Duty Free

[tofly]

Hi all,

 

Long time watcher, first time poster!

 

Just got back off a B2B on the Jewel out of Limassol and found there was no duty free (Alcohol & tobacco) onboard.

I've got an upcoming Southampton "staycation" on the Anthem and a transatlantic (fingers crossed) on the Harmony. Don't want to get stuck mid Atlantic without my ciggies (apologies to non-smokers). Does anyone know if the Jewel not having alcohol / tobacco was just a blip, or is this to be expected on all sailings now??
 

[mets123]

I was on the Oasis last week and they had a very limited alcohol selection. I was told they are having problems getting product. But the bars were fully stocked. Go figure.

[sparks1093]

7 hours ago, mets123 said:

I was on the Oasis last week and they had a very limited alcohol selection. I was told they are having problems getting product. But the bars were fully stocked. Go figure.

What they sell in the duty free shops is different than what they sell in the bars. They have to pay duty on the stuff in the bars and my guess is that it comes from different distributors.

[legospice]

21 hours ago, tofly said:

Hi all,

 

Long time watcher, first time poster!

 

Just got back off a B2B on the Jewel out of Limassol and found there was no duty free (Alcohol & tobacco) onboard.

I've got an upcoming Southampton "staycation" on the Anthem and a transatlantic (fingers crossed) on the Harmony. Don't want to get stuck mid Atlantic without my ciggies (apologies to non-smokers). Does anyone know if the Jewel not having alcohol / tobacco was just a blip, or is this to be expected on all sailings now??
 

Could you not even buy single packs over the bar on Jewel? I think there is no "duty free" as such because you were sailing wholly within the EU.

I heard that Anthem is selling over the bar, single packs, max 2 packs a day per person as there is no "duty free" as they are sailing wholly within the UK waters.

 

[chengkp75]

6 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

What they sell in the duty free shops is different than what they sell in the bars. They have to pay duty on the stuff in the bars and my guess is that it comes from different distributors.

No, they don't.  Unless it is in a place that requires local liquor only sales (Texas in port), any booze they buy has no tax stamps from any state on them, or any customs duty when brought into a country.  It is all "ships stores in transit" and customs free.

[little britain]

No duty free on Jewel as it was an intra-EU cruise with no non EU ports!

However you should have been able to buy duty free at the airports at either end?  

 

There will be no duty free on the UK Seacation but you should not have any issues on the TA.

[firefly333]

30 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

No, they don't.  Unless it is in a place that requires local liquor only sales (Texas in port), any booze they buy has no tax stamps from any state on them, or any customs duty when brought into a country.  It is all "ships stores in transit" and customs free.

Last time out of Galveston they had a per bottle tax or whatever it is called. 2.50? 3.50 per bottle, no free allowance like they used to have. Those buy 5 bottles of rum for 29.99 suddenly arent worth it for me. It was a flat payment per bottle, not a percentage which to me is what I think of as a tax. 

 

I think people just dont declare them or declare fewer than they bought. Walk right past the declare station. Cheaper to buy at home.

[chengkp75]

25 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Last time out of Galveston they had a per bottle tax or whatever it is called. 2.50? 3.50 per bottle, no free allowance like they used to have. Those buy 5 bottles of rum for 29.99 suddenly arent worth it for me. It was a flat payment per bottle, not a percentage which to me is what I think of as a tax. 

 

I think people just dont declare them or declare fewer than they bought. Walk right past the declare station. Cheaper to buy at home.

Yeah, I was talking about the liquor served onboard.  Texas requires only liquor with a Texas tax stamp on it while in Texas waters, but everything else served onboard throughout the cruise has no duty or tax paid.

[firefly333]

44 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Yeah, I was talking about the liquor served onboard.  Texas requires only liquor with a Texas tax stamp on it while in Texas waters, but everything else served onboard throughout the cruise has no duty or tax paid.

I read your post, and understood. Why explain what you said.

 

I was adding to what texas charges for the purchase of duty free liquor you bring home. .additional to the tax in port which I'm very well aware of. Have you seen my signature?

[sparks1093]

On 9/24/2021 at 12:32 PM, chengkp75 said:

No, they don't.  Unless it is in a place that requires local liquor only sales (Texas in port), any booze they buy has no tax stamps from any state on them, or any customs duty when brought into a country.  It is all "ships stores in transit" and customs free.

It's the first that I've heard that, it was always my understanding that to be exempt from duty one could not turn around and sell whatever it was that is duty free. Makes the markup for bottles of liquor sold for cabin consumption that much more egregious I guess.

[chengkp75]

22 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

It's the first that I've heard that, it was always my understanding that to be exempt from duty one could not turn around and sell whatever it was that is duty free. Makes the markup for bottles of liquor sold for cabin consumption that much more egregious I guess.

You can't sell duty free in the US.  Because no duty was paid to bring it into the US.  However, the ship is not the US, so anything brought in from overseas to the ship is going from one foreign country to another foreign country (the ship) (all foreign ships benefit from this for all supplies and spare parts brought into the US for delivery to the ship without paying any duty).  Since the liquor is being taken out of the country, there is no state liquor tax applied either.  This is "bonded stores" (it is placed in "bond" (guaranteed not to be used in the country) until delivered to that foreign country, the ship).  Next bottle you get onboard, check whether there is a state liquor tax label across the cap.  There won't be.

Edited September 25, 2021 by chengkp75

[sparks1093]

On 9/25/2021 at 3:29 PM, chengkp75 said:

You can't sell duty free in the US.  Because no duty was paid to bring it into the US.  However, the ship is not the US, so anything brought in from overseas to the ship is going from one foreign country to another foreign country (the ship) (all foreign ships benefit from this for all supplies and spare parts brought into the US for delivery to the ship without paying any duty).  Since the liquor is being taken out of the country, there is no state liquor tax applied either.  This is "bonded stores" (it is placed in "bond" (guaranteed not to be used in the country) until delivered to that foreign country, the ship).  Next bottle you get onboard, check whether there is a state liquor tax label across the cap.  There won't be.

That is helpful and my error was in believing that they bought their liquor in the states and brought it onboard with the other stores. Vermont doesn't use a tax label across the caps so the absence of one isn't something that I would make note of (probably because liquor may only be sold in state liquor stores here). Still, they do put the bottles of liquor in the cabin prior to sail away so it was reasonable to conclude that they had paid at least the federal tax on it. 

[firefly333]

18 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

That is helpful and my error was in believing that they bought their liquor in the states and brought it onboard with the other stores. Vermont doesn't use a tax label across the caps so the absence of one isn't something that I would make note of (probably because liquor may only be sold in state liquor stores here). Still, they do put the bottles of liquor in the cabin prior to sail away so it was reasonable to conclude that they had paid at least the federal tax on it. 

Carnival doesnt deal with the tax problem on their drink pkg and starts it day 2 at 6 am.

 

It's always confusing going from one cruiseline to another. Rcl has a very limited offering of liquor until international waters, then when they hit everything is closed down and the bottles they are using that tax was paid go into a locked cabinet and the regular comes out.

 

Carnival says just not going to deal with this for cheers. It's more than just being taxed while in port. 

[sparks1093]

24 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Carnival doesnt deal with the tax problem on their drink pkg and starts it day 2 at 6 am.

 

It's always confusing going from one cruiseline to another. Rcl has a very limited offering of liquor until international waters, then when they hit everything is closed down and the bottles they are using that tax was paid go into a locked cabinet and the regular comes out.

 

Carnival says just not going to deal with this for cheers. It's more than just being taxed while in port. 

They do this in Texas, but as I understand it from other ports Cheers is available on day 1 (we did have the drink package on Royal and it also started day 1). I do know that I've had bottles delivered to my cabin prior to sail away (which as I understand it isn't done until the second day from Texas). 

[tofly]

Thanks for all of the replies!!

Someone onboard the Jewel told me you could buy individual packs at the pool bar, but I never actually tried that myself. Just bought a whole carton when in Rhodes.

I've never had an issue on TA's either, but really didn't want to get stuck out in the ocean without a stash.

8 days until Anthem and only 30 until Harmony (god willing) 

[Iamcruzin]

On 9/23/2021 at 9:41 PM, mets123 said:

I was on the Oasis last week and they had a very limited alcohol selection. I was told they are having problems getting product. But the bars were fully stocked. Go figure.

I'm not surprised about not being able to get products.  The shelves were I work have been empty for months on some of the  basic products we sell in the over the counter drug section and the cereal aisle. Yesterday I went car shopping with my son and it was the first them in my life that there wasn't a pressure sales pitch. They have no inventory to sell and they aren't looking to make any deals. My son would have had to wait 2-3 months for the car he was interested in and they didn't even have the model to test drive.