KeithJenner

Both of them will be 30 minutes before departure.

Well, I’m obviously not going to argue against any of those points, but I suspect that others may. 🙂

Yes, that seems to be standard now for some ports. It has applied in Greece for about a year and seems to be in some (if not all) Italian ports now. Potentially a problem for people who just buy a glass of wine with meals and have late departures.

You can see the angled balconies on the deck plans. For example, on the attached picture cabins 12180 and 12780 are angled. It’s best to Google the cabin number to check, as some NCL deck plans aren’t 100% accurate. Large balconies are stated as such on the cabin selection page. There are some on deck 9 and club suites with large balconies on deck 8 (those balconies are huge). You pay a premium for these, but sometimes it isn’t much extra. Finally, aft balconies are bigger than standard. The standard balconies are so small on Breakaway/Getaway that if I can’t get one of the options mentioned above then I would stay in an Oceanview instead. The standard ones offer any benefit at all for us.

I can’t help with whether those drinks are included, but yes they just charge the difference if not.

We didn't get it free in this situation. We were charged 1p each for the excursions. 🙂

Couldn't have said it better myself. I'm very critical of NCL on this issue, because (in my opinion, and others are free to disagree) they have repeatedly messed up something that (in my opinion, and others are free to disagree) the other cruise lines are managing to deal with without causing frustration to their customers. NCL are my cruise line of choice, and I have by 26th, 27th and 28th cruises with them booked. I really enjoy what they offer on the ships and there are some great itineraries offered which we haven't done yet. However much I like the product, they also do some things very badly, and this (in my opinion, others are free to disagree) is probably the worst mess that they make, both ending up in this position and their communications with their customers. It really is very disappointing, and I will continue to discuss it for as long as it continues to happen.

I was just going to reply with the same point. I absolutely am suggesting that they should have known in advance that they needed to do this stuff. Theyve been doing this for decades.

Don’t worry too much about delays at customs. On a British Isles cruise there shouldn’t be any customs at all in Southampton. I assume that The Travelling Man was on a cruise from outside the UK (maybe a transatlantic) where there will be customs, but on a normal round UK cruise time to get off the ship is based on how quick you can walk.

I absolutely agree, frustration is the correct word. We knew in advance on the Jade, but many didn’t and there was real frustration amongst other customers. We said it last year as well. How you deal with these things can make a big difference, and NCL have never dealt with it well.

I agree with the “accept it and move on” thought, and that is exactly what ziggyuk and we did last year when we couldn’t drink on embarkation day. It has now happened to ziggyuk again, and there were the further issues in Greece after our cruises, plus in Gibraltar and Italy. I can absolutely understand companies getting caught out once or even twice, but there seems to be something wrong when it happens so many times, especially as the other cruise companies don’t seem to be having the same issues. Just frustration for people when they should be getting on with enjoying their holidays. I’m sure we can all agree that NCL just need to resolve whatever the problem is that keeps causing this for the sake of their customers.

I honestly don’t think that anyone is suggesting that NCL are making this up. As for why we are discussing it, well it is something that is affecting NCL and this is a forum about NCL, so discussing it seems appropriate. Discussing doesn’t necessarily mean complaining. The discussion may even help others to plan and set expectations when they cruise. This would be a very quiet forum if we didn’t discuss things relating to NCL. 🙂

Maybe they sacked them for messing it up last year. 🙂

Gatwick recommend checking in two hours before the flight, so you should be fine there if you make the trains, even allowing for the travel to the airport from the station, unless your airline has more specific requirements. However, Chapham Junction is huge and will be busy at that time during the week. You will almost certainly have to go up and down stairs and walk a way. I would want more than 11 minutes. Add to that that the train from Southampton is very likely to be late arriving at Clapham. It will be extremely stressful and there is a very good chance of you missing your connection and therefore your flight. My advice is get an earlier train or later flight:

If anyone is interested in a bit of history on this, here is the thread from last year.

From memory some phone staff went as far as accusing Cruise Critic posters of lying about this previously, so that message hasn’t got to everyone. 🙂

They said exactly the same last year about Greece.

The issue with the bureaucratic mix up thing is that they really need to get their act together. Once is excusable, but 4 times suggests that there is a problem that really needs resolving.

That's interesting. Do you know whether that is permanent?

Not this again. I was just clarifying what I was saying. If you read anything else into it then that really is on you. It actually seems like it may be you that is struggling with people disagreeing. I am just stating my opinion and you don';t seem to like me doing so.

Let’s be clear on a few things. I’m absolutely fine for people to disagree with me, I was just clarifying what I means by it being an NCL thing. And once again, I’m not saying that this is “NCLs doing”. I’m saying that it is something that is happening on NCL ships and there is no evidence that it is happening on any other line. That doesn’t make it “NCLs doing”. I will just say though that it my opinion (which anyone is of course free to disagree with) is that there is not a chance in hell that this is happening in other lines and nobody has thought to mention it on cruise critic.

People tried asking last year and they ain’t telling. Speculation is all we have. 🙂

I think that people are misunderstanding what we mean when we say that this is an NCL thing. I do not believe that NCL are just making things up. There is clearly something happening involving the ports. However, in the last year there have been problems with drink service in Greece and Gibraltar and there are current issues in the UK and Italy. Only on NCL ships. It isn’t a case of people onboard not reporting, as a considerable time has passed since the Greece issues for example. I spent quite a bit of time on various other boards to look for any problems on other ships and found nothing, despite asking questions. Someone (I think on this thread) said they saw a report from another ship mentioning their wine at lunch in Southampton. Do people seriously believe that if other lines were to have these problems then nobody would have mentioned it at all? The NCL board is really no different to other lines on cruise critic for peoples speed to complain. This may not be of NCLs making, but it is extremely clear that it is a problem that is affecting them more than any other line, and I’ve not seen any evidence to say that it isn’t only affecting them. That makes it an NCL thing.

It was the same last year in Greece when NCL ships were reporting issues and there was nothing from other lines. One thing that really is clear is that this is an NCL problem.

The UK is not part of the EU.