UK changes to onboard bookings and free nights

[Riocca]

I can only post this regarding UK bookings but it possibly relates to others as well.

 

Back in October onboard Onward we changed an existing booking previously made onboard, in this case the new cruise was booked with a new booking number and the deposit transferred from the existing booking which was then cancelled.

 

This is no longer the case, currently onboard Onward we wanted to change an existing booking (actually made on the October cruise) to one of the new Quest 2025 Canada / New England cruises. Now this has to be referred to Azamara UK to action, the cabin we wanted was held on a temporary booking while Azamara UK updated the booking. This took a few extra days because of the Christmas holiday but was done without any problems then the temporary booking was cancelled.

 

We also asked if the three free nights would work with this booking but this had to be submitted after the booking was changed. As the new cruise was 12 days we weren’t expecting it to work however to our surprise the onboard discounted cruise fare was reduced by 25% within a couple of days. So this represents a true 3 free nights on the booking, much better than it used to be under the old RC system.

[Host Jazzbeau]

This will be very good news if it represents a new policy, and not just that you got lucky...  The 'free nights' has always been the most frustrating amenity, because any less than 6 were hard to profit from.

[Riocca]

21 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

This will be very good news if it represents a new policy, and not just that you got lucky...  The 'free nights' has always been the most frustrating amenity, because any less than 6 were hard to profit from.

We were told that onboard staff now have strict instructions to refer all changes that have financial implications to the home team responsible for that passenger.

 

It’s clear that the new Azamara regime are beginning to get a firm grip and everyone is now following the correct procedures.

 

I think the figures are too exact for us to have gotten lucky, so hopefully free nights now actually have value for everyone.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Riocca

[crzrr]

1 hour ago, Riocca said:

I can only post this regarding UK bookings but it possibly relates to others as well.

 

Back in October onboard Onward we changed an existing booking previously made onboard, in this case the new cruise was booked with a new booking number and the deposit transferred from the existing booking which was then cancelled.

 

This is no longer the case, currently onboard Onward we wanted to change an existing booking (actually made on the October cruise) to one of the new Quest 2025 Canada / New England cruises. Now this has to be referred to Azamara UK to action, the cabin we wanted was held on a temporary booking while Azamara UK updated the booking. This took a few extra days because of the Christmas holiday but was done without any problems then the temporary booking was cancelled.

 

We also asked if the three free nights would work with this booking but this had to be submitted after the booking was changed. As the new cruise was 12 days we weren’t expecting it to work however to our surprise the onboard discounted cruise fare was reduced by 25% within a couple of days. So this represents a true 3 free nights on the booking, much better than it used to be under the old RC system.

Did you get your 3 free nights (25% off)  in addition to any promotions going on and your onboard booking discount?  In the past, we have been able to get the onboard booking discount in addition to the free nights but not any additional current promotions.

[Riocca]

12 minutes ago, crzrr said:

Did you get your 3 free nights (25% off)  in addition to any promotions going on and your onboard booking discount?  In the past, we have been able to get the onboard booking discount in addition to the free nights but not any additional current promotions.

Booking was exactly as it was before the 3 nights were applied, early booking bonus, onboard booking discount and OBC.

Everything was done off ship by the back office so no reason to believe that this is not now the normal procedure.