Trying To Price A Cruise

[CGTNORMANDIE]

I have been trying to research and get pricing on an Azamara cruise.  I can only get as far as the number of people in a cabin and then…nothing.  Anyone have any ideas???  

[blag]

1 minute ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

I have been trying to research and get pricing on an Azamara cruise.  I can only get as far as the number of people in a cabin and then…nothing.  Anyone have any ideas???  

Don't book direct. Use a good TA! 

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Just now, blag said:

Don't book direct. Use a good TA! 

I always use a TA…in fact, I have a very good one!  The problem is…I like to do my own research so I don’t waste the TA’s time.  Once I am satisfied with my research then I go to my TA with a solid plan.  

[uktog]

I was able to price cruises no problem the last two days but today the gremlins are back and I believe they are back for TAs as well so pointless going down that route (and like you I prefer to do my research over a number of cruises, look at all the prices and other variables - flights, hotels etc and then contact the agent with my decision, I do not consider it fair to ask them to work through all my possible variations!!).

The gremlins really are having fun on the October cruises, on on 4th shows no pricing available (maybe it is sold out) and one on the 7th shows an ocean view for c£1800 each however I will have to bypass the inside cabin currently on offer for £116,735.50 for two persons)  🙂

As you say I am sure it will sort itself but is frustrating however - no you are not doing anything wrong, the bugs are back........

[Riocca]

I think the techies have got their heads under the bonnet (hood) again everything that was on my account earlier this morning has disappeared. Not the first time it’s happened and usually comes back later on the day with some changes and hopefully improvements.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Thank you Uktog and Riocca.  I’m so glad Uktog explained the pointless waste of time by taxing a TA for impractical scenarios that waste time.  It is important to approach your TA with a sound plan.  Having a good TA is like having a good marriage…you need to respect the boundaries.  I have used and maintained relationships with TA’s since 1971.  I had one outstanding TA for more than 30 years.  I count him as a close friend he has since retired.  I can’t begin to tell you how many great benefits he got for me over the years.  

[Riocca]

1 minute ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Thank you Uktog and Riocca.  I’m so glad Uktog explained the pointless waste of time by taxing a TA for impractical scenarios that waste time.  It is important to approach your TA with a sound plan.  Having a good TA is like having a good marriage…you need to respect the boundaries.  I have used and maintained relationships with TA’s since 1971.  I had one outstanding TA for more than 30 years.  I count him as a close friend he has since retired.  I can’t begin to tell you how many great benefits he got for me over the years.  

Yes a good TA is an asset and pre pandemic we had just that but unfortunately my guy took the opportunity to retire and currently we just can’t trust many of the U.K. travel agencies who are desperate to make back revenue they lost over the past few years.

Anyway I think I was right as I’m seeing big changes in my online account, it looks like they are in the process of transferring data to the Seaware booking system. Hopefully full service will be restored soon 🤞

[uktog]

I believe it is my job to narrow down the range of options and to ask a TA only to formally work with options that are realistic in terms of cost, timings, other considerations (flight times and costs being one).  They do not know my frequent miles details in terms of how many points I have with each airline or hotel loyalty points)/

You are overlooking the perfectly realistic reasons why others will not use a TA when they are working with a long list of options.

I repeat I do not considerate fair to the agent or to other customers to tie the agent up for so long to work through a range of options.  As @Riocca has correctly highlighted, the economic model most agents are working to has changed and we have to recognise that.

Please respect the views of others who do not share the use a TA mantra, it is very very hard to find one in the UK just now and even if I could I would never usurp their time by presenting them with a long list of possibles just to get commission ultimately on one booking

Edited June 7, 2023 by uktog

[nordski]

12 minutes ago, uktog said:

I believe it is my job to narrow down the range of options and to ask a TA only to formally work with options that are realistic in terms of cost, timings, other considerations (flight times and costs being one).  They do not know my frequent miles details in terms of how many points I have with each airline or hotel loyalty points)/

You are overlooking the perfectly realistic reasons why others will not use a TA when they are working with a long list of options.

I repeat I do not considerate fair to the agent or to other customers to tie the agent up for so long to work through a range of options.  As @Riocca has correctly highlighted, the economic model most agents are working to has changed and we have to recognise that.

Please respect the views of others who do not share the use a TA mantra, it is very very hard to find one in the UK just now and even if I could I would never usurp their time by presenting them with a long list of possibles just to get commission ultimately on one booking

I, too, “narrow down the range of options”, not just to respect the agent’s time but also mine. Sometimes it takes us a while to clarify the viable choices and it is inefficient to do so through an agent. The Azamara website is presently making clarification difficult for many but I am confident that full functionality will return.

[uktog]

Right now as the many travel agents cannot access accurate pricing, the advice is do nothing, but as @Riocca stated, they are working on the website today so hopefully pricing will become available, as it was last week, very soon and they can complete the pricing then.  This reflects the conversations in posts 6-7.

[donaldsc]

4 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

I am sure that the new folks at Azamara are doing their best to sort out their new web site.  It’s just frustrating to try and find pricing when you are interested in a certain cruise.

 

Good IT people do extensive and large scale testing before releasing a piece of software to the world.  Even then there are sometimes problems. Considering the problems that the Azamara people are having, they must have missed that class when they attended IT school.

 

DON