luv2kroooz

Our cruise was last month and not solely EU. We had free at sea. We were charged and paid 10% VAT in all Spanish ports and when the ship was within 12 nautical miles of Spanish waters. We were not charged VAT in France, Portugal, Italy. Only beer and wine available in Italy. I have since learned that it was unlawful to charge and collect VAT on the free at sea, but I have no interest in fighting with NCL over $100. Fortunately for us, we won't miss it. NCL needs it. We will burn our last few cruise next when they offer their fire sales and we are moving to a new cruise provider.

It is absolutely amazing to me that it could have possibly taken 2 weeks to figure this out, but that is typical with NCL. They typically get to a correct result. It is just after all kinds of negative publicity. Strange.

Hi everyone...to close the loop on my issue. I made the second SH OBC submission and my OBC has been posted. Took only 2 days. Thanks for the advice to resubmit. Not sure what happened with the first submission.

Lots of inaccurate responses above. We just sailed in April 2023. I am reiterating that we were able to prebook excursions via the telephone and the representative was able to successfully apply OBC. So, it can be done.

You can book your tours and offset OBC if you call NCL. You need to get to a supervisor in shore excursions in order to get it done.

Sorry this happened to you. We got a similar letter for Le Bistro on a recent cruise. What is weird is NCL doesn't even release all of the reservation slots pre cruise. We were confused why they would just cancel our reservation. In the end, we just booked it when we got on board. I wouldn't worry too much about it. There ought to be plenty of availability on embarkation. We agree Prima is a huge disappointment, but for other reasons. Good luck to you.

I think what KeithJenner is saying is that you left the EU when you crossed the Atlantic. As a result, you were not charged tax throughout the entire cruise.

What a great suggestion. Eeezy peezy right? We will just pack up and cruise Europe within the next few months. We might even get airfare for $1,000 or $2,000. Wise up. To all impacted, I am sorry you are going through this.

They did something similar with Spirit 2024 Alaska. They gave a full monetary refund, duh, obviously, since they cancelled. Then they offered a 50% discount on a future cruise...but here's the kicker....they made the discount valid on certain 2023 Alaska cruises which are currently woefully undersold. So, they cancelled a 2024 cruise but offered a discount on a 2023 sailing. Many people have already made their plans for 2023. Then they threw in some token 10% discount on a 2024 cruise for our convenience. The two discounts are not combinable, so you'd have to book two cruises between May 2023 and December 2024.

It is. Over and again their responses are underwhelming for your convenience.

New request sent. Received auto reply up to 21 days to process. We will see.

Yes No Yes, I have an acknowledgement. Can't reach anyone via phone. Chat is useless.

Hmm. Any idea why I am having trouble? It has been two weeks and I haven't heard anything.

It's just NCL being NCL. They didn't pay the duty. Cheap. Cheap. Cheap.

Don't you have to submit inside of 90 days? That is what the form says. If you are more than 90 days out and haven't received your OBC you may have submitted too soon.

Maybe for the unsuspecting. Didn't work for JimmyVWine. Wouldn't work for me or any other reasonably educated consumer.

Cmon, this is NCL. They won't do anything. NCL will treat them unused, expired, and worthless for your convenience.

The poster you are replying to doesn't get it. They believe what they believe. Unless they see an affirmative post on each of the competitions message boards stating the bars are open, they could be closed in his or her mind. Most fair thinking people can deduce that if no one is posting about it, all is well. Plus, the specific issue in question was asked on the P&O boards and the MSC boards. There were overwhelming responses that the bars are all open and serving. No issues. But, again, this poster refuses to acknowledge this and has made the decision to give NCL the benefit of the doubt. They can't wrap their mind around anything but an honest mistake by NCL. I think they have free at sea on an upcoming sailing but said they are intending to bring additional bottles of wine onboard in case NCL plays games on their upcoming cruise. So, sounds to me like there is substantial doubt about the honest mistake. Why else would you bring your own wine on as an insurance policy?

It is frustration when NCL collected almost $90 in taxes from us during our recent visit to 4 Spanish ports. We had the Free at Sea package and it didn't make sense how we could have to pay tax on something that was free. Here in the US, sales tax is calculated on purchase price net of any discounts. We asked guest services if we could see a receipt for the transactions because I was curious as to what a receipt would show. They told us there was no receipt available and that the finance department was required to collect the taxes. We didn't pursue it as we were on vacation and just wanted to have a good time. It is definitely a lesson learned, though. My guess is that NCL collected money from us that will never be remitted to Spain, but that is an issue between NCL and Spain. In the US, if a business collects a tax rightly or wrongly, it is required to turn that money over to the appropriate taxing authority or face sever penalties.

...and my favorite, "If they did it someone else, they'll do it to you, too."

Couldn't agree with this statement more. I think all most people are asking for is transparency so they have a fair opportunity to adjust expectations and/or make plans with alternate vacation providers. Many people work hard for their vacations and hours of planning are involved. People don't like unexpected surprises, especially surprises that can be avoided. I am not talking about port cancellations due to safety or the occasional mechanical failure.

The current policy with princess Plus from their website, 15 per day limit on drinks with alcohol. I will keep checking for updates cutbacks etc "The package has a daily limit on alcoholic beverages of 15 beverages over a 24-hour period (6 a.m. to 6 a.m.)."

Thank you for this. I was not aware.

Oh no. I hope our Princess ship doesn't fall apart while we are onboard. Hopefully the life boats are in good working order. If not, I'm going down drunk. Lol. I particularly enjoy Woodford and Talisker. The recent change to Grey Goose on NCL doesn't bother me. I prefer Belvedere which I am told is phasing out on NCL. Both Goose and Belvedere listed on Princess menus. SO prefers Bailey's and Chambord which are up charges on NCL.

We are US based booked for an upcoming 10 day on Princess. By way of example, we are paying $600 (60*10) each for our plus package. We are booking onboard on Day 1 because between SH credit, Princess OBC, and TA OBC we each have $300 OBC per person to burn. So our net out of pocket is going to be $300 per person, or $30 per person per day for the Princess plus package. For $30 per person per day, included is our daily service charge to dining room and room steward, which is $16 per day on Princess. Then, we get unlimited internet and the plus beverage package which includes many of the high end liquors that NCL charges for plus everything I mentioned above. There are other inclusions like fitness classes and sundaes but they are of no value to us. Plus, we don't have to worry about buying coffees and bottles of water, or port regulations, bar closures, upcharges etc. Our exposure is that Princess decides to raise the $60 package price prior to sailing. As mentioned above, everyone should do what makes the most sense for them. We don't believe NCL has the cheapest package in the industry is the point I was trying to make. They do have very creative marketing and have developed a strong perception of Free offerings, but there are a lot of upcharges and restrictions in their Free program. It may make sense to shop around. In full disclosure, NCL does not limit consumption of alcohol. Princess has a 15 drink per day limit on alcohol.