Riocca

U.K. operation is very different from the USA travel agencies are working for the cruise lines not the customer, as such any money has to be held in their account on behalf of the cruise line.

Because of the current website and account problems Azamara aren’t cancelling any cruises for non payment, as they resolve the issues who knows for how much longer. I know it’s against CC rules to name the travel agent but is it one of the big operators or a smaller independent?

UK travel agent should have provided a receipt for the payment when they received it, do they have an online account system which would show that they receive the money? If it’s one of the big UK agents funds are usually claimed from their holding account by the cruise lines and they are issued with a receipt. In the circumstances it’s really down to the travel agent to provide proof that they have paid Azamara, if the can’t or will not then I would be very suspicious of them.

The up to $500 OBC promotion depends on the length of the cruise, this is the information from the website: 3. Up to $500 Onboard Credit Offer is tiered as follows:• Voyages up to 7-nights | $250 Onboard Credit per stateroom• Voyages 8 to 12-nights | $400 Onboard Credit per stateroom• Voyages 13-nights or more | $500 Onboard Credit per stateroom

Good news this morning is that both our accounts are showing correct loyalty level and cruises on both Azamara.com & Seaware, the erroneous numbers have disappeared and the two systems seem to have been linked. In addition I’m no longer continually having to clear cookies to get it working on Safari, so for us at least we have good functionality, hopefully others are seeing similar improvements.

Only thing I don’t understand is that when you book either on the old or new system Azamara immediately produces a booking confirmation showing full details of the booking including offers and OBC. Only thing missing currently is the value of OBC it’s just showing as a coupon. When payment is made they provide another confirmation showing that the payment has been made. Booking direct I receive this while I’m still talking to the agent so that I can check the details. If I’m receiving this then if you are using a travel agent then they must be receiving the same information and should pass it on to their customer. Previously this is all that I required and I always had a copy with me when travelling, checking in was nice to do but as has been said recently not essential.

Just been looking at the Explora CC forum it’s interesting to see that there’s a number of posts relating to functionality and errors on the website/ online system which of course is also Versonix Seaware. Once all the migration issues have been sorted we could have other issues to deal with, makes you wonder how much programming time Versonix allocates each client.

That’s good to hear, out of curiosity on the Seaware site do you see multiple accounts or just the correct one?

For those who are not seeing any loyalty level or cruises are you trying both systems? Worth trying the following: First ensure you clear all Azamara cookies, this is important, then log in on the following https://seaware.azamara.com/touchb2c/#/gen-ctg-search-page if you’re account has transferred then you will see details at the top of the page. Then open the drop down “Club Programs” and see what’s there, we are seeing multiple entries including the correct one. Will be interesting to see how many people have the correct information on the Seaware site as opposed to Azamara.com.

Very good point, I think we all agree that this system change has not gone well and produced a lot of anxiety for Azamara’s customer base and problems for travel agents but I’m sure that they didn’t deliberately set out to do this and whatever the cause of the problem, and there’s probably more than one issue, it’s pointless just Azamara bashing at this time and we should be sharing information to help those who assistance. Things are being to improve but even if things were perfect this is a new website and system so there are bound to be issues occurring navigating the site, so we need to compile tips and advice as we find our way around rather than just negative ranting. Currently some of the travel agents who have pages on Facebook, mainly American & Australian, are advising clients not to look at their online accounts and rely on the information they provide as being correct, this is good advice and probably good for the blood pressure as well. On this point we all should have booking confirmations that show full details of bookings, we now book direct and have 6 current bookings four made prior to the changeover two on the new system. For all these bookings I have confirmations showing all the details which were emailed to me immediately the booking was confirmed, I also have confirmation of any changes made to those bookings. The only detail missing is the OBC amount for the bookings on the new system but we know that’s a problem still to be resolved and I have a note of the amount due. For those booking via travel agents they will have received the confirmation from Azamara and should be able to provide it to the customer, I know pre pandemic the travel agent we used always did. Also when previously I have paid the final balance Azamara have immediately provided a confirmation showing that the full balance has been paid. So I have the full paper trail of the booking which should suffice especially as with the old RC there was no account information available online. As @uktog says let Azamara deal with the urgent matters and just take a rest on some of the minor issues.

This is the disembarkation email sent out by Azamara to those disembarking in Fusina that was posted on Facebook: Dear Azamara Guest, We are thrilled to welcome you aboard Azamara Onward℠ for your upcoming sailing on September 27, 2023. We wanted to reach out about an update to your disembarkation process. Please be aware that there have been changes to the disembarkation process at Fusina in accordance with the regulations set by port authorities. Please take note of the important updates below. Guests booked on an Azamara Transfer and are either departing from the Venice Airport or have a post-hotel package: • Port authorities will provide transportation for guests from Fusina to Porto Marittima via a coach. At the terminal, guests will collect their luggage. The transfer time from the ship to the terminal should be around 20-30 minutes • Please note: If your flight departs before 11:30 a.m., and you booked a transfer with us, you will not have to go to Porto Marittima. You will be transported directly to the Venice Airport. • Upon claiming your luggage at the terminal, guests will then be transferred to the airport or hotel. If you have arranged independent transfers or intend to use a taxi, please go directly to your destination from Porto Marittima. Taxis can be found outside the terminal building. Thank you for your understanding and we can't wait to welcome you aboard Azamara Onward. Should you have any questions or need guidance of what you can explore in any destination please contact your Travel Advisor or visit https://www.azamara.com/contact-us for your local Azamara call center number. Sincerely, AZAMARA®

I know that the current website / account situation is far from ideal and possibly could have been handled better but has it ever been done before? We’ve been cruising for 20 years and in that time have seen cruise lines taken over and merged into corporations. But all the ones I can think of had their own operating and account system that came with them and could continue to operate so that they could be integrated over time. Cruise lines have also changed their operating systems but that was just moving their own data and I can think of a few cases that didn’t go well either. Azamara have had to create a new system and then transfer data from a third party system all this while continuing to operate as a fully functional cruise line using live data and no safety net. Basically once they had received the data from RC the new system had to be live and handle it all. Versonix should have been able to anticipate problems and so should Azamara but this was always a disaster waiting to happen given the complexity of the task in hand.

Had exactly the same experience with the U.K. number last week, once through I was on hold for 5 minutes and problem solved in 10.

Currently on both our accounts I’m not seeing too many unsurmountable problems, when the new system was launched I followed the instructions given and was able to access both our accounts. In Azamara.com our loyalty points and level were correct and I could see all of our future cruises, however if I entered the booking system Seaware.Azamara.com the loyalty number and level was wrong and there were no future cruises. Given that our next cruise is in October I didn’t see any reason to contact Azamara while they were dealing with much more urgent matters. Then a few weeks ago on the free nights promotion I booked another cruise, partially using the online system, I failed to notice that the loyalty number on the booking was the incorrect one so this booking appeared on Seaware.Azamara.com not Azamara.com. So I contacted Azamara to get this changed and immediately the booking moved from Seaware to Azamara, which gives a clue as to what’s happening in the background. Moving on I left things as they were until this weeks email saying that they were working on the last few errors, at this point I put through on the online form a request note to say the issues we were experiencing. A couple of days later there’s been a change, now on Azamara.com we can still see all our future bookings but our loyalty numbers and level is incorrect. However over on Seaware.Azamara.com we can also see and access all the future bookings, in the drop down box there’s the correct loyalty number, points and level which is great, but there’s another box with the incorrect number, level and zero points. Email and loyalty number is obviously the key to the location of customers information but they need to sort out the confusion between the existing loyalty number and the one that was created in the system possibly as a place holder and possibly never intended for customers to view. Hopefully once they are sure that all accounts are linked they can just delete the incorrect numbers to solve the issue 🤞.

Have you reset your password? If not go to forgot password and use the same email address, you should get a code emailed to you which will enable you to change your password and access your account. If you’ve already tried this or don’t get a code then it’s probable that yours is one of the accounts missing in the handover, then try setting up a new account. If all else fails you need to either phone or email customer support to get help, in my recent experience they do seem to be resolving issues quite quickly at the moment.

Yes a good TA is an asset and pre pandemic we had just that but unfortunately my guy took the opportunity to retire and currently we just can’t trust many of the U.K. travel agencies who are desperate to make back revenue they lost over the past few years. Anyway I think I was right as I’m seeing big changes in my online account, it looks like they are in the process of transferring data to the Seaware booking system. Hopefully full service will be restored soon 🤞

Some progress, currently we are showing no loyalty information or cruises on Azamara.com but for the first time ever on Seaware.Azamara.com all our future cruises are listed and our correct loyalty level, numbers and points. However it also still lists the incorrect level with no points as well, but hopefully that will be cleaned up once whatever is in progress is completed.

I think the techies have got their heads under the bonnet (hood) again everything that was on my account earlier this morning has disappeared. Not the first time it’s happened and usually comes back later on the day with some changes and hopefully improvements.

Our current situation is that Azamara.com is correct but the seaware.azamara.com is incorrect for loyalty number, points and cruises. However playing around today I’ve somehow managed to get 3 of our 6 cruises saved into the Seaware account. But thinking about it Seaware are going to be running the loyalty scheme moving forward so it’s unlikely that Azamara are going to stick with the current Celebrity loyalty number. So is it possible the number we’re seeing on the Seaware account is our new loyalty number?

You’ve found the old legacy site that’s part of the RCCL system, following this I tried Azamara.co.uk/account on my iPad this took me to the old login page and using my Celebrity password was able to access it. Information was correct as of the switch over but didn’t show the two cruises booked since the system split started, also showed our March 2023 in past cruises but not the points. Couldn’t access details of any of the future cruises listed either. If you tried to login to Azamara.com using the same password then you do have to change your password this was part of the change over process. On Azamara.com you have to go to forgotten password enter the email you used on co.uk they send a code this gives you access to enter a new password to access the site. Royal Caribbean should have restricted access to this site to avoid any confusion but as with other outdated information from their website have failed to do so.

Post 1st February 2023 you don’t but Celebrity still are showing past Azamara cruises as previously the Celebrity & Azamara loyalty account and numbers were basically the same thing.

Would appear that there are a few problems with the listing of Koper tours on the website given that most are listed 3 times.

This is Onward’s October cruise and the AzAmazing Evening was originally going to be in Koper when all 4 ships meet, this was changed to Dubrovnik sometime ago. No reason was provided but presumably Koper couldn’t handle all the passengers from 4 ships at one event.

When we were on Crystal in Durban South Africa there was a restriction on getting alcohol out of the bonded stores. Unfortunately Crystal weren’t proactive in ensuring bars were fully stocked before arrival and as it was an overnight stop there were problems in getting some drinks.

Latest update for those not receiving emails: Dear Azamara Guest, While we are working hard to resolve technology issues at home, we were pleased to see that our passengers aboard the Azamara Quest had an unforgettable experience last week. You may have seen images of our ships in the heart of Monaco for the Grand Prix, the world’s most exciting F1 race. While our pre-cruise experience is not yet meeting our high standards for Azamara, we want to reassure that our passengers continue to have an Azamara experience that is second to none. In our pre-cruise experience we have made significant progress in our hold times over the past week but are still not where we need to be. We will reach our goal as additional classes join the phones throughout June including a new class starting on phones today. Understandably, you may have questions related to your booking. Please rest assured that: For those who have already filled out the Account Login Help Form, we have updated your loyalty points accordingly. For those who are still experiencing issues or have questions regarding your loyalty status, we kindly ask you to please use the Account Login Help Form. We have made great progress in ensuring errors that occurred as we transferred bookings to the new system are eliminated. We expect any remaining stragglers to be fixed within the next 10 business days. To ensure smooth operations, we kindly request that you continue using the same email address you used for your booking. This will help us avoid any confusion in our system and provide you with seamless service. Please be assured that all your booking information remains secure, and you can sail with us as planned at the rates you reserved initially. In rare cases, you may notice an inaccurate "balance due" displayed in your account. However, if you did not make changes to your reservation no additional payment beyond the original balance on your original booking is required, even if it appears otherwise. We are committed to maintaining open lines of communication with you, and in two weeks, we will provide another update. We deeply value your trust and loyalty to Azamara and thank you for your continued support and patience throughout this process. Thank you for choosing Azamara. ©2023 Azamara. Ships registered in Malta. “Change the Way You Sea” is an international service mark of SP Cruises OpCo Limited. Azamara, 3059 Grand Ave, Suite 205, Miami, Florida, 33133, United States