CHTobi

The issue is not the shore excursion team on the ships... they do (or try to do) a phenomenal job. But they are as exposed to the onshore disaster and the dysfunctional systems as the passengers. On a recent sailing during which I failed to secure shorex bookings with the promised 10% pre-booking discount, it was clear that the shorex team would have loved to make the close to $4,000 sale, BUT the systems would not allow them to do so and the cumbersome workaround that was suggested was not acceptable to me. It is the onshore incompetence that has led to the dysfunctional or non-functioning IT systems that needs to be held responsible.

Bingo... my main complaint - lack of qualitative consistency across the fleet - and that BIG TIME. AND - I hate it...

We loved Aberdeen... Made the effort to walk to Aberdeen Old Town and visit the phenomenally beautiful campus of Aberdeen University. For us it was an alternate port as we had to get out of Oslo in a hurry to cross the North Sea due to severe storm - and we actually considered ourselves lucky to be able to visit Aberdeen.

Five of them, post-COVID. Would you like the dates? And maybe the itineraries? 😉

The mere fact that this thread about the Azamara WEBSITE drama is now on "page" 37 is proof enough that "something's rotten in the state of Azamara" - unnecessary and absolutely (at least in large part) avoidable drama, which reeks of extreme incompetence at the highest level of the organization. How else can one explain that after FINALLY another message from the top earlier this week, that said message needed to be followed up by another email to explain the original message a short while later. The average girls-scout cookie sale in the United State is better organized and executed than this IT implementation and data migration. At least I am happy to report that my personal issue (overcharge of $3,214.20) has been partially resolved to the tune of $2,200.00 and both myself and my TA are waiting with bated breath to see completion of the resolution.

Being asked for more money is one thing. In my case I was overcharged $3,182.40 by mistake (Azamara's mistake - so far unexplained but most likely IT/systems based) when my TA called in final payment due. It was during the short window when the new Azamara system did not allow my TA to run the charge herself and a "highly qualified Azamara employee" ran the charge (with the overcharge). This has remained unresolved and it is impossible to get any type of update or timeline for a resolution. $3,182.40 is a substantial enough mistake to take immediate action and resolve it for a loyal customer who has sailed with the brand 37 time (33 of which, I hate to repeat it - in top ten suites).

The current shore side paralysis (for lack of a better word) speaks volumes. Systems seem pretty much collapsed, the hired staff in the customer service center are not educated and trained enough to deal efficiently and effectively with the many issues that passengers have. And "All quite on the Western Front" - no communication from the top. Whereas months ago there were eloquent messages with rosy promises and marginal apologies. Now - nothing! Again, paralysis through and through - to the point of clear damage to the brand. That's what happens when a cruise line sails (no pun intended) into the uncharted waters of a divorce from a big "mother company" WITHOUT proper planning.

Email to LoyaltyAzamara@Azamara.com or Loyalty@Azamara.com. But do NOT expect a quick response and/or resolution of any issue.

I got the exact same e-mail response yesterday (14 days after I e-mailed, mind you) regarding my overcharge issue of $3,182.40. Clearly semi-automated and nobody checked if the actual reported issue has been resolved. They are throwing the ball back at you with a "...double check yourself if your issue has been resolved..." And hoping that people "...were able to reach out to one of our agents via phone to get your initial inquiry resolved..." is, of course, an insult to my intelligence considering that you may be either on hold or waiting for hours or days for a call-back. No, we only could wish that this is all a joke, but it unfortunately is a sad reality that many loyal Azamara customers are currently forced to deal with.

The sad part is that Azamara knew literally for years that this divorce from RCCL was going to happen. Clearly the planning for this divorce and the need for proprietary systems and a clean data migration was beyond sloppy and as a result many of the (frequently very loyal long-term) Azamara customers (or their travel agents) are now confronted with a tremendous and mismanaged mess. That does simply not reflect well on the brand. And I get outraged when I see the very aggressive Azamara sales pitches on my social media feeds. They are selling more an more cruises and when it comes to managing and servicing the sold products they fail completely in many cases. I hate to say it yet again, an "accidental" overcharge in my personal case of $3,182.40 that remains unresolved and pretty much not responded to more than 15 days after it happened and was reported, is not a confidence builder.

Individual experiences and perceptions differ and therefore there seem to be different realities. It is wonderful that things are as perfect as they always were for you. But not everyone agrees with you - as you very well know. The art and ability to agree to disagree comes in handy in situations like that.

Larry P. Has been hired by Four Seasons - they are going to have a luxury cruise concept and with Larry Pimentel imvolved it will be stellar. Sometimes I vacillate between anger and sadness when I see what has been done to Larry’s brilliant Azamara concepts - deconstructing them, dumbing them down and turning them into bland mass market kind of products only begins to describe the brands deterioration. There really isn’t an appropriate word for what has been happening on the customer service side…

This was called in during that short window when the TA could NOT run the charge herself. She would not have messed it up for sure. And again, I would be somewhat forgiving if the error had been fixed right away - but two weeks later - nothing. I have gotten my bank involved now with a dispute, they will certainly "breath down their necks" appropriately. BUT it should not be necessary to take such drastic steps.

I have been an extremely loyal Azamara customer since 2013 (I think that 37 sailings - 33 of which in top ten suites [paid for top ten suites, mind you - not upgrades!] qualifies me to say that...) Post change in ownership and post COVID, I have repeatedly voiced criticism of what has been going on at Azamara. I have made a clear distinction between the "old Azamara" and the "new Azamara" and continue to insist that the old was better than the new. In my opinion Azamara customers currently "pay more and get less" and that is not a good thing. Diehard Azamara fans do neither like to hear this nor do they admit to any flaws whatsoever. The enormous brain drain and departure of stellar legacy Azamara officers and staff compounds the problems that exist on the ships. With the current disastrous IT changeover and all its resulting problems, it becomes increasingly more difficult to defend the brand. My most recent experience really has solidified my loss of trust in Azamara. My credit card was overcharged to the tune of $3,182.40 when a final payment came due and was called in to Azamara (after about five hours to wait for a call-back) by my travel agent. Despite my agent's efforts to get this "right" - she had the Azamara representative who ran the payment repeat back the amount due multiple times - the mistake did happen (most likely due to issues with faulty and/or sloppy data migration) - not a small mistake, $3,182.40. Mistakes can happen - of course. BUT here we are, more than two weeks later (the mistake was immediately discovered and reported) and despite the alleged involvement of the Azamara Head of PR in the resolution of the issue, there has literally not been any action, communication or resolution. Except for an e-mail earlier today ("Good morning, Markus. - Due to the migration into our new systems, we are just now seeing your message [14 days after I sent it!]. Please accept our apologies for any frustration or inconvenience this may have caused. While we hope you were able to reach out to one of our agents via phone to get your initial inquiry resolved, we still wished to verify if all has been taken care of or if there's anything we can still assist with. - Kind regards, - Azamara Customer Service") An insult to my intelligence as the message implies that the issue has been resolved, which it - of course - hasn't. Instead of checking if the issue has been resolved they throw the ball back into my court. To call that customer service is ****! I have in the meantime involved my bank (filed a dispute for the erroneous charge). In short, I am working way too hard to get something fixed that Azamara messed up and I have no idea when this will be resolved. So, anyone who is still trying to tell me that things are all nice and fine at Azamara should stop doing so. And this is not about fears of Azamara being in financial trouble. This is simply about Azamara showing a level of incompetence, a lack of leadership, a lack of plans B, C and D that should have been in place because Azamara knew for years that the divorce from RCCL was going to happen eventually. With no good planning and lack of focused leadership, the resulting customer service disaster is a brand damaging epic failure that could very well eventually contribute to the downfall of the brand.

FYI - my travel agent called in a final payment on a future Azamara sailing on 7 April 2023. Normally and before the IT migration, she was able to run the charge through my credit card herself. Due to the implementation of the new system, Azamara told her that they would run the charge on their end. To play it safe (and as my TA has been having a lot of trouble working with Azamara) my TA had the Azamara representative read back the exact amount due. Minutes later my card was charged AND overcharged to the tune of $3,182.40. I saw this on my online credit card account the day of the charge, reported it immediately to my TA and my travel agent reported this to Azamara the same day. We are now 12 days past the report of the error and my agent has spend a tremendous number of hours waiting for call-backs and actions and results. The Head of Azamara PR in Miami is also involved (I had a lengthy phone conversation with her about other things related to Azamara but also mentioned the overcharge). This whole IT migration and the resulting mess are an absolute PR disaster for Azamara and anyone who is trying to rationalize and justify this mess with "...well, this happens when data gets migrated..." is simply wrong. Smart companies have a plan B, a plan C AND a plan D in place when a migration becomes necessary. And smart companies do not let $3,182.40 errors "sit there" and collect dust. They solve the problem - very quickly. I hate to say it - Azamara is not handling this terribly smartly...