Grandma Cruising

In terms of the planning, they bought in a reservations system - Seaware by Verizon. Its used by other companies, such as Explorer Journey. The main issue seems to have been the quality of the data transferred by RCCL. Looks as if they should have asked for a much longer handover period to allow the date to be interrogated more thoroughly.

We completed our cruise on 23rd March & got the usual email feedback form

Absolutely agree that great crew, good food, interesting passengers and different itineraries are sufficient for the the average discerning passenger. That’s what we’ve always had over the last 10 years.

You’re right about the website, but otherwise I can’t see how Azamara has been ‘dumbed down’ or made into a ‘bland mass market product’. That’s totally NOT my experience over the 10 years we’ve been cruising with Azamara. During that time we’ve done the Athens to Dubai route 4 times (we love the sea days). The first was in 2013 and the last in autumn 2022. They were all as good as each other - and in fact in terms of service, the last one in October last year was stellar!

Good advice!

Sounds as if they will allow you to cancel excursions paid for by credit card and rebook with OBC once aboard, so long as there’s a good reason to do so, so it sounds as if you should be OK Leo_on_Geo.

Well, just because the FAQ says so, doesn’t mean that’s what will happen. Also maybe, given your circumstances, the ship’s excursion crew might make an exception - I think you have a strong case!

Yes, we’ve done that too - BUT one of the FAQ’s on Azamara’s new website now says you can’t do that

Same here, but I assumed it’s something that will get sorted out. I’ve taken a screenshot of the page that has the right information on it, just in case.

Don’t worry about it. You can book your dining package when you get onboard, it’s very easy. You can also make your reservations for the speciality restaurants/Chefs Table at the same time.

My daughter, who is my TA tends to ring up as she feels she gets a better response. She tries first thing in the morning.

I’m not even trying at the moment, but my cruise is over 6 months away.

I have not seen any diminution of standards across my 12 cruises with Azamara over the last 10 years,. I’ve done 2 cruises with them in the last 6 months and found them to be as good as ever and in fact the service has been even better in the last six months! True there were one or two supply issues - exactly the same as I see in my local supermarket! I agree that the website is clearly an issue, although I haven’t got personal experience of this - my account is fine - loyalty points as they should be, upcoming cruise is there, OBC and addons (Wifi, drinks package) all showing correctly. The excursions are there to see too. I’ve been able to add a photo, passport information etc. It would be interesting to know what proportion of accounts are wrong - it’s difficult to know whether this is a few or very high percentage. I do understand that those affected are upset and stressed, especially where they are owed money. (Making a Section 75 claim on your credit card may be the quickest way to resolve this - whenever I’ve done this it’s had a very quick result)

We’ve only been on the summer months.

I would imagine that’s Free Upgrade, so you maybe paid for an Oceanview and got a Verandah etc at the time of booking.

Mine was dated April 19th.

Interesting. The wording is identical but mine came from loyalty@azamara.com and didn’t have the same last line.

Did you complete a Request Support form?

Complete the request support form - link on the website once you are in your account

They can’t go back as it was RCCL’s system they used

I received the same email and it accepted a reply

Absolutely no problem on Pursuit on the transatlantic in March.

Agreed!

You’re right, sprouts are one of the side dishes in Prime C - we’d forgotten because it’s not something we’d order. Didn’t know they carried rock salt - we’d have asked if we’d known. We get fed up of the salt pots that don’t pour due to condensation!

Dubrovnik is always crowded. The best time to go is as early in the day as possible. That’s the best time to walk the walls too.