Reservation Office Hours

[Richteab]

I called to make a balance payment and find the office is closed on Saturday & Sunday. There is no online payment facility.

 

I will not be happy if I call tomorrow and find they have cancelled me for non payment! I would not expect anyone to be open 24/7 but would expect a holiday operator to be open 7 days a week during the day.

 

Has anyone hit this problem?

[excitedofharpenden]

I haven't, but I call in the week. I see you are from the UK. I agree with you. You should be able to contact them at the weekend, albeit on reduced hours. Especially if your payment date falls at the weekend. I've made a mental note!

 

Phil 

[Richteab]

4 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I haven't, but I call in the week. I see you are from the UK. I agree with you. You should be able to contact them at the weekend, albeit on reduced hours. Especially if your payment date falls at the weekend. I've made a mental note!

 

Phil 

 

Just a voicemail saying (in effect) "office closed, call again during normal business hours"

 

[Riocca]

Can’t find any reference to sales opening hours on the website but I’m sure they used to be there and there were some weekend hours.

Coincidentally I did receive an email from Azamara Wichita, Kansas Sales and Service Centre at 18.28 U.K. time yesterday (Saturday) so someone must have been there then.

 

[Baynanno1]

Office hours listed for Australia :

Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time)

Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. AEST

Sunday 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. AEST

 

I agree, any company selling any form of travel needs to be open 7 days a week!

[Richteab]

18 hours ago, Richteab said:

I called to make a balance payment and find the office is closed on Saturday & Sunday. There is no online payment facility.

 

I will not be happy if I call tomorrow and find they have cancelled me for non payment! I would not expect anyone to be open 24/7 but would expect a holiday operator to be open 7 days a week during the day.

 

Has anyone hit this problem?

 

Phoned this morning - no issues with being a day late. All sorted and I'm ready to sail!

 

[excitedofharpenden]

31 minutes ago, Richteab said:

 

Phoned this morning - no issues with being a day late. All sorted and I'm ready to sail!

 

That's great. Enjoy your cruise. 

 

Phil 

[Ilovemygarden]

Can you seasoned Azamara cruisers tell me if you book direct with Azamara or go with a travel agent?   What are the pros and cons?

Edited November 1, 2021 by Ilovemygarden

[Richteab]

2 minutes ago, Ilovemygarden said:

Can you seasoned Azamara cruisers tell me if you book direct with Azamara or go with a travel agent?   What are the pros and cons?

I’m not really the best person to answer that one. We are first time cruisers and have been cancelled 3 times because of Covid. Now have 2 cruises booked for next year, both of them directly with Azamara and their customer service has been great, other than a delay in getting a Credit after the last cancellation. As to agents, I guess they vary in quality just as with any other service.

 

 

[uktog]

15 minutes ago, Ilovemygarden said:

Can you seasoned Azamara cruisers tell me if you book direct with Azamara or go with a travel agent?   What are the pros and cons?

There are some good travel agents and some absolute shockers. During the pandemic there were many instances where some travel agents misled their customers on the status of their refunds when they’d actually received the refunds already. As a result people are more keen to make direct bookings as they stay in control. If you book through an agent all communications has to go through them. You lose some control. 
The advantage of using an agent is price, they will usually offer you an incentive in terms of onboard credit or price. Be careful though it might be a group rate which has further restrictions. 
Do your homework try and speak with someone who has used the agency for a cruise booking if you decide to use an agent. If the agent is an independent operator ask what arrangements they make if they are on leave to make sure someone is keeping an eye out for any emails about your booking etc etc. 
There is no perfect answer I use both  an agent and direct bookings. I also have one legacy booking with an agent who misled us. I can’t wait for it to wind out 

[Mackdogmolly]

26 minutes ago, uktog said:

There are some good travel agents and some absolute shockers. During the pandemic there were many instances where some travel agents misled their customers on the status of their refunds when they’d actually received the refunds already. As a result people are more keen to make direct bookings as they stay in control. If you book through an agent all communications has to go through them. You lose some control. 
The advantage of using an agent is price, they will usually offer you an incentive in terms of onboard credit or price. Be careful though it might be a group rate which has further restrictions. 
Do your homework try and speak with someone who has used the agency for a cruise booking if you decide to use an agent. If the agent is an independent operator ask what arrangements they make if they are on leave to make sure someone is keeping an eye out for any emails about your booking etc etc. 
There is no perfect answer I use both  an agent and direct bookings. I also have one legacy booking with an agent who misled us. I can’t wait for it to wind out 

I agree. We have recently switched TAs and, unlike our last one, they are very responsive and helpful. And we got some nice OBC as well. You can also book directly with Azamara and then transfer the booking to a TA, within a set amount of time.

[Grandma Cruising]

Worth booking onboard to get the benefits that come with such a booking (lower deposit and OBC) then transferring to your favourite agent.

[Baynanno1]

We used to always (when possible pre-covid) book on board and transfer later to a travel agent.

 

We were among the many who had problems after cruises were cancelled and are unlikely to use a travel agent again.

 

As has been also said above, not all travel agents are tarred with the same brush and many do in fact have the best interests of their clients at heart.