7% Fort Lauderdale sales tax charge on every drink purchase for entire cruise

[wesport]

2 hours ago, Bgwest said:

Are these charges showing up daily on your stateroom account folio?

Yes

[deliver42]

I never heard of the sales tax being charged for the whole cruise, only in port.

[nocl]

1 hour ago, deliver42 said:

I never heard of the sales tax being charged for the whole cruise, only in port.

The only ones I have seen it on has been VAT in Europe when the cruise does not stop in a non-EU port such as Gibraltar. In those cases where the cruise is solely within the EU (only EU port stops) then VAT will be charged for the entire cruise.

[neverbeenhere]

While there were changes to the Florida sales tax laws implemented July 1,  2021, I don’t see this as being applicable. Well, unless Florida/Princess thinks you are bringing the drinks back into the state in your bladder. 
 

of course, something could be well hidden in the law. 

[brisalta]

15 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Yes, and no.  As noted above, there is overlap in jurisdiction, so while the ship is still foreign, it must meet "port state" laws in some circumstances, and not meet them in others.

 

@chengkp75 Thank you for your two thoughtful comments.

[wesport]

As of last night no 7% tax on drinks. I think they forgot to turn the tax off when we left Fort Lauderdale. Day two only amounted to a couple dollars. 

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, wesport said:

As of last night no 7% tax on drinks. I think they forgot to turn the tax off when we left Fort Lauderdale. Day two only amounted to a couple dollars. 

That makes sense. 

[Vexorg]

I know that ships in port at Vancouver also charge VAT on drink purchases, and I believe they also have restrictions on how many bars can be open while the ship is in port (if I recall correctly the last time I sailed out of Vancouver the ship only had 1-2 bars on the Lido Deck and 1 bar in the Piazza open before departure.)  

[Thrak]

4 hours ago, wesport said:

As of last night no 7% tax on drinks. I think they forgot to turn the tax off when we left Fort Lauderdale. Day two only amounted to a couple dollars. 

 

That would be my "couple of dollars" and Princess isn't entitled to them. (Neither is Florida.) It may seem petty but I would make sure they credited back the charge. I have to wonder how many of those "a couple of dollars" charges went unnoticed. It can really add up. Remember, there was a time when Robert Crandall, the head of American Airlines at the time, calculated that if they removed just one olive from every salad served to passengers, nobody would notice and the airline would save $100,000 a year. Little things add up to big things.

[nocl]

9 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

That would be my "couple of dollars" and Princess isn't entitled to them. (Neither is Florida.) It may seem petty but I would make sure they credited back the charge. I have to wonder how many of those "a couple of dollars" charges went unnoticed. It can really add up. Remember, there was a time when Robert Crandall, the head of American Airlines at the time, calculated that if they removed just one olive from every salad served to passengers, nobody would notice and the airline would save $100,000 a year. Little things add up to big things.

actually the savings was more like $40,000

[ontheweb]

4 minutes ago, nocl said:

actually the savings was more like $40,000

 

And that is still a nice chunk of change. (BTW, I don't eat the olives, but I do give them to DW.)

[CineGraphic]

30 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Little things add up to big things.

17 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

And that is still a nice chunk of change.

 

 

Imagine what they save by using those flimsy lemon "wheels" with the iced tea instead of lemon wedges. Ever try to squeeze one of those wheels!?

Edited November 23, 2021 by CineGraphic

[wesport]

OK, so today after my post I ordered a cappuccino and was charged 7 percent Fort Lauderdale sales tax again. Will go to guest services in person tomorrow. Person today said it would be removed . Only to be charged in Fort Lauderdale and 12 km from the port. I knowingly did not order anything because of this, but will find out tomorrow as its our last day on board. 

[blondee419]

Got charged for my 3-day LA-San Diego-Ensenada-LA on the first 2 days. On Friday (Ensenada) no tax charged. *shrug* 

[wesport]

After the 7% tax not being removed from my statement, I went down to the front desk, and asked why I was periodically being charged. No on had any idea, and they manually removed the tax. Came out to around $7. 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, wesport said:

After the 7% tax not being removed from my statement, I went down to the front desk, and asked why I was periodically being charged. No on had any idea, and they manually removed the tax. Came out to around $7. 

👍Good for you, but I wonder where the money collected for those who did not bother to get it removed went?

[Roberto256]

On 11/22/2021 at 6:21 PM, Vexorg said:

I know that ships in port at Vancouver also charge VAT on drink purchases, and I believe they also have restrictions on how many bars can be open while the ship is in port

 

I recall another ship that only had a limited number of bars open before sailaway...

 

My recollection is that they could only sell locally sourced/taxed liquor while in port,

and only a limited number of bars were set up to do that.

 

[californiagirl]

Today I bought 4 cans of Diet Coke for my husband today.  There was a Florida sales tax added to it. When I asked they said it should only be charged on canned or bottled food products purchased by Princess in the state of Florida.  That makes complete sense.  

[chengkp75]

7 hours ago, californiagirl said:

Today I bought 4 cans of Diet Coke for my husband today.  There was a Florida sales tax added to it. When I asked they said it should only be charged on canned or bottled food products purchased by Princess in the state of Florida.  That makes complete sense.  

Actually, it doesn't.  While Princess does pay state sales tax on items purchased in Florida, and any item purchased outside of Florida, but shipped into Florida is exempt from Florida sales tax because the ship is engaged in foreign commerce, they are required to charge sales tax on all sales they make while the ship is within the 3 mile limit of Florida, and not on any sales outside this area, regardless of where the product was originally purchased by Princess.  The two taxations have no bearing on each other.

 

Frankly, I think that the lines are leaving the sales tax activated, hoping that few will notice, and they can generate more revenue this way.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Actually, it doesn't.  While Princess does pay state sales tax on items purchased in Florida, and any item purchased outside of Florida, but shipped into Florida is exempt from Florida sales tax because the ship is engaged in foreign commerce, they are required to charge sales tax on all sales they make while the ship is within the 3 mile limit of Florida, and not on any sales outside this area, regardless of where the product was originally purchased by Princess.  The two taxations have no bearing on each other.

 

Frankly, I think that the lines are leaving the sales tax activated, hoping that few will notice, and they can generate more revenue this way.

That is rather cynical, but unfortunately it very well could be true.

 

I wonder how their accountants list sales tax collected which will not be turned over to the state since it is not subject to be collected.

[chengkp75]

14 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

That is rather cynical, but unfortunately it very well could be true.

 

I wonder how their accountants list sales tax collected which will not be turned over to the state since it is not subject to be collected.

"Accounting error"

[Grego]

We were on the Emerald Princess November 6th voyage out of Port Everglades and were not charged Florida sales tax because we had the drink package.  I would expect that Princess would not eat the 7% sales tax on each drink served and would add it to the folio if it were the case, but they didn't.

In the past without the drink package there was a tax on the drinks served while on board during embarkation and until we were in international waters and that was it.

Maybe with the drink package it is built into the equation for those drinks served while in the embarkation waters.

[edgee]

On 11/22/2021 at 6:21 PM, Vexorg said:

I know that ships in port at Vancouver also charge VAT on drink purchases, and I believe they also have restrictions on how many bars can be open while the ship is in port (if I recall correctly the last time I sailed out of Vancouver the ship only had 1-2 bars on the Lido Deck and 1 bar in the Piazza open before departure.)  

Yes, we encountered the limited bars allowed to be open issue in Canadian ports during an AK Crystal cruise. Not sure how limit like that helps local commerce, but minor inconvenience, it would seem.

[chengkp75]

3 minutes ago, edgee said:

Yes, we encountered the limited bars allowed to be open issue in Canadian ports during an AK Crystal cruise. Not sure how limit like that helps local commerce, but minor inconvenience, it would seem.

it benefits the local economy because the only liquor allowed to be sold has Canadian tax paid on it.  90% of all liquor on the ship comes in "bonded", meaning no import duty or local, state, or federal liquor taxes have been paid on it.

[Steelers36]

Canada would be out to extract any tax dollar possible.