Duty Free Liquor

[burchan]

I was flying to Singapore for Celebrity Millennium cruise and tried to purchase 200mm bottle of Cognac at Airport departure. I was told that I will have difficulty in Singapore and was refused the sale.

During cruise Celebrity was happy to be selling Duty Free cigarettes and Liquor. Our last port was in Malaysia and on arrival to Singapore all luggage was scanned. Customs were removing all Liquor and cigarettes from the luggages. There is no Duty Free Concession on anything if arriving from Malaysia and no Duty Free on cigarettes ever. So be warned.

[wales4ever]

This is not a new thing and Celebrity should be telling its customers this.

But, they are willing to sell you however many bottles of spirit on-board from its shops without telling you....apart from the note they give you on the last night telling you of the huge charges you will receive when you get off the ship in Singapore.

On the flight home someone told me that at customs in Singapore when you leave the ship passengers were charged around $30 tax on a bottle of JD - similar to the actual on-board price! Huge racks of spirits being left at the port.... for some passengers who were staying on in Singapore to help themselves to and pay the tax and make themselves a killing on other passengers behalf.

[Killington]

There is a local agreement between Singapore and Malaysia thet you cannot take duty free either way. However my understanding was that this did not apply to items bought elswhere. For example you should be able to transit through Singapore to Malaysia with duty free bought back in Heathrow, maybe this has changed.

 

FYI exactly the same agreement is in place between South Africa and Namibia. I always check alcohol prices in advance of travel. Transiting through Singapore? that's where you should buy any duty free, it's one of the cheapest places in the world. There is a website where you can put in your route and it will give you all the prices. Some places - don't bother with duty free, for example spirits, wine and cigarettes are cheaper in the ordinary shops than any supposedly duty free in South Africa and Namibia.

 

Going to Australia - take in your full allowance (2 and1/4 ltr per person - most generous I've ever found, but only 50 cigarettes!). I recently bought 6 litres of gin in Namibia for the same price as 1 ltr in Australia.

[wales4ever]

The same applied 2 years ago on a previous cruise with Royal C sailing into Singapore. When we found out the huge tax that would be applied to our spirits when we left the ship, we took our purchases back to the on board shop for a refund the night before we disembarked.