Upgrade!!! Thanks for the advice!

Scored our very first upgrade...thank you Azamara and thanks to this board for the good advice. After 2 Northern European cruises where we didn’t use our veranda much, and with a price differential of $2,700 decided to go for the Oceanview and received an upgrade call today! It really is a numbers game and now I understand how it works and why it’s so much easier to get an upgrade from Oceanview than from Veranda (many more Verandas than Oceanview but fewer CC Suites than Veranda). It’s also been educational tracking stateroom availability and watching the “guarantee” categories come on and off (since Oceanview has been pretty much sold out for months, I figured every time an OCV guarantee was sold that increases upgrade opportunity for those of applied). Also helped that Inside/Oceanview sold out months ago but lots of Veranda availability. And for those tracking prices, we booked in February and this cruise has NEVER been a lower price and even increased, which I find odd due to the fact that so many Verandas were available, I was expecting a price drop but it never arrived. Maybe because it’s the Maiden Voyage?

Congratulations!!

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Congratulations! That's awesome. Sounds like you planned it well. What itinerary are you on?

Congratulations! That's awesome. Sounds like you planned it well. What itinerary are you on?

It’s Pursuit’s Maiden, we received the call from the upgrade fairy 🧚 as well, moved from Club Continent to a Club Oceans [emoji16]

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Are these upgrades complimentary, or the type that cost $399 or so? Just wondering - don't mean to pry.

Are these upgrades complimentary, or the type that cost $399 or so? Just wondering - don't mean to pry.

No it’s the LCV upgrade scheme, still offers good value compared with the original price. The addition of upgrades from Club Continent is a recent addition to the scheme.

However it’s not at the same cost as the other upgrades but we were happy [emoji2]

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That's great news. ENJOY!

Congratulations! We applied on our two cruises (from OV to balcony) and got the balcony on our second cruise, where we used it more than we would have on the first one.

Ours was the LCV upgrade for $398. A very good deal if you can get it!

Better to offer the unsold staterooms to loyal Azamara folks for an upgrade fee than give them to a consolidator to sell to newbies at much-reduced fares. Particularly on a maiden voyage.

Better to offer the unsold staterooms to loyal Azamara folks for an upgrade fee than give them to a consolidator to sell to newbies at much-reduced fares. Particularly on a maiden voyage.

Excellent suggestion!

Congrats to those that got the $398 upgrade! I've applied but on a sold out sailing, it's no use. :(

Well done Allison , you have done well .

Despite sailing seven times with Azamara not managed an upgrade yet but still hoping .

We always enjoy the Azamara experience where ever we are though .

Enjoy your Cruise Alison.

Better to offer the unsold staterooms to loyal Azamara folks for an upgrade fee than give them to a consolidator to sell to newbies at much-reduced fares. Particularly on a maiden voyage.

I totally agree with you.

Congrats Allison on the upgrade.(y)

Phil

Thankfully we’ve not seen any significant discounting for this cruise, insides, outsides and suites were at various times sold out with only a few becoming available after balance due date. Balcony cabins were a different story with quite a lot of availability. Being a Maiden there may have been a decision to sail below capacity to allow for any potential problems which would be eminently sensible. After all with such an extensive renovation there is bound to be the odd glitch. Having been on Journey’s first cruise after the 2016 refit we know that very small things cause big problems. Whatever happens we know we are in for a great cruise and will certainly enjoy our upgrade as it may be the only one we ever get[emoji2]

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Enjoy the CO John.

Phil

thanks for the info regarding upgrades. Sail on Saturday and managed to get the last balcony upgrade this morning thanks to the info on this site. Great stuff

Enjoy the CO John.

 

 

 

Phil

Thanks Phil we will, perfect itinerary for it only one tender port with a 9am arrival and only one early port arrival [emoji16]

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We are Discoverers and applied for an upgrade from Balcony to CC recently. We did not get it but were miffed when chatting to fellow cruisers on their first Azamara cruise they had been up graded on embarkation.

I think once you are on the ship and if there are upgrades available it's those who shout loudest. I book my cabin for position. If I get the chance of an upgrade great, but invariably is not where I want and I'm happy to stay put. Give me quiet anytime.

Phil

We are Discoverers and applied for an upgrade from Balcony to CC recently. We did not get it but were miffed when chatting to fellow cruisers on their first Azamara cruise they had been up graded on embarkation.

Upgrading Azamara first timers is not unusual. A couple we know were upgraded from a balcony to a suite while they were checking in. (They had NOT asked about an upgrade.) They were both surprised and delighted. But their upgrade meant that an Azamara frequent cruiser who had applied for the LCV upgrade didn't get it.

It's a tough business call to decide whether to cultivate new customers or reward loyal customers.

Upgrading first timers has been common with lots of cruise lines I can remember taking daughter and partner on their first cruise, they received an upgrade we didn’t and we were top level in the lines loyalty club.

But agree it’s very annoying to meet first timers saying how pleased they are with their unexpected upgrade when you’ve supported the cruise line for years.

Maybe it’s luck of the draw, Pursuit’s Maiden will be our 88th cruise and this LCV upgrade is the first we have ever received all be it that it’s not complimentary but comes with a reasonable fee.

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Riocca -- I agree with you, I bet they decided to keep the number of guests on the lower side and keep some staterooms in reserve in case of issues and so decided to go with giving more upgrades than sending the cruise to the consolidators (at least that's what I'd do). And how smart that they will now have some guests who will happily board Pursuit with an upgrade and might be less upset about any maiden cruise growing pains. And the crew can get their "sea legs" on a new ship without being at full capacity. I also think the itinerary and date change only 7 months out may have contributed to less demand but for us it was wonderful because we sailed from Barcelona on Viking at Christmas so weren't considering the initial Pursuit itinerary but were thrilled with the change to Norway!

Riocca -- I agree with you, I bet they decided to keep the number of guests on the lower side and keep some staterooms in reserve in case of issues and so decided to go with giving more upgrades than sending the cruise to the consolidators (at least that's what I'd do). And how smart that they will now have some guests who will happily board Pursuit with an upgrade and might be less upset about any maiden cruise growing pains. And the crew can get their "sea legs" on a new ship without being at full capacity. I also think the itinerary and date change only 7 months out may have contributed to less demand but for us it was wonderful because we sailed from Barcelona on Viking at Christmas so weren't considering the initial Pursuit itinerary but were thrilled with the change to Norway!

We spoke fairly recent with Azamara and were wondering about the same. We were told that the Maiden itinerary had sold surprisingly well. Initially they thought it might sail with about 60-70% capacity but they were now thinking it would be above 80%.

The itinerary change was for us one of the main reasons for booking as we had considered Azamara but - before this change - hadn't found an itinerary yet which worked for us. When we heard about this sailing from/to Southampton to Norway we decided to book on the spot!

Looking very much forward to this cruise, less than 4 weeks to go :D

We spoke fairly recent with Azamara and were wondering about the same. We were told that the Maiden itinerary had sold surprisingly well. Initially they thought it might sail with about 60-70% capacity but they were now thinking it would be above 80%.

 

 

 

The itinerary change was for us one of the main reasons for booking as we had considered Azamara but - before this change - hadn't found an itinerary yet which worked for us. When we heard about this sailing from/to Southampton to Norway we decided to book on the spot!

 

 

 

Looking very much forward to this cruise, less than 4 weeks to go :D

We only booked when the itinerary changed, the original itinerary of fly out cruise back to Southampton is not great logistically for us.

To be honest we normally avoid cruising in August preferring September, and as we already had Quest booked mid September we weren’t contemplating booking anything. But when the change was made we decided that it was a good opportunity to try Pursuit and a nice Norwegian itinerary which we haven’t done for a couple of years, in fact it’s our first round trip from Southampton for quite a while.

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