Azamara best price, best offer guarantee. Is it real?

[lixogab]

I booked my Azamara cruise couple of months ago via a big box online agency.

Couple of day ago I saw a "$500 Onboard Credit" advertisement and apparently it applies to my cruise as well.

 

Now, the Azamara  best price, best offer guarantee ( https://www.azamara.com/cruise-with-confidence )states that

 You’ll always get the best possible price—even after you book.* If the fare on your booked sailing lowers or a better promotion is offered, contact us and we’ll honor that better price right up to 48 hours before you sail.*

 

Is my understanding correct that I can contact Azamara (even though I booked via an agency) and they will add the $500 credit to my reservation ?

Did anybody use that before ?

 

[kaymoz]

We did this not too long ago but since we booked through a travel agent we went back that way for the rebooking, which in our case reduced the fare rather than increasing the OBC.  The difference was credited back to the card we initially used for our booking, since we had already paid in full.  It's a pretty impressive benefit!

[azalice]

We had made final payment when the Azamara offer went from 500 OBC to 1000 OBC. Our TA was first told that they could not honor the increase. Someone on my Roll Call for our September cruise got the increase. So I again contacted my TA; he had to contact his Azamara rep; my increase to 1000 dollars OBC was honored based on their best price guarantee ( at least I think it was based on that guarantee). There was no discussion about it being a rebooking, just giving increased OBC. So keep trying either thru Azamara or your TA.

[CYNSport]

If you book through any type of TA (including “Big Box”), it’s my understanding that  they must make any rate modifications for you, so I don’t think you can deal directly with Azamara yourself. Also, sometimes travel agencies book “special group rates” that are difficult to get modified under some of the OBC offers.

[lixogab]

7 minutes ago, CYNSport said:

If you book through any type of TA (including “Big Box”), it’s my understanding that  they must make any rate modifications for you, so I don’t think you can deal directly with Azamara yourself. Also, sometimes travel agencies book “special group rates” that are difficult to get modified under some of the OBC offers.

Right... that's why I  was surprised by the "contact us".

[CYNSport]

Hopefully, this will work for you. Cheers!

[Hammer61]

Have never heard of being able to contact the Cruise Company direct if you hadn’t booked with them? So interested to know how this works out, I may learn something! And good luck.

 

As to Online Travel Agents, I have mixed feelings as on the one hand they do have better prices but its when prices drop you can get caught out a bit, I have had it go both ways, book a great price and it never gets any cheaper BUT if the price drops you often find under the T&C they can either charge you an “Admin fee” to change your booking to the new rate or you have to cancel and re book, which incurs the cancellation fee.

 

These days I tend to book direct with the Cruise company or use the traditional in person travel agent and pay a bit more if the cruise is a long time in the future, then if prices change its a phone call to switch to the new price or offer although if using an agent i always check what the policy is before paying any deposit, but if only a few months before departure I book via the online agents, its always cheaper from my experience.

[lixogab]

Quick update:

Called Azamara and as expected, they told me that I have to deal with the travel agent.

Called the travel agent, they called to Azamara and clarified that my booking doesn't qualify for the $500 Onboard Credit since I have a guarantee stateroom. An upgrade to regular room was more  than $500  so it doesn't make any sense.

I did a mockup reservation and effectively the onboard credit is valid only for _some_ categories and it looks to be "up to" even though the main page advertisement doesn't mention that the credit is just for some rooms. It sounded too good to be true from the beginning but since I didn't see any disclaimers I decided to try.

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 minutes ago, lixogab said:

Quick update:

Called Azamara and as expected, they told me that I have to deal with the travel agent.

Called the travel agent, they called to Azamara and clarified that my booking doesn't qualify for the $500 Onboard Credit since I have a guarantee stateroom. An upgrade to regular room was more  than $500  so it doesn't make any sense.

I did a mockup reservation and effectively the onboard credit is valid only for _some_ categories and it looks to be "up to" even though the main page advertisement doesn't mention that the credit is just for some rooms. It sounded too good to be true from the beginning but since I didn't see any disclaimers I decided to try.

 

The question is how much more than $500 would a regular room be?  Is that net cost worth it to be able to choose your cabin?  [I would never book a guarantee rate because there are far too many unacceptable cabins on every deck plan I have examined.]

 

[And BTW, I didn't pull your first post because that would be the entire thread – but, you aren't allowed to hint at travel agents as you did.  In future, just say 'my travel agent' and leave it at that.]

[lixogab]

3 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

The question is how much more than $500 would a regular room be?  Is that net cost worth it to be able to choose your cabin?  [I would never book a guarantee rate because there are far too many unacceptable cabins on every deck plan I have examined.]

 

[And BTW, I didn't pull your first post because that would be the entire thread – but, you aren't allowed to hint at travel agents as you did.  In future, just say 'my travel agent' and leave it at that.]

No, it doesn't make any sense for me to pay for a regular cabin on that cruise. Basically, I'm on OV GTY, next category is obstructed OV, and the price for non-obstucted OV is close to balcony GTY and for port intensive cruise I prefer to spend money somewhere else.

 

Sorry for mentioning the details about my agent.

[kaymoz]

If it's any consolation, I read the first post and couldn't tell the identity of the agent.

[barneyboy]

11 hours ago, lixogab said:

Quick update:

Called Azamara and as expected, they told me that I have to deal with the travel agent.

Called the travel agent, they called to Azamara and clarified that my booking doesn't qualify for the $500 Onboard Credit since I have a guarantee stateroom. An upgrade to regular room was more  than $500  so it doesn't make any sense.

I did a mockup reservation and effectively the onboard credit is valid only for _some_ categories and it looks to be "up to" even though the main page advertisement doesn't mention that the credit is just for some rooms. It sounded too good to be true from the beginning but since I didn't see any disclaimers I decided to try.

We’ve recently booked a suite guarantee as it was half the price of choosing our cabin. We didn’t receive the OBC but before I chased it up I checked the terms and conditions on Azamara’s web site. It stays on there that it’s not applicable to guarantee cabins. 

[kydems]

Yes the Best Price Guarantee is true. Working with a TA after final payment for 3 cruises received $1200 OBC for the first one, $2400 OBC for the second and unbelievably a cash refund of $3600 for the third. This took about a month to come through and lots of emails by my TA. Used a lot to pay for shore excursions. Very happy cruiser

[acruisergirl]

Sounds like my recent experience with upcoming Sept/Oct cruises.  First cruise was after final payment and I  received $2200 OBC;  second & third cruises I received a $1000 total refund because they were before final payment and my TA also was able to get me an extra $500 OBC for each cruise to match the current offer.  Yes, Best Price Guarantee is real.😊

[KevintheIrishDJ]

Is it still in affect?

[KevintheIrishDJ]

We booked a cruise onboard last year. The price recently decreased about $900. TA told me Azamara said the price guarantee doesn't apply to my booking. I asked TA for explanation. How can that be?

[Whitby100]

17 minutes ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

We booked a cruise onboard last year. The price recently decreased about $900. TA told me Azamara said the price guarantee doesn't apply to my booking. I asked TA for explanation. How can that be?

Makes no sense to me.  When we booked our last cruise (on board in September) we were specifically told ( by AZ rep)  to keep monitoring prices because if I fell, we could get better price. 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Whitby100

[ghstudio]

We booked a cruise (next month) while on-board the onward earlier this year.  The original price was $8kish....but before we even left the desk, the price dropped to $5k due to this and that deals. We paid $1k deposit with $4k due at final payment time.  We transferred to our TA. At final payment time, our TA called and asked how we would like to pay the $3k due....huh??? I double checked with Azamara and we owed $3k not $4k.   Was that due to "best price" or some other error....I don't really want to probe 🙂

[Whitby100]

39 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

We booked a cruise (next month) while on-board the onward earlier this year.  The original price was $8kish....but before we even left the desk, the price dropped to $5k due to this and that deals. We paid $1k deposit with $4k due at final payment time.  We transferred to our TA. At final payment time, our TA called and asked how we would like to pay the $3k due....huh??? I double checked with Azamara and we owed $3k not $4k.   Was that due to "best price" or some other error....I don't really want to probe 🙂

That is great!  I’d pay quickly lol.  It is not due to best price because we were told we had to request price adjustments - they would not automatically be applied.  Print off whatever proof you have of payment in full!

[paf225]

I've had mixed results with Azamara's best price guarantee this year.

 

After final payment:  In early March 2023 I noticed the fare for an oceanview stateroom was now the same price as the interior stateroom I had booked and the interior stateroom price had been reduced in price by approximately $600 CAD for a cruise departing at the beginning of May 2023.  I had my travel agency contact Azamara to see if I could either be credited OBC for the amount of the reduction for the interior price or be upgraded to the oceanview at no cost.  Azamara would not give me the OBC but did upgrade me to the oceanview stateroom at no cost.

 

Before final payment:  In October 2023 I noticed the fare for a March 2025 booking had been reduced by about $3,000 CAD.  I had my travel agency contact Azamara and my booking was repriced at $3,000 CAD less then the original booking.  Currently, the fare for my category stateroom is even higher then the original booking price.

 

After final payment:  This past week I noticed the fare for a V3 verandah stateroom was only $600 CAD more then the fare for the interior stateroom I've booked on a February 2024 cruise.  I had my travel agency call Azamara to see if I could upgrade my booking to a V3 stateroom by paying the $600 CAD difference reflected in the current Black Friday double upgrade sale.  Azamara told my agent I would have to cancel my original booking and incur the current penalties (which I believe are 25% of the fare or more) and rebook.  I declined to do so. 

 

It appears the way Azamara handles change requests for post final payment bookings has changed between March 2023 and now.  The other possibility is some of the numerous new staff brought onboard are not interpreting the policy correctly.  Regards, Paul

[KevintheIrishDJ]

Here is the reply we got from Azamara: 

However, I did go into the booking system and took a look at it just so I would know what we were up against.

 

Here is what I found. In order to take advantage of these lower prices you would have to cancel and rebook. When doing so you would end up losing your $300 in onboard credit and you would be in the 100% penalty of cruise fare. This would mean that you would lose all of your cruise fare. This would make changing your booking would not save you any money considering the difference between the 2 is only around $1400 and you wouldn’t even be able to pick your room because all that is left in your category are the guarantees which means it could be in a bad location. So, to change your booking to the lower price promotions you would have to give up $300 in onboard credit making your booking $300 more expensive since you would have to pay that $300 out of pocket to cover whatever you would like to use it on since the new promotion has no OBC (onboard credit) on it. And on that you would lose all of your cruise fare meaning you would basically just be starting over, and you would end up likely getting a worse room and be paying extra.

 

I hope this helps. 

 

Cheers,

 

Andrea"