Booking on board

[earn]

I’ve never booked an Azamara cruise whilst on board.  What perks do you get?  Are you able to keep changing your booking as often as you like until final payment?

[uktog]

1 hour ago, earn said:

I’ve never booked an Azamara cruise whilst on board.  What perks do you get?  Are you able to keep changing your booking as often as you like until final payment?

As you are in the UK, no we only get one change free of charge.

 

In terms of benefits, you will get $300 OBC if you make your booking in the first half of the cruise and $200 if you wait until later.  (The website says $200 but its been $300 for about a year)

You also get a discount depending on your loyalty level.  Here is what applies for UK guests.

 

https://www.azamara.co.uk/loyalty/azamara-circle/onboard-benefits

 

The sales pitch will talk about some other protection benefits but in the UK you have them anyway.  Also if you want you can still have this booking with your existing agent and negotiate more benefits with them.  

 

But be careful, I used to get quotes onboard then I would choose what I wanted, then decide which agent I might move it back to.  I discovered that new quotes now are copied to the agent you made your current booking through.  It wasnt an issue as I did want them to have the booking but slightly awkward, I got five quotes, searching for two cruises and the agent thought they were getting five bookings.  I do not like this approach.  I have one outstanding booking with an agent I want nothing more to do with, on that cruise, I will have to be very careful.

[crzrr]

When I have gotten quotes onboard I have always been asked if I want it sent to the agent with which I booked the current cruise.  

[uktog]

16 minutes ago, crzrr said:

When I have gotten quotes onboard I have always been asked if I want it sent to the agent with which I booked the current cruise.  

Agree, seems now that courtesy does not happen.  I raised it and was told it was how it had to be.  

[earn]

Thank you.  That is all good to know, though I do love the flexibility of being able to keep changing.  It has been a God send over the past two years.  We booked directly with Azamara, as our TA is good but never seems to be able to add anything to the on line deal.  Maybe I need to change TA 😀

[Baynanno1]

Glad we have (since the problems we had with the last agent we used) made new bookings directly with Azamara.

In the past, we would always book on board, with the option of transferring to an agent within a certain time frame, IF we wanted to use an agent.

 

[Grandma Cruising]

7 hours ago, earn said:

Thank you.  That is all good to know, though I do love the flexibility of being able to keep changing.  It has been a God send over the past two years.  We booked directly with Azamara, as our TA is good but never seems to be able to add anything to the on line deal.  Maybe I need to change TA 😀

Not sure any UK TA will add OBC.  US TAs seem to do so, I wonder if they get more commission from Azamara (the only way they can give you perks is from their commission). Some large UK cruise specialist TAs sell cruises at discounted prices, but beware as some Cruise Critic folks seemed to have had real problems with them when COVID hit and they needed to get refunds.

[Riocca]

7 hours ago, earn said:

Thank you.  That is all good to know, though I do love the flexibility of being able to keep changing.  It has been a God send over the past two years.  We booked directly with Azamara, as our TA is good but never seems to be able to add anything to the on line deal.  Maybe I need to change TA 😀

Before the pandemic the big TA I used to use offered a 5% discount if you booked onboard and transferred it to them, in reality I used to get a few % more than that. Now everything has changed travel agents are desperate to get their finances back on track and the best I was offered was £62 off of a £6k+ cruise but they wanted an extra non refundable travel agent deposit on top of Azamara’s!

I have also seen travel agent prices at more than the Azamara price, many now seem to want to offer packages with flights, hotels & transfers, but the cruise portion is often bought in at net rates so won’t qualify for some of the cruise line perks. 
 

[Juno1956]

Having just been on Azamara I thought I would look at booking on board but I wanted further advice on using loyalty points etc and just wanted a quote on a cruise to Japan for 2024. The guy was very reluctant to give a quote, and didn’t so lost our booking. 
However, I did enjoy our first Azamara and will book again , but not on board! 

[uktog]

12 minutes ago, Juno1956 said:

Having just been on Azamara I thought I would look at booking on board but I wanted further advice on using loyalty points etc and just wanted a quote on a cruise to Japan for 2024. The guy was very reluctant to give a quote, and didn’t so lost our booking. 
However, I did enjoy our first Azamara and will book again , but not on board! 

I hope you let Azamara know about this via your post cruise survey or if not, as you are part of the loyalty scheme direct to the loyalty team by email.  The onboard booking experience is not what it used to be.  I am sure they will be very disappointed you were not offered a quote.  

[excitedofharpenden]

10 minutes ago, Juno1956 said:

Having just been on Azamara I thought I would look at booking on board but I wanted further advice on using loyalty points etc and just wanted a quote on a cruise to Japan for 2024. The guy was very reluctant to give a quote, and didn’t so lost our booking. 
However, I did enjoy our first Azamara and will book again , but not on board! 

That is not what a future cruise sales person should be about. Reluctant and making it difficult. Not surprised you were turned off. I would be too and would have walked.  Fortunately on the whole I haven't had that experience, but haven't used booking onboard for a while. 

 

Phil 

[Juno1956]

2 hours ago, uktog said:

I hope you let Azamara know about this via your post cruise survey or if not, as you are part of the loyalty scheme direct to the loyalty team by email.  The onboard booking experience is not what it used to be.  I am sure they will be very disappointed you were not offered a quote.  

Thank you for this. I will certainly mention it. I felt like quoting from Pretty Woman, ‘ big mistake!’ 😂

[PirateWife]

3 hours ago, Juno1956 said:

Having just been on Azamara I thought I would look at booking on board but I wanted further advice on using loyalty points etc and just wanted a quote on a cruise to Japan for 2024. The guy was very reluctant to give a quote, and didn’t so lost our booking. 
However, I did enjoy our first Azamara and will book again , but not on board! 

This is disappointing. We usually book a future cruise on board because we get discounts, OBC and a smaller deposit. Also, we can look at what rooms are available and choose the best one for us. We have often got quotes for 4 or 5 cruises.

[uktog]

1 hour ago, PirateWife said:

This is disappointing. We usually book a future cruise on board because we get discounts, OBC and a smaller deposit. Also, we can look at what rooms are available and choose the best one for us. We have often got quotes for 4 or 5 cruises.

Be careful getting quotes, on Quest they were notifying our current agent of all the quotes which was a change from their previous practice.  So make sure you are happy with this agent and I would suggest make the agent aware they are only quotes you will initially be getting otherwise you might have some awkward conversations with your current agent.  I queried why this was now happening on Quest (it never happened on other ships before) and was told it was to keep the agent in the loop for closing the sale.  I have a good agent now, he wouldn't hassle me whilst on a cruise but I can imagine whilst times are tighter some sales pressure emails landing in my mailbox whilst I am on my cruise if I was still with my former agent.

Not sure if this is a Quest or fleet wide practice, they certainly were able to quote without a nominated agent and they haven't changed the booking engine yet post the sale

[PirateWife]

When we were on the Quest in November, we got quotes for 4 different cruises including the World Cruise. Our TA was never notified what cruises we were looking at. When we booked, we were asked if we wanted to use the same TA as we had used in the past. As far as we were concerned, the sale was closed onboard when we made our deposit. If our TA pressured us while on a cruise or not on a cruise, we would be looking for a new TA.

[combine]

Due to Italian red tape and flight schedules the future cruise person on Quest this last week had to leave  before the whole last full day on board .  This is normally  a very busy day  with guests making up their mind and getting the  discounts and obc. Apparently  there was no one else who could do his job ! so potentially lost custom.

I wanted to do an open booking and managed to quickly jump  in between his booked list on second to last day. 

[crzrr]

4 hours ago, PirateWife said:

When we were on the Quest in November, we got quotes for 4 different cruises including the World Cruise. Our TA was never notified what cruises we were looking at. When we booked, we were asked if we wanted to use the same TA as we had used in the past. As far as we were concerned, the sale was closed onboard when we made our deposit. If our TA pressured us while on a cruise or not on a cruise, we would be looking for a new TA.

We were on the Quest in January and booked 7 cruises and had the same experience as PirateWife.  Each time we were asked if we wanted the booking transferred to the agent on our current booking.  We have a great agent so agreed - but each time we were asked.  Also, never had an issue getting a quote for various cabin types and cruises.  It's a shame that others have had issues.  

[Scots Caz]

I was on Journey in December and was looking to book further trips whilst onboard. The quotes given were very different to the website (much higher) I even had to query what currency they were quoting in. Ended up booking with my agent when back who said they had heard from other customers that the onboard quotes were not accounting for the correct solo supplement (quotes were at 200% despite the cruises being on the provided printout at 125%)

I have my eye on a B2B early 2023 so may enquire when onboard next week and see whether the glitch is sorted