uktog

Hi UKtog, Interesting that you book Suites on Azamara but not on Celebrity, and the reason. I was always surprised and thought Celebrity should have made the small dining venue, BLU, for Suite guests like they do on other ships, but of course that is not what they did. It works for us because we are out of the cabin so much anyway and never even use our Verandas (even when in the owners suite on Azamara).

 

We stayed in a Suite on Millennium before the renovation but never will now because we want to dine in BLU. Whether or not we can get in or not, we don't want the hassle and happy it is the assigned dining room for AQU guests.

Typically suites have always worked out as better value in Azamara because of the unlimited access to the speciality restaurants. That said, we do not always book suites on Azamara

Robin at present if you read Bills earlier post you will be Discoverer Plus on Azamara

And a general observation

It seems on this and the Celebrity Boards some of the biggest gripes are around top cruiser status. IMHO this is a dated activity and is not entirely sensitive to the circumstances of most cruisers. There is often too close a correlation between top and disposable income. I think they should do away with these public recognitions and allow on Azamara the Captain to chose the most appropriate way to recognise loyalty privately.

After all when I go on a plane, the most frequent flyer is not paraded through the plane or the most regular guest walked around a hotel lobby

We have been that top cruiser once on X (strange cruise mostly Spanish and 1st time ex p and o cruisers, otherwise we are never near the top) so this post is not made out of jealousy rather it's a reflection on what now seems especially on X to be almost a war between some folks

I am booked in S2 suite on my next 3 Celebrity cruises. I am paying 59% more than those in a A2 cabin and resent having to pay an extra $5.00 gratuity if I dine in Blu. Those in a PH suite pay over 4 times as much as those in a A2 and most of them do not get charged. I am working on a letter to Celebrity as I feel if we are going to have a class system for AquaClass guests and every one else, perhaps we should expand it and allow suite passengers to dine in one of the other specialty restaurants depending on their category. Put those in the PH and RS suite in the best restaurant and the rest of the suite guests in another specialty restaurant.

If they did this it would end this discussion and I would have no problem with the gratuity.

 

:(Royal Princess, 10/18/14 Canada/NE, HAL 56 days, RCCL 104 points, NCL 28 days, Princess 214 days, Royal 14 days, Cunard 49 days, Celebrity 570 points

I have some sympathy with your posts and get the point you are making 100%. We always had suites, but on one cruise even with a Royal we could not even get in Blu never mind the $10 for 2 charge. Added to that our near neighbours had two bottles of water delivered foc each day and we would have had to pay for the equivalent.

At that point we decided a butler ( who on X we have found to be of very variable standard and not someone we really need), some extra square footage (but typically we could find larger balconies and much nicer more accessible showers in cheaper rooms) and the same captains club credits (yes, I know that as changed now) did not justify the significant price differential, especially when we added into the mix some very mediocre main dining experiences. We swapped to Aqua

Would we go back to suites, certainly not so X lost revenue from us.

Good luck raising the issue with HO, I only got a response restating the rules when I sent the previous CEO that feedback. I look forward to hearing the response you get

As the OP is in the UK booked through Azamara UK and flying on BA, it's all covered here

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1701719

It is rather different to what those in the US enjoy

Oops wrong thread

I suspect the IT will not allow different conversion rates. When I look at our conversions, 16 night cruises on Azamara in a suite have been converted at the same measly rate 90 points as 12 nights in a concierge on Celebrity so we tactically would have been better to have saved money and stayed away from Azamara and now appeared on the new methods of calculation to try them. We converted over at 1580 points, if the new calculation method had applied to our Azamara from when we started with them, we would have been well over 2200 points

Maybe some "booster points" for those with Azamara cruises in their history would be welcomed by many

Lovely to hear the magic continues for you

I just put down self sponsored and included a printout of the cruise itinerary. Ours were processed without query at Hayes as that is where the postal items are done. I think it asks for an address in India, you do not need the port agents details we just put M/S Azamara

Hope I've answered your question, if you have others ask away

And from a very stormy UK happy festive greetings from us as well. Bill I hope you are gaining strength each day and will be back amongst us very soon.

And to everyone as we say "and a guid New Year when it comes"

Perhaps because there are no N class cabins on Azamara?;)

I think it's not about availability, the OP has hit the website issue many are (rightly) banging their heads about

Sorry for the staff who will be impacted, but please boot them off Azamar as well

I have never asked or gotten assistance from a travel agent on an insurance claim. We do purchase the insurance independent of the agency.

You need the help of the agency to provide documentation to process the claim. Rarely does your confirmation paperwork fully comply with what any insurance company asks for.

In the event of a cancellation, a good agent will recognise the stress their client is going through anyway and most automatically generate the paperwork/ give guidance on how to claim even when the insurance when purchased independently. Sad the poster hit a lousy one that left her to it

I think the attention to detail on many of the Azamazing evenings has been iffy at best - I DO NOT mean what the onboard teams have done, they have worked miracles some times around what they were handed to make run. I remember these evenings were very much the baby of the now departed from Azamara Edie - was she someone who had nice ideas, shame about the practicalities.

It is often only when the on board team get to the venues that they can tell the issues that are going to arise

Maybe it was as well the evening was brought back onboard, whilst it would have been nice to have been ashore, perhaps the issues that would have arisen would have spoilt the trip more than the disappointment of not having the event in the first place

PS If I get on the March 3rd cruise, I will be very interested to see how a long bus trip and 700 guests in a hotel function room at the same time is going to shape out

So glad you are enjoying your Azamara experience. Captain Jose sounds like he has been a great hire, truly in the Azamara mould.

Have a wonderful Christmas onboard, thanks for posting and pop by when you can with news

I recall reading here on CC that early in the Capt's Club program you didn't get the extra credits for being on a 12 night or longer cruise or being in a catagory cabin like a suite.

That is correct and is why 14 nights in a suite on these trips converts to a miserable 30 points

Cibit/visa central operate world wide but are very expensive - certainly their add on fees in the UK for example if you pay by credit card borders on being at a level very close to triggering regulatory investigation. We were over £200 cheaper doing our own visas in India

I think it would be way too risky given how often requirements change and how they vary - considerations such as country of passport issue, current country of residence, country of birth, other visas in your passport to safely offer this advice. Given how inaccurate their sites are even for simple things like who can eat where I would suggest we all stick with finding our own info

I have no issue with those who need help and assistance having it. I do feel though that the number of "supporters"

should be more effectively managed. Two cruises ago that disembarked in Bayonne we overheard a gentleman offering others "join him as his family" during the elite breakfast as they would get off quicker. I know at least one couple who were tight for a flight time did

OMG! I Know! RIGHT!!!

 

And if the previous poster was wearing white jeans after Labor Day, she should be made to walk the plank!!!

Never understood that one, but get the plank out I wore white jeans several nights with sparkly tops last month. And I would defy anyone to know they were jeans not trousers!

Indeed thanks Andy.

 

As that's 7pm UK time I'll be on the tennis court but I do hope someone will ask him what they're doing to improve the off shore experience for those of us in the UK and perhaps he'd like to encourage his new UK MD to do something similar once he's settled in.

Good shout, I'd even try and master titter for that ooer Frankie

As I recall in the days of the Roman Empire even the Orators were ignored from time to time when the message did not fit the consensus thought

They do, it all depends what type of watch you are looking for and what you are prepared to send, the stock is quite limited

What possible reason would you have to be miffed if someone returned an item to you in a less conventional manner? I would think that your reaction should be one of appreciation, not annoyance.

And what if I had reported it missing to Guest Relations or to Customer Service by phone on my return and they had no note of it being found because an unconventional route was used

I think this is something we will agree to differ on but I would want someone who found something of mine to hand it in as is asked in the Guest policies. I would appreciate them finding it and be pleased they did as asked.

I have worked in areas where lost and found has become a very very thorny issue with someone being accused of theft because they did not follow process. Now this is not happening here, but the cruiseline cant have a range of alternatives being used and it is as much to protect the finder as the loser.

Using your logic, why not demand a free Coke every 5 minutes or so? After all, it's much less expensive than a double espresso. :confused:

 

I think you are being a little unreasonable here - frequency was never mentioned in my post.

 

I think it is perfectly valid to be happy with the offering whilst highlighting some inconsistencies in application. I always understood these boards were about feeding back where improvement might be considered (note the word is not made) from the passenger perspective. There may be a perfectly logical reason why a cheaper related product (your example was from a different product range) is not within a package in which case the cruise line should perhaps consider explaining that reason to guests otherwise there is a perception based on the track record of this cruiseline that it is an oversight at present

I am not irritated, in my case I am just surprised that it is the more expensive items that are free and the cheaper ones to the cruiseline that are charged. No doubt it is a revenue maximiser in some model

I think we as CC members have a tendency to think we are more numerous on these cruises than we actually are.

 

I would think the odds of finding the rightful owner of a lost item like this one is really small.

 

I'm glad it worked out, but would think we should encourage others in the future to just turn in to guest relations.

Absolutely. I would be miffed if I forgot something and found the finder had used some other route to return an item to me. I would rather it was taken direct to guest relations but a post was put on here saying, if you left x that had pictures of y I gave it to Mary at guest relations at (time) (date)