Azamara Promotions

[Willow1686]

Hi,

 

I've just received a promotional email from the online TA I usually use, and there are some very big pricecuts on a wide range of Azamara cruises.

 

I thought this may be of use of those of you who have been off by the very high prices...

[midwestchick]

Hi,

 

I've just received a promotional email from the online TA I usually use, and there are some very big pricecuts on a wide range of Azamara cruises.

 

I thought this may be of use of those of you who have been off by the very high prices...

 

 

Not sure, but I'm thinking the promotions in the UK are much different than those in the states...judging on what I've read on CC. I searched after I read this and I'm not seeing anything any differently.

Hope your post is helpful to some UK cruisers, though.

Edited January 22, 2014 by midwestchick

[canny_cruiser]

Can't see anything about his on the Azamara UK site. The offers there are free flights and the free excursions they recently introduced. No "price cuts" as such.

Edited January 22, 2014 by canny_cruiser

[Riocca]

Just checked on our TA's web site and they are having a "Flash Sale" on Azamara, for our April cruise on Quest the flight inclusive price for an inside is over £500 less and an outside is £200 less than Azamara's August 2013 price. However we booked on the double upgrade deal and balcony cabins are £250 more than we paid. There is no mention on their site of any inclusive trips however.

Also looked at our November cruise on Journey the offer does not seem to extend to that and inside prices are still similar to what we paid on the double upgrade deal with balconies considerably more.

[socky1]

Just checked on our TA's web site and they are having a "Flash Sale" on Azamara, for our April cruise on Quest the flight inclusive price for an inside is over £500 less and an outside is £200 less than Azamara's August 2013 price. However we booked on the double upgrade deal and balcony cabins are £250 more than we paid. There is no mention on their site of any inclusive trips however.

Also looked at our November cruise on Journey the offer does not seem to extend to that and inside prices are still similar to what we paid on the double upgrade deal with balconies considerably more.

 

We are booked on Quest as well for April, and appears to be many open cabins. I believe today is the last day for no penalty cancellation. I am concerned Azamara may drop the fares to attract more bookings. Does anyone know if Azamara has a practice of dropping the price to fill the ship?

[midwestchick]

We are booked on Quest as well for April, and appears to be many open cabins. I believe today is the last day for no penalty cancellation. I am concerned Azamara may drop the fares to attract more bookings. Does anyone know if Azamara has a practice of dropping the price to fill the ship?

 

 

Not sure if it's a "practice Azamara has" but I do know when we booked our first cruise, it was last minute and a two for one special....that included flights and the cruise. We had less than a week to make up our mind and we had never cruised before. I loved the itinerary and we jumped on it and I have never regretted it. I also jumped on the "pay for inside and get upgraded to a balcony and $1000 air credit" promo they had going in September. The only cabin category that I can watch, I think, is the inside category to see how that price goes. If I am wrong on this, someone please advise.

[taxjam]

Rest assured they will somehow fill the ship. On our February and March cruises it seems an extraordinary number of passengers have recently joined apparently because of bargains.

[riandei]

Rest assured they will somehow fill the ship. On our February and March cruises it seems an extraordinary number of passengers have recently joined apparently because of bargains.

 

 

Interesting...where are they getting them...cause the az website pricing remains constant

[marinaro44]

Rest assured they will somehow fill the ship.

Seems to me a reasonable strategy for staying in business.

 

The choices are: (1) Book in a timely manner, pay regular or promotional (ChoiceAir credit, veranda for the price of a balcony, etc.) fare, and get your choice of cruise and accommodations; or, (2) Wait for a last minute deal, pay less, and hope for an attractive cruise while settling for whatever accommodations are left.

[midwestchick]

Seems to me a reasonable strategy for staying in business.

 

The choices are: (1) Book in a timely manner, pay regular or promotional (ChoiceAir credit, veranda for the price of a balcony, etc.) fare, and get your choice of cruise and accommodations; or, (2) Wait for a last minute deal, pay less, and hope for an attractive cruise while settling for whatever accommodations are left.

 

 

I guess I'm very fortunate we were able to get a verandah cabin on our last minute booking. Still trying to find out where everyone is seeing how full the ship is...I had a site I tried to use but it didn't work.:confused::confused: Maybe it was "operator error"...:o:o

[socky1]

Seems to me a reasonable strategy for staying in business.

 

The choices are: (1) Book in a timely manner, pay regular or promotional (ChoiceAir credit, veranda for the price of a balcony, etc.) fare, and get your choice of cruise and accommodations; or, (2) Wait for a last minute deal, pay less, and hope for an attractive cruise while settling for whatever accommodations are left.

 

Well said.

[marinaro44]

I guess I'm very fortunate we were able to get a verandah cabin on our last minute booking.

That's great, but for some it's not enough.

 

They don't want to be far forward on the ship because it bounces, or aft because there is vibration, or under the buffet area because they move chairs around early in the morning, or under the gym, or under the pool deck because they move the lounge chairs around, or over the Cabaret because there's loud music, or in a veranda stateroom that has a railing that isn't open all the way down to the deck, etc., etc., etc.

[midwestchick]

That's great, but for some it's not enough.

 

They don't want to be far forward on the ship because it bounces, or aft because there is vibration, or under the buffet area because they move chairs around early in the morning, or under the gym, or under the pool deck because they move the lounge chairs around, or over the Cabaret because there's loud music, or in a veranda stateroom that has a railing that isn't open all the way down to the deck, etc., etc., etc.

 

 

I guess we were double, triple, etc. fortunate...none of the above for us. We were close to the forward elevators which was perfect for us, in our opinion. Had never sailed before....packed medication for sea sickness but never used it. The water doesn't bother us...we're used to being on small boats (had a 15 ft. for years) and went salmon fishing on Lake Michigan, which is not for the weak at heart...or stomach....lol Actually I guess there was one night it stormed and woke DH...he said the ship was rockin' and rollin'...me..didn't feel a thing...slept like a baby being rocked in a cradle. We must not have been far enough forward to hear the chairs being moved but we were on deck 6...probably made a huge difference. I guess I'll cruise with a cup half full....and then fill it to the top when the occasions arrises...hmmm...could be at the pool bar.;) :D

[procter]

Is this the law of unintended consequences.

If the wonderful Edie who I am sure loves her mother and apple pie had not done the 2 category upgrade then maybe they would not have to discount now.

It is obvious that if you offer 2 category upgrade and air credit then everybody previously booking inside/restricted will opt for that.

Your reservations look good but your profitability goes down.

The downside

Those who can not book balconies far ahead have no choice but to look at other lines or accept that they will be paying an excessive price if booked early.

 

 

You then have inside/restricted which you then have to discount further driving down your profitability.

Do not forget that outside the US there are penalties for cancelling reservations of up to $1000 vs $50 in USA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DOH!!!

[Riocca]

The marketing strategy seems to vary market to market, even deals that appear to be the same differ, in the UK there is no Choice Air so with the double upgrade deal we either had free flights if it was in Europe or as with our TA on Journey flights for £499 which gave us economy flights to Malaga and Premium economy flights back to the UK from Rio.

 

We have today had emails from three different agents offering us "deals" on the 30th April Quest cruise (which we have already booked), every deal was different!! This is probably because it used to be common in the UK for cruise companies to give agents a special deal exclusive to them to move a number of unsold cabins. Then the practice seemed to stop when they cut the agents commissions, as the cruise lines thought they could sell direct and cut out the agents a move that obviously did not work as commissions have been increased and many cruise lines have put out statements saying how crucial to the business agents are. Moving call centres to Guatemala has probably had a influence on this, certainly we have returned to booking via specialist cruise agents.