Asian itinerary sale

[Jade13]

Thank you all for your replies. There is always confusion on board when dealing with passengers from the UK who sign up to the on board deals but this is the first time it has worked against us. We wanted the OBC option but were "told" we were being given the £200 off instead. As things stand the whole thing is a complete waste of time as there is no advantage for UK passengers. I will email the person kindly suggested and if I have a postive result I will let you know. Thanks once again.

 

One last question. Is the onboard booking deposit non-refundable (or is the answer everything is non-refundable in the UK)? On HAL the on-board deposit is $100.00 (US) pp (so low)and is non-refundable but has to be used within 4 years. The bonus is a small OBC depending on length of cruise and stateroom type. We prchased one in 2008 and for a 7 night cruise was $35.00 OBC pp for a Verandah and $25.00pp OBC for an OV on Holland America Line.

[meow!]

It has been a while since Azamara's fare increases and addition of the word "club", however, it appears that its business has not substantially improved (a cursory search does not seem to indicate substantial reductions of vacant cabins). Sometimes we wonder what makes some products sell.

 

If you stand on the street and look at a row of restaurants, often you find some have line ups while others are practically empty. Won't they try to emulate or learn from one another? Being at the same location and sometimes selling similar food, why is it that some keep attracting customers while others don't?

[nonrev1]

I just booked my Azamara cruise for Feb. from HKG next year. It was an amazing rate that I could not pass up and no one else could come close to it. OMG - I haven't even left on this year's cruise yet! :eek:

[Jade13]

I just booked my Azamara cruise for Feb. from HKG next year. It was an amazing rate that I could not pass up and no one else could come close to it. OMG - I haven't even left on this year's cruise yet! :eek:

 

Since you are anonymous here anyway, how about giving us a clue as to your amazing rate. Some peoples amazing rate might be expensive to others, and there is the problem with evaluating what Azamara is doing.

 

So far they are alienating a bunch of people departing next week because they couldn't send out luggage tags and documents because of some unknown printing problem or other reason. It doesn't help that their "upgrades" don't take affect until April 1, so this group is not getting free colas and bottled water nor wine with lunch and dinner.

[tgg]

I just booked my Azamara cruise for Feb. from HKG next year. It was an amazing rate that I could not pass up and no one else could come close to it. OMG - I haven't even left on this year's cruise yet! :eek:

 

I, too, would love to know what an amazing rate is and how to get it. I know that some people consider it gauche to talk about money, but I will gratefully ignore that.:) (Does your screen name suggest that you book at interline rates and fly nonrev?)

[DrKoob]

Earlier in this thread I mentioned the fare we got this February (we sail on the 20th of Feb) but you may have missed it. I think it is indicative of what reality is on Azamara right now and possibly in the months to come.

 

We originally booked our Singapore to Hong Kong cruise for approximately $3500 each. This is for a 1A and was booked through a brick and mortar travel agent. We booked it almost 15 months ago at that price.

 

Because we are big users of Cruise Critic and because we check prices on our cabins constantly, we saw that Azamara had dropped prices for certain groups. In some cases it was people who were over 55 and in others (ours) it was people from our state (Washington) who could purchase our same category of cabin for much less. We went back to our TA (even though it was after we had made final payment. She was able to negotiate the same price for us and for others in our group who lived in states where the price had been adjusted downward. We did not want OBC but were after a direct credit back to our VISA card.

 

When I got my VISA bill this month, sure enough, we had two refund/credits for $1500 each. That means that the total cost of this cruise for us is $2000 each. We have paid far more than that for a 10 days Mediterranean itinerary on X. I need to also add that between our shareholder OBC, our group OBC and some OBC from our TA we have more then $500 in OBC for this trip.

 

We feel totally blessed and in some ways sad as our good friends who are traveling with us are still paying the original price as they live in Florida and this option was not open to them. Another person in our party lives in Texas which also was not part of the discount program but luckily for her, she was traveling with a friend from Arizona and it was in the program.

 

When I have posted this before others have asked why they offered this kind of discount. My supposition is that they looked at two things. It was partly to encourage new cruisers from Washington but the real reason they chose the states they picked was that they looked at how many of us from those states were already on board and which states they could afford to give money back. I can say for sure that there were certainly a lot fewer cruisers they would have to give money back to from Washington than there were from Florida.

 

I might add that in the last two weeks we have had a TON of new cruisers joining our roll call as Azamara drops prices even further to fill the ship. But almost 90% of these new folks are travel professionals who they can give a promotional fare to and not have to refund anyone else any money.

 

I hope that sheds some light on what is going on out there, at least a little bit.

[nonrev1]

I do fly nonrev...but, don't book interline cruise rates. In all honesty, the cruise rates are better when there is a sale and you can take advantage of a residency discount or military discount, plus you get the cabin/location you want.

We got a Balcony 2B midship for a 14 day Asia cruise for 2799.00 which I think is fantastic since it includes soda, wine, water, gratuities etc. Cheaper than my Med cruise coming up in May. Chinese New Years in Hong Kong! Yippee!

[nonrev1]

Oops - typed too fast. Make that a 1B

[Jade13]

Earlier in this thread I mentioned the fare we got this February (we sail on the 20th of Feb) but you may have missed it. I think it is indicative of what reality is on Azamara right now and possibly in the months to come.

 

We originally booked our Singapore to Hong Kong cruise for approximately $3500 each. This is for a 1A and was booked through a brick and mortar travel agent. We booked it almost 15 months ago at that price.

 

Because we are big users of Cruise Critic and because we check prices on our cabins constantly, we saw that Azamara had dropped prices for certain groups. In some cases it was people who were over 55 and in others (ours) it was people from our state (Washington) who could purchase our same category of cabin for much less. We went back to our TA (even though it was after we had made final payment. She was able to negotiate the same price for us and for others in our group who lived in states where the price had been adjusted downward. We did not want OBC but were after a direct credit back to our VISA card.

 

When I got my VISA bill this month, sure enough, we had two refund/credits for $1500 each. That means that the total cost of this cruise for us is $2000 each. We have paid far more than that for a 10 days Mediterranean itinerary on X. I need to also add that between our shareholder OBC, our group OBC and some OBC from our TA we have more then $500 in OBC for this trip.

 

We feel totally blessed and in some ways sad as our good friends who are traveling with us are still paying the original price as they live in Florida and this option was not open to them. Another person in our party lives in Texas which also was not part of the discount program but luckily for her, she was traveling with a friend from Arizona and it was in the program.

 

When I have posted this before others have asked why they offered this kind of discount. My supposition is that they looked at two things. It was partly to encourage new cruisers from Washington but the real reason they chose the states they picked was that they looked at how many of us from those states were already on board and which states they could afford to give money back. I can say for sure that there were certainly a lot fewer cruisers they would have to give money back to from Washington than there were from Florida.

 

I might add that in the last two weeks we have had a TON of new cruisers joining our roll call as Azamara drops prices even further to fill the ship. But almost 90% of these new folks are travel professionals who they can give a promotional fare to and not have to refund anyone else any money.

 

I hope that sheds some light on what is going on out there, at least a little bit.

 

I have never heard of any cruise line refunding money (especially $3,000) after final payment is made.

 

Did you get the pre-paid gratuities offered last year?

[Jade13]

I do fly nonrev...but, don't book interline cruise rates. In all honesty, the cruise rates are better when there is a sale and you can take advantage of a residency discount or military discount, plus you get the cabin/location you want.

We got a Balcony 2B midship for a 14 day Asia cruise for 2799.00 which I think is fantastic since it includes soda, wine, water, gratuities etc. Cheaper than my Med cruise coming up in May. Chinese New Years in Hong Kong! Yippee!

 

 

Is the $2,799.00 including all taxes and fees?

[DrKoob]

I have never heard of any cruise line refunding money (especially $3,000) after final payment is made.

 

They did it with at least six of us on this cruise. It is becoming the norm. RCL made a promise to do that earlier this year to those who booked earlier and they are keeping it.

[Jade13]

They did it with at least six of us on this cruise. It is becoming the norm. RCL made a promise to do that earlier this year to those who booked earlier and they are keeping it.

 

Through some type of price guarantee? Most cruise lines do that up until final payment but not after. I actually thought RCCL agreed to give back OBC but what would you do with $3,000.00?

[meow!]

but what would you do with $3,000.00?

Buy yourself a diamond ring in the gift shop!