"Rebooking" Policy

[NewSalty]

So, since the end of the "Cruise with Confidence" program, to the best that I can tell, Azamara doesn't really have a "rebooking" policy.  The only real option is to cancel, accepting whatever deposit refund penalty is applicable for the timeframe, and starting a "new" booking.

 

As opposed to Oceania, where the refund penalty is treated as a FCC toward a future booking.

 

Am I understanding Azamara policy correctly?

[lenoirm]

When we recently moved our cruise to Japan from March 2023 to March 2024, there was no cancellation fees or penalties.

Our small deposit was simply transferred to the new date.

 

 

[crzrr]

Agree with lenoirm.  We have done this a couple of times.  A good TA will take care of it.

[Vineyard View]

We needed to cancel earlier this year. We asked if we could rebook for Spring 2023 and transfer our deposit. We were told that we could not and we were charged a cancelation penalty. We ended up booking another line for this next year, but an Az itinerary 2024  caught my eye. I have noticed in previous threads that there seems not to be a hard and fast rule on cancellation penalties when one wants to rebook. It would be great to know what drives these varying outcomes. We paid $175/pp. 

Edited December 25, 2022 by Vineyard View

[Host Jazzbeau]

8 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

We needed to cancel earlier this year. We asked if we could rebook for Spring 2023 and transfer our deposit. We were told that we could not and we were charged a cancelation penalty. We ended up booking another line for this next year, but an Az itinerary 2024  caught my eye. I have noticed in previous threads that there seems not to be a hard and fast rule on cancellation penalties when one wants to rebook. It would be great to know what drives these varying outcomes. We paid $175/pp. 

$175/pp?  The website shows only $75/pp if you were outside 120 days from departure:

 

[lenoirm]

We switched our cruise before final payment , without penalties .

Some travel companies or agents charge an “administrative charge” if you modify your original booking.

Did you call Azamara for your reservation or do you have a travel agent?

 

[Vineyard View]

Our TA went back to them twice. Azamara drew an unmoving line in the sand. We were a party of 4 and each were charged. I am fairly certain it was that amount. I do know it was 121+ days out, but I will double check on that $$ when TA is back, as I deleted all the emails. Regardless, we weren’t able to transfer it. No wriggle room for applying our deposit to another cruise. It was during a special 40% off 2nd person promotion. We weren’t the only ones on this board who were charged, and yet some were able to transfer their deposits during the same timeframe, which was my reason for requesting TA to ask a second time. That was the basis for my questions on this thread. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

7 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Our TA went back to them twice. Azamara drew an unmoving line in the sand. We were a party of 4 and each were charged. I am fairly certain it was that amount. I do know it was 121+ days out, but I will double check on that $$ when TA is back, as I deleted all the emails. Regardless, we weren’t able to transfer it. No wriggle room for applying our deposit to another cruise. It was during a special 40% off 2nd person promotion. We weren’t the only ones on this board who were charged, and yet some were able to transfer their deposits during the same timeframe, which was my reason for requesting TA to ask a second time. That was the basis for my questions on this thread. 

I am aware that Azamara has not allowed transferring bookings [as a rule, there may have been exceptions].  But if they raised the cancellation fee from $75 to $175 without notification that would be major news and should be reported widely on Cruise Critic.  So please report back when you have checked with your TA.  

[Grandma Cruising]

We were able to transfer our deposit from a Black Sea cruise that we cancelled to a cruise 10 months later that we had already booked.

[laurieb]

I’ve never had an issue changing a cruise to a different date (keeping the same booking number, just changing the cruise).  The only time I’ve had to cancel completely and rebook (and be charged the 75.00 pp) is if it’s changing to a different promotion, and I’ve only done that for a significant amount of new OBC that makes up for the cancellation fee.  
If you were charged 175.00 pp it is surely an additional charge from your TA or their agency.

[Vineyard View]

I heard back from TA and as promised reporting back. Our cancel fees were higher due to the fact that we were booked B2B, we were charged cancellation fees for each segment at $75/pp so total of $300. I was incorrect with my memory telling me it was $175/pp. Oy. Anyways, she also confirmed that these cancellation fees are non negotiable/transferable  even if you rebook another cruise with AZ. This last piece I am not sure is consistent? 

[Host Jazzbeau]

12 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

I heard back from TA and as promised reporting back. Our cancel fees were higher due to the fact that we were booked B2B, we were charged cancellation fees for each segment at $75/pp so total of $300. I was incorrect with my memory telling me it was $175/pp. Oy. Anyways, she also confirmed that these cancellation fees are non negotiable/transferable  even if you rebook another cruise with AZ. This last piece I am not sure is consistent? 

That has been my experience.

[Vineyard View]

Thank you. So to be clear, cancellation penalties stand regardless of whether you rebook another itinerary at the time of canceling? You will be charged these fees?  

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you. So to be clear, cancellation penalties stand regardless of whether you rebook another itinerary at the time of canceling? You will be charged these fees?  

That was my experience.  But it's a sample of 1.

[Grandma Cruising]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

That was my experience.  But it's a sample of 1.

Us too, so sample of 2.

[Riocca]

4 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

That was my experience.  But it's a sample of 1.

Was always the case in the U.K. if you cancelled you would lose your deposit which is £250 pp. It was only during the pandemic that we were able to lift & shift with no penalties but that’s all finished now, also in U.K. law if you cancel a cruise and then the cruise line cancel the cruise then they have to refund the lost deposit. I recently spoke to customer services about repricing a cruise and they confirmed I would have to cancel and rebook losing the deposit.

[knitter]

On 12/29/2022 at 5:41 AM, Riocca said:

Was always the case in the U.K. if you cancelled you would lose your deposit which is £250 pp. It was only during the pandemic that we were able to lift & shift with no penalties but that’s all finished now, also in U.K. law if you cancel a cruise and then the cruise line cancel the cruise then they have to refund the lost deposit. I recently spoke to customer services about repricing a cruise and they confirmed I would have to cancel and rebook losing the deposit.

I was able to rebook for a price drop without losing my deposit, and later got a significant OBC added. Have never sailed A before so first experience.

[Riocca]

6 hours ago, knitter said:

I was able to rebook for a price drop without losing my deposit, and later got a significant OBC added. Have never sailed A before so first experience.

I think this was always possible with North American bookings but not with U.K. bookings, long been a bone of contention.

[Travels with Lisa]

We just "cancelled" a cruise - our TA just moved the booking to a different cruise, same confirmation number, OBC and reduced deposit.  The only thing that changed was the cabin number.