Azamara Dedicated Cruise Planners

[gotcha3]

Does Azamara employ dedicated cruise planners or just sales people manning their phones?

[laurieb]

All of the Azamara employees are trained; is that what you're asking?

If you are looking for a "dedicated cruise planner", I'd suggest you use a TA

[Dynacruiser]

On 11/14/2023 at 11:03 AM, gotcha3 said:

Does Azamara employ dedicated cruise planners or just sales people manning their phones?

 

I am not sure what you mean, perhaps you could list what you expect a cruise planner to do, and then folks can give you a better answer.    

 

• If you are looking for somebody to help you find the right itinerary, plan your flights and book transfers and hotels, you probably just need a really good TA.  
• If you are looking for somebody to plan your daily excursions, I dont know if anybody would be able to help you as you know your likes and limitations better.  You'll have to read the excursions brochure, get great help from folks in your roll call, and then call Azamara or TA and book them.
• If you want to plan and reserve Spa, specialty restaurants, chef dinners... well, nobody can do that until you get on the ship.
• If you need to understand packages such as internet, drinks, specialty meals, etc, this forum is a great place for that info!

I hope I didn't misunderstand your question.

[tgg]

36 minutes ago, laurieb said:

All of the Azamara employees are trained; is that what you're asking?

If you are looking for a "dedicated cruise planner", I'd suggest you use a TA

Best advice in the world. Travel agents are paid to give you good advice and solve problems when they occur. They have TA-only cruise line phone numbers that connect them with people who can make decisions and fix things.

 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the 5-10% refundable OBC.😄

 

The hard part is finding a great travel agent. Ask fellow passengers for recommendations. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

38 minutes ago, tgg said:

Best advice in the world. Travel agents are paid to give you good advice and solve problems when they occur. They have TA-only cruise line phone numbers that connect them with people who can make decisions and fix things.

 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the 5-10% refundable OBC.😄

 

The hard part is finding a great travel agent. Ask fellow passengers for recommendations. 

In addition to all these great points in favor of TAs, a veteran travel agent will have cruised more than you have (and way more than cruise line phone reps, who may never have set foot on a ship in their lives!) so they can give you personal experience advice as well as feedback they get from their other customers.  Even if you are a compulsive planner (like me), a TA adds another source of advice that can only help.

[gotcha3]

We've cruised Celebrity a lot. I always used to use a T/A for the better prices and added perks until I discovered Celebrity's cadre of actual cruise planners. Not sales people, but actual agents who can "talk the talk and walk the walk" they had the knowledge and the authority to change your reservation. I stopped using T/As because at Celebrity, using a T/A means they will ABSOLUTELY without question, NOT talk to you about your reservation, period. So, when prices go down, I have to hope I can reach the T/A (weekends? nights?), tell them what it is I want, have them verify it and then wait while they try to contact Celebrity. Not so with my planner...all I had to do was take a screenshot of the deal, added perk, whatever I was looking at and send it to them, 24/7. When they next reported for work, he'd see the email and I'd get a return email and copies of my cruise paperwork with the new deal, even if that deal was expired because he had the screenshot. EASY peasy. He would even match the gift cards being handed out by big box retailers for your booking with Celebrity OBC. I often booked cruises 18 months to 2 years out and have changed prices on both refundable/nonrefundable cruises, added drink packages, wifi and so on, up to 6-8 times or more. Way easier with him than using a T/A. If you educate yourself, there's not much a T/A can do that you yourself can't, why wouldn't you use a Celebrity cruise planner, its so much easier.

[gotcha3]

3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

In addition to all these great points in favor of TAs, a veteran travel agent will have cruised more than you have (and way more than cruise line phone reps, who may never have set foot on a ship in their lives!) so they can give you personal experience advice as well as feedback they get from their other customers.  Even if you are a compulsive planner (like me), a TA adds another source of advice that can only help.

What the heck do you care what THEIR experiences were? You can find many, many experiences online easily, people post the most inane details of their cruises everyday. Just as with the T/A experiences you have to view them with a "grain of salt." Take 1 or 2 cruises and you should have a pretty good idea of what YOU like/want etc. T/As are just another link in a chain that doesn't need to get longer.

[Dynacruiser]

1 hour ago, gotcha3 said:

We've cruised Celebrity a lot. I always used to use a T/A for the better prices and added perks until I discovered Celebrity's cadre of actual cruise planners. Not sales people, but actual agents who can "talk the talk and walk the walk" they had the knowledge and the authority to change your reservation. I stopped using T/As because at Celebrity, using a T/A means they will ABSOLUTELY without question, NOT talk to you about your reservation, period. So, when prices go down, I have to hope I can reach the T/A (weekends? nights?), tell them what it is I want, have them verify it and then wait while they try to contact Celebrity. Not so with my planner...all I had to do was take a screenshot of the deal, added perk, whatever I was looking at and send it to them, 24/7. When they next reported for work, he'd see the email and I'd get a return email and copies of my cruise paperwork with the new deal, even if that deal was expired because he had the screenshot. EASY peasy. He would even match the gift cards being handed out by big box retailers for your booking with Celebrity OBC. I often booked cruises 18 months to 2 years out and have changed prices on both refundable/nonrefundable cruises, added drink packages, wifi and so on, up to 6-8 times or more. Way easier with him than using a T/A. If you educate yourself, there's not much a T/A can do that you yourself can't, why wouldn't you use a Celebrity cruise planner, its so much easier.

 

You may have inspired me to divorce my DW and marry one of these cruise planners, regardless of gender.🫢

 

If you find one of those who will work with Azamara cruises, let me know (although many folks here will likely swear that their TAs give them such support).

 

[gotcha3]

I think you misunderstand, these planners work for Celebrity. Azamara has no such animal, which is what I was originally trying to learn on this forum. I should know better by now.

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, gotcha3 said:

What the heck do you care what THEIR experiences were? You can find many, many experiences online easily, people post the most inane details of their cruises everyday. Just as with the T/A experiences you have to view them with a "grain of salt." Take 1 or 2 cruises and you should have a pretty good idea of what YOU like/want etc. T/As are just another link in a chain that doesn't need to get longer.

You obviously haven't taken the time to get to know a good TA.  I put very little credence in anonymous (or unknown to me) posts on the internet, including the Reviews section of Cruise Critic.  But in these forums I do get to 'know' many of the regular posters and their likes/dislikes – just as I got to know my longterm TA and her likes/dislikes – so that I can relate their advice to my likes/dislikes.  If you are only able to learn from your own experience, your knowledge base is very narrow... 

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 minutes ago, gotcha3 said:

I think you misunderstand, these planners work for Celebrity. Azamara has no such animal, which is what I was originally trying to learn on this forum. I should know better by now.

I don't know how you learned that on this forum, or how you think you know it.

[gotcha3]

On 11/16/2023 at 9:28 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

I don't know how you learned that on this forum, or how you think you know it.

?????