Does crew get the $18 corkage fee

[avian777]

14 hours ago, freestyling said:

The Mariners Dept called me today to explain how the $18.00 corkage fee is dispersed. 

 

They use a fleet wide average wine cost that is calculated by the Food & Beverage Dept in Seattle. It is a rolling 4 month average. Currently the avg is 47.38 per bottle.

15% of this or $7.107 is placed in the wine stewards pool by ship. The remainder is shown in the revenue accounting for the Food and Beverage Dept by each ship.

I asked if this could perhaps increase the per bottle wine average and was told no. Seattle reviews wine sales by bottle and/packages to determine the average bottle amount. 

I thanked them for the return call and they said it was easier to call in case I didn’t understand the math. 

 

👍Thanks for sharing - always nice to get information from the source.

[pmjnh]

1 hour ago, DaveOKC said:

As long as you still are in port it is charged.

 

Interestingly we were already at sea, and out of Boston Harbor, but I guess still close enough to the Harbor.

 

[Donald]

If the ship is within the 12 mile limit, sales tax must be charged.

When the ship crosses that line, the Bridge informs the IT Officer, who resets the Point of Sale Machines to charge tax free.

[catl331]

5 hours ago, pmjnh said:

It never occurred to me that sales tax would be charged.

That's why when you order wine/liquor on-line they ask if you want it delivered "at sea".  If you say yes, no tax will be added but it will be in your cabin when you board anyway.

 

[pmjnh]

Just now, catl331 said:

That's why when you order wine/liquor on-line they ask if you want it delivered "at sea".  If you say yes, no tax will be added but it will be in your cabin when you board anyway.

 

 

 

Oh, that is interesting...and I had brought the wine on board myself! 

[kazu]

4 hours ago, pmjnh said:

 

 

Oh, that is interesting...and I had brought the wine on board myself! 

 

I am guessing that was your “free” bottle and you decided to take it to the MDR?

 

One of the advantages of paying corkage up front on embarkation day is that they wait to put it through until there is no tax to be charged.  They do the same with the wine packages. 

 

If you know you are taking a bottle to the MDR (or other public place) make sure the corkage is paid on embarkation day and affix the sticker and you should be able to save on the nuisance tax in the future 😉. 

[pmjnh]

4 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

I am guessing that was your “free” bottle and you decided to take it to the MDR?

 

One of the advantages of paying corkage up front on embarkation day is that they wait to put it through until there is no tax to be charged.  They do the same with the wine packages. 

 

If you know you are taking a bottle to the MDR (or other public place) make sure the corkage is paid on embarkation day and affix the sticker and you should be able to save on the nuisance tax in the future 😉. 

 

 

Yes, I brought one of my "free" bottles to the MDR on embarkation day. They put the charge through at dinner. 

 

 

[catl331]

39 minutes ago, pmjnh said:

They put the charge through at dinner. 

I believe adding the tax then was an error ... but not worth making a ruckus about. 

Edited October 1, 2019 by catl331

[jb008]

On 10/1/2019 at 4:45 PM, catl331 said:

I believe adding the tax then was an error ... but not worth making a ruckus about. 

 

Maybe you were in port or near enough to a port that sales tax was warranted?