Venting-- Le Club Voyage

[JennAngel9]

I just received my 3rd email from Azamara since the rebrand letting me know about the new loyalty program-- in case you haven't seen it, all the emails contain the following language:

 

"You'll also enjoy our brand new club for past guests, Le Club Voyage (pronounced in French as voy-ahzh)."

 

Seriously??? Not only did you give it a ridiculous attempted-prestigious but actually pretentious name, but you also felt the need to explain to people it's a French word and should be spoken with an exaggerated French accent? I am a francophile and I enjoyed my time on Azamara, but this is the sort of thing that makes me feel Azamara is actually targeting people who think giving something a French name makes it classy and sophisticated. I'm cool travelling with people who don't care about being refined and people who are sophisticated individuals, but I do NOT want to be on a ship full of "nouveaux riches" putting on airs. :p

 

Feel free to disagree, but before you flame me, remember you chose to read a thread with this title. I'm not saying that the loyalty club name is a good enough reason to avoid a cruise line-- but it worries me about what exactly Azamara is doing with their brand.

[schmidlapp]

D i t t o !

[tgg]

Maybe I missed something. Where are the benefits of the new program listed? Isn't it about time?

 

I don't much care what they call it. I DO care to know how it will benefit me.

 

Does anyone have more information?

[greeneg]

Absolutement! Vous avez beacoup de raison!" Aux Armes, Citoyenes!"

[cadcruiser]

I just received my 3rd email from Azamara since the rebrand letting me know about the new loyalty program--

I received four duplicate emails from Azamara. Three of them were sent yesterday.

[piscean]

Without this CC site I would not have ANY information.

I receive no emails (am I insane to want any!) no post/brochures. Zilch!

As I understand it, only from knowledge received on this site, Azamara are promoting the new brand in the UK . Without informing people like myself, a past passenger (not in their income bracket though!!) how are they going to get the passengers onboard?

I liked the old 'club'

[California Native]

Don't like it at all...

I think it's insulting to the French language

but in the scope of life...oh well...whatever..

just tell me what my benefits are...

I did post my opinion last month on this, but it most of been lost in all the other hoopla of the changes

Yesterday, all email accounts in our famiy who have signed up with Azamara were hit with Azamara Club Cruises...Spam attack...of 8 emails on the same thing

these emails are the same as the other 2 emails that looked the same we received earlier this month.

[California Native]

Maybe I missed something. Where are the benefits of the new program listed? Isn't it about time?

 

I don't much care what they call it. I DO care to know how it will benefit me.

Does anyone have more information?

They have NOT announced it...

AZ just keeps sending the emails repetitively coming soon.

I'm a big girl ...1 coming soon is good enough for me

Just send me an email when you have something to say!!!!!!

[Cruise Junky]

I'm wondering why they had to send my husband 8 e:mails yesterday saying the exact same thing mere seconds apart!! And hate the pretentiousness of it.

[Andy]

Maybe I missed something. Where are the benefits of the new program listed? Isn't it about time?

 

 

Hi Tgg !

 

We are still waiting for the details. I expected to hear about the benefits this month, but it has not happened yet. I will see if I can find out anything.

 

Add me to the list of those who do not care for the name. However, at this point, I do not expect Azamara to change it.

[Andy]

I'm wondering why they had to send my husband 8 e:mails yesterday saying the exact same thing mere seconds apart!! And hate the pretentiousness of it.

 

Hi Cruise Junky !

 

I recieved 1 email yesterday, and 16 emails today :). Someone must have hit the send button too many times.

 

It's funny how I've always said that Azamara does not send enough emails. While its great to see they are listening, I wasn't expecting the same email over and over !

[Cruise Junky]

Hi Cruise Junky !

 

I recieved 1 email yesterday, and 16 emails today :). Someone must have hit the send button too many times.

 

It's funny how I've always said that Azamara does not send enough emails. While its great to see they are listening, I wasn't expecting the same email over and over !

 

16? oh heavens. I'm very thankful I'm not also signed up through Azamara or we probably would have had 8 each!! ;)

[BGSS]

I only have 13 e-mails. Does this mean that Azamara doesn't like me.

[Andy]

I only have 13 e-mails. Does this mean that Azamara doesn't like me.

 

Hi BGSS !

 

Absolutely Not. It just means they like me, more than they like you :)

 

Hey, I've commented in the past, that I never recieve emails from Azamara. At least that's been solved !

 

I really dont mind the 16 emails. I kept 1 of them. That's what they made the delete key for :)

[Karynanne]

Well AZ doesn't like me a whole lot either. Only 5 emails this morning.

[tgg]

Harvard Business School is going to have an opportunity to develop a new case study on how NOT to do a rebranding rollout.

 

1. Tell most of your current customers that you don't want them back because they are not young or rich enough.

2. Pick a pretentious name for your loyalty plan and then tell people how to pronounce it.

3. Delay the announcement of the new loyalty program but raise your prices quickly.

4. Overwhelm people with repetitive emails but don't give them any new information.

5. Don't upgrade your inadequate customer service function. Frustrate callers with employees who don't know your product.

 

This is just for starters. Please feel free to add to the list.

[gosport11]

I only got 3 :(:(:( and upon futher reading all the special offers only in US dollars ,so we people in the uk have a grand total of 3 special cruise whoopee do,i can also see why ocea n view prices went up as they are now offering view for same price as balcony :rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Cruise Junky]

Harvard Business School is going to have an opportunity to develop a new case study on how NOT to do a rebranding rollout.

 

1. Tell most of your current customers that you don't want them back because they are not young or rich enough.

2. Pick a pretentious name for your loyalty plan and then tell people how to pronounce it.

3. Delay the announcement of the new loyalty program but raise your prices quickly.

4. Overwhelm people with repetitive emails but don't give them any new information.

5. Don't upgrade your inadequate customer service function. Frustrate callers with employees who don't know your product.

 

This is just for starters. Please feel free to add to the list.

 

Agree - they're not exactly excelling in "How To Win Friends and Influence People"

[greeneg]

Harvard Business School is going to have an opportunity to develop a new case study on how NOT to do a rebranding rollout.

 

1. Tell most of your current customers that you don't want them back because they are not young or rich enough.

2. Pick a pretentious name for your loyalty plan and then tell people how to pronounce it.

3. Delay the announcement of the new loyalty program but raise your prices quickly.

4. Overwhelm people with repetitive emails but don't give them any new information.

5. Don't upgrade your inadequate customer service function. Frustrate callers with employees who don't know your product.

 

This is just for starters. Please feel free to add to the list.

 

Well said. What concerns me the most is that their current attitude strikes me a similar to that of GM in the 1980's where if you wanted to buy a car, you bought what they wanted you to buy, in the color that they wanted to make it, and "we know better than you, Mr. Customer." We all know what that got GM, I would hate to think that Azamara, where our previous cruises have been the best ever thanks to product and service, would be starting down that road.

[kk99]

Hi everyone,

I received the same 16 emails as well. I'm glad it wasn't by snail mail overkill. I would love to see what the actual benefits of the Club are, and am puzzled as to why they haven't been able to formulate and release it by now. It's one thing to increase the prices, but tell us what extra club benefits are for frequent cruisers. I'm also curious if they will grandfather your previous tier status (some with Celebrity some with Azamara) or only count the Azamara sailings only for the new Club tiers. If I have to reestablish my tier credits with Azamara, I may be more likely to stay with the other cruise programs where I have achieved higher tier status and benefits. Hopefully, it will come out in the next few weeks.

Kelcie

[JennAngel9]

Maybe one of the perks will be lessons from French Stewart on how to speak English with an exaggerated French accent. :p

 

I'd just like to throw out that if Azamara gave say, an hour of free internet/day, at the equivalent of the Select level and unlimited free internet above that, I'd be willing to overlook the whole "le club voy-ahzah" ridiculousness. Also, they'd have a better shot at the "haven't quite made it to retirement" demographic they seem to be after. On the other hand, DH and I started cruising while has still at a hedge fund because I wanted some quality time w/o having to compete w/ the crackberry....

[bronte2]

Harvard Business School is going to have an opportunity to develop a new case study on how NOT to do a rebranding rollout.

 

1. Tell most of your current customers that you don't want them back because they are not young or rich enough.

2. Pick a pretentious name for your loyalty plan and then tell people how to pronounce it.

3. Delay the announcement of the new loyalty program but raise your prices quickly.

4. Overwhelm people with repetitive emails but don't give them any new information.

5. Don't upgrade your inadequate customer service function. Frustrate callers with employees who don't know your product.

 

 

 

This is just for starters. Please feel free to add to the list.

 

Well said TGG.

Their condescending attitude and pretentiousness is puzzling.

They should fire their PR people - they haven't got a clue!

 

We have just returned from a lovely cruise and really wonder if the shore-based management even know what they are trying to do - it is most definitely a case study in how not to conduct a re-branding :confused:.

[suec12]

Well Club Le Voyage seems a bit goofy to me but for the most part I think there is alot of "glass half empty" sentiment here. I think Azamara decided their product was similar in quality to Oceania with a discounted price. So they added some NICE enticements - included gratuities and table wine - and increased their prices to closer to O. So if the prices and product are fairly even, now A cruisers have some extra perks. Obviously they need to ramp up the customer service a bit and it wouldn't hurt to have brochures!

[gillianrose]

I received four duplicate emails from Azamara. Three of them were sent yesterday.

 

...in French or English? :rolleyes:

[tgg]

...in french or english? :rolleyes:

 

rotfl