Great Cruise Ruined by Customs!

[Neecy808]

Here is your review: 
Past cruiser of Celebrity and wanted to cruise on a new Ship with great Ports of Call. We waited for more than five years (due to COVID-19 Pandemic and shut downs) for this trip of a lifetime. Problems did not start until we disembarked and at this point, me and another Black Man were racially profiled and discriminated against by several non-English speaking Customs Officials for close to two hours and I almost missed my ride to the Airport and my Flight home. It appears that Celebrity had “no tax requirement for this particular week for purchases made onboard”. However, the Customs Officials wanted me to pay taxes and to get the Hell away from these stupid, prejudice people, I reluctantly agreed. Now for the next two hours, they could not find a working computer or determine the amount of taxes they wanted paid. So, now, to find a computer, they take us from the Port to a local Customs Office and proceeded to determine the amount they thought should be paid, well almost two hours later, they returned my passport and the picture they had taken of my passport and receipt and let me and my Husband leave. I should also point out that they only saw two Black people, in a sea of about one thousand White people, they assumed that the other Black was my Husband and for about 10 minutes, kept telling me that he was my Husband. When my Husband showed up, they, were not interested in him, just me and the other Black Male. I had purchases with me from Louis Vuitton, Furla and Tiffany’s. They immediately cleared the other two purchases but did not like the no tax of the Tiffany items and proceeded to harass and discriminate against me for two hours. I will be filing a complaint with the Italian Government, Celebrity and the United States Department of State. Based on this experience, I will never go back to Rome. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.  Interesting first post.  Sad you would let an experience with Italian customs ruin your cruise experience. 

Our daughter has an Italian passport.  She breezed thru customs.  We did not.  They wanted to examine everything to see if duty was owed.  Just like you, I think we were selected because we had a couple of expensive name brand items.

And yes, it took over an hour.  Nothing is efficient or easy to accomplish in Italy.

I understand a complaint to Italy, but surely you understand that Celebrity or the United States government is not involved in how Italian customs does their inspections.

A question. . . How was your cruise?  Do you have a "review" of your experienceon board?

Edited October 17, 2022 by Arizona Wildcat

[WestLakeGirl]

I believe the OP has misunderstood what the “no tax and no duty” statement means.  
 

It does mean that taxes and duty were not charged on that item when it was placed into the shipboard inventory.

 

It does not mean that you do not pay tax and duty on the item.  Whether you might be charged taxes or duty depends on the local laws as well as the laws of your home country when you return there.

 

This is a common misconception

 

 

 

[JCruise85]

6 minutes ago, WestLakeGirl said:

I believe the OP has misunderstood what the “no tax and no duty” statement means.  
 

It does mean that taxes and duty were not charged on that item when it was placed into the shipboard inventory.

 

It does not mean that you do not pay tax and duty on the item.  Whether you might be charged taxes or duty depends on the local laws as well as the laws of your home country when you return there.

 

This is a common misconception

 

 

 

Yes. In the US, there's generally an $800 limit to items you can purchase outside the US and bring back without paying taxes. Regardless of where you purchased them.

 

Certainly, no one should feel they are being harassed or targeted, but "Duty/Tax free" is similar to "Lifetime warranty" it's a marketing term to get sales.

It doesn't mean what it should mean.

[PTC DAWG]

Not sure why you think The US Govt or Celebrity is to blame for any of this.  

[Lovincruisin1321]

Well, that first post was an "eye opener" but it is a shame that the discrimination demonstrated by customs has painted a bad picture on the whole of Rome.  Yes, unfortunately, "Dorothy, we are not in Kansas anymore".  There is racial prejudice but not EVERYONE is that way.

 

I hope that poster will see this and reconsider Rome again.  It is beautiful and full of history and art.

[canderson]

3 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Not sure why you think The US Govt or Celebrity is to blame for any of this.  

I didn't take it that he was blaming either - rather, putting each on notice about how he felt treated by Customs in Italy such that they'd be aware of the incident.

 

@Neecy808

Can you clarify a bit on your comment "It appears that Celebrity had 'no tax requirement for this particular week for purchases made onboard'."

 

Were all of the items in question all manufactured in the EU?  If so, are you aware of the concept of "EU Returned Goods Relief"?  This only covers unmodified EU manufactured goods.  The Tiffany & Co. item was quite possibly not EU production, and for that reason, Customs would have good reason to assume it to be dutiable.  You would have needed to document the country of manufacture (somewhere in the EU) to avoid scrutiny, and that document should have accompanied your purchase onboard if this were the case.

 

[Charles4515]

11 minutes ago, canderson said:

Can you clarify a bit on your comment "It appears that Celebrity had 'no tax requirement for this particular week for purchases made onboard'."

 

I don't know if this is what happened but the salespeople onboard tend to misrepresent what duty free means to make sale. They make it sound like no tax is due. I have heard them say all taxes have been paid. To a newbie this may sound like the items don't have to be declared. The onboard shop will report the purchases to customs so the newbie gets stung. 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Charles4515