Disappointed

[Mrs Miggins]

When we booked our 'free' nights on Journey for June 2020 the calculation was not based on the online price but on a 'standard rate'.  No idea how you find out what that rate actually is. Whilst we are saving a small amount it was not nearly as generous as we had thought.

  Your calculation appears to work out at $3000 divided by 7, then times 3. The current UK price online for a V2 is £3437 pp which for a 7 night Adriatic cruise in October seems to be exceptionally high.

 

.

[uktog]

1 hour ago, Mrs Miggins said:

When we booked our 'free' nights on Journey for June 2020 the calculation was not based on the online price but on a 'standard rate'.  No idea how you find out what that rate actually is. Whilst we are saving a small amount it was not nearly as generous as we had thought.

  Your calculation appears to work out at $3000 divided by 7, then times 3. The current UK price online for a V2 is £3437 pp which for a 7 night Adriatic cruise in October seems to be exceptionally high.

 

.

The free nights calculation is all smoke and mirrors. In June 2020 the cruise we wanted for 7 nights would have cost us £250 MORE using our 3 free nights and paying for 4 than just straight booking for 7 nights did. 

Either way the figures for balcony cabins per night currently being offered as “fantastic savings” by the inexperienced onboard sales associates are at a point per night where Azamara has crossed the line. 

Im sorry because onboard almost everyone has worked so hard to look after us. We feel so bad for them but we cannot bring ourselves to book anything so expensive. Onboard we’ve met several lovely guests who took the advantage of the fire sale prices to test Azamara over Oceania. It’s been great hearing their experiences and view on comparisons. Almost all say whilst many of the crew are more visible that’s the only difference. Not one person we met booked on board but all were prepared to rebook at around the per day rate they paid for this trip which is c40% of what is being seen in the calculations here. I’m sure Azamara could retain these many of these newbies at 50-60%. Beyond that no. 
 

We’ve just priced some Oceania for a window we have in 2021. Certainly very interested we will keep a watch as on those comparison figures Azamara won’t get our business. 

[Riocca]

Pricing does seem all over the place, we used 3 free nights to book Pursuit 3rd October 2020 7 nights Rome to Venice and although it's impossible to work out the actual original cost we paid £3362 for a CC suite that's currently priced at £6698, so happy enough. We also booked the following 7 day cruise Venice to Athens at £5146 in the same cabin that currently is offered at £6668.

Compare that with Journey 3rd October again 7 nights Athens to Venice a CC suite is an eye watering £9494 (or £1356 per night) . So two 7 night cruises in the same cruise region, remembering the 3 ships will meet in Koper, and one is 40% more. No wonder only 4 N2 CC suites are sold on Journey while Pursuit has only 4 left.

[oddjob16]

I always use the Veranda V2 pricing as a standard. If they tried to be consistent the correct price for a week would be around $3000,- . Azamara’s prices are nowhere near being consistent and I really don’t understand the rationale behind having unrealistic high prices followed by fire sales as we have seen recently. If I would like to pay more it would have to be a better product, - like moving to a luxury line .e.g Seadream. They are only slightly more expensive, and their prices are totally consistent during the whole year.

Edited December 6, 2019 by oddjob16

[QueenP]

7 hours ago, Riocca said:

Pricing does seem all over the place, we used 3 free nights to book Pursuit 3rd October 2020 7 nights Rome to Venice and although it's impossible to work out the actual original cost we paid £3362 for a CC suite that's currently priced at £6698, so happy enough. We also booked the following 7 day cruise Venice to Athens at £5146 in the same cabin that currently is offered at £6668.

Compare that with Journey 3rd October again 7 nights Athens to Venice a CC suite is an eye watering £9494 (or £1356 per night) . So two 7 night cruises in the same cruise region, remembering the 3 ships will meet in Koper, and one is 40% more. No wonder only 4 N2 CC suites are sold on Journey while Pursuit has only 4 left.

We are on both of those cruises too. When I booked a year ago, we were unable to get a balcony on deck 7, our TA said they were all gone already. (We have 3 of us in a cabin, so that can be limiting). We had to book Veranda Plus on deck 8 to get our preferred mid-ship location. So I presume these sailings will be well subscribed! We were reasonably happy with what we paid too.

[hubofhockey]

Ha!  I thought the veranda on the Japan 15-day cruise was way too much at $17,000.  It went up to $21,438.  Wow!  That's pretty sick.  $1,429 per night for a balcony.,   I still have my OV in place at a little under $14K.  It's possible they're setting this up for the double upgrade and just playing games here.  I'm not holding my breath though and I'm good on the Nauticafor $9,898 with tips paid for and WIFI and two specialties.  BYOS(ake).

[midwestchick]

2 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

Ha!  I thought the veranda on the Japan 15-day cruise was way too much at $17,000.  It went up to $21,438.  Wow!  That's pretty sick.  $1,429 per night for a balcony.,   I still have my OV in place at a little under $14K.  It's possible they're setting this up for the double upgrade and just playing games here.  I'm not holding my breath though and I'm good on the Nauticafor $9,898 with tips paid for and WIFI and two specialties.  BYOS(ake).

I hope people begin to realize the double upgrades are really another marketing ploy to get people to book.  Talk to any travel agent and they will tell you the same thing.  It’s all a game and Azamara isn’t the only line that plays it. 

[hubofhockey]

7 hours ago, midwestchick said:

I hope people begin to realize the double upgrades are really another marketing ploy to get people to book.  Talk to any travel agent and they will tell you the same thing.  It’s all a game and Azamara isn’t the only line that plays it. 

 

I suppose it's also possible that they have come close to selling out their inventory of veranda cabins at $17K for 15 nights and have decided to increase the price to $21.4K for those same cabins because "why not?".  I hope it's more about their usual scheme (some call it a scam) of raising prices a little before the magic double upgrade promotion.    I wonder how management tells their future cruise guys onboard to spin the current $4K increase in prices of those veranda cabins.  I can only imagine.  "Yes, the price of the veranda went from $17K to $21K but you should book now before the price goes up another $4K.  Our regulars will snap up the remaining cabins at any price."  

[uktog]

Basically yes that’s their line these days   
The staff are also generally new sales oriented and no real connection even LCV. Also very script driven 

[Grandma Cruising]

10 minutes ago, uktog said:

Basically yes that’s their line these days   
The staff are also generally new sales oriented and no real connection even LCV. Also very script driven 

Have to say I found the Future Cruises guy on Pursuit very helpful and knowledgeable.

Edited December 7, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[uktog]

You were lucky. The team on Journey changed in Miami and not for the better 

[laurieb]

1 hour ago, hubofhockey said:

 

I suppose it's also possible that they have come close to selling out their inventory of veranda cabins at $17K for 15 nights and have decided to increase the price to $21.4K for those same cabins because "why not?".  I hope it's more about their usual scheme (some call it a scam) of raising prices a little before the magic double upgrade promotion.    I wonder how management tells their future cruise guys onboard to spin the current $4K increase in prices of those veranda cabins.  I can only imagine.  "Yes, the price of the veranda went from $17K to $21K but you should book now before the price goes up another $4K.  Our regulars will snap up the remaining cabins at any price."  

FYI at least in the US, a new promotion has started today.  Still lots of ridiculousness in pricing but many fares have come down to almost kind of reasonable.  Hub, you may want to check the current prices for Japan.

 

[hubofhockey]

19 minutes ago, laurieb said:

FYI at least in the US, a new promotion has started today.  Still lots of ridiculousness in pricing but many fares have come down to almost kind of reasonable.  Hub, you may want to check the current prices for Japan.

 

 

Yes, ha ha!  The price magically dropped $3,000 from yesterday, but it's still $1,000 more than it was last week.  They are all over the place.  They did drop the price of the OV that I booked by a pretty substantial amount to $12K from $14K where I am now.  So, now I'm at $12K for OV  for 15 nights on the Pursuit or $9.5K for Veranda on the Nautica for 10 nights.  It's a real choice, but I'll probably stick with Nautica unless or until Azamara drops Pursuit to $14K for Veranda.

 

There is good news on one of the Black Sea itineraries, which I see a big drop for.

[oddjob16]

I had a quick look at the new prices after the Double Upgrade promotion ended. Looks like a general raise in prices of about 50% on some popular cruises. In Europe there is supposed to be a new promotion with «up to» 40% off. Just another AMG.

[hubofhockey]

I am laughing my butt off right now as they reduced the veranda on my cruise again within the last hour.

 

The price this week went from $17.3K to $21.3K to 18.3K and now back to $17.3K.  If there is an algorithm at work, they need a new one, and $17.3K for a veranda on a 15-day cruise is still not in line with Oceania.  

[excitedofharpenden]

13 minutes ago, hubofhockey said:

I am laughing my butt off right now as they reduced the veranda on my cruise again within the last hour.

 

The price this week went from $17.3K to $21.3K to 18.3K and now back to $17.3K.  If there is an algorithm at work, they need a new one, and $17.3K for a veranda on a 15-day cruise is still not in line with Oceania.  

Welcome to the world of Azamara pricing. I've said this before. All over the place. 

 

 

Phil 

[midwestchick]

2 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

 

Yes, ha ha!  The price magically dropped $3,000 from yesterday, but it's still $1,000 more than it was last week.  They are all over the place.  They did drop the price of the OV that I booked by a pretty substantial amount to $12K from $14K where I am now.  So, now I'm at $12K for OV  for 15 nights on the Pursuit or $9.5K for Veranda on the Nautica for 10 nights.  It's a real choice, but I'll probably stick with Nautica unless or until Azamara drops Pursuit to $14K for Veranda.

 

There is good news on one of the Black Sea itineraries, which I see a big drop for.

Is that on Pursuit?  What are the dates where you’re seeing the price drop?

[laurieb]

We've been booked on the Quest, October 27 2020 for quite some time; the Club Continent dropped nearly 1000.00 with this promotion from what we were booked at, which was good to begin with.  we were able to upgrade to a Club Ocean for under 900.00 more than the N1 we were in.  Oh, and the CO came with 1100.00 additional OBC for us

[hubofhockey]

1 hour ago, midwestchick said:

Is that on Pursuit?  What are the dates where you’re seeing the price drop?

Quest, May 1, 2021.

 

Phil got a BINGO on the pricing scheme.  My future cruise (that I will move) had the the veranda at $17.3K .  The raised it for one or two days to $21.3K and now claim a 40% discount now that it's at its original overinflated price of $17.3K.   So Azamara has two games and both involve temporary price increases.  One is raising the price and going for the double upgrade and other is increasing the price, if only for a day or two, and then reducing it to the original price, claiming a special of 40% off.  Yup, this is shady alright.

[rallydave]

21 minutes ago, hubofhockey said:

Quest, May 1, 2021.

 

Phil got a BINGO on the pricing scheme.  My future cruise (that I will move) had the the veranda at $17.3K .  The raised it for one or two days to $21.3K and now claim a 40% discount now that it's at its original overinflated price of $17.3K.   So Azamara has two games and both involve temporary price increases.  One is raising the price and going for the double upgrade and other is increasing the price, if only for a day or two, and then reducing it to the original price, claiming a special of 40% off.  Yup, this is shady alright.

Absolutely correct Hub.  To be honest, some people, probably on low booking cruises do get what is advertised however in many cases it is exactly what you said and a sale at the same price as before the sale.

 

By the way, the drop to the original $21.3 is only about a 19% decrease and the 40% advertised is "up to 40%" and not 40% for the entire sale..  Have to be careful when looking at all the words in an advertisements for all companies..

[Werangels]

5 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Have to say I found the Future Cruises guy on Pursuit very helpful and knowledgeable.

The guy we had was appalling.

[hubofhockey]

19 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Absolutely correct Hub.  To be honest, some people, probably on low booking cruises do get what is advertised however in many cases it is exactly what you said and a sale at the same price as before the sale.

 

By the way, the drop to the original $21.3 is only about a 19% decrease and the 40% advertised is "up to 40%" and not 40% for the entire sale..  Have to be careful when looking at all the words in an advertisements for all companies..

 

I do want to say that, everything being even close to equal, I want to do this cruise on Azamara.  Also, my current cabin category price (Oceanview Category 6) dropped close to $3K and I have the 4% Future Cruise booking discount, the $300 OBC and then another $1300 off from my TA.  There is always a chance for an upgrade to veranda before the cruise, but I have to decide, for Japan, if I can live with an OV.  All in all, I don't like their pricing games, but I really do have a preference to stay with Azamara on this one.

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, Werangels said:

The guy we had was appalling.

It so depends who you get. It shouldn't be like this. It never was like this.  Fortunately I do know who I WANT to see. I can pick up in an instant the good one. If there is nobody on the ship then I won't go. 

 

Sadly there isn't much out there now booking onboard and I'm better off waiting and doing my own research when I'm home. It hasn't been like this in the past and I feel depressed for me and the sales staff. If I book on the ship I get 10% off, but the way the prices vary now I'm better off leaving it. Not helped by all the terms and conditions attached to an Open Passage Certificate (when you don't have a specific cruise in mind, but still want to take advantage of a deal). 

 

The more complicated they make it the less I'm inclined to book. Am I alone?

 

Phil 

[uktog]

Absolutely not!  Our Autumn cruise is usually when we make our big future commitments, we left today with no bookings.  There were some 2021 cruise you could have a double discount (20%) but the list it applied to was a closely guarded secret it seemed.  I also noted the future cruise desks were very quiet.  Maybe the nature of the cruise (many late bookers heavily discounted probably freaked at the real prices) exacerbated the situation.  But for me I have to believe the staff know what they are doing and applying the right codes, if I do not have the confidence I am not booking.

[travelberlin]

4 hours ago, rallydave said:

Absolutely correct Hub.  To be honest, some people, probably on low booking cruises do get what is advertised however in many cases it is exactly what you said and a sale at the same price as before the sale.

 

By the way, the drop to the original $21.3 is only about a 19% decrease and the 40% advertised is "up to 40%" and not 40% for the entire sale..  Have to be careful when looking at all the words in an advertisements for all companies..

Is this allowed in legal terms? It is actually faking or I see it wrong?