Venting-- Le Club Voyage

[lonestarsteve]

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.

 

Hi Toni

 

You nailed it. This has been a disappointment for those of who have supported Az from the beginning....we seem to have been forgotten by those wise new folks at the top. See you soon on the Journey....don't know about future Azamara trips!

 

Regards

Steve and Kate

[tommui987]

I am positively glad that Azarama is upgrading its program and all you nay-sayers are just, well, nit-picky.

 

After all, if Azarama was already upgraded, I would have gotten my docs and baggage tags by now! (I leave for Hong Kong on Tuesday)

[critterchick]

I have received at least 16 emails on the subject, all sent out at least a few weeks after the initial announcement, saying "we wanted you to know first...":rolleyes:

 

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.

 

6. After your new pricing structure has been in place for a couple of weeks, have a 2:1 sale.

[California Native]

Well, I think there's been some really good feedback for AZ on this thread and our past threads.

I think most of us have the ability to spin anything to be positive or on the bright side.

However, when I'm asked my honest opinion I give it.

Living in the SFO Bay Area, we have a ton of market research opportunities, I can easily supplement my travel fund a couple hundred dollars being paid to be honest

I've told radio stations what I think of thier music line up, I've been on 2 mock juries, I've done countless usability testing for all sorts of websites.

I've tasted some incredible and disgusting foods, and decided fragrance preferences for dryer sheets to name just a few things

I'm paid to give my opinion and companies pay alot of money to hear me say ...

**your website sucks and is impossible to navigate

**your shock jock has me turning the station and please stop playing milli vanilli every hour...what has happened to you people???

** the defendent should pay the plaintiff a trillion dollars as far as I'm concerned

It might not be what they wanted to hear, but it's information that they need to run their business

in the top 1%

Azamara is developing a loyalty program and we are giving them FREE MARKET RESEARCH, they should take advantage of it.

they've bungled a few things along the way..at least listen to us...

after all we are the ones that decide which brand

WE the paying customer will remain loyal to.....

[California Native]

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.

''

 

tell customers they are too young..(we're in our early 40s)

(for the record my mom who is in her 70's stays up later

than we do!)

[rpv2sail]

I'm not feeling the love--I've sailed five weeks on Azamara--have two more weeks booked and haven't received one email. My husband did receive one--which I passed on to my travel agent--who hadn't heard anything about the new program. She called her Azamara rep to get the details--last I heard he hadn't called her back.

 

tgg you did a great job summarizing this mis-step by Azamara.

[MightyQuinn]

Well I received a total of 6 copies of the same e-mail. The first arrived on New Years Eve! At least I'm on their list. Now if only I could coax a brochure out of them. When I request it off their website contacts page, I get a warning that the address is untrusted. :p:p

[JennAngel9]

Thanks everybody for weighing in (and with such civility!)-- I agree with everybody else who views my venting as constructive criticism and not complaining :p I used to do consumer testing too and while I'm not sure my opinion is worth that much-- as a whole, cruise critics (cruise critiquers?) are some of the most enthusiastic cruisers and most likely to get the word out to others about trying new lines... so we should be a very valuable tool. I don't think any us (currently around 60+%) who either strongly disliked or disliked the name will give it more than a passing thought while actually on the ship-- unless of course they start making announcements in faux french accents, or other such ridiculousness. ;)

[broberts]

So call it the Travel Club and let Azamara figure it out. One does presume they know French.

[piscean]

The BBC are offering free basic French lessons on line. I have signed up for the weekly sessions, they could be very useful!:rolleyes:

I finally received 4 emails!! and a general brochure from a TA quoting Azamara as having 'Butler service in all grades of stateroom'!! Have they got a marketing department?

[Grandma Rambo]

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 :)

 

Well, I got 21!!!!! I didn't mind keeping one and deleting the rest, but the message looked exactly like the one about three weeks before. Really didn't tell us anything except, again, how to pronounce the silly name.

[lonestarsteve]

Well, I got 21!!!!! I didn't mind keeping one and deleting the rest, but the message looked exaon either othe ctly like the one about three weeks before. Really didn't tell us anything except, again, how to pronounce the silly name.[/quot

 

This should be a bit embarssing for Azamara. For those of us who have been very active in promoting Az we hope they change their current marketing [advancements?] At operations level the staff is still excellent and produce a wonderful product when aboard either ship. Someone upstairs please take note and inform us about REAL changes in some other language than French;)

[tgg]

Two weeks from today Lonestarsteve and his wife and my husband and I will all be on the Feb. 12 Journey cruise. We met this lovely couple almost two years ago on our first Azamara cruise. This will be our 6th Azamara cruise, and we have another booked for September. Steve & Kate have sailed with Azamara even more often.

 

Why am I posting this? We want Azamara to be successful. It should be obvious that we all love sailing with Azamara. The service on the ships has been wonderful. The senior staff is highly visible. Any problems are handled quickly. The food has been great. We are greeted with smiles by everyone.

 

This is the cruise experience that we want to have for years to come. I hate to see Miami making a mess of the rebranding.

 

I'll post a review when we return, and perhaps Steve will do the same. I'm hoping that the onboard experience hasn't changed. (It would be nice if they've finally replaced the bedside clocks that nobody can seem to make work :rolleyes:.)

[Karynanne]

Two weeks from today Lonestarsteve and his wife and my husband and I will all be on the Feb. 12 Journey cruise. We met this lovely couple almost two years ago on our first Azamara cruise. This will be our 6th Azamara cruise, and we have another booked for September. Steve & Kate have sailed with Azamara even more often.

 

Why am I posting this? We want Azamara to be successful. It should be obvious that we all love sailing with Azamara. The service on the ships has been wonderful. The senior staff is highly visible. Any problems are handled quickly. The food has been great. We are greeted with smiles by everyone.

 

This is the cruise experience that we want to have for years to come. I hate to see Miami making a mess of the rebranding.

 

I'll post a review when we return, and perhaps Steve will do the same. I'm hoping that the onboard experience hasn't changed. (It would be nice if they've finally replaced the bedside clocks that nobody can seem to make work :rolleyes:.)

 

We'll be right there with you on the 12th! After many cruises with Celebrity, we're looking forward to enjoying the Azamara experience.

[JJPacer]

We are leaving in 13 days on the Journey and have the Best of Italy booked in Oct. We haven't received a single e-mail from AZ, except our E-Docs for the 2/10 cruise. We checked our captains club settings. We confirmed we are signed up to receive e-mails from them. We also checked our spam folder. Nada. (Oh dear a believe that is spanish, not French) You folks must be receiving our e-mails and others and AZ expects YOU to pass them along to the rest of us :eek: The empty e-mails don't upset us as we are only interested in the specials/sales. Hopefully we'll receive those (???)

 

IMHO Princess does the best job of marketing their product. AZ should follow their lead in marketing. Well, they also need to improve their attitude towards the hard working American who has the freedeom to choose where they spend their $$$$$. We are thinking about canceling the Best of Italy cruise.

[loribelle1]

Ah theenk zat zee new mascotte pour le club voyage should bee Pepe LePew--because this marketing approach stinks.

[greeneg]

We are leaving in 13 days on the Journey and have the Best of Italy booked in Oct. We haven't received a single e-mail from AZ, except our E-Docs for the 2/10 cruise. We checked our captains club settings. We confirmed we are signed up to receive e-mails from them. We also checked our spam folder. Nada. (Oh dear a believe that is spanish, not French) You folks must be receiving our e-mails and others and AZ expects YOU to pass them along to the rest of us :eek: The empty e-mails don't upset us as we are only interested in the specials/sales. Hopefully we'll receive those (???)

 

IMHO Princess does the best job of marketing their product. AZ should follow their lead in marketing. Well, they also need to improve their attitude towards the hard working American who has the freedeom to choose where they spend their $$$$$. We are thinking about canceling the Best of Italy cruise.

 

I would tend to advise you not to cancel the Best of Italy Cruise. Our experience this past May on the Quest mirrors that of so many who have posted on these boards, this was a cruise and experience to remember and cherish. It is an itinerary to research and really to make the absolute most of ( Example: one of the most memorable moments was listening to a Vivaldi concert in a 17th Century Chapel just off of the Grand Canal in Venice. That's where the research comes in, otherwise you might not know about and might miss that experience.) The Azamra Experience and the people we have cruised with really are something special. THAT's why we are so concerned that that will be lost in the ham-handed ( apparently) attempt to create a "re-branding".

 

Take a look at our Roll Call ( 5-16-2009), it is still active and there's a lot of good stuff there.

 

Hope this is of some use to you and I hope you will reconsider and take this Cruise before it does get "re-branded".

[geocruiser]

Hi,

 

I had eight Emails.

 

Maria

[hockeyken]

:p Incroyable! Glad I booked elsewhere. Also, the 14 day cruise I came so so close to booking no longer exists...M-rde! This rebranding might end up looking like a bad tattoo.

[JennAngel9]

Hockeyken, I found your post to be super chouette (which as far as I can tell, is a french phrase used exclusively by americans who learned to speak french in school)! Congrats on the upcoming 30th.

 

Also, your post made me wonder-- perhaps Azamara wants to appeal more friendly to french canadians? ;)

[piscean]

I would tend to advise you not to cancel the Best of Italy Cruise. Our experience this past May on the Quest mirrors that of so many who have posted on these boards, this was a cruise and experience to remember and cherish. It is an itinerary to research and really to make the absolute most of ( Example: one of the most memorable moments was listening to a Vivaldi concert in a 17th Century Chapel just off of the Grand Canal in Venice. That's where the research comes in, otherwise you might not know about and might miss that experience.) The Azamra Experience and the people we have cruised with really are something special. THAT's why we are so concerned that that will be lost in the ham-handed ( apparently) attempt to create a "re-branding".

 

Take a look at our Roll Call ( 5-16-2009), it is still active and there's a lot of good stuff there.

 

Hope this is of some use to you and I hope you will reconsider and take this Cruise before it does get "re-branded".

I do so agree with Ed. The Best of Italy trip was absolutley lovely,don't cancel, enjoy. (anyway the price should be good!)

[Karynanne]

I just received another email from AZ, apologizing for the "numerous email" issue. It stated that there was an internal glitch, and it had been identified. And I only received one!

[TheNit]

I've done both Azamara and Oceania. In my opinion Azamara is not up to the same standards (service,food) as Oceania. I tried Azamara after Oceania because I loved the ship (identical) but I was hoping to get a lower price and I did. Now, with the new Club, they've killed their price advantage. I priced (on the websites) a 12 day Venice to Marseilles Oceania cruise in late September, deluxe oceanview with air and transfers from Toronto and compared it to a 12 day Venice to Barcelona (almost the same ports) Azamara cruise in late August, the exact same cabin, with air and transfers from Toronto and the price difference was about $2200 USD for 2 people. Azamara had the higher price. I know that they've thrown in some extras and the later month may have some effect but it in no way can justify this difference. Actually, I just checked the Azamara 12 day mid-Sept cruise and it has $200 more.

 

Personally, I think that they've made a huge error in what they think that they are worth. A new name apparently means that they can bump up the price.