Webinar with new CEO

[takemewithyou]

I completely forgot to log in for the webinar!  Can anyone give us a report on what was said?

[uktog]

A few take aways

 

* Azamazing evenings off ship are to be continued and be a focus 

* Next website upgrade due this summer will allow you to search for available inventory and use obc for excursions without calling in

* Taking on feedback about quality and decline in food and have already reversed some decisions although did not say what but seem to be around suppliers

* picked up on feedback that the wine quality has decreased and has started a review of the included wines

* reading between the lines the rate of occupancy has to increase before they can make the business case for new ships - the previous refurbishment has cost $85m
* shower curtains immediately being replaced with new bamboo fabric curtains which I think are suppose not not to stick

* as we already knew you can now combine your loyalty nights with any benefit on offer at the time of booking

* hinted that free Internet might come for at least some levels of Loyalty

 

CEO gave clear hint she’s one to listen. Her words are I’m humble, hungry and listening. They were very honest that things went horribly wrong with the IT migration and the guest experience suffered. Call wait times are now down to 1 minute. 
 

Some exciting new itineraries coming including r/t Mauritius 

 

 

Edited May 14 by uktog

[takemewithyou]

Oh, @uktog Thank you so much!  I appreciate the info!  Sounds promising! 

[Grandma Cruising]

Main things that I picked up.

1. They will continue to refurb the 4 existing ships & would like to grow but Sycamore say they can if/when they (Azamara) can find the money from revenues to do so

2. All the shower curtains have been replaced with bamboo (in material made of bamboo I imagine)

3. In 2026 they aim to have 2 ships in the area of full sun eclipse - one off Iceland & 1 in the med.

4. Free days earned through loyalty can now be combined with any/all promotions

5. They are considering how to enhance Azamara Circle benefits (questions were asked about free Wifi)

6. They are considering plans for 2027 and the west coast of US is being considered, including Alaska - clearly said they’re only considering this, no decisions made.

 

I’m sure I’ve missed things ( and I missed the first 10 minutes as I forgot too).

[tgg]

18 minutes ago, takemewithyou said:

I completely forgot to log in for the webinar!  Can anyone give us a report on what was said?

 

It was recorded, so you should be able to see the whole thing.

[nordski]

Two nice aspects of the webinar was the inclusion of three other members of the executive team, and a proposal to make this form of communication more common.

[uktog]

10 minutes ago, nordski said:

Two nice aspects of the webinar was the inclusion of three other members of the executive team, and a proposal to make this form of communication more common.

Yes and it was delightfully jargon free 

[mare s.]

I too forgot to tune in, but I am happy with what I am hearing here.   At least there is an attempt to address some issues and the statement about 2027 and the eclipse looks quite interesting. A couple of my submitted questions were answered....an IT upgrade to allow direct booking of excursions with OBC, and the possibility of some West Coast cruises again.  

[PirateWife]

I am excited about the new itineraries for 2026--the Vanilla Islands and the eclipse cruises. I always book excursions for future cruises while on a cruise to get the 10% discount, have already experienced the new shower curtains, and booked a cruise using free nights that combined with existing booking discounts. I did laugh at her response to the question about combining loyalty programs from other cruise lines. She is selling Azamara not other cruise lines. I am hopeful for the future of Azamara.

[cari cruiser]

When did this begin: as we already knew you can now combine your loyalty nights with any benefit on offer at the time of booking.

My husband and I went from Elite to Elite Plus on a cruise in December. We signed up for a new cruise last month and were told we could not combine free nights with the current promotion, and had to pay full price on the cruise to get the "free" nights. It did end up being cheaper than the promotion so we went ahead and booked it. Also, only my free nights were applied. I am not sure why they could not apply my husbands. I used a travel agent and even she was confused. Were we cheated?

[tgg]

49 minutes ago, cari cruiser said:

When did this begin: as we already knew you can now combine your loyalty nights with any benefit on offer at the time of booking.

My husband and I went from Elite to Elite Plus on a cruise in December. We signed up for a new cruise last month and were told we could not combine free nights with the current promotion, and had to pay full price on the cruise to get the "free" nights. It did end up being cheaper than the promotion so we went ahead and booked it. Also, only my free nights were applied. I am not sure why they could not apply my husbands. I used a travel agent and even she was confused. Were we cheated?

Your travel agent needs to follow up on this. Or you can send an email to Erin, (the loyalty person) and ask her when the policy changed. (Dondra mentioned today that all their email addresses will be available.) 

[Grandma Cruising]

6 hours ago, cari cruiser said:

When did this begin: as we already knew you can now combine your loyalty nights with any benefit on offer at the time of booking.

My husband and I went from Elite to Elite Plus on a cruise in December. We signed up for a new cruise last month and were told we could not combine free nights with the current promotion, and had to pay full price on the cruise to get the "free" nights. It did end up being cheaper than the promotion so we went ahead and booked it. Also, only my free nights were applied. I am not sure why they could not apply my husbands. I used a travel agent and even she was confused. Were we cheated?

Yes you were. In February we were able to use our free nights along with the current promotion (which included $350 OBC) and got the booking onboard OBC as well as our 6 free nights. The cruise ended up about half price.

I think you need to get in touch with them

If you get the cabin free for however many nights you have both have earned, then they are applying both your free nights as you both occupy the cabin!

[excitedofharpenden]

As Toni and Denise say, you need to follow this up. It makes a big difference and is the most significant loyalty change in some time. I booked a cruise in March using free nights and took advantage of this new policy that Tine, the loyalty person on Journey was fully aware of. I only knew because of reading this board.

 

It seems to have been brought in silently by Azamara and I don't understand why. 

 

Phil 

[uktog]

53 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

As Toni and Denise say, you need to follow this up. It makes a big difference and is the most significant loyalty change in some time. I booked a cruise in March using free nights and took advantage of this new policy that Tine, the loyalty person on Journey was fully aware of. I only knew because of reading this board.

 

It seems to have been brought in silently by Azamara and I don't understand why. 

 

Phil 

I sensed but might be wrong that “soft launches” are a thing of the past and communication from Loyalty is going to be more structured and regular.
 

Another thing mentioned was a focus on the offerings for solo travelers- this part of the call was handed over to the Director of Marketing who highlighted he is a solo travels on Azamara as such so has a very close eye on what can and could be done. The CEO highlighted her Mum travels as a solo so she too recognises what matters to solos 

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

I sensed but might be wrong that “soft launches” are a thing of the past and communication from Loyalty is going to be more structured and regular.
 

Another thing mentioned was a focus on the offerings for solo travelers- this part of the call was handed over to the Director of Marketing who highlighted he is a solo travels on Azamara as such so has a very close eye on what can and could be done. The CEO highlighted her Mum travels as a solo so she too recognises what matters to solos 

Do you have a link?  I Googled and came up with quite a few different ones. I want to make sure I'm watching the right one. Thanks. 

 

Phil 

[uktog]

33 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Do you have a link?  I Googled and came up with quite a few different ones. I want to make sure I'm watching the right one. Thanks. 

 

Phil 

They said they were going to email the recording out but that has not come yet.  Will try and post the link (or I am sure others will if they have it sooner).  I am not sure as it was done as a Private Gotomeeting link when you joined the call that its readily available on line elsewhere

[tgg]

Most exciting for me is the proposed itinerary calling in the Vanilla islands. It includes places in the Indian Ocean I've always wanted to visit.

 

Here's the background on the term Vanilla Islands:

 

The Vanilla islands are a marketing grouping.  It is a partnership of six island nations of Indian ocean islands:

 

• Comoros (island country)
• La Réunion (French territory)
• Madagascar (the largest island)
• Mauritius (island country)
• Mayotte (French territory)
• Seychelles (island country)
• The organization is working like a tourism board for all these islands. It operates like a link between the tourist offices, the official tourism authorities and the private sector.

[wjfan417]

18 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Main things that I picked up.

1. They will continue to refurb the 4 existing ships & would like to grow but Sycamore say they can if/when they (Azamara) can find the money from revenues to do so

2. All the shower curtains have been replaced with bamboo (in material made of bamboo I imagine)

3. In 2026 they aim to have 2 ships in the area of full sun eclipse - one off Iceland & 1 in the med.

4. Free days earned through loyalty can now be combined with any/all promotions

5. They are considering how to enhance Azamara Circle benefits (questions were asked about free Wifi)

6. They are considering plans for 2027 and the west coast of US is being considered, including Alaska - clearly said they’re only considering this, no decisions made.

 

I’m sure I’ve missed things ( and I missed the first 10 minutes as I forgot too).

We really enjoyed our Azamara Alaska cruise the one season they had them. The pre-cruise option was outstanding-stayed all the way in Denali for 2 nights!

[nonrev1]

Sorry I could not be on the call.  I read an earlier post regarding enhanced loyalty benefits but did they say anything about possibly adding a loyalty tier between discoverer plus and discoverer platinum?  Thanks 

[uktog]

26 minutes ago, nonrev1 said:

Sorry I could not be on the call.  I read an earlier post regarding enhanced loyalty benefits but did they say anything about possibly adding a loyalty tier between discoverer plus and discoverer platinum?  Thanks 

No comment about that. It was more higher level themes than specifics with the occasional detail added in. They are certainly looking at the program but no more specifics 

[tgg]

3 hours ago, nonrev1 said:

Sorry I could not be on the call.  I read an earlier post regarding enhanced loyalty benefits but did they say anything about possibly adding a loyalty tier between discoverer plus and discoverer platinum?  Thanks 

 

Funny you should mention it. When I got a follow-up email earlier today thanking me for being on the call and asking for feedback - I suggested a new level be added between plus and platinum.

[marinaro44]

11 hours ago, tgg said:

 

Funny you should mention it. When I got a follow-up email earlier today thanking me for being on the call and asking for feedback - I suggested a new level be added between plus and platinum.

I'd like to see a new level above platinum.

[tgg]

1 hour ago, marinaro44 said:

I'd like to see a new level above platinum.

 

Shareholder???

[cari cruiser]

On 5/14/2024 at 8:07 PM, cari cruiser said:

When did this begin: as we already knew you can now combine your loyalty nights with any benefit on offer at the time of booking.

My husband and I went from Elite to Elite Plus on a cruise in December. We signed up for a new cruise last month and were told we could not combine free nights with the current promotion, and had to pay full price on the cruise to get the "free" nights. It did end up being cheaper than the promotion so we went ahead and booked it. Also, only my free nights were applied. I am not sure why they could not apply my husbands. I used a travel agent and even she was confused. Were we cheated?

Thank you to those of you who recommended I talk with my travel agent about the incorrect application of my loyalty nights by Azamara. They are correcting the booking and sending me a refund. Hopefully I will get the refund before my trip in August.

[tgg]

9 minutes ago, cari cruiser said:

Thank you to those of you who recommended I talk with my travel agent about the incorrect application of my loyalty nights by Azamara. They are correcting the booking and sending me a refund. Hopefully I will get the refund before my trip in August.

 

Glad you were able to get this done. Enjoy your cruise.

 

I hope you'll come back to Cruisecritic to share your experiences and offer advice to others.