HELP! Azamara is trying to cancel my trip because of their mistake! Horrible Cruise!

[hubofhockey]

33 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Then why are you and others who are theorizing against  the OP??  The rest of us are commenting on the facts as he sees them the OP has posted,  The naysayers on the other hand are taking the opposite side of the discussion without any information from Azamara except for Bonnie's like.

 

I see that.  simply lowers any respect I might have had for Azamara and their employees.   

 

You are doing the exact same thing in your comments about Azamara.  Do you really expect a corporation to post about a private dispute on Cruise Critic?  That's a rhetorical question and I am done here as well.  

Edited June 12, 2019 by hubofhockey

[rallydave]

2 minutes ago, hubofhockey said:

 

You are doing the exact same thing in your comments about Azamara.  Do you really expect a corporation to post about a private dispute on Cruise Critic?  That's a rhetorical question and I am done here as well.  

Well, I will answer anyway.  No I don't expect a corporation to post about a private dispute however in the past Bonnie has provided information posted here to the people who can and sometimes do something about what underlings have screwed up and posted that information, nothing about the details..

 

And to your first point, I have been the recipient of Azamaras' incompetence and have seen quite a few verified examples of issues similar to what has been described by the OP so I do speak to some extent from accurate information.  Know we will only find out the result from the OP and that is only one of the three (3) sides of the story. 

[PatG2]

1 hour ago, hiccups said:

Azamara accepted the contract when they took OP's money.  As for the "possibly next to nothing," OP stated the price was about 25% of the previous price.  Who is he to determine what Azamara should price their last-minute sales at, to assume it was an error, when the Azamara employees didn't think anything was wrong with the price and made the booking?

Frankly, I'm disgusted by the way OP is being treated here, basically being accused of being a cheat and a liar.

Thank you hiccups. I also posted how some of the responses here are online bullying. And they all seem to be coming from 2 people. I welcome all opinions but when you start stating lies as facts, it's disrespectful. Thank you for standing up to online bullying.

[PatG2]

1 hour ago, hun said:

Whether the price was a mistake or not (hypothetically $500 instead of $5000), once the “offer” has been “accepted” and payment has been made, it’s valid and PatG2 should get the suites for the prices paid. If payment hadn’t been made, it would have been a different story.

 I’m amazed Azamara doesn’t step up, but Pat, if you haven’t  already done so, I’d suggest an email to the Azamara executive contacts - go to elliott(dot)org and the Azamara contacts are there. 

( FYI I do have a background in this as I was legal counsel and legal director to a large state consumer protection agency for over 30 years)

Thank you hun. I have gone on ellliot and emailed the contacts posted there. I appreciate your feedback and knowledge from a legal perspective.

[hiccups]

PatG2, did you have any resolution during your call yesterday?

[PatG2]

14 minutes ago, hiccups said:

PatG2, did you have any resolution during your call yesterday?

Not yet. I spoke to management in the morning and they were supposed to call me back later in the day but never did.

[rallydave]

2 minutes ago, PatG2 said:

Not yet. I spoke to management in the morning and they were supposed to call me back later in the day but never did.

Pat, hope you are able to address both reservations directly with Azamara.  Since you booked on cruise thru your TA and the other direct, the usual approach by all cruise lines is that they won't address issues like this with the ultimate customer, only the TA  if booking thru a TA.

 

Perhaps the TA was tied in via a conference call and hope so as it wouldn't be good to only solve the direct booking and still have the TA booking hanging,  And, hopefully the delay in calling back is because they are working on a solution although in my case they dragged on and on without a resolution and ultimately said No.

[PatG2]

Couple further questions to this whole saga:

 

1) When you buy tickets to a cruise, it says all legal disputes must go through arbitration. Do you still have to go through arbitration if they cancel? Are you still bound by it at that point?

2) Has anyone gone through arbitration? What was the process like?

Not what I want to do. Would much rather come to an agreement with Azamara but wondering what this is like so I know my options.

 

Note: I'm not trying to turn this into an argument of what the outcome would be. Just wondering specifically about the 2 questions above.

 

I appreciate all the feedback and support to the thread thus far. Thank you everyone.

[rallydave]

10 minutes ago, PatG2 said:

Couple further questions to this whole saga:

 

1) When you buy tickets to a cruise, it says all legal disputes must go through arbitration. Do you still have to go through arbitration if they cancel? Are you still bound by it at that point?

2) Has anyone gone through arbitration? What was the process like?

Not what I want to do. Would much rather come to an agreement with Azamara but wondering what this is like so I know my options.

 

Nota=e: I'm not trying to turn this into an argument of what the outcome would be. Just wondering specifically about the 2 questions above.

 

I appreciate all the feedback and support to the thread thus far. Thank you everyone.

Believe what that means is they are insulating themselves from any law suits no matter the reason.  It doesn't stop you from talking/negotiating with the cruise line just that you can't sue them for anything and your only recourse if you can't reach an agreement with them is is arbitration

[Host Hattie]

Different company but Cunard advertised a Solo deal on their US website at approximately 20% of the correct fare for the Christmas 2018 on Queen Elizabeth. Several posters on the Solo special offers thread took advantage and their bookings were honoured.

[hiccups]

11 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

Different company but Cunard advertised a Solo deal on their US website at approximately 20% of the correct fare for the Christmas 2018 on Queen Elizabeth. Several posters on the Solo special offers thread took advantage and their bookings were honoured.

Good thing they didn't post about it here.  Same with the posters that got the deals on RCI I referenced earlier.

[Grandma Cruising]

Please can I remind everyone to be courteous and mindful of the community guidelines

”we are here to provide you with an environment that is free from advertising and soliciting, free from harassment, vulgarity and disparaging statements, as well as providing you with a safe haven brought together by those sharing a mutual interest: cruising!”

[laurieb]

1 hour ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Please can I remind everyone to be courteous and mindful of the community guidelines

”we are here to provide you with an environment that is free from advertising and soliciting, free from harassment, vulgarity and disparaging statements, as well as providing you with a safe haven brought together by those sharing a mutual interest: cruising!”

Thank you Host Grandma!

[PatG2]

2 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

Different company but Cunard advertised a Solo deal on their US website at approximately 20% of the correct fare for the Christmas 2018 on Queen Elizabeth. Several posters on the Solo special offers thread took advantage and their bookings were honoured.

Thank you for sharing Host Hattie. Seems like a few cruise lines have honored their "mistakes".

[rallydave]

1 hour ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Please can I remind everyone to be courteous and mindful of the community guidelines

”we are here to provide you with an environment that is free from advertising and soliciting, free from harassment, vulgarity and disparaging statements, as well as providing you with a safe haven brought together by those sharing a mutual interest: cruising!”

Considering the animosity shown by some posters, believe this thread while controversial has been quite civil  

[florisdekort]

8 hours ago, hiccups said:

Azamara accepted the contract when they took OP's money.  As for the "possibly next to nothing," OP stated the price was about 25% of the previous price.  Who is he to determine what Azamara should price their last-minute sales at, to assume it was an error, when the Azamara employees didn't think anything was wrong with the price and made the booking?

Frankly, I'm disgusted by the way OP is being treated here, basically being accused of being a cheat and a liar.

 

+1.  Whether the Op paid 75%, 50% or 25% is not relevant.  Azamara confirmed the booking on multiple occasions, in writing, and took full payment.  It should do the right thing.  And it should see this as an expensive lesson to finally fix its ancient technology, booking engine, website, etc. because if it doesn’t this won’t be the last such incident.  Basic customer service left this business the day Nicole Lukacs moved to RCI.  

[florisdekort]

This is how you handle a situation like this:

 

http://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2019/01/02/cathay-pacific-pricing-gaffe

 

[PatG2]

57 minutes ago, florisdekort said:

This is how you handle a situation like this:

 

http://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2019/01/02/cathay-pacific-pricing-gaffe

 

Wow. Great article. And it was picked up by fortune! Thank you for sharing Floris!

[Eurocruiser11]

I am so glad I came across this post.  My wife and I are about to book our first Luxury cruise for our upcoming anniversary in September and she told me to do some research on Azmara before pulling the trigger, because of the cost compared to other cruises that we have done in the past.  We have been on 4 Royal Caribbean cruises out of Tampa and Fort Lauderdale and we only ever had one issue (Norovirus Independence of the Seas back in December of '17). 

 

Would anyone recommend any other Luxury cruise lines that visit Europe,  we would like to book something in the next few weeks so we can still get a decent deal on flights.  We are flexible on ports and cities.  

 

Thanks!

[Jimmycruiser]

I am very surprised and disappointed by many posters on this thread for the rush to judgement against Azamara with only one side presented and somewhat confusing claims being made. I am not saying the OP is not telling the whole story from their perspective but it was a very negative headline post without much time to come to a fair resolution, and not sure the reason for the post to begin with without more time to resolve it. It can only hurt the case not help it. Having dealt directly with Azamara on several occasions and receiving reductions of 20 % or more before final payment there is definitely more to Azamara’s side, and the fact Bonnie has not commented yet says it is more complicated. Let’s give it a rest for a few days and have the OP tell us the final resolution since they are waiting to hear back.

 

I enjoy reading the posts on Cruise Critic, but so far this is a very frustrating thread, and no I am not paid by Azamara to defend them!

[rallydave]

3 minutes ago, Eurocruiser11 said:

Would anyone recommend any other Luxury cruise lines that visit Europe,  we would like to book something in the next few weeks so we can still get a decent deal on flights.  We are flexible on ports and cities.  

 

Thanks!

Azamara is not luxury.  The US based Luxury lines are Seabourn, Crystal, Silverseas, and Regent and they all do Europe.  My recommendation based on 4 cruises is Seabourn by a long shot.  By the way, really late in the game for booking cruise and especially air.  Many of us book air when flights come available which is generally 330 days prior to departure.

[Eurocruiser11]

Thanks for the recommendations Dave we will definitely check them out!

 

I have about 180k Chase Sapphire Reserve points saved up so I am hoping that covers the flights.  We like Royal so that is why our TA recommended Azmara.  It is hard for us both to get 2 weeks off at the same for work so we can't plan that far ahead until my wife retires, she is in Medical and I have my own business.  

[laurieb]

16 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Azamara is not luxury.  The US based Luxury lines are Seabourn, Crystal, Silverseas, and Regent and they all do Europe.  My recommendation based on 4 cruises is Seabourn by a long shot.  By the way, really late in the game for booking cruise and especially air.  Many of us book air when flights come available which is generally 330 days prior to departure.

 

9 minutes ago, Eurocruiser11 said:

Thanks for the recommendations Dave we will definitely check them out!

 

I have about 180k Chase Sapphire Reserve points saved up so I am hoping that covers the flights.  We like Royal so that is why our TA recommended Azmara.  It is hard for us both to get 2 weeks off at the same for work so we can't plan that far ahead until my wife retires, she is in Medical and I have my own business.  

Azamara IS a wonderful cruise line!  I hope you don't rule them out because of this one thread and the opinions of some that seem to have an axe to grind

[Eurocruiser11]

Hi Laurie, I am not ruling them out by any means, but I definitely find the post disturbing.  I would be furious if something like that happened to me.  Based on what I can read it looks like a trip was booked and then confirmed and then Azmara threatened to cancel because they made a mistake on the price.  When we got off Royal Independence after the Norovirus, there were lots of news stations there conducting interviews with guest coming off the ship.  We chose to avoid speaking with them because we did not think something like that is in their control and felt that they had handled it as best as they could.  If I remember correctly the RCL stock even went down 3% after the negative news went public.  This situation seems a lot different, it looks like Azmara was the cause of the error. I am curious to see what the final resolution will be.

[laurieb]

Without knowing the whole story from both sides, which I'm sure we never will, it does come off as disturbing.  Could be Azamara's fault, could be that it isn't.  Hopefully this thread will soon be laid to rest.

I also don't work for Azamara, I just really love cruising with them