Guatemala strikes again...

[florisdekort]

Thanks everyone. I'm on Quest as of this afternoon and as expected, it's all just wonderful. The ship and cabin are in excellent condition and the service simply couldn't be any better. If Azamara would pair its amazing shipboard product with equally good service ashore, they would roll up the competition i.m.o. I found a nice apology letter in my cabin with a bottle of rose bubbly, so as far as I'm concerned, this book is now closed. I'll make the future cruise sales lady happy later this week with 3 reservations for 2016 :) Cheers from Civitavecchia!

 

 

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[Texed]

If Azamara would pair its amazing shipboard product with equally good service ashore, they would roll up the competition i.m.o. I found a nice apology letter in my cabin with a bottle of rose bubbly, so as far as I'm concerned, this book is now closed. I'll make the future cruise sales lady happy later this week with 3 reservations for 2016 :) Cheers from Civitavecchia!

 

Have a great cruise. :)

[ikelmay]

And once again, the excellent proactive onboard service saves the day. I don wonder though how much business Azamara is losing due to the poor customer service from Guatemala.

 

If I was a premium cruise oriented travel agency, I'd be steering customers towards an organisation that I could deal with that didn't entail taking blood pressure medication before every call.

[Redtravel]

And once again, the excellent proactive onboard service saves the day. I don wonder though how much business Azamara is losing due to the poor customer service from Guatemala.

 

If I was a premium cruise oriented travel agency, I'd be steering customers towards an organisation that I could deal with that didn't entail taking blood pressure medication before every call.

 

I have had my share of problems with Guatemala. It is so different from my previous experiences. Azamara could be losing potential customers due to the inept call center. I am sure that there are many people who called and decided not to book. The cruise business is very competitive. Azamara has a lot of competition. Cruising is a luxury item. If the experience from booking to completing the cruise isn't wonderful, the next cruise may be on a different line.

[Spursgirl]

Thanks everyone. I'm on Quest as of this afternoon and as expected, it's all just wonderful. The ship and cabin are in excellent condition and the service simply couldn't be any better. If Azamara would pair its amazing shipboard product with equally good service ashore, they would roll up the competition i.m.o. I found a nice apology letter in my cabin with a bottle of rose bubbly, so as far as I'm concerned, this book is now closed. I'll make the future cruise sales lady happy later this week with 3 reservations for 2016 :) Cheers from Civitavecchia!

 

 

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Glad all has worked out for you. Perhaps you might consider assigning those 2016 bookings to a TA to avoid any further grief.

 

You get off Quest as we get on so delighted to hear that the ship is in its normal great shape.

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

[CintiPam]

Glad all has worked out for you. Perhaps you might consider assigning those 2016 bookings to a TA to avoid any further grief.

 

You get off Quest as we get on so delighted to hear that the ship is in its normal great shape.

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

 

+1 on recommendation of a TA. A TA is essential these days IMO.

[BBMacLaird]

Hi Marinero, yes the office does give me my shipboard minutes complimentary. I was posting while ashore...data roaming. I'm try to be frugal. Where's English Tim when I need back-up?

 

 

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[nordski]

Hi Marinero, yes the office does give me my shipboard minutes complimentary. I was posting while ashore...data roaming. I'm try to be frugal. Where's English Tim when I need back-up?

 

 

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Great comment! Glad that you are enjoying your cruise.

 

I must have missed something along the way. I understood that the Guatemala call center was announced last fall for cruisers from the UK and Ireland.

 

Yet, posters from the USA are complaining. Has the Xerox center in Central America expanded its services?

[Richard&JohnSTX]

Thanks everyone. I'm on Quest as of this afternoon and as expected, it's all just wonderful. The ship and cabin are in excellent condition and the service simply couldn't be any better. If Azamara would pair its amazing shipboard product with equally good service ashore, they would roll up the competition i.m.o. I found a nice apology letter in my cabin with a bottle of rose bubbly, so as far as I'm concerned, this book is now closed. I'll make the future cruise sales lady happy later this week with 3 reservations for 2016 :) Cheers from Civitavecchia!

 

 

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Floris,

 

You are one classy lady - hope to meet you onboard Azamara one day!

 

Richard

[marinaro44]

Floris,

 

You are one classy lady - hope to meet you onboard Azamara one day!

 

Richard

According to the Behind the Name web site, Floris is the 40th most popular male name in the Netherlands.;)

[Richard&JohnSTX]

According to the Behind the Name web site, Floris is the 40th most popular male name in the Netherlands.;)

 

Oops! My bad. Floris is one Classy Person to have gone through this episode and to have put it behind them upon boarding the ship!

[Andy]

Great comment! Glad that you are enjoying your cruise.

 

I must have missed something along the way. I understood that the Guatemala call center was announced last fall for cruisers from the UK and Ireland.

 

Yet, posters from the USA are complaining. Has the Xerox center in Central America expanded its services?

 

Im wondering that too. My understanding is/was, that Guatemala was for UK and Ireland guests. I wonder why a US guest was dealing with Guatemala, unless she was rerouted to the call center in error.

[Andy]

Thanks everyone. I'm on Quest as of this afternoon and as expected, it's all just wonderful. The ship and cabin are in excellent condition and the service simply couldn't be any better. If Azamara would pair its amazing shipboard product with equally good service ashore, they would roll up the competition i.m.o. I found a nice apology letter in my cabin with a bottle of rose bubbly, so as far as I'm concerned, this book is now closed. I'll make the future cruise sales lady happy later this week with 3 reservations for 2016 :) Cheers from Civitavecchia!

 

 

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Hi Floris,

 

I'm so glad that you are having a wonderful time on Quest, and that your issues were resolved. It's a shame that you had to deal with such a lousy pre-cruise experience. Add me to the list of those who suggest using a TA for all of your future Azamara bookings, in light of what you described. I'd never want to deal with that.

 

All the very best to you, and enjoy your cruise !

[troywest]

Several months ago, I received an email promoting a $500 choice air credit.

 

It looked good to me, and I called to make a booking. I don't know where the call was routed, but I am thinking Guatemala, based on this topic.

 

The representative had no clue about the promotion -or about choice air; so the end result was that Azamara lost a booking.

 

As others have suggested, it's hard to believe that Azamara - which has a great onboard product could have such poor shoreside service. One must assume that this is the result of decisions made by RCCL, and forced upon Azamara.

 

We can only hope that someone in administration at Azamara reads these boards, and is able to recognize that the lost revenue and lost goodwill hurts the Azamara brand. Maybe they will at least establish a US based problem solving phone number.

[BillC]

The US operation was quietly closed down several months ago and the operation was switched to Guatemala. I am not aware that any announcement was made about this change. I am amused that many of the comments on this thread recommend only using a travel agent to interface on your behalf with the call center, since I am a travel agent, and call many times per week.

[nordski]

The US operation was quietly closed down several months ago and the operation was switched to Guatemala. I am not aware that any announcement was made about this change. I am amused that many of the comments on this thread recommend only using a travel agent to interface on your behalf with the call center, since I am a travel agent, and call many times per week.

 

Thanks for the update.

[Andy]

The US operation was quietly closed down several months ago and the operation was switched to Guatemala. I am not aware that any announcement was made about this change. I am amused that many of the comments on this thread recommend only using a travel agent to interface on your behalf with the call center, since I am a travel agent, and call many times per week.

 

Thanks for sharing Bill. Assuming this is the case, it's fairly clear that Azamara wouldn't dare make such an announcement, especially in light of the never-ending complaints about Guatemala.

 

It's truly amazing that a brand that wishes to be considered as upscale, can offer a poor experience at the Guatemala call center. What's even more disappointing, is that the center has been around for several months, and there doesnt seem to be much improvement. I cant imagine how much business will be lost, while trying to cut costs. If you ask me, this whole Guatemala affair is a penny wise, and pound foolish decision.

 

At any rate, it seems that Guatemala is here to stay, and Azamara had better pay more attention to improving the consumer experience, and pronto.

[ikelmay]

The US operation was quietly closed down several months ago and the operation was switched to Guatemala. I am not aware that any announcement was made about this change. I am amused that many of the comments on this thread recommend only using a travel agent to interface on your behalf with the call center, since I am a travel agent, and call many times per week.

 

Wow, I'm floored by this news. My perception was that the UK operation was the trojan horse before expanding the relocation of the english speaking call centers, but given the negative feedback so far, I'm really surprised the bean counters have gone ahead and made this change.

 

Next stage I'm afraid, will be the relocation of all RCCL customer service brands to an offshore operation.

 

I also get the sense that the Azamara CC feedback isn't so welcome these days, especially the negative comments re shoreside operations. I have sympathy for all the agents doing their best for clients and having to waste untold time trying to obtain answers from callcenter staff who have less experience and knowledge than they do. This of course isn't unique to offshore call centers, but it's the learning curve that will be so frustrating.

[nonrev1]

A friend of mine works with RCCL.....his department was moved to Guatemala quite a few months ago. So, it is not just Azamara or the UK.

I am quite surprised that this is the route they chose for their higher end brand. (Especially this late in the game) Many major companies are starting to bring their call centers back to the U.S. due to poor service and customer complaints. They learned by losing customers that it was worth it to pay employees more, but offer better customer service. Some U.S. based airlines, credit card companies and hotels still have offshore call centers but have U.S. Call centers for their higher tier customers and specialty departments.

[excitedofharpenden]

A friend of mine works with RCCL.....his department was moved to Guatemala quite a few months ago. So, it is not just Azamara or the UK.

I am quite surprised that this is the route they chose for their higher end brand. (Especially this late in the game) Many major companies are starting to bring their call centers back to the U.S. due to poor service and customer complaints. They learned by losing customers that it was worth it to pay employees more, but offer better customer service. Some U.S. based airlines, credit card companies and hotels still have offshore call centers but have U.S. Call centers for their higher tier customers and specialty departments.

The move has been brought into sharper focus (at least for me) because of the wonderful service I received in the UK by a number of people prior to the change, a few of whom have been displaced. It's a real shame, but fortunately thanks to another poster here I cruised with I have found a travel agent to deal with Guatemala on my behalf and she has roads in to get things sorted if they need to be.

 

Phil

Edited August 13, 2014 by excitedofharpenden

[G2G]

Hi Phil,

I'm pleased that your agent has ways of gaining a satisfactory resolution with Guatamala, my agent has had to resort to Mr Twynham on 3 occasions for 3 different cruises this year and we are still being given the "go around" at the moment. I am so despondent about the lack of progress with the whole process, that once I have completed my current bookings I am changing my allegiance. I love the on board experience, but I want to have a good pre-cruise experience as well.

 

G :(

Edited August 13, 2014 by G2G

[pacheco18]

It just gets worse and worse

I spoke to Guatemala AGAIN about the failure of the on line checkin

 

Answer: they have no IT troubleshooting department there or in Miami!!!! Is that possible?

 

Answer: Don't worry about on on line checkin -- not necessary -- are they kidding?

 

Answer: Call your TA to get luggage tags (Of course I can do that).

 

 

How on earth can they run a business like this???

 

and it gets worse

 

i called azamara with my ta who insisted that the number he calls goes to miami

WRONG

he also gets guatemala

 

TAs hate this

not going to be good for business

Edited August 13, 2014 by pacheco18

[pacheco18]

And after a 45 minute call with my TA and Guatemala we KNOW we got misinformation. Plus there is no record of a special request my TA put in a year ago. The rep told us to do something that we both know cannot and should not be done. My TA will never encourage anyone to book Azamara because of this kind of stuff. I agree.

 

I am thinking of canceling my B2B -- suck it up and lose the deposit. They could cancel it anyway. I don't know how the rest of you can stand it. The on board experience, which is terrific,m just does not compensate for the incompetence shoreside.

[Cruise Junky]

And after a 45 minute call with my TA and Guatemala we KNOW we got misinformation. Plus there is no record of a special request my TA put in a year ago. The rep told us to do something that we both know cannot and should not be done. My TA will never encourage anyone to book Azamara because of this kind of stuff. I agree.

 

I am thinking of canceling my B2B -- suck it up and lose the deposit. They could cancel it anyway. I don't know how the rest of you can stand it. The on board experience, which is terrific,m just does not compensate for the incompetence shoreside.

 

As an Azamara newbie, can I ask why you would lose your deposit?

[pacheco18]

As an Azamara newbie, can I ask why you would lose your deposit?

 

I booked both cruises of the B2b on board. That is nonrefundable