Duty Free Warning

[Jollysailor93]

Good Evening- my first post on here so please hang in there with me :)

 

I have just come back from a cruise along the Iberia Coast, 9 nights on the Aurora calling into Portugal, Spain and Guernsey. With both Portgual and Spain members of the EU Guernsey was our scheduled port of call allowing as duty free and all the tax offers.

 

Firstly, before I continue any further I can honestly say I couldn't fall the cruise as we were well looked after and a top time was had!

 

Unfortunately one of our fellow 'sailors' was taken ill approximately two hours after our departure from Lisbon to Guernsey and as a result we had to turn back for medical assistance. This return back to Lisbon was a decision of the captain I can't fault as the safety of the passengers and crew lays entirely in his hands however, as a result this caused a severe delay in our journey to result in our call into Guernsey being cancelled.

 

If your still with me here comes the important part!! Because of our failure to be able to stop in Guernsey this resulted in all sales of duty free cigarettes and liquor being stopped and 20% additional VAT added on to shop and photo purchases. Despite this cease of sales all passengers who had previously made their purchases before the decision to abort Guernsey (like myself who bought various items on the second day) were exempt for paying the taxes and VAT on the purchases they had made due to the unforeseen circumstances.

 

I would recommend that where Guernsey is your only non ECC/ EU port purchase your duty free as soon as you get on board. This recommendation comes not only as a result of the incident that occurred on my cruise but also that Guernsey is a tender port and therefore in rough conditions the ship may be unable to stop thus an introduction to the taxes may occur.

 

I hope this makes sense- if you haven't understood any at all the short of it is if going to Guernsey buy your duty free ASAP onboard to avoid any possible risks as I am aware many passengers were upset

[technogogo]

That's interesting. I didn't know that the availability of onboard duty free was contingent on stopping at certain ports. Though I guess tax matters always seem as complicated as possible so we shouldn't be surprised!

 

Thx for posting.

[the english lady]

Which also explains what happened when Aurora did an about turn, that people were posting about.

Thank you for explaining what could happen if there is only one non eu port, if you do not get to it...very complicated...

[Josy1953]

That's interesting. I didn't know that the availability of onboard duty free was contingent on stopping at certain ports. Though I guess tax matters always seem as complicated as possible so we shouldn't be surprised!

 

Thx for posting.

We were once told by a member of staff on the Oceana that the main reason for stopping in both Guernsey and Gibralter was to enable the ship to sell duty free alcohol and tobacco.