Important update about azamara's uk operation

Hello to all the UK Cruise Critic Azamara followers:

I want to update you of some important information about the reformulation of our UK operation which will improve the quality of service delivered by a dedicated Azamara trained team located in the London office. At last, the time has come.

Background:

We’ve been communicating with the UK office about the frustrations UK guests have encountered when dealing with the UK office. Our discussions have focused on the following areas:

The UK flight offerings, transfers, pre-cruise hotel issues, a lack of staff knowledge about Azamara’s offers or policies, slow brochure delivery and not receiving automatic emails of special offers.

In my communications, I’ve been mentioning to you about some of the challenges posed by Azamara due to Azamara sharing the services that are in place to operate the three Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd’s brands. I have been asking for your continued patience while the UK executive staff could formulate a “virtual” way in which to create a “dedicated” Azamara team in the UK. Finally, in later posts you’ve challenged me “not to ask for your continued patience” but instead you asked us - “What are you going to do about it and how quickly?”

As “Nuneham” wrote in his October 4, 2011 thread, “Pre- & Post-Cruise Experience Failing for UK Pax” he spoke on behalf of the UK Cruise Critic Azamara followers when he said, “So many of us say that we want to stay with ACC, please don't make it so difficult for us to love you without reservation.” I am pleased to present this information to you:

“Azamara Ambassadors” Programme:

Ms. Jo Rzymowska, Associate Vice President and General Manager UK & Ireland, following discussions with Larry Pimentel, President and CEO of Azamara Club Cruises, formulated the “Azamara Ambassadors” programme. The purpose of the Azamara Ambassadors is to create a dedicated and well-trained team that will provide our UK Azamara guests with a professional level of service through the entire booking journey. Here are the programme highlights:

How will the “Azamara Ambassadors” work?

Azamara incoming calls now have a dedicated call flow system which ensures that we can route Azamara calls to our newly created ‘Azamara Ambassadors.’ The dedicated telephone line is 08444 936 006. In addition, the 'Azamara Ambassadors’ team have a series of dedicated email addresses, the details are shown below:

UK Air Team

We have a dedicated Air Planning resource who manages all of the Azamara flight sourcing and inventory.

We have also created a dedicated team of 4 Air ‘Azamara Ambassadors’ to service all Azamara trade and direct air related queries.

Dedicated email address: Azamaraflights.uk@rccl.com

Sales Team

In-house 6 Azamara Sales ‘Ambassadors’ have been selected to offer a knowledgeable and professional sales experience to our trade partners and direct guests.

This team of 6 will act as a virtual team and all Azamara sales calls will be routed as a priority to this team.

This in-house team went live on Nov 1st 2011.

Dedicated email address: Azamarasales.uk@rccl.com

Service Team

An additional 4 service agents have been selected as the Azamara Service ‘Ambassadors’ for all Azamara service related contacts.

These ‘Ambassadors’ have been selected across the Service teams and through the booking journey.

This team of 4 will act as a virtual team and all Azamara service calls will be routed as a priority to this team.

This team will go live by the end of December 2011.

Dedicated email address: Azamaraservice.uk@rccl.com

Azamara flights guidelines

The guidelines for booking Azamara flights are as follows:

For guests travelling from LHR/LGW, only direct flights will be held; unless it’s a destination where there are no direct schedules such as for San Juan.

We will offer guests the option to fly on a direct low cost flight vs. an indirect scheduled flight.

A conversation will always take place with the guest/agent prior to booking flights if indirect or low-cost air is the only option.

Note: If there is a low cost airline available, we will offer this to the guest and advise that no changes or cancellations to the flights are permitted after booking. If the guest decides to change their travel plans after the low cost flights have been confirmed we will pass on the air charges to the guest.

All inbound flights from Europe should depart before 5pm.

Later flights (leaving after 5pm) from long haul ports such as USA, Far East, Asia are permitted. (Please note that a dayroom will be added to the booking for guests to use until the guests leaves for the airport.)

If a flight after 5pm is all that is available, guests must have confirmed they are aware and happy with the flights before they are assigned

For guests wishing to fly from regional airports (Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin) flights may be available. However, guests need to be made aware that these flights will be indirect unless guests wish to fly with low cost air providers such as Air Lingus, Easy Jet or Jet 2 who can offer direct flights from these regions.

All connecting flights in Europe should only have a connection between 1-3 hours. We will not book anything longer than 3 hours.

Late flight departures – solution pending based on decisions regarding “Late-Debark” program as well as small-group private tour excursions to the airport.

Hotels

Where required, free pre-night hotels will be offered in order to get guests into destination in good time to join the ship.

Azamara guests will always be offered a similar standard of accommodation as expected onboard our Azamara ships. We will ensure that a selection of good quality hotels will be made available for the pre-night offering.

Building the knowledge of the “Azamara Ambassadors”

The 14 ‘Azamara Ambassadors’ joined the Azamara Quest on the November 3rd voyage for a product immersion trip to build their product knowledge to enable this team to become more skilled about Azamara upon their return home to the UK office.

The team will be sharing their experiences with the wider Guest and Trade Service team, upon their return.

An Azamara newsletter will be produced and updated regularly to keep all trade partners and internal staff informed of what is new in “Azamara World” versions to raise the brand focus.

Nurturing the “Azamara Ambassadors” Programme

Jo has stated the “We won't always get it right and all the changes will not happen overnight but we are committed to continuous improvement to provide our guests with an AZAMAZING level of service.”

In my experience, I’ve found that implementing a program of this scope and importance will require time and patience as the operation falls into place and the process is fine-tuned or changed.

It is critical; therefore, that you direct your specific issues directly to the UK dedicated ‘Azamara Ambassadors’ rather than to me through Cruise Critic. I’m still here for you to provide support and guidance and I’m interested in your overall feedback about the programme, but for it to take hold and be self-sustaining it will need your feedback about the specifics.

Remember, each ‘Azamara Ambassador’ is responsible for improving their expertise and proficiency about “all that is Azamara.” Your FEEDBACK is critical to make that happen!

For the last time about this specific issue, I will thank you again for your patience.

Bill Leiber

_____________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

Quote:

Azamara flights guidelines

The guidelines for booking Azamara flights are as follows:

For guests travelling from LHR/LGW, only direct flights will be held; unless it’s a destination where there are no direct schedules such as for San Juan.

We will offer guests the option to fly on a direct low cost flight vs. an indirect scheduled flight.

A conversation will always take place with the guest/agent prior to booking flights if indirect or low-cost air is the only option.

Note: If there is a low cost airline available, we will offer this to the guest and advise that no changes or cancellations to the flights are permitted after booking. If the guest decides to change their travel plans after the low cost flights have been confirmed we will pass on the air charges to the guest.

All inbound flights from Europe should depart before 5pm.

Later flights (leaving after 5pm) from long haul ports such as USA, Far East, Asia are permitted. (Please note that a dayroom will be added to the booking for guests to use until the guests leaves for the airport.)

If a flight after 5pm is all that is available, guests must have confirmed they are aware and happy with the flights before they are assigned

For guests wishing to fly from regional airports (Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin) flights may be available. However, guests need to be made aware that these flights will be indirect unless guests wish to fly with low cost air providers such as Air Lingus, Easy Jet or Jet 2 who can offer direct flights from these regions.

All connecting flights in Europe should only have a connection between 1-3 hours. We will not book anything longer than 3 hours.

Late flight departures – solution pending based on decisions regarding “Late-Debark” program as well as small-group private tour excursions to the airport.

Hotels

Where required, free pre-night hotels will be offered in order to get guests into destination in good time to join the ship.

Azamara guests will always be offered a similar standard of accommodation as expected onboard our Azamara ships. We will ensure that a selection of good quality hotels will be made available for the pre-night offering.

Bill: thanks for your in-depth explanation regarding flight situations for UK guests. Will Azamara be addressing the same situation for those of us who fly from North America and have encountered many of the same problems that UK guests have voiced opinions about.

Hopefully your loyal North American guests will be offered some of the same benefits.

Look forward to hearing your comments on this. In advance, many thanks.

Bill,

This looks very good and addresses the minor issues that we had in August:

long airport waits (+6hrs),

less than ideal pre cruise hotels,

inflexibility with flight departure times.

Perhaps you can enlighten me to what a 'virtual team' actually is?

Can this item become a sticky?

Thanks.

Bill, the work here is very encouraging and thank you for taking the time to post the details here. I had seamless hotel and transfers in September, but some of the commentary here recently had me nervous. This makes me feel less so. Thank you again.

Phil

Bill

I think previous posts disappeared so you may not have seen my comments

Thank you for your involvement in this process and thank you for posting details of the enhancements all of which I think are excellent. It has been clear from my conversations with the UK team that they are very proud of the Azamara brand and will do all they can to keep the shoreside ship steady.

It is right that we give any feedback to the team but we also have to cut them a little slack - after all we have all made mistakes/taken the less than optimum decision in our work life particularly when going through a period of change, so we need to remember this before we get over heated. We should also make sure we make the team aware of positive feedback, so if we get a great flight routing we should say so rather than take it for granted

Bill

I think previous posts disappeared so you may not have seen my comments

Thank you for your involvement in this process and thank you for posting details of the enhancements all of which I think are excellent. It has been clear from my conversations with the UK team that they are very proud of the Azamara brand and will do all they can to keep the shoreside ship steady.

It is right that we give any feedback to the team but we also have to cut them a little slack - after all we have all made mistakes/taken the less than optimum decision in our work life particularly when going through a period of change, so we need to remember this before we get over heated. We should also make sure we make the team aware of positive feedback, so if we get a great flight routing we should say so rather than take it for granted

Ann, I agree wholeheartedly with all you say. Pride in the brand is what shines through, both on and off the ship and long may that continue.

Phil

Ann, I agree wholeheartedly with all you say. Pride in the brand is what shines through, both on and off the ship and long may that continue.

 

Phil

Indeed Phil and we should remember that you certainly see that in the Loyalty team who have throughout the issues to date done and excellent job at keeping the ship on course

Thanks Bill - Real effort has been made here to address all the problematic issues that have marred the, otherwise, fantastic Azamara experience. I must admit that I have been deterred from booking another Az cruise because the agent I use offers the package, complete with flights and pre-cruise hotel, that have been the cause of so many people's problems.

I notice that the London options you offer are Gatwick or Heathrow, but we like to travel from London City, by British Airways, to places like Barcelona, Amsterdam, Copenhagen. These scheduled flights are very often cheaper than flying BA from Heathrow or Gatwick and are always direct flights. I wonder if it would be worth asking our agent about the possibility of flying from City airport or is the system only set for Heathrow or Gatwick from London?

I would just say that I had a great response from the UK team when I recently requested a brochure. It arrived the next day!

Lynne :)

.... could have been the letter and certificate that we received yesterday in respect of a problem encountered on the Quest which we disembarked from just last Sunday.

Many thanks for what you've achieved, but does the absence of any reference to "block bookings" mean that we'll still be subject to the LHR fiasco on the day of departure?

.... could have been the letter and certificate that we received yesterday in respect of a problem encountered on the Quest which we disembarked from just last Sunday.

Many thanks for what you've achieved, but does the absence of any reference to "block bookings" mean that we'll still be subject to the LHR fiasco on the day of departure?

Although Bills post does not mention it, I can share some experience re Celebrity which is of course in the same stable. I booked a cruise with them last week for June and for the first time in a while went for the cruiseline doing our flights. We recevied our British Airways flight details this week and flight references. I have already logged into the BA site and been able, once I added our BA card number, to select our seats. We can do this as we have silver cards otherwise it is at T-24 hours that the seats would have been available

So certainly on Celebrity and BA no day of departure issues which we were very happy about.

We were also very happy with the flight timings applied and the layovers. Coming back we are on a 100 minutes for the transfer but as it is T5 to T5 and is a ticketing BA regularly sells we have no concerns as BA will just put us on the next flight if things go slow at immigration, they are very well used to dealing with this

Hi Everyone,

A few items to mention :

-- I'm very pleased that Azamara has taken the steps to address the concerns from our UK friends. It clearly shows that Azamara is (once again) listening to their Guests, and that's always a huge positive. Kudos to Bill Leiber as well as Azamara's Miami & UK teams for addressing the issues, and creating the new programme.

-- I kindly ask this thread not turn into a discussion of personal booking items / requests, or get off track with Air comments related to your booking. Please post unrelated Air questions elsewhere on this forum, or, the Cruise Air forum if not directly related to Azamara.

-- If you see your post has been removed, it's gone for a reason. If you start another post saying "I wonder what happened to my last post", it will be removed as well. If you have questions, feel free to click on the email link below, and I will try my best to assist.

-- For those who requested this thread to become a Sticky, I'm happy to oblige, as this is an important topic.

Thank You in advance for your assistance !

Bill,

 

This looks very good and addresses the minor issues that we had in August:

long airport waits (+6hrs),

less than ideal pre cruise hotels,

inflexibility with flight departure times.

 

Perhaps you can enlighten me to what a 'virtual team' actually is?

 

Can this item become a sticky?

 

Thanks.

Hello Mugwood –

When I mentioned that the new 14 person team of well-trained staff in the “Ambassador’s” program was “virtual,” I was referring to the fact that a dedicated group of employees would be “carved-out” from the existing shared-services work-force in the UK office to become the first-responders to service guests and travel agents about the Azamara booking process.

By creating a dedicated call flow system and dedicated email addresses for Azamara, we ensure that well-trained Azamara will be the guest’s first point of contact without the need to add staff.

Thanks to Andy for making this thread “sticky.”

Bill Leiber

_____________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

Thank you for advising of this change Bill. I am so glad that all our rants & moans weren't for nothing. Too often I feel that I make a very specific complaint and am then sent a very generic response letter with a voucher to appease me but nothing is ever changed. So well done Azamara.

I am assuming from your post that the UK are still only offering the equivalent of Cruise Air or a complete package where you don't have any choice over flights, hotels etc. - is that correct? But from what you are saying the quality of this package will be improved and that it will be easier for us to find out what the package includes, which flights, hotels etc. in advance before deciding whether or not to take it.

I'd like to know if we are able to combine this with an extended pre-cruise or post-cruise stay and I still hope that we will eventually get the more flexible Choice Air but it certainly is a step in the right direction. I will contact the team regarding a personal query and will report back separately on how it goes.

Quote:

Azamara flights guidelines

The guidelines for booking Azamara flights are as follows:

For guests travelling from LHR/LGW, only direct flights will be held; unless it’s a destination where there are no direct schedules such as for San Juan.

We will offer guests the option to fly on a direct low cost flight vs. an indirect scheduled flight.

A conversation will always take place with the guest/agent prior to booking flights if indirect or low-cost air is the only option.

Note: If there is a low cost airline available, we will offer this to the guest and advise that no changes or cancellations to the flights are permitted after booking. If the guest decides to change their travel plans after the low cost flights have been confirmed we will pass on the air charges to the guest.

All inbound flights from Europe should depart before 5pm.

 

Later flights (leaving after 5pm) from long haul ports such as USA, Far East, Asia are permitted. (Please note that a dayroom will be added to the booking for guests to use until the guests leaves for the airport.)

If a flight after 5pm is all that is available, guests must have confirmed they are aware and happy with the flights before they are assigned

 

For guests wishing to fly from regional airports (Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin) flights may be available. However, guests need to be made aware that these flights will be indirect unless guests wish to fly with low cost air providers such as Air Lingus, Easy Jet or Jet 2 who can offer direct flights from these regions.

 

All connecting flights in Europe should only have a connection between 1-3 hours. We will not book anything longer than 3 hours.

Late flight departures – solution pending based on decisions regarding “Late-Debark” program as well as small-group private tour excursions to the airport.

 

Hotels

Where required, free pre-night hotels will be offered in order to get guests into destination in good time to join the ship.

 

Azamara guests will always be offered a similar standard of accommodation as expected onboard our Azamara ships. We will ensure that a selection of good quality hotels will be made available for the pre-night offering.

 

Bill: thanks for your in-depth explanation regarding flight situations for UK guests. Will Azamara be addressing the same situation for those of us who fly from North America and have encountered many of the same problems that UK guests have voiced opinions about.

 

Hopefully your loyal North American guests will be offered some of the same benefits.

 

Look forward to hearing your comments on this. In advance, many thanks.

Hello Sivia –

In order for me to respond to your comment about whether our valued “North American guests will be offered some of the same benefits” of the UK air program, will require an in-depth explanation about the different set of circumstances in which the US/Canadian and UK/Ireland markets operate so that you can better understand why the new UK program’s components cannot be mixed with the North American air/sea program. Each market has its own separate and distinct program.

All three of the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd Family of Cruise Lines’ offices, including the US and UK, share the services provided by each office (reservations, air/sea, shore excursions, pre- and post-cruise hotels, etc.). “Shared services” benefits the corporation with cost advantages and marketing economies of scale but at the same time - operating challenges.

Technically, at the outset, there was not a “dedicated” team set aside for each brand. With the reformulation of the “Azamara” brand into “Azamara Club Cruises,” Larry Pimentel was able to establish in the US a dedicated operational staff (marketing, sales, itinerary, and revenue and inventory management) for the North American market. Early this year, a dedicated US/Canada reservations staff reporting to the total US reservations operation was added.

For Azamara in the UK, the understanding was that the UK office would provide the resources, support services and coverage for Azamara. However, due to the growth of Azamara’s popularity in the UK market and an ever increasing number of negative comments about the UK flight offerings, transfers, pre-cruise hotel issues and a lack of staff literate about Azamara’s offers or policies, Larry Pimentel encouraged the executive management in the UK to create a solution. Hence, the Azamara “Ambassadors” program - a dedicated group of employees “carved-out” from the existing shared-services work-force in the UK office to become the first-responders to service guests and travel agents about the Azamara booking process and policies.

Because of different rules of engagement in the US and UK, we are not able to implement all of our programs globally in order to achieve consistency across markets. In the UK, they create and manage their own website; produce their own brochures in order to comply with their distinct business laws, business and competitive forces; and use the services of the UK’s air department. Another challenge concerns technological differences. For example, ChoiceAir is a technology based tool which is not available in the UK. Simply, there are different rules of engagement in each market.

It is within this context that the “Air Flight Guidelines” and “Hotels” shared with the UK guests applies exclusively to guests from the UK/Ireland market. In fact the policy components reflect the issues and input from UK guests during the past 10 months. Frankly, for the UK guests, there was no policy and they felt disadvantaged compared to what the North American market was offered. It is nearly impossible in today’s world to have one policy to fit all markets. Unfortunately, our air program cannot be straightforward since we have to operate in a world of differences.

I believe that the options we offer to our US and Canadian guests of packaged air promotions (fixed) and the flexible air options available through our ChoiceAir program benefit our valued North American guests with a very competitive air component.

If you encounter air problems, please contact our Customer Service team through reservations and remember to visit Host Andy’s “Sticky” thread - “Choice Air: Helpful Information”- http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1448703

I’m hopeful, that we have made the air component equally competitive on both sides of the Atlantic.

Sincerely,

Bill Leiber

_____________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

Bill: Azamazing news. Just one small correction: there are direct flights from London Gatwick to San Juan, but only a couple each week. And they make a stop in Antigua enroute. On our recent Journey Amazon cruise some Brits were put on this flight while others, including yours truly, were told it was not available even when booked eight months in advance and had to travel via Miami. Hopefully this sort of problem will not happen under the new structure. Alan.

Bill

I am delighted to report that I have already been advised of my flights for my cruise in Autumn 2012 which are at very sensible times. I have been able via the Airlines website to select the seats I wanted (I do have status with the airline so am able to do this free of charge earlier than 24 hours before travel). I also have been advised of the hotel pre cruise which appears to be of the standard I would expect (Hilton). All this for a sailing when my flight and pre cruise have been given free of charge

I just thought after all the heat on this issue I would report back and record my appreciation both to you and to the Operations Team in the UK

Bill

I am delighted to report that I have already been advised of my flights for my cruise in Autumn 2012 which are at very sensible times. I have been able via the Airlines website to select the seats I wanted (I do have status with the airline so am able to do this free of charge earlier than 24 hours before travel). I also have been advised of the hotel pre cruise which appears to be of the standard I would expect (Hilton). All this for a sailing when my flight and pre cruise have been given free of charge

 

I just thought after all the heat on this issue I would report back and record my appreciation both to you and to the Operations Team in the UK

Hello Uktog –

Since I started last year at this time, I have always appreciated your consistent balanced input, patience and optimistic outlook that the UK’s operational performance would improve. So it was meaningful for me to learn that your air and pre-cruise hotel arrangements for 2012 were complete and to your satisfaction.

I’m confident that the new “Azamara Ambassadors” programme will make a huge difference. Finally, a dedicated and well-trained team has been established to deliver to you and other UK Azamara guests a professional level of service through the entire booking journey.

Fortunately, in the interim, the team of the UK & Ireland Loyalty Desk was able to provide professional and caring assistance to UK guests when needed. I thank them and express my sincerest appreciation for their service. Uktog, I know that you have mentioned how much you valued the service which they provided to you.

I’ve mentioned that the “Azamara Ambassadors” programme is a work in progress so please keep me in the loop with your opinions about the overall process.

I really appreciate your loyalty to Azamara Club Cruises.

Sincerely,

Bill Leiber

_____________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

Just to report back, I did email the new flights team about the possibility of adding flights to our Nov 2012 booking with an additional pre-cruise stay. The email was answered promptly and I was assured that I could do as requested but would have to go via our TA once the flights have been released. So I've been impressed with the service so far & will wait to see what happens when I contact my TA in January.

Just to report back, I did email the new flights team about the possibility of adding flights to our Nov 2012 booking with an additional pre-cruise stay. The email was answered promptly and I was assured that I could do as requested but would have to go via our TA once the flights have been released. So I've been impressed with the service so far & will wait to see what happens when I contact my TA in January.

Hello Zennor –

Thanks for taking the time to share your positive comments about working with the new “Ambassadors” team for your air and pre-cruise hotel stay so far. I’m confident that the outcome will meet your requirements.

I appreciate your feedback and will pass it on to the UK management team.

Best regards,

Bill Leiber

_____________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

Hello to all the UK Cruise Critic Azamara followers:

 

I want to update you of some important information about the reformulation of our UK operation which will improve the quality of service delivered by a dedicated Azamara trained team located in the London office. At last, the time has come.

 

Background:

We’ve been communicating with the UK office about the frustrations UK guests have encountered when dealing with the UK office. Our discussions have focused on the following areas:

 

The UK flight offerings, transfers, pre-cruise hotel issues, a lack of staff knowledge about Azamara’s offers or policies, slow brochure delivery and not receiving automatic emails of special offers.

 

In my communications, I’ve been mentioning to you about some of the challenges posed by Azamara due to Azamara sharing the services that are in place to operate the three Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd’s brands. I have been asking for your continued patience while the UK executive staff could formulate a “virtual” way in which to create a “dedicated” Azamara team in the UK. Finally, in later posts you’ve challenged me “not to ask for your continued patience” but instead you asked us - “What are you going to do about it and how quickly?”

 

As “Nuneham” wrote in his October 4, 2011 thread, “Pre- & Post-Cruise Experience Failing for UK Pax” he spoke on behalf of the UK Cruise Critic Azamara followers when he said, “So many of us say that we want to stay with ACC, please don't make it so difficult for us to love you without reservation.” I am pleased to present this information to you:

 

“Azamara Ambassadors” Programme:

Ms. Jo Rzymowska, Associate Vice President and General Manager UK & Ireland, following discussions with Larry Pimentel, President and CEO of Azamara Club Cruises, formulated the “Azamara Ambassadors” programme. The purpose of the Azamara Ambassadors is to create a dedicated and well-trained team that will provide our UK Azamara guests with a professional level of service through the entire booking journey. Here are the programme highlights:

How will the “Azamara Ambassadors” work?

Azamara incoming calls now have a dedicated call flow system which ensures that we can route Azamara calls to our newly created ‘Azamara Ambassadors.’ The dedicated telephone line is 08444 936 006. In addition, the 'Azamara Ambassadors’ team have a series of dedicated email addresses, the details are shown below:

 

UK Air Team

We have a dedicated Air Planning resource who manages all of the Azamara flight sourcing and inventory.

We have also created a dedicated team of 4 Air ‘Azamara Ambassadors’ to service all Azamara trade and direct air related queries.

Dedicated email address: Azamaraflights.uk@rccl.com

 

Sales Team

In-house 6 Azamara Sales ‘Ambassadors’ have been selected to offer a knowledgeable and professional sales experience to our trade partners and direct guests.

This team of 6 will act as a virtual team and all Azamara sales calls will be routed as a priority to this team.

This in-house team went live on Nov 1st 2011.

Dedicated email address: Azamarasales.uk@rccl.com

Service Team

An additional 4 service agents have been selected as the Azamara Service ‘Ambassadors’ for all Azamara service related contacts.

These ‘Ambassadors’ have been selected across the Service teams and through the booking journey.

This team of 4 will act as a virtual team and all Azamara service calls will be routed as a priority to this team.

This team will go live by the end of December 2011.

Dedicated email address: Azamaraservice.uk@rccl.com

 

Azamara flights guidelines

The guidelines for booking Azamara flights are as follows:

For guests travelling from LHR/LGW, only direct flights will be held; unless it’s a destination where there are no direct schedules such as for San Juan.

We will offer guests the option to fly on a direct low cost flight vs. an indirect scheduled flight.

A conversation will always take place with the guest/agent prior to booking flights if indirect or low-cost air is the only option.

Note: If there is a low cost airline available, we will offer this to the guest and advise that no changes or cancellations to the flights are permitted after booking. If the guest decides to change their travel plans after the low cost flights have been confirmed we will pass on the air charges to the guest.

All inbound flights from Europe should depart before 5pm.

 

Later flights (leaving after 5pm) from long haul ports such as USA, Far East, Asia are permitted. (Please note that a dayroom will be added to the booking for guests to use until the guests leaves for the airport.)

If a flight after 5pm is all that is available, guests must have confirmed they are aware and happy with the flights before they are assigned

 

For guests wishing to fly from regional airports (Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin) flights may be available. However, guests need to be made aware that these flights will be indirect unless guests wish to fly with low cost air providers such as Air Lingus, Easy Jet or Jet 2 who can offer direct flights from these regions.

 

All connecting flights in Europe should only have a connection between 1-3 hours. We will not book anything longer than 3 hours.

Late flight departures – solution pending based on decisions regarding “Late-Debark” program as well as small-group private tour excursions to the airport.

 

Hotels

Where required, free pre-night hotels will be offered in order to get guests into destination in good time to join the ship.

 

Azamara guests will always be offered a similar standard of accommodation as expected onboard our Azamara ships. We will ensure that a selection of good quality hotels will be made available for the pre-night offering.

 

Building the knowledge of the “Azamara Ambassadors”

The 14 ‘Azamara Ambassadors’ joined the Azamara Quest on the November 3rd voyage for a product immersion trip to build their product knowledge to enable this team to become more skilled about Azamara upon their return home to the UK office.

 

The team will be sharing their experiences with the wider Guest and Trade Service team, upon their return.

An Azamara newsletter will be produced and updated regularly to keep all trade partners and internal staff informed of what is new in “Azamara World” versions to raise the brand focus.

 

Nurturing the “Azamara Ambassadors” Programme

Jo has stated the “We won't always get it right and all the changes will not happen overnight but we are committed to continuous improvement to provide our guests with an AZAMAZING level of service.”

 

In my experience, I’ve found that implementing a program of this scope and importance will require time and patience as the operation falls into place and the process is fine-tuned or changed.

It is critical; therefore, that you direct your specific issues directly to the UK dedicated ‘Azamara Ambassadors’ rather than to me through Cruise Critic. I’m still here for you to provide support and guidance and I’m interested in your overall feedback about the programme, but for it to take hold and be self-sustaining it will need your feedback about the specifics.

 

Remember, each ‘Azamara Ambassador’ is responsible for improving their expertise and proficiency about “all that is Azamara.” Your FEEDBACK is critical to make that happen!

 

For the last time about this specific issue, I will thank you again for your patience.

 

Bill Leiber

_____________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

 

Bill, I’m pleased to see that things are happening in the UK to improve services to Azamara customers. Not so in Australia I’m afraid. I cruised with Larry and Sandi from Dublin to Lisbon in September on Journey and got chatting to Larry about the Australian market and he was pretty effusive about the growth in this market and commented that he was keen to open an Azamara office in Australia. I don’t need to tell you all the Azamara business goes through RCCLAPAC in Australia. My experience with RCCL has not been good. They lack any autonomy in decision making and are pretty scratchy when it comes to knowledge of deals offered by Azamara, booking T&C s, etc. I know you don’t like to get into personal booking issues but my posting at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1209263&page=5 gives you some insight into the difficulties I’ve had in dealing with RCCL. There is a lot more to this story than I posted and I’d love to have a quiet chat with Larry on my next cruise. I accept that I went into booking on board with one eye closed but it seemed that the onus was on me to do the follow up. It is frustrating that when I send an email to 'AzamaraCustomerService@AzamaraClubCruises.com' and expect someone in Miami to attend to it, the email is deflected back to RCCL in Australia who tell me that “they have to check with Miami”. And while I’m at it, why do Non-US/Canadian residents have different booking/cancellation conditions to residents of other countries? I have lots of questions but very few answers because I can’t find an informed individual to deal with in Australia. Please can we have a dedicated Azamara presence in Australia soon??? Dick and Jackie Hedges (Cruisersoz)

Bill, I’m pleased to see that things are happening in the UK to improve services to Azamara customers. Not so in Australia I’m afraid. I cruised with Larry and Sandi from Dublin to Lisbon in September on Journey and got chatting to Larry about the Australian market and he was pretty effusive about the growth in this market and commented that he was keen to open an Azamara office in Australia. I don’t need to tell you all the Azamara business goes through RCCLAPAC in Australia. My experience with RCCL has not been good. They lack any autonomy in decision making and are pretty scratchy when it comes to knowledge of deals offered by Azamara, booking T&C s, etc. I know you don’t like to get into personal booking issues but my posting at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1209263&page=5 gives you some insight into the difficulties I’ve had in dealing with RCCL. There is a lot more to this story than I posted and I’d love to have a quiet chat with Larry on my next cruise. I accept that I went into booking on board with one eye closed but it seemed that the onus was on me to do the follow up. It is frustrating that when I send an email to 'AzamaraCustomerService@AzamaraClubCruises.com' and expect someone in Miami to attend to it, the email is deflected back to RCCL in Australia who tell me that “they have to check with Miami”. And while I’m at it, why do Non-US/Canadian residents have different booking/cancellation conditions to residents of other countries? I have lots of questions but very few answers because I can’t find an informed individual to deal with in Australia. Please can we have a dedicated Azamara presence in Australia soon??? Dick and Jackie Hedges (Cruisersoz)

Hello Jackie and Dick –

I’ve forwarded your message to Royal Caribbean Cruises Australia’s commercial manager for his review and to further illustrate the frustration that Australian guests are experiencing in dealing with the Sydney office. Actually, this specific issue was addressed in late November by several Australian guests on the thread, entitled, “When prices go down before final payment.” http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1522484

As I stated on that thread, we realize the importance of our Australian Azamara followers and very much appreciate the growing number of guests who have vacationed with us because of their confidence in our exceptional onboard experience. I am aware of Larry Pimentel’s high hopes for this market and resolving this issue is an extremely high-priority.

When I have received a response from Australian management, I will start a new thread entitled, “Important Update about Azamara’s Australian operation” so that we can aggregate the progress, based on your feedback, of resolving this barrier to delivering a quality and professional shoreside experience. It will be similar to the one set-up for the UK.

I’ll keep you posted and thank you for your loyalty to the Azamara onboard experience and ask for your patience as we resolve these shoreside operational issues.

Sincerely,

Bill Leiber

___________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

Hello Jackie and Dick –

 

I’ve forwarded your message to Royal Caribbean Cruises Australia’s commercial manager for his review and to further illustrate the frustration that Australian guests are experiencing in dealing with the Sydney office. Actually, this specific issue was addressed in late November by several Australian guests on the thread, entitled, “When prices go down before final payment.” http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1522484

 

As I stated on that thread, we realize the importance of our Australian Azamara followers and very much appreciate the growing number of guests who have vacationed with us because of their confidence in our exceptional onboard experience. I am aware of Larry Pimentel’s high hopes for this market and resolving this issue is an extremely high-priority.

 

When I have received a response from Australian management, I will start a new thread entitled, “Important Update about Azamara’s Australian operation” so that we can aggregate the progress, based on your feedback, of resolving this barrier to delivering a quality and professional shoreside experience. It will be similar to the one set-up for the UK.

 

I’ll keep you posted and thank you for your loyalty to the Azamara onboard experience and ask for your patience as we resolve these shoreside operational issues.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Leiber

___________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

Thanks Bill, we appreciate you taking this up with RCCL in Australia. Future postings on this topic will be under http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1522484&page=2 :)

We have cruised several times with Azamara but have only now become aware of the recently introduced Azamara UK Ambassadors programme.

It would be helpful if the three new email addresses were added to the Azamaraclubcruises.co.uk website in order to ensure that enquiries are correctly directed. We recently sent an email, via the UK website, requesting further information regarding an email we received for the Valentine's Day Promotion; but the response we had did not appear to be from one of the Ambassadors, nor were we made aware of their existence during a subsequent telephone conversation. Have staff at RCCL been made aware of the Ambassadors programme?

We have cruised several times with Azamara but have only now become aware of the recently introduced Azamara UK Ambassadors programme.

 

It would be helpful if the three new email addresses were added to the Azamaraclubcruises.co.uk website in order to ensure that enquiries are correctly directed. We recently sent an email, via the UK website, requesting further information regarding an email we received for the Valentine's Day Promotion; but the response we had did not appear to be from one of the Ambassadors, nor were we made aware of their existence during a subsequent telephone conversation. Have staff at RCCL been made aware of the Ambassadors programme?

Hello Parent -

I appreciate your taking your valuable time to report your experience with using the Azamara Ambassadors' programme and for your suggestion to add the three new email addresses to the UK Azamara website.

I have passed on your comments to the Ambassador's programme leader about your impression that you were not dealing with a member of the dedicated Azamara trained team located within the London office. Once I have something to report, I will do so.

I hope that we'll have the opportunity to welcome you aboard again sometime later this year.

Regards,

Bill Leiber

________________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

I am pleased to hear that there is to be a dedicated team to address the flights issue.

We have just returned from a fantastic cruise to Antarctica on the Azamara Journey only marred by the flight arrangements. We live in Cornwall and had to travel from Manchester. On booking we were told that there were no flights available from Heathrow which is much easier and less expensive for us to get to. Going from Manchester incurred a more expensive train journey and a night in a hotel. This would not have been necessary at Heathrow. Then once we got our tickets were found out that we were to change planes at Heathrow after all. VERY GALLING.

When our agent phoned the office he was told that the flights could not be changed and if we did not travel from Manchester they would be cancelled.

It is possible that the original flights were on Iberia but I feel that if flights are changed the passengers should be told early enough for them to request and route change.

All that said we have just booked or second Azamara cruise.