sales tax

Hi ...

is anyone able to advise if there is sales tax on buying beverage package on board, if we board in Vancouver BC?

If that is the case, I will buy it online. At his point, we don't know which package we want, and will wait, if there is no tax.

thanks!

is anyone able to advise if there is sales tax on buying beverage package on board . . .

We have cruised out of a variety of ports where they charge you sales tax on drink purchases while still in port. That said, I have seen other threads that indicate if you purchase the AIBP onboard, they will not submit the charge until after sailing, and the ship is beyond the mileage requirement for collecting tax. I do not have any personal experience with purchasing the AIBP on the ship, but it sounds like you will be fine if you wait. My spouse has purchased the soda and more package numerous times on the ship before sailing, and they have never submitted the charge until after sailing. No tax was ever collected.

so we can still wait to buy onboard, just wait til it's left the port...

Thanks!!

We have cruised out of a variety of ports where they charge you sales tax on drink purchases while still in port. That said, I have seen other threads that indicate if you purchase the AIBP onboard, they will not submit the charge until after sailing, and the ship is beyond the mileage requirement for collecting tax. I do not have any personal experience with purchasing the AIBP on the ship, but it sounds like you will be fine if you wait. My spouse has purchased the soda and more package numerous times on the ship before sailing, and they have never submitted the charge until after sailing. No tax was ever collected.

Odds are if you buy the package onboard, it won't be processed until after you sail.

Why risk it? If you know you want it, book it online without tax now. Based on personal experience individual booze purchases are very inconsistent as to whether or not they get tax charged - it's irrelevant whether the ship is still at dock or sailing in local waters at time of purchase, it's all about when the charge is processed on the system.

I eventually figured out the weird pattern of tax/no tax on drinks throughout day one of our first local Princess cruise was that when we ordered at a table or in the theatre from a waiter using paper pads, no tax was paid regardless of where the ship was at the time of order - the pads must be processed in bulk later on/end of that guys shift, when we were in 'international waters'; but ordering at a bar where the order was directly input to the till led to tax being added if we were docked or still in 'local waters'!

Same thing if you eat in a specialty restaurant. Wait until the ship leaves port before you sit down to eat.

If you're still in port, you pay tax on the cost of the meal.:(

Same thing if you eat in a specialty restaurant. Wait until the ship leaves port before you sit down to eat.

If you're still in port, you pay tax on the cost of the meal.:(

Now that Princess has started allowing passengers to pre-book specialty dining through their cruise personalizer you could pay in advance without tax. It's not available on all sailings yet but has started showing up on personalizers. I'm able to pre-book on Emerald Princess for this coming October but not on Caribbean Princess for our March 2018 cruise.

Why risk it? If you know you want it, book it online without tax now.

Now that Princess has started allowing passengers to pre-book specialty dining through their cruise personalizer you could pay in advance without tax.

Not an option if you want to use OBC to pay for it.