Alcohol restricted in Southampton?

[jerseymariner]

Just saw a posted notice for passengers boarding the Norwegian Dawn today on Facebook. It said that local regulations prevent them serving alcohol while in local waters. Anybody know anything about this rule in Southampton or other British ports?

[wowzz]

Never known this before.

Certainly isn't happening on other cruise lines.

[jerseymariner]

Folks embarking on the Dawn seem to think it’s a way to avoid paying tax or duty on the alcohol. 

[John Bull]

5 hours ago, jerseymariner said:

Folks embarking on the Dawn seem to think it’s a way to avoid paying tax or duty on the alcohol. 

 

That sounds like the most likely reason - tho' NCL have been sailing out of Southampton for many many years and this is the first time I've heard of it.

 

JB 🙂

[wowzz]

9 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

That sounds like the most likely reason - tho' NCL have been sailing out of Southampton for many many years and this is the first time I've heard of it.

 

JB 🙂

If P&O were to do this, they would have a major riot on their hands !

[fruitmachine]

I wonder whether they need a licence, but have failed to apply for it in time?

 

 

[gumshoe958]

4 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

I wonder whether they need a licence, but have failed to apply for it in time?

 

 

According to a post on the Royal Caribbean board, with photographic evidence, NCL has imposed the same rule in Livorno and Civitavecchia in Italy. 
 

Looks to me like a very deliberate attempt to cut costs by avoiding the need to pay duty on alcohol sales while in port.

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Looks to me like a very deliberate attempt to cut costs by avoiding the need to pay duty on alcohol sales while in port.

 

The costs could, in theory, be recouped by having different pricing when in port. So this explanation would presumably have to be coupled with the cruise line not being prepared to implement the necessary systems to do this?

[gumshoe958]

3 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

The costs could, in theory, be recouped by having different pricing when in port. So this explanation would presumably have to be coupled with the cruise line not being prepared to implement the necessary systems to do this?

That’s quite possible.

 

Or is it simply that NCL’s management has ordered every department to cut costs by x% and someone decided the bill for duty on alcohol overseas was a cost ripe for cutting, regardless of the consequent loss of revenue?

[John Bull]

A few years back there was a spate of complaints from NCL cruisers that in Barcelona they had Spanish IVA (VAT in English) on drinks until out of Spanish waters.

And that escalated into the same out of Italian ports.

NCL wouldn't pull that sort of stunt to boost profits, and I think that there were a few similar add-ons on other cruise lines' ships - IIRC due to different interpretations off EU rules.

But all very vague in the mists of my memory

 

JB 🙂

[Sekhmet]

9 hours ago, John Bull said:

A few years back there was a spate of complaints from NCL cruisers that in Barcelona they had Spanish IVA (VAT in English) on drinks until out of Spanish waters.

JB 🙂

This rings a bell with me, too, and I also have a blurred memory of the ship serving whilst still in the Spanish port, but not processing the payments through until out in international waters.  But, as you accurately surmise, vagueness of recall is becoming increasingly common.

[wowzz]

A number of lines charge tax on drinks when sailing in Spanish waters. How the Spanish monitor tge sales I have no idea !

But, if you have a drinks package, you are exempt from the additional tax,  as you have prepaid for your drinks. 

[fishman620]

On our NCL Epic cruise in January, we embarked in San Juan, Puerto Rico and were charged taxes on the drinks until we left port.....and we had the drink package.  I had heard in some other embarkation ports, they were doing the same....

[nonibop]

On 5/9/2023 at 9:25 PM, Globaliser said:

 

The costs could, in theory, be recouped by having different pricing when in port. So this explanation would presumably have to be coupled with the cruise line not being prepared to implement the necessary systems to do this?

Yes in other ports they charge tax while in embarcation port. NY Miami etc but it's only NCL

 

[DCGuy64]

23 hours ago, fishman620 said:

On our NCL Epic cruise in January, we embarked in San Juan, Puerto Rico and were charged taxes on the drinks until we left port.....and we had the drink package.  I had heard in some other embarkation ports, they were doing the same....

Happened to us, too. Apparently it has to do with tax collection on any drink served when in the US. We had the same issue in Miami.

[hawkeyetlse]

On 5/9/2023 at 10:39 PM, gumshoe958 said:

Or is it simply that NCL’s management has ordered every department to cut costs by x% and someone decided the bill for duty on alcohol overseas was a cost ripe for cutting, regardless of the consequent loss of revenue?

It doesn’t make sense to cut costs if it also causes you to lose revenue (depending on the relative numbers, obviously), but in this case, they’re not losing much revenue. Since most drinkers on NCL have a pre-paid, non-refundable beverage package, the ship loses money throughout the cruise every time they order anything. So this situation is a win-win for NCL (as long as they don’t care too much about their guests’ on-board experience): they save money by not giving away any “free” booze, and if anyone complains, they can shift the blame to “local regulations”. 

 

On 5/10/2023 at 9:40 AM, wowzz said:

A number of lines charge tax on drinks when sailing in Spanish waters. How the Spanish monitor tge sales I have no idea !

But, if you have a drinks package, you are exempt from the additional tax,  as you have prepaid for your drinks. 

NCL charges tax whether you have a package or not. If you have a package, you don’t pay for the drink but they still charge tax based on the menu price of what you ordered. 

[edinburgher]

This thread was started only this week on the italy Forum  and the official advisory is shown on it.  NCL won't even serve spirits to  those with beverage packages although it does indicate that beer and wines can be sold and maybe also  served  to those with beverage packages.

.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2936321-livorno-port-no-spirits-allowed-when-in-port/

 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2023 by edinburgher

[SakeDad]

On 5/9/2023 at 1:25 PM, Globaliser said:

 

The costs could, in theory, be recouped by having different pricing when in port. So this explanation would presumably have to be coupled with the cruise line not being prepared to implement the necessary systems to do this?

This would not be feasible for those with the drink packages. Yes, if you have the regular drink package anything up to $15 is included, but if you have the Plus package EVERYTHING is included so that wouldn't work.

[The Traveling Man]

On 5/4/2023 at 10:55 AM, jerseymariner said:

Just saw a posted notice for passengers boarding the Norwegian Dawn today on Facebook. It said that local regulations prevent them serving alcohol while in local waters. Anybody know anything about this rule in Southampton or other British ports?

There has been an extensive amount of discussion about this subject on the NCL boards, but has anyone experienced this issue while sailing on a different cruise line?  Are there any ports in the UK or the EU where RCCL, Princess, HAL, or any other cruise line is not serving alcohol because of some port regulation?

[gumshoe958]

3 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

There has been an extensive amount of discussion about this subject on the NCL boards, but has anyone experienced this issue while sailing on a different cruise line?  Are there any ports in the UK or the EU where RCCL, Princess, HAL, or any other cruise line is not serving alcohol because of some port regulation?

Certainly not in the UK. 

[pink845]

Interestingly. When we boarded Majestic Princess at 1145 am couple of weeks ago, no one was able to get a glass of wine or any liquor.  And that was in Vancouver.  People with drink package were wandering up and down and all around looking for a bar that would serve.