A deal that really is too good to be true!

[fruitmachine]

I'm not even going to make a booking and claim that I have a contract, but...

[mj_holiday]

Is that final payment due 8/9/2024? or deposit due then?

[tgg]

6 minutes ago, fruitmachine said:

I'm not even going to make a booking and claim that I have a contract, but...

Thanks for starting my day with a big laugh and smile. 

[WhitlocksEnd]

Oh dear, will they ever get the I.T systems sorted out!

[mj_holiday]

All the suites are that price, don't think this is good.  Had me thing about it for a while.

[hamrag]

You can go all the way to payment, after entering details this is what you see!:

 

Error
Your booking attempt has been received however there was a communication error with the supplier. The booking status is failed and our team has been advised of the issue, who will confirm the status and contact you.

 

🤣

Edited August 1 by hamrag

[fruitmachine]

19 minutes ago, mj_holiday said:

Is that final payment due 8/9/2024? or deposit due then?

🤷‍♂️

I'd guess deposit, but I think the normal UK deposit is more than the total cruise price!  I could pick their "Pay now, get 5% OBC" and the date change to today.

Edited August 1 by fruitmachine

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, fruitmachine said:

I'm not even going to make a booking and claim that I have a contract, but...

 

I had a look at the USA variant of the UK TA you're seeing this, exactly the same in extremely low dollar amounts!

[Dynacruiser]

I can imagine some folks will book, then will come here and start complaining when they cancel their cruises, with topic titles like "Despicable Azamara"  "Azamara is dishonest and a bunch of fraudsters" "Will never book Azamara again"

 

And then somebody who has never even been in an Azamara cruise will start a blog called "Azamara journey to mediocrity version 2.0".

 

And yes, I agree.  Azamara needs to get their act together.  If their reputation suffers, it is their own fault.

Edited August 1 by Dynacruiser

[Ayden]

1 hour ago, Dynacruiser said:

I can imagine some folks will book, then will come here and start complaining when they cancel their cruises, with topic titles like "Despicable Azamara"  "Azamara is dishonest and a bunch of fraudsters" "Will never book Azamara again"

 

And then somebody who has never even been in an Azamara cruise will start a blog called "Azamara journey to mediocrity version 2.0".

 

And yes, I agree.  Azamara needs to get their act together.  If their reputation suffers, it is their own fault.

Same issue happens with other cruiselines from time to time.  It is unfortunate but let's hope there are not too many.

[Riocca]

It’s very easy to blame the software system but this type of thing is usually down to an input error by a human being. Last week I saw on travel agents website a price for a CC suite on an Azamara cruise including flights £1600 below their cruise only price and £1750 below Azamara’s cruise only price. I did make a hopeful enquiry but after a lot of referrals to various departments in the company they had to admit it was a pricing error. 
These things happen all the time and retailers are under no obligation to sell at that price if it’s obvious wrong.

[Elizabethbea]

 For the sake of clarity once and for all: A price offered by a Company is an "invitation to treat" in Law, and if NOT a binding Offer. End of story. It's nothing to do with mistakes--whatever--it cannot be held as a binding offer.

[Dr H]

US web site: Inside rooms: $5838. (for 2). Invariably, when something sounds too good to be true, it is.

[tiggertom]

8 hours ago, Elizabethbea said:

 For the sake of clarity once and for all: A price offered by a Company is an "invitation to treat" in Law, and if NOT a binding Offer. End of story. It's nothing to do with mistakes--whatever--it cannot be held as a binding offer.

If the price at the point of sale does not match the displayed price then most shops will offer the lowest price as a matter of goodwill. The advertised price is an invitation to buy but Trading Standards would be interested if this incorrect pricing was a regular occurrence.

[fruitmachine]

9 hours ago, Elizabethbea said:

 For the sake of clarity once and for all: A price offered by a Company is an "invitation to treat" in Law, and if NOT a binding Offer. End of story. It's nothing to do with mistakes--whatever--it cannot be held as a binding offer.

Absolutely, and Azamara's contract is clear the your side of the offer to treat is not accepted until an invoice is issued.  In the modern day of websites and instant confirmation, with the invoice being available online (see my first post) that may be at the point of online payment.  

 

It's a moot point though - as hamrag demonstrated, you couldn't get that far in this instance.

[hamrag]

Fruitmachine

Exactly, and I didn't read anywhere anyone expecting to book at that price! On a slow day in our home, I decided to see just what the outcome would be to take it to payment as I could see clearly it was the UK TA we use, as someone had suggested it was the Az system at fault. I believe it was a TA error, and it was apparent also in the US derivative of said TA.

 

Late last night, it appeared that pricing was back to where you'd expect it to be.

[Wacktle]

Human error, yes. Several years ago we contacted our usual TA to book a Mekong river cruise and stay package, having been to the operator's presentation at a local hotel. The price quoted to the TA by the operator, and relayed to us, was half of that expected. We queried whether it was for one or two persons and were assured it was for two. Again we queried it, maybe stupidly? Eventually the operator agreed they'd goofed and offered us a price midway between the error and real price, provided we paid in full now. As the balance due date was near anyway, it was a no brainer and we bagged the bargain. We're not sure what would have happened if we'd accepted the half-price originally quoted. 

Edited August 2 by Wacktle

[JennKach]

Friends of ours were quoted a really low price for an Azamara cruise with air through their travel agent.  The Azamara invoice matched up and they paid in full.  Azamara had ended up giving them double discounts (cruise add ons and air) when they should have just gotten one or the other.  We tried to book the same offer and by then Azamara realized their mistake and we didn't get both offers.  Two weeks later Azamara tried to bill our friends almost $1000 for their mistake, but the travel agent fought it successfully since it was Azamara's official invoice that was paid in full.