Custom Duty Refund at Barcelona Cruise Port

[ninefishes]

Hello everyone, We are taking a transatlantic cruise in September departing from barcelona. Does anyone know how to get the duty refund at the port? Is it the same as at the airport, that you fill in the form and attach the receipts, then they pay you?

 

Your postings are greatly appreciated!

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

Please kindly give me the entire itinerary for your cruise.

 

That is, if the next port of call after leaving Barcelona is outside of the European Union (and I mean the entire European Union, not just the Schengen area), then by all means at the Barcelona cruise port, ask for the "Guardia Civil" and that is the branch of the Spanish police that handles6 VAT refunds.

 

However, if your transatlantic cruise is stopping at other European Union ports of call you will need to do the VAT refund process at the port facilities of the last port of call before leaving the European Union.

 

For example, if your itinerary is Barcelona - Málaga - Lisbon - Funchal - New York, it is quite possible that you will have to claim the VAT refund in Funchal.

 

In any case, you should check with the ship when you board, since they may have an arrangement with the Barcelona port authority to do this procedure there even though the ship is continuing to other EU ports of call.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[ninefishes]

Thank you, Gunther and Uta.

 

Here is our itinerary: Barcelona - Gibraltar - Madeira - St Maarten - Tortola - Castaway Cay - Port Canaveral. So I think we will need to fill in and submit the form at Madeira, right?

[cruising cockroach]

Any updates re: this? I am in a similar situation later this year and will have a small amount to claim (last planned stop in the E.U. is Funchal though the same sailing last year skipped that stop due to weather.)