Open Passage Concerns (Threads Merged)

[marinaro44]

There are restrictions on when an Open Passage can be used. Here's what it says on the certificate as of November 2013:

 

Passage Discount is combinable with 2-for-1 pricing, and most OBC and dollars off offers (certain restrictions apply). A Passage booking may not be combined with more than two other OBC and dollars off offers.

[Panderie]

We booked our recent Quest cruise using an Open Passage booking with no problem at all. We booked through our usual UK TA on Azamara's "Double upgrade, free flights deal" our open passage booking gave us a further £200 discount, on top of that we got a good deal from the travel agent.

 

It would appear that there are some lazy (or greedy) travel agents who can't be bothered to do the small amount of extra work involved.

 

Interesting! So you were able to use the Open Passage with two offers! Consistency would be nice! We attempted to book with 3 different travel agents, one local, two national, who all phoned Azamara, then got back to us. Unless they are all fibbing, the Open Passage was not usable for more than £75 pp discount on the August cruise with Balcony Cabin we have booked (unless we paid more than the free flights price). When we tried to book the Thailand and Vietnam Cruise last year direct with Azamara, we were told the Open Passage was worth £75 and did not count towards the deposit (not what we had been led to understand). So the story is the same each time. I would have tried to discuss this again with Azamara, but having spent one whole day in booking this cruise, I didn't want to waste more time (and money on the premium rate phone call to Guatemala). In contrast, last week I booked our February cruise with Celebrity which just took me a few minutes, plus I got a price promise too!

[BBMacLaird]

I'm being told that anyone who wants to inquire about their Open Passage certificate, as it applies to a specific future booking, should send a query to our Customer Service with their booking information (name, booking #) to the LeClubVoyage email address below. Someone will research and respond to either your travel agent or you.

 

Here's the email address: LeClubVoyage@AzamaraClubCruises.com

[uktog]

I'm being told that anyone who wants to inquire about their Open Passage certificate, as it applies to a specific future booking, should send a query to our Customer Service with their booking information (name, booking #) to the LeClubVoyage email address below. Someone will research and respond to either your travel agent or you.

 

Here's the email address: LeClubVoyage@AzamaraClubCruises.com

 

Thanks Bonnie

The issue is now we are unsure whether it is worth buying such a certificate. So I am just checking are you saying there is not a definitive answer and I should email that address when I see an offer and ask? I think that is what you are saying.

[Prefdavid]

I'm being told that anyone who wants to inquire about their Open Passage certificate, as it applies to a specific future booking, should send a query to our Customer Service with their booking information (name, booking #) to the LeClubVoyage email address below. Someone will research and respond to either your travel agent or you.

 

Here's the email address: LeClubVoyage@AzamaraClubCruises.com

 

I'm sorry Bonnie but this isn't really an acceptable response to me. To advise that you have to enquire about possible use of a product already purchased sounds a little ridiculous, especially when we were advised on that use at the time of purchase. A verbal contract is still a contract!

 

Why is it not possible for you to obtain a clear and definitive statement on the use of these and their applicability (or not) for future use and that should also be clearly communicated to any TAs who wish to sell your product.

[Riocca]

Interesting! So you were able to use the Open Passage with two offers! Consistency would be nice! We attempted to book with 3 different travel agents, one local, two national, who all phoned Azamara, then got back to us. Unless they are all fibbing, the Open Passage was not usable for more than £75 pp discount on the August cruise with Balcony Cabin we have booked (unless we paid more than the free flights price). When we tried to book the Thailand and Vietnam Cruise last year direct with Azamara, we were told the Open Passage was worth £75 and did not count towards the deposit (not what we had been led to understand). So the story is the same each time. I would have tried to discuss this again with Azamara, but having spent one whole day in booking this cruise, I didn't want to waste more time (and money on the premium rate phone call to Guatemala). In contrast, last week I booked our February cruise with Celebrity which just took me a few minutes, plus I got a price promise too!

 

 

I think the Double upgrade free flights offer last year counted as one deal, and the money we paid for open passage was deducted from the deposit we were required to pay. Of course this was a booking made last year before the call centre was moved to Guatemala, and with UK staff who were employed by RCI and understood the product.

 

Looks very much to me that TA's are contacting Guatemala and getting poor information from staff there, of course with Celebrity it is still UK based with employed staff.

 

 

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[Riocca]

Having thought a little more about this and the £75 comment it's not rocket science to work out where it all goes wrong. With an open passage certificate is a booking reference which stays with the booking when it is converted to "proper" booking, on that booking must be a credit of £75 which is the amount payed for that certificate, so far so good. So when the call centre operative looks at that booking reference they see the £75 credit and assumes wrongly that that is the credit that they have to apply to the booking. No doubt in their training they have been instructed that it is not allowable to apply two offers to a booking, this may even have been set up in their computer to avoid mistakes.

 

What clearly is missing is the knowledge, that has now been lost in closing the UK call centre, of how an Open Passage booking works, Azamara need to address this situation quickly and throwing it back to the customer to query it with another part of the organisation is just not good enough.

 

Maybe in time having a third party call centre will work, but only if staff are trained correctly and turn over is low, sadly as many UK companies have found to their peril this is often not the case. Booking a cruise is not just an order taking situation, there are many variables and often customers, especially new ones, have many questions and rely on knowledgable staff to help them. On CC we only see the tip of the iceberg, how many bookings in the UK are being lost to Azamara due to poor quality information and customer service?

 

I would respectfully suggest that senior Azamara staff look seriously at this problem before it's too late.

 

 

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[HudandPug]

I have been watching all this from the start and boy it's dragging on. Had experience of many issues all of this has thrown up too.

 

What I can't understand is how this change in call centres can happen given the UK was highlighted as having the biggest growth in bookings for Azamara. Plus the CEO stated that the UK in particular would be the target for Azamara's ongoing growth and expansion.

 

Now forgive me if this sounds daft, any company worth its collective salt, moves its centre of ops to its growth market. It is common business practise, they don't alienate that target by closing a centre down, they bolster that centre and make it a complete package.

 

The only logical reason for moving existing ops, as happened when many moved to India, is to cash in on various relocation and employment funding initiatives available in another country, and/or cheap labour. This availability should never compromise the essential growth of a company.

Sadly in this case, in my opinion, it looks like that is exactly what has happened.

 

Yvonne

[uktog]

Having thought a little more about this and the £75 comment it's not rocket science to work out where it all goes wrong. With an open passage certificate is a booking reference which stays with the booking when it is converted to "proper" booking, on that booking must be a credit of £75 which is the amount payed for that certificate, so far so good. So when the call centre operative looks at that booking reference they see the £75 credit and assumes wrongly that that is the credit that they have to apply to the booking. No doubt in their training they have been instructed that it is not allowable to apply two offers to a booking, this may even have been set up in their computer to avoid mistakes.

 

What clearly is missing is the knowledge, that has now been lost in closing the UK call centre, of how an Open Passage booking works, Azamara need to address this situation quickly and throwing it back to the customer to query it with another part of the organisation is just not good enough.

 

Maybe in time having a third party call centre will work, but only if staff are trained correctly and turn over is low, sadly as many UK companies have found to their peril this is often not the case. Booking a cruise is not just an order taking situation, there are many variables and often customers, especially new ones, have many questions and rely on knowledgable staff to help them. On CC we only see the tip of the iceberg, how many bookings in the UK are being lost to Azamara due to poor quality information and customer service?

 

I would respectfully suggest that senior Azamara staff look seriously at this problem before it's too late.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Excellent post - it is that loss of collective knowledge that is completely exacerbating the situation. Remember also that the high volume RCI call centre has also been offshored and whilst the arrangement may deliver an acceptable customer experience for guests of that brand (I do not know if it is or not) and therefore the overall performance metrics may look great to the RCI "strategists" who drove this decision, hidden in this will be the pain of Azamara guests.

 

I still cannot comprehend why Azamara guests were sent offshore whilst Celebrity guests have been able to retain their UK based experience.

 

Sadly though it is too late - the staff with the knowledge of Azamara have been made redundant and have left the organisation or will be leaving very very soon

[davidandjulia]

I too must add my voice to the growing numbers of loyal customers who are experiencing utter frustration at the inept manner that our concerns and or requests are dealt with both at the hands of the UK representatives and the new Guatemala call centre and so ably depicted by HudandPug and UKTog. My latest request, a simple one I would suggest, was to request a 2015 brochure and to be added to the list of those who would like to be informed of cruise price discounted offers. My original request was made through the Azamara official website some two months ago and the saga unfolding and worthy of utter incredulous comprehension in public relations is beyond belief. Had I in my working life treated my loyal customers in a like fashion, I certainly would not now be in a position to be able to afford to enjoy cruising in my retirement. Fortunately my wife and I have experienced the wonderful on board attention we have received both on the Journey and the Quest and have indeed booked a further cruise in January of next year, however we certainly now have grave misgivings in placing future cruising bookings with Azamara should an occasion arise that could possibly require intervention from shore-side personnel.

[tom5178]

Hi,

 

We just booked Journey using an Open Passages purchased on Celebrity last fall. I had paid $275 at the time and when we just booked, we were able to take advantage of the double upgrade, All I had to pay was an additional $275 deposit since I only paid one last fall.

[Riocca]

We have said all along the problem comes not so much with moving the call centre offshore but in the fact it is contracted out to a third party who have no in depth knowledge of the product they are selling. If Guatamala was a RCI call centre it could ensure that staff are fully conversant with the product they are selling, but these are third party employees and RCI have little or no control over them.

 

Even if RCI had kept the call centre in the UK but contracted it out and moved it to a different location we would no doubt be in the same situation.

 

As a former Customer services Director for a large international company IMO customers have the right to expect the following from any company they deal with.

 

1) Telephones are answered promptly, without the use of premium rate phone calls.

 

2) Whoever answers the phone should be able to converse with the customer clearly in their native language.

 

3) The sales advisor should have an in depth knowledge of the product and sales process.

 

Personally we have yet to telephone the new call centre as we now direct all our business through a UK travel agent, but from all the threads on CC it is clear that delivery of 1 & 2 is not being achieved.

[uktog]

Right again Riocca

 

I was not entirely clear in my previous post - the Call Centre in Guatemala is a venture that has been set up by RCI - I am not entirely sure who employs the staff but I would expect it is on an outsource contract. The staff answer both RCI and Azamara calls, again it would be good if Bonnie could confirm are Azamara calls going to dedicated advisers or is it a multifunctional operation.

 

I totally agree with your assessment of what the customer wants. Can I also add as a direct booker I want to have a more personal relationship with a named person who remembers me, knows what in general I like and makes me feel valued and welcomed back each time I book. I had been fortunate having travelled to a Cruise Show been able to put a face to that name which was even better.

 

An interesting further thought - how are the Cruise Shows going to be resourced by Azamara. The one thing you want there is staff who know the products, all the higher end competitors have that and at the last show I was at, which was about two months after the Guatemala outsource announcement, several competitors were making a very high profile statement about UK staff/UK Call Centres only - I wonder why :rolleyes:

[Jade13]

Hi Panderie,

 

I presume you are from the UK ? What you've described, is surprising, as I've not heard of such treatment here in the US.

 

Just curious... isn't there an Onboard Credit associated with the Open Passage, and might it be worth paying a little more, to obtain the OBC ?

 

I hope Bonnie responds to this, or perhaps some of our dear UK friends, as inquiring minds want to know why a different price would be quoted when using a Passages certificate. Doesn't make any sense to me.

 

Azamara hasn't given OBC in years. As far back as 2011 it was a certain amount off of the cruise (such as $400.00 off for two people in a balcony on a 12 night cruise).

 

It is somewhat confusing and better if they went back to the OBC, except that there are not a lot of options to use it. It doesn't really encourage a lot of people to book as I have heard a lot of people saying they can do better with their TA (who should be taking the additionally amount off of their selling price for the cruise).

 

One issue is the discount not being allowed off of group bookings. Also, with the group bookings you need to pay the full deposit, so it negates the other benefit of an onboard booking where you have a low deposit until final payment.

[Jade13]

Hi,

 

We just booked Journey using an Open Passages purchased on Celebrity last fall. I had paid $275 at the time and when we just booked, we were able to take advantage of the double upgrade, All I had to pay was an additional $275 deposit since I only paid one last fall.

 

 

It worked because you are likely not in a group booking with an outside TA who needs a full deposit. Most of those having a problem in the UK are trying to get into a group with discounted pricing. Their is a similar issue in the US with the group bookings (which need full deposits) but so far our TA has been able to take an additional percentage off of the cruise fare in addition to the group price. It comes off the top of their commission. We haven't had the agent say they couldn't take the passage, just that they needed more money as we had to pay the full deposit. We have had the same issue with Celebrity.

[Phylhering]

I booked an open passage on the Quest TA in March. I now booked the Quest in November for the repositioning cruise and I too was told by my TA that I could not use the open passage. I think that this is just wrong. Azamara has my money and what difference does it make what cruise deal I get, they are still getting my money for the cruise.

[BBMacLaird]

I booked an open passage on the Quest TA in March. I now booked the Quest in November for the repositioning cruise and I too was told by my TA that I could not use the open passage. I think that this is just wrong. Azamara has my money and what difference does it make what cruise deal I get, they are still getting my money for the cruise.

 

Hello Phylhering,

please send a query with your booking information (name, booking #) to LeClubVoyage@AzamaraClubCruises.com. Someone will research and respond to your travel agent.

[Phylhering]

I sent the e-mail, let's see what happens.

[Panderie]

I sent the e-mail, let's see what happens.

 

I sent our email on the 13th, no response yet, not even an acknowledgement.

[mzk90]

Hello Phylhering,

please send a query with your booking information (name, booking #) to LeClubVoyage@AzamaraClubCruises.com. Someone will research and respond to your travel agent.

 

I would have thought the Loyalty guys had enough to do without getting involved in onboard sales issues. Isn't there a customer service email address?

[procter]

Bonnie

You posted

 

 

" This is the first I've heard of this problem too.

I've just done a bit of research and see that Bill wrote a blog post in September 2013 about this program:

http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/co...rs-user-guide/

According to this, the Open Passage is combinable and is not subject to any black-outs. Bill wrote "It’s offered on every published voyage on both vessels." And it does not say anything about being capacity-controlled.

So let me contact both offices (US & UK) to make sure it's being honored by the Reservation Staff as stated. __________________

Bonnie Berg MacLaird

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

 

as this on May 5th

It is now 18 May and you have still not come back with update other than a "get in touch with azamara" which rather suggests that Azamara wish to kick this into the long grass.

How long does it take to send an email and get replies.

 

You may begin to see why regular cruisers like UK tog and a lot of others are REALLY worried about Azamara shore side.

Perhaps as UK tog suggested the UK MD could actually make an appearance on this blog as we are assured they read this.

 

Please help us to continue to promote Azamara.

You will know that

1: Personal recommendation is the number 1 way to get new business.

2: Getting new customers costs approx 6 times retaining existing.

3: Viking cruises are getting closer with 2 more cruising ships on order and there is still no update on when/if Azamara are going to refit their old ships.

I think if I was working for Azamara shore side I would be looking to jump ship as there appears to be no interest in retaining/improving these ships in RCI.

 

Please help those of us who LOVE on ship experience!!!!

[Glenndale]

On our last cruise on Journey we were ready to purchase an Open Passage certificate but after listening to other guests experiences and the hassle they experienced we decided against it.

 

I'm guessing that it eats into the TA's commission and therefore they are reluctant to accept them.

 

We could have used it to book direct but now that the call centre has been moved to Guatemala, the chances of me ringing the premium number and booking direct are zero.

 

Such a pity that we cannot get a straight answer about this.

[Azamazingal]

I sent off my Open Passage e-mail (as suggested by Bonnie) five days ago and have not yet had a reply. Furthermore, I booked an Azamara cruise for this July seven days ago through my TA but we have not yet had back written confirmation or any of the flight details. It used to take two days!

[Panderie]

I sent off my Open Passage e-mail (as suggested by Bonnie) five days ago and have not yet had a reply. Furthermore, I booked an Azamara cruise for this July seven days ago through my TA but we have not yet had back written confirmation or any of the flight details. It used to take two days!

I have now had a reply from Azamara, not that it has cleared up the problem, however. (The email address given by Bonnie is for the US office - my email had been forwarded onto the UK office.) All I can say at the moment (as I guess I cannot post the email from Azamara on this board) is that the response did not clear any part of my query, as for some reason they assumed that I had not attempted to use the Open Passage Certificate. I have emailed back in hope of a clearer explanation. Smoke and Mirrors come to mind. But whatever the truth behind it all, I don't think it should be for the customer to search for the solution to the problem.

[Azamazingal]

Well after six days I have had a reply - Good News!

 

We are glad to let you know that your friends can get the discount applied

to their bookings also. There is a limit of getting the same discount

applied to up to two other bookings. Please know that if your friends need

to book their cruise after you have booked yours. The discount will be

rejected if they have already made a booking for the same cruise. Please

remember to have this done before 30 days after booking your cruise. Please

tell your friends that will make a booking to ask for me to make sure you

do not have other agents rejecting the discount.