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Grandma Cruising
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Be wary - we bid & were successful and allocated 6015. Lovely to have a Verandah at a price a lot less than if we had originally booked a Verandah, BUT it was above the Cabaret so it was noisy late afternoons during show rehearsals and in the evening during shows. The noise was drums & bass rather than general noise. Overall we were happy to have it at the price, but we would never book cabins on 6 above the Caberet as a starting point.

Once you bid you are committed. You don’t get the chance to turn it down, just an email saying you were successful and the money will be taken from your card.

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37 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Be wary - we bid & were successful and allocated 6015. Lovely to have a Verandah at a price a lot less than if we had originally booked a Verandah, BUT it was above the Cabaret so it was noisy late afternoons during show rehearsals and in the evening during shows. The noise was drums & bass rather than general noise. Overall we were happy to have it at the price, but we would never book cabins on 6 above the Caberet as a starting point.

Once you bid you are committed. You don’t get the chance to turn it down, just an email saying you were successful and the money will be taken from your card.

 

When we won we were allocated a suite with shower.  I looked on-line at what was still available and they had clearly allotted a few ‘wins’ that day. There was however a suite with bath available which I preferred, so I asked my TA if we could have that one.  She went online and changed it there and then.  So, you can potentially change what you are allocated, and I imagine this is easier to do through a TA than direct.

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11 minutes ago, Werangels said:

 

When we won we were allocated a suite with shower.  I looked on-line at what was still available and they had clearly allotted a few ‘wins’ that day. There was however a suite with bath available which I preferred, so I asked my TA if we could have that one.  She went online and changed it there and then.  So, you can potentially change what you are allocated, and I imagine this is easier to do through a TA than direct.

Bonnie

Is this allowed or was the agent lucky or has Azamara changed its policy because the original terms were clear no changes could be made.

Its still a huge risk bidding if no alternative room is available though

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1 minute ago, uktog said:

Bonnie

Is this allowed or was the agent lucky or has Azamara changed its policy because the original terms were clear no changes could be made.

Its still a huge risk bidding if no alternative room is available though

 

They were both the same category N1.

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1 hour ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Be wary - we bid & were successful and allocated 6015. Lovely to have a Verandah at a price a lot less than if we had originally booked a Verandah, BUT it was above the Cabaret so it was noisy late afternoons during show rehearsals and in the evening during shows. The noise was drums & bass rather than general noise. Overall we were happy to have it at the price, but we would never book cabins on 6 above the Caberet as a starting point.

Once you bid you are committed. You don’t get the chance to turn it down, just an email saying you were successful and the money will be taken from your card.

 

 

What a dilemma!

 

On the website there are only V1s available on deck 8. There are no V3s available on deck 6. Verandahs have been sold out for a long while and I suspect now that final payment has arrived, they are back in the pot. This is a port intensive cruise with only one sea day, so rehearsals would not be a problem in afternoon. Needs some thinking about, does this and I may wait a while before contemplating a bid. Thanks.

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1 hour ago, Werangels said:

 

When we won we were allocated a suite with shower.  I looked on-line at what was still available and they had clearly allotted a few ‘wins’ that day. There was however a suite with bath available which I preferred, so I asked my TA if we could have that one.  She went online and changed it there and then.  So, you can potentially change what you are allocated, and I imagine this is easier to do through a TA than direct.

Wow, that’s useful to know. If we bid in the future and don’t like what we’ve been allocated, we’ll ask our TA to look and see if she can get it changed to another in the same category. Thanks for the information Werangels.

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24 minutes ago, combine said:

 

 

What a dilemma!

 

On the website there are only V1s available on deck 8. There are no V3s available on deck 6. Verandahs have been sold out for a long while and I suspect now that final payment has arrived, they are back in the pot. This is a port intensive cruise with only one sea day, so rehearsals would not be a problem in afternoon. Needs some thinking about, does this and I may wait a while before contemplating a bid. Thanks.

I would be interested to know how long you will get to think about it...would Azamara let you know as and when your desired categories have been sold via bids.....or would you just submit a bid after careful consideration and .....all your desired staterooms would be gone?

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I just wish I understood the reason why we have not got the ability to bid for an upgrade, we booked through Azamara, we travel in approx 5 weeks now, there are still balcony guarantee cabins being advertised on the Azamara site, I have got access to the upgrade page but it just says your are not eligible to bid ???

 

So I’m feeling slightly envious of the people who have been successful in at least receiving an offer, yet alone winning a bid. 

 

 

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13 hours ago, uktog said:

Don’t hold your breath.  There were more suites than that left in May and they were sold through agencies and interline.  If you want a suite you need to pay upfront to be sure. I’d just content myself with the balcony and pay as you go on any speciality dining. 

Yes that's how it is these days....I understand the business need to sail with a full ship but, there's no considerations anymore by head office for loyalty.  LCV benefits are disappearing rapidly.

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12 hours ago, Lookyboy said:

Jenny, we got that same message right up until we sailed , yet there were still suites available on our last cruise. No matter, still enjoyed the balcony at the end of the day. It is frustrating, though, especially the loyalty aspect of how things seem to be playing out....or lack of!

Hi Audrey, we got our invite to offer overnight by email.  But you know what, I'm so over this whole process and the carry on's we're not going to bid and get involved. We booked a cabin in a location we're happy with. We know we are valued and looked after on board, just as we know you are. We're just a number and represent a dollar value to Miami. We have a verandah cabin we're happy with and happy to pay for the extra expenses if they arrive. I'll PM you about something to try with your non receipt of email....

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After writing to the CEO as advised on here, I had a very quick response from Mr Twynam, he passed my email on to one of his colleagues, who called me back today 

 

She agreed with me that the message from the Upgrade site is rather unclear and has asked her web designers to make the restrictions clearer.

 

Basically what I have been told is that if you book under any special deal you do not qualify for the programme, I didn’t think anybody actually paid brochure price for their cruise these days, but apparently that is why we are not eligible.

 

i only actually bothered to email Mr Twynam because I was also incredibly frustrated at the awful website, plus the lack of response to emails and the callback facility, which I had used to try and book another back to back cruise, but I didn’t hear back from anybody at Azamara. 

 

At least now I know not to bother trying to upgrade our cruise at least.

 

 

 

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31 minutes ago, Jem 12 said:

After writing to the CEO as advised on here, I had a very quick response from Mr Twynam, he passed my email on to one of his colleagues, who called me back today 

 

She agreed with me that the message from the Upgrade site is rather unclear and has asked her web designers to make the restrictions clearer.

 

Basically what I have been told is that if you book under any special deal you do not qualify for the programme, I didn’t think anybody actually paid brochure price for their cruise these days, but apparently that is why we are not eligible.

 

i only actually bothered to email Mr Twynam because I was also incredibly frustrated at the awful website, plus the lack of response to emails and the callback facility, which I had used to try and book another back to back cruise, but I didn’t hear back from anybody at Azamara. 

 

At least now I know not to bother trying to upgrade our cruise at least.

 

 

 


That's one the dumbest things I've ever heard.  I agree that pretty much everyone books under some kind of promo! 

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1 hour ago, Jem 12 said:

After writing to the CEO as advised on here, I had a very quick response from Mr Twynam, he passed my email on to one of his colleagues, who called me back today 

 

She agreed with me that the message from the Upgrade site is rather unclear and has asked her web designers to make the restrictions clearer.

 

Basically what I have been told is that if you book under any special deal you do not qualify for the programme, I didn’t think anybody actually paid brochure price for their cruise these days, but apparently that is why we are not eligible.

 

i only actually bothered to email Mr Twynam because I was also incredibly frustrated at the awful website, plus the lack of response to emails and the callback facility, which I had used to try and book another back to back cruise, but I didn’t hear back from anybody at Azamara. 

 

At least now I know not to bother trying to upgrade our cruise at least.

 

 

 

Just out of interest I am wondering what your special deal is. Any idea?  You didn't book a guarantee cabin did you?

 

Phil 

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5 minutes ago, malcliz said:

This doesn’t make sense. We booked under a very special deal - a 7 night cruise with 6 free days - but we were still eligible to bid. 

I was told that using your LCV free nights doesn’t count as a special deal.

That’s possibly because when you book it, you book it at full price - you can’t combine using them with a promotional price. We used our 4 nights for our recent Norway cruise and were offered the chance to bid for an upgrade and were successful.

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16 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

I was told that using your LCV free nights doesn’t count as a special deal.

That’s possibly because when you book it, you book it at full price - you can’t combine using them with a promotional price. We used our 4 nights for our recent Norway cruise and were offered the chance to bid for an upgrade and were successful.

Oh yes, that’s true. Have to pay full price for the other days. 

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The terms and conditions state full fare and general marketplace promotions only, so that will include most deals (including free nights).  I wouldn’t expect the likes of travel agent rates etc to be eligible.  I am however interested to know what Jem 12 has as a special deal that was refused.  If it was a guarantee cabin then they have never been eligible for upgrades and I understand.  If it was something then I’m a bit puzzled.

 

Phil

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We will be going on our first Azamara cruise Aug 17-27 but we are Explorer tier due to our Celebrity status. We originally purchased our V1 cabin with a promotional upgrade from Oceanview to Veranda. At some point, about mid-June (husband handled all upgrades and can't find actual dates) we received the upgrade email. He originally bid $300/person, a weak bid, for a CC Suite. When he didn't hear back, he upgraded again to $420/person, still considered a weak bid. He received an email 32 days before sailing that we were awarded the upgrade but our credit card failed to process. The problem must have been on their end as there was plenty of available credit but trying to find someone to respond to us was rather difficult. We finally talked to a real person this Tuesday who made sure that the original card went through. We were awarded cabin 8050.

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5 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

The terms and conditions state full fare and general marketplace promotions only, so that will include most deals (including free nights).  I wouldn’t expect the likes of travel agent rates etc to be eligible.  I am however interested to know what Jem 12 has as a special deal that was refused.  If it was a guarantee cabin then they have never been eligible for upgrades and I understand.  If it was something then I’m a bit puzzled.

 

Phil

Hi Phil 

 

sorry for slow reply, I have been out for the evening.

 

Yes we did indeed book an outside guarantee, I didn’t know that they are not eligible for upgrades and indeed the person I spoke too from Azamara did not quote that, she said we had booked under summer savings!!! 

 

We have previously had a $399 upgrade from an outside to a balcony and we also several years ago been upgraded from inside guarantee to a balcony, so I’m not complaining about the fairness of the new system, but just trying to get a transparent explanation of who can or can’t bid, so I know not to bother to keep checking.

 

I am quite happy to have an outside cabin, but was hoping for one on deck 4, but hey ho we will have a great cruise. 

 

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment etc. I appreciate it. 

 

Elizabeth 

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12 hours ago, mommajo22 said:

We will be going on our first Azamara cruise Aug 17-27 but we are Explorer tier due to our Celebrity status. We originally purchased our V1 cabin with a promotional upgrade from Oceanview to Veranda. At some point, about mid-June (husband handled all upgrades and can't find actual dates) we received the upgrade email. He originally bid $300/person, a weak bid, for a CC Suite. When he didn't hear back, he upgraded again to $420/person, still considered a weak bid. He received an email 32 days before sailing that we were awarded the upgrade but our credit card failed to process. The problem must have been on their end as there was plenty of available credit but trying to find someone to respond to us was rather difficult. We finally talked to a real person this Tuesday who made sure that the original card went through. We were awarded cabin 8050.

Thanks for the information. I’ve added it to spreadsheet.  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M

Can you remember what the minimum bid was?

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How long did mommajo22 or Host wait before increasing initial bid? My understanding is that you don't hear anything for at least 30 days after initial bid. Our cruise is in October and we bid last week.

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I've been checking the last week to see if we could bid on a upgrade, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, kept getting "you are not eligible to bid at this time."  I thought possibly our cruise hasn't opened up for bidding yet, but just out of curiosity, decided to check my settings.  I had previously been opted into Azamara and Celebrity emails, but today, only the Celebrity box was checked!  So I once again checked the box for Azamara, and we'll see if that makes a difference.

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