gregluk

48 minutes ago, podgeandrodge said:

Is it possible at all that passengers embarking in Spain on Epic would be auto charged and Rome passengers not? Technically easy for NCL I guess, but there would be Armageddon onboard I'd say.

Other people on facebook on the Norwegian Epic said they boarded at rome and still got charged VAT on all drinks at all ports with the drink package.

It can't be to do with where you board surely. Because if you board in Barcelona, but then dock somewhere in spain, that no longer has anything to do with spain, you're totally outside their country and spanish waters.

On 6/11/2023 at 8:33 PM, SouthamptonCruiseFan said:

euguestservices@ncl.com 

Good luck. They seem to have a set of standard replies!!

Are you still messaging them? Are they coming back with any likelihood of resolving or refunding?

3 minutes ago, podgeandrodge said:

That's my memory too. But at 3.30/4 last night nothing like a burger to be had.

What ship?

Can you still get in and stand if seats are all taken?

Can you make reservations for Headliners and Cavern Club on epic ? Or is it walk in's only.

You can't seem to do it online. 

Can you do it once your on the ship? on the screens near the lifts?

27 minutes ago, SouthamptonCruiseFan said:

Currently in the process hence my post. Just getting fobbed off at the moment. As someone else said how can there be a tax on something with zero monetary value. I have one other guest on the same cruise as us who says guest services took the charges off!

Who are you emailing? Or what's the best means to contact them?

Has anyone else recently contacted norwegian and tried to get a refund for the tax charged?

1 hour ago, bkrickles1 said:

Had 2 bids in for July 23rd Joy sailing and last night I noticed that 1 had expired while the other is pending.

I understand that the expired bid means it was denied and while I have hope for the pending bid (which is on the low end), I know that most likely won't happen either.

I guess I'm just surprised that the bid that expired (a balcony) happened 47 days before sailing when there's in excess of 120 balcony cabins still available. I'd think it would get denied much closer to my sailing date.

No big deal. I was always happy with what I booked and just took a chance on the upgrade process.

How do you know there's 120 balcony cabins still available

3 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I would like to tell you but that would be against the rules.

Can you not private message me? Or identify it in a way that doesn't brake the rules but lets me know what it is lol

8 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

A certain travel site is showing 192 Balcony cabins available in BA, BB and BC.  That likely explains the low bid requirement. 😎

What site gives you the number of cabins available?

7 hours ago, karenn32 said:

I bid $75 pp from inside to balcony. Bid was accepted yesterday for cruise in July.

What ship in july and date?

Are the drink gratuities in the free at sea package that you prepay not technically optional or should be?

The other gratuities that you can prepay before the cruise they are optional and you can remove and change them at the end of the cruise if you wish

So what's different between the drink package gratuities and the gratuities you pay at the end or can prepay, and shouldn't both follow the same rules?

I hope spirits get allowed soon in Livorno and that restriction gets removed soon

You should definitely be able to claim it back. I asked Norwegian again and they said you don't pay any port tax on drinks with a beverage package because you are essentially getting the drink for free, $0.00. Norwegian is giving you a free drink. And 10% or any percentage of tax on $0.00 is 0.00 .

8 minutes ago, gregluk said:

Anyone in livorno soon can they confirm this, and if spirits are now allowed? I think EPIC is in livorno right now

Well it's not because on facebook, spirits are still not allowed in livorno according to people on the epic right now in livorno

12 minutes ago, Norwayfan1 said:

My relative has just completed a live chat with NCL.

 

After consulting a supervisor, the agent said that restrictions had been lifted in Livorno.

 

When asked about the situation specifically in the UK he said there was no update to the previous company statement. When asked what the previous statement said, as my relative hadn't seen one, he wasn't able to produce it.

 

When asked if he knew what the problem was in the UK, he said this was a situation of the UK's making. He said he was aware that other cruise companies were serving alcohol but that those companies were putting themselves at risk of being fined. 

 

The agent ended the chat before any follow up questions could be asked.

 

 

Anyone in livorno soon can they confirm this, and if spirits are now allowed? I think EPIC is in livorno right now

Does anyone know who does the payment go to for the Upgrade Advantage program if you are successful?

Is the payment to Norwegian cruise lines or a 3rd party, and if it's NCL would it work for cashback like the above if you spent £750 .

I think it's safe to assume this won't go on forever. Norwegian won't want these restrictions going on for a long time and all the complaining. It won't look good.

Its definitely a timing thing , they will know in a few weeks they will have sorted it out, things will be back to normal and no one will be bothered this happened and will forget.

Also things that seem like they would take 2 days to do and sort out, always take like 10x longer in companies.

But annoying if you were on your cruise this week or next and then the week after it's all sorted and fine

21 minutes 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.

Wonder if the issue in Livorno where it's only beer or wine allowed is the same reason as above or something different

17 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Absolutely.  It's a scientific fact that the first thing 73% of NCL cruisers do when they get on a ship is have that first drink.  Do you really think an uprising is avoidable? 🤣

But I guess if this is just a thing that happens on the first few sailings of a new itinerary, so only affects the first 1 or 2 cruises then there probably won't be much of an outcry about it. Well on that cruise there will be . But as a whole not too much of an issue for NCL in the bigger picture.  But still not great for those people on the first cruise

Has any norwegian ships been in UK ports so far this year? or is this the first one?

This seems to happen at the very beginning of sailings when NCL ships move and start sailing on a new itinerary. Was the same last year I seen in greece with the new itinerary's and then fixed a few weeks in.

I think NCL must have to fill out forms or do something, and obviously they haven't done it yet, but probably in a few weeks they will sort it out and then it will be back to normal. They obviously aren't prepared and do it all late.

If you end up finding the exact timing would be good to know 🙂

21 minutes ago, isopalms said:

Good news…alcohol was being served this morning on the ship while docked in Civitavecchia. Bad news…disembarkation was once again disorganized with long lines and no information, like in Livorno, and like embarkation in Barcelona. Tenders in Cannes were significantly delayed as well (3 hours I believe). Hoping the process is improved for the next cruisers. I chose the 4-night cruise option and disembarked at Civitavecchia. Happy to not have 5 more days on the ship as it heads back to Barcelona, but was still friendly to other passengers and crew, unlike a lot of guests. Someone on our cruise said he’d been on 15 NCL cruises and this was the most disorganized one yet. I typically cruise RC and was disappointed with NCL this week, but reminded myself that I paid 50% of what RC would have cost. Also, this is the first cruise where I never saw anyone tipping. My included gratuity for the drink package and the specialty dining was not very much so I made sure to tip cash for drinks and meals, but other passengers were complaining about being charged gratuity at all, so I feel many had their gratuity removed. Just my perspective and hope it helps others adjust their expectations for upcoming cruises. 

That's good all alcohol was allowed. Hopefully the organisation sorts out for some of the other stuff

59 minutes ago, isopalms said:

I’m on the Norwegian Edge and we left Livorno a couple of hours ago. All aboard was at 6:30 pm but I’m not sure what time we actually left. I noticed at 8:30 that liquor is once again being served. We are cruising south towards Civitavecchia with the coast in sight, but I’m not sure our distance from land. 

Do you know what the rules will be for civitavecchia yet? Same as someone else had posted already?

Glad liquor was allowed to be served again though