Told we pay extra $2 per drink on top of package in US port?

[Sebastianald]

On a recent Norwegian cruise.  We were informed we are charged $2 per any drink already paid for in our all inclusive cruise drink package when near US ports specifically Miami and key West.  

We were never informed of this and many passengers are irritated.  Can anyone explain if Florida or Norwegian is making this tax up?  Especially since casino and duty free were open but they still charged the $2 fee meaning we were outside US waters without informing guests.

Staff was inconsistent in explaining distance from ports nor could say when or where this tax was lifted except when in Bahamas.

Thank you

 

 

[caribsun]

My understanding is that US cities such as Galveston, Miami, NYC etc charge a city tax of 7-8% per drink when within city limits. 

[Sebastianald]

Thank you caribsun.  Technically you prepay for a daily rate but to charge per unit sounds quite unlikely mathematically to justify a tax on a set amount.  To charge a per unit rate with not knowing if you purchase 1 or 20 Doesn't tax you on an actual daily unit cost. Also $2 per drink tax equates at 7% to them estimating each drink at $29.00.   

I asked management for where it detailed this and all they pointed to was a print "applicable taxes and gratuities apply". I wanted the legal or justification on where it applies if they still charge in international waters but not a single manager on board could define the rules 

 

[sparks1093]

11 minutes ago, Sebastianald said:

Thank you caribsun.  Technically you prepay for a daily rate but to charge per unit sounds quite unlikely mathematically to justify a tax on a set amount.  To charge a per unit rate with not knowing if you purchase 1 or 20 Doesn't tax you on an actual daily unit cost. Also $2 per drink tax equates at 7% to them estimating each drink at $29.00.   

I asked management for where it detailed this and all they pointed to was a print "applicable taxes and gratuities apply". I wanted the legal or justification on where it applies if they still charge in international waters but not a single manager on board could define the rules 

 

It is all programmed into the point of sale system and none of the managers onboard have anything to do with that. Whenever I've paid tax on a drink with a drink package the tax was calculated on the actual cost of the drink. A flat tax sounds bogus.

[chengkp75]

Not sure I follow all the gobbledygook that the OP is saying, but will try to explain how things happen.

 

First, duty free can be open as soon as the vessel is outside the harbor limits, since the ship itself is foreign territory.  And, duty free just means that no duty was paid to import the goods into the US, by the seller, so they can pass the savings on to the customer.  The customer still has to pay any duty required when bringing the goods back into the US (or other country).

 

The casino will open when 12 miles offshore.

 

The state of Florida has a 6% sales tax, while Miami-Dade county assesses an additional 1%.  This is levied on each purchase, based on the "list" price of the purchase (in your case, each drink).  This tax is levied anytime the ship is within 3 nm of land in Florida.  Typically, the bridge notifies the purser's office whenever the ship crosses the 3 mile or 12 mile limit, and the POS registers are reprogrammed to start or stop charging tax.  

 

I don't believe you were being charged a flat tax of $2/drink, I believe you misunderstood that even with a "free drink package", you still need to pay the 20% gratuity charge per day.

[navybankerteacher]

Is anyone really surprised that NCL seems to have come up with one more way of upholstering passengers’ on-board spending figure?
 

So, your “free drinks” just seem to cost a bit more.

[mjkacmom]

40 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Is anyone really surprised that NCL seems to have come up with one more way of upholstering passengers’ on-board spending figure?
 

So, your “free drinks” just seem to cost a bit more.

I’ve been sailing out of manhattan for 25 years, there has always been tax charged on drinks while in port (but never $2, usually under $1). No biggie.

[sparks1093]

40 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Is anyone really surprised that NCL seems to have come up with one more way of upholstering passengers’ on-board spending figure?
 

So, your “free drinks” just seem to cost a bit more.

Not really, but then it is illegal in most jurisdictions to charge a tax and not pass that tax on to the government, so IF they are charging more than what they should be they could be in hot water. I rather doubt that they are charging more, but then I am old enough not be surprised by much of anything.

[navybankerteacher]

3 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Not really, but then it is illegal in most jurisdictions to charge a tax and not pass that tax on to the government, so IF they are charging more than what they should be they could be in hot water. I rather doubt that they are charging more, but then I am old enough not be surprised by much of anything.

I am sure that NCL’s bean counters could demonstrate that the tax they charged was correctly calculated and appropriately passed on to the proper authority;  however, I am also inclined to think that they needed at add a “processing fee” to that correct amount. 

[njhorseman]

57 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Is anyone really surprised that NCL seems to have come up with one more way of upholstering passengers’ on-board spending figure?
 

So, your “free drinks” just seem to cost a bit more.

Stop it. It's incredible how you delight in  bashing a cruise line you don't sail on or at most sailed on decades ago.

NCL charges the sales tax percentage imposed by the local government authorities....that's all, but why let the facts get in the way of your unsubstantiated and unwarranted vitriol.

[navybankerteacher]

1 minute ago, njhorseman said:

Stop it. It's incredible how you delight in  bashing a cruise line you don't sail on or at most sailed on decades ago.

NCL charges the sales tax percentage imposed by the local government authorities....that's all, but why let the facts get in the way of your unsubstantiated and unwarranted vitriol.

Sailed most recently within the past decade (hardly “decades ago”) until I finally tired of NCL’s crowding and minimal quality unless costly upgrades were added, and their persistent nickel-and-diming.  

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

I don't believe you were being charged a flat tax of $2/drink, I believe you misunderstood that even with a "free drink package", you still need to pay the 20% gratuity charge per day.

I've never seen it charged as a flat tax. 

The 20% gratuity charge for the beverage package is prepaid with your cruise fare.  It doesn't come into play on board except if you're buying a beverage that isn't covered by the beverage package or a beverage priced over $15 in which case you're charged the excess over $15   so $5 on a $20 drink, plus the 20% gratuity on the $5.

[njhorseman]

3 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Sailed most recently within the past decade (hardly “decades ago”) until I finally tired of NCL’s crowding and minimal quality unless costly upgrades were added, and their persistent nickel-and-diming.  

No one's suggesting you should  cruise on NCL if you don't like it, but stop the bull crap Implying that NCL is somehow making money by charging the passenger for the government's sales tax, which your post's opening sentence clearly suggests:

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

Is anyone really surprised that NCL seems to have come up with one more way of upholstering passengers’ on-board spending figure?

 

[navybankerteacher]

37 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

No one's suggesting you should  cruise on NCL if you don't like it, but stop the bull crap Implying that NCL is somehow making money by charging the passenger for the government's sales tax, which your post's opening sentence clearly suggests:

 

I never did say that NCL was making money by retaining the tax - just that they were very good at adding on many charges here and there.  
 

The fact that so many posters do comment on being surprised by the charges that build up does indicate that a number are seduced by NCL’s “all inclusive”, “free drinks” marketing bull crap (to use your term) —-and thus might benefit from some straight talk .

[mjkacmom]

3 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

I never did say that NCL was making money by retaining the tax - just that they were very good at adding on many charges here and there.  
 

The fact that so many posters do comment on being surprised by the charges that build up does indicate that a number are seduced by NCL’s “all inclusive”, “free drinks” marketing bull crap (to use your term) —-and thus might benefit from some straight talk .

But in this case it’s a minuscule tax charged by the port.

[NotADopey1]

If you are really concerned, contact the Florida Department of Revenue and report a tax violation. They oversee the state.  You can also look up the local departments to see what they say.

[mammajamma2013]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

The fact that so many posters do comment on being surprised by the charges that build up does indicate that a number are seduced by NCL’s “all inclusive”, “free drinks” marketing bull crap (to use your term) —-and thus might benefit from some straight talk

It's all in the stated information on the "free" drinks offer. I'm surprised (not surprised) people don't read the fine print. You can get so much information doing that.

[mammajamma2013]

2 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

I’ve been sailing out of manhattan for 25 years, there has always been tax charged on drinks while in port (but never $2, usually under $1). No biggie.

I've had the same tax charge sailing out of New Orleans. I wasn't surprised by it however, because I read fine print. 🙂

[edinburgher]

4 hours ago, Sebastianald said:

On a recent Norwegian cruise.  We were informed we are charged $2 per any drink already paid for in our all inclusive cruise drink package when near US ports

There was a similar debate (actually more than  one thread)  last year when NCL (and only NCL) passengers were taxed on drinks in some European countries. It was a VAT charge.

 

A quick google found this one but there were others over a period of a few months.

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2963144-10-vat-tax-added-to-all-free-at-sea-drinks-on-ncl-while-in-med/

 

There was also a higher VAT charge on any items bought in the onboard stores.

 

Searching  CC or googling should find some of these threads and/or media reports. A quick search on the NCL board found these, some of which may be applicable

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=tax on alcoholic drinks&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=64&updated_after=any&sortby=relevancy&search_and_or=and

 

 

Edited March 18 by edinburgher

[mnocket]

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Not sure I follow all the gobbledygook that the OP is saying, but will try to explain how things happen.

 

First, duty free can be open as soon as the vessel is outside the harbor limits, since the ship itself is foreign territory.  And, duty free just means that no duty was paid to import the goods into the US, by the seller, so they can pass the savings on to the customer.  The customer still has to pay any duty required when bringing the goods back into the US (or other country).

 

The casino will open when 12 miles offshore.

 

The state of Florida has a 6% sales tax, while Miami-Dade county assesses an additional 1%.  This is levied on each purchase, based on the "list" price of the purchase (in your case, each drink).  This tax is levied anytime the ship is within 3 nm of land in Florida.  Typically, the bridge notifies the purser's office whenever the ship crosses the 3 mile or 12 mile limit, and the POS registers are reprogrammed to start or stop charging tax.  

 

I don't believe you were being charged a flat tax of $2/drink, I believe you misunderstood that even with a "free drink package", you still need to pay the 20% gratuity charge per day.

Why hasn't this post put the matter to bed?

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, mnocket said:

Why hasn't this post put the matter to bed?

Because facts don't deter the denizens of the internet  from making fools of themselves.

[Charles4515]

9 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Typically, the bridge notifies the purser's office whenever the ship crosses the 3 mile or 12 mile limit, and the POS registers are reprogrammed to start or stop charging tax.  

 

One of the cruise lines I was on some of the bar servers would wait to run the tab until after the 3 miles. I don't know if they still do. 

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

One of the cruise lines I was on some of the bar servers would wait to run the tab until after the 3 miles. I don't know if they still do. 

Well, they needed their staff to participate in their operation - and, being so profitable, they had a fair amount of wealth to share.

[JamieLogical]

I don't see how this $2 charge could be tax. No tax rate in any US port is >10%, so even if you were ordering $20 drinks, the tax wouldn't be $2. NCL's regular drink package only covers drinks up to $15. So if you were paying say, 8% on a $15 drink, then the tax would only be $1.20.

[donaldsc]

On 3/18/2024 at 6:38 AM, njhorseman said:

Stop it. It's incredible how you delight in  bashing a cruise line you don't sail on or at most sailed on decades ago.

NCL charges the sales tax percentage imposed by the local government authorities....that's all, but why let the facts get in the way of your unsubstantiated and unwarranted vitriol.

 

Lets assume the typical drink costs $10.  Let's also assume that the sales tax is a ridiculous 10%.  That means that the sales tax should be $1 and not the $2 that NCL is charging.  What are they doing w the extra $1.

 

That isn't NCL bashing.  It is calling it what it really is - NCL nickel and diming.  

 

DON