Azamara Quest Fire: How To Gain In Reputation & Good Will When Faced With a Publicity Nightmare

Goldring Travel April 3, 2012

Over the past months I have been on a bit of a roll complaining about how cruise lines, even luxury lines, have treated its passengers (who used to be treated as “guests”) looking at their immediate bottom line rather than the long term one. Royal Caribbean brands seem to consistently step up and do the

Azamara Club Cruises- Changes Are Coming…And I Like It Alot!

Goldring Travel December 9, 2009

I have always struggled with Azamara Cruises because it had a pretty solid product, but no direction and nothing that made it distinguishable. Honestly, I have said to its parent, Celebrity Cruises, that with Oceania Cruises having such a solid product with consistently excellent delivery of cuisine, service and itineraries, there was little motivation to

Azamara’s New “Celebrity” – Pimental To Take The Reigns -UPDATED

Goldring Travel July 6, 2009

Since its launch Azamara Cruise Line has been neither fish nor fowl. It is a wonderful product, but has been stuck in sort of abyss between Celebrity (its premium brand “owner”) and Oceania (an ultra-premium competitor operating virtually identical ships but with a much stronger brand identity). With limited marketing on top of that, I

Silversea – Improperly Discounting Its 15% Pre-Pay Discount?

Goldring Travel April 3, 2009

One of my readers asked my opinion on Silversea’s now discounting a cruise he purchased long ago so much so that the 15% discount he received for pre-paying many months early is now no discount at all…but rather a significant cost (due to loss of his income on his money). Is there enough “discounting” in that

Azamara Zigs While Oceania and Regent Zag – Airfare No Longer Included in Price

Goldring Travel March 2, 2009

Azamara Cruises, which is the more upscale line operated by Celebrity and similar in many respects to Oceania, has decided to unbundle air from its pricing. According to Dondra Ritzenthaler, Celebrity’s senior vice president of sales, more than half of their guests have opted to take the air credit and book their own air. Personally,

Oceania Cruises – Ship Inspection of the Regatta Made Me Smile…Really.

Goldring Travel February 26, 2009

I flew down to Miami yesterday to do a ship inspection of the Oceania Regatta; one of three virtually identical ships operated by Oceania Cruise Lines. I was not really expecting it to be very interesting – from an inspection point of view – since I had previously inspected the Azamara Journey…which is a sistership

Regent Seven Seas To Give Travel Agents Commissions on “Non-Commissionable Fees”

Goldring Travel January 13, 2009

In a move specifically designed to encourage travel agents to move their clients over to Regent Seven Seas Cruises, the cruise line announced today that it has dropped all Non-Commissionable Fees other than for some limited items such as airfares. What does this mean for you, the cruising public? It may mean something or it

Use Caution and Common Sense When Booking Your Cruise

Goldring Travel November 11, 2008

Folks, let’s face it. There are a number of travel agency business models that just aren’t working in our new economy. I found out that last evening that one of the largest online agencies has effectively closed up shop with millions of dollars of debt and a number of cash paying clients (even luxury clients)

Troubled Waters on the Luxury Cruise Front…And A Safe Harbor: Seabourn

Goldring Travel October 29, 2008

Over the past days I have seen a number of troubling things happening in the luxury cruise market. I preface my comments below by stating just because it is “troubling” it doesn’t mean it is a disaster. So please take a breath and then read on…. One of my Seabourn client’s wrote two weeks ago,

Windstar’s Wind Surf – Caribbean – January 2014

Goldring Travel Blog – Making Waves

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