Club Continent Suites not ready for first sailing out of dry dock

[Spursgirl]

I agree with you Phil. I understand why some may be unhappy, but I'm confident that disruptions will not be significant - at least not enough to ruin your cruise. Of course, if the Spa is critical to you - then I can see why 3-5 days without the spa is a concern. For us ? it's a non-event. Different strokes for different folks. IMO, having the cruises proceed is a far better option than outright cancellation.

 

If you feel that what's being presented is not suitable for you, then why not cancel, and choose another sail date ? Again, I realize that's not an ideal situation for some - but it is something to consider. As I've said on here for years, if you are going to go into the cruise feeling very apprehensive - then you may not have an enjoyable cruise experience. With that said, Azamara has some of the best Officers and Crew at Sea.... so if anyone can make this situation as comfortable as possible - I'm confident that Journey's & Quest's Officers will rise to the occasion - as usual.

 

As for me ? I'd much rather be on a wonderful cruise ship, than a day at work. Life is too short to worry so much. I hope those who are on the fence, will have faith in Azamara. I know I do.

 

As always Andy you are the voice of reason.

 

However for those who may be apprehensive about this sailing and are not from the US, cancelling is not penalty free.

 

I am sure though that Azamara will keep any disruption to the very minimum and everyone will still enjoy a wonderful cruise

[Pam]

But what I am seeing from those people who have been misplaced from their CC suites is that the compensation doesn't equal the disparity in quarters. I really wasn't looking at the lack of spa or whatever, I was seeing people who were taken from a nice CC Suite and put in a much lesser version of Veranda cabin and not being given back the difference in the two prices. And I was almost sure I saw somebody who had already made flight arrangements and hotel arrangements that were nonrefundable.

 

That would be significant enough to ruin a trip completely, and yes, I would be terribly disappointed.

Edited August 18, 2015 by Pam

[marinaro44]

But what I am seeing from those people who have been misplaced from their CC suites is that the compensation doesn't equal the disparity in quarters.

The only hard number I've seen is the $500 OBC offered to someone bumped from a CC suite to a veranda on an eleven-night cruise. The complaint was that the $500 would only cover ten of the eleven nights in a specialty dining room. I'm not sympathetic. There is no guarantee, implied or otherwise, that a suite passenger will have access to a specialty restaurant every night of his or her cruise, only that if one dines in a specialty restaurant there will be no charge. Plus, you can buy packages that reduce the nightly cost to $20 per person per night, so there'd even be OBC left over.

 

As far as refunds of cruise fare differentials, no one has posted any numbers.

Edited August 19, 2015 by marinaro44

[ellbon]

The only hard number I've seen is the $500 OBC offered to someone bumped from a CC suite to a veranda on an eleven-night cruise. The complaint was that the $500 would only cover ten of the eleven nights in a specialty dining room. I'm not sympathetic. There is no guarantee, implied or otherwise, that a suite passenger will have access to a specialty restaurant every night of his or her cruise, only that if one dines in a specialty restaurant there will be no charge. Plus, you can buy packages that reduce the nightly cost to $20 per person per night, so there'd even be OBC left over.

 

As far as refunds of cruise fare differentials, no one has posted any numbers.

 

I never been **** out of the speciality restaurant ever. i call sometimes he same day to get in.. might be later than you like but you get in.

 

the big lost to me is having a butler that others do not care about.i do care as he takes care of me.

[Host Jazzbeau]

As it turns out there will be a small block of accommodations having the finishing touches completed during the first 3-5 days of the voyage immediately following drydock in 2016.

Some of these suites/staterooms affected are unbooked.

 

Journey holds 686 pax. There are a total of 44 suites with 88 pax, but Bonnie says only a small block are affected and some of those are unbooked. So how many pax are we talking about here? Is anyone seriously suggesting canceling a cruise and affecting 686 pax because 50 [or 10 - see Genesis 18:16-33] will be affected? For US pax the answer is easy: cancel. For UK pax, Azamara needs to step up and waive the cancellation penalty. [i'm with Andy -- the spa is a non-starter; now if all the bars would be out of service, that would be a different story :D]

[Pam]

One person on this thread who is affected said that their cruise was the only BOGOHO deal that included a CC suite, so now that they have lost their suite it seems they don't have another cruise to choose from. Another poster said they were offered $300 compensation. Is this on top of a cash refund in the amount of the fare difference? Nobody seems to have mentioned that. The OP of this thread didn't mention compensation. Aren't there more benefits with a CC Suite than specialty dining? Like better room service menu?

 

I have never been on Azamara, my cruise is in August 2016; I am dealing with the tub thing and the chair/sofa thing but this caught my interest because it is sooner and I am interested in seeing how Azamara deals with it.

 

I thought I had this on, then it disappeared. But some of this is pretty major, like the laundry and the internet:

 

All standard amenities plus:

 

English butler service

235 complimentary Internet minutes

One free bag of laundry service per suite, each seven days

Complimentary dining in the specialty restaurants

Afternoon tea service in suite

Edited August 19, 2015 by Pam

[marinaro44]

One person on this thread who is affected said that their cruise was the only BOGOHO deal that included a CC suite, so now that they have lost their suite it seems they don't have another cruise to choose from. Another poster said they were offered $300 compensation. Is this on top of a cash refund in the amount of the fare difference? Nobody seems to have mentioned that. The OP of this thread didn't mention compensation. Aren't there more benefits with a CC Suite than specialty dining? Like better room service menu?

 

I have never been on Azamara, my cruise is in August 2016; I am dealing with the tub thing and the chair/sofa thing but this caught my interest because it is sooner and I am interested in seeing how Azamara deals with it.

 

I thought I had this on, then it disappeared. But some of this is pretty major, like the laundry and the internet:

 

All standard amenities plus:

 

English butler service

235 complimentary Internet minutes

One free bag of laundry service per suite, each seven days

Complimentary dining in the specialty restaurants

Afternoon tea service in suite

And all of this you pay for in paying more for a CC suite. I don't believe for a minute that Azamara isn't refunding the difference in fare between a CC suite and a veranda if someone is being bumped from a suite to a veranda.

 

I'd suggest you read the OP again because it says, contrary to what you wrote above: "Granted, we've been offered a reduced fare..." And Bonnie wrote the following, which you conveniently didn't bother to read, either: "We are of course adjusting the fare if a downgrade is involved, and in addition offering onboard spending money as an appreciation of willingness to change suite/stateroom assignment."

 

It's always a good idea to read carefully before being negative.

 

And I agree that any cancellation penalty should be waived if someone chooses to cancel their cruise within a defined period (say, 30 days) after notification of the stateroom downgrade.

[excitedofharpenden]

One person on this thread who is affected said that their cruise was the only BOGOHO deal that included a CC suite, so now that they have lost their suite it seems they don't have another cruise to choose from. Another poster said they were offered $300 compensation. Is this on top of a cash refund in the amount of the fare difference? Nobody seems to have mentioned that.

 

Azamara aren't going to charge the suite fare for someone being downgraded to a balcony cabin. This was mentioned early on by someone affected, I'm sure. The compensation amount is on top.

 

The rub is that people may already have non-cancellable airfare/accommodation and the like which will be part of the reasoning why Azamara don't want to cancel the sailing. Knowing Azamara like I do I'm sure they will do their best to make things right when the people board the cruise. At least that is how I would feel if it were me booked on it.

 

Phil

[belfastbangorboy]

Bonnie, this is a quote from the email we received:

 

For the first 3 – 5 days, a couple of areas will not be ready:

-The Spa & Fitness Center – including our 2 new Spa suites.

-Some work will still take place in our suites.

 

This seems to state categorically that the facilities will not be available for up to 5 days of the cruise.

 

It is not just suites that will be worked on. Our veranda cabin and our friends have both been scheduled for work. We have visions of deck 8 looking like a shipyard workshop for the duration of the trip!

[excitedofharpenden]

And all of this you pay for in paying more for a CC suite. I don't believe for a minute that Azamara isn't refunding the difference in fare between a CC suite and a veranda if someone is being bumped from a suite to a veranda.

 

I'd suggest you read the OP again because it says, contrary to what you wrote above: "Granted, we've been offered a reduced fare..." And Bonnie wrote the following, which you conveniently didn't bother to read, either: "We are of course adjusting the fare if a downgrade is involved, and in addition offering onboard spending money as an appreciation of willingness to change suite/stateroom assignment."

 

It's always a good idea to read carefully before being negative.

 

And I agree that any cancellation penalty should be waived if someone chooses to cancel their cruise within a defined period (say, 30 days) after notification of the stateroom downgrade.

 

Ok, now I have my reading glasses on:o yes, this is what I have read. Thinking out loud perhaps it can be arranged for those downgraded from a suite to an ordinary veranda cabin to keep the services of a butler so they still get the afternoon tea service and the like. It might already be something the ship will arrange. After all the butlers will have fewer suites. As I said earlier and having experience of the Hotel Directors on the ships they will do everything they can to make things right.

 

Phil

Edited August 19, 2015 by excitedofharpenden

[uktog]

I am sure everyone will do all they can onboard and in the home offices to make the experience as good as they can though there is no denying that the cruise will not be the kind of experience it would have been if the work was not over running. Mind you it might be better - who knows!!

 

However I think it would help everyone if the full information is shared here as soon as it is known rather than it leaking out and/or as a result of only giving the answers to specific questions - hopefully Bonnie can be wired into the Azamara refit team to speed up that sharing

 

And secondly the words cancel are red rags to bulls in the UK - as Spursgirl has said cancel = fees and it is not a simple drive to the port there are non refundable airfares in place. If the cruiseline cancelled the whole cruise insurance would kick in for these airfares, it will probably not for a change of room.

 

So, lets be sensitive to those affected (I am not but I might have been) and try and like Phil I believe Azamara will do all they can to come through hopefully starting now with best practice communication with those affected.

Edited August 19, 2015 by uktog

[Pam]

And all of this you pay for in paying more for a CC suite. I don't believe for a minute that Azamara isn't refunding the difference in fare between a CC suite and a veranda if someone is being bumped from a suite to a veranda.

 

I'd suggest you read the OP again because it says, contrary to what you wrote above: "Granted, we've been offered a reduced fare..." And Bonnie wrote the following, which you conveniently didn't bother to read, either: "We are of course adjusting the fare if a downgrade is involved, and in addition offering onboard spending money as an appreciation of willingness to change suite/stateroom assignment."

 

It's always a good idea to read carefully before being negative.

 

And I agree that any cancellation penalty should be waived if someone chooses to cancel their cruise within a defined period (say, 30 days) after notification of the stateroom downgrade.

 

I didn't say anything about that poster not being offered reduced fare. I said that she didn't mention the OBC compensation that you said would cover specialty dining. I read her post a few times, actually. And I fully understand that you pay for all of that; obviously the PP's were perfectly willing to do so.

Edited August 19, 2015 by Pam

[Riocca]

As one of the UK passengers involved in this situation I can honestly say after the initial shock of the email informing us of the change, Azamara and in particular Azamara UK have bent over backwards to ensure that any impact on our cruise is minimalised. Our main concern was that we had constructed quite a complicated vacation around this cruise so any alterations to duration etc would have caused us problems, we are happy to say that this is not the case.

 

The Spa/Gym situation was never of any concern to us as it's not areas of any ship we frequent, preferring our 3 mile morning power walk around the deck as a much more pleasurable option.

 

Rest assured Azamra in our opinion have handled the resulting situation in a sensitive and professional way and we can now look forward to an interesting cruise on Journey.

[uktog]

As one of the UK passengers involved in this situation I can honestly say after the initial shock of the email informing us of the change, Azamara and in particular Azamara UK have bent over backwards to ensure that any impact on our cruise is minimalised. Our main concern was that we had constructed quite a complicated vacation around this cruise so any alterations to duration etc would have caused us problems, we are happy to say that this is not the case.

 

The Spa/Gym situation was never of any concern to us as it's not areas of any ship we frequent, preferring our 3 mile morning power walk around the deck as a much more pleasurable option.

 

Rest assured Azamra in our opinion have handled the resulting situation in a sensitive and professional way and we can now look forward to an interesting cruise on Journey.

 

Great post - Azamara UK really are now setting the benchmark standards for service in the organisation these days

[Pam]

Then I am genuinely happy for you, and I hope you have an amazing cruise!

[ellbon]

i am not on this cruise and in general would not book k post dry dock cruise. .which is easy on JR but not QS. i book my Cc cabin fro the bathtub and butler. .AZ could send the butler all over the ship .question would they. .but i am a spa person. the massage people can give a massage in another space bit does he nail person carry her stuff to the Looking glass to do nails or what.. this all could get interesting..

 

i do agree this bits and pieces is getting old and we do need more info so guests can make info choices

[marinaro44]

I didn't say anything about that poster not being offered reduced fare. I said that she didn't mention the OBC compensation that you said would cover specialty dining. I read her post a few times, actually. And I fully understand that you pay for all of that; obviously the PP's were perfectly willing to do so.

Pam, I wasn't referring to the OP when I mentioned the $500 OBC. I said that was the only time I'd seen anyone give a specific number, either for OBC or for a fare refund, in all the postings about being moved from a CC suite to a veranda. The $500 was posted by Riocca in a thread dating from early August titled something like "Journey canceled our reservation."

 

I'm delighted that Riiocca recently wrote above a very positive statement about how Azamara has responded to the stateroom change and its potential impact on their overall vacation plans.

 

By the way, Pam, have you had your TA contact Azamara and request a CC suite with a tub for your upcoming cruise? And have a notation placed in your reservation record that if one is not now available that you be considered for a swap if another passenger should ask to be switched from a tub to a shower?

[Pam]

My cruise is a year away; when we find out which CC Suites have tubs and which ones don't, then yes; I'll contact my TA with that request. I had said in one of the various threads that I had decided to make the best of things and enjoy my cruise whatever bathing facility I am blessed with. I was attracted by the itinerary, but I did upgrade to a CC Suite in order to get a tub, for sure. Since this is my first solo cruise, I was also attracted by the ability to have dinner in my suite on evenings that not having my husband along is more than I can handle.

[Grandma Gilly]

Carol and John.

So pleased your issues have been resolved. Have a wonderful cruise.

Gill

[marinaro44]

My cruise is a year away; when we find out which CC Suites have tubs and which ones don't, then yes; I'll contact my TA with that request.

You might consider getting that request in to Azamara now. They can then call your TA as soon as final tub/shower configurations are known, and work with your TA to give you the best shot at getting one--before others beat you to it. It's clear this is very important to you, so I'd get my oar in the water as soon as possible.

[Pam]

You might consider getting that request in to Azamara now. They can then call your TA as soon as final tub/shower configurations are known, and work with your TA to give you the best shot at getting one--before others beat you to it. It's clear this is very important to you, so I'd get my oar in the water as soon as possible.

 

I honestly hadn't thought about getting ahead of it like that, thanks! My TA is one of the most caring people I have encountered in that business, so I'll ask her to do what she can to get me 'on the list'. Thanks!

[Pam]

My TA has put my name "on the list", thank you so very much for the suggestion. I wouldn't have thought of it.

[marinaro44]

My TA has put my name "on the list", thank you so very much for the suggestion. I wouldn't have thought of it.

Nice! Hope it works out for you.

[Andy]

As one of the UK passengers involved in this situation I can honestly say after the initial shock of the email informing us of the change, Azamara and in particular Azamara UK have bent over backwards to ensure that any impact on our cruise is minimalised. Our main concern was that we had constructed quite a complicated vacation around this cruise so any alterations to duration etc would have caused us problems, we are happy to say that this is not the case.

 

The Spa/Gym situation was never of any concern to us as it's not areas of any ship we frequent, preferring our 3 mile morning power walk around the deck as a much more pleasurable option.

 

Rest assured Azamra in our opinion have handled the resulting situation in a sensitive and professional way and we can now look forward to an interesting cruise on Journey.

 

Hi Riocca,

 

Thanks for letting us know that Azamara reached out to you, and that you are pleased. Wishing you a wonderful cruise !

[rallydave]

My TA has put my name "on the list", thank you so very much for the suggestion. I wouldn't have thought of it.

 

Pam, really need to know how your TA got you on the "list". Hope Bonnie reads this post. I also tried to have my TA put me on the list and the response she got from Azamara was completely unbelievable. Following is what they told her: "I spoke with Azamara. The agent advised they will not know which of the Club Continental Suites have showers vs tubs until after the refurbishment is complete – mid-April 2016. Apparently he could not make a ‘note’ on the booking with your preference at this time." That has to be one of the stupidest answers I've ever heard. Think about it. They won't know which suites have tubs or showers until the work is done. Guess he thinks that the workers will make the changes where they feel like it and once the work is done they will update the drawings to show which have showers and which have tubs. Of course I'm being sarcastic. Any and all help would be appreciated from Bonnie or Pam's TA thru Pam. Am also in the AM going to escalate this to the owner of this agency and have him talk to a contact and not one of the call center people who can't seem to find himself out of a paper bag. Thanks,