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.

48 minutes ago, Mr_Steve_&_Me said:

I can Venmo money in minutes! There must be a way a corporation can send money just as fast. Not buying the idea that 2 days isn’t enough time to pay any bill!

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

3 hours ago, Myfanwy60 said:

I am currently on The Star and this is my experience and I am stating fact:

 

Boarded at 11.30am on 21st to find alcohol was not being served, first drinks were served at 9pm

I was not informed by NCL prior to boarding

I put in a written list of questions to the GM (Tony) with no response.

I have asked 3 times for the written regulations regarding alcohol restrictions in UK ports (to date no response)

I emailed NCL but was told because in onboard I have to speak to guest services and was told there was no escalation procedure, so basically tough luck.

On day 2 I asked if there was going to be an issue in Belfast, again I never got a response.

NCL put out an announcement at 8pm on the night before arriving in Belfast that we would not be served alcohol.

There was also a small paragraph in the daily freestyle, again the night before Belfast and ours was delivered whilst we at dinner.

At no point did NCL clarify the position about bringing drink onboard in Belfast, which we found out after the event was allowed.

After leaving Belfast the bars were still not serving alcohol at 11.30pm, at this point we gave up. I still don’t know what time they eventually fully opened. 

The Dawn has been to Belfast twice whilst I have been onboard and both times they were served alcohol, no one onboard can tell me why?

My issue with this whole debacle is the total lack of information from NCL. 

I do have a case number and will be following this up when I get off the ship.

 

 

If your in the uk contact ABTA, NCL are members.

Anyone in the uk who has been effected by this need to contact ABTA to see if they can help or offer  guidance as seen as NCL seem unable or unwilling to help their customers.

NCL are ABTA members, their ABTA NUMBER is - Y2687.

I'd say NCL are certainly violating ABTA'S code of conduct with regards to:

"Accurate information so you can make an informed choice"

2 hours ago, RVACruiser43 said:

Do you have the beverage plan?  If so were you refused a drink in Liverpool?

 

I asked someone who said their wife was refused alcohol in Liverpool today and he said they have the beverage pack☹️

41 minutes ago, ollienbertsmum said:

Thank you for that information.    Please also let us know if they were forewarned.  All of the NCL support staff seem to be giving the message of ‘of course they would let you know in advance’.  I have not seen any message from anyone to say that they were told upfront.  

NCLs official statement of: 

"However, in certain ports of call which will be specified onboard, guests who have pre-purchased any of NCL’s beverage packages may be served"

To me implies there is no forewarning and guests will not be aware which ports you can use your beverage pack in until onboard.

Again this is my interpretation of the statement and as seen as they will not comment futher to clarify the language used, who actually knows.

53 minutes ago, Greener123 said:

5 👍🏻

Yes forgot QE

34 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Yes and apparently all of them neglecting to pay required VAT!

Said who??

27 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Wow, all of them are in Southampton at the same time as NCL's ship? Must be a whole lot of berths at that cruise port!

4 berths in Southampton, all full a couple of days last week.

1 minute ago, DCGuy64 said:

Well that certainly seems like good news!

Hopefully this is the most up to date information as even today people are still being told different things🙄.

He also rang me to confirm that this statement had come through and when asked if this would continue to be the case at future uk ports he said yes.

So my NCL cruise consultant got back to me after he chased the issue as NCL were being rather vague, this is the reply he has gotten after a few days. Seems like it should all be sorted now.

7 minutes ago, Myfanwy60 said:

Attached my conversation with NCL when asking who I can escalate to? No one apparently. I’m on this sailing so have experience this mess 

Dont bother with an email. NCL have their statement and they are not willing to discuss it any further. I asked questions about the statement I had emailed to me and was told they can't comment further. When I asked for the department who could deal with my query I was told they couldn't pass me to anyone who cold answer my questions and they were closing my case.

Talk about stonewalling!! NCL'S customer service really needs to be stepped up.

1 hour ago, rattla said:

Why beer and wine and not other drinks?  🤷‍♂️. Also, let’s wait until we see what happens as my experience of receiving accurate and consistent information from via these cruise line call centre agents is not exactly great. 😊

No as seen as when the problem first arose they were insisting there wasn't a problem

7 minutes ago, Greener123 said:

That makes no sense at all… and the no refunds or partial refunds is a joke 

I'm not actually sure how they can do that.

Just saw this from someone booked on the May 21st sailing on the Star. Seems like there will still be some sort of restrictions in place

33 minutes ago, SouthamptonCruiseFan said:

So Dawn is heading out of UK waters tomorrow, going to Stockholm, Sweden, instead or Stornaway, Scotland. Bizarre, but changes the dynamics of the duty free rules!

I think that was a misprint in their itinerary 

59 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

Well firstly, I wouldn’t run NCL because that isn’t my thing, but a company like NCL should have review processes and anything like this should be fully investigated through those systems and improvements identified and managed.

 

When it went wrong on the Jade last year the whole process should have been reviewed and improvements made. Then when it happened again on the Gem it should have caused a further review with higher level management involved and any further improvements made.

 

Then, there was Gibraltar when they could have another look it this before we got to where we are now.

I mean what your pointing out here is basically general buisness practice. A company like NCL should be able to easily implement it, as to why it isn't already in place, who knows 🤷‍♀️

53 minutes ago, SouthamptonCruiseFan said:

Okay, sorry but long post here but bear with me if you can. Cruise lines, ferry companies and ships stock up with alcohol from "bonded" warehouses here in Southampton to supply on board to their passengers and crew. The booze, and other goods, in these warehouse are stored securely "duty-free". The duties are DEFERRED until they are consumed. If they are consumed outside the UK, no duties or taxes are payable in the UK. If they are consumed in the UK you pay up - afterwards, having accounted for where the supplies took place. You have to be approved to get supplies from a bonded warehouse in the first place as in doing so you effectively agreeing to pay the duties at a later date IF the goods are consumed in the UK. The duties are paid on what the consumer pays (so the duties on the $6 dollar bottle of wine they put on board are payable based on the "retail" of $10 a glass even when supplied as part of a drinks package).

So, if NCL stocked up in the UK they did so from a bonded warehouse. If they didn't they wouldn't have any drink left on board anyway!!

None of this has changed from past years, the rates may have changed but not the rules.

The only problem here is that NCL's model has changed. NCL reserve the right to add a surharge/tax so passengers cover these "local taxes" and are doing so in many locations to get extra cash in. However in the UK the retail price of alcohol is displayed including taxes and duties. They cannot apply their business model here in the UK.

 

Breaking news is that "normal service is being resumed apparently"! Still to be verified though. The only way this has been achieved is that NCL have accepted that in order to do business in the UK they have to pay these duties.

 

If this is true it demonstrates that they were lying last week as the restrictions have not changed!

 

I find it very surprising that NCL didn't see this coming, particularly bearing in mind that NCL's UK office is in Southampton, but the thing I find most worrying is that when they got to Belfast they didn't know what country they were in. I hope HMRC don't accept ignorance as an excuse for this and fine them as well as charging the appropriate taxes.

 

Sadly NCL is being run by a team of accountants in Florida now who send the instructions to the ship without any thought or consideration for the effect on the passengers.

 

I have one more cruise booked with NCL, but I really cannot see that I will be booking another one, which is such a pity as their on board experience has normally been great. 

The rules on "bonded" items in the uk is very very strict. My other half is a Steak Butcher who delt with bonded meat for airlines and also use to supply P&O. All their meat needed to be kept separate and when sending the steaks to the bonded wearhouse they had to box up all the trim and residuals and send it to the warehouse, or sometimes have a specialist company collect it to be incinerated, so it couldn't enter the uk supply chain.

2 minutes ago, podgeandrodge said:

Good points.  NCL are allowing the discontent from this to spread beyond even the people on the ships right now, and annoy those of us who are planning or contemplating another NCL cruise.  Making that statement and refusing the elaborate (especially when the wording with the "may" is so vague!) is unacceptable.  And then letting crew get screwed over by suggesting a drop in the DSC.  

 

My only disagreement with you - if I was on a ship right now in port in the UK and wanting a beer, I'd be seriously píssed!  (Or NOT píssed actually as no alchol 🙂  )

I did put "most" there's always one😆😆

44 minutes ago, Centuryrace said:

This is exactly the explanation given at dinner last night from someone with insight at a high level. It relates to the differing duty rates on different types of booze in the UK. The vat is no problem, but the didn't take account of the duty. Someone has dropped the ball and it is being fixed apparently. Let's hope so. 

But how do they drop the ball do badly when they have been sailing out of the uk years.

Fair enough If someone dropped the ball. The thing is NCL haven't come forward and said really sorry we made a mistake, they do happen and we can only apologise. We will refund XYZ days that you missed full enjoyment of the package you paid for. Also as a valued customer as a gesture of good will here is XYZ on onboard credit. 

This would probably have been acceptable by most reasonable people and this whole issue (whatever it may actually be) would not have received the traction it has.

Instead NCL have told half truths to customers onboard to try to shift the blame of themselves and then released a statement that they are not willing to comment on. When customers have asked for pro-rata refunds on what they have paid for have been told just to fill in a form to alter the Daily Service Charge they want to pay🤯🤯

I think most people are angry/put out by the lack of transparency from NCL rather than they can't have a beer.

2 hours ago, Greener123 said:

So, Invergordon for Dawn today… still 100% UK, awaiting reports - didn’t really see anything yesterday while docked in leith? 

I saw something on FB that they were served alcohol. Someone asked if they would serve at the next Scottish port and was told we won't know until we get there🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️. They served alcohol on the Dawn in Belfast but then not on the Star a few days later...so who knows🤔

16 minutes ago, Travelling2Some said:

Yes, I saw that.  Basically they refused to explain or give any real information.  And the tone of their reply to you was quite arrogant as someone else mentioned.  Looks like a bit of desperate stonewalling to me.

Yes I then asked if they could give me the contact details for a person or department who I could discuss my query with and got this final response saying case closed.

9 minutes ago, Travelling2Some said:

Of course they do.  And, if they did not then why would they not be communicating with the authorities in advance?  The telephone and the internet have been around for quite some time.  This is just another of their ill-advised attempts to save money by not delivering the product their customers have bought.  They keep the FAS grats, don't pay the required fees and then save even more money by not serving any drinks.

Well I've been told they have closed the case on my request for information regarding their statement🤷‍♀️

56 minutes ago, kaydeetee said:

 

 

How does that even work surely they know where they cas serve in advance?

2 minutes ago, Krydstosser said:

How can a law use the word "May" ?? This is ridiculous!!

It isn't a law it's NCL stating those with a beverage pack "may" be served. But you won't know until your on board🤯