Do you have trouble when flying out from U.K. airports

[Joecors]

This is principally for guests from the U.K. flying out from the U.K. though maybe guests from other locations can advise of anyproblems that they may have experienced.

Reason for asking the question is that I am disabled and sometimes I find the distance between check-in desk and boarding areas can be somewhat exhausting. In additionI have diffuclty lifting cabin luggage up into the lockers so it helps that I and my daughter, who I normally travel with, sit together. Block Bookings, certainly from LHR with BA, often prevent this as the booking number supplied by Azamara is not recognised on the BA website. Not until the morning of the flight can a check-in be made by which time all the adjacent seats could be takenby people not subject to block bookings, nor can any request be made .for whel chair assistance

Is it not possible for Azamara to do away with block booking even though it meant additional cost; or even give guests opting out of block booking for an extra charge?

Great play is made by Larry Pimental of

“You’ll love where we take you”

But Mr. Pimentalour a journey, and what we pay for, starts when we leave home that morning! Azamara claim to be a 5* cruise line but block booking is certainly not 5* treatment.

[uktog]

We have had no issue managing bookings on BA made by Azamara. They give you your reservation locator on your invoice as soon as they have it and you can interact with BA no problem. We have our seats reserved already for our next booking which we could do free of charge as we have BA cards any passenger can pay to do this (BA ruled not cruiseline) if they pay or do it free of charge 24hours ahead. We have highlighted a food allergy already to BA in the same section on their website that you would request mobility assistance

As I understand it following feedback Azamara changed their airline booking process last year so your post in many ways is already dealt with - in fact I am sure Bill posted an update for UK travellers on this at the time.

[marinaro44]

You can request wheelchair assistance to get from check-in to boarding area and also from one gate to the next when you have connecting flights, and then again to the luggage area. Also, most civilized airlines allow those who "need extra time" to board ahead of others, so you can get assistance from onboard staff to place carry-ons into the bins above the seats before the mad rush of boarding begins.

 

Flying out of the US, I've found most airlines allow seat selection, even with bulk-rate tickets, to be done ahead of time. Some--Iberia the most recent example--do not.

 

Good luck. Traveling today is tough enough, even without a disability.

[sueu]

Just print off a medical form from the website, fill it in asking for wheelchair assistance at the airport and Azamara will liase with BA. You will then be one of the first on the plane with all the help you need. We take my Father with us who has mobility issues - he can walk but slowly, and he can't do steps, so we now take a collapsible wheelchair with us. Rarely used on the ship, but a Godsend at the airports! Azamara also arrange accessible transport for the transfers so that we don't have to try and get him up steps on to the coach. and we also have priority embarkation. We have never had a problem getting seats together.

[Grandad]

We booked our Azamara cruise through a local travel agent, who has requested airport assistance for us as my husband has walking problems and we have a split flight on our return, which is a bit stressful. The 'airport assistance' shows up on our invoice so hopefully it will materialise. These flights are with BA and are included in our package.

[Joecors]

We have had no issue managing bookings on BA made by Azamara. They give you your reservation locator on your invoice as soon as they have it and you can interact with BA no problem. We have our seats reserved already for our next booking which we could do free of charge as we have BA cards any passenger can pay to do this (BA ruled not cruiseline) if they pay or do it free of charge 24hours ahead. We have highlighted a food allergy already to BA in the same section on their website that you would request mobility assistance

As I understand it following feedback Azamara changed their airline booking process last year so your post in many ways is already dealt with - in fact I am sure Bill posted an update for UK travellers on this at the time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Please "uktog" explain to me the following message when I insert the booking number on to the BA website:-

 

"Sorry. As this booking is for a large group we are unable to display at this time"

 

I am quite prepared to pay extra for booking seats but it is just impossible until we arrive at LHR on the morning of the flight.We cruised with Azamara 3 tmes last year and only once were we able to book seats in advance; presumably this was not a block booking

I have at last today managed to contact BA Customer Relations and have had their confirmation that it is not possible to book seats in advance when a BLOCK booking has been used by Azamara.

Maybe your experience has involved not flying out of LHR, an airport which I imagine most U.K. cruisers would use.This is our eighth cruise with Az. and when block booking are used by Az. the same thing has happened

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I understand it following feedback Azamara changed their airline booking process last year so your post in many ways is already dealt with

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Sorry Bill I seemed to have missed your comments. I would appreciate your repeating them. I would love to tell BA that they had "got it wrong"

Thank you

[MrMojoRisin]

Never had any problem with on-line check in 24 hours in advance. Always found that seats together have already been allocated and plenty of opportunity to change. And yes, this was at LHR.

[uktog]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Please "uktog" explain to me the following message when I insert the booking number on to the BA website:-

 

"Sorry. As this booking is for a large group we are unable to display at this time"

 

I am quite prepared to pay extra for booking seats but it is just impossible until we arrive at LHR on the morning of the flight.We cruised with Azamara 3 tmes last year and only once were we able to book seats in advance; presumably this was not a block booking

I have at last today managed to contact BA Customer Relations and have had their confirmation that it is not possible to book seats in advance when a BLOCK booking has been used by Azamara.

Maybe your experience has involved not flying out of LHR, an airport which I imagine most U.K. cruisers would use.This is our eighth cruise with Az. and when block booking are used by Az. the same thing has happened

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I understand it following feedback Azamara changed their airline booking process last year so your post in many ways is already dealt with

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Sorry Bill I seemed to have missed your comments. I would appreciate your repeating them. I would love to tell BA that they had "got it wrong"

Thank you

 

 

My experience is flying out of Heathrow with a flight booked this October on British Airways - when are you flying?

 

Here is the link to the thread where the issue was first discussed re arrangements re Azamara UK flights

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1515494&highlight=uk

[Joecors]

My experience is flying out of Heathrow with a flight booked this October on British Airways - when are you flying?

 

Here is the link to the thread where the issue was first discussed re arrangements re Azamara UK flights

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1515494&highlight=uk[/quote

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We fly out on 14th Sept 2012 from LHR .

 

I am a bit puzzled when you state that the issue was first discussed in the thread that you identified, There is just one reference in the thread to "block bookingis" and despite the informative 11 contributions made by Bill Leider on U.K. problems after that post, the subject of block bookings was not referred to at all. Poor memory that I have, I realised on checking the earlier thread, that I was the one who mentioned the dreaded words on the thread, and coincidentally you were the one who directly replied to my post; but you made no reference to block bookings though!

Was my problem overlooked or ignored??

[uktog]

My experience is flying out of Heathrow with a flight booked this October on British Airways - when are you flying?

 

Here is the link to the thread where the issue was first discussed re arrangements re Azamara UK flights

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1515494&highlight=uk[/quote

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We fly out on 14th Sept 2012 from LHR .

 

I am a bit puzzled when you state that the issue was first discussed in the thread that you identified, There is just one reference in the thread to "block bookingis" and despite the informative 11 contributions made by Bill Leider on U.K. problems after that post, the subject of block bookings was not referred to at all. Poor memory that I have, I realised on checking the earlier thread, that I was the one who mentioned the dreaded words on the thread, and coincidentally you were the one who directly replied to my post; but you made no reference to block bookings though!

Was my problem overlooked or ignored??

 

I think you are getting a lot of good advice on this thread on how to address the issues you have which seem to be an isolated incident based on the experience of UK cruises, sorry you have been unlucky

 

BA have also not given you correct information as all bookings are eligible for seat selection on line at T-24 (that is 24 hours from take off) but what you need is not the group ID number but your individual locator number. I made an initial mistake with an Azamara booking as I could not find the locator, but contacting the flight team on

Azamaraflights.uk@rccl.com

 

resolved the issue

 

I suggest you contact them, or if you are booked through a travel agent they should do it for you. If you are booked through a travel agent the issue may not be Azamaras in that some UK agents are buying cruise only from the airline and then doing their own packaging of the flights and hotels. Whilst it looks like an Azamara all in arrangement, it actually is not

[uktog]

Sorry that should have read are buying cruise only from the cruiseline

 

My invoice from Azamara states under the flights

 

You can pre book seats, request meals, obtain luggage allowance and manage medical arrangements by contacting your airline directly. Your flight

booking reference(s) are listed below. (note I have redacted these obviously )

If the references are not listed then your flight information is not available yet. A revised invoice containing this information will be sent to you nearer to

your sailing date.

Flight Booking References

BA|xxxxxxxx(Carrier)

BA|xxxxxxxx

You may be able to view additional information such as your departure terminals and flight connections on www.checkmytrip.com using your record

reference (the above reference without carrier in brackets).*

If you have any problems please contact us or your airline.

 

 

It is the second of those two references (ie NOT the one marked carrier) that you need to use on the British Airways manage my bookings page It is most likely a combination of letters and numbers

[Joecors]

[quote=uktog;35007743]Sorry that should have read are buying cruise only from the cruiseline

 

My invoice from Azamara states under the flights

 

You can pre book seats, request meals, obtain luggage allowance and manage medical arrangements by contacting your airline directly. Your flight

booking reference(s) are listed below. (note I have redacted these obviously )

If the references are not listed then your flight information is not available yet. A revised invoice containing this information will be sent to you nearer to

your sailing date.

Flight Booking References

BA|xxxxxxxx(Carrier)

BA|xxxxxxxx

You may be able to view additional information such as your departure terminals and flight connections on www.checkmytrip.com using your record

reference (the above reference without carrier in brackets).*

If you have any problems please contact us or your airline.

 

 

It is the second of those two references (ie NOT the one marked carrier) that you need to use on the British Airways manage my bookings page It is most likely a combination of letters and numbers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

My invoice is identical to yours and the reference no. used with no success to try to access my flight is the second one.

When I managed with much patience and a great deal of dialling to contact BA Customer Services on Saturday my contact stated that as a BLOCK BOOKING was involved he was unable computer-wise to help me. He tried unsuccessfully making some telephone calls and told me that he would contact me the following day, I haven't heard from him since.

My incapacity is recent but the problems that I have encountered with Azamara using BLOCK BOOKINGS is long standing. It goes back to cruising with Celebrity and the start of Azamara. You have obviously not experienced the thrill(XXXXX) horror of arriving at LHR to start your holiday by printing your boarding passes only to find that by the time you've printed out one the next seat to you has already been taken!

[Joecors]

Bill

1. Can you please advise if Az. U.K. are still using block bookings?

2. If so are these only from LHR?

3. Is there any intention of doing away with block bookings even if it means extra cost to cruisers?

4. To avoid a general overall increase would Az. consider letting guests choose to opt out of the block booking while at the same time accepting an extra charge

[Bill Leiber]

Bill

1. Can you please advise if Az. U.K. are still using block bookings?

2. If so are these only from LHR?

3. Is there any intention of doing away with block bookings even if it means extra cost to cruisers?

4. To avoid a general overall increase would Az. consider letting guests choose to opt out of the block booking while at the same time accepting an extra charge

 

Hello Joecors -

 

I appreciate your bringing this BA block air inventory issue again so that I can review your issues with the individual who is responsible for operating our UK Air Program.

 

On this thread there is a reference to my initial post on November 10, 2011 in which I introduced the new “Azamara Ambassadors” Programme whose purpose was to create a dedicated and well-trained team that will provide our UK Azamara guests with a professional level of service through the entire booking journey.

 

One of the highlights was the creation of a dedicated Air Planning resource that would manage all of the Azamara flight sourcing and inventory and would operate using these guidelines:

§ For guests travelling from LHR/LGW, only direct flights will be held; unless it’s a destination where there are no direct schedules such as for San Juan.

§ We will offer guests the option to fly on a direct low cost flight vs. an indirect scheduled flight.

A conversation will always take place with the guest/agent prior to booking flights if indirect or low-cost air is the only option.

Note: If there is a low cost airline available, we will offer this to the guest and advise that no changes or cancellations to the flights are permitted after booking. If the guest decides to change their travel plans after the low cost flights have been confirmed we will pass on the air charges to the guest.

§ All inbound flights from Europe should depart before 5pm.

§ Later flights (leaving after 5pm) from long haul ports such as USA, Far East, Asia are permitted. (Please note that a dayroom will be added to the booking for guests to use until the guests leaves for the airport.)

§ If a flight after 5pm is all that is available, guests must have confirmed they are aware and happy with the flights before they are assigned.

§ For guests wishing to fly from regional airports (Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin) flights may be available. However, guests need to be made aware that these flights will be indirect unless guests wish to fly with low cost air providers such as Air Lingus, Easy Jet or Jet 2 who can offer direct flights from these regions.

§ All connecting flights in Europe should only have a connection between 1-3 hours. We will not book anything longer than 3 hours.

§ Late flight departures – solution pending based on decisions regarding “Late-Debark” program as well as small-group private tour excursions to the airport.

 

In addition to passing on your considerations for improving the UK air programme, the UK Air Program management team will review and comment about the current status, i.e., same, canceled and/or replaced, of the policies which I listed above as well as if new procedures have been added.

 

Also, Troy Martin, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd's Director, Air/Sea & Travel Services advised that "in most cases when guests have extenuating circumstances and need support beyond our typical services, all of our offices are happy to do what they can (to the extent that the airlines will support us) and we do have a team focused specifically on solutions for guests with accessibility challenges." I will seek further information from the UK team about this issue.

 

I will update you on their comments as soon as I am able to do so.

 

Thank you very much for your loyalty to Azamara Club Cruises.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

_____________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

[Aarrmuch]

After reading posts on this thread, I thought I would try to book my seats on our 2nd December depature BA from Gatwick. I choose the seats we wanted and paid the £10 booking fee no problem. I told our 4 friends traveling with us to do the same. They did we now of 2 sets of three across from one another :). I do not no if the flight was booked by my TA or Azamara. It came as a package to us.

 

Stephen

[Bill Leiber]

Hello Joecors -

 

I want you to know that I'm still in the process of learning more information about our UK Air Program and I'm hopeful that I will be able to share definitive information very shortly.

 

Until then, I appreciate your patience.

 

Best regards,

 

Bill Leiber

_____________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

[Joecors]

Many thanks for your response. Prepared to wait as long as necessary as long as we end up with a definitive result

[Joecors]

Have received a most helpful response from an Az. Abmbassador whose e-mail address I picked up from one of your earlier threads. THis advised me that I was part of a group booking "which means you can't access the booking online with BA. We can offer seats but only 3 days before the sail date"

Would appreciate your continuing to get a definitive answer for U.K. cruisers in respect of block booking. Booking flights through Az. does offer a level of security to get one on the cruise which booking independently subject to Icelandic clouds and U.K. airport union action does not. In addition recently Az. does appear to offer a number of packages of cruise, flights and hotel stay combined.

[Joecors]

[quote=uktog;35007566]

 

I think you are getting a lot of good advice on this thread on how to address the issues you have which seem to be an isolated incident based on the experience of UK cruises, sorry you have been unlucky

 

BA have also not given you correct information as all bookings are eligible for seat selection on line at T-24 (that is 24 hours from take off) but what you need is not the group ID number but your individual locator number. I made an initial mistake with an Azamara booking as I could not find the locator, but contacting the flight team on

Azamaraflights.uk@rccl.com

 

resolved the issue

 

I suggest you contact them, or if you are booked through a travel agent they should do it for you. If you are booked through a travel agent the issue may not be Azamaras in that some UK agents are buying cruise only from the airline and then doing their own packaging of the flights and hotels. Whilst it looks like an Azamara all in arrangement, it actually is not

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for advising me of the address of Azamara flights but their response to an e-mail that I sent to them:-

"Yes you are correct you are on a group booking which means you CANT access the booking on line with BA."

seems in direct contradiction of your statement. I don't know whether inclusion in a block booking depends on which airport you start off at, when you make a cruise booking, how you can opt out of it.

Hopefully Bill will be able to advise.

[Bill Leiber]

[quote=uktog;35007566]

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for advising me of the address of Azamara flights but their response to an e-mail that I sent to them:-

"Yes you are correct you are on a group booking which means you CANT access the booking on line with BA."

seems in direct contradiction of your statement. I don't know whether inclusion in a block booking depends on which airport you start off at, when you make a cruise booking, how you can opt out of it.

Hopefully Bill will be able to advise.

 

 

Hello Joecors -

 

I hope all is well with you. I've been working with the very understanding and committed Azamara Specialist in the UK Air Planning group and here is a status report of where we are today with respect to "blocked inventory" and your issues:

§ Azamara will continue to use "blocked inventory" allocation from the LHR gateway. Important to note that LHR is the only gateway in which this procedure is used.

§ The benefit of an allocation is that the seat inventory has been secured at a guaranteed price and that we have the inventory to offer air flights usually during a high-demand time period. Also, to secure on an individual basis would translate into an elevated cost. The trade-off is that seat requests and online check-in are not offered until 4 days prior to departure.

§ Having stated that, I am awaiting feedback about the feasibility of creating an internal system that would enable us to maintain the inventory allocation while offering guests the ability to pre-book seats and check in online. As soon as they have completed their feasibility study I will let you know the outcome and if there will be an additional cost required.

 

Also, the procedure for guests with accessibility challenges who will require assistance at the airports and/or on the flights should communicate that need when booking their cruise with the reservations agent. Once the flights have been assigned, then the air team will organize those requirements.

 

I'm encouraged about where we are today and hopeful that next week will bring us a solution to the downside of using "blocked inventory" so that you can "self-service" the airline component of your Azamara vacation.

 

Enjoy the weekend ahead!

 

Best regards,

 

Bill Leiber

_____________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

[Joecors]

... sounds good

[Joecors]

I have in the past been extremely critical of the support that Azamara onshore gives to prospective guests unfavourably comparing it with the excellent service received on board on both the Journey and the Quest.

My latest encounter with onshore Az. through the U.K. Ambassador support services has completely changed my opinion. The service provided included the department offering to arrange assistance for me at both airports and diarying my details so that they could reserve aircraft seats 3 days before departure.

I know Bill that you do not wish to get involved in individuals personal problrms/concerns but I would appreciate your bringing to the attention of the boss of U.K. Ambassadors the exceptional service provided by my contact there, a lady called Lisa.

Many thanks

[Bill Leiber]

I have in the past been extremely critical of the support that Azamara onshore gives to prospective guests unfavourably comparing it with the excellent service received on board on both the Journey and the Quest.

My latest encounter with onshore Az. through the U.K. Ambassador support services has completely changed my opinion. The service provided included the department offering to arrange assistance for me at both airports and diarying my details so that they could reserve aircraft seats 3 days before departure.

I know Bill that you do not wish to get involved in individuals personal problrms/concerns but I would appreciate your bringing to the attention of the boss of U.K. Ambassadors the exceptional service provided by my contact there, a lady called Lisa.

Many thanks

Hello Joecors -

 

It was truly a pleasure for me to read your glowing comments about the caring and attentive customer service that you received from Lisa in handling your airline reservations. Even more importantly was your endorsement of the Azamara Ambassadors Programme and its positive impact on the deliverables you've received from Azamara's virtual UK team.

 

Based on your previous critical opinions about the UK operation, it seems that this programme is building the bridge to ensure a more seamless and satisfying Azamara experience both onboard and on shoreside. It's still a "work-in-progress" but it's satisfying to know that you believe we're heading in the right direction!

 

I'll be passing on your positive review to the UK executive team.

 

Best regards,

 

Bill Leiber

_____________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

[piscean]

Hi Joecors

 

I have just returned from the Journey and thankfully it went out of Southampton!

As you know I have also had the 'block booking' experience and even wrote to BA to get it clarified. You are not alone and I do hope that Bill will get this resolved. In the early years of Azamara/Celebrity we were able to book under the BA 24 hours system it is only since Azamara came under the RC umbrella that the problem arose.

Best of luck

Carol

[Joecors]

Hi Joecors

 

I have just returned from the Journey and thankfully it went out of Southampton!

As you know I have also had the 'block booking' experience and even wrote to BA to get it clarified. You are not alone and I do hope that Bill will get this resolved. In the early years of Azamara/Celebrity we were able to book under the BA 24 hours system it is only since Azamara came under the RC umbrella that the problem arose.

Best of luck

Carol

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I believe that we may have been at LHR for the same fly/cruise when they metaphorically threw all the unused boarding passes up in the air and shouted "fight".

Bill Leiber has gone a long way to not only help clarify the situation, but also to convince me that, despite copious explanations on the thread that I was just not doing things right (i.e.the system of block booking just did NOT exist) but that I:-

(1) was not one sandwich short of a picnic

(2) had not become paranoic about the problem

(3)was not having a bad dream

The Abassador scheme has personally been helpful to me in respect of our impending cruise and in case of possible future problems it may be of some help if you make a note of the appropriate e-mail address which is shown somewhere on this thread.

enjoy your cruising