No Alcohol in any UK ports - what! 😱

[Sim7]

Vested interest here. We’re due to embark Norwegian Dawn on Sunday for a UK and Ireland cruise (only two days outside the UK plus one sea day) so interested (concerned!) to read this thread. Appreciate the news from onboard the Star and believe that passengers are giving honest reports of what they’ve been told.

 

But… since January 2020 (when the UK left the EU) we’ve taken many cruises all over Europe including Southampton-departing cruises with Princess, MSC, P&O and Norwegian (October last year) all sailing into EU nation waters. No ban on bar service then and to the best of my knowledge, there’s been no change in either UK or EU legislation.

 

Won’t be the same without a sailaway Negroni so I hope it’s fixed before then…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by Sim7

[SECdawg]

I sail on the NCL Star out of Southampton on May 21st. This will be my third cruise with NCL as I cruise mainly with Royal and Celebrity. If this occurs on our first night and they lie to me and tell me they just found out about it, it will probably be my last cruise with them. If they are honest and say they screwed up, I will consider other cruises with them, based on how the rest of the cruise goes. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!

[Sim7]

17 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Well, I DO want an olive but hate having to pay for those fancy olives with a pickle sticking out.  Sure, they're fun, but think of how much I could save if they made the folks who actually want them pay for them.  Some mornings, I would get not one but TWO of those things in my Bloody Mary.  

The Bloody Mary olives are one of the main reasons I stick with NCL 😂

[Panhandle Couple]

5 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Also, this thread has become....

And at the end of the day, 4 hours is about 1.3% of the entire time of a 10 day cruise.

 

 

[Norwayfan1]

For me, the issue is not at all about how much alcohol I may or may not be served on any particular day.

 

It's about cruise companies being straight with their paying customers. Owning up if there's a problem of their own making. Saying what they are doing to rectify things. Making sure all staff are briefed and are able to give the correct explanations. Compensating passengers (where appropriate) if they haven't received a service they paid for, or making at least a goodwill gesture or 'nice touch' of some sort, when a cruise hasn't got off to the best possible start. 

 

Even if the fault lies with Southampton (as they seem to claim here), much of the above still applies.

 

It's just good old customer service. Customers can be pretty forgiving if an issue is well handled. But once companies start passing the buck and resorting to weasel-worded notices plonked on counters as a problem-solving method, it's a slippery slope!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ramblin Wreck Cruiser]

We boarded the Gem yesterday in Trieste, Italy. We were originally supposed to be in Venice today, but were informed a couple of weeks ago, that we would not be going to Venice, but would instead spend another day in Trieste. That didn’t concern us, as we stayed in Venice a couple of days prior to the embarkation in Trieste. However, we saw this notice in the daily newsletter. Only those with the pre-purchased beverage package will be able to be served alcoholic drinks. There were many upset passengers at guest relations yesterday afternoon. 
 

 

[KeithJenner]

1 hour ago, Ramblin Wreck Cruiser said:

We boarded the Gem yesterday in Trieste, Italy. We were originally supposed to be in Venice today, but were informed a couple of weeks ago, that we would not be going to Venice, but would instead spend another day in Trieste. That didn’t concern us, as we stayed in Venice a couple of days prior to the embarkation in Trieste. However, we saw this notice in the daily newsletter. Only those with the pre-purchased beverage package will be able to be served alcoholic drinks. There were many upset passengers at guest relations yesterday afternoon. 
 

 

Yes, that seems to be standard now for some ports. It has applied in Greece for about a year and seems to be in some (if not all) Italian ports now.

 

Potentially a problem for people who just buy a glass of wine with meals and have late departures.

[dexddd]

21 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

So, I hosted the M&M today, the official line on board is that there is a fee to pay to the port authority and Southampton only gave them 2 days notice which was not enough time to make payment.

We were further informed it only affects Southampton and Dover (not on our itinerary).

Make of that what you will but that is the official line onboard ship.

With the above in mind, there "should" be no issue on the next, May 21st cruise as 12 days should be more than enough time to make payment for the next cruise.

We are not anticipating issues in Belfast dispute yesterday being told it was a UK wide issue.

So basically they missed final payment date.  No line of credit?

[Greener123]

1 hour ago, KeithJenner said:

Yes, that seems to be standard now for some ports. It has applied in Greece for about a year and seems to be in some (if not all) Italian ports now.

 

Potentially a problem for people who just buy a glass of wine with meals and have late departures.

But only for NCL…. Very strange 

 

people on Dawn reporting that no alcohol to be served or sold while in Portland, UK today… so definitely not a Southampton issue - or a late paperwork issue as others have suggested.

 

Virtuosa was in Portland 2 weeks ago and had no issues with alcohol

 

why is this exclusively a NCL issue. 

[KeithJenner]

29 minutes ago, Greener123 said:

But only for NCL…. Very strange 

 

people on Dawn reporting that no alcohol to be served or sold while in Portland, UK today… so definitely not a Southampton issue - or a late paperwork issue as others have suggested.

 

Virtuosa was in Portland 2 weeks ago and had no issues with alcohol

 

why is this exclusively a NCL issue. 

Well, I’m obviously not going to argue against any of those points, but I suspect that others may. 🙂

[Bazz100]

Sitting on a very dry Dawn now, alongside in Portland harbour and I can confirm that, as with Southampton on embarcation day, May 4th, no alcohol is being served until we reach "local international waters". I spoke with the Beverage Manager on the 4th and asked what the reason was for this and was simply told Customs and Border Protection regulations. I have not been able to find anything to support this on any UK Gov website. The ban did not occur in any other ports only Southampton and Portland. I have never experienced this on any cruise out of Southampton, my latest was Iona on Feb 28th. The 'all aboard' time tonight is 19.30 so I guess drinks service will commence around 21.00. Considering we disembark tomorrow I imagine it will be a very quiet night! Not blaming anybody here just providing factual, first hand and I hope, helpful information.

[UKstages]

from the daily: "only the guest with pre-purchased beverage packages will be served."

 

wow. 

 

ship is probably near capacity and they were only able to sell one beverage package!

 

remarkable. i guess things are worse than i thought for NCL.

 

but a shout out to that lucky guest who was able to imbibe. respect.

[TexasTraveler18]

Well I am almost afraid to add to this post 😬 but does anyone know if this is a company wide fee (meaning 1 NCL license that has to be paid that covers all ships for every cruise that season) or is it ship specific (each ship has to pay the fee for each cruise of the season?). Asking this because I would assume that since is more than 2 days that NCL has had the "opportunity" to pay and Bazz100 is still experiencing this today I wonder if the ship has decided not to pay the fee for this entire sailing of this ship ....should I be worried about sailing August 8 out of Southhampton on the Getaway?  Also mentioned is the possibility of it being a ship in port for the first time that season that causes the issue.  As I don't have the time (or desire for that matter) to research if my ship has a sailing in that port before I get there...does anyone have an email address for the finance department where I could warn/remind them to pay the license fee, months in advance, so I am able to enjoy a beverage (for which I've paid the gratuities on already) when I embark? 😇

[Greener123]

17 minutes ago, TexasTraveler18 said:

Well I am almost afraid to add to this post 😬 but does anyone know if this is a company wide fee (meaning 1 NCL license that has to be paid that covers all ships for every cruise that season) or is it ship specific (each ship has to pay the fee for each cruise of the season?). Asking this because I would assume that since is more than 2 days that NCL has had the "opportunity" to pay and Bazz100 is still experiencing this today I wonder if the ship has decided not to pay the fee for this entire sailing of this ship ....should I be worried about sailing August 8 out of Southhampton on the Getaway?  Also mentioned is the possibility of it being a ship in port for the first time that season that causes the issue.  As I don't have the time (or desire for that matter) to research if my ship has a sailing in that port before I get there...does anyone have an email address for the finance department where I could warn/remind them to pay the license fee, months in advance, so I am able to enjoy a beverage (for which I've paid the gratuities on already) when I embark? 😇

I guess we’ll find out when Dawn is back in Southampton tomorrow. 

[KeithJenner]

18 minutes ago, TexasTraveler18 said:

Well I am almost afraid to add to this post 😬 but does anyone know if this is a company wide fee (meaning 1 NCL license that has to be paid that covers all ships for every cruise that season) or is it ship specific (each ship has to pay the fee for each cruise of the season?). Asking this because I would assume that since is more than 2 days that NCL has had the "opportunity" to pay and Bazz100 is still experiencing this today I wonder if the ship has decided not to pay the fee for this entire sailing of this ship ....should I be worried about sailing August 8 out of Southhampton on the Getaway?  Also mentioned is the possibility of it being a ship in port for the first time that season that causes the issue.  As I don't have the time (or desire for that matter) to research if my ship has a sailing in that port before I get there...does anyone have an email address for the finance department where I could warn/remind them to pay the license fee, months in advance, so I am able to enjoy a beverage (for which I've paid the gratuities on already) when I embark? 😇

Last year there was the situation in Santorini where two NCL ships were both there and one was serving whilst the other wasn’t.

 

We don’t know why this was, and staff on the ship that wasn’t serving suggested to a passenger that it was because the other ship was breaking the rules, but it may suggest that this is a per ship thing,

 

Also backing that up is that we had the problem for the first two cruises of the season on the Jade and then it was the Gem on their first cruise that had a problem later in the year.

 

Of course that was Greece and this is the UK so it may be different, but the balance of the evidence (in my opinion, others may disagree) seems to be that it is done by each ship separately,

[ChiefMateJRK]

I predict an immense surge, while in international waters, in demand for double neat shots of Vodka, Bourbon, etc.  "Hey, weren't you just here for the same thing ten minutes ago?"  "Yeah, I drink fast."🤣

(we finally have a use for those RumRunners that were rendered obsolete by the universal drink packages, don't forget the funnel)

 

But "seriously," suddenly Canada's ridiculous rule of only one bar per deck being open seems much more palatable. 😎

 

One more reason for this cruiser to just stick with the good ol' US ports in places like AK.  There, I only pay a few pennies in local tax and it just helps me use up my non-refundable OBC.

[insidecabin]

On 5/12/2023 at 3:02 PM, ziggyuk said:

So, I hosted the M&M today, the official line on board is that there is a fee to pay to the port authority and Southampton only gave them 2 days notice which was not enough time to make payment.

We were further informed it only affects Southampton and Dover (not on our itinerary).

Make of that what you will but that is the official line onboard ship.

With the above in mind, there "should" be no issue on the next, May 21st cruise as 12 days should be more than enough time to make payment for the next cruise.

We are not anticipating issues in Belfast dispute yesterday being told it was a UK wide issue.

So no one on the Dawn  bothered to tell NCL corporate or the Sar there was a problem on the 4th when they left Southampton  and get it sorted  before the 11th(7days later).

[insidecabin]

23 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

I was just going to reply with the same point. I absolutely am suggesting that they should have known in advance that they needed to do this stuff.

 

Theyve been doing this for decades.

They did(should have) known before the Star was in Southampton(11th) as the Dawn was in Southampton on the 4th.

 

If you know people cruising out of Southampton in May  like many UK people do this is just an NCL issue.

 

Out last one was mid April so relying on more recent cruisers as we could be out of date 🙂

 

 

 

 

[KeithJenner]

7 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

If you know people cruising out of Southampton in May  like many UK people do this is just an NCL issue.

Yeah, I think I've mentioned somewhere on this thread that I think this is an NCL issue (in my opinion, others may disagree). 🙂

[SteveH2508]

2 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

Yeah, I think I've mentioned somewhere on this thread that I think this is an NCL issue (in my opinion, others may disagree). 🙂

I think the evidence is beyond reasonable doubt that this is an NCL specific issue.

[KeithJenner]

1 minute ago, SteveH2508 said:

I think the evidence is beyond reasonable doubt that this is an NCL specific issue.

You’d think so wouldn’t you,

[Norwayfan1]

 

If NCL simply had to pay a fee of some sort, they have now had time to do so (unless they decided not to use wire transfer, and sent the fees by pigeon carrier instead).

 

If legislation genuinely prevented alcohol service in some way, I'd expect NCL to be able to quote that legislation in a proper explanation. Vague 'nothing to do with us' statements are just an insult to their passengers' intelligence, in my view.

 

[ollienbertsmum]

On 5/11/2023 at 7:43 PM, KeithJenner said:

I think that people are misunderstanding what we mean when we say that this is an NCL thing.

 

I do not believe that NCL are just making things up. There is clearly something happening involving the ports.

 

However, in the last year there have been problems with drink service in Greece and Gibraltar and there are current issues in the UK and Italy. Only on NCL ships. It isn’t a case of people onboard not reporting, as a considerable time has passed since the Greece issues for example. I spent quite a bit of time on various other boards to look for any problems on other ships and found nothing, despite asking questions. Someone (I think on this thread) said they saw a report from another ship mentioning their wine at lunch in Southampton.

 

Do people seriously believe that if other lines were to have these problems then nobody would have mentioned it at all? The NCL board is really no different to other lines on cruise critic for peoples speed to complain.

 

This may not be of NCLs making, but it is extremely clear that it is a problem that is affecting them more than any other line, and I’ve not seen any evidence to say that it isn’t only affecting them.

 

That makes it an NCL thing.

 

I have just come off the Gem.  This was a new route from Trieste to Croatia and Slovenia.  There were restrictions in Trieste after Sailaway.  One more evening as I think we were in Italian waters we had to wait until 10.30 pm to get play in the Casino.  The sign was the same as shown in previous posts.  It stated ‘local restrictions’. If you already had a package they would serve you.  Most people seemed to have packages so few were affected, but I do think that you should be told ahead of time.  

 

If it really were local laws, rather than NCL not wanting to pay out taxes etc, they should perhaps allow people without a package to bring on their own bottle and charge a corkage.  Yeah they are not going to, but heck what is it new about local laws.  One day soon I am going to get round to ask a lawyer.  

[KeithJenner]

3 minutes ago, ollienbertsmum said:

 

If it really were local laws, rather than NCL not wanting to pay out taxes etc, they should perhaps allow people without a package to bring on their own bottle and charge a corkage.  Yeah they are not going to, but heck what is it new about local laws.  One day soon I am going to get round to ask a lawyer.  

Were you not able to bring wine onboard? As far as I am aware NCL are still allowing people to bring wine onboard with a corkage fee (only payable if you don’t have a beverage package). Was your experience different?

 

Maybe you are talking about different drinks. That would be an issue as they only allow wine to be brought onboard.

[mjkacmom]

8 minutes ago, ollienbertsmum said:

 

I have just come off the Gem.  This was a new route from Trieste to Croatia and Slovenia.  There were restrictions in Trieste after Sailaway.  One more evening as I think we were in Italian waters we had to wait until 10.30 pm to get play in the Casino.  The sign was the same as shown in previous posts.  It stated ‘local restrictions’. If you already had a package they would serve you.  Most people seemed to have packages so few were affected, but I do think that you should be told ahead of time.  

 

If it really were local laws, rather than NCL not wanting to pay out taxes etc, they should perhaps allow people without a package to bring on their own bottle and charge a corkage.  Yeah they are not going to, but heck what is it new about local laws.  One day soon I am going to get round to ask a lawyer.  

We’re they not allowed to bring wine and pay corkage?