Black Friday sale

[smj]

Does anyone know when the Black Friday sale might start? We are ready to book but are concerned the price might go down. Thanks

 

[laurieb]

Typically if the price goes down, you can rebook if it's a new sale; you may or may not be charged a cancellation fee of 75.00pp, just depends.  At least US bookings.  If you have a specific staterrom you want or if the cruise is selling well, I would suggest booking now.  And use a travel agent...

[beatnix]

The current offer ends today. So maybe from tomorrow? Or they have another one in between and Black Friday comes within 2 to 3 weeks.

[Hammer61]

On 11/2/2023 at 7:30 AM, smj said:

We are ready to book but are concerned the price might go down. Thanks

I was holding off booking for similar reasons now the price guarantee isn't available.

 

The trip i was looking at though got a price hike on Nov 1st ☹️ Sometimes if you really find the right trip its best just to book if it's in your budget and dates for travel, waiting for special offers or discounts doesn't always work out.

 

Murphey's law 😜 Sometimes, as im sure if i had booked before Oct 31st, it would have not seen a price rise and then got a discount for Balck Friday LOL, some you win some you lose.................. 

[Whitby100]

We booked a trip for Aug, 2025 upon release because we were excited and to secure the cabin we wanted.  Once on board a month later we were able to take advantage of the onboard loyalty booking savings and, while we were charged the $75 per person change fee then, our travel agent got that reversed once home.  We transferred the on ship booking to our home  TA (and initial booking agent), no problem and at the recommendation of the on ship personnel.  We were specifically advised by both on board personnel and our TA to watch the sales should it come on sale.  We would then call our TA for a price adjustment.

 

Bottom line - if you know you want to go, book it and watch for sales, just as you would anyway.

[ChucktownSteve]

With the ships having such a limited capacity, it makes sense to book as early as possible.  Not only do you get your cabin choice, but they keep raising rates dynamically as cabins fill.  Since I usually lock in a cabin/suite as soon as an itinerary is released, I have never been able to find a lower price regardless of the "promotions" that follow. 

 

I've found that to be the case on not only Azamara but on Celebrity and Regent as well.

Edited November 4, 2023 by ChucktownSteve

[Host Jazzbeau]

19 minutes ago, ChucktownSteve said:

With the ships having such a limited capacity, it makes sense to book as early as possible.  Not only do you get your cabin choice, but they keep raising rates dynamically as cabins fill.  Since I usually lock in a cabin/suite as soon as an itinerary is released, I have never been able to find a lower price regardless of the "promotions" that follow. 

 

I've found that to be the case on not only Azamara but on Celebrity and Regent as well.

Ponant has always (or at least for as long as I have been following them) had a policy that cruises start out with a 30% discount which is reduced in increments as the sale date gets closer.  I think this is great:  transparent and fair.  Princess has recently announced that they are adopting something similar (although people are questioning whether any mass market line can keep the discipline to make this stick).  

 

Azamara doesn't do it as a policy; if a cruise is selling well the prices will go up, but if it's not selling well they will be cut.  Americans at least  have the option to cancel and rebook, but I would still prefer the Ponant approach.

[NewSalty]

On 11/4/2023 at 2:29 PM, Hammer61 said:

I was holding off booking for similar reasons now the price guarantee isn't available.

 

The trip i was looking at though got a price hike on Nov 1st ☹️ Sometimes if you really find the right trip its best just to book if it's in your budget and dates for travel, waiting for special offers or discounts doesn't always work out.

 

Murphey's law 😜 Sometimes, as im sure if i had booked before Oct 31st, it would have not seen a price rise and then got a discount for Balck Friday LOL, some you win some you lose.................. 

Don't get too discouraged - sometimes the prices get hiked just before the real sale, especially the cabin upgrade sales... see what Black Friday brings...

[Mackdogmolly]

Does Azamara even have Black Friday sales?

[laurieb]

45 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Does Azamara even have Black Friday sales?

In the past, Azamara has had black Friday sales.  

[Mackdogmolly]

30 minutes ago, laurieb said:

In the past, Azamara has had black Friday sales.  

Well, I’ll keep my eye out, but the current promotion runs through December 5th.

[Belfastman]

For the Black Friday sale in UK it usually involves extra OBC and no further discount.

[laurieb]

42 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Well, I’ll keep my eye out, but the current promotion runs through December 5th.

They have Flash Sales, which is what I would expect, so maybe 3-5 days long.

Edited November 5, 2023 by laurieb

[uktog]

May not have them in every market although Black Friday is possibly now more prevalent outside the US than it used to be 

[terry&mike]

Last year, Azamara was running a Double Upgrade plus $300 per cabin OBC promo coming in to November, but they had a Flash Sale/Black Friday event for several days that took the OBC up to $1000 per cabin, while still keeping Double Upgrade, and the prices did not change.  From my notes it looks like the flash sale started around November 15. 

[Mackdogmolly]

1 hour ago, terry&mike said:

Last year, Azamara was running a Double Upgrade plus $300 per cabin OBC promo coming in to November, but they had a Flash Sale/Black Friday event for several days that took the OBC up to $1000 per cabin, while still keeping Double Upgrade, and the prices did not change.  From my notes it looks like the flash sale started around November 15. 

Right now they already have a double upgrade with $1000 OBC, so it will be interesting to see how they will top that 

[Scots Caz]

1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Right now they already have a double upgrade with $1000 OBC, so it will be interesting to see how they will top that 

the current OBC is only for a few select countries (looks like US, Canada, Brazil and Mexico)...majority have zero OBC currently

[Mackdogmolly]

11 minutes ago, Scots Caz said:

the current OBC is only for a few select countries (looks like US, Canada, Brazil and Mexico)...majority have zero OBC currently

Oh! Well, well hopefully if they have a flash sale it will be more widespread!

[uktog]

39 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Oh! Well, well hopefully if they have a flash sale it will be more widespread!

They might struggle to do that for the UK based on the fact they are running their current offer through to 5th December.  Lets hope they can find a legal way to have a sale within a sale

[S4POPO]

Somewhat OT, but is there a place on CC that lists all Black Friday deals for all cruiselines in a single place?

[Riocca]

2 hours ago, uktog said:

They might struggle to do that for the UK based on the fact they are running their current offer through to 5th December.  Lets hope they can find a legal way to have a sale within a sale

Possibly just add some OBC to the current deal, that’s been done before so must meet the required criteria.

[Hammer61]

On 11/6/2023 at 12:13 AM, NewSalty said:

Don't get too discouraged - sometimes the prices get hiked just before the real sale, especially the cabin upgrade sales... see what Black Friday brings...

True!

 

It is a strange one though 😕 price suddenly increased and now its showing as sold out if i click on details and pricing unavailable on the cruise info page? But i had only enquired to an Azamara rep just over a week ago and was told there was plenty of availability and they even recommended getting a specific cabin, i then also looked at an online agent's site that lets you select your cabin, and it looked as if hardly any rooms had been sold for some categories! Which in part made me hold back to see what black Friday would bring as the current upgrade promotion is running until December.

 

Its a Greek island/Turkey trip 29th May from Athens.

[rj59]

With ships on most lines full and demand through the roof, you're unlikely to find anything, unless it's an OBC offer to get you to book at higher prices, or a more expensive cabin. That's especially true of Azamara, where it's so easy to sell out a small ship and they don't have to fill a megaship year-round. So I booked a Virgin cruise at a bargain price in August that sold out in a week, I bought an Azamara cruise to Spain a month ago, and most of the prices for that month are much higher. It's like looking for a Black Friday deal on a new car the past couple of years, where demand is so high that they have no incentive to give real discounts or deals, just incentives to get you to book. 

[Riocca]

5 hours ago, Hammer61 said:

True!

 

It is a strange one though 😕 price suddenly increased and now its showing as sold out if i click on details and pricing unavailable on the cruise info page? But i had only enquired to an Azamara rep just over a week ago and was told there was plenty of availability and they even recommended getting a specific cabin, i then also looked at an online agent's site that lets you select your cabin, and it looked as if hardly any rooms had been sold for some categories! Which in part made me hold back to see what black Friday would bring as the current upgrade promotion is running until December.

 

Its a Greek island/Turkey trip 29th May from Athens.

Sometimes happens if there’s a possibility of an itinerary change or they’re negotiating a charter, so it may be a case of wait and see.

[terry&mike]

8 hours ago, Hammer61 said:

True!

 

It is a strange one though 😕 price suddenly increased and now its showing as sold out if i click on details and pricing unavailable on the cruise info page? But i had only enquired to an Azamara rep just over a week ago and was told there was plenty of availability and they even recommended getting a specific cabin, i then also looked at an online agent's site that lets you select your cabin, and it looked as if hardly any rooms had been sold for some categories! Which in part made me hold back to see what black Friday would bring as the current upgrade promotion is running until December.

 

Its a Greek island/Turkey trip 29th May from Athens.

You must be talking about the Journey, May 29-June 8 sailing. That sailing is not sold out, but has been removed from the system. My guess is that they are possibly reworking the sailing that is before this one, as it is Singapore to Athens, May 3-29, with several days near the end in Egypt, Jordan and Israel. Once they have those changes sorted, then this may lead them to tweak the May 29 sailing/departure.