JM0115

1 minute ago, blag said:

Only if it's not a 'bot'.

They are never effective for anything than the kind of issue that anyone with a positive IQ could manage with the benefit of a bit of research. 

Agree but the way AI is improving you may not even know whether it’s a bot or not?🥴

2 minutes ago, kent4489 said:

I do feel your pain. I'm well aware that not all of us are having luck as I didn't for over 2 months.  A few people on here were saying it was no problem, they were getting through or their TAs were getting through or to stop calling as though the rest of us should just accept the mess that our bookings were in. (I honestly thought it was rude.) So I do not mean to sound dismissive of others that are still having trouble getting through. I was totally frustrated, but finally, I got most of my issues resolved. I just wanted to share (from one of the many unlucky ones) that hopefully things are improving. I totally agree with you that this whole mess has been utterly unacceptable and should never have gone on this long. Yes, the problems are still going on as a 45 minute hold is just bad business. (Airlines have this issue too, but they have a call back feature that works and you do get a call back.) So, I'm wishing you much luck in getting things worked out soon. 

Hopefully some day they will implement a chat feature. It works well on other cruise lines and airlines and typically the agent can multitask with several customers to save resources while still alleviating the issues,

1 minute ago, Marylebone37 said:

This concerns me also.  If you look around what has happened to some companies under Sycamore Partners’ ownership, it's quite troubling to put it mildly.  Buyer beware for sure (at least for the time being).

I’ve worked in Private Equity. Unfortunately the interest in short term gain trumps long term thinking in many cases.

1 hour ago, Marylebone37 said:

Yes, got it too. I’m pleased that management is becoming better with their communication… finally.  I suspect we on CC are helping to ensure this improvement.  I’ll see you on 5/30 in Barcelona!

It does seem like we are getting more communication from Azamara which is a good thing!

On 3/17/2021 at 10:34 AM, ECCruise said:

Here are the benefits, but if you have status from Celebrity (which currently passes over to Azamara), some of these would be redundant.

Cabins are exactly the same as standard Veranda. 

• Complimentary Internet (120 minutes) or $130 towards a full voyage unlimited package.
• One free bag of laundry service per stateroom, every seven days.
• One night of complimentary specialty dining for two, every seven days.
• Priority embarkation and debarkation.
• Complimentary in-room spirits.   

For my upcoming cruise it does not seem like we get priority embarkation. Anyone else get priority embarkation?

We will be sailing on Azamara for the first time soon. We have limited internet minutes (120 minutes each).  Is it easy to log in and log out just to check messages and not waste too much of these precious 🙂 minutes? Does someone have instructions on how this is done? 

2 minutes ago, nonrev1 said:

I must be out of miracles since I now have no cruises booked. I get it when people say not to stress.  I have already sailed with Azamara at the beginning of this mess.  There were issues onboard and the OBC and being able to prebook your excursions is one of them.   I am very disappointed that Azamara is raising the rates of excursions from pre cruise pricing to onboard pricing.  It would promote a little goodwill for those of us who want to book excursions in advance but have absolutely no way to do it.  And believe me, they need a little goodwill at this point.   

We leave in 13 days. Today we have no cruises booked either when looking at it just now. Hopefully they are setting up online check in for our cruise. It was supposed to start on May 15.  We will see.

21 minutes ago, Compass Rose Monica said:

I got the same email. I did see the little pencil on the right but when I clicked on it, I got an ERROR message. Will try again another day.

 

Monica

I was so excited when I finally saw the pencil! 🙂 But alas, since the OBC is not there I cannot book anything using OBC and also it gave me errors anyway - but it is progress!

24 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

We still have great memories of our 2020 World Cruise, which ended prematurely with us being 2 of the final 8 pax, I never thought I would be drafting this type of post. The shipboard leadership team and crew were exceptional and Viking provided exceptional management oversight managing the pandemic, to keep us safe. Sadly, we find the customer service provided by L/A is nowhere close to the exceptional shipboard standards.

 

Having just had a 2nd very negative experience dealing with the L/A office, we will not be dealing with them again, so at this time, Viking is no longer our preferred cruise line. I don't see any point in getting into details of both incidents, other than noting that their treatment of customers fell well below our expectations, not once, but twice.

 

I believe Viking's main markets are USA, Canada, UK and Australia/New Zealand, and they have sales/booking offices in USA, UK and Australia. Therefore, us poor Canadians are the only major market without a sales office, so although Viking has a Canadian website and pricing in Canadian dollars, all our bookings currently go through L/A.

 

If Viking opens a Canadian office or shifts our bookings to the UK office, then we will again consider booking another Viking cruise. However, if the status quo remains, we are sadly done with Viking.

 

I will continue to monitor the Viking Board, as over these past 5-years, I have met some great fellow pax. However, visits may not be as frequent as before.

Obviously I don't know what happened but sorry you had such a bad experience Andy.

3 minutes ago, nonrev1 said:

What were the instructions they gave for booking excursions?  

20 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Just had an email from Azamara telling me my correct OBC and a way to book shore excursions online despite my online account not showing any OBC.  Not sure if it will work.

 

It also says if I choose not to use OBC prior t sailing then this email is the written confirmation of the original value of the OBC.

 

They apologise for the inconvenience and say they are working to resolve.

 

 

Got the same email even though it shows no OBC and I am not able to book any shore excursions. I’m resigned to not being able to do anything until I board and don’t need or want emails telling me things that are not accurate.

Can anyone explain why the ship’s would have the correct information on board but not customer service in Miami/Witchita? Doesn’t make sense to me.

1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Even the usually always positive folks on the Azamara FB page are starting to revolt! They are getting boilerplate responses (on FB) to individual complaints asking the person to DM them with their contact information and someone will get back to them. 

Is this the Azamara “Live” group you are referring to?

It depends on the airline and the specific itinerary. You should check with your airline to see if they offer luggage storage or transfer services during layovers. Some airlines may allow you to check your luggage all the way through, while others may require you to collect your luggage and re-check it for your connecting flight.

6 minutes ago, UNHBadger said:

 

 

What would be nice is more regular, and truthful, updates from the company, along with an ironclad promise to make good on any screwups that result from the web disaster.  Right now, to me, the worst aspect of the company's crisis strategy is their totally dumb and unnecessary lack of communication to booked passengers.  There's so many ways to do this, and do it effectively.  And they have used none of them--probably because they still don't fully understand what's needs fixing and how to do it.

Well said!

12 minutes ago, takemewithyou said:

I fear Axamara have already met that threshold with customers and their travel agents.

I wonder if there is any way for all of us on CC to write a collective letter to the CEO to get her attention? I doubt that posting here or on other social media will do it. Some think that she/they read various posts and even if they do not that they understand the issues but I really do not think so. Just venting…🥴

2 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

My cruise was the end of an era - post migration, but before the problems really started building; I'd already booked our all our excursions bar one on the old system; didn't have any points or status; had done all air and hotel DIY; didn't need an airport or city transfer; and I was ignorant of how embarkation and check-in was supposed to work.

I feel for you!  

So true!  I tried this morning to contact them. Used to be asked if I want a call back but not this time. We will just have to deal with it once on board in 3 weeks!

Sharing this email just for informational purposes. It means nothing as we still have a messed up booking which we hope will be rectified on board the end of May.

just a form letter with no real action behind it.

16 minutes ago, betsey said:

I'm able to view and book most of the cruise shore excursions for my upcoming cruise in July. Some of the excursions have no descriptions whatsoever.  They also completely skipped putting in shore excursions for one port.  So amateurish. 

That is progress compared to us. Sailing on May 28.  No ability to book shore excursions and itinerery still says that we are going to Romania and Bulgaria.  But we are just going to hope for the best when we board in a few weeks.

3 hours ago, uktog said:

Millennials trying to be trendy totally missing any understanding of what Azamara is about 

I am not sure they understand the demographics of AZ cruisers.

3 hours ago, JYDCruise said:

We're sailing in June, and I don't see my OBC, nor any way to purchase excursions/packages/etc. despite being paid in full. See screenshot below from "Manage My Reservation" - I have no "pencil icons" to click. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Same here!  I don't understand why some people have access and some people do not!

32 minutes ago, jjikids said:

And another email from Carol to clarify her other email. Azamara has become a joke to us. We can only hope the onboard experience will be better. At least she admits you can’t use the OBC to book excursions now on the website. You have to call. That is another joke.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Even the second email, which my wife got but I did not is not accurate. We cannot book any excursions nor are they correct on our booking. Just hoping the onboard experience is great!

3 minutes ago, UNHBadger said:

Or a figment of the imagination, as I’d did not even get an email, not this one, or any reply to my several email inquiries. Last email I got from Azamara was a generic one on 4 April promising “ We anticipate our website is fully functional by the end of next week.”. That did not age well.

Feel your pain. In the same boat. Did not receive today’s email but wife did. Have only gotten one reply so far over the past few months. From what I have heard things are great onboard. Hopping that is the case since thus will be our first AZ cruise.

1 minute ago, jegoodman said:

Too bad the email is basically a work of fiction.  You would think the President of the company would at least confirm the status of the system before emailing incorrect information.  The other thing that saddens me is nowhere did she apologize.  These two magic words go a long way..."I'm sorry."  Granted she alludes to customer service not being up to par and alludes to realizing we're frustrated... but no apology.

 

Up until this morning as others have reported, my cruise was there, my loyalty points were correct... the only thing for me that seemed to be wrong was OBC was not showing but the excursions I booked were showing.  There were also some bookable new excursions available for the low price of $999,999 but I won't book an excursion that is priced under $1,000,000.

 

Now everything is gone.  My final payment is due in less than 30 days.  Reading others horror stories I worry they will charge me way beyond the correct total.  I have booked through a TA and am hoping things will be sorted by then.

Creative writing?

4 minutes ago, betsey said:

Same here. Now you see it, now you don't. Makes you wonder what is going on.

Same here!