Greener123

Especially when theyre ports they’ve been visiting for decades

Wow that’s rough, you basically waited longer for the tour to start than you actually got to spend on the tour. sorry you didn’t get a good experience, especially for the undoubtably high $$$$ cost. Don’t think I’ll be booking any excursions with NCL on our September sailing (same itinerary as you)

True… NCL generally will be going from Horizon (since they part paid for it) - that’ll be marginally closer than westquay

There is actually a wine shop very close to the port entrance, could get your taxi to drop you off there and then walk to the port Majestic Wine Mountbatten Retail Park, Western Esplanade, Southampton SO15 1QJ

I’ve reached out to a few cruise “influencers” to highlight the issues and to see if their contacts can perhaps shed any more light. we’ll see what that does, I expect nothing but it’s worth sharing to as many people as possible.

What about Portland or Belfast? remains to be seen what the Scottish ports are like for Dawn as of tomorrow. Did those port authorise fail to advise NCL in a timely manner?

First reasonable thing you’ve said 🤣

Nonsense, what has changed in the last 2 weeks compared to the decades of NCL sailing in the UK? what do Viking, P&O, Royal, Cunard, MSC, Hurtigruten, Celebrity etc know that NCL don’t? Why have all of these other lines got their ducks in a row but NCL didn’t? even if we take the lack of notice as a reasonable excuse for the first Dawn sailing 04/05 - what’s the excuse for the Star sailing 11/05 and the Dawn sailing 14/05?

If it’s not a law around duty or HMRC what possible law could it be?

just had it confirmed from someone on the Viking Neptune - currently doing a British isle cruise - they’ve had no issues at any of the UK ports - bars have been open while in port, no additional taxes, no mention of restrictions… just some more non evidence I guess

There are issues with NCL at UK ports the last couple of weeks, just trying to get evidence that it isn’t happening to any of the other lines sailing the UK currently 👍🏻

Some of the comments on the facebook groups are shocking - suggesting people that can’t go without alcohol should attend an AA meeting or friends of Bill W 🙄

Nope, all alcohol is being restricted in the UK ports… its Italy that NCL seems to think don’t like spirits… again not an issue on other lines - I wonder what short notice payments the port agents are coming up with over there 🤔

P&O aren’t crazy enough to deny a Brit a pint while on holiday

But… but… there’s no evidence that NCL aren’t angels and everyone is just bullying them 🙅🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️

It was 9:30pm before alcohol was available on the Star and past 10:30pm for the Dawn leaving Portland.

Again, it’s not my judgement, it’s the EVIDENCE

It’s a typo of line… 🙄

That excuse may allow NCL to be forgiven for the May 4th Dawn sailing, but not the Star or the second Dawn sailing this week. how much notice do they need… the laws haven’t changed in the last 2 weeks, NCL have sailed in the UK for decades.

It’s not just a case of not believing them, it’s overwhelming evidence of it being a lie.

Can I just check, since you’re doing a British isles cruise, has there been any issues or mention of any issues of getting alcohol in any of the UK ports you’ve visited so far or are expected to visit? have you had to wait until departure before the bars being open?

How is the fact that it isn’t impacting other cruise lines not evidence of NCL lying? They’re claiming it is the law preventing them from selling alcohol, people from the country, port agents, guests on other lines and people working for customs and excise have all said that is false. why would a law only impact one company…

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to voice your concerns

She didn’t have a response when I questioned why the ship docked at the next birth from a different line would have different restrictions.

This is the current corporate line from NCL chat agents… note she responded with this statement after only seeing my chat topic “alcohol restrictions” I had not yet written a question mentioning any ports or ships… obviously they’ve had a lot of questions and are told to write the following only… Let me help you with this Some port authorities could apply alcohol restrictions whilst docked at their port. However, our Company is not able to foresee in advance what will be the restrictions prior to sail and arrive in a specific port. Currently we do not have any information for the concerned ports you mentioned. Please note that port authorities may apply some local rule anytime, prior or during the cruise for all worldwide cruise lines. Even if we understand that this will impact our guests, we are obliged to follow any local rules and we do hope our valued guests can understand our Company position in this matter. In any case, if some restriction will apply during your sailing, our onboard staff will inform you accordingly.