KeithJenner

Apparently so

So, even if we accept their form was late thing, you agree that they should check these things earlier. So why haven’t they after they messed up on the Jade last April, or the Gem later last year, or in Gibraltar or Italy? Even if it is just a paperwork thing it is clear that NCL have had an issue with this, and they should have taken steps before now to get it fixed. That they haven’t fixed it means that peoples holidays are being negatively impacted. Regardless of what the root cause is, NCL have not dealt with it well. What reassurance do any of us have that this won’t happen on our future cruises?

And Greece and Gibraltar. Maybe NCL should get into the habit of checking these things a bit earlier.

Even if we buy the line about 2 days notice for the payment, that means that NCL were notified last Tuesday it is now Monday of the following week and they still don’t appear to have paid it.

Because their story makes no sense. It happened last Easter on the Jade. It happened later in the year on the Gem. It has happened in Gibraltar. There have been issues in Italy. It is now happening on two separate ships in the UK. I gave them the benefit of the doubt in Athens, but sorry, this has been going on for too long now. The M&G on the Dawn was told about this form or payment, but there were problems the week before that in the UK. NCL need to be better than this. Whatever the reason they can't just say "but, the form" and it all be OK again. As I have made very clear on this thread, I don't know what the actual cause of the problem is. I'm not accusing NCL of not paying their taxes or of doing anything illegal. I'm accusing them of being very bad at doing whatever is required in order to do a basic thing that the other lines seem to manage fine. I wouldn't say that I'm attacking you, by the way, but I have to admit that I am finding your contributions very funny. Sorry about that, but it's the way that it is.

You would hope so, although these things have now been going on for over a year (the first restrictions happened on the Jade in April last year). This is why NCL need to resolve what is causing the problems, otherwise we will just keep going through this in different places. It is also why I do not buy the "there was a form we didn't know about" line. That can happen once, or twice, but this is showing that there is a fundamental problem somewhere.

I am absolutely not on the "I hate NCL bandwagon". I explained this earlier. I love the NCL product and they are very good at many things. That is why this sort of nonsense is so disappointing. I started this thread giving them the benefit of the doubt over how this was happening. My take was that it could well be an administrative issue, but they were still responsible for the fact that they were getting caught out multiple times. I firmly believe that they are now lying. Maybe because they don't want to admit to administrative problems, maybe because they got caught doing something wrong and can't admit to that, I just don't know. All I want them to do is get this sorted, for their sake and for ours, because this is going to do them no good in the long run. I want NCL to succeed and this is the sort of thing that will drive customers away (reluctantly, including us).

You can read it on this very thread: "We are on vacation and like to have a drink.We have visited guest services to complain, their stance is, it’s the law, it’s nothing to do with duty and HMRC."

To be fair, we probably couldn’t call that evidence about the Anthem as their agent could be lying as well. If you ask NCL agents whether beers are being served on the Dawn and Star then they would probably say yes (as they did to someone earlier on this thread). Not that we have any evidence of NCL lying of course. 🙂

I know that people think they are lying. I certainly do. That wasn’t my point. To be clear, we aren’t saying “I don’t care what they say they’re lying”. We are saying “I’ve listened to what they are saying and it is clearly a lie”.

Your understanding is wrong then. No alcohol is being served.

Absolutely nobody is saying “I don’t care what they say, they’re lying”. Lots of people are saying “what they say doesn’t make sense and conflicts with the other evidence we have”. They are two very very different things. You may not agree with what people are saying but that doesn’t give you an excuse to misrepresent what they are saying.

No, no, it’s evidence that NCL aren’t lying. Apparently. 🙂 🙂 🙂

This really is magnificent entertainment. I am literally laughing out loud here. Superb. 🙂

But apparently it may be affecting other lines, but those cruisers are completely different to NCL cruisers and just wouldn’t mention it anywhere would they.

Yes, bringing on your own wine is an option, and probably what we would do in this instance. Of course it does rely on knowing in advance about the restriction, and also being able to find somewhere to get some wine. Fairly easy for us in the UK, but if you are flying in from overseas and relying on transfers then it’s not as straight forward. It also seems a bit tacky to me. Rather than just being able to walk to a bar whenever you fancy a drink you have to nip back to your room to get a can from your stash. Hardly sophisticated cruising. 🙂

If only it were just one day.

I prefer to move about when on holiday, so if not cruising then we will most likely do a road trip. The great thing about cruising for us is that the travel part is done whilst we are sitting in a bar or restaurant or sleeping. People often put forward an all inclusive resort as an alternative to cruising, but that is absolutely not what we are cruising for. As a result I am a lot less fussed about some of the things that people enjoy about cruising, such as the shows, spas etc. Give me some bars and reasonable restaurants and I’m happy. Having said that, I do enjoy a sea day to relax.

Yes, you are confused. This isn’t about not being able to get a drink as soon as they board. It is about not being able to get a glass of wine with your meal in ports where the ship sails later (which are relatively common in some of these itineraries). It’s about NCL charging for people to upgrade to Premium plus and then not providing the service for significant periods of time. And it’s about NCL lying to its customers about the reasons. It’s a very major issue.

You will only need to pay if you don’t have a dining package. I think I worded it badly. If you have the dining package and you book Moderno or Teppanyaki first then you pay nothing, whether you are booking for 1 person or 10 people. If you don’t have the dining package then you will have to pay for everyone and then claim back the unused place onboard. You don’t just pay for that one extra place.

This hasn’t just affected the UK. There have been similar problems in Greece and in Gibraltar. There are also some restrictions in Italy at the moment. In some places (currently Italy and Greece) they are only serving people with the beverage packages. Nobody can say what the situation will be in August. I honestly don’t think this is sustainable for NCL, so it’s likely that the UK issues will be resolved by then, but they could still happen in any of those other countries.

Just reserve for 4 people. The table sizes are even numbers which we assume is why they dont usually offer reservations for odd numbers. The only problem is if you are booking Moderno or Teppanyaki and you don’t have dining credits to cover them. In that case you will have to pay for the extra person and get it refunded onboard or wait until onboard to book.

We have paid tax on drinks in the UK on NCL in the past, but it was a few years ago and the last few times were been in Southampton with them they haven’t charged it. I suspect that it is due to having to charge the advertised price, as mentioned.

No it isn’t.

I believe that this is an angled balcony, but I would always just check before booking, as you are doing here, and googling the room number doesn't give a conclusive answer. So, yes, I think that is is an angled balcony, but I can't say for sure. Sometimes the NCL deck plans aren't totally correct. Are there any others available on different decks? If not then personally I would go for it because it is most likely angled whereas another is certainly not.