Disappointed

[uktog]

No wonder they are having a tough time filling the ships!  I have given up again getting anything useful to use some free nights on - the minute they bring the prices anywhere near reasonable, the free nights become worthless and it costs you more to use them than not - this is our experience for all of 2020.

 

And as for asking for a price to upgrade.  Last month we tried to upgrade our current cruise that was already fully paid for.  LCV quotes us an additional charge of £1640 per person for a room that new bookers were being charged £1250 per person.  We never got a satisfactory explanation as to why but this pricing game is now beyond a joke.

 

We won't be troubling the new LCV staff onboard 

 

PS I don't think that was actually what Captain G said.......

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by uktog

[midwestchick]

17 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Well that's a new marketing strategy!😆

 

Phil 

We can’t say we weren’t warned....😆😆😆

[Riocca]

11 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Well that's a new marketing strategy!😆

 

Phil 

Talking with the Chief Engineer on our last cruise we were told that there were new regulations in 2020 regarding Sulphur Dioxide emissions, some ships could be modified to meet the regulations by fitting “scrubbers” which remove the Sulphur Dioxide from the exhaust gasses. However there was not enough room in the R ships funnels to fit scrubbers so to comply with the regulations Azamara would have to use low sulphur fuel which is way more expensive than the current low grade fuels.

Obviously all cruise lines will want to pass on the increase in costs of meeting new environmental regulations but Azamara’s current pricing seems out of proportion with other cruise lines. 

[Bloodaxe]

25 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Well that's a new marketing strategy!😆

 

Phil 

 

After reading some recent posts I am more than ever convinced that Azamara are on the slippery slope.

Sorry to say that but I am pleased that most of our experience of them was in the good old days.

Obviously just in my opinion.

 

 

 

[uktog]

2 hours ago, Riocca said:

Talking with the Chief Engineer on our last cruise we were told that there were new regulations in 2020 regarding Sulphur Dioxide emissions, some ships could be modified to meet the regulations by fitting “scrubbers” which remove the Sulphur Dioxide from the exhaust gasses. However there was not enough room in the R ships funnels to fit scrubbers so to comply with the regulations Azamara would have to use low sulphur fuel which is way more expensive than the current low grade fuels.

Obviously all cruise lines will want to pass on the increase in costs of meeting new environmental regulations but Azamara’s current pricing seems out of proportion with other cruise lines. 

So cruise lines with newer ships will become far better value - why would you pay more to cruise on an old ship - the charm factor isn’t worth that many dollars 💵 

[aussie travel bird]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

So cruise lines with newer ships will become far better value - why would you pay more to cruise on an old ship - the charm factor isn’t worth that many dollars 💵 

Agreed, we've booked our first Oceania Cruise for March 2021 to the Amazon River, from Rio to Miami, it represents excellent value and somewhere Azamara doesn't go.  It make be sad that I'm looking elsewhere but there's been so many changes for the worse the the loyality benefits and their prices are skyrocketing. Yes the ships are getting older.  As I've said before it's time to check out the competition with retirement looming, with my hard earned dollars we are going to need to consider value for money.... 

[midwestchick]

3 hours ago, uktog said:

No wonder they are having a tough time filling the ships!  I have given up again getting anything useful to use some free nights on - the minute they bring the prices anywhere near reasonable, the free nights become worthless and it costs you more to use them than not - this is our experience for all of 2020.

 

And as for asking for a price to upgrade.  Last month we tried to upgrade our current cruise that was already fully paid for.  LCV quotes us an additional charge of £1640 per person for a room that new bookers were being charged £1250 per person.  We never got a satisfactory explanation as to why but this pricing game is now beyond a joke.

 

We won't be troubling the new LCV staff onboard 

 

PS I don't think that was actually what Captain G said.......

 

If you’re referring to what I posted he said,  it was at one of his talks he gave towards the end of the cruise.  I didn’t remember his exact words for what they will be doing to the ships but the comment about the increase in the cruise ticket price was exact. 

Edited December 2, 2019 by midwestchick

[BBMacLaird]

4 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

Eye watering to say the least....

 

 

 

 

These fares are in Canadian dollars (so multiply by .75 to get USD) and for TWO guests (so divide by 2). I get $4109usd pp for Club Interior, $5497usd pp for a Club Vernada and $6689 usd pp for a Club Continent Suite, for a 12-night Country Intensive cruise. These don't seem eye-watering to me.

[uktog]

Applying currency conversion that’s still £700 per day for 2 for a balcony - pretty high in my book for an itinerary that’s widely offered elsewhere. 

[Cruise Junky]

1 hour ago, BBMacLaird said:

 

 

These fares are in Canadian dollars (so multiply by .75 to get USD) and for TWO guests (so divide by 2). I get $4109usd pp for Club Interior, $5497usd pp for a Club Vernada and $6689 usd pp for a Club Continent Suite, for a 12-night Country Intensive cruise. These don't seem eye-watering to me.

Here’s the American version. It’s Spain for heavens sake, in March. 

 

Here’s where I was last week for less than half of that. Two of us in a three bedroom.  You know what’s great about your own Villa? They don’t cancel tours! 

 

https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/15359758?source_impression_id=p3_1575251473_lv3Unfa4CcTe6EAb

 

Edited December 2, 2019 by Cruise Junky

[hubofhockey]

If Azamara can get these price increases, they may churn their client base a bit, but they seem to have some pretty loyal passengers who will pay more for their cruises.  

[excitedofharpenden]

10 hours ago, BBMacLaird said:

 

 

These fares are in Canadian dollars (so multiply by .75 to get USD) and for TWO guests (so divide by 2). I get $4109usd pp for Club Interior, $5497usd pp for a Club Vernada and $6689 usd pp for a Club Continent Suite, for a 12-night Country Intensive cruise. These don't seem eye-watering to me.

I did a search on the U.K. site for the same cruise.  I can only base my thoughts on single occupancy, but eye watering are good words.  As Cruise Junky says, it’s the Med in March. Crazy money.

 

Even loyal Azamara cruisers have a limit as to what they will pay.  Good luck trying to fill the ship with those prices. I just checked and the sailing is wide open. Loads of cabins available. 

 

Phil

[Riocca]

So for comparison here’s two cruises one year apart:

Quest 17th March 2020

 

Eleven night cruise so a balcony cabin equates to £320.82 per night.

 

Quest 20th March 2021 12 night Med cruise.

 

 

Balcony cabin is now £715.17 per night.

 

So this is an increase of £394.35 per night or 123% I defy anyone to justify such an increase or to say that it’s not eye watering.

[MNgardens]

At what point can I feel confident that a cruise will not become a charter or be fiddled with? 6 months? 9 months?

 

I try to find the sweet spot of cruise price coupled with decent airfare. (Don't we all!) So far I have been lucky purchasing the airfare about 6-9 months ahead.

[excitedofharpenden]

22 minutes ago, Riocca said:

 

 

So this is an increase of £394.35 per night or 123% I defy anyone to justify such an increase or to say that it’s not eye watering.

This is my big issue. The prices are all over the place. Have they got some machine working out algorithms for all the cruises?  If so it needs reprogramming. The Azamara product, no matter how wonderful the onboard service is, is never worth this kind of money. 

 

Phil 

[Riocca]

14 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

This is my big issue. The prices are all over the place. Have they got some machine working out algorithms for all the cruises?  If so it needs reprogramming. The Azamara product, no matter how wonderful the onboard service is, is never worth this kind of money. 

 

Phil 

Phil like you I’m struggling to find the rational behind some of the pricing, the 2020 example cruise we are actually booked on so I can see some of the price history remembering is currently listed on two deals, Last minute deals and Winter Sun. We booked in December 2018 when the price of our CC suite was 5% higher on a BOGOHO + deal, however in August 2019 we were allowed a price drop when it was not actually on a deal but was a LCV Q3 voyage and was 11% lower than the current pricing. So over the year that’s not an unexpected price variation but for a recently revamped cruise to have such a price hike makes no sense to me.

 I fully understand that some desirable cruises will be premium priced as they will be in strong demand and I have no problem with this but we’re now seeing commonplace itineraries at these prices. Happily there are plenty of alternatives that present an equally good experience at more sensible pricing.

 

[Glenndale]

Remind me please, do these quoted prices include flights?

[Bloodaxe]

4 minutes ago, Glenndale said:

Remind me please, do these quoted prices include flights?

No,  cruise only.

[Glenndale]

That's what I thought, but it's been nearly 4 years since I cruised with Azamara.

Had very enjoyable cruises with them but there are other lines out there which also give an enjoyable cruise.

Over £4200 plus air for 12 nights in Spain in March is eye-watering, more so if you are looking at the single fares.

[hiccups]

Because we have a South American cruise booked for next November, I was a little concerned to read in this thread about those itineraries not selling.  It's a PerryGolf cruise, though, so I think it would take a lot for it to be changed around.  Right now all suites are shown as sold out, and there are 14 veranda/veranda plus, 13 OV and 9 interior cabins available.

South America normally wouldn't be on our destination list, but my DH likes the golf trips, and the price was reasonable with the Double Upgrade promo (although of course the price of an interior cabin jumped $500 PP when the promo started).

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, hiccups said:

Because we have a South American cruise booked for next November, I was a little concerned to read in this thread about those itineraries not selling.  It's a PerryGolf cruise, though, so I think it would take a lot for it to be changed around.  Right now all suites are shown as sold out, and there are 14 veranda/veranda plus, 13 OV and 9 interior cabins available.

South America normally wouldn't be on our destination list, but my DH likes the golf trips, and the price was reasonable with the Double Upgrade promo (although of course the price of an interior cabin jumped $500 PP when the promo started).

It’s a shorter cruise.  9 nights vs 17-21 nights, so hopefully it will sell better.  I counted 25 verandas and 36 OV and inside cabins available.  I’m not sure whether they hold onto inventory and open it later though.  I always look at the popular categories with few cabins, like the 04s to give a good idea of the popularity.  Not infallible, but useful. There are just four of them on the ship and they are all available on your cruise.

 

Phil

Edited December 3, 2019 by excitedofharpenden

[hiccups]

8 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

It’s a shorter cruise.  9 nights vs 17-21 nights, so hopefully it will sell better.  I counted 25 verandas and 36 OV and inside cabins available.  I’m not sure whether they hold onto inventory and open it later though.  I always look at the popular categories with few cabins, like the 04s to give a good idea of the popularity.  Not infallible, but useful. There are just four of them on the ship and they are all available on your cruise.

 

Phil

I always assume on Double Upgrade sailings, the OVs go last since they are more expensive than the regular veranda and inside.  But I suppose if someone really likes a particular OV cabin, they might book it anyway.  Of course, someone could have booked at the lower price before the Double Upgrade promo.  I really do need to start keeping a spreadsheet  🙂

Many of the golfers we've met on the PerryGolf cruises had never heard of Azamara prior to PerryGolf, so it's a beneficial partnership to both entities.  Anyway, that's why I hope Azamara won't make major changes to those cruises unless absolutely necessary.  Luckily our cancelled port in Tarragona last month wasn't a golf day!

[excitedofharpenden]

I hope so too.  Azamara seem to have had a very mutually beneficial association with Perry Golf these past 8 years.  I did a Perry Golf holiday to the Algarve a few years ago.  They were an excellent outfit. 

 

Phil

[BBMacLaird]

On 12/2/2019 at 6:32 AM, Riocca said:

So for comparison here’s two cruises one year apart:

Quest 17th March 2020

 

Eleven night cruise so a balcony cabin equates to £320.82 per night.

 

Quest 20th March 2021 12 night Med cruise.

 

 

Balcony cabin is now £715.17 per night.

 

So this is an increase of £394.35 per night or 123% I defy anyone to justify such an increase or to say that it’s not eye watering.

 

You're comparing an 11-night voyage departing Dubai to a 12-night voyage departing Portugal, one of the most popular destinations we have? 

[Covepointcruiser]

Passengers desiring an intensive Arabia cruise are few and far between.   I don’t think it’s very popular.   If you are interested in the less desirable sailings you will get lower prices.   If the prices are more than you are willing to pay choose a different line or a different vacation.