Up date needed on website

[piscean]

Since the announcement on the 8th December and the new perks why has Azamara not updated their website?

It still shows gratuities as an extra and no mention made of the perks!

Since the prices have increased surely the new perks from April 2010 would encourage new bookings!

[WooKeef]

This is just an assumption, but I imagine it will not be on the website until it is actually "in force"...otherwise would be putting a misleading message to those cruising before April.:cool:

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

If you go to the news section, the Press Release with the details are there. So, there is some mention of it.

 

With that said, I agree that it would be prudent for Azamara, to bring some of the new features to the front of their Website.

[Andy]

This is just an assumption, but I imagine it will not be on the website until it is actually "in force"...otherwise would be putting a misleading message to those cruising before April.:cool:

 

Hi WooKeef !

 

Good point, but they can always say something like : "Beginning in April 2010.... Enjoy the New Azamara"

 

Heck, if I were them, I would try and roll out the enhancements ahead of time, and pleasantly surprise everyone ! - Please keep in mind, that's strictly my opinion, and nothing more.

[suec12]

It seems like they should load it into the the "what's included" area on the website of the cruises after April 1. Then when prospective cruisers view the UPDATED prices, they also see the new included amenities. Should help with the "sticker shock" - I wonder how bookings are goings since the prices increased?!

[WooKeef]

It seems like they should load it into the the "what's included" area on the website of the cruises after April 1. Then when prospective cruisers view the UPDATED prices, they also see the new included amenities. Should help with the "sticker shock" - I wonder how bookings are goings since the prices increased?!

 

yeah, I am sure they will have some growing pains over this change. I think it is positive though. We had thought of asking some friends to go with us on our trip in May. Until we realized that they would have to pay over $900 more than we paid for the trip...pretty sure they will not want to do that.

[Redtravel]

I was surprised that Azamara didn't have a big ad in the recent Sunday Travel Sections or the popular travel magazines about the new features of Azamara. Increase prices, don't advertise, don't mail out brochures is not the way to increase business. If they are trying to keep the new perks a secret, they are doing a great job. If I wasn't reading these boards, I may have never known about the new club. I get tons of mailings from several other upscale cruise lines with fantastic deals...of which I have taken advantage. Perhaps, Azamara plans to roll out some major ad campaign soon. They just missed a great opportunity....many people book cruises as gifts for the family. I've done it myself. I booked Azamara because I had sailed on it. However, there are many people that have never even heard about Azamara. Up until a year ago, I didn't know they existed. I'm elite on Celebrity. I happened to mention that I was thinking of taking an Oceania cruise....my daughter said " have you thought about Azamara". I said, "who?" Then I did a little research,took a cruise and loved it. When I mentioned it to friends, most people had not heard of the line. A few of my friends have shown some interest and would like to see an Azamara brochure. When they requested it, they were sent an outdated brochure. They chose to sail on HAL.

[ddcruiser]

I called several days ago to get a new brochure with the big announcement features. I was assured they were sending the "new one". Well, I received an old one which is completely out of date. It's also quite a cheap copy of the beautiful Oceania brochure. Still don't have any idea of what the real costs are of a late 2010 trip. ddcruiser

[takemewithyou]

I was surprised that Azamara didn't have a big ad in the recent Sunday Travel Sections or the popular travel magazines about the new features of Azamara. Increase prices, don't advertise, don't mail out brochures is not the way to increase business. If they are trying to keep the new perks a secret, they are doing a great job. If I wasn't reading these boards, I may have never known about the new club. I get tons of mailings from several other upscale cruise lines with fantastic deals...of which I have taken advantage. Perhaps, Azamara plans to roll out some major ad campaign soon. They just missed a great opportunity....many people book cruises as gifts for the family. I've done it myself. I booked Azamara because I had sailed on it. However, there are many people that have never even heard about Azamara. Up until a year ago, I didn't know they existed. I'm elite on Celebrity. I happened to mention that I was thinking of taking an Oceania cruise....my daughter said " have you thought about Azamara". I said, "who?" Then I did a little research,took a cruise and loved it. When I mentioned it to friends, most people had not heard of the line. A few of my friends have shown some interest and would like to see an Azamara brochure. When they requested it, they were sent an outdated brochure. They chose to sail on HAL.

 

I am also stunned! We were on the Transatlantic on Journey when "The Announcement" was made. A press release was placed in every cabin with the news. It was a topic of conversation on the cruise, to say the least! When I got home and got settled, I first logged in to Cruise Critic to read all the comments and then went to the web site to view all the changes. I was shocked, other than name changes for the cabins and price increases....where is all the hype about the new changes? The web site looks exactly the same!

 

How will new customers be attracted to Azamara and how many of their current customers can afford to pay these increased prices? We have a future booking, but it was made in October and it has increased by 30%!! I couldn't afford the trip if I hadn't booked at a lower price! I hurried to book before Nov., because I read here that prices would be going up.

 

I am concerned about pricing because we loved our first cruise on Azamara and want to keep sailing with them - we finally found a cruising experince that works for us and we don't want to be priced out!

 

I have some hope that they can't sustain these enourmous increase in prices because they haven't exactly been aggressive in getting the word out to the public about their product. They don't have the name recognition that Oceania has - many, many of our friends have never heard of Azamara - even those that are regulars on Celebrity - just as you mentioned!

 

I really wonder how this will all fall out?

[suec12]

You guys got old brochures???? I was never able to get any brochure when I requested one - were they stockpiling them think they would appreciate!? It doesn't seem the roll out of Azamara Club is as one would expect! and also, I receive emails frequently about Royal Carrib. and Celebrity deals but rarely if ever any info about Azamara sales or special deals, what about you?