Carol Cabezas is leaving Azamara

[KevintheIrishDJ]

New Leadership and Big Changes at Azamara - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News   

[crzrr]

We've been on 6 post-covid and all were wonderful.  Looking forward to the next 6 ... and what the future may bring with the new management.

[TeaBag]

Good news.  We thought Dan did a good job at Celebrity.

Maybe now I can get my points for the cruise I took in May!  I have lost count of the number of times I have written to them. I no longer get a response.

[Cruise Junky]

This is great news. 

[edhopper]

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/11/new-leadership-and-big-changes-at-azamara/?no_cache=1699398444&fbclid=IwAR2i_gg_0RYgsg3kXKSx7vTuoC0WK2JAeq20ySjNV7S3ND-qJ9shzmJY-_U

[john1970]

I'm guessing she has been rewarded for failure and will get a nice pay off and pop up somewhere else on a board of directors.

[travelberlin]

On 11/8/2023 at 1:06 AM, Proc04011981 said:

I do

I doubt that. This simply shows that their efforts are focused on marketing. They might switch the president, but they're maintaining the hotel operations, IT, etc.

Couldn’t they change the shore excursions company? 
Ivi

[Host Jazzbeau]

The new President's background includes Trade Support, and she mentions working with travel agency partners.  She will be getting an earful from them about the problems using Azamara's website (both the TA interface, which seems to have gotten better, and the customer interface – because TAs are hearing about the website problems from their customers).  With her focus, fixing that should become her top priority.  Since that's the main problem that we on Cruise Critic have been complaining about, I view this as extremely good news.

[Grandma Cruising]

1 hour ago, travelberlin said:

Couldn’t they change the shore excursions company? 
Ivi

They work with local companies in whichever port they are in

[travelberlin]

21 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

They work with local companies in whichever port they are in

Oh, I do not mean the local companies. I mean the ones responsible for excursions on board. 
Ivi

[JYDCruise]

I'm more than a little surprised that Laura Krejci is still there. Perhaps the buck stopped on Carol Cabezas' desk, but it sure spent a lot of time loitering on Ms. Krejci's desk as CIO.

[luv2travel90266]

I would suspect they may do a house cleaning. Sycamore Partners have a valuable asset and they are noted to create more value for their invested capital. This is more of a question of how quickly they can fix the problems. Like others on cruise critic we like the product from our previous sailings. The back office issues have been most of the complaints. . 

[marinaro44]

If they turn Azamara into a Celebrity clone, I'm out.  I'd prefer back-office problems to an onboard "culture" change.

Edited November 10, 2023 by marinaro44

[ChucktownSteve]

25 minutes ago, marinaro44 said:

If they turn Azamara into a Celebrity clone, I'm out.  I'd prefer back-office problems to an onboard "culture" change.

Were they both involved in the Chandris culture or only after the contract where Royal Caribbean had to maintain the Chandris' style expired?

[Lazy Sailor]

On 11/7/2023 at 9:56 PM, uktog said:

Travel Weekly is reporting Carol Cabezas has left.

 

Dan Hanrahan is taking a leadership role with Dondra Ritzenthaler ex Celebrity as CEO

 

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Dondra-Ritzenthaler-to-join-Azamara-CEO?fbclid=IwAR2O9om-xsNhVgnDwA8xlNf9WxtyADEGH32Ev10NSoUydMbh7svqeecl3L4

 

 

Sounds like a very positive chance to rescue the Azamara brand from its recent problems. Always had the impression that Cabezas was not really the best choice. 

It will give us something to chat to the officers about when we join Quest next week!

[terry&mike]

10 minutes ago, Lazy Sailor said:

Sounds like a very positive chance to rescue the Azamara brand from its recent problems. Always had the impression that Cabezas was not really the best choice. 

It will give us something to chat to the officers about when we join Quest next week!

I'm joining the Quest next week as well, you must be headed to the Amazon and Brazil!

[takemewithyou]

4 hours ago, ChucktownSteve said:

Were they both involved in the Chandris culture or only after the contract where Royal Caribbean had to maintain the Chandris' style expired?

I was very happy when Dan Hanrahan was in charge of Celebrity.  Those were the good old days of Celebrity.  

[marinaro44]

7 minutes ago, takemewithyou said:

I was very happy when Dan Hanrahan was in charge of Celebrity.  Those were the good old days of Celebrity.  

If it was in the 2005-2006 timeframe, no thanks.

[Riocca]

43 minutes ago, marinaro44 said:

If it was in the 2005-2006 timeframe, no thanks.

With a bit of internet digging it was 2006-2012 and he also oversaw the introduction of the Solstice class of ships.

The new CFO was with Virgin Voyages so would have been involved with the financing of their new builds, so that’s possibly the direction Sycamore are looking to go in the near future.

[takemewithyou]

Dan Hanrahan has served as an Advisor to Sycamore Partners since 2021 for Azamara.  He is now Chair of the Board of Azamara, as far as I can see with some research.  I am sure he will do a fine job managing Azamara until the new CEO takes over.  
 

I do remember when he was CEO at Celebrity, the loyalty benefits for repeat cruisers were good.  Currently….is there even a Loyalty Ambassador for Azamara?  When is the last time anyone received a loyalty newsletter?  That seems to have gone by the way side.  Hopefully that will be corrected soon.

 

Also, Dan Hanrahan was the President of Azamara Cruises back in 2006 and then Larry Pimentel came onboard in 2009

Edited November 10, 2023 by takemewithyou

[takemewithyou]

Too late to edit my post above, but it should be noted that Azamara was started in 2007, not 2006.  

[ragesinn]

I agree with a previous post if Azamara turns into a Celebrity clone that is a mistake. Just off a Celebrity TA where in my opinion the class system is alive and promoted in a manner to upcharge in many areas even charging for basic shuttles to town, etc. 20 plus on Azamara and 9 on Celebrity but I can not see a reason to return which many fellow cruisers on this trip felt the same way.

 

[uktog]

I read somewhere that Dondra was involved in the establishment of Azamara and was part of defining the original vision. 

[Grandma Cruising]

2 hours ago, uktog said:

I read somewhere that Dondra was involved in the establishment of Azamara and was part of defining the original vision. 

That sounds promising!

[ghstudio]

On 11/9/2023 at 7:16 PM, luv2travel90266 said:

I would suspect they may do a house cleaning. Sycamore Partners have a valuable asset and they are noted to create more value for their invested capital. This is more of a question of how quickly they can fix the problems. Like others on cruise critic we like the product from our previous sailings. The back office issues have been most of the complaints. . 

Azamara IS the back office....the ships and your ship experience is sub-contracted out to another company.  Azamara is a marketing company who markets cruises.  Unfortunately, that's exactly what they have done poorly.....the ship experience is still wonderful.