KeithJenner

The dates for booking always shows at 120 days, regardless of your specific situation. All of the other restaurants would have also had the date 120 days out before booking opened (unless something has recently changed). Not saying that it won’t open for bookings then, but it is probably more likely to change to “not available to book” or something like that.

I don’t know know what happens with the money itself (nor so I really care, that is a matter for NCL and their staff). Very possibly it is dealt with in a similar way to the amounts paid in other countries. I’m not arguing about what happens to the money, just that in the US it is clearly stated as being a gratuity and the cost is based on a known percentage of the package costs, whereas in the UK it is a fixed fee, based on the length of the cruise and that it is not anywhere referred to as a gratuity.

In the USA (and some other countries) you get the free at sea offers and have to pay a gratuity on them. If, as an example, you don’t take the beverage or dining package then the gratuity is reduced. In the UK (and some other countries) you have to pay a fee for the free at sea offers. This fee is not a gratuity. If, as an example, you don’t take the beverage or dining package then you still pay exactly the same fee, because it isn’t a gratuity. If I just took free at sea for the shore excursion discount and refused the rest then I would still pay the same amount despite the barkeep not having to fix me a single drink. Because it isn’t a gratuity.

Wow really, you don’t say. Completely irrelevant to our point of course, but thanks for pointing out that blatantly obvious point. It’s added a lot to the discussion

https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions-ceuk

That is now it works in. the USA. Other countries exist.

Yes, 20% on the price of the drink plus 10% on the 20% service charge. Total is 22%.

As done by a few of us earlier after ziggyuk pointed out the offer.

You state on the other thread that your receipt was the same as the one posted there. That receipt had a total VAT charge of 22%, as stated by Steamboats

Correct. The tax on this receipt is 22%

I mentioned Spain and France because there have been specific reports on here of the VAT being charged all cruise from those countries. The omission of any other countries in my post just means that I haven't seen any reports from there about the charge. There may be other countries that do charge. I'm just trying to piece together the information from the fairly confused reports we are getting here. The information is very confused at present.

I can’t answer specifically for the person you asked, but on some cruises (ones that don’t leave the EU and originate from Spain, and now France) the VAT is charged for the entirety of the cruise.

What insidecabin is saying is that these days everyone gets all the free at sea promos offered. Yes, they can decline some if they want, but you can have them all whatever cabin you are in. A few years ago it was usually only suites that got everything. We usually book balconies and for many years we usually had the choice of 2 of the 4 options. I believe that lower level cabins (insidecabin would probably be able to confirm this) often only got one of the options.

You can use two on an inside cabin right now, as discussed earlier in this thread.

I booked a cruise a couple of weeks ago and was just able to use one cruise next on the booking as it is an oceanview. This was as expected. Yesterday I was able to apply a second cruise next against that booking as there is an offer that started this week. As has been stated, there is a good chance that rather than people outright lying they were just not clear that what was offered at the time was an special offer and wouldn’t always apply. We use cruise next regularly but never discuss it with the staff. Far better to find out for yourself, as it does seem from reports on here that they aren’t clear when explaining the terms of the vouchers. Whether they are lying or or just not being clear is a well debated point.

Yes, there are a few of us that often take free at sea plus. It is certainly still available and is offered on all my booked cruises. I would say that your issue comes from how you got your existing packages, which isn’t clear from your post. You say you added the beverage package. I assume by this you mean that you added the free at sea beverage package rather than paying full price? Did you just take the beverage package or did you also get the dining etc. In order to be able to upgrade to free at sea plus I would think that you will have needed to have all of the original parts of free at sea in order to upgrade them. Are you seeing the upgrade offers for the individual elements? If everything is in place correctly you should see upgrade offers for the beverage package, dining package and internet separately as well as free at sea plus. Basically, there seems to be a specific issue with your booking that is going to be hard for us here to do any more than speculate on, based on the information you have. It sounds like either you don’t have all of the items that are required for free at sea plus to be offered, or that the system doesn’t think that you do. I think you are going to need to call again and hope that the next person is more helpful.

It is true that there is officially a restriction on using the vouchers in the same restaurant. It is stated on the website (with the most recent changes).. "Additional entrées will incur supplemental charges. Dinner coupons are non-transferrable. Solo guests cannot claim two dinners. Coupons can’t be used for the same venue twice. 2 guests maximum. Dining options vary by ship." Whether they actually apply the restriction or not is a different matter, and it is very common for these things to be applied inconsistently. We always make sure that if we go to the same place twice then we use free at sea for one, just to avoid any potential issues. The advice given by Pitzel was good.

The limit no longer applies. As you suspected, the upcharges are the same as with the SDP.

Correct answer here. Personally, I would never take more than $50 in cash with me, and often don't have more than a few Euros on me. Just the same as I never carry cash around at home. Others will want to take hundreds or thousands of Euros with them, as that this their preferred way of spending.

Thanks ziggyuk, I just added a second cruisenext to my oceanview booking. 🙂

? Dunno what that response is supposed to mean.

Does there need to be a conclusion? We are just discussing. Honestly, if you don’t like the discussion then just move on.

Yes, we are still discussing a subject relating to NCL on a NCL forum. Who’d have thought it. 🙂 I will continue to discuss this, and to cruise and pay the tax as necessary thanks. If you don’t like the discussion then maybe you should just move on to one you like better.

Agreed. I wonder whether this is due to a difference in rules between countries. Previously the VAT charged has mainly been by Spain, whereas this on (I believe although the threads are getting a bit confused in my mind) is from France. Maybe in France you have to charge the VAT on the service charge but you don’t in Spain. Im speculating now though.

I mean if the service charge is mandatory for the customer to pay. With beverages on NCL they automatically charge the 20% service charge on the drinks and the customer can’t opt out of that. By UK law this would mean that VAT has to be charged on the service charge. Of course the customer isn’t actually paying that service charge because it is included in the package, but then we are going back to the original argument as to whether any of it is VATable. In my view, if the drinks are then so is the service charge (if the rules in this are the same in France as the UK).