Bonkers Azamara marketing emails

[NicNata]

Is it just me or are the last two marketing emails really poorly thought through? The first one offered 5% OBC for people who pay in full now. Nowhere, at least that I can see, do they specify 5% of what (see text below). The second one proudly proclaimed "Plus, for a limited-time solo travelers pay 100% Single Supplement on select sailings". Where is the bargain in that? I wish I could feed back to Azamara how silly these sound to us as customers.

 

The Pay-In-Full Benefits Program ( the “Offer”) is available to guests who choose the option to pay for their remaining cruise fare balance in full after receiving an email indicating they are eligible. Participation in the “Offer” does not change the refundability of the cruise fare and guests will retain their normal cancellation policies. The Offer is available for select guests booked on sailings departing over 180 days. Guests who accept this offer and pay their sailing in full will receive 5% Onboard Credit to be used in future sailing. Guests must call the Contact Center or their Travel Advisors to redeem the Offer. The Offer is combinable with Back-to-Back OBC, Loyalty quarterly savings, National Account amenity or hosted programs, reduced single supplements, and onboard booking savings. The Offer does not combine with onboard booking reduced deposits, net rates, travel agent rates, groups, statement agencies, or employee rates. Offer and pricing are subject to availability and change without notice and may be withdrawn by Azamara at any time.  Unless otherwise noted, all amounts referred to herein are in USD (United States Dollars). Other terms and conditions may apply, please refer to the Azamara Cruise Ticket Contract.  SUGGESTION: After the offer period, if a guest changes their ship and sail date, changes their category, or requests a refund, the Pay In Full Benefits are subject to removal. ELIGIBLE PAY-IN-FULL SAILINGS: The Offer is available for select guests booked on sailings that are departing in over 180 days REDEEMING PAY-IN-FULL OFFER: Eligible guests must call the Azamara Contact Center or their Travel Advisors to redeem the offer. Sailing must be over 180 days (about 6 months) out to redeem the offer EXCLUSIONS: Any bookings already paid in full are not eligible for this offer. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Upon submission of payment [or last payment], the guest will acknowledge that they have read, understand, and accept the terms and conditions of the Cruise Ticket Contract, including the Cancellation Policy.

Edited January 19 by NicNata
Adding additional information

[G2G]

I totally agree. I checked out a solo fare and it worked out around 125%. I don’t understand whether solos pay 100% more ie 2 fares or one fare. I can’t be bothered to ask my agent to check it out. 🤦‍♀️

[excitedofharpenden]

52 minutes ago, G2G said:

I totally agree. I checked out a solo fare and it worked out around 125%. I don’t understand whether solos pay 100% more ie 2 fares or one fare. I can’t be bothered to ask my agent to check it out. 🤦‍♀️

I did check one of the cruises on the solo fare link and it does appear to be no single supplement. £2218.94 solo fare and £4572 for two sharing (this is OV category and admittedly the only cruise I checked). It's bad  wording on the email, but I knew what they were getting at. 

 

Phil 

[G2G]

1 hour ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I did check one of the cruises on the solo fare link and it does appear to be no single supplement. £2218.94 solo fare and £4572 for two sharing (this is OV category and admittedly the only cruise I checked). It's bad  wording on the email, but I knew what they were getting at. 

 

Phil 

That's really strange, I checked 2, one being the repositioning cruise in March and it was definitely more than 1 fare and I checked inside, out and veranda. 

[laurieb]

I haven't seen either of these promotions in the US market

[NicNata]

13 minutes ago, laurieb said:

I haven't seen either of these promotions in the US market

The emails I got were from the US market. I had to change the country to UK a the bottom to see if they applied in the UK. They do but they still don't make any sense. Maybe you are not on their mailing list? For me it's part of an ongoing pattern that communications from Azamara aren't very well thought through and the problem is they then lose their credibility

[emerald6273]

I received one of the emails pertaining to 5%. If you read small print attached to email it clearly states the 5% is in relation to any outstanding balance owed for cruise. We paid quite big deposits, so won’t receive much OBC in relation to this incentive to pay cruise balance in full. 

[takemewithyou]

1 hour ago, laurieb said:

I haven't seen either of these promotions in the US market

I just received the email a couple of days ago regarding receiving OBC for paying cruise in full now.

[tgg]

As I understand this, if the solo fare is 150%, it means that the solo passenger pays an extra 50% of the fare.

 

So if the solo fare is 100%, it would mean that there IS NO extra fare to be paid. Of course it would be clear to everyone if they simply said NO SINGLE SUPPLEMENT.

 

I could be completely mistaken.😉

[laurieb]

2 hours ago, NicNata said:

The emails I got were from the US market. I had to change the country to UK a the bottom to see if they applied in the UK. They do but they still don't make any sense. Maybe you are not on their mailing list? For me it's part of an ongoing pattern that communications from Azamara aren't very well thought through and the problem is they then lose their credibility

I may be that none of my future cruises apply

[NicNata]

57 minutes ago, tgg said:

As I understand this, if the solo fare is 150%, it means that the solo passenger pays an extra 50% of the fare.

 

So if the solo fare is 100%, it would mean that there IS NO extra fare to be paid. Of course it would be clear to everyone if they simply said NO SINGLE SUPPLEMENT.

 

I could be completely mistaken.😉

Precisely my point! Just say No single supplement rather than try to make everyone do mental gymnastics. It does not work anyway. I looked at a couple of the so called solo fares and they were all double the price shown i.e. it was the price for two people.

[NicNata]

1 hour ago, emerald6273 said:

I received one of the emails pertaining to 5%. If you read small print attached to email it clearly states the 5% is in relation to any outstanding balance owed for cruise. We paid quite big deposits, so won’t receive much OBC in relation to this incentive to pay cruise balance in full. 

Not in the email I received. I posted the full text of the small print. It simply says "Guests who accept this offer and pay their sailing in full will receive 5% Onboard Credit to be used in future sailing". Rather like the vague Solo fares email why not make it straightforward and the headline says "Receive 5% of any outstanding balance in onboard cruise credit for a future sailing". In fact the original headline did not mention the OBC would be for future sailings rather than the one already booked. So all round vague and not a very good offer either. I wonder if anyone will take them up on this.

[So Cal John]

I received the 5% email this week for a cruise in Aug 2024. I was not sure how much the credit would be - is it 5% of the remaining balance or of the total cost of the cruise. Also was unsure if it applied to the cruise which I was being asked to pay for now. I called the Azamara Circle number. The agent said it is OBC for the cruise they are asking for payment on. And it is 5% of the "cruise fare" amount. Taxes and any other fees do not count towards the 5%. I specifically asked if I would get credit for my previously paid deposit and the answer was yes. It is 5% of the cruise fare. And she said there are no restrictions to the OBC. It is available for anything. But it won't be applied to my account until boarding.  

[Hulagirl]

I find this interesting as we have a cruise in July but never received the e-mail.  I'm curious if this is targeted to certain stateroom categories. 

 

We booked this cruise in Sept. 2022 and received a good sized early booking discount on the fare.  I'm wondering if this would negate us from receiving the e-mail offer.

 

 

[takemewithyou]

18 minutes ago, Hulagirl said:

I find this interesting as we have a cruise in July but never received the e-mail.  I'm curious if this is targeted to certain stateroom categories. 

 

We booked this cruise in Sept. 2022 and received a good sized early booking discount on the fare.  I'm wondering if this would negate us from receiving the e-mail offer.

 

 

Read the terms listed on the original post.……..says combinable with onboard booking savings, BUT NOT combinable if you received a reduced deposit with the onboard booking.

 

[Hulagirl]

I did read it but our deposit wasn't reduced it was an early booking bonus. 

[Hulagirl]

Actually it says early savings not booking bonus. So it has nothing to do with a deposit.

 

Also wondering if this is aimed at certain cabin categories.  Veranda and lower, not the suite categories.

Edited January 19 by Hulagirl

[takemewithyou]

57 minutes ago, Hulagirl said:

Actually it says early savings not booking bonus. So it has nothing to do with a deposit.

 

Also wondering if this is aimed at certain cabin categories.  Veranda and lower, not the suite categories.

My booking is a CC suite.

[tgg]

1 hour ago, Hulagirl said:

Actually it says early savings not booking bonus. So it has nothing to do with a deposit.

 

Also wondering if this is aimed at certain cabin categories.  Veranda and lower, not the suite categories.

Our upcoming booking is a CC suite and we got it.

[Hulagirl]

6 minutes ago, tgg said:

Our upcoming booking is a CC suite and we got it.

Thank you, that is what I was curious about.  We have a CC suite for the July cruise also.  Maybe our cruise doesn't qualify for this. 

 

Hope you are feeling better.

[Peter Lanky]

I have not seen the 5% promotion, but I did clock the badly worded one about 100% single supplement. I feel I am being bombarded by emails from Azamara all saying pretty much the same thing re discount and OBC, but seeing as I have 2 cruises booked in March and May, both paid for, these emails annoy me intensely, seeing as Azamara will not honour a lower fare without cancelling the original booking.

 

At the moment, I'm more interested in the potential fate of our cruise in May that is scheduled to pass through the Red Sea, for which Azamara is sitting squarely on the fence.

 

At least I can amuse myself daily by trying to guess which of my THREE Azamara Circle membership levels will appear at the top of the page. 🤔

[ghstudio]

Be a little cautious of paying in full, in advance. I think you want to make sure that if you cancel the cruise prior to the original due date, that you still get a full refund.....

[Peter Lanky]

9 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

Be a little cautious of paying in full, in advance. I think you want to make sure that if you cancel the cruise prior to the original due date, that you still get a full refund.....

We don't get a choice. We get a final payment date when booking and that's set in stone. However, I won't be cancelling anything. If there's any cancellations to be done, Azamara will have to do it.

[NicNata]

On 1/19/2024 at 4:56 PM, So Cal John said:

I

 

 

On 1/19/2024 at 4:56 PM, So Cal John said:

I received the 5% email this week for a cruise in Aug 2024. I was not sure how much the credit would be - is it 5% of the remaining balance or of the total cost of the cruise. Also was unsure if it applied to the cruise which I was being asked to pay for now. I called the Azamara Circle number. The agent said it is OBC for the cruise they are asking for payment on. And it is 5% of the "cruise fare" amount. Taxes and any other fees do not count towards the 5%. I specifically asked if I would get credit for my previously paid deposit and the answer was yes. It is 5% of the cruise fare. And she said there are no restrictions to the OBC. It is available for anything. But it won't be applied to my account until boarding.  

I read it as Future Cruise Credit i.e. you won't get it on your August 24 cruise. I goes back to my original point that the email is confusing and requires mental gymnastics which is not good marketing practice. It reads "Guests who accept this offer and pay their sailing in full will receive 5% Onboard Credit to be used in future sailing".

[NicNata]

23 hours ago, Peter Lanky said:

I have not seen the 5% promotion, but I did clock the badly worded one about 100% single supplement. I feel I am being bombarded by emails from Azamara all saying pretty much the same thing re discount and OBC, but seeing as I have 2 cruises booked in March and May, both paid for, these emails annoy me intensely, seeing as Azamara will not honour a lower fare without cancelling the original booking.

 

At the moment, I'm more interested in the potential fate of our cruise in May that is scheduled to pass through the Red Sea, for which Azamara is sitting squarely on the fence.

 

At least I can amuse myself daily by trying to guess which of my THREE Azamara Circle membership levels will appear at the top of the page. 🤔

I agree. I seem to get an email virtually every day and after a while they become meaningless. Azamara marketing is doing a poor job because their "offers" are confusing, don't work in practice, are not of any real value or all of the above.