The future of Azamara Circle Program

[terry&mike]

17 hours ago, lisiamc said:

I think Azamara are going to have to upgrade their internet systems soon. In the past five or so years, we have cruised with other lines with similar ships and similar guest numbers, supplying free internet to all customers, and providing a faster and more reliable service than Azamara has. 

I believe that Azamara has plans to upgrade it's internet systems onboard -

 

Azamara Alert

 

 

Due to technology upgrades, we expect Wi-Fi connectivity to be affected on a portion of three Azamara voyages: 

• Azamara Pursuit- 11/19/22
• Azamara Journey – 1/15/23
• Azamara Quest – 2/19/23

 

Only these voyages will be affected. Wi-Fi will be available in The Den.

 

For the inconvenience, every stateroom will receive a $300 Onboard Credit.

[terry&mike]

On 11/17/2022 at 11:01 AM, Riocca said:

One thing I would like to see is loyalty discounts not being linked to onboard bookings, most cruise lines we’ve dealt with offer some sort of loyalty discount or bonus whenever you book. Admittedly the discounts probably are more generous than some offer but linking it to onboard bookings is restrictive. Onboard credit and maybe a drinks package would make more sense for onboard bookings.

Did talk to one of the loyalty managers on a recent cruise they’ve not been told what’s happening but didn’t think that initially there would be any major changes or reduction of perks.

On a booking made on Tuesday (while not onboard a ship), a 10% loyalty discount was applied to the booking.

[uktog]

Really I had a quote and was told no. I’m fed up with this inconsistency 

[lisiamc]

18 minutes ago, terry&mike said:

I believe that Azamara has plans to upgrade it's internet systems onboard -

 

Azamara Alert

 

 

Due to technology upgrades, we expect Wi-Fi connectivity to be affected on a portion of three Azamara voyages: 

• Azamara Pursuit- 11/19/22
• Azamara Journey – 1/15/23
• Azamara Quest – 2/19/23

 

Only these voyages will be affected. Wi-Fi will be available in The Den.

 

For the inconvenience, every stateroom will receive a $300 Onboard Credit.

I read that, but I had the impression that what they will be doing, has already been done on Onward. Whatever it was, it hasn’t improved anything at all. Download speed is beyond dire. I did a speed test yesterday and got a result of .69 Mbps.

[uktog]

3 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

I read that, but I had the impression that what they will be doing, has already been done on Onward. Whatever it was, it hasn’t improved anything at all. Download speed is beyond dire. I did a speed test yesterday and got a result of .69 Mbps.

Not good news. I need to do an hour or so onboard when I’m away. When the internet is so rubbish it usually takes 2 hours. That extra hour really eats into our holiday 

[Riocca]

22 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

I read that, but I had the impression that what they will be doing, has already been done on Onward. Whatever it was, it hasn’t improved anything at all. Download speed is beyond dire. I did a speed test yesterday and got a result of .69 Mbps.

Wasn’t using it much a few weeks ago on Onward but when I did it was quite useable for everyday browsing much better than on Quest in September. Checked in for flights and downloaded boarding passes without any delays, ship was almost full at 640 pax so I assume it was being well used.

[Belfastman]

8 hours ago, pyrrhus said:

I thin k it is a huge difference since you aren't getting the double food, alcohol, electricity, water, and such (generally, I know some folks who can put both away). 

Sorry I thought we were talking about bags of laundry and the loyality program. Food, water etc are not changed for anyone through the Azamara Circle program.

[Laganlady02]

6 hours ago, terry&mike said:

On a booking made on Tuesday (while not onboard a ship), a 10% loyalty discount was applied to the booking.

Can I ask if you are a Discoverer Platinum member, or if perhaps you are referring to the 10% Quarterly Savings discount which is available to all Azamara Circle members (booked onboard or not).

[Cruizer Diana]

13 hours ago, pyrrhus said:

I don't fully buy that (I buy the system can't handle it) but do they often turn folks away if everyone is willing to buy the second bag and pay for unlimited internet for everyone in every cabin?  

 

Hopefully they will consider starlink soon.

We were on the Pacific Princess (now the Onward) in the Med in 2018. We did not have elite status, so did not have the free laundry perk. Our ONLY option was per-piece pricing... like $4 for socks or underwear. While I did not ask why this was the only option, I came to the conclusion that an increase in volume was an issue for the ship. Why else would they charge outrageous prices and never offer a bag-of-laundry option?

Just a thought...

[uktog]

9 minutes ago, Cruizer Diana said:

We were on the Pacific Princess (now the Onward) in the Med in 2018. We did not have elite status, so did not have the free laundry perk. Our ONLY option was per-piece pricing... like $4 for socks or underwear. While I did not ask why this was the only option, I came to the conclusion that an increase in volume was an issue for the ship. Why else would they charge outrageous prices and never offer a bag-of-laundry option?

Just a thought...

The laundry bag perk is not Onward specific it applies to all ships.  What you describe is a Princess policy to maximise revenue from laundry sales

[AJCM]

Re : internet

I have some work to do pretty much each day. I purchased a wifi hot spot as I’m resigned to very poor internet speed on cruise ships.

 

It works the same as a mobile/cell phone at home. My hotspot picks up the best signal in whichever location you’re in. I purchase a package of GB beforehand and it gets activated when I first access wifi in a country (or region - e.g. Europe). It also can take a sim card, so I look to buy a sim card in a major city - this works out much cheaper than the pre purchased data. Overall it works very well.

 

It can only be used when not at sea; which  works for me because Azamara is a destination cruise line with very few days at sea. So, if you want better wifi and you cruise do some google searches. Mine is 3G because it’s now a few years old but I recently used it on an Azamara Europe cruise and had no problems. The Azamara wifi, on the other hand, is either at least a decade out of date and improbable or is actually insoluble. Either way, I’m not waiting around.

[luv2travel90266]

46 minutes ago, AJCM said:

Re : internet

Mine is 3G because it’s now a few years old but I recently used it on an Azamara Europe cruise and had no problems. The Azamara wifi, on the other hand, is either at least a decade out of date and improbable or is actually insoluble. Either way, I’m not waiting around.

I also use a hotspot and Skype for my calls. A tip for you. On my last trip it was great except didn’t work in Copenhagen. They are shutting down their 3G network.  I just upgraded to a new 4G hotspot.
 

I still need internet on the ship. Due to time zones working  after dinner is the time to communicate with the West coast.  

[Benthayer Gonbak]

On 11/18/2022 at 12:13 PM, lisiamc said:

I think Azamara are going to have to upgrade their internet systems soon. In the past five or so years, we have cruised with other lines with similar ships and similar guest numbers, supplying free internet to all customers, and providing a faster and more reliable service than Azamara has. 

i was on one of the ships, probably the quest, when I was tripping over the “upgrade” of the internet!  When I later cruisedshen them, in a different area I couldn’t tell the difference!  

[terry&mike]

19 hours ago, Laganlady02 said:

Can I ask if you are a Discoverer Platinum member, or if perhaps you are referring to the 10% Quarterly Savings discount which is available to all Azamara Circle members (booked onboard or not).

Ahhh, that's what it was, a 10% Quarterly Savings Discount for Azamara Circle members. I didn't realize the 2 were different. 

[terry&mike]

On 11/19/2022 at 5:58 AM, uktog said:

Really I had a quote and was told no. I’m fed up with this inconsistency 

Someone pointed out that what I was given was a 10% Quarterly Azamara Circle member discount, not a Discoverer Platinum discount. I did not realize these were different things.

[Riocca]

Regards to the internet upgrade, someone currently onboard Pursuit has just posted this on another forum, not verified but if this is correct then wow!

 

Edited November 20, 2022 by Riocca

[lisiamc]

18 hours ago, Riocca said:

Regards to the internet upgrade, someone currently onboard Pursuit has just posted this on another forum, not verified but if this is correct then wow!

 

Wow, that’s fabulous! I hope it continues, and spreads to Onward. This is what I got just now:

 

 

[uktog]

Oh dear, that speed is going to give me issues next week.  If its too slow I get timed out of clearing the security gateways to log onto the work email system

[nonrev1]

I have never understood why cruises are much less expensive on Celebrity versus Azamara yet the loyalty benefits on celebrity are much better. We were on a recent celebrity cruise and we each got unlimited Wi-Fi and we each had two bags of laundry.  The laundry bags on Azamara have gotten much smaller over the years and it is one per cabin and not per person.  We each pay for the cruise….we both have Discoverer plus status….so why one bag or why one person gets unlimited wifi when there is a promo?  Now that they allow combinability of benefits if you are in a suite or Discoverer Plus, no one onboard seems to believe that is true.  On our last two cruises we printed out the combinability information  and had to show it to guest relations.  I just think the program could be better… especially for the price point of Azamara cruises.  And yes…..they need a step after Discoverer Plus…..we take 3 cruises a year on Azamara and will never reach the next level.  So……there really is no incentive for us to stay loyal to Azamara.  

[Mercruiser]

On 11/20/2022 at 12:59 PM, Riocca said:

Regards to the internet upgrade, someone currently onboard Pursuit has just posted this on another forum, not verified but if this is correct then wow!

 

Notice that the uplink is shown as "SpaceX Starlink". Can we infer that Azamara has installed the Starlink Maritime service? 

 

If you read up on Starlink, the speeds can vary dramatically with location. More specifically, if you are in a highly populated area (with lots of Starlink subscribers), the speeds slow because everyone is sharing a few satellites. In contrast, if you are in a remote location the speeds are very fast. That makes Starlink an excellent counterpart to mobile cellular data, which tends to be fastest in populated areas and slowest (or unavailable) in remote areas.

 

An important limitation of Starlink, to cruisers, is the lack of coverage at polar latitudes (above 60 degrees). You can see it on this live map: https://satellitemap.space/?constellation=starlink

 

This is a rapidly changing situation, as Starlink is starting to put some new satellites in polar orbits. Have a look at the Alaska region on the satellite map. Then read this article from yesterday in the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News.

https://www.adn.com/business-economy/2022/11/24/starlink-begins-providing-high-speed-satellite-internet-in-alaska/

 

Sorry to nerd-out here. I'm a newly retired electrical engineer that loves technology. I'm no Elon fan-boy, but I have to give credit where credit is due. Starlink is an amazing technology that is bringing fast Intenet to the globe.

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by Mercruiser