Bar service in Greek ports

[iloveglee]

This is truly bizarre isn't it.  If it's greek law, surely it would apply to all cruise lines not just NCL?  Whatever the problem is, it's not good for the cruises going to greece, when they are selling you a package to have an open bar, for just over £20 a day, but then the bar is not open for a considerable amount of the time.

 

I recognise that many people are not on board whilst in port, but in fact some do stay on board.  We have done the same thing, maybe because we've been to the port and aren't too bothered about going onshore again.  Not that I'm personally too fussed about drinking alcohol in the daytime, but my husband does like a beer in the afternoon.  

 

I've not seen any posts to suggest anyone has been able to contact NCL for information, and trying to find out what the actual greek law is around the subject is impossible so far.  Although I've not given up yet!!

[KeithJenner]

20 minutes ago, iloveglee said:

This is truly bizarre isn't it.  If it's greek law, surely it would apply to all cruise lines not just NCL?  Whatever the problem is, it's not good for the cruises going to greece, when they are selling you a package to have an open bar, for just over £20 a day, but then the bar is not open for a considerable amount of the time.

 

I recognise that many people are not on board whilst in port, but in fact some do stay on board.  We have done the same thing, maybe because we've been to the port and aren't too bothered about going onshore again.  Not that I'm personally too fussed about drinking alcohol in the daytime, but my husband does like a beer in the afternoon.  

 

I've not seen any posts to suggest anyone has been able to contact NCL for information, and trying to find out what the actual greek law is around the subject is impossible so far.  Although I've not given up yet!!

One of the problems is that this isn't just a few hours in the afternoon. They tend to stay late in Greek ports (Santorini, Athens etc), and in those ports people won't even be able to get a drink with their evening meal. On our recent cruise the times for leaving port were 6pm, 9pm, 6pm and 9.30pm. If there had been no bar service at every Greek port then that would have had a major impact, especially as we paid paid to upgrade to Premium Plus.

[KeithJenner]

35 minutes ago, WexIrl said:

We are on the Escape on the 10th June with 4 Greek Port stops.

If it is true about the bar service being suspended for each Greek stop, I would have definitely chosen a different Ship/route. 


 

Escape doesn't appear to have been affected so far.

[iloveglee]

The whole thing is really weird frankly.  But you're right, there is a fair bit of time in port, every day on the cruise we are taking, at some stage.  Two of the stops are until between 9.30 pm and 11.59 pm so yes, no drink with dinner on those two days, and no drink at all in the evening.  Makes no sense at all.  It has been suggested that this has been enacted to benefit the greek economy, OK I can see they have suffered during the pandemic, but to deny people alcohol on board, to benefit the greek economy, why stop there, deny people food as well?  

 

What's more weird is the difference in what people are posting.  Some are saying that there were no issues whatsoever, some apparently on the same sailing, same ship saying alcohol was refused.   Some saying it was one ship, some saying it was a different one.  I can't get my head around it.  NCL are going to have to get a grip on this otherwise people are going to read these things and decide to go with someone else.  But if it's the law, then it would apply to all cruise lines wouldn't you think?

 

If it is the law, and does apply to all cruise lines, it will decimate the cruise business in Greece which will do nothing for their economy.  Even though people tend to eat and drink, mostly on board but not solely, cruise passengers do put money into the economy.  We have been on a multitude of cruises, all over the place, and money goes into excursions,  run by locals,  taxi journeys, shops selling speciality goods, clothing that you can't get elsewhere.  Museums and historical sites, the list of stuff cruise passengers do is endless.  

 

What I have done is to go on two other boards, one for Celestyal and one for MSC and asked this question on there.  If it is the law, surely someone must have encountered this issue.  Watch this space then.  

[KeithJenner]

I'm not seeing much, if any, discrepancy in what people are posting. The confusion is that people are reporting that they haven't had any problem on ships where nobody is claiming that there should be. For example, on the Jade it was literally just an issue for two days (embarkation day on the first two cruises from Athens). Lots of people are saying that they haven't had a problem on the Jade since then, which is no surprise.

 

I haven't seen anyone contradicting the reports from the Gem last week (or today).

 

For me, it looks like a specific NCL issue. Purely speculating, but I think that there has been some problem behind the scenes on the Jade and Gem, which meant that they shouldn't serve until those were resolved. It's odd though that the Jade was just Athens whereas the Gem is every port. I suspect (and hope for this cruising soon) that they get the Gem sorted soon.

[KeithJenner]

This is from today's daily, posted on a different thread.

 

[kochleffel]

Full bar service today on the Jade even while still at the dock in Piraeus. I wonder why it's different on the Gem.

[WexIrl]

1 hour ago, KeithJenner said:

Escape doesn't appear to have been affected so far.

That is reassuring to hear.

I wonder is it an alcohol licensing issue?

Does NCL buy a single fleet wide license to sell alcohol inclusive of all ships/ports, or does NCL buy a license sell alcohol on a ship by ship/port basis?
Maybe someone dropped the ball in NCL for the Gem and forgot to get the alcohol license in time for Greece deadline?

I've no idea what's happening, the above is the only logic I can apply to the situation.

Edited May 22, 2022 by WexIrl

[TrumpyNor]

3 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

A friend of mine is currently on the Gem, today is the first day in a Greek port on their itinerary and this is what she just posted on FB: 

Not allowed to sell alcohol when in Greek port.

 

2 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

Someone on Facebook has just posted saying that they are serving on the Gem.

Edit - It seems that the Gem has now left Corfu, which is why they are now serving.

Yes, it must be because they had left port by that time. My friend and her husband were indeed in a bar on board, but were only served "virgin coctails". 

[KeithJenner]

8 minutes ago, WexIrl said:

That is reassuring to hear.

I wonder is it an alcohol licensing issue?

Does NCL buy a single fleet wide license to sell alcohol inclusive of all ships/ports, or does NCL buy a license sell alcohol on a ship by ship/port basis?
Maybe someone dropped the ball in NCL for the Gem and forgot to get the alcohol license in time for Greece deadline?

I've no idea what's happening, the above is the only logic I can apply to the situation.

My guess is that it is some sort of licensing issue. If so then you would have thought they would have learned their lesson from the Jade and made sure it didn’t happen again.

[iloveglee]

Having just read a huge document relating to alcohol in greece, there is a reference to licences to sell alcohol, which of course any establishment, anywhere needs.  My guess would be that the ships are probably licenced for the countries they are usually in, rather than having the whole fleet licenced for everywhere they sail, which is a multitude of places.

 

I do know that the gem, which the ship leaflet referred to, had a schedule to sail out of new york at the beginning of the year, but the whole schedule was cancelled due to some kind of covid issue.  Possibly they have redeployed the Gem to the greek islands, and as has been suggested, they didn't properly sort out the licence.  I hope this is the case, because we are not going to be pleased, given the amount of time our ship is in port, if this is applicable as a regular thing.  

 

We had all better keep our eye on this

[purplecow15]

I do notice that the daily specifically states  "while the Norwegian Gem is in port" rather than a more generalized when cruise ships are in port. The problems seem to be uniquely on the Gem. If the Greek authorities were stopping alcohol sales on all ships sailing in Greece we would be seeing it company-wise as well as on other cruise lines.

Edited May 22, 2022 by purplecow15

[Chikky]

I'm hoping it's a paperwork issue.

 

It's been suggested that maybe Greece wants people drinking on land, not on board. But that makes no sense. If it became a regular thing, no drinks in Greek ports, people would choose other itineries and avoid Greece completly - then they would loose out on revenue in other areas - goods, food etc.

 

It does also feel that it's only NCL that is affected and not all their ships at that. If other cruise lines are allowed open bars then it's not a Greek authority decision. Fingers crossed this gets sorted soon.

 

Thanks for everyones input 🙂 

 

 

[iloveglee]

Indeed from everything I have read, I do wonder if this is specific to the gem, and is a licencing issue.  I can't imagine cruise lines get licences for every ship and every country given that some ships tend to sail in certain countries at certain times of year.

 

I know from an online article that the gem should have been sailing from new york to ? caribbean islands.  All of those sailings were scrapped, the whole schedule in fact.  So did they redeploy the gem to greece as europe generally is relaxing covid regulations for people to enter the country.  And possibly the alcohol licence somehow got missed.  This does make sense, as have experienced this on land when I was involved with the licence trade.  All it takes is somebody to not think ahead 'oh we need an alcohol licence', for the whole thing to go pear shaped.

 

Fingers crossed this is so.  It's certainly correct to say that if this is a customs issue applying to all cruises then it will decimate the cruise business in greece.  Which will do absolutely nothing to help the tourist trade.  For example, and I think we are pretty standard cruisers, last time we stopped in Athens, we paid for a taxi to take us into the city, we paid to go in the museum.  We bought honey and some local cosmetics, sat in a cafe and bought coffees, beers and baklava.  Multiply that kind of thing, which is kind of minimal really, by all the cruisers that go in and out of greek ports, and it's quite a sum of money going into the tourist trade.

 

We will see, we don't go until mid September, by which time hopefully theres going to be a definitive answer to this

[Edinburghgirl1]

Don’t NCL also require masks indoors whilst in Greece claiming it’s a Greek requirement yet other cruise lines like Celebrity don’t. Doesn’t make sense. 

[KeithJenner]

It could be interesting in Santorini today. Both the Escape (serving alcohol) and Gem (not serving alcohol) are there today.

[tony s]

54 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

It could be interesting in Santorini today. Both the Escape (serving alcohol) and Gem (not serving alcohol) are there today.

Simple board the Escape. Seriously sounds bizarre and corporate should address or might start losing more customers than money by this obviously penny pinching move.

[KeithJenner]

15 minutes ago, tony s said:

Simple board the Escape. Seriously sounds bizarre and corporate should address or might start losing more customers than money by this obviously penny pinching move.

I honestly don’t think that it is a cost cutting move, or anything like that. I’m quite sure that there is a reason for this (my guess a licensing issue). The fact that it was sorted on the Jade suggests that it is something fixable. They need to fix it quick though.

[TrumpyNor]

4 hours ago, iloveglee said:

 

 

I know from an online article that the gem should have been sailing from new york to ? caribbean islands.  All of those sailings were scrapped, the whole schedule in fact.  So did they redeploy the gem to greece as europe generally is relaxing covid regulations for people to enter the country.  And possibly the alcohol licence somehow got missed.  This does make sense, as have experienced this on land when I was involved with the licence trade.  All it takes is somebody to not think ahead 'oh we need an alcohol licence', for the whole thing to go pear shaped.

 

 

We booked our Greek Isles cruise with the Gem from Trieste, Italy already in March 2021 (will be sailing in July, same itinerary as they do now), so if she was "deployed" then that is a loooooong time ago....

Edited May 23, 2022 by TrumpyNor

[TrumpyNor]

2 hours ago, Edinburghgirl1 said:

Don’t NCL also require masks indoors whilst in Greece claiming it’s a Greek requirement yet other cruise lines like Celebrity don’t. Doesn’t make sense. 

The cruise starts and ends in Trieste, Italy - and it is the Italian authorities who require face masks indoors also on cruise ships visiting. As they actually do on flights to Italy as well, FFP2 masks are mandatory.

[Peelie66]

On 5/17/2022 at 7:00 PM, willetstravel said:

I am really surprised that more people in Greece right now are not posting about this.  NCL is certainly keeping it hush-hush.  I "chatted" with an agent and they acted like they didn't know what I was talking about.

I did the same today the 23rd of May and they had no knowledge of it.

[hawkeyetlse]

28 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

I honestly don’t think that it is a cost cutting move, or anything like that. I’m quite sure that there is a reason for this (my guess a licensing issue).

I agree that they didn't deliberately create the situation to save money, but unfortunately with so many passengers using the PBP, keeping bars closed does in fact save them money in the immediate term. I only hope that this doesn't reduce their motivation to fix the issue, because it will cost them in the long term, if people start cancelling bookings and avoiding the Gem, or NCL Greece sailings in general.

[iloveglee]

I also tried with the live chat.  she did admit some guests had been asking the question, and she spoke to her manager (she said), and there had been no updates.  So a non answer really.  

 

The cancelled schedules from new york began in january,  think to the caribbean, for the winter months obviously.  it may be that the gem was always destined for the med in the summer.  they do move these ships around a lot.  So not that then, so the mystery deepens.  

 

I have trawled and trawled to see if I can find anything about greek customs etc but don't seem to be able to come up with anything.  Hopefully as the summer schedules get under way, if there are issues, there may be more posts on here, or on other social media sites.  

[Peelie66]

I spoke to my booking agent who spoke to NCL directly. NCL have said they are aware of the posts on various sites and that they are all false. They assure that if the bar service was to be cancelled for any reason that they would contact us as soon as possible. And infact there is an english bar on the ship that serves alcahol 24 hours a day.

[JustAPilot]

3 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

It could be interesting in Santorini today. Both the Escape (serving alcohol) and Gem (not serving alcohol) are there today.

Brace yourselves Escape cruisers, a thirsty Gem mob is coming onboard! 😂