NCL Joy

[mem05]

2 Days into a Cruise to Bermuda and they are out Of alcohol. No vodka to be found. Bartender said they missed a delivery in New York. They better compensate people who paid in advance for the package and the gratuities. There are some really upset passengers.  Pool Bars are emptying out 

[BirdTravels]

Common for all cruise lines. Supply chain problems impact bars everywhere. We were on Royal a couple weeks ago and the bartenders said that had been out of stock of some items for weeks. Always hoping that they would show up on turnaround days. 

[mem05]

Understood, but can’t have people paying upfront and not receiving.   I’ve been on 16 NCL cruises including on 3 months ago and never had this occur. 

[Daisy0214]

We just got off Joy on Sunday and had the same problem on day 5. My husband asked for 3 drinks and they couldn’t make any of them they were out of tequila, whiskey and vodka. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

Yikes!!  This supply chain thing is now going from a nuisance to a crisis.  I can understand the Russian Vodka issue, but all Vodka??

[BermudaBound2014]

3 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Yikes!!  This supply chain thing is now going from a nuisance to a crisis.  I can understand the Russian Vodka issue, but all Vodka??

 

OMG.. if this hits the financial news cycle the cruise industry is doomed 🤣

[mem05]

Yes, no tequila or Vodka on day 2.  Yikes is right.   Daisy, did they not have it for the remaining days of the cruise?

 

[mem05]

Hopefully they have the ability to restock in Bermuda.   People are very vocal onboard now. 
 

[mem05]

Also running out of hard Seltzers, no champagne and other usually well

stocked items.  Again, day 2.  Gonna be a rough 5 days if somehow it’s not remedied. 

[Daisy0214]

2 minutes ago, mem05 said:

Yes, no tequila or Vodka on day 2.  Yikes is right.   Daisy, did they not have it for the remaining days of the cruise?

 

They did not. One of the bartenders actually went to another bar filled a glass with tequila made my husband a drink. I was not happy because I am a vodka drinker. 

[Pat.D]

Interestingly, when I sailed the Joy out of Miami back in March, it was also missing quite a few brands of alcohol they usually stock (but nowhere as bad as what you're experiencing!)  It was the sailing where the Joy had to skip Cozumel due to "propulsion issues".

[jkbec101]

I'm so sick and tired of hearing supply chain excuses for something like this.  One would have to believe that stocking a large cruise ship like the Joy would be a huge money maker/large account.  If I have 100 bottles of Vodka and the NCL Joy needs 60, fulfill that order first and then work your way down the client list.  

This is not just on the supplier, it is also on the JOY, there are people (I suspect) in corporate and at the ship who are responsible for this type of thing.  So, on the day of departure and you get to say 1:00 pm and you haven't seen the alcohol supplier, NCL should be on the phone screaming for the delivery.  Hell, delay the ship to get that stuff on board and let everyone know.  I guarantee that the compliments would far out weigh the complaints.

 

If this supplier cannot meet the demand, then find another supplier, I'm sure that there are others who would line up for the chance.

 

Blaming supply chain issues has become the easy way of justifying laziness.

Edited July 5, 2022 by jkbec101

[BirdTravels]

When were were on the Encore in April, we went to Cagney's for our "platinum" dinner. And selected a bottle of wine off the "free bottle" menu. Then picked a second, and settled on a third because they were out of stock of the freebie wines. The beverage manager on the ship kinda rolled her eyes when we mentioned that we didn't get our first choice "free" bottle of wine. 

Edited July 6, 2022 by BirdTravels

[tony s]

Maybe they should hit the package stores in Manhattan on the return to stock or allow byob

[Sea saw 56]

Long time Norwegian customer, currently Diamond.

Out at sea, No tequila, vodka, whiskey, champs = DEAL BREAKER .

Would move to land based options.

Get it fixed quick.

[desherry]

Norwegian supplies all of it's ships out of Miami. They dispatch containers of supplies from Miami to the various docks that they consider capable of transfer to the ship. The issue I believe is in the transport of those supplies from Miami to the various ports.

This was covered in one of the videos they put out during the restart phase.

[BirdTravels]

12 minutes ago, desherry said:

Norwegian supplies all of it's ships out of Miami. They dispatch containers of supplies from Miami to the various docks that they consider capable of transfer to the ship. The issue I believe is in the transport of those supplies from Miami to the various ports.

This was covered in one of the videos they put out during the restart phase.

That's why the Joy stops in Norfolk for provisioning.

[UKstages]

3 hours ago, tony s said:

Maybe they should hit the package stores in Manhattan on the return to stock or allow byob

 

this was my thought, as well. a food and beverage director could easily have done this, much the same way they buy fish in some ports from local purveyors. they would need a truck or several workers with handcarts, however. but they could easily rent a truck for a few hours, within walking distance from the cruise ship terminal. and, while there are no "package sores" in manhattan, there are twenty or thirty liquor stores within a one mile radius of the MCT.

 

if they wanted to stock the ship, they could have done so. it would have been problematic, it would have been expensive, but they could have done it to some degree... not saying that they could have purchased their full supply, but they could have made the situation much better.

Edited July 6, 2022 by UKstages

[AndyCapn]

8 hours ago, jkbec101 said:

So, on the day of departure and you get to say 1:00 pm and you haven't seen the alcohol supplier, NCL should be on the phone screaming for the delivery.  Hell, delay the ship to get that stuff on board and let everyone know.  I guarantee that the compliments would far out weigh the complaints.

Yes, yelling and refusing to leave will solve the supply shortages.

 

Also, insist on speaking directly with the manager or else you're going right to the media!

[Montanagirlalways]

Wonder if they were selling vodka in their shop onboard

[rxlowry]

This stinks for your trip!!  One suggestion is to visit Cristian in Maltings.  Try a gin based cocktail. He really understands mixology and I think he could hide the flavor of gin.  He even got me drinking scotch on my June cruise and paired it with chocolate.  Outstanding.  
hope they got some stuff in Norfolk If this one stopped there. 
 

[geegee1]

Absolutely horrible.  I wonder if it being a holiday weekend had anything to do with delivery issues.  Also could explain why they didn't or weren't able to restock in Norfolk.  But still a terrible job by them

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

This is unacceptable and I hope it is rectified for you soon.

[JGmf]

I could understand the one-off instance where a certain brand or brands aren't available, but entire categories of pretty basic alcohol like vodka and gin would be a deal breaker.  Hanging out at the bar is 80 percent of the fun of the cruise.  Crap.

[geegee1]

7 minutes ago, JGmf said:

I could understand the one-off instance where a certain brand or brands aren't available, but entire categories of pretty basic alcohol like vodka and gin would be a deal breaker.  Hanging out at the bar is 80 percent of the fun of the cruise.  Crap.

Very true, how do you run out of an entire category of booze?  A brand or two sure, not an entire category.   If you know that you're going to be short on one brand you would think that the beverage director would make it up with similar brands