No Alcohol in any UK ports - what! 😱

[ollienbertsmum]

30 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I'm frankly not surprised NCL is circling the wagons and refraining from comment, given that the torch and pitchfork crowd are out there baying for blood. 😆 It sure would be nice if people could just chill out and let things get resolved, yet here we are on the 23rd page of comments. We may hit a record soon!

 

But how long do you think people should patiently sit by and wait until ‘things get resolved’.  This was certainly an issue on the Sun out of Lisbon when visiting Gibraltar in December.  That is nearly 6 months.  

[SakeDad]

5 hours ago, kaydeetee said:

I am on the NCL Dawn now.  Sailed out of Southampton 5/14/2023.  Alcohol was NOT served until the following day.  Not in bars, eating venues, or anywhere.

 

Did anyone bring their own wine and pour in cabin to drink onboard? I will if it's still in affect in July.

[SouthamptonCruiseFan]

Passengers on Sun in November 2022 were refunded an amount because they couldn't utilise their drinks package. Precedent set.  If enough passengers complain they will have to address this. If everybody goes back to daily life NCL will just contine with this BS.

[njkate]

I’m on Getaway TA next April with UK ports if this doesn’t get sorted out I’ll be cancelling and finding another line to do a TA on. My biggest issue is the total lack of transparency on the part of NCL, they must think we were all born yesterday. 

[DCGuy64]

8 minutes ago, SouthamptonCruiseFan said:

Passengers on Sun in November 2022 were refunded an amount because they couldn't utilise their drinks package. Precedent set.  If enough passengers complain they will have to address this. If everybody goes back to daily life NCL will just contine with this BS.

That's right, I agree with you. I would submit that contacting NCL directly and voicing one's complaints (in a professional, non-threatening, calm manner) is much more likely to result in a change than just getting angry on Cruise Critic (or any other website). Your approach seems like the most sensible and most likely to achieve the desired outcome.

[luv2kroooz]

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

I'm frankly not surprised NCL is circling the wagons and refraining from comment, given that the torch and pitchfork crowd are out there baying for blood.

Do you really think they care about us? Cmon man. They couldn't care less about us. They aren't commenting because they are on  quite a slippery slope. They are collecting money from passengers for a service they have chosen not to provide. They have to pay the port to open the bar and deliver the service they are charging for. It appears they have made a decision to not pay, keep the passengers money, and save the cost of the actual liquor. A triple win for NCL, but it amounts to theft and deceptive advertising. Not a position I would want to find myself in as a business owner.

Edited May 16, 2023 by luv2kroooz

[Greener123]

Got a reply from Ben and David… sounds like they’ve experience similar with NCL, being charged taxes seemingly at random on their Hawaiian cruise recently - wonder if we’ll hear about it in their upcoming videos. 
 

they did mention issues on Princess in NYC but I’ve not seen anything else about that 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

Thanked me for bringing it to their attention so maybe we’ll hear about it at some point - maybe on one of their lives or from their second channel 

[SteveH2508]

I am finding the NCL ‘Judge Dredd’ book of excuses quite amusing (in a sad kind of way). “It’s the Law” now seems to be the default response to any query regarding drink service, shuttle buses or other services.

 

I do not have a dog in this fight, but it saddens me to see a cruise line I used to like, going down the pan like this. It should not be this way.

[Travelling2Some]

47 minutes ago, ollienbertsmum said:

 

But how long do you think people should patiently sit by and wait until ‘things get resolved’.  This was certainly an issue on the Sun out of Lisbon when visiting Gibraltar in December.  That is nearly 6 months.  

We had this issue in Gibraltar in November, so make that 7 months.  Also in November we were charged extra taxes on each drink in our Spanish ports, which they later admitted was not legit for those with drink packages but, of course, no refunds given.  I don't think patience is called for. 

[Colin L]

6 hours ago, Krydstosser said:

I just send the Vice president an e-mail about this. Hopefully they will take it seriously. 

Tried that four days ago - no response 

[Colin L]

4 hours ago, Janevo said:

Thanks very much for the feedback kaydeetee. 

We were in Belfast yesterday which is under exactly the same rules and laws as Scotland but no alcohol until midnights 

[podgeandrodge]

2 minutes ago, Colin L said:

Tried that four days ago - no response 

I've done it.  Got same response as posted earlier.  Definitely a Group Wide party line on this right now.  Whether that means they are trying to sort out the mess while they hold that line, or whether they are simply sticking their heads in the sand.........we shall see... but they are damaging the brand.

[SouthamptonCruiseFan]

11 minutes ago, Travelling2Some said:

We had this issue in Gibraltar in November, so make that 7 months.  Also in November we were charged extra taxes on each drink in our Spanish ports, which they later admitted was not legit for those with drink packages but, of course, no refunds given.  I don't think patience is called for. 

Did they admit it? Have told me nobody else complained!!

[KeithJenner]

16 minutes ago, Travelling2Some said:

We had this issue in Gibraltar in November, so make that 7 months.  Also in November we were charged extra taxes on each drink in our Spanish ports, which they later admitted was not legit for those with drink packages but, of course, no refunds given.  I don't think patience is called for. 

It’s been going on for over a year now. First time that I’m aware of was Athens in April last year.

[cruiseny4life]

29 minutes ago, SouthamptonCruiseFan said:

Did they admit it? Have told me nobody else complained!!

So many twists and turns - ignore me, please. 

Edited May 16, 2023 by cruiseny4life

[KeithJenner]

1 minute ago, cruiseny4life said:

No one else complained they couldn't get alcohol? Hahaha....right! Isn't that why cruises exist? To drink! Unless you're me haha

That are talking about people being charged tax.

[Twolittleboys]

Well, the fact that all give the same reply/there is no deviation from the official answer indicates that legal is heavily involved at this point.

 

I think there are three distinct possibilities:

a) someone messed up bad and they are trying to fix it (though that seems a bit unlikely as it has been going on for a while)

b) someone has decided that this is a valid way of doing business - seems strange as anyone could have predicted that passengers would get very upset about this

c) for whatever reason they can't really do anything else

[ChiefMateJRK]

5 minutes ago, Twolittleboys said:

a) someone messed up bad and they are trying to fix it

My money is on this.

[Greener123]

The time this has been going on, the number of ports, and other recent cuts etc suggests B is more likely 

[DCGuy64]

I'll definitely be interested to see what transpires over the coming weeks. I also follow Emma, Ben&David, Gary B, etc. and will monitor their videos to see if they mention this issue.

[KeithJenner]

I love the certainty that something that has now been happening for 13 months will have more than blown over in 6 months time. 🙂

Edited May 16, 2023 by KeithJenner

[Greener123]

21 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Stealing? Hardly, that's more than a stretch. I continue to be fascinated by the absolute certainty so many people have about a situation that a) doesn't directly affect them at all and b) is being dealt with by the cruise line. I find the whole interesting, but as I'm not sailing for another 6 months, this will more than have blown over by then. I refuse to get as angry and emotionally invested in this minor hiccup as some are.

Are you certain the line is “dealing with it” 

 

nothing in their statements suggest they’re working hard to fix the problem, or even acknowledge that it’s even their problem in the first place 

[DCGuy64]

Just now, Greener123 said:

Are you certain the line is “dealing with it” 

 

nothing in their statements suggest they’re working hard to fix the problem, or even acknowledge that it’s even their problem in the first place 

So far the only official response has been to say it's due to local regulations, and until I hear otherwise, I assume they're telling the truth. If they're not, then it seems to me that those who doubt them need to show PROOF of that, not speculate and pretend to know all the facts when they don't. I haven't seen one single shred of evidence to say that the cruise line is being dishonest. What I have seen is a plethora of unsubstantiated gripes. Sorry, but that doesn't work for me. If others don't share my view, then that's totally fine, but no one should expect me to change my view on this until facts have changed to my satisfaction.

[TQuila]

45 minutes ago, Twolittleboys said:

I think there are three distinct possibilities:

a) someone messed up bad and they are trying to fix it (though that seems a bit unlikely as it has been going on for a while)

b) someone has decided that this is a valid way of doing business - seems strange as anyone could have predicted that passengers would get very upset about this

c) for whatever reason they can't really do anything else

I would vote for a modified version of a - someone messed up bad, they weren't going to fix it since they profited by it, but now that they've triggered revolt, they're scrambling to figure out how to fix it without admitting fault

[SteveH2508]

NCL are in BS mode - whether that stands for blame-shifting or something else - I shall leave for the reader to decide.