No Alcohol in any UK ports - what! 😱

[ChiefMateJRK]

12 minutes ago, cruise52 said:

 I didn’t send this with ANY thought that I will receive a response, More with the thought that if senior leadership or corp office isn’t aware of the issue, they might invite others to get involved.

If they don't already know all about this, then they are idiots and should be fired.

[TexasTraveler18]

7 minutes ago, cruise52 said:

I sent an email to NCL Public Relations outlining the limited beverage service and that NCL appears to be the only cruise line with significant restrictions.  I didn’t send this with ANY thought that I will receive a response, More with the thought that if senior leadership or corp office isn’t aware of the issue, they might invite others to get involved.  If NCL is aware, and believes issues are beyond their control, maybe they will publish a press release addressing, OR, maybe they will simply ignore.  May end up being a complete waste of time, but WTH.  

This is great!  Please let us know what email address you used. I would LOVE an opportunity to share my feelings with them 😜...over and over until it gets resolved.

I also just check and I can upgrade my package for $29/day plus gratuities.  When you add it to your basket, it tells you a total which when divided by $29 comes to 9 days of beverage service one for each day of my cruise....so they are still knowingly charging for a service they can't provide as we sail out of Southampton and have 3 days in Spain.  It is one thing if something "comes up unexpectedly" - thinking weather and itinerary changes, but can someone tell me how this isn't theft? 

[flamingo_fancies]

Was there ever a reason give on the May 4th Dawn sailing as to why NCL suddenly weren't serving alcohol in UK waters? Did any ever get a straight answer whilst on bored? or was it just the "Beverage Notices"

[luv2kroooz]

7 minutes ago, TexasTraveler18 said:

so they are still knowingly charging for a service they can't provide as we sail out of Southampton and have 3 days in Spain.

Southampton is currently out, but the complete bar menu was offered in all of our 4  Spanish ports in April. But there is an additional 10% tax on each drink while docked or while sailing with 12 nautical miles of Spanish waters.

 

Tito's tonic  +1.50

Shot of crown +1.50.

Beer +.70

Mudslide +1.20

 

Adds up very quickly.

 

I think we ran up an additional $80 in taxes during our 4 port calls. Unexpected, but at least we got some value out of our package 

 

Sadly, we met people that had bought premium plus but were not using it or trying to wait until we were in intl waters due to the high taxes. A high end bottle of wine or champagne came with a whopping $20.00 tax. Woodford Reserve +2.30, Chambord +2.00. 

 

NCLs listed menu prices are astronomical and way overinflated. During our lengthy sailing, I think we saw 3 people sign a receipt for drinks. Everyone had the promo. Effectively no one pays menu price, but when you combine a high tax rate with ridiculously high base prices, you can get a nasty result even with the promo package. 

 

Truth be told, the NCL beverage package promo in exotic, port intensive destinations is not looking real attractive to us. Additionally, offerings are always changing and continuing to erode and degrade. We would probably consider it in the Caribbean or on an itinerary with a lot of sea days. Otherwise we would probably opt out and forego liquor for a week or two.

[Pooston]

4 hours ago, flamingo_fancies said:

Was there ever a reason give on the May 4th Dawn sailing as to why NCL suddenly weren't serving alcohol in UK waters? Did any ever get a straight answer whilst on bored? or was it just the "Beverage Notices"

 

We were just given the beverage notice. When queried we were told the uk government had changed the rules. That was of course utter rubbish, as other ships sailing from Southampton were still serving alcohol 

[SakeDad]

Cruiselines read these boards. NCL has to know what a PR nightmare this will be if they don't correct it THIS WEEK. With all the YouTube influences out there more than 1 will love telling the stories. I have many stories of clueless corporate shoreside folks but the crew have got to be dealing with lots of complaints and angry guests this week onboard. That gets back to shoreside through reports. They can't ignore they are the ONLY line doing this to their guests. It's inexcusable.

[Greener123]

While reading all the comments being posted pretty much everywhere about this, someone mentioned a chat with the bar staff in Livorno - they were told there was a change in the laws saying that the ships could only serve “hard” alcohol I.e spirits, if they were purchased in Italy - since NCL don’t purchase any spirits in Italy they can’t serve anything. 
 

As with all the other issues I’ve not seen any other cruise lines have these restrictions in Italy - particularly Livorno, and I bet they don’t all stock up heavily while in Italian ports? Do other lines also charge extra taxes while in Spain, there’s a lot of ships going in and out of Barcelona every day - We’d definitely have heard about it if there was 

[KeithJenner]

15 minutes ago, Greener123 said:

While reading all the comments being posted pretty much everywhere about this, someone mentioned a chat with the bar staff in Livorno - they were told there was a change in the laws saying that the ships could only serve “hard” alcohol I.e spirits, if they were purchased in Italy - since NCL don’t purchase any spirits in Italy they can’t serve anything. 
 

As with all the other issues I’ve not seen any other cruise lines have these restrictions in Italy - particularly Livorno, and I bet they don’t all stock up heavily while in Italian ports? Do other lines also charge extra taxes while in Spain, there’s a lot of ships going in and out of Barcelona every day - We’d definitely have heard about it if there was 

The tax issue in Barcelona isn’t new. We have been sailing from there since 2012 and it has always been a factor on NCL. The rules (or how they are interpreted) have changed a few times over the years.

 

It has been discussed a few times on these boards over the years and my understanding is that most other lines don’t charge the tax to their customers. The assumption has been that they just price it into the drinks, but that is speculation.

 

In the past NCL has charged customers the tax in the UK. I particularly remember when the Escape was launched and there was a one night sampler cruise that had a lot of non NCL regulars onboard and there was a lot of fuss about the charge. I don’t think that NCL have charged it since then (I don’t recall paying it and I’ve sailed from Southampton a few times).

 

As has been stated elsewhere on the thread there are rules about having to show the full price including tax, which probably conflicts with the way NCL usually do these things.

[Greener123]

1 minute ago, KeithJenner said:

It has been discussed a few times on these boards over the years and my understanding is that most other lines don’t charge the tax to their customers. The assumption has been that they just price it into the drinks, but that is speculation.

NCL menu prices for the drinks are pretty high to begin with, so other are absorbing the costs with a lower base price too.

 

guess it’s a consequence of the free at sea being the majority - I’d wager we’re going to see some changes over the next year or two. 

[KeithJenner]

1 minute ago, Greener123 said:

NCL menu prices for the drinks are pretty high to begin with, so other are absorbing the costs with a lower base price too.

 

guess it’s a consequence of the free at sea being the majority - I’d wager we’re going to see some changes over the next year or two. 

Yeah, NCL drink prices are high.

 

A theory is that they increased the prices (and beverage package prices) that few people actually pay in order to increase the gratuity charges, that do get paid in many countries.

 

It would be ironic if that is the case and then NCL find that they have to pay increased tax charges based on those inflated prices. 🙂

[SteveH2508]

This post on the P&O board links to the relevant? HMRC guidance.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2936952-no-alcohol-in-uk-ports/#comment-65381810

 

Section 3, particularly 3.15 seem to be the applicable parts.

 

Obviously this is not relevant to the Italy and Spain scenarios, though itineraries including those ports and UK ports are relevant. 

[rattla]

11 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

Might be good to give some of the cruise bloggers on YouTube a heads up on the issue - La Lido Loca, Emma Cruises, Gary Bembridge (sp?) and Jay (forget his last name).  Could be good material for their daily segments. 

 

Personally, I have decided I don't want to pay $400 in FAS gratuities on our cruise in a few weeks with this uncertainty.  I believe you can cancel drink packages 48 hours in advance and when I do I will certainly tell them why.  We will be the first Baltic cruise (so the situation in those ports cannot be known in advance).  The cruise is very port heavy anyway - no sea days at all - so we would probably only break even anyway.  I'll dust off the ol' Rum Runners too, just in case!

I’ve already started a post on Emma’s Facebook group, getting quite a lot of attention on there, so I think the more coverage, the more likely NCL will get uncomfortable about the impact.

[rattla]

8 hours ago, SakeDad said:

FINE PRINT MATTERS.....However in certain ports of call which will be specified ONBOARD (in other words stop emailing and calling us as we don't know).....so they are not explaining which ports or why you may or may NOT get served even with the Plus package.

I think the reason for the lack of detail is primarily they don’t want to come out and say - 7 of your 10 days onboard you won’t be able to have anything but soft drinks!

that and probably the usual thing that you don’t always get very informed or accurate responses for the customer service guys!

[SakeDad]

3 minutes ago, rattla said:

I think the reason for the lack of detail is primarily they don’t want to come out and say - 7 of your 10 days onboard you won’t be able to have anything but soft drinks!

that and probably the usual thing that you don’t always get very informed or accurate responses for the customer service guys!

But by SELLING daily drinks and if they know you can't get them, they are treading dangerously on being sued for false advertising.

[SakeDad]

15 minutes ago, SteveH2508 said:

This post on the P&O board links to the relevant? HMRC guidance.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2936952-no-alcohol-in-uk-ports/#comment-65381810

 

Section 3, particularly 3.15 seem to be the applicable parts.

 

Obviously this is not relevant to the Italy and Spain scenarios, though itineraries including those ports and UK ports are relevant. 

That says what has ALWAYS been the case in ports across the world....bars can be open and sell but shops can never be open until sailing. This is nothing new.

[Greener123]

Obviously it’s still early but not seeing any reports of restrictions on Dawn while docked in Edinburgh…

 

maybe NCL don’t know Scotland is part of the UK like they didn’t with Belfast last week 🤷🏼‍♂️

[SteveH2508]

7 minutes ago, SakeDad said:

That says what has ALWAYS been the case in ports across the world....bars can be open and sell but shops can never be open until sailing. This is nothing new.

I know that - another poster from US was trying to imply that something had changed in the UK laws.

[insidecabin]

25 minutes ago, rattla said:

I’ve already started a post on Emma’s Facebook group, getting quite a lot of attention on there, so I think the more coverage, the more likely NCL will get uncomfortable about the impact.

Emma did some (invited)promotion work for NCL when on Prima recently she has an in, she also said she was not given gagging clauses.

[flamingo_fancies]

1 hour ago, KeithJenner said:

The tax issue in Barcelona isn’t new. We have been sailing from there since 2012 and it has always been a factor on NCL. The rules (or how they are interpreted) have changed a few times over the years.

 

It has been discussed a few times on these boards over the years and my understanding is that most other lines don’t charge the tax to their customers. The assumption has been that they just price it into the drinks, but that is speculation.

 

In the past NCL has charged customers the tax in the UK. I particularly remember when the Escape was launched and there was a one night sampler cruise that had a lot of non NCL regulars onboard and there was a lot of fuss about the charge. I don’t think that NCL have charged it since then (I don’t recall paying it and I’ve sailed from Southampton a few times).

 

As has been stated elsewhere on the thread there are rules about having to show the full price including tax, which probably conflicts with the way NCL usually do these things.

I was on the escape 1 night test cruise, wasn't it the 20% service charge on drinks non-regular NCL customers were finding strange.

[KeithJenner]

2 minutes ago, flamingo_fancies said:

I was on the escape 1 night test cruise, wasn't it the 20% service charge on drinks non-regular NCL customers were finding strange.

Yeah, that’s my memory.

 

I did wonder whether someone kicked up a fuss and NCL were told they couldn’t charge it, as next time we sailed from Southampton it was gone (from memory).

 

All speculation of course.

Edited May 16, 2023 by KeithJenner

[insidecabin]

Southampton

Star  21st

Dawn 24th

 

Regent have a ship in Southampton 23rd

Be interesting if they have drinks pulled while in port.

 

Oceania have a ship early June

[rattla]

3 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

Emma did some (invited)promotion work for NCL when on Prima recently she has an in, she also said she was not given gagging clauses.

Yeah that was part of the reason I thought it was good to mention given her recent interactions with them!

she’s not responded yet but I think she’s cursing and  her mum did tag her so maybe she will respond ? 😊

Or maybe she will feel a bit awkward about it!

[Greener123]

1 minute ago, insidecabin said:

Southampton

Star  21st

Dawn 24th

 

Regent have a ship in Southampton 23rd

Be interesting if they have drinks pulled while in port.

 

Oceania have a ship early June

Ha ha no hiding behind regulations then if your sister brands have no problems 🤣

[Greener123]

2 minutes ago, rattla said:

Yeah that was part of the reason I thought it was good to mention given her recent interactions with them!

she’s not responded yet but I think she’s cursing and  her mum did tag her so maybe she will respond ? 😊

Or maybe she will feel a bit awkward about it!

She replied on the first one I posted a few days ago - she basically said she didn’t know anything and wasn’t told anything when in gib

[nonibop]

On 5/11/2023 at 3:42 PM, hawkeyetlse said:

Sorry, I checked the itinerary and it's mostly Irish ports. The only other UK port is Belfast. We'll see if they put up signs again that day. And if Ireland has decided to demand taxes, too!

Ireland have always required taxes to be paid. I suspect NCL have neglected to do the paperwork.