Lindy028

Many thanks uktog for a really informative and detailed report on both the cruise and the cruise line. I know you from the Azamara board, our favourite since our first 

cruise on the Quest in 2010. We are now seriously interested in Viking Ocean and you have convinced us that this would be a good fit! Safe journey home, and look forward to your further thoughts on the cruise.

I tried to book an Azamara cruise yesterday trying 2 different online agencies. I had no luck with either, the first promised to get back to me with a quote within the hour, nothing, the second tried but said they are experiencing difficulties with contacting the Azamara system, they promised to get back to me, rang again this morning, still couldn’t give me a quote! So, reading that Riocca had managed to book online I decided this morning, to give it a try! Firstly it just doesn’t recognise our details, we did manage to log in a short while ago just to check if our details were correct, we had no loyalty level and no past cruises, in view of the problems we decided to leave it as we had no upcoming cruises. So, despite not being able to log in I decided to try to book! It took 10 tries to input my DH’s date of birth, finally managed it then went onto me, no chance, I tried 25 times, my DH thought I was doing something wrong, so he tried, after 5 attempts he gave up, my son then tried once again it was wrong and you cannot move on until it accepts the data. I want to book 2 cabins, I am wondering if I would be better phoning Azamara to get the cabins we want. Just very frustrated!

I too cannot log in to the website. I have no idea what they are playing at, but it certainly does not appear to be enabling anyone to book one of their cruises! I really want to book two staterooms, for my DH and myself and the other for our daughters as a treat for their Birthday! I am getting really frustrated and want to get it booked so we can get the staterooms we want, preferably next to each other.

We are now looking at Oceania who we have all sailed with previously, but our preference would be Azamara. So disappointed.

16 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

I absolutely don’t want them to fail and I am not canceling my one upcoming confirmed booking. That said, my TA has been trying without success to confirm another booking for 2 weeks, so I have decided not to book any more cruises until everything has been sorted out.

That is exactly how we feel, I am desperate to get back onboard after a dreadful year, but do not need any extra stress. We have identified 2 cruises we would like to book but have come to the conclusion that it would be prudent to wait until things are properly sorted. So please Azamara sort things out ASAP, we are desperate to give you our hard earned money in exchange for the wonderful onboard experience! However we won’t wait forever, we will sadly look elsewhere.

I totally agree, tried the new website yesterday for the first time as we have not been in a position to book a cruise due to my major surgery. Now I have the all clear I was eager to try and get something booked. As others have said our loyalty status and past cruise history is totally incorrect, however still decided to look at the cruises we had identified as possibilities, gave up because I had to input all our information before it would let me go any further.

After the problems we experienced with TA’s not giving refunds promptly during the pandemic we had decided we would always book direct. I think we we’ll go back to using a TA. I hope they can sort it out!

Just had a look at their website, ship looks beautiful,  but agree the website is not the best. We have a big anniversary next year, we could be tempted. 

Just back from the Pursuit, we had the same problem with flat tonic, my husband eventually asked for a can of tonic with his gin. At least it wasn’t flat, although all that was available was Royal Club, then we happened to spy a Schweppes tonic, hallelujah! We spoke to the bartender who said they took on a supply of Schweppes in Stockholm. DH asked if they had a lot of the Royal Club to use up, and he confirmed they have! Thoroughly enjoyed our cruise, although the Patio was not open in the evening, Windows still a la carte in the evening, although Indian night was still buffet self serve, as ever it was amazing! Only 406 on our cruise so not crowded. However the least said about Schiphol airport the better, disorganised chaos.

2 hours ago, lisiamc said:

Some of the replacements for the Ultimate package wines are very good indeed - an improvement on the ones that ran out, and others, not so much. I thought the replacement Sauvignon Blanc was too sweet, and not nearly as good, but the Penley’s Cabernet Sauvignon was delightful. Sadly for those of you on Pursuit in the near future, everyone else seemed to like it as well, and they were running out by the end of the cruise.

We are planning on suck it and see, if we don’t enjoy the included wines after a few days we’ll think about upgrading to the Ultimate, but we won’t be happy bunnies if the included wines are replaced with inferior products. Our last Azamara cruise was the World Cup cruise to Russia, it was fantastic. Since then we have had 2 cruises cancelled, one just as we went into the pandemic and the last because I was having major surgery. I hope the Azamara we remember is still there, but I have to say I am slightly concerned!

12 minutes ago, uktog said:

The one advantage of the new included wines is that all wines are offered all the time so no hunting for the previous days bottle. 
The disadvantage is they are generic blends bottled for Azamara so todays wine might be a different batch and taste very different to yesterday 

I can see that would be an advantage if the wines were all acceptable. To be honest   we were usually very happy with the included wines and rarely asked for a previous days wine. Oh well, things change, no point in dwelling on how things were, as I say I’m sure we’ll make it work.

We board Pursuit in one weeks time, really looking forward to our first post pandemic cruise! My only concern is the included wines, which do not appear to be wonderful. We were prepared to upgrade to the Ultimate package but reading through this thread, that doesn’t seem to be the best idea given they seem to not have many of the advertised wines. I mainly drink wine with the odd G&T thrown in, DH will drink anything! 🤗

Oh for the days when it was just wine with lunch and dinner and the wines changed daily and you could request a previous days wine and they would move heaven and earth to find it for you. We will go with the flow and I’m sure I will find something which appeals.

We have had an email this morning from Azamara stating that we do not need a pre cruise test before boarding in Copenhagen! 

Thanks for the tip re Azamara circle email. We eventually got through and to our surprise Azamara had no idea that EasyJet had cancelled our outbound flight. Apparently EasyJet notify a batch of cancellations and Azamara have to go through the list to see who is affected. It appears the flight was cancelled over a week ago, we only found out because we wanted to check that we could access the online checkin as Azamara had booked the flights. The Azamara agent said it was very helpful that we had discovered the cancellation as she said it gave them a better opportunity to find alternatives. So, if anyone is booked on an EasyJet flight in the next 5/6 weeks I would suggest checking the flight is still live.

We now have a flight with BA Manchester to Copenhagen. Fingers crossed that one goes ahead.

We are trying to contact Azamara as our outbound flight has been changed and the flight will now not get us into Copenhagen in time to board. I only found out that the flight was cancelled as I attempted to checkin. We have had no communication from Azamara or the airline, Azamara booked the flights as part of the package.

We are having real problems getting through to Azamara, I do understand that these are difficult times with flight cancellations, but it is very frustrating.

Fly cruises are becoming too stressful!

We were shocked to read in an email that Heike was leaving, to us she was the best of Azamara, and it feels like the end of an era. We wish her all the very best in her future, wherever that may take her. Azamara will be the poorer for her leaving!

Tigrou many thanks for the information, much appreciated. We are indeed off to the Faroe Islands, we have cruised many times before, but first time on Fred. The chance to sail from Liverpool and try Fred was too tempting to turn down. We are glad to not be flying anywhere at the moment, and are already looking at other Fred cruises from Liverpool. We are doing a fly cruise in August and are hoping a) we don’t get our flight cancelled and b) things have improved greatly at airports.

We are taking our first cruise with Fred Olsen on Borealis on Friday, can anyone tell me if there are USB sockets in cabins. Also does the Buffet restaurant stay open later on embarkation day, we have a checkin time of 1:15. Any other info would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

5 hours ago, DebbieMacG said:

She did say that they are promoting it as shore ex obc to encourage guests to book them but in reality it can be used for anything. 
 

Edit: All threes invoices say obc and they don’t differentiate between the $1000 and the $300 per cruise I got for b2b’s

We have booked a cruise in last few days, direct with Azamara, the first agent told us that the OBC could be used for anything, drinks package, speciality restaurants etc. We were delighted and booked. However we were using FCC’s and when the invoice came through it showed a balance was still payable despite us paying in full. My DH rang Azamara again and the agent we booked with had given us wrong information about the FCC’s and also about the OBC. We were informed it can only be used for excursions. We shall see.

30 minutes ago, Lynnewob said:

On board Pursuit. 340 passengers.  

Capt Antonio Toledo.  Mario F&B Manager.  Tanya CD, Lee Asst CD. 

 

Top suites m&g in drawing room on first night at 5pm before the 6pm sailaway from Lisbon. 

 

4pm on sea day loyalty party cheese and wine in living room. 

 

Sea day with rubbish WiFi was warm in afternoon. 

 

Seville for overnight today, docked at 0430, depart 1800 Mon.  Weather overcast to start but sunshine a from midday and 18 degrees c. 

 

Destination evening (flamenco) tonight in 2 sessions.  We decided not to go and enjoying the sun on the aft balcony instead.   

 

White night scheduled in Gibraltar on Tuesday. 

Thankyou so much for posting, although we are sad not to be joining you, we look forward to my better health and an Azamara cruise as a pick me up later in the year! Hope the sun continues to shine and you have a fantastic cruise!

13 hours ago, anniesh said:

Would love to hear from anyone on Pursuit today.

I hope everyone was able to embark.

Please enjoy and only reply if you really have time.

Me too, we should have been onboard but the fates conspired against us, so would love to hear how things are!

On 1/20/2022 at 6:24 PM, Scots Caz said:

@Lindy028

@Canberra601

did you get any updates on this?

I got my new invoice 30th December but no refund received to date

to complicate things I subsequently cancelled the cruise using the link for requesting FCC (as per Cruise with Confidence) and booked Journey instead, I received a cancellation invoice showing the amount paid (revised/lower amount) and 100% non-refundable - I know the vouchers are taking some time but concerned neither are being processed! 

Hi Caz only just picked this up. We never heard back from Azamara despite being promised we would definitely be contacted. We did get a revised invoice, which doesn’t appear to be correct, however with the holidays and various problems we haven’t looked into it. To be honest, it’s all too much, with trying to follow all the latest guidelines, worrying about testing positive and what happens with that, our original outward flight was cancelled a couple of moths ago! Far too much stress, I just want to enjoy the anticipation of the cruise and obviously the cruise itself!

I hope you get sorted, it really is a bit of a mess. We will definitely be booking via aTA in future, let them take the strain! 

1 hour ago, combine said:

Fingers crossed @Scots Caz and @Lindy028.

I was fully expecting my price reduction in obc ( thinking yet more handbags)!!  but was pleasantly surprised that my TA said a cash refund would be processed, and it duly was.

We use a small independent TA and never had any problems with receiving the refunds or the fcc from our cancelled cruises in 2020, unlike many who used larger online agencies.

So glad you finally got your cash refund. We had a really good TA, who always gave us excellent service, she retired a few years ago and the company we used after that were appalling over our refund for our cancelled Covid cruise. They quite simply lied to us,hence we decided to book direct. My DH says we’ll need an extension if I buy any more handbags and shoes! 😂

1 hour ago, uktog said:

Once you have made final payment in the UK it has always been the case you get OBC only.  At least you get that now, in the "olden days"  once you passed final payment it was tough luck you got nothing.  

Yes, we remember the “olden days”, when it was just tough luck. Azamara though have provided this vehicle for getting a reduction, we’d be mad not to take advantage, it’s the confusing information which is being given out that is so frustrating! I think all we want is an even playing field, with the same rules applied to everyone.

14 minutes ago, Scots Caz said:

Mine was also a direct booking and my drop was £950 (and also have $500 OBC!)

I've got my new invoice and I am hoping with seeing the posts above re refunds that the agent I spoke to was incorrect and when it gets passed to the correct team they will process it as refund - or even FCC would be ok (in theory I could have cancelled, received FCC and rebooked and had the 'change' as FCC)....I'll keep you posted.

- after the nightmare call yesterday I also think I will use agent next time....

We have now been told that she has passed it to her manager, who is not on duty for 4 hours, but she has no idea when she will email her back because of the holiday. It is very  frustrating as she wouldn’t even contemplate a FCC and said OBC was the only option. She couldn’t even tell me what would happen if we could not cruise and opted to take FCC, would we be given a refund of the £680. She said every case is treated on a case by case basis!

Really hope you get a refund to your credit card or at least a FCC, do keep us posted. I think you’re right about training, we’ve now spoken to 3 different agents and everyone has interpreted it differently!

1 hour ago, oddjob16 said:

I rebooked to a new promotion 2 weeks ago and received the cash refund today. IMO it is always nice to have a TA to do these transactions. 

We booked direct this time because of the problems we had with getting our refund for our cancelled cruise in March 2020. We had thought direct was the way to go, but are now having second thoughts!

19 hours ago, Scots Caz said:

great result @combine

Scots Caz, we are in a similar position to you, we booked direct with Azamara and after reading on this forum about people receiving refunds we checked our cruise price and it has gone down over £600! My DH rang yesterday and it was confirmed we were due a refund and a new invoice would be sent. The invoice never arrived so we rang again this morning, they have now said because we have paid in full we will get the refund as OBC. We already have $500 OBC, so another over£600 is crazy! DH is currently on the phone now and is about to have a nervous breakdown,

and I think I may join him! 😤