Stevio

2 hours ago, snag said:

Hi, can anyone tell me if the excursions booked on the princess for an australian cruise are priced in australian dollars or us dollars. Thanks Snag

From a UK perspective, just about all of our website & app prices are in £... Apart from tours which are curiously only priced in U.S. $.

Simple for us as the difference is clearly marked £ or $... However as you use the same sign, I would book a test one to begin with just to see what kind of possible hit there on any exchange rate.

3 hours ago, Asawi said:

I haven't been able to choose cabin on NCL website this year. I just get "no other stateroom available" or something similar when using that choos adifferent room link. I have tried mock booking several 2024-25 cruises so it's not a last minute booking thing. I'm in EU if that matters.

(Last year I could choose room.)

From the UK I have found this to be the case since last October... When trying to book am only offered a "best available" from a chosen category and the "choose another room" is followed by "no other rooms available".

It is probably a European website thing.

There are however UK and US cruise agent sites that will show available cabins with a mock booking prior to calling NCL pcc direct.

11 minutes ago, Phoenixon said:

 

Except that the VAT law in the EU requires a chargeable event which occurs at the time of supply of the good/service. In this case, it is the "purchase" (or supply) of the beverage, whether or not it is discounted 100% because of FAS. My understanding is the reason this is not charged on included consumables (e.g. buffet) is because there is no chargeable event (i.e. transaction - your card is not swiped). Other consumables (e.g. Specialty Dining) are likely not being passed on (as of now). Somewhat like the fuel subsidies which NCL has the right to levy per the contracts but chooses not to. 

 

 

 

Then the question is....Why didn't NCL charge "French tax" in the past & why is NCL the only cruise line to charge it on drinks packages now?

Lets face it if the situation is as shown this is a clear case of "DRINKSGATE II"

Someone at head office has dropped the ball once again and decided to reinterpret long standing VAT rules through the NCL filter..... 

There will be multiple complaints at end of cruise, refunds and £100 apologies issued to all and the next cruise it will all be forgotten and back to normal.

1 minute ago, graphicguy said:

The receipt also shows that the OP is being charged for drinks.  If it is indeed FAS, there should be no such charge.

 

Something’s wrong….until rhe OP gets to Customer Service, we won’t have a clear explanation!

I thought that was the whole point of this thread, the fact that the Epic is currently charging VAT on drinks in European waters that were previously included and providing receipts to itemise the VAT charges although the drink price itself is not billed... see post 44.

1 hour ago, schmoopie17 said:

You're right, it's not rocket science. Your example is paying tax on the PACKAGE.

VAT is charged by the DRINK. Again, no way to predict what or how much you will be drinking.

Not rocket science at all...

 

 

VAT is paid as a percentage of a price paid. In the UK (and EU) tax is paid on the drinks package at purchase.

No vat is payable on a "Free at sea" served drink because there is no charge and a percentage of zero is zero.

It is plainly stated that the OP has the F.A.S package and is being charged by NCL the VAT on what used to be an included item.

Spanish waters tax rules have been around for years, as have the Italian. French do not appear to have changed their maritime VAT rules since 2021...

I was on Celebrity Silhouette last week and were warned of onboard ship purchases incurring VAT in both Spanish & Italian ports and waters. We sailed French waters at Marcais with no additional taxation whatsoever.

And all drinks ordered under the pre paid packages in whatever waters were received free of any extra taxation charges.

All these "local taxes" appear to have only one thing in common... They are applied only to NCL ships with regard to their Free at Sea deals. No other cruise lines charge taxes on pre paid packages.

6 hours ago, kwokpot said:

The pina colada will NOT be a frozen drink, which isn't included in the classic package. 

On the FAQ page for the classic package, frozen drinks are one of the few items to be named as available..

"The Classic Drink Package includes an incredible array of beers, spirits, cocktails, liqueurs, frozen drinks, and wines by the glass for up to $10 per serving. This package also included a 15% discount on all wines by the bottle.".

https://www.celebritycruises.com/faqs/beverage-packages#:~:text=The Classic Drink Package includes,all wines by the bottle.

Hope this still to be the case as we do enjoy our Virgin Coladas in the casino.

22 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

The now-closed thread on this subject stated early on that NCL was given insufficient time to make a payment, and that's the only evidence I've seen.

The closed thread stated clearly that NCL was given insufficient time to make a payment was one of the reasons proffered by staff aboard the ship. Along with many others such as Brexit or new UK laws...

All of these "reasons" were clearly nonsense to a UK citizen who knew them to be untrue.

The same dock hosted MSC the day before and Royal the day after and they had no such problems with any short notice. Plus you would think NCL Dawn from the week before would have mentioned it.

This was the problem in that the crew would shrug their shoulders when asked and no sensible reason has ever been officially given.

Had they claimed bad weather had caused them to miss paying their taxes it may have been understandable🤣

10 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

This letter is not an admission of guilt, it is an apology due to the fact NCL was unable to deliver the drinks as promised. However, that was not NCL's fault, they were given insufficient time to pay a tax owed by the local authorities. IOW they didn't do anything wrong, but because of factors beyond their control, they were unable to honor the drink package and are therefore offering FCC to make up for that. It's no different than if you and I go to your favorite pub and we each plan on paying for our own drinks, but then when we arrive the pub is closed, so you say "oh sorry mate, we'll go somewhere else and I'll pick up the tab." Is it your fault the pub was closed? No, but you offer me something to make up for that, just the same. I dispute your contention that they lied about anything.

What local authority taxes?.... The same taxes that were paid by themselves and every other cruise line in the past and presumably the future?... UK local authorities do not set laws or duties for ports.

The "we did not hear about this until 2 days ago" was one of the excuses given aboard, until they realised the Dawn had sailed from the same port the previous week.

19 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

The issue, of course, as many have refused to acknowledge, is that NCL is giving people FCC as a courtesy, not because they did anything wrong. I have never seen proof NCL messed up in any way. Therefore, I would consider it a sign of good faith that the company is giving people future cruise credit. In my view, NCL was not at fault at all. But that's my opinion only. Others continue to insist, without evidence, that this was NCL's mistake. I do not believe that.

Norwegian Star 5.11.2023 Beverage Package Limitations.pdf

I am aware the above evidence submitted is dated May 63rd but we are talking NCL here...

They refused to serve or sell drinks for two days anywhere on the ship and lied / fabricated their reasons for doing so... 

I know I was there.

1 minute ago, insidecabin said:

Ours was there immediately.

Email was late night FCC there in the morning UK time.

Others have reported the same.

 

Some are getting £100pp and after complaint about being a FCC have been told a refund to payment method.

 

Lack of consistency.

Thanks, that's what I thought. I will get on to them if I haven't heard by Monday.

I think the problem is that this was part of a b2b 21 day cruise so I have fallen through the cracks.

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

OK…again, nomenclature is a stumbling block.  Retail value is NOT the same as monetary value.  Retail value of the charms Diamonds International gives away by visiting their stores they may claim is $100.  When, monetary value is maybe 50¢.

 

You want a refund of the Retail Value of the entire FAS package.  But, monetary value of that package is zero as it’s “free”.

 

But, let’s carry this forward.  Since NCL breaks out taxes and fees on the retail value of 20%, let’s use that.

 

Let’s just keep this simple.

 

You’re docked somewhere in the U.K.  You’re there for 8 hours, or ⅓ of a day.  20% taxes fees of ~$100 FAS retail price would be $20.  Break out the fees for the part of the FAS that would cover Specialty dining, $50 excursion credit, internet minutes, etc…let’s say $15. ⅓ of that fifteen dollars would net a $5 refund.  

 

I get it.  $5 is $5.  But, I certainly waste any time at Customer Service or on the phone, or on line trying to make a case for a $5 refund (although I do think you could make a case).

I think you are confusing UK NCL cruises with US.

Here in the UK we pay up front for the whole package.... Cruise, charges, taxes, fees, "Free at Sea", service charges, tips, the works in advance.

And on one particular 10 day cruise they refused to serve alcohol for the two days we were in British Waters. no drinks on either the free at sea or for cash nor even the free latitudes bottle of wine with dinner. A dry ship.

What stung was their excuses for doing so everything from new UK laws to Brexit... All total nonsense as evident by no other cruise line behaving this way & their own sudden turn around.

2 hours ago, insidecabin said:

NCL have accepted it was 2 days of failure to deliver a paid service.

 

(It was around 1.75 days in reality)

 

FAS in UK is  charged and sold as a paid upgrade for the  benefits

 

(Unlike the US a gratuity on a nominal value of a "free" benefit, drinks and dinner)

 

The UK t&c say for FAS

"Retail value of Unlimited Open Bar Package is $109.00 USD per person per day"

 

This is what they are selling at a reduced rate within FAS along with the other benefits(grats included).

 

It was never the money trivial amounts involved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick question for you Insidecabin....

I too was on the 11^th May 10 day Star cruise and following written complaint, I received mail from VP guest services stating that we along with everyone else would receive $100 Future Cruise Credit (FCC) for each passenger and that it would be available on our accounts on June 1^st, 2023.

Problem is, it is June 1^st and nothing yet showing in our accounts

.

 Just wondered if you had actually received anything yet?

I  had never noticed it before but it does appear to be showing your casino level.

I am currently "Pearl" and that is what is shown on my account

I believe "Jade" is the beginners level shown on a casino card at issue.

10 hours ago, genealogyfan said:

I’m wondering if my friend (in the same cabin as me) got screwed with his free 150 minutes. I purchased on my account the unlimited wifi. When we asked about my friend using the free 150 minutes for his device, we were told since I bought the unlimited, the free 150 minutes wasn’t available to either of us. They made it sound like it was per cabin.

 

The unlimited internet was per device, so only one of us could use our device one at a time.

Sorry, never upgraded on NCL so never thought about it before...

On the internet package upgrade page for my upcoming cruise there is a basic unlimited Wi-Fi for one device at £152....... and for two at £335... But there is also the unlimited "Wi-Fi upgrade for guests 1 and 2" at £148 per person.

Perhaps that means you convert all of your stateroom package minutes for one log in if only one pays, or perhaps they sold you the wrong package?

Personally I am taking your experience to heart and therefore am going nowhere near the offer select button in case it happens to me.

I hanker after the old days (a couple of years ago), when both the wife and I could each log in to use our free Latitudes minutes and then start the separate free at sea packages.

Could be worse MSC lock on to your device IMEI number, when they say "one" device they mean it.

13 hours ago, PATRLR said:

 

@Stevio I'm not following you.  What you state to be a salient point in shof515's post, I can not find in shof515's post nor can I find on the NCL page.  

My reading of the page is that both people in the room on a 7 night cruise each get 150 minutes for 300 total.

Uncertain what you are not following. My post you quoted was a response and update to a quote from genealologyfan.

The free at sea WIFI is applicable per cabin.

The per cabin benefit is for the first two people only, with two logins per stateroom, that can each be used for one device at a time

And you are correct that a 7 night cruise qualifies for 2 x 150 min as per screenshot of current terms below where it seems clear that packages are per person.

58 minutes ago, genealogyfan said:

If I recall, the free number of minutes is per cabin, not per person. You can only use one device at a time.  4 years ago, when my friend and I shared the free "150 minutes" we each had to log in and log off (to stop the minutes) and use the internet

 

This most recent cruise we were on, I purchased the unlimited internet. We found out, that anytime one of us wanted to use the internet, the other person had to "logoff/disconnect" from the wifi. It was a pain, and I wish both devices could be used at the same time.

That was the old days ...

shof515 above (post 2) has what they are offering on the current "free at sea" with the salient points being...

Internet package is per stateroom, two logins per stateroom. Each login can only be used on one device at a time. Package is limited to number of minutes and doesn’t allow streaming

However you still need to log out to stop the minutes expiring and it is still a pain. But two people can now use the wifi with their respective log ins at the same time, and there is nothing to stop you loaning/ donating your login and time to someone else.

40 minutes ago, Holly g said:

I had that happen with missing contact info but I put it in 4 times!  Finally gave up and went to bed. Next morning it was all corrected. I think NCL is having a glitch in their check in system.

however they finally checked me in but have not received notice of my Edocs 24 hours later so will hopefully get  notification soon. 

It has been noted that on our Oct 5th Star sailing, nobody receives a notification any more. People have just tried the download button and found it to be working.

1 hour ago, jfwwlong said:

Hi all, I chatted with the NCL staff and they told me that I'm all set although the summary page showing 84% complete. They told me nothing to worry about for now.

That is exactly what online chat told me.

Luckily I ignored them and persisted with my fix above and got my e-docs.

On 9/20/2022 at 12:38 PM, odie1024 said:

So frustrating as I am having the same problem. I keep editing contact info hoping for the best. Delete info and start again and still cannot get the check mark. I have never had a problem checking us in before.  I am traveling solo this time and my emergency contact was BF I have cruised with before so I tried removing him and adding my brother but still did not work. Any other ideas? 

 

We had this problem last week and by trial and error found the problem to be in the previously completed "personal profile" section of the site.

On re-entering this it asked for an email address for your account, then asked for new password for which we used the old one & re-entered our contact address.

After doing this for each person and going back to check in page we found it had moved from 84 to 100% with the contact details ticked.

A few hours later edocs were available.

8 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

It looks to me like it might be different depending on where you are cruising. This is for Virtuosa sailing in the UK. Looks like medical exemptions are allowed. I didn't dig any farther without knowing where you are sailing...

 

All guests who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated, specifically those who are under 18 years of age, who are medically exempt in relation to vaccination, who have not yet received their second vaccine dose, or who will be less than 14 days since their second dose at the time of departure of the cruise, will need to have taken a PCR (molecular) or antigen (lateral flow) test within the last 72 hours prior to arrival at the terminal for embarkation.

https://www.mscbook.com/pages/sdl/uk_en/health-and-safety.html

 

 

Just wanted to point out that your link is to a page from July 2021 when they were doing UK only cruises and the exemption was for under 18s who were not yet eligible for vaccine in UK.

This year although you can enter England freely,  to board the Virtuosa in Southampton 2022 the current requirement for all over 12s is for full vaccination including boosters for adults if required and testing for everyone aged over 2, both 48 hr prior to and a retest on boarding.

Not heard of any current MSC vaccine exemptions, but beware of MSC IT dep't who leave such outdated information online to catch out the innocent.

5 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

Other than the uncertainty over the 14 day requirement for the Booster then that fairly well sums it up. It seems that people were denied embarkation based on the booster not being 14 days old but it isn’t clear whether whoever made that decision was correct.

From what I can tell, the confusions around the EU "14 day requirements" arise from sloppy NCL interpretations / translations.

From the MSC Mediterranean requirements website (& their site is one of the worst)...

"If more than 9 months (270 days) have passed since receiving the two set of vaccine shots, a booster vaccine will be required to embark. If the booster was done before expiration of the second vaccine (therefore within nine months) it is not necessary to respect the 14 days waiting period before boarding. However, if the booster is taken after nine months from the second dose, it is necessary to have had the booster at least 14 days before the departure date. Guests who received a booster vaccine are exempted from the 9 months restriction."

So if booster taken within 270 days of the previous vaccine... no worries over the 14 days...

If booster taken outside 270 days of the previous vaccine it is counted as if you had been re-vaccinated & you cannot board if within the the next 14 days.

All seems simple apart from Italy where you divide most of the above by two. 😆

Edit... I think all of this has been in since February.

Last year I applied for status match with the online application form with a  page grab of my platinum plus status with NCL.... And heard absolutely nothing from them.

So a while later I tried again to apply and the screen came up "match unsuccessful" with a small note saying that the match  already registered.

I had to sign in for a "new user" account using the same details as used for the match to find out my Voyager club member number & to see that I am Gold, as expected & membership backdated to the day I applied.

So if anything like my application, it seems that a "no response" could be a good thing.... They just haven't told you.

Edit... Just found a link to an old thread where discussed... 

11 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Can anybody explain what this poster is talking about?

This may be a UK thing but...

Our October 22 B2B cruise booked directly through our NCL cruise consultant is shown on the confirmation copy as a single sailing of 9th to 28th Oct, under a single reservation/ invoice and cabin number with guest fares, taxes etc for an individual cruise with a single total and an unbroken 19 day itinerary.

The only part that looks odd for a single cruise is the application of Add-Ons which shows for the two of us such old school things as "4 X Internet package (60 Minutes)".

I was thinking that this perhaps has been done in order to apply the 10% cancellation discount off the next cruise over both cruises, but apparently all our previous pre pandemic  B2Bs were booked the same way.

So it turns out that all of our B2B cruises have been booked as single reservations automatically by NCL whether we wanted it or not.

4 hours ago, casofilia said:

To all of you who; like me; are annoyed losing the 60 minutes "Free WiFi" from already booked cruises here is the reply I got from my PCC.

 

Hi Mike,

 

Here’s a link to the Latitudes Terms and Conditions: https://www.ncl.com/au/en/latitudes-rewards-program/benefits-terms-and-conditions

 

In the 3^rd paragraph down you’ll find this:

 

“We reserve the right to terminate, modify, revise, or change the Program and these Terms, in whole or part, at any time with or without notice. Changes may revise use of benefits, availability of benefits, features of offers, and any other element of the Program. Changes may result in a reduction in the value of the Program or status achieved, and may also result in forfeiture of benefits.”

 

Thanks

 

That was all!!

 

I suppose I should change my CC Name to show how I feel about the changes in the new Rewards!!!

From the UK we added air fare to our existing October cruise and the newly generated confirmation dated 14 Jan still shows the WIFI... In fact as we are both shown to be Sapphire and on a B2B it now states...

 "4 x Latitude reward program 60 minutes".

As to if we have been "grandfathered" to the new system or they just haven't got round to blitzing them yet, who knows?

All I do know is that together with the reductions to the "free at sea" times, the 20% off an unlimited WIFI deal to replace the lost time will cost us at least another £150