10% credit if paid in full by April 10, 150+ days prior

[Dynacruiser]

Is this new?  My apologies if this thread already exists, but I was surprised by 10%.  Seems like a better deal than previous offers, but as always some of us will be suspicious if they are in desperate need of cash.  

 

Personally, I would consider this for a cruise that I am taking in October.

 

Pay in full on any eligible bookings sailing 150+ days from departure by April 10, 2024, and you’ll receive a 10% onboard credit.

Edited March 28 by Dynacruiser

[AroundWithMAPTravels]

Seems like every week there is a new, more “incentivized “ offer

I received this todsy as well

Last week was 7% at 365 days.
My scheduled trip is not until June 2025. Maybe by then the OBC offer will be 50%😁

[saltymac]

I am starting to get worried by these offers as it screams cash flow problems to me, hope my cruise in November still goes ahead. 

[Grandma Cruising]

Just think about it, the OBC Azamara gives you comes back to them, not only that but they make a good profit on almost anything you buy using OBC. Speciality meals, drinks packages, Wifi, excursions, spa services etc don’t cost them anywhere near what they charge you in OBC, yet they can put your cash in the bank & earn interest on it.

Thats how most travel agents work - they ask you to pay them way before they have to pay the cruise company, hotel etc. They earn interest on your money until they have to pay!

[ChucktownSteve]

53 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Just think about it, the OBC Azamara gives you comes back to them, not only that but they make a good profit on almost anything you buy using OBC. Speciality meals, drinks packages, Wifi, excursions, spa services etc don’t cost them anywhere near what they charge you in OBC, yet they can put your cash in the bank & earn interest on it.

Thats how most travel agents work - they ask you to pay them way before they have to pay the cruise company, hotel etc. They earn interest on your money until they have to pay!

We think alike. I've also pointed that out.   It's cheaper money paying off more expensive debt. 

 

I pulled the trigger on the 10% promotion today for our 12/9/24 cruise. We each received just under $500 additional OBC pp. Since all the specialty restaurants are included in our suite and we already had $900 total OBC, I suppose the spousal unit is going to get a lot more Mary Francis bags.That is if there are any designs left she hasn't already bought. rofl.

While others have pointed out their concerns about cash flow, it doesn't bother me as long as they remain in business, give me a great cruise and the crew are still motivated towards pax enjoyment. My trip insurance covers me should they not make it, so I'm out nothing financially.

 

However I can't see a venture capital company wanting to run down the company to devalue it. Doesn't make business sense to me.

Edited March 28 by ChucktownSteve

[Dynacruiser]

@Grandma CruisingYour argument makes a lot of sense, but why hadn't they done it before?  They surely have smart financial people who can see opportunities.   Perhaps they make 40 to 50% profit on everything they sell onboard?  So the offers only cost them half of what they give us in OBC?  I don't know the numbers, I am just speculating.

But why hadn't they done it before?  You could argue that it's because of recent high interest rates.  Interest rates in the US started going up in 2022, and the US Fed rate reached 4% in late November 2022.  My bank was calling me in mid 2022 to offer me great fixed-term deposit rates.  Azamara could have started offering this since 2022, but I think we didn't start seeing them until late 2023.

 

@saltymac Yes, it makes me a bit nervous, but I am committed to this brand and my last trip a couple of weeks ago was as enjoyable as any other, so I'm taking the risk.

 

@ChucktownSteve I don't think Sycamore intends to run down the company, it's probably worth pennies to the dollar if it goes belly up, but they probably want to make it much more profitable (or just profitable), and they don't want to infuse any more cash into it.  They just want to get profits and distribute to their private equity shareholders.

 

I don't buy trip insurance.  I probably should, but it's too expensive and I perhaps I may could take a loss of <$10K, but also assume the risk is low.  

I use a credit card and a travel agency, I hope I get some protection from them.  I should review the protection included in my credit card, which a very old legacy Chase bank card that provides travel protection benefits no longer available, but I don't think it includes bankruptcies.

 

I am hoping other folks here can share their financial wisdom.

Edited March 28 by Dynacruiser

[ChucktownSteve]

1 hour ago, AroundWithMAPTravels said:

Seems like every week there is a new, more “incentivized “ offer

I received this today as well

Last week was 7% at 365 days.
My scheduled trip is not until June 2025. Maybe by then the OBC offer will be 50%😁

I HOPE so! Our May 2025 Med cruise would make it more enticing to pay early.. I'm only getting about 5% annual interest on my cash in MM's.  Time, Value, MONEY.

[ChucktownSteve]

5 minutes ago, Dynacruiser said:

@Grandma CruisingYour argument makes a lot of sense, but why hadn't they done it before?  They surely have smart financial people who can see opportunities.   Perhaps they make 40 to 50% profit on everything they sell onboard?  So the offers only cost them half of what they give us in OBC?  I don't know the numbers, I am just speculating.

But why hadn't they done it before?  You could argue that it's because of recent high interest rates.  Interest rates in the US started going up in 2022, and the US Fed rate reached 4% in late November 2022.  My bank was calling me in mid 2022 to offer me great fixed-term deposit rates.  Azamara could have started offering this since 2022, but I think we didn't start seeing them until late 2023.

 

@saltymac Yes, it makes me a bit nervous, but I am committed to this brand and my last trip a couple of weeks ago was as enjoyable as any other, so I'm taking the risk.

 

@ChucktownSteve I don't think Sycamore intends to run down the company, it's probably worth pennies to the dollar if it goes belly up, but they probably want to make it much more profitable (or just profitable), and they don't want to infuse any more cash into it.  They just want to get profits and distribute to their private equity shareholders.

 

I don't buy trip insurance.  I probably should, but it's too expensive and I perhaps I may could take a loss of <$10K, but also assume the risk is low.  

I use a credit card and a travel agency, I hope I get some protection from them.  I should review the protection included in my credit card, which a very old legacy Chase bank card that provides travel protection benefits no longer available, but I don't think it includes bankruptcies.

 

I am hoping other folks here can share their financial wisdom.

I don't think they will do that either.  Besides the OBC, my credit cards give me 3% cash back on travel and my TA gives me a 10% rebate after the trip. 

I'm not concerned about bankruptcies.  I'm more interested in the health and repatriation coverage with all the other things they cover. Credit cards don't usually give you the full coverage. 

[crzrr]

I'm not sure that the old leadership had the brains that they were born with as evidenced by the website fiasco.  The new leadership team has a great deal of experience and I'm guessing that they are leveraging that experience to come up with ways to increase the bottom line.  And, if I can benefit from that, all the better.  Seems like a win-win all of the way around.  We took advantage of the 5% for our October cruise (wish that I had waited) and I'll be calling my TA to take advantage of the 10% offer for my January/February cruises.

[ghstudio]

We have 19 day b2B cruise booked in Dec in the Caribbean.  We already have $2200 OBC which is almost impossible to spend.  On our last trip, my wife and I bought Prada sunglasses just to use up some of the OBC on that trip. What would we would even do with another $600 OBCC? (no real interest in buying jewelry which is the obvious).  I'm actually not even sure how we wound up with that much OBC...booking on-board plus some special offers that we seem to have  qualified for.  I think we'll pass (and yes, I am in the camp that says they are having cash issues and worried about cancellation, bankruptcy, etc).  

[Riocca]

Don’t forget Azamara have a new management team in respect of a new CFO and incoming CEO so that brings in new ideas. 

My take on the differing offers is that they are trying different things to see what is most attractive to customers and will settle on whatever is most effective.

As regards Sycamore my understanding is that all their companies run autonomously they provide the funds for growth, think of it like a bank, but if Azamara can provide cheaper financing from bringing in customers funds early then that’s good business. Viking have been doing this for years in the North American market with no return for their customers.
 

[KevintheIrishDJ]

13 hours ago, ghstudio said:

We have 19 day b2B cruise booked in Dec in the Caribbean.  We already have $2200 OBC which is almost impossible to spend.  On our last trip, my wife and I bought Prada sunglasses just to use up some of the OBC on that trip. What would we would even do with another $600 OBCC? (no real interest in buying jewelry which is the obvious).  I'm actually not even sure how we wound up with that much OBC...booking on-board plus some special offers that we seem to have  qualified for.  I think we'll pass (and yes, I am in the camp that says they are having cash issues and worried about cancellation, bankruptcy, etc).  

We enjoy Taittinger's, so we wait for the White Night 20% discount and load up.

 

[tgg]

We'll take advantage of this offer because our $2,477 balance is due in little more than 3 months. If my money is earning 5% right now in the bank, that 3 months interest is only $31. My onboard credit will be $247.

 

The math (or for Brits reading this - maths) makes sense for us. 

[ChucktownSteve]

As a side note, I received 10% on the balance minus the tax/fee amount. It did not include the deposit amount of cruise fare. 
 

If someone received it on the total cruise fare including deposit, please share that info. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

On 3/29/2024 at 10:24 AM, ChucktownSteve said:

As a side note, I received 10% on the balance minus the tax/fee amount. It did not include the deposit amount of cruise fare. 
 

If someone received it on the total cruise fare including deposit, please share that info. 

That would have been a little more than my 7.5% of the total cruise fare minus the tax/fee amount.  Still not up to the 10% of full cruise fare that I got from Silversea last year.

 

[edited:  I see later that it is really 10% of the full fare (less taxes/fees).  So Silversea was only more generous by including the taxes/fees.]

[BuddyR]

I also received the offer for my B2B this November.  My travel agent is on vacation until Monday, and, of course, Azamara won’t talk to me about financial information, but the agent I just spoke with did tell me that the 10% was based on the total cruise only fare (minus taxes) rather than on any balance due.  The email is not clear…has anyone received the OBC based on the original cruise fare?

[crzrr]

We paid this morning for our two cruises at the beginning of 2025.  We received 10% on the total cruise fare less the taxes.  Worked great and already in our account to spend! 

[tgg]

1 hour ago, BuddyR said:

I also received the offer for my B2B this November.  My travel agent is on vacation until Monday, and, of course, Azamara won’t talk to me about financial information, but the agent I just spoke with did tell me that the 10% was based on the total cruise only fare (minus taxes) rather than on any balance due.  The email is not clear…has anyone received the OBC based on the original cruise fare?

I assumed that the 10% was based on the balance due. If it is based on the original fare, my husband will be drinking much better wine.

[Rabo]

We did it today and have new confirmations. The OBC is on the total cruise amount less taxes/fees.

[Dynacruiser]

3 hours ago, tgg said:

I assumed that the 10% was based on the balance due. If it is based on the original fare, my husband will be drinking much better wine.

 

 

Considering you are getting 10% in much less than a year, annualized, that's like 15%.  Ain't no bank going to match that rate.

 

And thanks for not writing "maths".  I never understood the use of the plural! 😁

 

EDIT:  The annualized interest is probably MUCH higher than 15%.  I erroneously assumed that you had paid 8 months earlier, but I think you paid 3 months earlier?  I wish I was better at math...

Edited March 29 by Dynacruiser

[ChucktownSteve]

I just checked the AZ website for OBC remaining.  It appears they applied the 10% promotion on the full cruise fare minus T/Fs even though some assistant at my TA showed it on balance due.  So I got what y'all got!  Yay.  Now my spousal unit can get more purses. lol 

 

It's a win/win for AZ and us.  I'm happy to see, what I believe are, some smart business decisions with the new powers that be.

 

Gives me confidence in my having booked three upcoming AZ cruises.

Edited March 29 by ChucktownSteve

[fruitmachine]

9 hours ago, Dynacruiser said:

And thanks for not writing "maths".  I never understood the use of the plural! 😁

It's a shortened "mathematics", a plural noun treated as a singular.

 

Out of interest, would you add or omit the 's' when using the longer form as a noun (e.g. "Professor of M..." or "He's studying m... at university" )?

[jcruizer]

We only got the 5% for our October cruise but we are happy with that.

 

What is the White night 20% discount that was mentioned?

[uktog]

35 minutes ago, jcruizer said:

We only got the 5% for our October cruise but we are happy with that.

 

What is the White night 20% discount that was mentioned?

Sometimes they discount premium wines etc by 20% if you buy a bottle for that night.Never done it as it’s not the kindest environment for fine wines. 

[Belfastman]

17 hours ago, Dynacruiser said:

 

 

Considering you are getting 10% in much less than a year, annualized, that's like 15%.  Ain't no bank going to match that rate.

 

And thanks for not writing "maths".  I never understood the use of the plural! 😁

 

EDIT:  The annualized interest is probably MUCH higher than 15%.  I erroneously assumed that you had paid 8 months earlier, but I think you paid 3 months earlier?  I wish I was better at math...

Problem is no bank will give any interest on OBC. Remember its not real money. Try using it to book another cruise while onboard.