No notification re Itinerary change

[sunlover33]

We feel very dissatisfied with Azamara at present. We have a cruise booked Singapore to Dubai in April next year and have just discovered that we are spending less time in Mumbai and arriving in Dubai a day early. Not only have we lost time in Mumbai which is a place we were looking forward to exploring but it seems to be  for what appears to be a facile reason, that immigration into Dubai is lengthy? Surely then knew about this before  as they have done this cruise many times before. Even more irritating is  we have not even been notified, only found out today via our  Roll Call. This really is not a good way to treat guests. Has anyone else had this experience? 

[uktog]

Must be new. Immigration into Dubai has always been a breeze on all ships. Sounds a little bit of a stretch 

[manc]

Less than a year ago we went through Dubai immigration and back onto the ship as we didn't want to explore. 10 minutes maximum. An easy passport check.

Have found Indian ports much longer and complex 

[chromered7]

Has the real truth yet to come out for this change in itinerary? Very poor customer services from AZ without clarification on if we are on board overnight or are we expected to find accommodation? 

[ECCruise]

We are on the Quest February Cape Town to Dubai and they made the same change with us.  Leave Mumbai earlier and arrive in Dubai the night before our scheduled disembarkation.  Same reason offered was immigration procedures in Dubai.

[sunlover33]

Did you still disembark the following day? We are not sure if we need to start looking for a hotel, but as we have had no notification from Azamara we don’t know what the change entails yet. 

[Grandma Cruising]

Have you looked at the itinerary online, it should show whether disembarkation is still on the original date. 

[sunlover33]

It’s confusing says arrival sat and Sunday? 

[Covepointcruiser]

If you very disappointed in the new itinerary you can still cancel.   You are eight months out but there may be more changes before April.  

[sunlover33]

Unfortunately flights are booked separately so we would lose a lot of money. It’s only a few hours shorter in Mumbai and an overnight in Dubai ( we think) but I’m more unhappy with the lack of information/ communication from Azamara. 

Edited September 7, 2019 by sunlover33

[laurieb]

3 hours ago, sunlover33 said:

Unfortunately flights are booked separately so we would lose a lot of money. It’s only a few hours shorter in Mumbai and an overnight in Dubai ( we think) but I’m more unhappy with the lack of information/ communication from Azamara. 

I’m quite certain that you will have an overnight in Dubai; I’ve never known Azamara to disembark in the afternoon.  

 

[excitedofharpenden]

I’m not sure why one would think Azamara arriving in Dubai a day early they’d put you off the ship a day early too?  You’ll just overnight on the ship in Dubai and disembark on the original day.  

 

It looks like this is a very recent change just before the weekend and I can’t help thinking that there seems to be a lot of unnecessary stressing and dissatisfaction without giving Azamara time to communicate it.  I’ve had itinerary changes many times. Some I’ve found out via the roll call and some I’ve heard directly and have been able to post on the roll call myself.  It can take a little time, especially if you use a travel agent and they are tardy advising.  

 

I can’t comment on why the change may have happened.

 

phil

[chromered7]

If it was a security or weather related reason for the change then obviously there would be no problem. However the departure change is only to help Azamara and not the passengers. It would be useful to know how long the immigration process is going to take , why has it suddenly become more complicated, and will passengers have any time on Saturday evening to sight see in Dubai? Azamara should provide free tours for for passengers in Dubai although I doubt that will happen.

 

[florisdekort]

3 hours ago, chromered7 said:

 Azamara should provide free tours for for passengers in Dubai although I doubt that will happen.

 

I’m not sure I understand why.  Itineraries change a lot, for various reasons.  I agree that a more detailed explanation would have been nice but that’s hardly a reason to provide 700 people a free tour.  Read your cruise contract.  And as for communication, it takes time to inform everyone, especially via travel agents, yet the first person who learns the news will post it online, so the majority is always going to read about it online before hearing from the cruise line. 

 

[sunlover33]

1 hour ago, florisdekort said:

And as for communication, it takes time to inform everyone, especially via travel agents, yet the first person who learns the news will post it online, so the majority is always going to read about it online before hearing from the cruise line. 

Sorry an e mail takes how long to send?  Azamara took the time to make  sure the itinerary was changed not only on their web site but also on other TA websites, surely it’s not beyond the wit of them to also send out a generic  e-mail to all their booked guests to inform them of the change, without them needing to discover this  from each other. It’s not a standard that I am happy to accept although others seem to this standard of service is ok. 

[chromered7]

1 hour ago, florisdekort said:

 

I’m not sure I understand why.  Itineraries change a lot, for various reasons.  I agree that a more detailed explanation would have been nice but that’s hardly a reason to provide 700 people a free tour.  Read your cruise contract.  And as for communication, it takes time to inform everyone, especially via travel agents, yet the first person who learns the news will post it online, so the majority is always going to read about it online before hearing from the cruise line. 

 

Azamara are the one’s who have instigated the change for themselves not the passengers. Perhaps customer service has been written out  of contracts because, in my opinion,  a small gesture goes a long way. On the roll call two experienced cruises have said the process was easy  on similar cruises involving Dubai and cannot understand why it needed extra time to complete . We now have to leave Mumbai four hours early supposedly because the immigration process is now taking longer . No more information has been made available from AZ explaining in detail why this is going to happen. Which makes me think this is not all it seems.

[laurieb]

Was easy doesn’t necessarily mean now easy.  It’s possible that security measures have changed.  It happens 

[excitedofharpenden]

8 hours ago, sunlover33 said:

Sorry an e mail takes how long to send?  Azamara took the time to make  sure the itinerary was changed not only on their web site but also on other TA websites, surely it’s not beyond the wit of them to also send out a generic  e-mail to all their booked guests to inform them of the change, without them needing to discover this  from each other. It’s not a standard that I am happy to accept although others seem to this standard of service is ok. 

If you use a travel agent then Azamara will not communicate with you directly. It will have to be done via your agent (as with all other aspects of your booking).  If you book direct with Azamara then they will email you directly. It's one of the very few benefits of not using a travel agent. 

 

Phil 

[excitedofharpenden]

6 hours ago, laurieb said:

Was easy doesn’t necessarily mean now easy.  It’s possible that security measures have changed.  It happens 

Exactly!  I'm not sure what other measures may currently be in place following the trouble through the Straits of Hormuz. That might change, but for now Azamara will be monitoring it carefully I'm sure to make it as easy as possible for their guests to disembark the ship.  Sometimes you just have to trust the cruiseline.  

 

Phil 

[chromered7]

19 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Exactly!  I'm not sure what other measures may currently be in place following the trouble through the Straits of Hormuz. That might change, but for now Azamara will be monitoring it carefully I'm sure to make it as easy as possible for their guests to disembark the ship.  Sometimes you just have to trust the cruiseline.  

 

Phil 

If Azamara had explained the reason in more detail to include issues surrounding the Straits of Hormuz then that would have helped . Rather than a vague comment about immigration when other cruisers had not had that problem. It annoys me that the Azamara apologist’s have to get involved when it does not affect them. 

[Baynanno1]

Not that we had booked it, but we were looking to book the 10 night 8th June 2020 Denmark intensive cruise as listed in the 2020 Destination Guide, but it has apparently changed over the past couple of days to a 15 night (all the usual suspects) Baltic cruise, with the only Denmark port remaining Copenhagen, arriving on debark day. 😕

[florisdekort]

26 minutes ago, Baynanno1 said:

Not that we had booked it, but we were looking to book the 10 night 8th June 2020 Denmark intensive cruise as listed in the 2020 Destination Guide, but it has apparently changed over the past couple of days to a 15 night (all the usual suspects) Baltic cruise, with the only Denmark port remaining Copenhagen, arriving on debark day. 😕

 

That changed months ago and has been reported here multiple times. 

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, chromered7 said:

If Azamara had explained the reason in more detail to include issues surrounding the Straits of Hormuz then that would have helped . Rather than a vague comment about immigration when other cruisers had not had that problem. It annoys me that the Azamara apologist’s have to get involved when it does not affect them. 

First of all I am not an Azamara apologist. If you read my posts on this board you will see that this is certainly not the case. Secondly, I'm adding my comments speaking from experience and to assist as the subject was posted on the main board for Azamara

. 

 

There are some factual inaccuracies here that I wanted to clarify. Like why don't Azamara email all their guests with the change. As I explained above, it's not that simple. Also to be worried that Azamara would put people off the ship a day early at the end and one would have to find a hotel for a night is something not to be concerned with.  

 

I hope all those affected hear soon, but as I also said, sometimes it takes a while. Just look on your roll call to keep updated. It appears it has been a very recent change. 

 

Phil 

Edited September 10, 2019 by excitedofharpenden

[Baynanno1]

3 hours ago, florisdekort said:

 

That changed months ago and has been reported here multiple times. 

 

I stand corrected . . . my mistake, I thought that he who does most of the research online had seen both the previous itinerary and the new itinerary online within the past few days when he mentioned the change today.

As I do not visit CC when traveling, I had not seen this change mentioned before.

[excitedofharpenden]

On 9/10/2019 at 5:49 AM, chromered7 said:

If Azamara had explained the reason in more detail to include issues surrounding the Straits of Hormuz then that would have helped . Rather than a vague comment about immigration when other cruisers had not had that problem. It annoys me that the Azamara apologist’s have to get involved when it does not affect them. 

So, what's the score then? This thread has gone quiet. Was the new itinerary as I expected, ie a night on the ship at the end. How much time did you lose in Mumbai?  I know that was a major thing too. Are you happy with Azamara or not?

 

Phll