john1970

It's weird I get all the Azamara emails that I would consider marketing rubbish but when it's something important I seem to be in a black hole. My TA and I have not had one email from them about the Black Sea cruise I am booked on. I don't get how they work?

I have sent them a facebook message. I will let you know if I get a reply. I have had nothing at all from them nor has my TA. I am due to pay my final balance in two weeks. They are obviously desperate not to lose the revenue but they have to look at the bigger picture re loyalty and reputation.

I am starting to think that none of us on the June 29th sailing have been contacted either with the original email or survey. My TA has had nothing from Azamara.

I am on the  Black Sea intensive June 29th cruise. I haven't had anything from Azamara and neither has my travel agent.

My travel agent says that Azamara still expect full payment in around three weeks. I feel Azamara really should withdraw the cruise from the the website and stop selling tours to Odessa and Russia. The Ukraine Russia conflict has been widely predicted for many weeks and Azamara should already have the contingency plans formulated or well under way. I love Azamara at sea and we are joining them again in April but their back office operations have always seemed to fall short of the onboard standard. 

9 hours ago, java spot said:

Just received. 

Dear Azamara Guest,

We have been monitoring the situation between Ukraine and Russia the past several weeks and based on the latest overnight developments, we have found it is necessary to make a change to our voyages currently scheduled to visit either of these countries. As a result, your Black Sea Voyage, which is scheduled to depart on June 27, 2022 on Azamara Journey®, is one of the voyages we will be adjusting to remove Ukraine and/or Russia as a port of call.

We need a little time to ensure the changes we make still result in a memorable, deeply immersive cruise vacation, so we just wanted to inform you that these changes will be shared with you soon.

We greatly appreciate your understanding and thank you for your cooperation throughout our journey as we have worked to manage this fluid situation. We assure you that your upcoming Azamara vacation will deliver the highest standards of service and quality for which we are known.

Should you have any questions, please contact your Travel Advisor for more details or¿visit https://www.azamara.com/contact-us for your local Azamara call center number.

We look forward to welcoming you on board.

Thanks for posting that. I am on the June 29th Black Sea Intensive so I am guessing they will make that change as well. I feel very sorry for all the civilians caught up in this war. Very sad.

16 minutes ago, uktog said:

As you are UK based they will be bound by the substantial changes rule which depending on what the change was could even allow you a no penalty cancellation.

I am wondering if I can take the deposit as a FCC under the cruise with confidence? Either that or I think there was a GBP75 fee pp? I can't remember as it's been so long since I have travelled! I am not sure I want to pay the final balance and then get a refund afterward. 

I think I will probably end up moving to another cruise in 2023. It's a pity as I want to really see the ports on this itinerary but can do without the hassle of predicting what might be in June.

17 hours ago, Janet&Carl said:

 

 

We would keep our cruise with changes but have done the med so many times already we thought we would have a change. We would be happy if they made it more Greek intensive and put more Greek ports in.  But ours is not until August so hoping things settle down by then and we get to tick the Black Sea cruise off our bucket list.

 

Putin seems to have sent in "peace keeping forces" this morning our time - so it seems it begins. How long do you think Azamara will take to make changes if any ?

 

As long as they make the changes before final payment. I want to know what cruise I am actually purchasing.

15 hours ago, Janet&Carl said:

I have never heard of this done  John - which ship ? and I wonder if they will still let you do that

 

I am sorry I don't actually remember. It might have been Celebrity. It wasn't Azamara. We will just book a ships tour and save the hassle. They will be overpriced but when you factor in the hassle and cost of getting a Russian visa it is cheaper.

We did a ships tour that was St Petersburg on your own. They basically bussed us in gave us a map and that was considered an official tour! We then did our own thing.

From the FCO website

Cruise or ferry passengers can stay in Russia for 72 hours without a visa if they have booked tours through officially licensed companies. You are free to use any authorised travel agency, not just cruise ship tour companies.

Cities where this applies are:

• St Petersburg
• Kaliningrad
• Vladivostok
• Sochi
• Vyborg
• Korsakov (Sakhalin Island)
• Novorossiysk

What about going from Gatwick at 0900 arriving 1215. Otherwise I would go the day before. That 0615 flight is a killer.

As soon as I saw the Black Sea Cruise itinerary published I booked. The cabin grade I booked is now GBP1650 per person more expensive. I have had my eye on this itinerary for a long time and the price I paid was the best deal I had seen for a long time. I am guessing it was cheaper at the beginning to entice nervous bookers to commit to 2022. I booked just over a year in advance.

Funny didn't get an email about my Black Sea cruise in June but did get one yesterday promoting the upgrade auction for my April cruise.

Am booked for June from Istanbul and haven't received anything. I am very wary about paying the final balance in March. I got a great deal but am thinking about changing it to something later in 2023. My worry is that I will pay the balance and then they start cutting the ports we want to see the most.

We are booked for end of June this year. If the situation is still fluid I will be changing the cruise as I don't want to pay a final balance of over 8K in March to then find all the ports are changed or it cancels at the last minute.

Was any reason given why?

Celebrity are the link between you and the airline and as such have an obligation to advise you of any changes to your schedule. You shouldn't have to find out by luck. That is why they are organising the package for you and providing a service. They are not doing it for charity as they make $$ on the flights they sell.

The connection may well meet the minimum connecting time as set out by the airline but of course that doesn't mean you will not misconnect. If the connection is valid the airline will have to look after you which is great but not if all of the next flights are already full. Go back to EZAIR and ask them to check if the connection really is valid then ask them to check the cost of changing the flights to build in more time. Many airlines at the moment have free changes plus any fare difference due to covid so you might be fine. If the connection is not valid then you can change free of charge as long as in same cabin. This is definitely up to EZAIR to sort and they should also have contacted you with the change in the first place to make sure you didn't have any special needs that made it unlikely you could sprint from plane to another.

You can download a pdf from the app or email it or save it in google pay if that helps.

Checked with my TA this morning to ask if our April 2021 cruise could now be lower in price. They already repriced once last month to save me around GBP500. They just called back to say it had gone down another GBP600. I lost my upgraded drinks package but keep the $500 OBC. This was all due to the best price/offer guarantee that was in place when we booked in April. I am so happy as the final balance is due in 5 days. This shows the value of a good TA and I am very happy with Azamara making it easy to take advantage of their best offer guarantee. 

It will also depend if your ticket has been issued or Celebrity were just holding a flight reservation. The airline will not usually deal with you directly if this is booked by an agent unless it is an emergency.

EZair offline travel helpline should be able to tell you whether the fare selected includes baggage. They must be able to do a dummy booking and have a quick look at the fare filed in the record.  I am guessing the Princess website like most online booking engines will default to the cheapest restricted fare which will be hand baggage only. If Jetblue are showing on the Princess website as restricted then you can book it and add bags directly on their website once the ticket is issued and you have a booking reference. I would try calling EZair again and you might get a different agent. Jetblue will have no idea what fare princess are selling until a booking is created.

I would also suggest a local guide at least for a few days. Transport etc is very good but without a Japanese speaker I think it is hard to really get a feel for the country. 

It might also be that the cruise air contracts aren't finalised and loaded even if the flight schedule shows on the reservation system.