Med FlyCruise VAT

[davecttr]

I just got a letter from P&O concerning my 14 night cruise on Ventura in May. They are charging Italian VAT at 22% on onboard purchases for the second week of the cruise, the leg from Genoa back to Venice. The excuse is the ship does not call at a non EU port. :mad:

 

Funny that P&O leave it until such a late date to tell anyone.

 

Not a happy bunny :mad::mad:

[silver wedding]

I just got a letter from P&O concerning my 14 night cruise on Ventura in May. They are charging Italian VAT at 22% on onboard purchases for the second week of the cruise, the leg from Genoa back to Venice. The excuse is the ship does not call at a non EU port. :mad:

 

Funny that P&O leave it until such a late date to tell anyone.

 

Not a happy bunny :mad::mad:

 

Is that on everything?

[Morgans]

They do this also when calling at Spain in a similar circumstances. We also had it with Royal Caribbean last year so it's not a new thing.

[jeanlyon]

It's been around for ages - 3-4 years at least. That's why most ships call at Gib when they can.

[molecrochip]

If you are on a two week cruise then your ship stops outside the EU - Montenegro? So not sure why it should affect you. I agree that when split into week cruises that only one-way calls outside of the EU but my understanding was that passengers could book a two week cruise rather than two back to back cruises.

 

That said, presumably they are doing this to ensure those who are on a one week cruise pay the right VAT. Can't help but think that it shouldn't apply to those doing the round trip.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[jeanlyon]

?? I don't understand your post at all.

[daiB]

?? I don't understand your post at all.

 

 

He he he I do.

 

But I have to say that I do not think you can have two prices on the same cruise even though some people are on foe one week and some for two.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[daiB]

I just got a letter from P&O concerning my 14 night cruise on Ventura in May. They are charging Italian VAT at 22% on onboard purchases for the second week of the cruise, the leg from Genoa back to Venice. The excuse is the ship does not call at a non EU port. :mad:

 

Funny that P&O leave it until such a late date to tell anyone.

 

Not a happy bunny :mad::mad:

 

 

Been trying to find when this started. When you google it it only comes up with the Spanish situation. I have read elsewhere that it is very new, but how new??? It was OK until Croatia joined the EU. Most inconsiderate.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[tom_uk]

This might also explain why so many Celebrity cruises call at Kusadasi. Obviously, there is Ephesus; but it seems to be very prevalent.

[tom_uk]

Also, doesn't the dreaded Spanish VAT issue occur whether you call at Gibraltar or not? I'm sure that we were charged Spanish VAT on our last call at Vigo, and that was after a call at Gibraltar.

[tom_uk]

Good news (?) - there's a full explanation here.

[davecttr]

Been trying to find when this started. When you google it it only comes up with the Spanish situation. I have read elsewhere that it is very new, but how new??? It was OK until Croatia joined the EU. Most inconsiderate.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

It hasn't started yet as Venturas summer season hasn't started ;)

 

As far as I am concerned I have booked one cruise, 14 nights Venice to Venice calling at a non EU port, therefore VAT should not apply. IT is NOT two back to back cruises.

 

They could distinguish 14 nighter passengers aboard the ship. That is what your cruise card is for.

 

I trust that P&O will be giving me additional onboard credit to compensate me for imposing an additional financial burden because I opted to give them more profit by booking a FOURTEEN NIGHT CRUISE INCLUDING A CALL AT A NON EU PORT.

 

:mad::mad::mad:

[daiB]

It hasn't started yet as Venturas summer season hasn't started ;)

 

As far as I am concerned I have booked one cruise, 14 nights Venice to Venice calling at a non EU port, therefore VAT should not apply. IT is NOT two back to back cruises.

 

They could distinguish 14 nighter passengers aboard the ship. That is what your cruise card is for.

 

I trust that P&O will be giving me additional onboard credit to compensate me for imposing an additional financial burden because I opted to give them more profit by booking a FOURTEEN NIGHT CRUISE INCLUDING A CALL AT A NON EU PORT.

 

:mad::mad::mad:

 

 

Well it looks like it is shop and spa and not the bar. So you will have to stock up on the shop on one of your other cruises and miss out on beautifying yourself until you get home. BTW no VAT on seats in the casino. :)

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[balf]

If you start and finish in Italy why would calling in to a non EU port make any difference. It's certain that the Italian customers officer will be aboard checking the takings on the last morning.

 

David.

 

Just re read the blurb, seems it does. So much for theMed "booze cruises"

 

David.

Edited March 17, 2014 by balf

[lake5298]

Is that on everything?

 

Only on things bought from shops - so it does not affect bar bill.

[davecttr]

Only on things bought from shops - so it does not affect bar bill.

But it does not mention the bar at all, which leads me to suspect that they 'forgot' to mention it in the hope that we would not notice.

 

OK, I will stock up on bottled water and sweets during the first week and buy 20% less booze on the second. Their loss :D

[tom_uk]

I've been doing some digging into VAT rates and coverage in Italy. At the moment the basic rate is 22%, there's a reduced rate of 11%, and I think there's a further reduced rate of 4%. Then there are also some zero-rate services, plus exemptions.

 

One of the zero-rate services is "international transport services". I wonder if offering a cruise from an Italian port to ports in other countries counts as an international transport service? If so, perhaps the provision of chargeable services on board (e.g. providing food and drink to passengers for immediate consumption) that are fundamental to the provision of the base service (the cruise itself) also benefit from the zero-rate? Whereas the areas that we know will be charged are all about retail - things to take away rather than for immediate consumption?

[Cruiserjules]

Only last weekend we booked Venice to Venice for June. No-one at booking - and I did speak to more than one person, mentioned this to us. I did find it on the cruise personaliser, but of course, the only way to access this is after you have booked!

 

Am resolved to the fact that it will happen but feel it should have been pointed out at booking - I am sure it can't be a surprise to P&O.

 

However, as Dai said, we will just avoid the shop on the second week (don't use it very much anyway), we don't use the spa, and so long as its not on our food and drinks, we can live with it. Now if it were on my cocktails, that would be a different matter...

[molecrochip]

It appears that's as the passengers can change half way through a 14 day cruise, it's therefore treated as two 7 day cruises for IVA purposes. I wonder if passengers will need to settle their bills on turnaround day?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[jeanlyon]

What is the non-EU port that you are calling at? You definitely don't get charged the spanish VAt if you call at Gib

[daiB]

What is the non-EU port that you are calling at? You definitely don't get charged the spanish VAt if you call at Gib

 

 

It is Kotor. In Montenegro.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[molecrochip]

Spanish VAT is chargeable if a cruise commences at a Spanish port except where it calls at a non EU port.. Additionally, Spanish VAT is chargeable all the time a ship is in Spanish territorial waters irrelevant of where the cruise started or calls at.

 

Italian IVA is chargeable if a cruise commences at an Italian port except where it calls at a non EU port, normally Kotor.

 

Until 1st July last year (I think), ports in Croatia were also non-EU.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[terrierjohn]

Going back to Daves original post, if he has booked the 14nts as one cruise then I would have expected that a Kotor stop would suffice to give him Iva free purchases for the whole cruise. Maybe P&O only book 7nt cruises and all 14nt guests end up on B2B's. If so I would think a strongly worded objection is in order.

[daiB]

Going back to Daves original post, if he has booked the 14nts as one cruise then I would have expected that a Kotor stop would suffice to give him Iva free purchases for the whole cruise. Maybe P&O only book 7nt cruises and all 14nt guests end up on B2B's. If so I would think a strongly worded objection is in order.

 

 

If they were sold as back to backs then those people should get a further 10% discount. However I suspect it has little to do with what P&O market them as and more to do with what the Italian Authorities perceive them as. With many people joining at the end of each 7 day leg they are saying that they are a series of 7 night cruises.

 

But as I said above it only concerned goods bought in the shop, spa and photo shop. It does not cover drinks, food or coffee tea etc. so if we did these cruises the extra would be next to nothing.

 

I would be far more concerned if it covered drink.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[molecrochip]

From some research this morning, it appears that when you have a 14 night cruise that is also sold as two 7 day cruises, the Italian authorities treat this as two seven-day cruises for the entire ship.

 

The same appears to be true of the cruise which starts in Malaga, boards further passengers in Genoa, boards further passengers in Venice before finishing in Genoa. It's a three week cruise subject to three seven day sets of VAT rules. All very confusing!