Disappointed

[PirateWife]

Azamara today referred to the cancelation of cruises as an inconvenience.  Like others we booked 2021 cruises on our last cruise carefully booking between obligations.  Azamara took my deposit money less than one month ago.  Now the transatlantic cruise is cancelled and I find out on Facebook, not from Azamara or my TA.  My TA had not been notified by Azamara when I called her and she was told by Azamara that notifications would be sent out tomorrow.  Azamara can do better than this.

[Covepointcruiser]

Has the TA been sold out, chartered or canceled?   It can’t be sold out if you actually booked a particular cabin but it could be chartered or cancelled.   Guess this is a major warning to those booking more than a year out.   Luckily there are many ships and in 2021 Ritz Carlton and Virgin will join in offering cruises.   They will most likely be in the same price range as Azamara.

[hubofhockey]

22 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Has the TA been sold out, chartered or canceled?   It can’t be sold out if you actually booked a particular cabin but it could be chartered or cancelled.   Guess this is a major warning to those booking more than a year out.   Luckily there are many ships and in 2021 Ritz Carlton and Virgin will join in offering cruises.   They will most likely be in the same price range as Azamara.

 

Virgin deals with a very different demographic than Azamara. 

[Riocca]

We were looking at Quest’s TA but thankfully opted for Vietnam & Cambodia with APT, can’t believe that 3 months of Quest was altered because of a 7 day charter on Journey.

The cynic in me is wondering if it may be more to do with swapping poor selling South American itineraries to shoehorn in a vastly overpriced Black Sea voyage.

[travelberlin]

1 hour ago, Riocca said:

We were looking at Quest’s TA but thankfully opted for Vietnam & Cambodia with APT, can’t believe that 3 months of Quest was altered because of a 7 day charter on Journey.

The cynic in me is wondering if it may be more to do with swapping poor selling South American itineraries to shoehorn in a vastly overpriced Black Sea voyage.

I think you might be right...

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, Riocca said:

We were looking at Quest’s TA but thankfully opted for Vietnam & Cambodia with APT, can’t believe that 3 months of Quest was altered because of a 7 day charter on Journey.

The cynic in me is wondering if it may be more to do with swapping poor selling South American itineraries to shoehorn in a vastly overpriced Black Sea voyage.

I think you win today’s prize. 🎁

 

Phil

[mchell810]

5 hours ago, Riocca said:

We were looking at Quest’s TA but thankfully opted for Vietnam & Cambodia with APT, can’t believe that 3 months of Quest was altered because of a 7 day charter on Journey.

The cynic in me is wondering if it may be more to do with swapping poor selling South American itineraries to shoehorn in a vastly overpriced Black Sea voyage.

 

After reading this thread I checked Azamara's listing for each ship in 2021.  As of yesterday, 11/20, there are gaps all over the place -- months not just weeks.  As you say Riocca, they are doing more than adjusting for a charter or two; seems like Azamara is rethinking their plans for much of the year.  As others have said it makes it difficult to commit to a trip, to plan ahead, when itineraries disappear.

Edited November 21, 2019 by mchell810

[Trend]

Wish Bonnie would chime in

[hubofhockey]

6 hours ago, Riocca said:

We were looking at Quest’s TA but thankfully opted for Vietnam & Cambodia with APT, can’t believe that 3 months of Quest was altered because of a 7 day charter on Journey.

The cynic in me is wondering if it may be more to do with swapping poor selling South American itineraries to shoehorn in a vastly overpriced Black Sea voyage.

 

It's only overpriced because they know they have pent up demand from Azamara regulars who pay a premium when they come up with these somewhat unique itineraries.  If they did a bunch of these Black Sea itineraries, that price would not be sustainable.  It's the Azamara regulars and loyalists who buy these cruises that causes a spike in prices.  It's the same for these April 2021 Japan itineraries where they are charging over $17,000 for a V3 low level veranda on a 15-night cruise.  To me, it's overpriced, but if people are willing to pay that for Black Sea or Japan than it's expensive, but "right priced".  It will take the Azamara regulars deciding NOT to pay these incredibly high prices before Azamara decides to charge what many consider to be reasonable prices.  

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, hubofhockey said:

 

It's only overpriced because they know they have pent up demand from Azamara regulars who pay a premium when they come up with these somewhat unique itineraries.  If they did a bunch of these Black Sea itineraries, that price would not be sustainable.  It's the Azamara regulars and loyalists who buy these cruises that causes a spike in prices.  It's the same for these April 2021 Japan itineraries where they are charging over $17,000 for a V3 low level veranda on a 15-night cruise.  To me, it's overpriced, but if people are willing to pay that for Black Sea or Japan than it's expensive, but "right priced".  It will take the Azamara regulars deciding NOT to pay these incredibly high prices before Azamara decides to charge what many consider to be reasonable prices.  

I actually don't think it's the regulars because they have a historic knowledge of prices. In many cases it's the new cruisers who for want of a better phrase and without wanting to sound insulting are rather clueless. I've witnessed it first hand. 

 

I have the distinct feeling that Azamara, no matter how wonderful the onboard experience, will not sustain its current pricing model.

 

Phil 

[BBMacLaird]

1 hour ago, Trend said:

Wish Bonnie would chime in

Hi Trend, I'm following along.

[Bloodaxe]

14 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I actually don't think it's the regulars because they have a historic knowledge of prices. In many cases it's the new cruisers who for want of a better phrase and without wanting to sound insulting are rather clueless. I've witnessed it first hand. 

 

I have the distinct feeling that Azamara, no matter how wonderful the onboard experience, will not sustain its current pricing model.

 

Phil 

 

I agree and intend to continue the waiting game, if I fail to get a good deal that's no great loss, plenty options out there.

 

. 

[Trend]

Thanks Bonnie hoping you can shed so light on what is going on.

[BBMacLaird]

28 minutes ago, Trend said:

Thanks Bonnie hoping you can shed so light on what is going on.

 

Some 2021 voyages are being reworked, and some new 2022 voyages are being released.  You’ll find a link on our homepage at www.Azamara.com.

Note, I believe a few more voys will be published by EOD tomorrow.

 

 

[hubofhockey]

2 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I actually don't think it's the regulars because they have a historic knowledge of prices. In many cases it's the new cruisers who for want of a better phrase and without wanting to sound insulting are rather clueless. I've witnessed it first hand. 

 

I have the distinct feeling that Azamara, no matter how wonderful the onboard experience, will not sustain its current pricing model.

 

Phil 

 

It could be a combination of both.  I asked the future cruise guy on board why certain cruises of non-regular itineraries were so high.  He said these more unique itineraries get the regulars, so maybe it's a little of both.  The regulars do seem to know Azamara inside and out, but do all of you have the same price sensitivity to these increases?   The corporate folks are also jacking up Celebrity prices and providing less space and benefits to those who don't book suites.  If that's the strategy and it works, maybe they'll be looking for new customers.  They may learn the hard way that cost and ease of acquisition of cruise customers may not be worth going in this direction.  

 

 

[Riocca]

2 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I actually don't think it's the regulars because they have a historic knowledge of prices. In many cases it's the new cruisers who for want of a better phrase and without wanting to sound insulting are rather clueless. I've witnessed it first hand. 

 

I have the distinct feeling that Azamara, no matter how wonderful the onboard experience, will not sustain its current pricing model.

 

Phil 

I think most regulars are like us and have a price they are prepared to pay for the Azamara product so like many we are going to play the waiting game. This of course can lead to a situation where there could be customers interested in an itinerary but due to the current pricing strategy are going to wait until the last minute price drops but Azamara then decided to tweak the itineraries to encourage sales so changes become more frequent.

 

 

[Islandruler41]

Just received the Azamara email that Bonnie referred to in a previous post. Decided to check against my Journey Oct 2021 reservation and found a different cruise and cruise length. Waiting for a reply from my TA as to what is going on. I shouldn't have to look on this board first to find out what's going on...

[Jeep61]

Even more frustrated now!  We are not interested in Journey's new 11 night version of the 7 night cruise we booked on the Quest last month.  Too many repeat destinations.  So I thought I found a substitute cruise along the southern coast of Spain to Lisbon.  It's for 10 nights.  I tried booking the same level veranda I have on the recently chartered 7 night cruise that I booked last month.  Unless I am doing something wrong, there were only a handful of verandas available on decks 7 and 8 and it looks like the per night advertised fare for the 10 night potential substitute cruise is much higher.  This is for 2021 so I find it hard to believe that nearly all of the verandas are already booked!  Right now I feel that we will ask for a refund if and when I hear back from our online travel agent.  This entire situation is turning me off completely and that's after only one cruise on Azamara.

[roaming_kiwi58]

We are still waiting for any communication from Azamara about the Journey cruise we have booked for September 2021 which has changed from a 7 day Barcelona to Civitavecchia, to an 11 day Barcelona to Athens. We booked it as the last segment of a B2B2B. The new 11 day itinerary is really of no interest to us as it has no new territory. 

Our travelling companion (who lives in Australia - we live in NZ) has had notification of a minor timing change to the 2nd cruise of the 3, but still nothing about the major changes to the last cruise of the three. We have had nothing about either. 

As I found out from Cruise Critic about changes to the 2021 cruises about 2 weeks ago I am getting frustrated with the lack of info. When asked the Australia/NZ Azamara office said they know nothing about changes for any of these cruises. This is not good enough!

Right now, if they ever get around to telling us what our options are, we feel inclined to cancel all 3 cruises.

Lesson learnt, about booking too far in advance. We booked them on board in August this year. 

[cruisingaussies]

So sorry for all those whose cruises have been cancelled.  This, along with the high prices and then last-minute fire sales, have made us decide to try Oceania next.  We were waiting for Azamara’s dubious ‘double upgrade’ offer to finish to see how prices went but then, as happened last year, it was extended.

 

We priced a 10 night Med cruise just days before the ‘double upgrade’ promo started.  With the promo, the price of an inside cabin had just about doubled (no surprise there) and the balcony we were looking at had gone up $1000 which carried through to the inside.

 

We are now booked on Oceania for a Christmas cruise, although that was mainly the itinerary.  We have also booked three cruises in Europe next year with Oceania, with all O Life perks included.  We had to get our flights organised and were not prepared to sit out Azamara’s silly pricing games any longer.

 

We love the on-board experience on Azamara and I expect we will be back but changing/cancelling itineraries and over pricing means we won’t be booking way in advance, we have been burnt several times by doing that.  That means our cruise itinerary options are limited when long haul flights are involved.

[ellbon]

On 11/20/2019 at 3:50 PM, manc said:

Concerns on Facebook tonight that Februaty 2021 cruises changing because Journey is being chartered. South American cruise changes in Quest. We are booked on Journey. Can't help but worry 

Yes, that is true. My AZ email said due to the JR being chartered the Quest was giving up their 21 day cruise for a shorter one..which really means two.

i now get to fly from B.A. to Lima and then Quito to join Flora. 

I had other cruises cancel and had to rebook several  at the start of a B2B. But this is in the middle of several cruises. Meanwhile this same cruise was reprice in Oct.

Makes me concern  about my future cruises.

[excitedofharpenden]

23 minutes ago, ellbon said:

Yes, that is true. My AZ email said due to the JR being chartered the Quest was giving up their 21 day cruise for a shorter one..which really means two.

i now get to fly from B.A. to Lima and then Quito to join Flora. 

I had other cruises cancel and had to rebook several  at the start of a B2B. But this is in the middle of several cruises. Meanwhile this same cruise was reprice in Oct.

Makes me concern  about my future cruises.

Have you been to Quito before?  I loved it there. Lots to see in the city and around abouts. 

 

Phil 

[ellbon]

50 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Have you been to Quito before?  I loved it there. Lots to see in the city and around abouts. 

 

Phil 

I was on Regent when we sail down the West Coast on S. America. I might of gone inland fir the day. Can not remember. Looking at tours by locals fir ideas and Hubof Hockey suggested one place. Love suggestions on places besides churches. I can be reach on Facebook. 

 

really do not want to stay at ships hotel. I could upgrade  and do private tour and the pool. I found a better hotel but not sure if they can store my suitcases  and the Marriot should. Will have summer and some warm clothes for colder weather. 

 

I think i suggested pills due to altitude . I need to be more careful about that then when I did Peru.

 

i have  minus flying a six or seven day window to see more of Lima and some of Quito.

 

now I need to watch my fall 21 cruises. If I want to get a certain cabin  I need to hold it and look at other lines.hmmm first world problems.

 

 

 

 

 

[excitedofharpenden]

If you have time in Quito then you should visit La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús. I'm churched out too, but it's spectacular and worth a visit. You must climb to the roof. Some great views of the city and inside the high parts of the church. 

 

As regards altitude you will obviously do well to take advice from your doctor, but I didn't take anything for Quito. It's at 9,300 feet and my doctor said the side effects of the medication is not worth the trouble. Cusco is 2,000 feet higher remember. Aside from a little breathlessness at the start I had no ill effects.

 

I stayed at Le Parc Beyond Stars hotel. Lovely. Heike and Eric stayed there too and enjoyed it. 

 

Apologies to the op for taking this off topic. 

 

Phil 

Edited November 22, 2019 by excitedofharpenden

[john1970]

Hi Bonnie,

 

Will the UK website get the same link to the new voyages as I hate mucking about with VPN to look at the .com version.

 

Cheers

 

John