Misself

Hello. I haven't done a P&O cruise for ages, but have booked Britannia for June and the classic drinks package. Most cruise lines have been on before, in the MDR, once they've served you a wine (and know you are on a package), they tend to just come round a top you up freely. With the 15 drink limit, are they a bit more 'strict' on P&O. I'm deciding whether to upgrade to deluxe as clearly getting 250mls rather than 175ml means less ordering needed 😉

Some sort of guarantee that this problem won’t pop up again in another port would be good. Never gonna happen as that would mean acknowledging that NCL were in the wrong all along. the trouble is, if there IS a repeat of this in the future, the ship will tow the same line and tell us ,the customer, that it’s not their fault.

We had a Twitter/Blogger on our Sun cruise last November and I reached out to ask her thoughts on the ‘No alcohol in Gibraltar’. She never replied and I did think maybe she didn’t want to bad mouth them for some reason 😉. I saw cruisemummy put her blog on Twitter and there were a few shocked reactions. Hopefully there will be more bloggers commenting (assuming the issues continue). .

Haven’t read all the responses. Suffice to say I experienced NCL moving the goals posts on my last cruise. I managed a refund of taxes plus a refund for one day of the free at sea package (Gibraltar), but I assume all this was purely out of ‘goodwill’ rather than accepting they were wrong. I wonder if this is something BBC Watchdog would investigate?!?

Someone in our group, just to be minded, on the last day of the cruise went to guest services and got them to print off VAT receipts for all the drinks they charged VAT on. (Ridiculous VAT on a drink that costs you nothing!) . The idea being there is a place at the airport where you can claim it back. Of course he never bothered to do that as it was only a few dollars, but he simply wanted to inconvenience them.

Emailed you

UPDATE had a response from NCL. They are saying as I had prepaid drinks package I should NOT have been taxed in Spain and are refunding the $ that I paid in tax. still no explanation re Gibraltar but are saying it was until 6pm although on our cruise it was not until 8.30pm (after dinner).that they were allowed to serve.

Hey I definitely don’t want to get into a debate. 😁. Just must been lucky on all my other cruises to Spain . (NCL &, RCL). The main gripe however was Gibraltar.

Uk t&c are different (ie we don’t pay gratuities on the free package which I understand some people do). Most UK people will vouch that we never pay tax in Spanish ports on UPB drinks (I’ve done the epic out of Barcelona numerous times). Something to do with our consumer rules or something . .If we purchase something else (outside any included package), then yes we pay tax. Anyhow the tax issue is minor, albeit annoying and probably due to the ship not understanding the uk’s T&C…or a change in regulation. And yes Gibraltar sucked 😜

Don’t worry, the bars were open for soft drinks. Just all the alcohol cleared away.

It was the uk side. All NCL is saying is the stock reply of ‘while docked in Gibraltar NCL is not allowed to serve alcohol’. no further explanation as to why, or any comment as to why all other cruise lines can but NCL can’t.. . This has come down to principle. (1st world problems and all that 😂). I didn’t really mind that I couldn’t have my usual afternoon cocktail and certainly wasn’t shaking from alcohol withdrawal as some people suggest 😜. But it’s the lack of honesty or transparency that bothers me. It seems from talking to others in the industry that NCL haven’t paid for the license or something but they are still happy to charge us for the package that day. And it’s strange that the week before NCL sun COULD serve alcohol in Gibraltar.???

I thought that but others were getting cans so I did too! Handy to keep in the fridge.

Thank you ! That is what we would have expected but even with a package they wouldn’t serve us in Gibraltar.

Can you do this rather than booking a specific cruise?

Again the tax issue was strange. As a uk booker, once we’ve paid for our package it includes all tips, taxes blah blah blah. On the numerous NCL cruises I’ve done to Spanish ports I’ve never had to pay tax (the drink is effectively no charge as already paid for it…how can you tax nothing?!). Blimey….3 dry ports is a bit extreme. Were you still charged 3 full days drink package?

Sorry, I’m being really thick. How does this work? I have an Amex card. Haven’t got an NCL cruise booked yet. How do I ‘save the offer’? Can I just put a credit on my NCL account for £1k and then get £350 back? Edit: so I’ve found the offer on my Amex card and saved it. Guess I just need to book a cruise before end of March!

That’s interesting about the not before 6pm, and as you say doesn’t make sense if it’s a supposedly port regulation. Our groups complaint is still with NCL and hopefully should hear something soon as it’s been nearly 30 days. Will keep you posted as to their reply (and if they provide any sort of explanation).

I can imagine. Like I was told i was totally wrong in saying I’d never paid Spanish tax on UPB included drinks on any of my 6 previous cruises. The manager was adamant he was right and I was wrong. here is the evidence of our no booze in Gibraltar .

Let me know :-).

It is definitely an NCL thing. Hoping our travel agent gets some honest answers from NCL UK.

Ta, it was ok as I was ordering from my drinks package so free. Although pepsimax would’ve been nice!!

Thanks for the comments. @catchum , definitely a plan for next time! I did make a point of ordering extra cans of Diet Coke while outside the Spanish ports to store in cabin to avoid tax (which again never had when simply ordering from a pre paid drinks package).. There was a group of us (solo) all booked through the same travel agent and they are taking this up with NCL on our behalf. I’ll let you know outcome and whether NCL provide any explanation or apology. Had they told us before the cruise at least we would have known.

Well this was a new one. We were on the NCL Sun (out of Lisbon) last week and the night before we arrived in Gibraltar were told that due to 'Port Authority regulations' NCL Sun wasn't allowed to serve alcohol while we were docked in Gibraltar. True to their word, next day all the bottles of booze were taken off the shelves and they didn't serve alcohol until gone 8pm!! (a bit late to enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner for some). All guest services would say was it wasn't up to them and wouldn't give us a reason why. (Although one of the staff did say that they would have to pay fees if the served it). Lots of unhappy guests who have paid for an ultimate drinks package and couldn't use it for the majority of the day. Even worse if you had upgraded to the 'Plus' version. The next 2 days in Spanish ports we had the whole "we have to tax you on the drinks" saga even though we bought the drinks package in the UK before sailing and therefore this doesn't apply. Basically, I don't think NCL had a clue what was going on (the serving staff were confused!) and I'll be interested to see when it visits Gibraltar this week what happens. Has anyone encountered something similar before? I'd perhaps expect it if we were visiting a strict muslim country but not Gibraltar. We suspect NCL didn't do some paperwork or such and rather than confess just put the blame pack to the port authorities.

I'm wondering the same. It's the bit that says COVID-19 antigen or NAAT test (i.e. PCR) result administered by a verified third party OR via medically supervised home test: The Randox home one I've done gives a certificate that says it's been verified by Dr someone or other. Hopefully by the time I go it will be a bit clearer (or no testing at all !)