Azamara Flash Sales?

[JM0115]

1 hour ago, Los_Pepes said:

Same here. We called this morning and got the additional OBC. I believe as long as you do this prior to final payment they will honor the current promo.

Same here.  I really am impressed by their customer service other than long hold times.

[combine]

31 minutes ago, takemewithyou said:

I am just so appreciative that Azamara is allowing current customers to get these new promotions applied without having to cancel, pay a cancellation fee and get rebooked.  This is a positive improvement and makes for great customer service and improved customer relations.

Indeed and I expect  this obc offer comes out of a different box to fares and there will be many who dont ask or just dont know about the offers. I wouldn't want this scenario to tip the balance and the cruise line not be able continue . I hope the number crunchers are on top of this! 
For now I am pleased to have received  the Black Friday deal. 

[Mrs Miggins]

I booked onboard in April for a June 23 14 day cruise.  Is it worth me trying ?  Is the $1000 dollars in addition to the onboard booking benefits.    I did read the T & Cs so I know Azamara may not agree to give me this extra OBC.  Whilst I love my TA I am not always sure she will 'push' for extra from Azamara.  

We have not yet booked flights and I see the current offering is not great with an indirect flight from LHR to Barcelona and an indirect flight home from Bordeaux.  Is it worth trying for direct flights with Azamara, which might make it a "new' booking.

Edited November 17, 2022 by Mrs Miggins

[Ayden]

3 hours ago, Mrs Miggins said:

I booked onboard in April for a June 23 14 day cruise.  Is it worth me trying ?  Is the $1000 dollars in addition to the onboard booking benefits.    I did read the T & Cs so I know Azamara may not agree to give me this extra OBC.  Whilst I love my TA I am not always sure she will 'push' for extra from Azamara.  

We have not yet booked flights and I see the current offering is not great with an indirect flight from LHR to Barcelona and an indirect flight home from Bordeaux.  Is it worth trying for direct flights with Azamara, which might make it a "new' booking.

Never hurts to ask.

We had our already generous obc increased to the reflect the new Black Friday offer of 1000. no issues whatsoever.  Not sure about your flights situation though.

I would think any good agent should at least make the effort. 

Good luck.

 

[uktog]

I think the challenge as we often mention on these boards is that the operating model of UK travel agents is very different from that which applies in the USA and Canada.  Because a very large percentage of UK holidays involve foreign travel , travel agents primarily focus on selling pre packaged fixed price holidays where there is little if any interaction with the customer after booking except to pass tickets on.  They are not set up to handle cruises and things like price drops.  There are specialist cruise agencies but my experience is that they too are not engaged in getting price drops for customers.  It is work that brings no benefits for them and even can bring reductions in commission.  People do not build up the personal relationship with one agent compared to that in the USA.

 

So all in all, its not about a "good agent" or a less good agent.  Bottom line, you have to monitor things, if you think there is a better deal now being offered you have to ask for it. What happens then, it is in the lap of the gods

Edited November 17, 2022 by uktog

[tgg]

2 hours ago, uktog said:

I think the challenge as we often mention on these boards is that the operating model of UK travel agents is very different from that which applies in the USA and Canada.  Because a very large percentage of UK holidays involve foreign travel , travel agents primarily focus on selling pre packaged fixed price holidays where there is little if any interaction with the customer after booking except to pass tickets on.  They are not set up to handle cruises and things like price drops.  There are specialist cruise agencies but my experience is that they too are not engaged in getting price drops for customers.  It is work that brings no benefits for them and even can bring reductions in commission.  People do not build up the personal relationship with one agent compared to that in the USA.

 

So all in all, its not about a "good agent" or a less good agent.  Bottom line, you have to monitor things, if you think there is a better deal now being offered you have to ask for it. What happens then, it is in the lap of the gods

 

Thanks for taking the time to explain the difference in the business models.

 

I have a great travel agent and her agency always has the best price I can find. But I also know that she has lots of clients and can't monitor every deal that an already-booked client may qualify for. So I make it my business to find out about available offers. Cruise Critic has always been a great source of information.

 

As a wise person told me long ago, if you don't ask, you don't get.😃

[Cantlogincaptain]

I just contacted my TA to see if this offer can be applied for the additional OBC.

After 3 hours i received a callback stating it could not as my booking was made after 31st August. This coincides with the Best Price Guarantee which expired 31st August 2022.

 

All UK bookings after this date will not have the latest offers applied.

[Mrs Miggins]

I was lucky as one change is allowed on onboard bookings so I have got the additional OBC.  However I have lost the Essential Package ($300 shore excursions, one unlimited wi fi and premium beverage package)  Really surprised that they allowed this especially as our cabin category is sold out.

Thanks for the heads up !  Cruise Critic can be really helpful (if occasionally extremely annoying).

[Lookyboy]

On 11/16/2022 at 3:42 PM, Los_Pepes said:

Same here. We called this morning and got the additional OBC. I believe as long as you do this prior to final payment they will honor the current promo.

Not in our case  alas.

[iana1212]

On 11/17/2022 at 5:18 PM, Cantlogincaptain said:

I just contacted my TA to see if this offer can be applied for the additional OBC.

After 3 hours i received a callback stating it could not as my booking was made after 31st August. This coincides with the Best Price Guarantee which expired 31st August 2022.

 

All UK bookings after this date will not have the latest offers applied.

Ours was a UK booking made in September and we got the $1000 obc added.

[RobTheGob]

We got our (discount) travel agent to call Azamara and they added the additional OBC to our existing bookings (all were before the final payment date).

 

I'm pretty impressed that they stacked the Black Friday OBC, Double Category Upgrade and the Back-to-Back OBC perks!

 

We're REALLY looking forward to the trip - I *wish* it was leaving next week!