Azamara Club Cruises – ‘Loyalty Benefits’ U-Turn after customer complaints.

Back in September Azamara Club Cruises announced it was introducing a new Loyalty Program for guests departing after 01 January 2015. This new system basically involved the scrapping of the free laundry service, free internet minutes and the free welcome bottle of sparkling wine in favour of a system which gave guests the opportunity to receive ‘complimentary nights’ on future cruises.

This didn’t go down to well with the Azamara faithful and following a number of complaints received from customers Azamara Club Cruises have decided to reinstate several of the perks back into their new loyalty program.  Now while a lot of people may see a large corporation doing a U-turn as an admission of failure on current policy, I like to think that it shows on occasion, the customer is more than just a number and is actually listened to by the powers that be no matter how large the organisation.

Azamara did spin the reinstatement of free internet minutes and free laundry as ‘back by popular demand’, another way of saying ‘we got it wrong and didn’t want any more bad press’ but at least for whatever reason the customer voice was heard and the changes implemented.

Some of the complaints levelled at the new program included these posts on various online cruise forums;

Referring to the loss of laundry and Internet minutes, as well as the welcome bottle of sparkling wine. “Those were two of the factors that kept me coming back to Azamara,” said troywest.

“I would rather have my free laundry and internet minutes that I can enjoy now, and on every cruise, than accumulate points that I may or may not be able to use at some future date,” lamented member cruisemuse13.

Azamara President and CEO Larry Pimentel, known for his social media savvy, responded to the complaints;

“I view the boards frequently and participate in social media to a greater degree than most in my position, I may not always agree, but I do listen …. ”

It appeared on this occasion he did listen – so well done Larry!

I’ve spent the last few weeks praising some of the cruise lines for listening to the customer and giving them what they want – surely this can’t last, I’m never usually this generous! I do however feel it’s appropriate to give credit where credits due, after all it seems there is a constant stream of bad press surrounding the cruise industry surely it’s only fair to share some good news when relevant.

Don’t you agree?

Bye for now.