uktog

There was an amazing pianist on board from Ukraine in November- Natalia. You really saw her skills when she did a four hander with a guest entertainer in the Journey lounge one evening. It was a shame many nights after dinner she played to no audience in the lobby bar - on one occasion she was scheduled to come on after the bar shut. The general manager came past saw that and told the bar staff they had to stay open until Natalia finished- good move as the bar filled up with listeners. I’m not sure the bar team were so impressed!

My guess is you were part of the interface that is actually B2B and not B2C - in other words you were in the business to business portal and at that end it will be possible due to negotiations between Azamara and travel agents for transfers to be added free of charge. This probably happens when flights are also added in a bundle by the travel agent as part of a product package. Anyway, as you say you are going down another route, my guess is you were never supposed to pick up a free transfer because you were using a route into Azamara that wasn’t fully set up and tested for customers, you were in the travel agent area. It would initially issue invoices and then during a routine exception report the issue would be identified and corrected

I’m wondering though if it’s fully set up to integrate with Azamara passengers side of things yet. Might explain why a free transfer booked on it turned out not to be free?

Great selection. I can’t now remember our selection but I know we read two and enjoyed them.

I believe these shades were found to be no use in any breeze - a case of a hotel designer not understanding that the aft of the ship has a breeze, so the idea was scrapped

Not good. Hope it picks up. I must admit I didn’t like the singers at all in November and was hoping for an improvement as we have realised our next 14 night cruise is 2x7 cruises (it was sold as a 14). I will be climbing the wall if it’s the same very average two in September. Only two singers is never going to work. They need to wise up on that one!

Packing a ship with ill mannered free loaders is what would put me off booking beyond our current commitments. I can’t get excited about whether they serve brand x or y alcohol. I bet in blind tasting many cannot tell the difference so I won’t let label snobbery influence my decision. In all our bookings I cannot see the brand of champagne mentioned, I always take marketing blurb with a pinch of salt anyway, switches of brands happen on all lines from time to time.

Or more active local taxi unions?

I understood in Tenerife the local taxi union had objected to the provision of shuttles. This is becoming more prevalent in ports since the pandemic as taxi drivers try and regain their markets. Azamara always links in with the port authority for the provision of shuttles where permitted. Sometimes this connection is more visible than others. Even if the port appears to be providing the shuttle its cost is wrapped up in the port fees.

You don’t have a packaged bundle which is what I was referring to. These can’t be booked onboard and an onboard booking can’t be transferred into a bundle. A bundle usually has flights, cruise, possibly some hotels, transfers or even one excursion arranged by the agent.

It’s a bundled package @Riocca explained before, the rules relating to them are different. By creating a package holiday whilst it gives restrictions it also has other advantages. All no cost inclusions are via the packaged product and aren’t set up by the guest. There are a couple of large UK internet based agencies who create packaged bundles and attract guests with what looks like a fantastic deal but my previous experience with one is they come unstuck if adjustments are needed Whatever has happened here, accusing people of lying without giving all the specifics is uncalled for and the only person who can resolve this is the travel agent Mistakes do not equal lies

And to repeat the agent may have made a mistake, accusing someone of lying implies a deliberate act to deceive you - I suspect your evidence on that claim would not stack up. Why would they deliberately be trying to deceive customers given how precise and demanding UK consumer legislation is? I fully recognise a mistake may have been made, perhaps just as you have done, wording has been sloppy. Things may not be correct on the IT record - but that is not deceit. The only mistake from what you have told us that I can see is that the Azamara agent spoke to you - you should have been told to route your call through your travel agent. That is what you should be doing now and there are well established routes for UK agents, particularly those who do bundled packages as you have bought, to escalate items to Azamara.

I would also add that July/August can be really tricky wind conditions even on a nice day. Azamaras docking position in Leith has a big advantage for guests re accessibility however it’s one of the trickiest entries for Captains through a tidal lock so only two chances a day and not an option if the wind gets up. Between The Open and the Tattoo in July/August several cruises have had issues over the years (I also remember one in 2015 getting stuck in the port for an extra two days). In many ways now we have the tram network extension Vikings tender spot coming into Newhaven is better because it’s more reliable. If your overnight has a risk of being ex Rosyth I would look at hotel options though they will be crazy priced. If you can accept basic just as a spot to sleep look for something like the Ibis at the Gyle. It’s on the tram line (opposite end to Leith) so getting back to the hotel will be relatively easy and if you want to head back to the ship from the hotel next morning it’s a five minute walk to the train station for the route heading back to Inverkeithing (for Rosyth).

I have upgraded my package via my agent no problem. What was your agents reason for declining to do it? Im not defending the agent who has upset you but people make mistakes- they and the company are not dishonest they just make mistakes. I hope you can put this issue behind you - it will get resolved- before you board otherwise you’re going to not enjoy your cruise.

erin.odonnell@azamara.com

Azamara often docks in Kotor. They might be moving to dock once another vessel leaves in the evening if they are tendering in the day. But my guess if the website is showing both it’s in transition to being an on ship event- but anything is possible!

The count is increasing by almost 50%. The bar staff are correct they’ve been in training planning for it!

Unfortunately companies are using US based software to handle transactions and from what I understand from someone in the trade it’s impossible to disable that part. To infer as another poster did that failure to hand over $5 when passing a bag over at embarkation will lead to it going missing is an insult to the port staff. The poster is actually inferring that those in that role in the port here are cheats and thieves and not the hardworking people they are.

I found the level of customer service far far higher in Japan recently than on my trip immediately prior to the US. No tipping brings about a very different culture. It’s very easy to bring gifts they love. It’s not about going out shopping once there. It’s not about you making yourself feel “good” by sharing your money or buying them what you think they need. It’s about saying thank you not about paying yhrm off. We have a rather naughty traditional sweet - tablet. Going to Japan I wrapped individual bars in nice paper (tartan actually but it could be anything) with a matching thank you tag. The recipients were all delighted and no offence was caused. On our extension in Europe (where unlike the US there are generous minimum wage regulations) I may follow the $10 a day suggestion provided I see evidence of someone doing more than just the basics of their job.

That’s as maybe however it’s not the best way of giving out a message when the CEO is actively giving a very different picture. Why was this old canned text (we’ve seen it before) not prefaced by “we are committed to holding as many off ship as possible but for your cruise we have not been able to secure an appropriate venue.” Everyone is watching what she’s saying and hearing a possible new better time ahead but it seems like others in the organisation are ploughing on with their old ways regardless. Dondra has a lot of back office heads she needs to bang together!

We have been known to get 4 x 80cm hard shell cases under the bed on a 42 day adventure no problem. Enjoy your cruise!

People cannot message you from the boards. Why not google Explora travel agents?

Agree to be clear I’m only talking about adding a generic premium mixer to the package not a number of alternatives. As I say that wheel is clever marketing- just like the clever marketing Glenmorangie and Glenfiddich did to buy into the US whisky market when other better options were around

And within the Travel Agency in this case it’s not the operative you deal with but the team that manages the product creation of the “package bundles” you need to escalate to

That wheel picture is a clever marketing ploy by Fever Tree do you carry lots of random bottles home from the shop. Flavoured tonics do work if you’re very particular about tastes or if you’re working with a craft gin - Azamara is not! It’s certainly useful to know the combinations for at home drinking but to be fair on ship they could probably only stock a premium generic tonic. For the last two years I’ve been giving feedback to Azamara to add the premium mixers to the Ultimate package as they have done for the waters but never had an acknowledgment of the comment (indeed one hotel director who I know claims he is a g and t drinker was very dismissive of the suggestion so I doubt it went any higher!). I will try again.