Shame on Azamara Air!

[travelingduo]

If you have been following cruisePRN's issues with Azamara you will know that Azamara reneged on allowing one to add air to their booking "at any time." After cruisePRN perservered with the powers that be, they gave in and allowed her to add the air without re-booking her cabin at a higher rate. We attempted to do the same without any luck. Our TA has been dealing with Azamara all morning, including supervisors, and they refulse to allow us to add the air without changing our booking and adding on $1000 -- yes that is $1000 PER PERSON-- in addition to the air fare add on of $1576.00 from San Francisco ($2576 per person). I will book my own air on Cathay Pacific or Singapore and Azamara can stuff it. How sad that they are treating clients so poorly. As a new company with a lot of negative press already, one would think that they would bend over backwards to get some positive responses. Quite frankly if I did not want to take this itinerary I would just cancel. I will not allow this to ruin my trip, but I sure am disappointed with Azamara and hope that this is not a sign of how they are going to operate on the cruise as well.

[Susan-M]

That is disappointing! Especially since your cruise isn't until next January. I guess the better option is to include air initially and then remove it when you determine that you don't want it, but it doesn't do much to help you now.

 

Did they change their policy recently?

 

I hope you get this resolved to your satisfaction.

[greeneg]

That's interesting. I recently added and then later deleted Air to our September, 2008 cruise without any hassle or penalty.

 

?Depends on who you talk to??

[Andy]

That's interesting. I recently added and then later deleted Air to our September, 2008 cruise without any hassle or penalty.

 

?Depends on who you talk to??

 

Hi Ed !

 

Thats what I think too. To the OP, advise your TA to be persistant. Some will try harder than others. I hope you can get it resolved. Good luck !

[Susan-M]

If you have been following cruisePRN's issues with Azamara you will know that Azamara reneged on allowing one to add air to their booking "at any time."

 

Just curious as to where cruisePRN's posts are re this as I don't recall it and couldn't find it in her posting history?

[greeneg]

Just curious as to where cruisePRN's posts are re this as I don't recall it and couldn't find it in her posting history?

 

I just have to wonder whether or not the issue is perhaps more complex than has been presented.

[Playful Mermaid]

If you have been following cruisePRN's issues with Azamara you will know that Azamara reneged on allowing one to add air to their booking "at any time." After cruisePRN perservered with the powers that be, they gave in and allowed her to add the air without re-booking her cabin at a higher rate. We attempted to do the same without any luck. Our TA has been dealing with Azamara all morning, including supervisors, and they refulse to allow us to add the air without changing our booking and adding on $1000 -- yes that is $1000 PER PERSON-- in addition to the air fare add on of $1576.00 from San Francisco ($2576 per person). I will book my own air on Cathay Pacific or Singapore and Azamara can stuff it. How sad that they are treating clients so poorly. As a new company with a lot of negative press already, one would think that they would bend over backwards to get some positive responses. Quite frankly if I did not want to take this itinerary I would just cancel. I will not allow this to ruin my trip, but I sure am disappointed with Azamara and hope that this is not a sign of how they are going to operate on the cruise as well.

 

Hi travelingduo:

 

Sorry to hear about your experience, so far, with Azamara. It does occur to me that just what you described is one of the reasons for all the negative press that Azamara is getting.

 

I remember seeing cruisePRN's post on this board but I can't find them either. They may have been deleted because Celebrity did finally did give in and do the right thing for cruisePRN. The fact that Azamara will do one thing for one person, if they are persistant enough, and then turn right around and deny the next person the very same request is probably a carryover from the Celebrity customer service mode of operation.

 

My feeling about customer service is that it is a very important part of any business it does speak volumes about how any cruise line will treat passengers and how willing the cruise line is to accomodate passengers when there is any kind of a problem.

 

Hope your cruise goes a lot better than what has happened so far.

[travelingduo]

The following is cruisePRN's post. I sent it to my travel agent. Ed, there is no more to the story. We were told the identical thing as cruisePRN relative to being able to add air at any time prior to final payment. We simply asked to add the air. We were told we needed to re-book at the current price. We have a SS. They won't bend even after my agent referred them to cruisePNR's situation, citing that it is not Ok to do for one and not for another. We can book Cathay Pacific for around $980, so we will probably do that. However, we are now looking into land tours as we feel "sour" about Azamara. We will see.

 

cruisePRN's post:

Hi again, The air is $1576 Per person, hardly free. It's from Los Angeles to Hong Kong and home from Sinapore after the cruise. I was told I could always add air later because I wanted to see if I had enough air miles to do the air on my own. Azamara's does include an overnight hotel in Hong Kong because they fly you in a day early. I like going in early and meeting my fellow cruisers this way as well as the people from the role calls here. I booked the cruise online back in June when they announced this itinary at the published fare, do disconts, no coupons standard ocean view cabin.

I have been on the phone all morning first with azamara reservations who offered to reebook me at the higher fare. They tranferred me to The air dept who said they only deal with people who already have air on their cruise so i asked for customer resolutions . Customer resolution listened and said they are only resolving issues for RCL I need azamara's resolutions dept. After explaining my story to so many people I need a RICOLA but I kept going. I just now got off the phone with Azamara's resolution dept who added the air onto my reservation for the $1576 PP. I am happy I got it resolved but i have to say customer service on land is so iffy and everybody has a different opinion. It should never take so many people and so many explainations and 2 hours on the phone (on hold half that time) for such a thing.

Persistance pays

[greeneg]

One thing that might be interesting would be to look at the Hotel in Hong Kong and try and get a feel for the cost of the overnight. Given the current state of the USD, it might be more than expected. You could then subtract that from the total and have more of a comparison.

 

As posted, our experience with cruise air has been totally different; I wish I had an explanation as to why that is true.

[susiesan]

For the $596 difference in booking your own air you can get one heck of a hotel room in Hong Kong! Any you can choose the exact CX flight you want and your seat. CX lets you choose a seat 6 months prior to your flight.

 

Susie

[travelingduo]

Thanks for your comments and allowing me to vent! We are booking CX today and our hotel in Hong Kong. It was just an issue that could have/should have been avoided. It is so sad that customer service in every industry just isn't up to par. Oh well!

[susiesan]

In over 35 cruises these past 25+ years I have never once done cruise air. I always take the air credit, do my own tickets and hotels, and get better flights and better rooms on my schedule. You will always save money and not have to deal with the lousy customer service departments (and all of the lines are lousy, not just AZ). You have to be a proactive traveler.

[Susan-M]

It is so sad that customer service in every industry just isn't up to par. Oh well!

 

I agree that customer service is often lacking in many industries, but in all fairness to Azamara and Celebrity, their customer service is often very good. Our experience with custom air was completely different than yours and I'm pleased with the way I was treated (in two calls with two different reps) and with the results that I received.

 

We normally book our own air, but in this case after doing a comparison between the price for booking our own and Az's air, we were well ahead booking with Az. I knew when I called Az what the price would be if I booked directly with the airline... it's too bad that you didn't have that information ahead of time and save yourself a lot of aggravation...but all's well that ends well!

 

Enjoy your cruise.:)

[cruisePRN]

Cruiseprn checking in, boy what a mess. One of the reasons I don't use a TA is so I can go to bat for myself. I really wanted the air add on from X because they use really top notch hotels and include transportation. I don't feel comfy trying to get around China with no knowledge of their language.

Travelingduo, ( LES) are you on the Jan 3 cruise with me? If you really want X's air I would call the despite resolution person for Azamaa and persue. Besides the hotel there may be other perks. When we booked X's Xpedition to the galopagos, besides transfers from the airport to the Hotel we got a half day tour of Quito and lunch at a fancy restaurant and got to meet our fellow cruisers. Keep me posted please................Karyn

 

Les, email me at cruiseprn@hotmail.com and I'll give you some specifics

[susiesan]

Cruiseprn checking in, boy what a mess. One of the reasons I don't use a TA is so I can go to bat for myself. I really wanted the air add on from X because they use really top notch hotels and include transportation. I don't feel comfy trying to get around China with no knowledge of their language.

Travelingduo, ( LES) are you on the Jan 3 cruise with me? If you really want X's air I would call the despite resolution person for Azamaa and persue. Besides the hotel there may be other perks. When we booked X's Xpedition to the galopagos, besides transfers from the airport to the Hotel we got a half day tour of Quito and lunch at a fancy restaurant and got to meet our fellow cruisers. Keep me posted please................Karyn

 

Les, email me at cruiseprn@hotmail.com and I'll give you some specifics

 

See the thread "AZ is not X"

 

Celebrity's Xpedition cruise is in a category by itself-not even close to a "typical" cruise. It is only sold as a complete package.

[Susan-M]

Celebrity's Xpedition cruise is in a category by itself-not even close to a "typical" cruise. It is only sold as a complete package.

 

We did Xpedition as well...it is probably more typical of a 'cruise tour'.

[cruisePRN]

See the thread "AZ is not X"

 

Celebrity's Xpedition cruise is in a category by itself-not even close to a "typical" cruise. It is only sold as a complete package.

 

Actually you can book Xpedition for 7 days which is without air. We did that not realising it and later added the air and made it the 10 day package.

[Susan-M]

Actually you can book Xpedition for 7 days which is without air. We did that not realising it and later added the air and made it the 10 day package.

 

We also considered the 7 day, but with everything that was included in the 10 day, and not having the bother of dealing with flights between Quito/Baltra, I thought it was a good deal...and Celebrity does a great job on this trip!

[cruisePRN]

Susan Yes X does a wonderful job, one of the best cruises we've been on. we're booked on a Lindblad cruise next year to the artic on their National geographic ship and we're so looking forward to that.

I read the Az is not X thread, nothing really jumps off the page at me. I picked azamara because i prefer smaller ships for exotic itinaries, I feel I see and learn more. I like mass market lines like RCL and princess for vacationing with friends and hanging out.

[Susan-M]

we're booked on a Lindblad cruise next year to the artic on their National geographic ship and we're so looking forward to that.

 

Sounds wonderful!!

 

Az appealed to me because of the itinerary and small ship, along with good pricing. We were going to do a land trip to Turkey, but this itinerary has 5 ports in Turkey, so we thought we would do it by sea first.

[cruisePRN]

Sounds wonderful!!

 

Az appealed to me because of the itinerary and small ship, along with good pricing. We were going to do a land trip to Turkey, but this itinerary has 5 ports in Turkey, so we thought we would do it by sea first.

 

Let me know what you think of the quest after your cruise.............Karyn

[ocngypz]

The answer is quite simply to the OP problem.

 

When initially priced, air was included in the rate... all under one rate code.

And it was a great price. If you elected not to take the air inclusive price, you received an air credit aka cruise only price.

 

Then later you elected to add AZ air. That's where it starts.

 

1. The original rate code and pricing for air inclusive is now gone.

 

2. The pricing is now more expensive as the fewer cabins there are to sell,

the rate goes up.

 

What one person experiences on a particular booking will not necessarily be the same for another booking. Different dates, different itineraries.

 

Bottomline, if the rate code and pricing is still there, it's not a problem. When they've changed, then it becomes a problem to the passenger.

[cruisePRN]

The answer is quite simply to the OP problem.

 

When initially priced, air was included in the rate... all under one rate code.

And it was a great price. If you elected not to take the air inclusive price, you received an air credit aka cruise only price.

 

Then later you elected to add AZ air. That's where it starts.

 

1. The original rate code and pricing for air inclusive is now gone.

 

2. The pricing is now more expensive as the fewer cabins there are to sell,

the rate goes up.

 

What one person experiences on a particular booking will not necessarily be the same for another booking. Different dates, different itineraries.

 

Bottomline, if the rate code and pricing is still there, it's not a problem. When they've changed, then it becomes a problem to the passenger.

 

Please keep in mind that we asked about adding air later and I was told that it was doable.

[ocngypz]

Please keep in mind that we asked about adding air later and I was told that it was doable.

 

Yes, you can add air later, but it's not going to be at the same rate if the original rate codes (at the cheaper rates) are not there. The original air inclusive rates which were such great deals did have explicit expiration dates on them.

[cruisePRN]

Yes, you can add air later, but it's not going to be at the same rate if the original rate codes (at the cheaper rates) are not there. The original air inclusive rates which were such great deals did have explicit expiration dates on them.

 

When i booked my cruise the first week Azamara was online, (I booked online) air was not available. I called them and asked about air and they said I could add it then or later so I waited. I wanted to see if i could use miles. Shortly after i booked azamara their website did not allow for online bookings. because of their problems I think the OP should also be allowed to air at the current air price of $1576 without causing him to have to pay more the cruise.