HELP! Azamara is trying to cancel my trip because of their mistake! Horrible Cruise!

[cml4958]

So op's story was told on  Chris Elliott's site today if anyone wants all the details.

[SoCalTraveler]

24 minutes ago, cml4958 said:

So op's story was told on  Chris Elliott's site today if anyone wants all the details.

https://www.elliott.org/cruises/cruise-pricing-mistake-fare-error/

[hubofhockey]

1 hour ago, SoCalTraveler said:

https://www.elliott.org/cruises/cruise-pricing-mistake-fare-error/

 

Thank you for posting that.  It looks like the mistaken price was $1,979 for two people when the cost was $17,488 or 11%.  Pat is still getting the Oceanview at less than a third of the real price and $500 OBC, making the "real" cost of the cruise $1,479.  I hope he and his wife have a great time and they did get a great deal.  

[Jim in OR]

42 minutes ago, hubofhockey said:

 

Thank you for posting that.  It looks like the mistaken price was $1,979 for two people when the cost was $17,488 or 11%.  Pat is still getting the Oceanview at less than a third of the real price and $500 OBC, making the "real" cost of the cruise $1,479.  I hope he and his wife have a great time and they did get a great deal.  

 

Yikes!  No matter who made the mistake, it takes some pretty big cajones to complain when Azamara realized a mistake of this magnitude was made and took steps to correct it.  

[SoCalTraveler]

19 minutes ago, Jim in OR said:

 

Yikes!  No matter who made the mistake, it takes some pretty big cajones to complain when Azamara realized a mistake of this magnitude was made and took steps to correct it.  

I can’t comment on that.  I’m a proctologist not an urologist.

Edited June 22, 2019 by SoCalTraveler

[Jim in OR]

1 minute ago, SoCalTraveler said:

I can’t comment on that.  I’m a proctologist nit a urologist.

But...

 

Never mind. 

[florisdekort]

49 minutes ago, Jim in OR said:

 

Yikes!  No matter who made the mistake, it takes some pretty big cajones to complain when Azamara realized a mistake of this magnitude was made and took steps to correct it.  

 

That depends. If the cruise line sends a written confirmation, takes full payment, sends another written confirmation AND confirms verbally 3x that all is OK, I would definitely complain if the cruise line back tracks after all that.  That said - happy for the Op things worked out in the end. 

 

 

[florisdekort]

And... Perhaps all this can be an expensive reminder (and PR debacle) that motivates Azamara to finally fix its horrendous IT systems, website and booking engine. 

[excitedofharpenden]

6 hours ago, cml4958 said:

So op's story was told on  Chris Elliott's site today if anyone wants all the details.

Thank you for the information. I have resisted posting to this thread with an opinion because I felt there was more to it and this appears to confirm it. It was good to get some actual $$$ figures quoted. In the end the OP got a great deal, whatever. I found that site very fair and reasonable in its assessment. I also found this telling, quoting from the text there.😏

 

"Throughout the call, Gendron is polite and calm, but he rejects all of the options. He tells Azamara that his wife is distraught and they intend to show up at the ship with their boarding passes and they expect to be assigned the suites."

 

Phil 

[SoCalTraveler]

So we've learned a few things. 

1.  Azamara was never trying to cancel their trip.  (See title of post.)

2.  They didn't have a horrible cruise as they have yet to go.  (See title of post.)

3.  The price difference is significant enough to perhaps fit into the "if it's too good to be true" category.  In any event, had the OP posted the prices, it may have affected how some of us responded.

4.  Azamara could design its website better.  (Well, that applies to all cruise lines.  And lots of other businesses.)

5.  Azamara's contract specifically allows them to correct erroneous prices.  That's risk all of us face.  And the contracts are getting longer.  I recently read a case involving an on-line agreement which the Court observed that with all referenced documents came to over 350 pages.  Who has time to read that?  What's the point of reading it?  Is the cruise line actually going to negotiate any term?

6.  Azamara could train its people better to get things right the first time.

 

I'm sure there are other lessons here.  I hope OP goes on the cruise with the friends and has a great time.  

[excitedofharpenden]

Just to share. I took advantage of a pricing error by Azamara that had me booked in a window cabin for half the price of an inside, but at least it was still a reasonable amount. Antarctica. They had not adjusted the price of certain categories, but not the OV price. However, I will say that having booked it onboard and had Azamara come back and said "sorry, there's been a mistake" then I would have sucked it up.

 

The fact that the op had a suite for  less than $2000 for two on a Med cruise of 10 nights I think they said is just pushing it too far. I'd feel dishonest asking the cruiseline to honour it. But that is just me. 

 

Phil 

[snowglobe]

Well, I thought that it would be interesting to see what a media consumer watchdog/advocate would have to say about the OP’s situation... and given the now full picture, I think that it was a very fair resolution.

 

For the record, yes, I would have tried to get the purchased cruise honoured.

And yes, I would definitely have immediately suspected a pricing error when I saw the advertised price (as I truly believe the OP did too, despite protests to the contrary.)

 

However, I would not have pushed it as far as the OP, and I would have accepted the offer as it was made without a fuss - recognizing this right off-the-bat as a good deal. If this cruise wasn’t the one that I really wanted, I wouldn’t have gambled on it, as he did.

[marinaro44]

22 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Just to share. I took advantage of a pricing error by Azamara that had me booked in a window cabin for half the price of an inside, but at least it was still a reasonable amount. Antarctica. They had not adjusted the price of certain categories, but not the OV price. However, I will say that having booked it onboard and had Azamara come back and said "sorry, there's been a mistake" then I would have sucked it up.

 

The fact that the op had a suite for  less than $2000 for two on a Med cruise of 10 nights I think they said is just pushing it too far. I'd feel dishonest asking the cruiseline to honour it. But that is just me. 

 

Phil 

Me, too, Phil.  I was just sent a $25 birthday gift card by my dentist to use at my next visit, but we have a membership (not insurance) that gives us a big discount at our dentist anyway.  I told them to tear up the gift card when paying for last week's cleanings.  Taking advantage is not what I do.  I expect the same in return.

[Host Jazzbeau]

There is also a possibility (which occurred to me after reading all the facts in the consumer advocate write-up), that OP's social media campaign may earn them membership in an exclusive group:  those with a lifetime ban on all RCI ships.

[hubofhockey]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

There is also a possibility (which occurred to me after reading all the facts in the consumer advocate write-up), that OP's social media campaign may earn them membership in an exclusive group:  those with a lifetime ban on all RCI ships.

 

I don't think he'll get on RCI's poop list, but the cruise advocacy blog doesn't help.  He's a young guy and it's a one time thing.  I think if he pushes this to arbitration, after the cruise, it will be his final cruise on an RCI brand.  

[dabear]

20 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

 

Thank you for posting that.  It looks like the mistaken price was $1,979 for two people when the cost was $17,488 or 11%.  Pat is still getting the Oceanview at less than a third of the real price and $500 OBC, making the "real" cost of the cruise $1,479.  I hope he and his wife have a great time and they did get a great deal.  

As I suspected all along, the deal was too good to b true and poster pushed too hard knowing that the deal was a mistake inspite of what he said (& was looking for other posters to add pressure on A to honor the obvious error.) A's contract clearly reserved the right to correct errors. Consumer rights still have exceptions when there is a material mistake of fact. He'll also loose in arbitration.

Edited June 22, 2019 by dabear

[oddjob16]

My post #10

These posts turns up. Sometimes valid, sometimes not. Another lesson learned 

[Jimmycruiser]

As I expected, when the whole story is told, AZ counter offer was fair. The OP had to know that price was a mistake even though he claims a 90% discount is not that unusual. He ended up taking the deal offered after all his dramatics, because he knew it was still a great deal even though he claims he could have gotten similar deals with other cruise lines. I did not appreciate how he played this thread for support which he got a lot of and AZ did not. I hope they enjoy the AZ experience and realize just how good a deal they really got. I also hope that AZ learns a lesson and improves the front end of their business because the back end has been much better. Both parties credibility have been affected in my eyes.

 

As several poster have stated I would feel guilty taking advantage of a “to good to be true”  offer.

[hiccups]

I still think Azamara could have let him have a balcony cabin, but at least OP ended up happy.

See my post #88.  This kind of error doesn't happen often, but it does happen, and at other times the price has been honored.

[Cruise Junky]

6 minutes ago, hiccups said:

I still think Azamara could have let him have a balcony cabin, but at least OP ended up happy.

See my post #88.  This kind of error doesn't happen often, but it does happen, and at other times the price has been honored.

Exactly. The integrity is in honouring YOUR mistake. Azamara didn’t do that. 

[PatG2]

2 hours ago, oddjob16 said:

My post #10

These posts turns up. Sometimes valid, sometimes not. Another lesson learned 

Not sure if your implying that anything I said on this thread was invalid, but if so, please explain.

[florisdekort]

4 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

Exactly. The integrity is in honouring YOUR mistake. Azamara didn’t do that. 

 

100% agreed.  Azamara should have handled this very differently.  

[florisdekort]

2 hours ago, PatG2 said:

Not sure if your implying that anything I said on this thread was invalid, but if so, please explain.

 

Please stop taking the bait. You’re never going to convince certain people on here who cheerlead Azamara on every single thread. 

[CruiseGal999]

On 6/16/2019 at 8:35 PM, PatG2 said:

So for the long awaited update everybody is waiting for...

 

Like some had suggested, I told Azamara I was not happy with an OV but that I would settle for a veranda. The manager took a few days to discuss with the management team and at the end of the day came back to me with the same options. I asked if I could at least keep the OB credits that were offered which included $500 OBC, internet, and specialty dining that was part of the promo when I booked. They agreed to let me keep the credits.

 

Is it a good deal? Sure. Would I have booked the OV originally at this price? No. Although it's a good deal, there were other itineraries I liked better. However, I decided to accept because after planning the whole trip it was just too much of a headache to change everything. I'm also just tired of all this and would like to try to enjoy my cruise at this point. I'm sure I will have a good time, it was just very stressful leading up to this point.

 

I'm not a lawyer, but from my research I've learned that cruise lines have the right to cancel a "mistake price" even after it is booked. Something I completely disagree with but it seems like they can. However, I wonder at what point does this right go away? After final payment? After 1...2...3... confirmations? When a cruise is less than 2 months away? Once you've printed your tickets? At what point are they fully liable is unclear.

 

Something more important then the legal question, is the ethical one. Ok, they made a mistake.If I received a phone call immediately after or the next morning telling me about the mistake, I probably wouldn't have cared as much. Instead, immediately after and the next morning I received 2 verbal confirmations and multiple email confirmations (even more confirmations after that). It was no longer 1 price mistake at this point, it was multiple mistakes that a multi-billion dollar company should be able to prevent. Why is it that they made all the mistakes, I did all the right things, and I'm the one that suffers the consequences.

 

I hope to write very positive reviews about Azamara after my first cruise with them. I'm just disappointed on how everything went down so far.

 

Thank you all for your feedback and for sharing your stories. I appreciate your help.

 

 

 

I think you're being very gracious in accepting an OV room.  The very least Az could have/should have done was largest balcony cabin. They SHOULD have honored the price ... I don't care how ridiculously low it was ... you did back flips verifying and confirming with everyone.  This is such an awful situation.  

[hubofhockey]

On 6/21/2019 at 8:51 PM, SoCalTraveler said:

https://www.elliott.org/cruises/cruise-pricing-mistake-fare-error/

 

Elliott Advocacy is a non-profit consumer advocacy organization sponsored by AirHelp.  Not to go too off topic, but AirHelp let me know that I am due $2,732 for a canceled flight (four in my family) from a 2015 trip.  Granted, they will take $683 as a fee, but they also do all of the filings.  I was nervous about them until I saw good online reviews and now to see that they are funding advocacy for people like Pat, the OP.  At the very least, I now feel better about my claim and AirHelp.  Didn't want to go off topic too much.

 

As to OP misleading and using social media to pressure Azamara, everyone can decide for themselves.

 

The claim made on this thread that the online deal "too good to be true" was 25% of the real price,  but in actuality it was 11%.  

 

Also, on this thread, it was claimed that flights had to be booked right away because this was a last minute thing with two months to go, but the Elliott Advocacy article says, Gendron thought the rate for the cruise was extremely low, but he says he didn’t believe that it was a pricing mistake. Instead, he felt the fabulous deal on the suite was a month-end sales quota push for the cruise which was still several months away.

 

There aren't quotas for salesmen in the cruise industry, but that aside, we still don't know if the cruise was two months away as stated in the original post or several months away as indicated in the Elliott Advocacy article.  Nobody would ever confuse couple with several.  We all know prices drop after final payment, but not "several months away".  That makes a big difference, especially if it's before final payment.  Sorry, but I got the impression from the initial post that this was a last minute deal and not a cruise several months away.  

 

Some believe companies should honor pricing mistakes and this is a zero sum game.  Some of us believe Azamara still gave out a great deal here of two 10-day cruises for a net price of less than $750 per person (considering generous $500 OBC per cabin).  

 

I am a little bitter here because I asked OP for more information and he told me that I was bullying him.  I am not an Azamara cheerleader.  I have had back office issues with them, but I'm giving them a second chance because of word of mouth and many of the wonderful "cheerleaders" on the CC Azamara boards.  The reason they cheerlead is that they love the product.  OP started a thread attacking Azamara as a company without honor.  In order to fairly discuss that, you really should put out all of the facts and not mislead.  

 

I don't think the OP is a bad person and hope he does not wind up on RCI's poop list.  He seems like a young guy who plays all of the angles and is fairly aggressive in his personal business.  There is nothing wrong with that.  It's the pushing the limits on social media part of this that's the problem.  I would OP would consider that in taking any more steps.