Escorted to Customs disembarking Apex

[jmdlv1]

Just got off the Apex March 23.

When I put my Seapass against the  desk ,an alert came up on the bottom of the screen with my picture on it.

Could not read it but they called a Guest Relations rep over who advised me I have to go with her to see a customs officer.

We walked into a back room and told to sit and wait.

The Customs officer came out and said they got an alert that I won money in the casino!!!

He asked where the $$ were.I pointed to my carryon bag.

He asked how much I won and I told him about $4K was my closest guess.

Then he asked how much I brought on the cruise.

I told him .

Then he wanted to know if we purchased anything with the $$

We did not and he said ok you are free to leave.I guess they were trying to see if were not declaring something but it was weird.

If I won $10K or more ,I could understand but it was kind of ridiculous.

I have won more on other cruises on Celebrity and did not have this happen.

 

 

 

 

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

Did you say Where you disembarked? 

Where this happened?

Also, were you still onboard ship?

 

I've also won large amounts in the casino and never had that happen.

Thats kinda scary.....

 

[SmooshSmash]

After some table game winnings, the Princess casino cashier made me fill out a form once, which included my SSN, address etc. and took a copy of my DL. She made it clear that it was not for tax purposes, but for their internal filing. I didn't end up getting stopped at the customers though.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, SmooshSmash said:

After some table game winnings, the Princess casino cashier made me fill out a form once, which included my SSN, address etc. and took a copy of my DL. She made it clear that it was not for tax purposes, but for their internal filing. I didn't end up getting stopped at the customers though.

Any single bet where the winnings are over $1,200 need to be reported for tax purposes. There should have been no problem bringing cash back unless it is over $10,000. They probably couldn’t believe you didn’t buy something with a portion of it and didn’t declare it

[SmooshSmash]

21 minutes ago, memoak said:

Any single bet where the winnings are over $1,200 need to be reported for tax purposes.

$1,200 threshold is for slot machines only, does not apply to table games. That is why I was surprised to be asked to fill out a form.

[memoak]

13 minutes ago, SmooshSmash said:

$1,200 threshold is for slot machines only, does not apply to table games. That is why I was surprised to be asked to fill out a form.

I had thought that if you had a bigger payout on say lucky ladies that that would be the same. I know that we had a couple of large slot payouts and just filed taxes and it did file under slots

[jmdlv1]

This was all table games.

I played a little VP but no big winnings there.

Been on other cruises where I won more but this was a first.

It was in Port Everglades 

[SmooshSmash]

35 minutes ago, jmdlv1 said:

This was all table games.

I played a little VP but no big winnings there.

Been on other cruises where I won more but this was a first.

It was in Port Everglades 

My experience was also on a cruise disembarked in Port Everglades. Were you asked to fill out a form (not W-2G, but a custom form created by the cruiseline)? This may either be a new thing or something Port Everglades CBP specifically asked the cruise companies to do. Because I wasn't asked to fill out anything last year in LA, where I had also won some money in table games.

[jmdlv1]

No form from either customs or Celebrity.

 

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

5 hours ago, jmdlv1 said:

This was all table games.

I played a little VP but no big winnings there.

Been on other cruises where I won more but this was a first.

It was in Port Everglades 

 

Sounds like overkill. 

Not a fan of flying there.  One more reason for me Not to sail out of Pt. Ev.

Agree, that sounds ridiculous.