switching from Oceania to Azamara-what can I expect to be different?

[uktog]

3 minutes ago, susiesan said:

Does Azamara have an app to use while onboard? Other lines post their schedules and menus online that you can see on your phone. Oceania does not have an app, they use the TV screen in the cabin which can be inconvenient if you are out and about and want to know what's going on.

No they do not, it is currently on the TV or a QR code in the Insider Daily you can scan.  Not sure if an app will come once they roll their new IT out

[LaCroisiereS'amuse]

I've done 16 Oceania cruises & have been with them since the beginning & have my first Azamara booked in Feb '24.  I know very few cruiselines have a decent proactive shoreside operation, but I'm particularly unimpressed with Azamara having had 2 ports of call cancelled & replaced with sea days on an already sea day heavy cruise.  I realise this part of cruising, but even Oceania with their poor shoreside operation manage to let you know of itinerary changes either directly or via your t/a, whereas with Azamara I've found out via Cruise Critic!

[cruisermsoon]

Itinerary changes seem to be a common occurrence now. We have had changes to two itineraries, Mediterranean and United Kingdom, on forthcoming Holland America cruises.

[susiesan]

So I decided to go ahead and book an AZ cruise, It's port intensive, Croatia Sept. 8, 2024 on Pursuit. My TA got a great rate on a cat 4 outside with a total of $750 in OBC. This is a hosted consortium signature cruise with added amenities. She put a cabin on hold for me. She called AZ today with my credit card info to book it and put down my deposit. She was on hold on the phone forever and AZ shut down their computers for the day before anyone at AZ would answer the phone. They abruptly closed at 2:00pm CST in the US. My TA said the offers expired today and AZ may not honor them next week. If that's the case then I will stick with Oceania. Not a good way to do business and get new customers.

 

Let's hope AZ gets their act together and will honor the rate and cabin my TA tried to get for me. She has been trying to book this cruise for a whole week now, told me AZ doesn't answer the phone and when they do the agents are clueless about the bookings. She says it is due to the AZ IT department and a new computer system that has everything mucked up.

Oceania seems to have AZ beat when it comes to web sites and IT.

[laurieb]

5 hours ago, susiesan said:

So I decided to go ahead and book an AZ cruise, It's port intensive, Croatia Sept. 8, 2024 on Pursuit. My TA got a great rate on a cat 4 outside with a total of $750 in OBC. This is a hosted consortium signature cruise with added amenities. She put a cabin on hold for me. She called AZ today with my credit card info to book it and put down my deposit. She was on hold on the phone forever and AZ shut down their computers for the day before anyone at AZ would answer the phone. They abruptly closed at 2:00pm CST in the US. My TA said the offers expired today and AZ may not honor them next week. If that's the case then I will stick with Oceania. Not a good way to do business and get new customers.

 

Let's hope AZ gets their act together and will honor the rate and cabin my TA tried to get for me. She has been trying to book this cruise for a whole week now, told me AZ doesn't answer the phone and when they do the agents are clueless about the bookings. She says it is due to the AZ IT department and a new computer system that has everything mucked up.

Oceania seems to have AZ beat when it comes to web sites and IT.

It’s very easy for her to submit your payment online!  No reason to call it in!!!

[curmudgeon98]

AZ has just made the cutover from the legacy RCI booking system.  I expect both the system and the agents are having significant challenges.  It's an unfortunate time to be booking, but if it's the deal you want, you don't have a lot of choice.  That's a nice itinerary; I wouldn't give up too easily...  Of course, it's also far enough out that you could probably leave it be for a few months and check what deals they are offering for it this fall.

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, curmudgeon98 said:

AZ has just made the cutover from the legacy RCI booking system.  I expect both the system and the agents are having significant challenges.  It's an unfortunate time to be booking, but if it's the deal you want, you don't have a lot of choice.  That's a nice itinerary; I wouldn't give up too easily...  Of course, it's also far enough out that you could probably leave it be for a few months and check what deals they are offering for it this fall.

There is only one good time to do a massive website changeover like this:  the day after I retire!  😅

[Texter2]

21 hours ago, susiesan said:

So I decided to go ahead and book an AZ cruise, It's port intensive, Croatia Sept. 8, 2024 on Pursuit. My TA got a great rate on a cat 4 outside with a total of $750 in OBC. This is a hosted consortium signature cruise with added amenities. She put a cabin on hold for me. She called AZ today with my credit card info to book it and put down my deposit. She was on hold on the phone forever and AZ shut down their computers for the day before anyone at AZ would answer the phone. They abruptly closed at 2:00pm CST in the US. My TA said the offers expired today and AZ may not honor them next week. If that's the case then I will stick with Oceania. Not a good way to do business and get new customers.

 

Let's hope AZ gets their act together and will honor the rate and cabin my TA tried to get for me. She has been trying to book this cruise for a whole week now, told me AZ doesn't answer the phone and when they do the agents are clueless about the bookings. She says it is due to the AZ IT department and a new computer system that has everything mucked up.

Oceania seems to have AZ beat when it comes to web sites and IT.

I have been looking at that itinerary too. It will be our first Azamara cruise. Unfortunately, when I look at the website, I cannot see which cabins are available in each category. The website also does not show any OBC, etc. This issue might be because of the changeover, but I am reluctant to book a cabin if I don’t know where it is. Is there a step that I am missing? I used to be able to see and select specific cabins. There was also a ribbon that showed early booking OBC, etc.  

[durante]

Everything is still a mess - there is an invoice claiming hundreds of dollars for shore excursions which we already paid using the OBC months ago 

[susiesan]

17 hours ago, curmudgeon98 said:

AZ has just made the cutover from the legacy RCI booking system.  I expect both the system and the agents are having significant challenges.  It's an unfortunate time to be booking, but if it's the deal you want, you don't have a lot of choice.  That's a nice itinerary; I wouldn't give up too easily...  Of course, it's also far enough out that you could probably leave it be for a few months and check what deals they are offering for it this fall.

Does Azamara tend to have better deals the farther out you book? I am interested in a very specific cabin of which there are only 4 on the ship. My TA has a hold on it but didn't know if it would last until next Tuesday. She tried all last week to get this confirmed for me. I don't know why she couldn't put my credit card deposit in through the TA portal. All I know is she said they cut everything off yesterday afternoon at 1:00pm EST. That must have been when the big RCCL changeover happened. I went through a mock booking on the AZ web site and could book this cabin myself, but it is a lot more money due to adding in the taxes and no OBC. My TA was giving me a total of $750 OBC and quoted price included taxes. Plus this is a hosted Signature cruise with extra events and parties.

If I can't get this booked I will likely go with a small ship Croatia cruise like one from this company:

cruisecroatia.com. They are only 7 days long though.

[Grandma Cruising]

2 hours ago, Texter2 said:

I have been looking at that itinerary too. It will be our first Azamara cruise. Unfortunately, when I look at the website, I cannot see which cabins are available in each category. The website also does not show any OBC, etc. This issue might be because of the changeover, but I am reluctant to book a cabin if I don’t know where it is. Is there a step that I am missing? I used to be able to see and select specific cabins. There was also a ribbon that showed early booking OBC, etc.  

i think you need to go further for a ‘mock’ booking - put in your details then you should be able to see what cabins are available. To check where they are you will need to look at Deck Plans on the ship via the bottom menu.

[Mackdogmolly]

4 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

i think you need to go further for a ‘mock’ booking - put in your details then you should be able to see what cabins are available. To check where they are you will need to look at Deck Plans on the ship via the bottom menu.

When I have done mock bookings over the past couple of days, it has not shown cabins 😟

[Grandma Cruising]

21 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

When I have done mock bookings over the past couple of days, it has not shown cabins 😟

You’re right. I just tried and it no longer gives you any cabin choice!

[Mackdogmolly]

58 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

You’re right. I just tried and it no longer gives you any cabin choice!

I hope this is just another glitch!

[fruitmachine]

1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said:

I hope this is just another glitch!

You can choose your cabin - it's just well hidden.

 

Once you get to the page that shows your cabin, click the pencil and paper icon and pick "Choose Stateroom".  You can view available cabins by a list or a deck plan.

Picking "Categories" takes you back to the different cabin categories page.

Edited April 2, 2023 by fruitmachine

[tgg]

1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said:

When I have done mock bookings over the past couple of days, it has not shown cabins 😟

Do a mock booking on one of the larger online  travel agency web sites. You will be able to see every available cabin.

Edited April 2, 2023 by tgg
Content

[Grandma Cruising]

8 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

You can choose your cabin - it's just well hidden.

 

Once you get to the page that shows your cabin, click the pencil and paper icon and pick "Choose Stateroom".  You can view available cabins by a list or a deck plan.

Picking "Categories" takes you back to the different cabin categories page.

Thanks. That worked and could see the deck plan by choosing Map View.

[Mackdogmolly]

7 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Thanks. That worked and could see the deck plan by choosing Map View.

I do not get the paper and pencil icon, either on my phone or on my laptop 

[Grandma Cruising]

1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said:

I do not get the paper and pencil icon, either on my phone or on my laptop 

I got it both on Safari & Chrome. I had the paper/pen icon to the right of Categories just above the cabin type section. 

[Mackdogmolly]

1 hour ago, Grandma Cruising said:

I got it both on Safari & Chrome. I had the paper/pen icon to the right of Categories just above the cabin type section. 

I’m still not getting it, but I am waiting to hear from my TA. I have been waiting for my new status of Discoverer to appear because I am hoping to use the 4 “free” nights on a Panama Canal cruise. Suddenly I’m showing as Discoverer Plus, so that’s going to need to get straightened out!

[fruitmachine]

14 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

I’m still not getting it, but I am waiting to hear from my TA. I have been waiting for my new status of Discoverer to appear because I am hoping to use the 4 “free” nights on a Panama Canal cruise. Suddenly I’m showing as Discoverer Plus, so that’s going to need to get straightened out!

Could it be that there is no alternative cabin on the sailing you're looking at?  Is it still missing if you pick another random sailing 9-12 months in the future?

[Mackdogmolly]

48 minutes ago, fruitmachine said:

Could it be that there is no alternative cabin on the sailing you're looking at?  Is it still missing if you pick another random sailing 9-12 months in the future?

Nope 😟

[Texter2]

Thanks for all the assistance. I am hopeful that the functionality comes back to be able to see what is available without having to put in all guest information. I am sure the functionality will get better over time.   

[the_dylaness]

On 3/28/2023 at 1:15 AM, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

When we sailed on Crystal, they didn't publicize everything they could do for passengers.  But whenever we asked for something, the answer was always "yes."  That to me is the definition of luxury.  

 

My first luxury cruise was on the Seabourn Legend. I'd been on several cruises but all mass market lines. I did not really know exactly what to expect, but somehow we learned that we could request anything (within reason, of course) that we wanted, at any time. We took advantage of this once, and only once...

 

This knowledge lead us to place order one night, upon leaving the dining room, for lamb chops and chocolate chip waffles to be delivered to our stateroom for breakfast.

 

Kind of silly in retrospect but it made such a huge impression on us. We were AMAZED that it could happen! (And it was INCREDIBLE.)  Even now, no matter what amazing breakfast we might be enjoying, we will often comment "but it's not as good as lamb chops and chocolate chip waffles."