No Alcohol in any UK ports - what! 😱

[insidecabin]

Just now, flamingo_fancies said:

Of course they would just use CHAPS. It would cost them around £25 in fees.

They would need cash in the account for CHAPS.

[flamingo_fancies]

Just now, insidecabin said:

They would need cash in the account for CHAPS.

Very very true. The excuse they used just makes them look inept or on the breadline, maybe even both.

[insidecabin]

2 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

Several posters reporting directly from on board the Dawn and the Star this morning say the bars are open and serving beer, wine and spirits again.  Like you, though, I am still a bit uneasy that there may be a recurrence going forward.  We are on the Dawn's first foray this season into the Baltics (June 13 - Copenhagen to Stockholm).  NCL has a history of pulling this nonsense on first visits of the season.  I hope they don't "forget" to pay the duty in our ports.

The Dawn is in Dun Laoghaire which is not one of the problem ports.

[BornLucky]

Having got off Star this morning my main disappointment is that at no point did pasasengers get any hint of an apology never mind compensation. All we got was "thank you for you understanding".  The problem was NCL not the Ports. If you had said "SORRY" I might have been more understanding. NCL: Shame on you.

[ollienbertsmum]

8 minutes ago, BornLucky said:

Having got off Star this morning my main disappointment is that at no point did pasasengers get any hint of an apology never mind compensation. All we got was "thank you for you understanding".  The problem was NCL not the Ports. If you had said "SORRY" I might have been more understanding. NCL: Shame on you.

 

If it were me getting off the Star, I would have been furious.  One of the reasons I started going on cruises with my husband is that I would be able to enjoy drinks with my evening meal without having to worry about driving.  

 

Let’s hope that the other affected ports i.e. Livorno, Gibraltar and Trieste are also no longer impacted by this nonsense.  

[bobfoo]

46 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

They would need cash in the account for CHAPS.

No Credit Line leading to No Consumption Licence.

[Myfanwy60]

53 minutes ago, BornLucky said:

Having got off Star this morning my main disappointment is that at no point did pasasengers get any hint of an apology never mind compensation. All we got was "thank you for you understanding".  The problem was NCL not the Ports. If you had said "SORRY" I might have been more understanding. NCL: Shame on you.

Totally agree, I left the ship and feel totally let down and ignored by NCL. I’m beginning to wonder if there were any officers on that ship because once all this kicked off they were no where to be seen. Neither did they respond to any questions or requests for face to face meetings. We are obviously dispensable! 

[Centuryrace]

2 minutes ago, Myfanwy60 said:

Totally agree, I left the ship and feel totally let down and ignored by NCL. I’m beginning to wonder if there were any officers on that ship because once all this kicked off they were no where to be seen. Neither did they respond to any questions or requests for face to face meetings. We are obviously dispensable! 

I'm afraid that NCL's officers have become invisible. The last cruise I was on before the star was effectively a ghost ship, useless cruise director - invisible, Captain invisible and so on. The staff were lovely but I think the officers no longer want to engage. 

[insidecabin]

Don't think there was an officer's/captains  Q&A.

 

Need to check my last NCL to see if there was one on that.

 

Others may know if other ships are doing them.

 

[Centuryrace]

2 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

Don't think there was an officer's/captains  Q&A.

 

Need to check my last NCL to see if there was one on that.

 

Others may know if other ships are doing them.

 

There wasn't one, there was on my last cruise in January, but as I said it was a dead ship as far as the officers went, particularly the captain. 

[insidecabin]

4 minutes ago, Centuryrace said:

There wasn't one, there was on my last cruise in January, but as I said it was a dead ship as far as the officers went, particularly the captain. 

Last night quite late the captain was hanging out in bliss near the back.

(We always sat at the back either at the rail or just in front on the high tops.

[BornLucky]

7 minutes ago, Centuryrace said:

There wasn't one, there was on my last cruise in January, but as I said it was a dead ship as far as the officers went, particularly the captain. 

If there had been a Q&A i reckon the first question would have been:

how come the officers / high Latitude members dinnner leaving Belfast had wine flowing while the rest of your paying customers werent allowed any alcohol until 11.40pm?

 

The whole day / evening in Belfast officers were notably absent from public areas.

[bendoestheworld]

1 hour ago, Myfanwy60 said:

Totally agree, I left the ship and feel totally let down and ignored by NCL. I’m beginning to wonder if there were any officers on that ship because once all this kicked off they were no where to be seen. Neither did they respond to any questions or requests for face to face meetings. We are obviously dispensable! 

I saw the Captain every day at Starbucks he's always sitting at one of those tables. But I think he doesn't care he's getting paid no matter what. And an earlier poster said they left the general manager Tony questions and he never even bothered to respond. I really just seems once they have your money for the reservation their attitude is completely lackadaisical. 

[PJL1973]

Good to hear that drinks were served in Southampton today on the NCL Star. However for me the damage has already been done. I was one of the passengers on the now infamous 'prohibition' cruise and while I could accept it being an admin muck up / new regulations on the embarkation day, it very much all turned sour when the promise that it wouldn't happen again when we were scheduled to be in Belfast failed to materialise. After that I concluded that I no longer could trust anyone's word within the cruise line unless it was backed up by a typed message with the NCL logo. To be fair this only applied to the senior ship members, the bar staff themselves were non-committal (probably because they themselves probably didn't know).

 

Given the situation, I concluded that I did not want to spend any more money on NCL until I knew for sure that the situation had been resolved to my satisfaction, which never happened whilst on board. So although I failed to reclaim the gratuities that some have suggested (not an unreasonable option IMO) nor filed a complaint while on board, I also decided not to take out their Cruise Next offers, which arguably is the greater damage to them, as it now means I no longer have any deposits with the company and therefore do not have any 'skin in the game' to tie me into making further cruise holiday purchases with them. As a result I am now looking at booking cruises with other lines now, whereas had this been resolved before Belfast, I would have definitely booked at least one more cruise, if not more with NCL.

 

[Myfanwy60]

18 minutes ago, bendoestheworld said:

I saw the Captain every day at Starbucks he's always sitting at one of those tables. But I think he doesn't care he's getting paid no matter what. And an earlier poster said they left the general manager Tony questions and he never even bothered to respond. I really just seems once they have your money for the reservation their attitude is completely lackadaisical. 

I was the one who sent the elusive Tony questions and requested a face to face to no avail

[Myfanwy60]

19 minutes ago, PJL1973 said:

Good to hear that drinks were served in Southampton today on the NCL Star. However for me the damage has already been done. I was one of the passengers on the now infamous 'prohibition' cruise and while I could accept it being an admin muck up / new regulations on the embarkation day, it very much all turned sour when the promise that it wouldn't happen again when we were scheduled to be in Belfast failed to materialise. After that I concluded that I no longer could trust anyone's word within the cruise line unless it was backed up by a typed message with the NCL logo. To be fair this only applied to the senior ship members, the bar staff themselves were non-committal (probably because they themselves probably didn't know).

 

Given the situation, I concluded that I did not want to spend any more money on NCL until I knew for sure that the situation had been resolved to my satisfaction, which never happened whilst on board. So although I failed to reclaim the gratuities that some have suggested (not an unreasonable option IMO) nor filed a complaint while on board, I also decided not to take out their Cruise Next offers, which arguably is the greater damage to them, as it now means I no longer have any deposits with the company and therefore do not have any 'skin in the game' to tie me into making further cruise holiday purchases with them. As a result I am now looking at booking cruises with other lines now, whereas had this been resolved before Belfast, I would have definitely booked at least one more cruise, if not more with NCL.

 

Totally agree, don’t trust NCL

[Mississippian]

This is going to do some real damage to NCL in the long term. A tremendous share of times when people might want a drink are in port or within a few miles of port. Most people will cruise elsewhere so long as there is fear of not being able to have a drink in port. In addition, there will be more people not taking the drink package and just bringing some wine on board and paying the corkage. And no one can be expected to have any guilt about using Rum Runners to bring spirits on board. Yes, it is against the rules, but so is not providing drinks that people have already paid for.

 

At this point, all NCL can do is compete on price, because all of the other mass-market lines are providing a better cruise experience.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Mississippian

[ChiefMateJRK]

32 minutes ago, Mississippian said:

This is going to do some real damage to NCL in the long term. A tremendous share of times when people might want a drink are in port or within a few miles of port. Most people will cruise elsewhere so long as there is fear of not being able to have a drink in port.

This will fade away by next month. 

33 minutes ago, Mississippian said:

In addition, there will be more people not taking the drink package and just bringing some wine on board and paying the corkage.

I and most others will certainly continue to sign up for the free drink package.

34 minutes ago, Mississippian said:

At this point, all NCL can do is compete on price, because all of the other mass-market lines are providing a better cruise experience.

NCL still provides the best cruise experience for many/most of us here.  If you're not among us, then best wishes on whatever cruise line you choose.

[Travelling2Some]

4 hours ago, insidecabin said:

The Dawn is in Dun Laoghaire which is not one of the problem ports.

And you get extra points for being able to spell it!

[Travelling2Some]

3 hours ago, BornLucky said:

Officers were notably absent from public areas.

Perhaps they were all busy updating their resumes!

[Mommapadraig]

1 hour ago, Mississippian said:

This is going to do some real damage to NCL in the long term. A tremendous share of times when people might want a drink are in port or within a few miles of port. Most people will cruise elsewhere so long as there is fear of not being able to have a drink in port. In addition, there will be more people not taking the drink package and just bringing some wine on board and paying the corkage. And no one can be expected to have any guilt about using Rum Runners to bring spirits on board. Yes, it is against the rules, but so is not providing drinks that people have already paid for.

 

At this point, all NCL can do is compete on price, because all of the other mass-market lines are providing a better cruise experience.

I agree. It made me look at other options and we cancelled a cruise in October.Yes we enjoy drinking hard liquor on cruises. I was very surprised to see drink packages on Princess. The middle alcohol package includes Wi-Fi and all gratuities and is 60.00 pp per day. I pay for unlimited Wi-Fi and the gratuities. Yes there is a 15 drink a day limit but we are fine with that. The itineraries and price are comparable. My point is I have never looked before.  I’m sure we aren’t the only people who are looking.
 

[Travelling2Some]

2 hours ago, Myfanwy60 said:

Totally agree, don’t trust NCL

Yes, there have been a number of issues, not just this one, where the policy seems to be to tell guests blatant lies, stonewall them and then be completely unapologetic and intractable.  It's not a good look and is making me give more consideration to other cruise lines. 

[Travelling2Some]

24 minutes ago, Mommapadraig said:

I agree. It made me look at other options and we cancelled a cruise in October.Yes we enjoy drinking hard liquor on cruises. I was very surprised to see drink packages on Princess. The middle alcohol package includes Wi-Fi and all gratuities and is 60.00 pp per day. I pay for unlimited Wi-Fi and the gratuities. Yes there is a 15 drink a day limit but we are fine with that. The itineraries and price are comparable. My point is I have never looked before.  I’m sure we aren’t the only people who are looking.
 

Agree!  Princess has got an excellent and well priced package deal there and we will be booking with them for Alaska and Japan going forward.  They also seem more knowledgeable and cooperative when you talk to them on the phone. 

[SakeDad]

4 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

Perhaps they were all busy updating their resumes!

More than likely in the Officer's Bar where THEY could be served cocktails!

[insidecabin]

4 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

Yes, there have been a number of issues, not just this one, where the policy seems to be to tell guests blatant lies, stonewall them and then be completely unapologetic and intractable.  It's not a good look and is making me give more consideration to other cruise lines. 

We mix it up,

 

The NCL product has been our best fit but we moved away last year as there was better value elsewhere with NCL jacking up prices.

 

NCL now have some great late pricing if you have that flexibility, coupled with some decent itinerary.

 

We have reduced our exposure, no Cruise Next this time still have one in the pot.

 

Will probably drop prepaid as it seems NCL are recommending using those to make adjustments if not satisfied with any element of the product.

 

The reality is CC, FB and the other media only touch a small proportion of those that cruise, so far 3 cruises directly effected by the UK incident maybe around 6k pax.

 

 

Even though no alcohol at embarkation wonder if  those GV and OS got their included bottles.