marketing team's over-use of "corporate-jargon" and your suggestion we place more focus on the "reader" by using "plain language" rather than eupheminisms and embellishments, so that we can deliver to our current and future customers, clear and understandable language about our programs, policies and experiences.

 

Nordski, I smiled when I read that our language made you recall the use of "doublespeak" and "doublethink" from George Orwell's novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. The most important difference, however, between our sometimes use of "wordy" language to describe a "person, place or thing" is that there is no deliberate intent on our part to "deceive" the reader/society as it was in the novel. Instead, I believe that for many marketing "veterans" (myself included) some of these phraseologies have become "hard-wired" into their thought-process which "defaults" directly to cruise-industry jargon when they begin to write content.

 

"Tgg," there is some travel industry history background surrounding the reason why we do not call a "travel agent" a "travel agent" and use "travel professional," or "travel partner" instead, similar to some other cruise lines.

 

Background - In the late 1990's and early 2000's, a new and accepted way in the method of doing things in which travel vacations were purchased has been accepted by the majority of "consumer" customers, travel suppliers and the travel agent as the "new" way of doing business:

§ Consumers became comfortable with the convenience of using the internet to gather information from cruise lines and tour operators' websites to plan their vacation. Travel agents were no longer the "gatekeepers" to the travel supplier and realized the need to re-define their role in the vacation purchase decision.

§ Smaller individually owned family travel businesses decided to close their business and/or to consolidate with other travel agency consortia to improve their buying power with travel suppliers.

§ Some travel agents reinvented their role and became "home-based" agents. Because of their "knowledge, experience and client lists" they could operate now as an "independent contractor" and consider joining a "Host" agency in which they would benefit from the agency's resources and service and receive a compensation for their business contribution.

§ [Note - if I were using corporate-jargon, I could have referred to this new process above as a "paradigm shift" but I wanted to give you a "break."]

 

Because of this paradigm shift in the cruise industry, simply stating contact your "travel agent" seems too "generic" and "inadequate" in consideration of the other services which they may offer to their "clients/customers."

§ Some travel agents serve as their customer's personal concierge and collaborate in the entire booking process with advice and counsel throughout.

§ At the same time, other travel agents serve as "order takers" and book through the suppliers' reservation systems and then manage your booking and troubleshoot for you if necessary.

§ With these various travel agent definitions as a function of their involvement with their customer, Azamara uses "Travel Professional" rather than "travel agent" as the best-fit for the situation.

 

I will discuss your suggestion to consider using "In-House Cruise Sales Consultants" instead of "Travel Professionals" on the appropriate areas of our lead follow-up program which would certainly add "clarity." At this point in time we will continue to refer to the third-party travel company staff as an "Expert Azamara Travel Partner."

 

I'm sorry for not responding sooner to you both and I truly appreciate your time and effort to express your ideas about how to improve our operation.

 

Best regards,

 

 

Bill Leiber

___________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

[Bill Leiber]

Hello Viaggio -

 

Thank you very much for sharing your concerned thoughts and perceptions about the quality of the service delivered from our shoreside operation. I want to inform you and other readers that our top-priority is improving our shoreside operation with respect to consistency of information in each office; interdepartmental communications; and more timely contact between our customer service team and guests who have requested their assistance.

 

As the company's small boutique line, we face challenges because all of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd’s three brands receive support from the operating units based in Miami and the UK. It is this concept of "shared services" that that provides the corporation with cost advantages and marketing economies of scale but at the same time operating hurdles. I suspect that you've seen some of our recent threads, especially from the UK and Australia, in which displaced guests from the March 26, 2012 Azamara Quest fire and subsequent voyage cancellation, expressed their dissatisfaction with the delays in receiving their refunds from the Miami process center.

 

We have made progress with our shoreside operation when Azamara Cruises was re-launched as “Azamara Club Cruises” in December, 2009. Today, Azamara has a dedicated operational staff in marketing, sales, worldwide destination and itinerary planning, worldwide revenue and inventory management, and a dedicated Azamara reservations staff reporting to the total US reservations operation. Contingent with this decision to invest in more staff for the North American market was the understanding that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd’s parentage would provide ample resources, support services and coverage for the worldwide market including the UK. For example, although we have a dedicated US/Canada Azamara website, we share the corporation's reservations system with the other brands.

 

I wanted to share this type of information about our operating platform and the technical and training challenges that must be "fixed" with the cooperation and support from the corporation's IT team and other brands to build your understanding of the situation. Although we've made significant improvement, it will take more time than simply switching on a light-switch and we believe we're making progress; however, we'll still require our guests understand and continued patience while we sort-out these bumps-in-the road.

 

When I read your opinion that "It's too bad that Azamara is striving so hard to gain new passengers that they have forgotten how to retain the customer," it occurred to me that I did not adequately explain the lead follow-up program and that it is simply a separate, "stand-alone initiative" to generate "new" Azamara guests to vacation in 2012 and beyond through a more resourceful marketing programs that "taps" into the potential for "new" business from the daily prospects who visit the Azamara website every day. To prosper and grow our brand, we need both NEW and PAST guests and our executive team would never enter into a "Sophie's Choice" moral dilemma of having to choose one over the other.

 

In hind-sight, I understand that we might have frustrated some of our Le Club Voyage past-guest members when we launched the lead follow-up program and these valuable past-guests were receiving unsolicited follow-up emails and telephone messages when they simply ordered a new brochure and/or enrolled to receive Email alerts about Azamara specials.

 

We listened to your comments and then corrected the procedures and processes based on your input. We implemented the program poorly, but we fixed it and will be alert for any unforeseen issues that may arise. We realize that our past-guests are our most valuable resource and in hind-sight we may have frustrated them and for that I offer Azamara's apology.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

_____________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

[nordski]

Well, Bill Leiber, what more to say?

 

Your service on my(our) concerns has been exemplary and, typical as it is of our experience onboard the ships, it explains why we are becoming so loyal to ACC. Perhaps that's why we expect only the best even from a website.

 

We'll see if the new policies address the privacy concerns adequately, but there is no question you have been steadfast and patient in addressing said concerns on this board. Your skilled responses have prevented us from continued undue and unfortunate speculation.

 

Thanks

[Viaggio]

Mr. Leiber

 

I wish that my friends could read what you have to communicated.

 

At a dinner party last weekend, she explained in detail all of the reasons why she would never use Azamara again. Unfortunately for Azamara

they were based in fact.

 

Also problematic for Azamara is that she is considered the "expert" among our circle of friends as she has been cruising and traveling in general for quite a long time. The only way I can explain this is...

she knows her stuff and people know that.

 

While I love my friend dearly, on principle I like to check and cross check with my own research when it comes to such serious statements. Obviously, I will never admit this to my friend as it appears that once again she was right.

 

I hope for Azamara's future that the issues ARE rectified. Though it does seem strange to me with such experience within the executive staff these mistakes were made in the first place.

 

Best of Luck in the future

 

I will continue to monitor these boards while I sail on your competitors.

Hopefully in the future I will feel comfortable booking your cruise line.

 

Viaggio