NCL CONFISCATING ALCOHOL ON DOCK SIDE

[klamathcraig]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by intrepid_guy:
Hmmm... I am in awe that this discussion is still going on...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't know why you're surprised at the longevity of this thread, intrepid guy. There's a simple explanation. Yes, NCL does state in their Passenger Ticket Contract that bringing alcohol onboard is not allowed. But when we booked our cruise, we had not yet seen a brochure or the Passenger Ticket Contract. Passengers do not receive this document until they are ticketed. When we booked, we asked an NCL agent if we could bring aboard select wines that did not appear on their wine list. We were told that we could, but must first make arrangements through NCL Customer Services and we would be charged a corkage fee for each bottle delivered to our table. Also, many posts to the NCL board attest to this practice. This, obviously, contradicts the written Passenger Ticket Contract. When we tried to make arrangements with NCL Customer Services to bring a few bottles with us on our cruise in September, we were told emphatically that this practice is not allowed. When I pressed the issue with the agent, she relented and stated that, of course their may always be exceptions to the rules and gave me a Fax number where I could make a request to bring wine onboard. So, apparently, the rules are not always "the rules". The point in all this is that NCL's Customer Service department is extremely flaky! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img] And I'm sure that someone will respond that Customer Service is flaky for all the cruise lines. I happen to know from experience, however, that this is simply not the truth. After all this nonsense, we have decided that we will not try to take wine onboard the Pride of Aloha and it will not ruin our cruise. However, NCL's shoddy customer relations will play a factor in whether we ever decide to cruise with them again. And NCL, if you read these posts, I suggest that you clean up your customer relations issues. Believe it or not, it will have an effect on your business.

Craig

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=800080&cdt=2004;9;19;20;0;00&timezone=GMT-1000[/img]
NCL Pride Of Aloha 09/2004
Tahitian Princess 03/2003 FP/Rarotonga
Renaissance R3 10/2000 French Polynesia
Celebrity Meridian 01/1993 Southern Caribbean
Costa Classica 03/1992 Eastern Caribbean
Crown Princess 06/1991 Western Caribbean

[Tomct]

We just returned from the Dawn, and I know one bottle that did not get confiscated in the Bahamas. Some teens were able to buy one, and partied it up too much on Sat. night, resulting to some rowdy damage to the ship. Due to the high volume of security cameras on board, at least some of the culprits were apprehended and their parents were assessed damages.

So chalk up another reason the check bags for alcohol, whether they are kids, or a legal adult who might take it on for an under ager.

Tom/Connecticut

[zimmerjulie]

klamathcraig,
if there is a certain vintage of wine that you would like to have, but don't want to mess with the uncertainty and hassle of trying to arrange/document permission to bring it aboard, etc., you might try an independent company that delivers bon voyage gifts to ships. That way, you could perhaps get the particular wine you want, but not have to deal with the other issues. Again, it would be a premium for the wine and then maybe a corkage fee(?) at the table, but it might be an option for you if there is something special that you would really like to enjoy on your vacation.

Just a thought.

[klamathcraig]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by zimmerjulie:
klamathcraig,
you might try an independent company that delivers bon voyage gifts to ships...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for the idea, zimmerjulie. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] I'll check it out.

Craig

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=800080&cdt=2004;9;19;20;0;00&timezone=GMT-1000[/img]
NCL Pride Of Aloha 09/2004
Tahitian Princess 03/2003 FP/Rarotonga
Renaissance R3 10/2000 French Polynesia
Celebrity Meridian 01/1993 Southern Caribbean
Costa Classica 03/1992 Eastern Caribbean
Crown Princess 06/1991 Western Caribbean

[gardencat]

Oops seems I've missed something here.
You can have a bon voyage wine delivered by a none NCL company but you can't bring your own? How does that work? Can you have a bon voyage case delivered? How do you get to be one of these independent companies? Do you have to give NCL a cut if you are an independent company delivering?

[bate68]

Tiggrrr....how would you feel if you got to the airport....and the airport security was concentrating on bottles of booze...instead of weapons and other terrorist activities. My post is far from ridiculous as you suggest. Cruise lines better take terrorism more seriously. Using scanning equipment to detect bottles of wine is hurting the safety of all of us. It has nothing to do with my following the rules....but has everything to do with the cruise ship's focus on everyone's safety. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by tiggrrr:
Bate68 - which planet are you from! As if cruise lines are making "a mockery" of our safety. You booked your ticket, You read the rules, if you don't like them don't go - its simple. Don't be stirring up safety issues just because you don't agree with the rules you have agreed to. I thought this site was to assist people going on cruises and for sensible discussions - your comments are pathetic and unfortunately "make a mockery" of this site! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif[/img]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[legalcruiser]

I don't believe that bate68's comments are pathetic and I don't think it is appropriate for you to say so on this board. These boards are for people to express their views whether or not you like them or not and to call their comments pathetic is uncalled for.

Think about it, if the security personnel are told to monitor hard for alcohol they might miss some other hazards. I only say this because I don't think cruise ships have been exposed to much of the violence that occurs elsewhere. That perhaps may prove that they are doing their job if you don't hear much about violence at sea with handguns, etc. However, because it sounds like NCL might be concentrating a little too much on whether Johnny Passenger carries on a bottle of cognac, my fear is that they will become complacent and miss the bigger things.

[Alexa_K]

It is absolutely a part of the ticket contract that one cannot board the ship with alcoholic beverages. However, on the Freestyle Dailies, it is noted that the dining rooms charge a corkage fee of $10 when you bring your own bottle of wine to the table. Are there any European Ex Crew Members out there who can justify this contradiction?

Norwegian Wind 11/22/03
Norwegian Spirit 6/19/04

[klamathcraig]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by legalcruiser:
I don't believe that bate68's comments are pathetic... Think about it, if the security personnel are told to monitor hard for alcohol they might miss some other hazards.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think legalcruiser and bate68 have made a very logical observation and tiggrrr's flaming has only helped us think about it a little harder. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Craig

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=800080&cdt=2004;9;19;20;0;00&timezone=GMT-1000[/img]
NCL Pride Of Aloha 09/2004
Tahitian Princess 03/2003 FP/Rarotonga
Renaissance R3 10/2000 French Polynesia
Celebrity Meridian 01/1993 Southern Caribbean
Costa Classica 03/1992 Eastern Caribbean
Crown Princess 06/1991 Western Caribbean

[Alexa_K]

I agree, Craig.
And, after all is said and done (at least for tonight), did you finally get permission to bring wine after faxing NCL at the special number you were given?

Norwegian Wind 11/22/03
Norwegian Spirit 6/19/04

[tiggrrr]

Bate68......You are still moving away from the original point of this dicussion. This discussion is one about guests deciding or not to not comply with a travel operator rules of bringing alcohol or board ship to one about NCL and other cruise lines security measures!!
Having worked on many ships, I can assure you that security is as much a concern, if not more, to the staff & crew living & working on board ship as to guests coming on board for 3, 5, 7, 14 days, or whatever. This is our home, sometimes up to 9 months of the year - you think our security staff scanning luggage are any less likely to look for, as you put it, "weapons and other terorist activities" than easily identifiable bottles!! Think again!
I agree a discussion on whether or not the alcohol policy is valid or not is certainly a valid one. However, do not start to scaremonger on whether or not cruise lines should be "taking terorism more seriously" and shipboard security is lacking because of this. I can assure a ship's focus on safety is far greater than you obviously think and your comments, taken in the wrong context do nobody any good, especially the cruise business and potential cruise guests.
I hope that the point I was trying to get across in the first place is clearer now.

[shoreguy]

I may disaggree with the policy and will continue to try and bring my own onboard but I am having trouble on the Security issue.

The one thing all the booze found demonstrates is that NCL is in fact screening all the baggage and someone is in fact looking at it. Something that never happened years ago. If they can find a water bottle I am sure a gun would jump off the screen.

Seaward 1/89,Southward II 1/91,Windward 10/93,
Norway 3/94,4/96
Dreamward 4/97
Dream 12/99
QE2 4/02
Carnival Spirit 7/02
NCL Sun 10/03
NCL Dawn 2/03,7/03,2/04

No Clock = No Next Cruise

[lesleyfb]

We had our bottle of champagne taken at embarkation even though there were long lines. They blocked our way and said, "Bottle, bottle" and my husband said "Yes, we have a bottle of champagne" and he said, "take out, take out". It didn't spoil the trip but the tone and eagerness used was excessive (I thought).

[ninafromct]

Right, you had your Champagne in it's original bottle, yes? [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

No tagline, on the grounds that it may incriminate me.

[klamathcraig]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Alexa_K:
I agree, Craig.
And, after all is said and done (at least for tonight), did you finally get permission to bring wine after faxing NCL at the special number you were given?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

We find the fact that NCL flip-flops so easily on their so called rules very disconcerting. To avoid a possible snafu in the boarding process, we have decided to forego bringing aboard our favorite wines for this cruise. I did check into some of the companies that offer bon voyage wine packages. These companies have established relationships with the cruise lines. One such company that I checked out on the Internet advertised "If you like to bring your 'beverages' onboard, this is a perfect way to do so without fear of having it break in your luggage or being confiscated by the cruise line upon boarding!" Of course you will pay a healthy fee for such a service. At any rate, our future cruise business will be reserved for the cruise lines that are more accommodating and less flaky. Our choice of NCL this time around was prompted by the new Hawaii itineraries and the introduction of the Pride of America to the NCL fleet. We are disappointed that we will miss sailing on the POAmerica but are in hopes that NCL will provide a quality onboard experience on the POAloha in spite of their disappointing performance in pre-cruise customer relations.

Craig

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=800080&cdt=2004;9;19;20;0;00&timezone=GMT-1000[/img]
NCL Pride Of Aloha 09/2004
Tahitian Princess 03/2003 FP/Rarotonga
Renaissance R3 10/2000 French Polynesia
Celebrity Meridian 01/1993 Southern Caribbean
Costa Classica 03/1992 Eastern Caribbean
Crown Princess 06/1991 Western Caribbean

[zimmerjulie]

In my opinion it is an illogical stretch to say that since bags are being thoroughly screened and alcohol is being collected, that security measures against terrorist threats are being compromised. I disagree that scanning each bag thoroughly and detecting disallowed materials is "hurting the safety of all of us".

It is a serious accusation to say that a cruise line is neglecting the screening of bombs, weapons, etc, and I would be interested to hear the evidence on this issue, because I agree that it is an important one.

I think Tiggrrr and shoreguy's most recent posts put a great reality check on this part of the discussion.

gardencat,
I do not know all the particulars on the "bon voyage" delivery companies, but I have heard of people wanting certain special gifts delivered that have used such services. There were 3 companies recommended for our Seattle departure on another thread, and I have seen some in the past for the FL ports as well.

You might try [url="http://www.cruise-links.com"]www.cruise-links.com[/url] and click on Bon Voyage Gifts. I have looked at the [url="http://www.wellwishers.com"]www.wellwishers.com[/url] site as well. I don't know about the "special request" capabilities of these particular companies, but I have read posters state that they were able to specify a six-pack of a certain kind of beer, a certain wine, etc. with their company. Maybe a new post asking for personal recommendations would turn up some great leads.

[gardencat]

Thanks zimmerjulie, since we won't be cruising this time I guess I don't need to know right away.
I am booked on Celebrity in the fall but I think their policy is a bit more lenient in this area so I'll just keep my eye on the Celebrity boards to see if that changes. I will pass your suggestions on to my sister who cruises occasionally but isn't much into the internet or these boards.

[tiggrrr]

zimmerjulie - THANK YOU!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[bate68]

5 reasons why using scanners for alcohol detection compromises the safety of all on board: 1)the people monitoring the scanners should have one focus and one focus alone...that is the detection of weapons or bombs. Period. 2) using scanning equipment to detect and confiscate alcohol creates a disrepect for the entire security system as passengers attempt to sneak alcohol on board; 3) seeing how easy it is to sneak alcohol on board might encourage those with ill intent to sneak something more deadly aboard; 4) personnel at the gangplank are being used to confiscate bottles of liquor...when everyone manning that station should be totally concentrated on detecting and deterring terrorism, 5)the scanning equipment is being used for an improper purpose...as its intended use is to scan for terrorist activities. IMO it's highly unethical to use scanning equipment for alcohol confiscation...if not outright illegal. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by zimmerjulie:
In my opinion it is an illogical stretch to say that since bags are being thoroughly screened and alcohol is being collected, that security measures against terrorist threats are being compromised. I disagree that scanning each bag thoroughly and detecting disallowed materials is "hurting the safety of all of us".

It is a serious accusation to say that a cruise line is neglecting the screening of bombs, weapons, etc, and I would be interested to hear the evidence on this issue, because I agree that it is an important one.

I think Tiggrrr and shoreguy's most recent posts put a great reality check on this part of the discussion.

gardencat,
I do not know all the particulars on the "bon voyage" delivery companies, but I have heard of people wanting certain special gifts delivered that have used such services. There were 3 companies recommended for our Seattle departure on another thread, and I have seen some in the past for the FL ports as well.

You might try [url="http://www.cruise-links.com"]http://www.cruise-links.com[/url] and click on Bon Voyage Gifts. I have looked at the [url="http://www.wellwishers.com"]http://www.wellwishers.com[/url] site as well. I don't know about the "special request" capabilities of these particular companies, but I have read posters state that they were able to specify a six-pack of a certain kind of beer, a certain wine, etc. with their company. Maybe a new post asking for personal recommendations would turn up some great leads.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Host CMLA]

Please keep the discussion focused on the original topic. The original poster wrote about alcohol being confiscated not about how cruise lines handle security or fight terrorism. Thank you.

[lesleyfb]

To answer the question - yes, the champagne was in its original bottle. I see what you are saying, put gin or vodka or some such in a water bottle and carry it on in full view. Not being big spirits drinkers we wouldn't bother but I was comfortable thinking the champagne would be OK as we have cruised 8 times before (3 times with NCL) and have never had any problems before. In fact I am sure in the Princess literature it says wine can be brought onboard. As I said, a bit of common sense is all that's required. It would have been a different story if I had carry on of 12 bottles or so. Anyway, we are booked on Princess in October and next year will look out for deals on Celebrity, Princess & RCL where they are more flexible. Cheers.

[insidecabin]

I dont think the current discusion is off topic.
The techniques being used to find and stop alcohol are those we are led to believe are for safety reasons. Some passengers are concered that the safety aspects are being comprimised and I have some simpathy even though I actually believe the guys doing the job have our best interests at heart.

Being part of the late night "dim the lights"(in joke) party on the 7april trip what was more worying was that they were happy to let a group of minors hang around the bars till early mornings and ignore the drinking they were doing. This group was 14-17 and on the last night one of the girls was found with her head buried in her own vomit and one of the lads had to be escorted to his own cabin, after security had been called, due to excessive alcohol. Supposedly the alcohol resonsible for this had been brought on board that day, so in fact one reason for the policy failed to deliver.

Really off topic
Onother point is that the assistant cruise director was insistant(towing the company line) that the bridge tours had been stopped for safety reasons.
Draw your own conclusions.

[ninafromct]

Lesley,

I agree with you completely. It seems that if they wanted to be hard-nosed about it they could've just charged you the corkage fee. I don't drink hard liqour either, and have always brought a bottle or 2 of wine on previous cruises to have in my cabin before dinner.

I didn't even bother this time so as to avoid the hassle. Who needs it? That being said, I also prefer to be treated like an adult and paying guest, and will sail in the future with lines who respect that.

No tagline, on the grounds that it may incriminate me.

[tiggrrr]

Host Celia - Thank you for yor moderation. My maybe "harsh" response to bate68 was to get the original discussion - a valid one I add - back on track. Maybe bate68 wants to start a new topic of discussion regarding on board safety?!

[SecondMate]

Hi, guys,

For those who find it impossible to go without alcohol for the 30 minutes to an hour it takes to get showered and spiffed up for dinner, you do know that room service delivers drinks, right? Failing that, you could grab a drink at the bar and carry it back to your cabin. People walk around the ship with drinks all the time, so what's the difference?