The latest in the shore excursion debacle!

[AllisonJames]

Yes, after a number of attempts (and previous posts begging for help) managed to book (and have them actually saved in my account) some shore excursions. Thought I had conquered the challenge, but the ridiculousness continues. I was not asked to make payment when I booked so I thought (based on posts from all the helpful people on this board) “well, they have either utilized my onboard credit — I had more than enough to cover what I booked — or, it will all be settled onboard.” HA. Silly me! My travel agent called to tell me she received a payment link from AZ because we had a balance due…and you guessed it, it was for the shore excursions I booked two days ago. So, they have nothing else fixed except the ability to demand payment for shore excursions and turn that request around in under 48 hours…even if you shouldn’t have to pay for it anyway! Has anyone else have this happen…beware, it might be coming. And my agent spent 90 minutes trying to get through and is now resorting to emailing someone she knows personally at AZ. I told her “tell that person they better get someone high up in AZ to come on the Cruisecritic board and communicate with all their best customers because there are a lot of very pissed off people right now.” over the years, I have tweeted some very nice things about AZ, and they always responded...I’m about to Tweet directly to AZ to see if by some miracle that gets a response.

[kent4489]

Exactly why I won’t even think about booking a shore excursion. We had no choice but to make final payment earlier this month, although our OBC is still incorrect. We’re stuck now as I’m sure Azamara won’t fix it and we are finished with our useless travel agent. Fortunately, we prefer private tours and will figure out something for whatever OBC we have when we board. A shambles! 

[AllisonJames]

Believe me, I would prefer not to, but it has been very difficult to find tours for this cruise…Scotland Intensive 8/17. It’s high season with the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Fringe Festival going on so the cities have been challenging for tours and the small islands just don’t have much available either. Thank Goodness I have an amazing travel agent! But it should not have to be this way!

[oceanpark]

As we are doing back to back cruises, we have a total of $2,400 OBC and I have successfully used some of it to book shore excursions online.  The OBC doesn’t show online and after repeated calls to Azamara, I was finally able to confirm my OBC amount and that some of it was used in booking excursions.  I however won’t believe it until we are onboard and I see it on our account.

[Heartfelttraveler]

I am sailing in January 2024.

Signed onto my Azamara account and then initiated a Reservation Request.

I stated how much Azamara OBC I had and the excursions I wanted them to book.

The next day I got an email and then a follow up call.  They said it was done and to call my TA and have them make sure it was correct and they would send a confirmation to the TA.

I did, and they did.

TA emailed me the confirmation.

Had to dance a few extra steps, but in the scheme of things, pretty easy.

(With Oceania I have to call to book excursions to get the discounts.)

So far, very happy with the itinerary, price, and service.

I still have five months until sail date of our first Azamara cruise.

[manc]

I think the imminent cruises are the problem.

 

I booked excursions on intensive Scotland and intensive Ireland in August to ensure we got seats. 

 

Wanted to use obc but have been copied in to invoices sent to our TA covering the cost. Not heard from the TA yet. 

 

We are in CC and are Discoverer Plus with EXMO and realistically don't know how we are going to spend OBC otherwise 

 

 

[ebtrip]

Have a question. I have 600.00 in OBC.  I was told by Azamara I could not book my shore excursions until 30 days after I paid my final. Is this true?  I’m sooo confused. Thanks 

[crzrr]

24 minutes ago, ebtrip said:

Have a question. I have 600.00 in OBC.  I was told by Azamara I could not book my shore excursions until 30 days after I paid my final. Is this true?  I’m sooo confused. Thanks 

You should be able to book your excursions now with that OBC - assuming the $600 is from AZ and not from your TA.  We've booked ship's excursions a year in advance with OBC.  No need to wait until after final payment.

[Whitby100]

So TA OBC can be used upon boarding, and it is wise to have proof from TA that there is OBC from them? 

[ebtrip]

3 hours ago, crzrr said:

You should be able to book your excursions now with that OBC - assuming the $600 is from AZ and not from your TA.  We've booked ship's excursions a year in advance with OBC.  No need to wait until after final payment.

Thanks, I’m going to check this out. The 600.00 is from AZ, I know the additional OBC is from my TA, and will have to wait until onboard. The only thing is that my OBC, doesn’t show an amount just 2 coupons no amount.  When I called AZ, they confirmed the 600.00. 

[oddjob16]

We were not able to book excursions using OBC. My agent tried to excecute the payment, but could not access the system. My TA then got a message from Azamara that I had to call in and make the payment by phone. A bit reluctant I sat down and dialled Azamara’s number and got thru in an instant. Managed to sort out the payment using credit card and got confirmation on the OBC amount that we had in the booking. 

[Grandma Cruising]

Same here. I rang to book excursions mostly using OBC. I got through immediately at 2pm. The agent could see my OBC, and was able to apply it to my excursion for one cruise - in fact I expected to pay something, but was told I had more OBC than I thought.

For the second cruise, she booked all the excursions for me, but for some reason was unable to apply the OBC to them. She said she would talk to her supervisor and get back to me, but not to worry as the excursions were definitely booked.

[the_dylaness]

I have had several email exchanges with my TA and Azamara about this same issue... I finally booked some inexpensive transfers, thinking they were paid for with OBC... got an email from my TA 2 days later asking for a CC to put them on... I have $1100 in OBC why would I pay for this in cash? But to get through to Azamara has been impossible and the email agents don't even send replies that make sense. I am starting to wonder if our first AZ cruise will be our last.

[shank63]

2 hours ago, the_dylaness said:I have $1100 in OBC why would I pay for this in cash? But to get through to Azamara has been impossible and the email agents don't even send replies that make sense. I am starting to wonder if our first AZ cruise will be our last.

This is very discouraging since we booked onboard of a previous cruise based on the incentive package which included $900 of OBC.  They are telling us that we cannot use the OBC for excursions until after final payment is processed.  This is no way to build confidence and trust with the customer base.

[Grandma Cruising]

Interestingly three of the excursions I booked are on my booking, the other two not. I’m thinking that the issue is to do with the source of the OBC. I have $600 ‘promotion’ OBC and $700 from the Experience More Indulgence package (which I haven’t yet paid for - I’ll pay my TA along with my final balance). I’m not too worried as I know it will be sorted out eventually. The Azamara agent I spoke to didn’t ask me to pay anything so I’m not sure why TAs would do so.

Here in the UK our call centre seems to be good. I rang yesterday at 2pm and got through immediately.

Edited August 1, 2023 by Grandma Cruising

[uktog]

23 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Interestingly three of the excursions I booked are on my booking, the other two not. I’m thinking that the issue is to do with the source of the OBC. I have $600 ‘promotion’ OBC and $700 from the Experience More Indulgence package (which I haven’t yet paid for - I’ll pay my TA along with my final balance). I’m not too worried as I know it will be sorted out eventually. The Azamara agent I spoke to didn’t ask me to pay anything so I’m not sure why TAs would do so.

Here in the UK our call centre seems to be good. I rang yesterday at 2pm and got through immediately.

The call agents just add the cost to your account. Then your travel agent gets an updated higher bill and asks you for the money.
 

I had a similar experience when I booked an excursion online with Explora who use the same Seaware software. They too had trouble accepting any instructions until after final payment but that got quickly fixed.

 

It’s unbelievable that the cruise lines did not know about this limitation before selecting the software. If they did, they show no understanding of cruiser buying and planning behaviours or the impact of their delayed payment programs with travel agents in the UK on guests 

Edited August 1, 2023 by uktog

[fruitmachine]

10 hours ago, the_dylaness said:

I have had several email exchanges with my TA and Azamara about this same issue... I finally booked some inexpensive transfers, thinking they were paid for with OBC... got an email from my TA 2 days later asking for a CC to put them on... I have $1100 in OBC why would I pay for this in cash? But to get through to Azamara has been impossible and the email agents don't even send replies that make sense. I am starting to wonder if our first AZ cruise will be our last.

The inability to use OBC for transfers has emerged over the last few weeks.  I had an identical situation to yourself.

 

If its for a transfer at the end of the cruise, then the advice here, and when I've spoken to Guest Services on two different ships, is to book it when you get onboard.  At that point OBC can be used.

[Riocca]

A lot of the current problems seems to stem from Azamara trying to convert OBC to the currency of the booking as it was with the RC system and the new system not being able to achieve this. That always seemed crazy if we book with a U.S. cruise line and the onboard currency is in US$ then we’re more than capable of using that currency pre cruise as well, after all the OBC is given in US$.

If we make a non OBC pre cruise purchase that has to be paid for in US$ then the option could be for Azamara to convert the cost to local currency or pay in US$, the latter would be beneficial to us as we use a credit card that offers commercial rates and no fees.

[Grandma Cruising]

Just had an email from the Azamara Agent I spoke to yesterday, telling me she has been able to reserve the other two excursions for me, and when I looked I can see them on my account.
Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but I’m very impressed with the responsiveness of the young lady I spoke to - she followed up everything we discussed and has emailed me several times to confirm what she has done and that she has escalated the issue with my husbands wrong email address to IT. Can’t ask for more!

[manc]

As predicted Azamara contacted my TA wanting payment for excursions. Hopefully the TA has now been able to persuade them to use OBC. Fingers crossed 

[Host Jazzbeau]

11 hours ago, uktog said:

I had a similar experience when I booked an excursion online with Explora who use the same Seaware software. They too had trouble accepting any instructions until after final payment but that got quickly fixed.

 

It’s unbelievable that the cruise lines did not know about this limitation before selecting the software.

Having gone through an outsourcing of enterprise IT that was almost as disastrous as this one, may I suggest that the reason both Explora and Azamara chose this software may be that it was the only package available.  [Last time I looked at Best Buy, I didn't see any "cruise line enterprise software" boxes on the shelf!  LOL]

[fruitmachine]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Having gone through an outsourcing of enterprise IT that was almost as disastrous as this one, may I suggest that the reason both Explora and Azamara chose this software may be that it was the only package available.  [Last time I looked at Best Buy, I didn't see any "cruise line enterprise software" boxes on the shelf!  LOL]

Their VP Technology has all her prior experience in fashion retail.  Need I say more?

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

Their VP Technology has all her prior experience in fashion retail.  Need I say more?

I'm having trouble processing this thought, with the image of your avatar in the same frame!  LOL

[srvpoo]

9 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Having gone through an outsourcing of enterprise IT that was almost as disastrous as this one, may I suggest that the reason both Explora and Azamara chose this software may be that it was the only package available.  [Last time I looked at Best Buy, I didn't see any "cruise line enterprise software" boxes on the shelf!  LOL]

Problems arise with inadequate testing before a complete installation 

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 minutes ago, srvpoo said:

Problems arise with inadequate testing before a complete installation 

And when problems arise, the testing is labelled 'inadequate'