Froggitt Posted May 10, 2015 #1 Share Posted May 10, 2015 The Travel section of The Daily Telegraph today has a front page splash entitled The Great British Sailaway, and inside (A guide to no-fly cruising) it lists all the main UK ports (about 15 of them) and all the cruiselines that sail from them (with at least 10 lines sailing from Southampton alone). Of course, not one mention of NCL in the whole article. Unless you are already an NCL cruiser, to a large extent, NCL is totally irrelevant. Are RCI sailing Oasis, Quantum and older ships from the UK so they can make a loss? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insanemagnet Posted May 10, 2015 #2 Share Posted May 10, 2015 The Travel section of The Daily Telegraph The whole of the travel section of the Telegraph (and large chunks of the rest of the paper) are just an 'advertorial', so it is likely as simple as NCL didn't pay to be featured, or didn't give a free cruise to the editor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Single Cruiser Posted May 10, 2015 #3 Share Posted May 10, 2015 The Travel section of The Daily Telegraph today has a front page splash entitled The Great British Sailaway, and inside (A guide to no-fly cruising) it lists all the main UK ports (about 15 of them) and all the cruiselines that sail from them (with at least 10 lines sailing from Southampton alone). Of course, not one mention of NCL in the whole article. Unless you are already an NCL cruiser, to a large extent, NCL is totally irrelevant. Are RCI sailing Oasis, Quantum and older ships from the UK so they can make a loss? yep would love to do NCL cruise from UK port but they seem intent on focusing on US market and basing all new ships on the East Coast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Single Cruiser Posted May 10, 2015 #4 Share Posted May 10, 2015 The whole of the travel section of the Telegraph (and large chunks of the rest of the paper) are just an 'advertorial', so it is likely as simple as NCL didn't pay to be featured, or didn't give a free cruise to the editor. The guide was no-fly cruising for UK, all the others do.. NCL don't offer that for UK cruisers except a new ship inaugural on the way to the USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggitt Posted May 10, 2015 Author #5 Share Posted May 10, 2015 The whole of the travel section of the Telegraph (and large chunks of the rest of the paper) are just an 'advertorial', so it is likely as simple as NCL didn't pay to be featured, or didn't give a free cruise to the editor. You're right, there often are cruising supplements (mainly for Cunard), and spam articles for inheritance tax every other day, but this was the pukka Discovery Travel section. NCL wasn't in there because it was a "cruising from the UK" article, splashed across the first three or four pages, and NCL have no cruises from the UK (except for the odd one or two repositioning cruises). NCL becoming an irrelevance for new cruisers in the UK (eg never heard of them, aren't they the ones doing the Norway fjord trips like Hootigruten). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggitt Posted May 10, 2015 Author #6 Share Posted May 10, 2015 Even MSC and their Yacht Club starting no-fly from UK next year. http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2189765# Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare fabnfortysomething Posted May 10, 2015 #7 Share Posted May 10, 2015 first 2 cruises were NCL Jade from Southampton to Med in 2009 then Dover to Baltics on sun in 2010 unfortunately after that they stopped cruising from the South coast so now involves a flight to departure port it's a shame as those sailings were full and so popular especially in School summer holidays-even "low cost" flights add to the expense for a family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggitt Posted May 10, 2015 Author #8 Share Posted May 10, 2015 We also did that Sun Baltics trip from Dover. Parked at the in-laws farm. I posted a comparison of no-fly versus fly a few months ago.........I'll repost it here if I can find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggitt Posted May 10, 2015 Author #9 Share Posted May 10, 2015 We in the UK love flying to Barcelona/Rome/Venice/wherever, which consists of: getting up before the crack of dawn driving to the airport (allowing even more time due to roadworks) parking the car getting the bus to the terminal queueing to check in suitcase queueing to get through security with all the tourists queueing to get on the plane spending two hours with germ ridden children in close proximity waiting for bus to the terminal from the plane waiting for luggage to come off queueing for a taxi getting taxi to the port Obviously more preferable to cruising from the UK e.g. Southampton which consists of leisurely drive to the port park the car leisurely walk to the ship Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveH2508 Posted May 10, 2015 #10 Share Posted May 10, 2015 We in the UK love flying to Barcelona/Rome/Venice/wherever, which consists of: getting up before the crack of dawn driving to the airport (allowing even more time due to roadworks) parking the car getting the bus to the terminal queueing to check in suitcase queueing to get through security with all the tourists queueing to get on the plane spending two hours with germ ridden children in close proximity waiting for bus to the terminal from the plane waiting for luggage to come off queueing for a taxi getting taxi to the port Obviously more preferable to cruising from the UK e.g. Southampton which consists of leisurely drive to the port park the car leisurely walk to the ship Absolutely! NCL's Mediterranean itineraries are 'same old same old - been there done that'. Thought about the Baltics again but price, Copenhagen and Putin put us off that idea. We had already decided to wait until last minute to decide if, where and with whom we might cruise this year (notwithstanding NCL's dive to the bottom in terms of customer regard and trust). We were watching HAL, Princess, P&O and Celebrity (poor experience on RCL and don't fancy Cunard). 12 Days round Britain with Princess on a balcony £899 each + $450 OBC in July - bring it on! Quick 1.5 hour train ride - easy. Cheaper drinks, DSC etc. - what's not to like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Single Cruiser Posted May 10, 2015 #11 Share Posted May 10, 2015 We in the UK love flying to Barcelona/Rome/Venice/wherever, which consists of: getting up before the crack of dawn driving to the airport (allowing even more time due to roadworks) parking the car getting the bus to the terminal queueing to check in suitcase queueing to get through security with all the tourists queueing to get on the plane spending two hours with germ ridden children in close proximity waiting for bus to the terminal from the plane waiting for luggage to come off queueing for a taxi getting taxi to the port Obviously more preferable to cruising from the UK e.g. Southampton which consists of leisurely drive to the port park the car leisurely walk to the ship Missed queuing to go through passport control at the far end airport :-) . And in my case usually a night at airport hotel before the crack of dawn flight! What annoys me more is that you effectively check-in twice. Security and check-in for flight/bag drop and then security and check-in again at the port! And of course first night onboard your so tired to even see the nights show! I've dared go for a 07:50 flight to Barcelona for my cruise in a weeks time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wimsikl Posted May 10, 2015 #12 Share Posted May 10, 2015 The Travel section of The Daily Telegraph today has a front page splash entitled The Great British Sailaway, and inside (A guide to no-fly cruising) it lists all the main UK ports (about 15 of them) and all the cruiselines that sail from them (with at least 10 lines sailing from Southampton alone). Of course, not one mention of NCL in the whole article. Unless you are already an NCL cruiser, to a large extent, NCL is totally irrelevant. Are RCI sailing Oasis, Quantum and older ships from the UK so they can make a loss? I can't find this section online; can you please post a link? I'm very interested in doing a british isles cruise next summer but the only one I can find is on Princess for 12 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggitt Posted May 10, 2015 Author #13 Share Posted May 10, 2015 I can't find this section online; can you please post a link? I'm very interested in doing a british isles cruise next summer but the only one I can find is on Princess for 12 days. I cant find it online either. I can list those cruiselines who it says may do British Isles cruises.............. Princess Swan Hellenic Hebridean Island Cruises Fred Olsen Voyages of discovery Noble Caledonia Cruise and maritime You may find some old friends in those lines eg NCL Crown, NCL Dynasty, NCL Sunward, NCL Westward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Single Cruiser Posted May 10, 2015 #14 Share Posted May 10, 2015 (edited) Star does one in Sept. But from Copenhagen! Departure: 24 September 2015 for 12 nights Ports of Call: Copenhagen, Denmark; Rotterdam, Netherlands; Portland, England; Falmouth; Cork, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Invergordon (Inverness), Scotland; South Queensferry, Edinburgh; Dover (London), England Edited May 10, 2015 by Single Cruiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggitt Posted May 10, 2015 Author #15 Share Posted May 10, 2015 Star does one in Sept. But from Copenhagen! Departure: 24 September 2015 for 12 nights Ports of Call: Copenhagen, Denmark; Rotterdam, Netherlands; Portland, England; Falmouth; Cork, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Invergordon (Inverness), Scotland; South Queensferry, Edinburgh; Dover (London), England Now if they had half a brain, theyd also have a 7/8 day UK cruise Portland, England; Falmouth; Cork, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Invergordon (Inverness), Scotland; South Queensferry, Edinburgh; Dover (London), England Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare insidecabin Posted May 11, 2015 #16 Share Posted May 11, 2015 NCL struggled to fill the ships on the Baltic/fjord runs from the UK we got some good deals, the move to Copenhagen was probably a good one for NCL and not that big a problem for UK people with cheap flights. April, May there were £20 return flights from the UK to Copenhagen and one 9n cruise was down under £400 inc UBP. I don't mind the BCN flight we overnight with parking at LHR(£88 last time) Breakfast at the Airport on the ships for lunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaceyar Posted May 11, 2015 #17 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I would much rather fly - Southampton is a long drive for us or an expensive coach journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NMLady Posted May 11, 2015 #18 Share Posted May 11, 2015 We in the UK love flying to Barcelona/Rome/Venice/wherever, which consists of: getting up before the crack of dawn driving to the airport (allowing even more time due to roadworks) parking the car getting the bus to the terminal queueing to check in suitcase queueing to get through security with all the tourists queueing to get on the plane spending two hours with germ ridden children in close proximity waiting for bus to the terminal from the plane waiting for luggage to come off queueing for a taxi getting taxi to the port Obviously more preferable to cruising from the UK e.g. Southampton which consists of leisurely drive to the port park the car leisurely walk to the ship Not all of us in the USA live near ports. Many of us have the same fly list you have. In fact for many of us we also have a connecting flight in order to get to a port. So an additional airport wait time and an additional queue to get on another flight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insanemagnet Posted May 11, 2015 #19 Share Posted May 11, 2015 We in the UK love flying to Barcelona/Rome/Venice/wherever, which consists of: getting up before the crack of dawn driving to the airport (allowing even more time due to roadworks) parking the car getting the bus to the terminal queueing to check in suitcase queueing to get through security with all the tourists queueing to get on the plane spending two hours with germ ridden children in close proximity waiting for bus to the terminal from the plane waiting for luggage to come off queueing for a taxi getting taxi to the port Obviously more preferable to cruising from the UK e.g. Southampton which consists of leisurely drive to the port park the car leisurely walk to the ship Leisurely drive to the port. Not if you live 1/2 way across the country from it! Fortunately there are a number of airports that are easy to get to. As for the wasted time, although you have to spend a couple of hours waiting, you don't have to spend a couple of days waiting for the ship to arrive in the med. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare fabnfortysomething Posted May 11, 2015 #20 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Leisurely drive to the port. Not if you live 1/2 way across the country from it! Fortunately there are a number of airports that are easy to get to. As for the wasted time, although you have to spend a couple of hours waiting, you don't have to spend a couple of days waiting for the ship to arrive in the med. we live in the North East of England so cant get much further of a drive to the South coast but would still prefer to drive there than the hassle of airports I actually enjoyed the sea days getting down to the Med-gave a chance to explore the ship However this thread just goes to show that everyones preferences differ-just as well as some places would be very crowded! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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