Alaska - Duty Free shopping on board?

[Ka Honu]

We're booked for a 7-night Seattle round trip to Alaska on Oosterdam with only one Canadian port call (a few hours one evening in Victoria, presumably to comply with Jones Act requirements). One of our group wondered if the usual HAL duty-free shopping for cosmetics, spirits, tobacco products, etc. would be available on board. Anyone got the scoop on this?

 

Thanks for your assistance.

[CruiserBruce]

The requirement is for any roundtrip cruise from a US port to stop at a foreign port. And it is the PVSA, which is about passengers (the "P" stands for "Passengers"), not the Jones Act, which is about freight.

 

Yes, the duty free should be available on board.

[SilvertoGold]

Spirit pricing is good.  Be aware that onboard Alaska merchandise is very expensive.  This is just what we personally shop for but we always buy our smoked salmon in Ketchikan and other items in some of the excellent shops in Juneau. There is quite a variety of shopping and some very nice higher-end ones with unique items.

 

I would not wait until late in the cruise to make the purchases onboard.

 

Hope your group has a great time!

 

 

[Crew News]

2 hours ago, Ka Honu said:

We're booked for a 7-night Seattle round trip to Alaska on Oosterdam with only one Canadian port call (a few hours one evening in Victoria, presumably to comply with Jones Act requirements). One of our group wondered if the usual HAL duty-free shopping for cosmetics, spirits, tobacco products, etc. would be available on board. Anyone got the scoop on this?

 

Thanks for your assistance.

 

Duty-free alcohol is delivered to your stateroom on the last cruise day but other items can be taken from the Shops to your stateroom when you purchase them. 

[kazu]

1 hour ago, SilvertoGold said:

This is just what we personally shop for but we always buy our smoked salmon in Ketchikan and other items in some of the excellent shops in Juneau.

Thanks for this info, Silver.  Great tips 🙂 

 

We have those two ports as stops for our first time to Alaska on our way to Japan.  

 

[Ka Honu]

2 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

...the PVSA, which is about passengers (the "P" stands for "Passengers"), not the Jones Act...

 

My bad. In my defense, it's much easier for an old guy to remember "Jones Act" over "PVSA" and I'm all about easy (even when I'm wrong).

 

 

Thanks for the quick responses. We're primarily looking for availability of cosmetics, spirits, and tobacco products since we already know where to buy "Alaska stuff" should the need arise.

[SilvertoGold]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

Thanks for this info, Silver.  Great tips 🙂 

 

We have those two ports as stops for our first time to Alaska on our way to Japan.  

 

 

Glad to steer you away from the smoked salmon, just to name one item,  on board.  Even at 50% off preposterously expensive, compared to on shore.  Taku Cannery in Juneau (google: taku store) is very good, great variety.

Take a look at some of the fancier shops in Juneau.  You can tell just by looking at the window displays which ones are special.

 

Love that cruise, done it twice.  Noordam?  Hope you have calm seas and not the 25 foot ones we've had, with Force 11 winds.   

Edited January 14, 2020 by SilvertoGold

[kazu]

3 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

 

Glad to steer you away from the smoked salmon, just to name one item,  on board.  Even at 50% off preposterously expensive, compared to on shore.  Taku Cannery in Juneau (google: taku store) is very good, great variety.

Take a look at some of the fancier shops in Juneau.  You can tell just by looking at the window displays which ones are special.

 

Love that cruise, done it twice.  Noordam?  Hope you have calm seas and not the 25 foot ones we've had, with Force 11 winds.   

 

Thanks 🙂. Great tips and much appreciated.

Yes, it’s the Noordam in late September.

I’m glad DH doesn’t read CC much.  If he saw the 25’ waves we’d be dragging him on the ship!  LOL.  I’m keeping my mouth shut, taking lots of ginger and crossing my fingers.
 

It will be interesting to see the difference between Alaskan salmon and Atlantic salmon.

 

 

[woodworker&knitter]

I’m a great supporter of buying Atlantic salmon, but when I bought some Alaskan salmon, oh it’s so good. Has to be the colder waters in Alaska. 

[SilvertoGold]

8 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Thanks 🙂. Great tips and much appreciated.

Yes, it’s the Noordam in late September.

I’m glad DH doesn’t read CC much.  If he saw the 25’ waves we’d be dragging him on the ship!  LOL.  I’m keeping my mouth shut, taking lots of ginger and crossing my fingers.
 

It will be interesting to see the difference between Alaskan salmon and Atlantic salmon.

 

 

 

We stick with Pacific smoked mostly because we find the Atlantic not as robust a taste.

 

Those waves weren't really bad.  A fair amount of movement but it was quite smooth movement.  The wind made walking the deck quite tricky, though.  We deviated the course to sail through Unimak Straight to escape the storms and it was fine.

[SilvertoGold]

1 minute ago, woodworker&knitter said:

I’m a great supporter of buying Atlantic salmon, but when I bought some Alaskan salmon, oh it’s so good. Has to be the colder waters in Alaska. 

 

Agree.  Sockeye is the best of the salmon you can get in Alaska.

[AlanF65]

1 hour ago, woodworker&knitter said:

I’m a great supporter of buying Atlantic salmon, but when I bought some Alaskan salmon, oh it’s so good. Has to be the colder waters in Alaska. 

That and only the fittest survive the bears in Alaska

https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls