AZ Upgrade Program - NEW - effective 3/12/19!!

[Cyber Kat]

On 3/27/2019 at 6:49 AM, Lois R said:

Hi Bonnie, you had asked me a few posts back when I am sailing.  I sail 2 weeks from today. April 10th.  And Azamara has still not replied to my bid/email.  I realize I am just 1 person among many but I am wondering why I did not get at least an acknowledgement that my email was received even if they don't accept my bid.

 

We are on the same cruise. We did get an acknowledgement that our bid was received. I haven’t heard whether or not my “weak” bid was accepted, yet. Did you check your spam folder?  That’s where the original email ended up for me. If my TA hadn’t contacted me, I wouldn’t have known about it. 

[helby]

Having seen references to the Celebrity upgrade program on this board I checked the Celebrity boards and found out the the program is contracted out to Plusgrade which has contracts with many airlines and cruise lines including Azamara, Celebrity and RCI.  You can check it out at  Plusgrade.com  

https-::www.plusgrade.com:partners:.webloc

[screen-gem]

On 3/24/2019 at 5:30 PM, Lois R said:

I put in a bid almost 2 weeks ago but never received a reply. I tried emailing them with a follow up today but my email was returned as "UNDELIVERABLE"...……...

@BBMacLaird

I've read a number of reports here about Customers who aren't receiving AZ emails, or who send emails and have them bounce back as undeliverable. As you know, there's an entire thread devoted to the topic, pinned to the top of the board: "Azamara & LCV Emails".

 

A possible reason is that the Azamara e-mail servers are not configured properly.  This will sound extremely geeky (and it is), but they are missing the DMARC record. In addition, a DMARC policy has not been specified. Given the complexity of today's global internet, the absence of DMARC can result in problems with reliable delivery of emails.  Your IT wizards will understand the implications (or if they don't, they can consult with Ms. Google).

 

Here's a link to a commercial tool (mxtoolbox.com) that displays the MX record for domain azamara.com. The MX record is a crucial bit of internet magic that enables email to happen.  You can see the two errors in the settings, and also in the attached screenshot.

https://mxtoolbox.com/SuperTool.aspx?action=mx%3aAzamara.com&run=toolpage

 

The MX records for azamaracruises.com and azamaraclubcruises.com are similar misconfigured.

 

I can't say for certain if the MX records are the reason for emails bouncing back. However, best email practice these days is for an MX record to include DMARC definition.

 

Pls pass on to your IT folks. 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

[BBMacLaird]

Thanks Screen-gem, will do!

I appreciate your willingness to help 🤩

 

[snowglobe]

9 hours ago, screen-gem said:

@BBMacLaird

The MX records for azamaracruises.com and azamaraclubcruises.com are similar misconfigured.

I can't say for certain if the MX records are the reason for emails bouncing back. However, best email practice these days is for an MX record to include DMARC definition.

Pls pass on to your IT folks. 

Hope this helps.

 

Bill concurs with Screen-gem’s assessment.

Azamara’s IT Dept. should be on this.

[maygrovecruisers]

After phone calls with the Azamara Upgrade department we have finally got through to the upgrade process and can see the bidding options for our April 27th Quest cruise.

The reason we were always 'not eligible' was because both members of a couple must be 'opted-in' for emails. No one has mentioned this requirement before.

I was opted-in and DH was not according to the Upgrade department. It turns out they had the wrong email address for DH. In the 'My Account' settings DH was opted-in under a different email address. Once this was sorted out we were able to see the upgrade options for our cruise.

 

The costs to upgrade from Balcony to CC were beyond the original $398 per cabin cost so with the inability to accept or decline an offered cabin and the strangeness of having to bid different prices, we have decided not to bother bidding on any upgrades. We have 9 cruises booked with Azamara thru to Dec 2020 but have already started to book other cruise lines (additional 8 cruises thru to Dec 2020 on Seabourn, Celebrity and Regent Seven Seas).

[hiccups]

3 hours ago, maygrovecruisers said:

After phone calls with the Azamara Upgrade department we have finally got through to the upgrade process and can see the bidding options for our April 27th Quest cruise.

The reason we were always 'not eligible' was because both members of a couple must be 'opted-in' for emails. No one has mentioned this requirement before.

I was opted-in and DH was not according to the Upgrade department. It turns out they had the wrong email address for DH. In the 'My Account' settings DH was opted-in under a different email address. Once this was sorted out we were able to see the upgrade options for our cruise.

 

The costs to upgrade from Balcony to CC were beyond the original $398 per cabin cost so with the inability to accept or decline an offered cabin and the strangeness of having to bid different prices, we have decided not to bother bidding on any upgrades. We have 9 cruises booked with Azamara thru to Dec 2020 but have already started to book other cruise lines (additional 8 cruises thru to Dec 2020 on Seabourn, Celebrity and Regent Seven Seas).

Both members of a couple must be signed up for emails?  That's a no-go for us, as my DH would never agree to getting more junk mail than he already does.  Kind of a dumb requirement, IMO.  But it explains why I never get any Azamara emails, perhaps!

[uktog]

Interesting, but I got the offer email and both parties are not signed up as far as I know - there is no transparency in the various records to help us know what we are opted in or out of, other organisations I deal with lets me see that through my account sign on.

I do agree with you though, the location issue of the rooms and the process makes it unattractive to many, time will tell if that means Azamara is a winner or a loser on this one.

[excitedofharpenden]

4 hours ago, maygrovecruisers said:

After phone calls with the Azamara Upgrade department we have finally got through to the upgrade process and can see the bidding options for our April 27th Quest cruise.

The reason we were always 'not eligible' was because both members of a couple must be 'opted-in' for emails. No one has mentioned this requirement before.

I was opted-in and DH was not according to the Upgrade department. It turns out they had the wrong email address for DH. In the 'My Account' settings DH was opted-in under a different email address. Once this was sorted out we were able to see the upgrade options for our cruise.

 

The costs to upgrade from Balcony to CC were beyond the original $398 per cabin cost so with the inability to accept or decline an offered cabin and the strangeness of having to bid different prices, we have decided not to bother bidding on any upgrades. We have 9 cruises booked with Azamara thru to Dec 2020 but have already started to book other cruise lines (additional 8 cruises thru to Dec 2020 on Seabourn, Celebrity and Regent Seven Seas).

Jeanette, I know you are very regular Azamara  cruisers. I'd be interested to know if there were other things going on that you weren't happy with and maybe this latest change is part of the straw that is in danger of breaking the camel's back?

 

I have to agree that the increase in price of upgrades and inability to choose cabin are total deal breakers and for me this LCV upgrade is no longer a benefit which is a shame.  Another one that was good whilst it lasted. 

 

Phil 

Edited April 1, 2019 by excitedofharpenden

[upwarduk]

7 hours ago, hiccups said:

Both members of a couple must be signed up for emails?

So, does this mean solo cruisers are unable to upgrade?

[critterchick]

4 hours ago, upwarduk said:

So, does this mean solo cruisers are unable to upgrade?

You are able to upgrade, but if Azamara follow Royal Caribbean's model, you will pay double the price you bid.

[cruzluvers]

On 3/12/2019 at 6:24 PM, excitedofharpenden said:

Bonnie, I guess my question on this loyalty benefit is this.  Guest A who has cruised on Azamara twice bids $500 for an upgrade from a balcony to a suite. Guest B who has cruised 15 times bids $450 for that same upgrade.  Who trumps who?

 

Phil

Unfortunately Phil, the higher bid will probably get it.  So much for "loyalty"!

[CA Oceanfront]

53 minutes ago, cruzluvers said:

Unfortunately Phil, the higher bid will probably get it.  So much for "loyalty"!

Not necessarily. It depends on the “multiplier” assigned to the loyalty level. 

[gymfreak]

2 hours ago, CA Oceanfront said:

Not necessarily. It depends on the “multiplier” assigned to the loyalty level. 

I thought the multiplier only came into consideration when the top bids were equal. Am I wrong?

[hiccups]

6 hours ago, gymfreak said:

I thought the multiplier only came into consideration when the top bids were equal. Am I wrong?

I posted an example back at the beginning of the thread as to how I thought they might apply the multiplier.  From the information Bonnie gave us, the algorithm takes LCV status into account as part of the bid.  However, we'll never know for sure!

[maygrovecruisers]

On 4/1/2019 at 4:09 PM, excitedofharpenden said:

Jeanette, I know you are very regular Azamara  cruisers. I'd be interested to know if there were other things going on that you weren't happy with and maybe this latest change is part of the straw that is in danger of breaking the camel's back?

 

I have to agree that the increase in price of upgrades and inability to choose cabin are total deal breakers and for me this LCV upgrade is no longer a benefit which is a shame.  Another one that was good whilst it lasted. 

 

Phil 

Hi Phil,

We have been unhappy with the Azamara onshore processes for some time but love the onboard environment. With Azamara moving more to country intensive cruises we are finding it harder to get back to back cruises that suit us and our timetable. We like to be onboard for a reasonable length of time, like 3 to 4 weeks or more. Once we started looking at some of the other luxury lines we found their itineraries more suitable to us and were surprised to find their costs similar to Azamara. We will see how this year goes and won't be cancelling our future Azamara cruises just yet.

Jeanette

 

[maygrovecruisers]

On 4/1/2019 at 10:48 PM, upwarduk said:

So, does this mean solo cruisers are unable to upgrade?

No I am sure solo bookings are treated differently to double bookings. We were very surprised when the Upgrade  dept told us that we both had to be opted in. An additional complication appeared to be about our email addresses. Very difficult to fully understand what is really happening with this upgrade process. Comments about LCV mulipliers also amazes me although I have not seen anything from Azamara that actually implies they adjust a bid for LCV members based on LCV levels.

Of course nothing really would surprise me.

 

[susangeri]

On 3/19/2019 at 1:15 PM, BBMacLaird said:

Just to clarify re old upgrade requests....

A. All upgrades for March have been assigned. 

B. we will be protecting old upgrade requests for sailings departing April through June 30, 2019, meaning that we will give these priority once you rebid the minimum amount using the new system with a confirmed credit card. There is a deadline though so please resubmit bids by April 01. Thus please resubmit soon if you are sailing in April, May or June!

C. All others should bid or rebid when eligible, meaning after full payment.

 

Here is the webpage for our Azamara Upgrade. 

https://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/int/azamara-upgrade-program

 

Would it be possible to send you a DM?  I have a question.  Thanks.  

 

[Lois R]

A...All upgrades for March have been assigned...…….I hope so, since we are in April

[BBMacLaird]

1 hour ago, susangeri said:

Would it be possible to send you a DM?  I have a question.  Thanks.

Hi susangeri, I don’t take questions off line. Your best bet is to write to our Customer Service:

AzamaraCustomerService@azamara.com

[hiccups]

13 hours ago, maygrovecruisers said:

No I am sure solo bookings are treated differently to double bookings. We were very surprised when the Upgrade  dept told us that we both had to be opted in. An additional complication appeared to be about our email addresses. Very difficult to fully understand what is really happening with this upgrade process. Comments about LCV mulipliers also amazes me although I have not seen anything from Azamara that actually implies they adjust a bid for LCV members based on LCV levels.

Of course nothing really would surprise me.

 

Bonnie's first post of the thread mentions LCV status:

LCV members will be given a boost to your bid to increase your chances of upgrading. Your bid increases in weight as you go from Adventurer to Explorer to Discoverer to Discoverer Plus to Discoverer Platinum. Assuming all else is equal among bids, the LCV member with the highest tier will receive the upgrade.

[gymfreak]

1 hour ago, hiccups said:

Bonnie's first post of the thread mentions LCV status:

LCV members will be given a boost to your bid to increase your chances of upgrading. Your bid increases in weight as you go from Adventurer to Explorer to Discoverer to Discoverer Plus to Discoverer Platinum. Assuming all else is equal among bids, the LCV member with the highest tier will receive the upgrade.

It’s the assuming all else is equal which I take to be equal top bids before the multiplier comes into the equation. Therefore a bid of $500 by a first timer trumps a bid of $450 by a Discover Platinum member. Again have I got this wrong?

[marinaro44]

1 hour ago, gymfreak said:

It’s the assuming all else is equal which I take to be equal top bids before the multiplier comes into the equation. Therefore a bid of $500 by a first timer trumps a bid of $450 by a Discover Platinum member. Again have I got this wrong?

No way of knowing, and this is why I'm not playing this game.  Azamara has just stuck it to its high-ranking loyalty members, and I take that to be a real turn-off.

[Lottie A]

6 minutes ago, marinaro44 said:

No way of knowing, and this is why I'm not playing this game.  Azamara has just stuck it to its high-ranking loyalty members, and I take that to be a real turn-off.

I agree. There are a lot of cabins still available in the grade above the one I have booked for my May cruise. I might be upgraded on a weak bid ....or not. I have quite high loyalty so that might be in my favour. 

However I find the whole "bidding deal" very distasteful and just not consistent with the Azamara "welcome home" ethos. Plus you have no control over where your "upgraded" cabin is located.

 

As marinaro44 said ....it's no way to respect or value your loyal customers. 

So I won't be playing the new bidding game either. If enough of us don't play it...then maybe Azamara will reconsider? 

[hiccups]

1 minute ago, Lottie A said:

As marinaro44 said ....it's no way to respect or value your loyal customers. 

So I won't be playing the new bidding game either. If enough of us don't play it...then maybe Azamara will reconsider? 

My feeling is there will be enough new to Azamara passengers that, not knowing the old system, will give it a whirl--they're used to it from X or NCL.  As long as Azamara can get more than the $398/cabin they used to get from LCV members, I don't think they'll care who they get the money from, unfortunately.